Buffalo Grove leaders narrow field of trustee hopefuls

The Buffalo Grove village board conducted an exhaustive five-hour interview session Monday with applicants hoping to fill the trustee seat vacated by Beverly Sussman after she was elected village president in April.

The board has yet to make a selection, but the field narrowed from nine to eight applicants after Kurt Baier, a store manager at Aldi's, withdrew his application, Village Manager Dane Bragg said.

The list now consists of Robert Giddens, John Green, Joanne Johnson, Bruce Kahn, Adam Moodhe, Edward Osmon, Frank Sears and Eric Smith. Each was interviewed individually by Sussman and village trustees during Monday's lengthy meeting.

The board has not given a specific timeline for when they would name Sussman's replacement, but indicated it would likely occur this month. The person chosen would serve until April 2017.

Giddens was the head of the village's information technology department until it was outsourced by the village. Kahn is a former trustee who now chairs the police and fire commission, and Sears is a longtime resident who has been vocal on planning issues affecting the Cambridge on the Lake development.

Smith is the head of the planning and zoning commission, on which Johnson - a former trustee candidate - also serves. Green is an architect with a history of projects in Buffalo Grove, including village hall and the Raupp Museum. He is also part owner of Progressive Management Group, the firm contracted to provide food service at the Arboretum Club.

Moodhe ran for one of three trustee seats at stake in April's election but finished fifth in a six-candidate field.

Osmon was a Buffalo Grove trustee in the early 1970s.