Lake Zurich mayor proud of village communication, but opponent suggests improvements
Lake Zurich Mayor Thomas Poynton says communication with residents has been a cornerstone of his administration, but his opponent contends the village can improve.
Alex Samoila wants to topple Poynton in his first attempt at public office. Poynton had been in the middle of a 4-year village trustee term when he defeated then-Mayor Suzanne Branding and Mary Black to become Lake Zurich's top elected official in 2013.
Poynton, 70, a retired sales and marketing executive in the consumer products industry and a former small-business owner, is heading the Lake Zurich Proud political slate with candidates for three trustee seats and village clerk. Samoila, 36, who works in the financial services industry, is running independently in the April 4 election.
In a Daily Herald editorial board endorsement interview attended by both candidates, Poynton said communication has been a key focus of his administration, as evidenced by live streams of all village board meetings on Lake Zurich's website and its presence on Facebook and Twitter. He expects meetings eventually will be available on Facebook Live.
Poynton said another worthwhile initiative has been the annual "conversation with the community" in an Ela Area Public Library meeting room. Poynton has been joined by top Lake Zurich administrators in providing a presentation and a question-and-answer session with the crowds.
"That's one of the first things we did to start getting people to bring us new ideas, because when I first got elected I said, 'It's not just me as mayor. It's not just you as the trustees. It's us. It's all of us,'" Poynton said of the annual meeting.
Samoila said while the village has many documents available to the public on its website, they are not necessarily easy to read and can be voluminous for some meetings. All of the documents still should be made available online, but with a clear "CliffsNotes version" and possibly with a thumbs-up-or-down button for residents to weigh in on issues, he said.
He also suggested getting information out to residents and other interested parties sooner than a few days before a board meeting and exploring more social media platforms to use.
"Communication platforms have changed dramatically and continue to change dramatically," Samoila said. "And one of the things that we need to do is to meet people where they are and communicate with people where they are and - most of all - make it easy to be able to understand the information, and then to interact with the village officials and the village staff."