Endorsement: Lemme for Deer Park village board

The residents of Deer Park have two candidates to choose from to fill a two-year seat on the village board.

Incumbent David Lemme faces challenger Nancy Sheperdson in the April election.

Lemme was appointed to fill trustee Joel Thomason's seat.

Like Thomason, who started attending village board meetings because he was upset about the state of the village's roads and parks, Lemme started attending meetings because he was upset about drainage issues his subdivision was having.

Lemme, a 25-year resident of the village, would like to see continued infrastructure improvements, while also maintaining the village's current policy of living within the limits of its annual budget and not raising taxes.

He also wants to work with neighborhoods and various agencies to address maintenance of the village's many ponds.

Sheperdson would like to see more involvement in the local government from village residents. She would like Deer Park to adopt a "participatory budgeting," that could let residents direct a portion of the budget to projects that are important to them.

Both candidates would be assets to the village board, but Lemme is just getting started on the board and deserves the opportunity to serve out the two-year term he was appointed to fill. Lemme is endorsed.