Two veteran Wauconda trustees to step down in 2019
Two of Wauconda's most experienced trustees will leave the village board in 2019.
Trustees Linda Starkey and Ken Arnswald have opted not to seek re-election next April. Both have been on the board since 2011.
"Two terms is good enough," Arnswald said.
Starkey thinks the time is right for new blood on the board, too.
"It's good for an organization to get fresh people in there, to get fresh ideas," she said.
Starkey and Arnswald came to the board with years of public service already under their belts.
Arnswald spent 35 years as a firefighter with the Vernon Hills-based Countryside Fire Protection District before joining the village board. And Starkey served as a trustee and mayor in North Barrington when she lived in that suburb.
Arnswald started as a paid-on-call Countryside firefighter in 1975. He worked his way up through the department, retiring as division chief for training in 2010.
He was elected to the village board the following year, having been encouraged to run by then-Mayor Mark Knigge. At first, Arnswald didn't think he was the right guy for the job.
"'I'm a fireman, not a politician,' I think I said," Arnswald recalled. "'But that's exactly why we want you,' he said."
Arnswald called the effort to build a pipeline for Lake Michigan drinking water the highlight of his tenure. The roughly $50 million system should be completed next summer.
"It's something that you can look back on and our kids can look back on and say, 'Wow,'" Arnswald said. "It's unfortunate I won't be in office to turn on the tap."
Arnswald's public service won't end when he leaves the board in May. He'll continue as the maintenance manager for the Aspen Drive Library in Vernon Hills, a job he's held for about five years.
Starkey's political service began in 1997 when she was elected to North Barrington's village board. She was elected mayor in 1999 and re-elected in 2003.
But she cut short that second mayoral term in 2004 when her family moved to Singapore to pursue a business opportunity. The Starkeys returned to the U.S. in 2009, settling in Wauconda, and two years later Linda was elected to the village board.
Like Arnswald, Starkey cited the Lake Michigan water project as a significant accomplishment. She also is proud more residents have joined village committees in recent years, something she long has encouraged.
Starkey now plans to focus on running her retail business, Threads Boutique, and spend more time with her family. She said she'll also pursue volunteer and charitable projects.
"It's time to switch energies to that for a while," she said.
Mayor Lincoln Knight praised Starkey and Arnswald for their "seemingly tireless" efforts to improve Wauconda.
"I have faith that although their elected terms for the village will be complete in the spring, they are both the type of people that will still be around town and be engaged within our community for a long time to come," Knight said.
The race to replace Starkey and Arnswald on the village board should be an easy one. Three candidates are running for three seats, so all three are virtually assured victory.
The candidates are incumbent Chuck Black - who ran with Starkey and Arnswald in 2011 and again in 2015 - and newcomers Jeff Sode and Tom Shaw.
Arnswald is confident the village is in good hands, but he admitted he'll miss serving as trustee.
"I'll probably go to a couple meetings (and) sit in the back," he said.
Starkey, who unsuccessfully sought the Republican Party nomination for a Lake County Board seat this year, didn't rule out another run for elected office down the road.
"I don't know that I'm done yet," she said.