Endorsements: Fitton, Tiedje, Willis for Inverness trustee

An energetic insurance agency owner-operator is running to unseat one of three incumbents on the Inverness village board.

Hugh Masterson, a 20-year resident of the village and a former member of the St. Viator High School board, says one of his goals is to help village officials communicate better with the public.

Masterson's problem is that he's running against three men with long track records of public service - Timothy Tiedje, a trustee for 16 years, who has chaired the tree commission for 27 years; Russell Fitton, a trustee since 2010 who has long been active in area sports organizations; and John Willis, whose latest tenure on the village board goes back to 2007.

They've got strong records of accomplishment. The gutsy move to create Inverness' own police department is saving taxpayers an estimated $1 million a year over the contract for service Inverness used to pay. And the village's AAA bond rating with a healthy reserve is testament to the board's sound management of village finances.

We endorse all three incumbents - Fitton, Tiedje and Willis - for the three seats up for election on April 2. They've earned re-election.

That said, we also urge them to strongly consider Masterson's ideas for improving communications - and especially his suggestion that Inverness look at social media as a way to communicate, in particular, with younger residents.