Endorsement: Marquardt, Oppenheim and Forster for Vernon Hills village board

This endorsement is a consensus opinion of the Daily Herald Editorial Board.

One can argue Vernon Hills is a suburb "in the center of it all," or at least in the center of Lake County. Vernon Hills certainly can say it's a retail and overall economic hub, with the likes of Hawthorn Mall (slowly becoming "Hawthorn 2.0") and Mellody Farm, and so much more along Milwaukee Avenue and Route 60. Overseeing all this is a mix of longtime and newer trustees, including a few running for 4-year seats this April. Michael Marquardt is one of the longtime trustees, on the board for 19 years and a resident for more than 40 years who knows what the village was like when it was largely farmland. Now the public works crew leader in Hawthorn Woods who has run businesses in a few fields, especially auto sales, he is well-versed in the development big and small throughout Vernon Hills and showa knowledge of newer trends such as alternative energy.

On that newer side is Nancy Forster, who works for the nonprofit Family Service Center and has been involved in sustainability efforts in Vernon Hills, which are as yet in the early stages. A board appointee who has served for 2½ years, she also wants to place mental health services and safety among the village's priorities in light of last year's mass shooting in Highland Park.

In the middle is pediatrician David Oppenheim, finishing a full 4-year term after serving a 2-year term. He's a former "rabble-rouser," as he says, who got involved in village politics over concerns about development near homes and who says he now has a broader understanding of how village business works.

All three say the village's three TIF districts are paying off; all three see the often-logjammed Route 45 as needing addressing.

Also running for the board is Sandra Hernandez-Aguirre, a former Zion Elementary District 6 school board member who is working in real estate. She lists as priorities transparency in village business as well as, like the others, improving roads and ways for pedestrians to get around, supporting first responders to improve safety, and sustainability. She doesn't show the experience yet to take the place of the institutional knowledge Marquardt brings, the evolving knowledge of Oppenheim and the newer ideas of Forster. Those three are endorsed.