Endorsement: Wegman for Kane County recorder

Republican incumbent Sandy Wegman is running for a seventh term as the Kane County recorder of deeds.

But the Elgin resident is facing opposition from Democratic challenger Marisela Villegas, a political newcomer from Aurora.

The recorder’s office is the custodian of all the land records in the county.

Wegman, who has been the recorder since 2000, says she is seeking reelection to maintain the integrity of those records and to ensure the public can continue to access them online at no cost. Kane was among the first collar counties to make land records viewable online for free. Wegman says she fears a new recorder would implement a paid system for viewing the documents on a website.

Wegman says future improvements for the office include a plan to move information to the cloud. She says the change will allow the recorder’s office to eliminate all or most of its physical servers and reduce costs.

In speaking with Wegman, we found she likes discussing what the office has accomplished during her tenure and says she enjoys serving the public.

We wanted to chat with Villegas about her vision for the office. However, she never responded to our calls and emails and didn’t complete a candidate questionnaire.

While Villegas disappointed us by not being responsive, Wegman impressed us with her experience and enthusiasm for the job. Wegman is endorsed.