Endorsements: Ruffatto, Papantos, Krueger for Wheeling village board

In 2017, on the tail end of a controversy involving a former village president's use of a village-issued purchase card, we were open to calls for some new blood on the Wheeling village board.

Voters, though. were happy with the status quo, and, from a field of four candidates, reelected all three incumbents, two of whom - Mary M. Papantos and Mary C. Krueger - are back in 2021.

The board does have a dose of new thinking with the addition of James Ruffatto, who was appointed in 2019 and now is seeking his first full term. And the six-person race for three seats is filled out with a slate of candidates including Donald E. Waller, Laura Alicia Rodriguez and Kimberly Anne Scanlon.

We liked Waller in 2017 and endorsed him as a possible jolt of new energy, and we still are impressed by his familiarity with the challenges facing Wheeling and his ideas for addressing them. We like his slate mates, too, and are especially drawn to Rodriguez, who would certainly be an energetic and eager alternative for voters concerned that a town whose population is 40 percent Hispanic has no Hispanic representation on its six-person village board.

But liking does not always extend to endorsing, and as we contemplate the field this time and the issues that lie ahead, we're drawn to the experience, knowledge and commitment evident for both Papantos and Krueger and the earnest independence Ruffatto's entry into the picture brings.

The three incumbents provide consistency in a well-run village at a time when the disruption of COVID-19 and the emergence from the pandemic require a steady hand and creative and informed thinking. The challengers offer some intriguing alternatives, but they do not succeed in making a case that the current village board has been aloof and ineffective. Indeed, our observation is that the community continues to make positive strides forward in terms of both economic development and community relations. The three incumbents are the best combination of candidates to continue moving the community in that direction, and Krueger, Papantos and Ruffatto get our endorsement.