Not much change on Wheeling village board
With all 22 precincts reporting, Wheeling’s village board incumbents rolled to easy victories on Tuesday.
Securing three spots on the board were Ray Lang, who led all candidates with 1,052 votes, David Vogel who had 1,001 votes and Robert Heer who had 957 votes.
Mary Papantos, who gained the backing of former Village President Sheila Schultz, got 796 votes.
“I think voters are happy with the way the village is going right now,” said Lang who also modestly attributed his top finish to his name having top billing on the ballot.
Papantos wasn’t surprised by the results.
“I knew I was a long shot,” she said. “It’s tough running against three incumbents.”
A 1978 Wheeling High School graduate, Lang has been on the board for two years. Before that, he served 11 years on Wheeling’s zoning board of appeals followed by nine years on the combined Wheeling Plan Commission.
During the election, Papantos said Wheeling trustees don’t listen to residents and have made serious errors in the past few years, like buying the former Wickes site for $3.8 million.
Lang, Vogel and Heer stood by their decision to buy the Wickes building in 2008 after the company declared bankruptcy. The building will be demolished this month.
Papantos has some advice for the incumbents.
“Be more open with people, they want to know what’s going on,” said Papantos, who would consider running again for the board in two years. “If people aren’t allowed to know what’s going on, they assume the worst.”
Former Wheeling Village President William Hein will also be back on the village board. He was certified as a write-in candidate for an open two-year term and since no one was on the ballot for that seat he is the de facto winner.
Hein was village president for one term, 1977-1981, when he was beaten by then Trustee Sheila Schultz by fewer than 100 votes. He ran against her again in 1985 and lost by a much greater margin. He lost a bid for the presidency to Greg Klatecki in 2001 and a bid for the park board in 2003.