Tough choices in Round Lake Park
Municipal choices in Round Lake Park won't be easy this election, partially because some of the options remain hazy at best.
For mayor, incumbent Jean McCue leads the Vision of Integrity and Progress party, comprising Robert Seminary, Patricia Graham and Robert Cerretti. Challenging for the mayoral job is Bill Baczek, leading the RLP For Change party, which also includes trustee candidates Donna Cox and Martin Nelson.
We endorse McCue and incumbents Seminary and Nelson for two of the three, 4-year trustee jobs, though with some reservations.
McCue knows what needs to be done to draw business to Round Lake Park, pointing out that infrastructure such as sewer lines must be in place to attract development. She supports a bond referendum that would provide $1.5 million to refurbish the downtown stretch of Route 134 but would also lower a coming tax refund to residents from $160 or $180 to about $45 a year.
It is unlikely voters will approve such a measure, though both McCue and Baczek agree the area needs serious help. That's why, as Baczek has pointed out, it is troubling that the board recently allowed a more than $100,000 revitalization grant to expire, unused.
Why that happened is a mystery: Seminary says it wasn't enough to complete what needed to be done and Nelson cannot explain why he watched as the money slipped away. Options in the current administration are a mixed bag, but it is even less certain what kind of trustees the non-incumbents would make.
Graham, Cerretti and Cox have not taken stands on important village issues like a possible budget deficit and have yet to offer specific plans for what they want to accomplish. Of the three, though, Cerretti seems most likely to be able to handle the demands of the position, and, with reservations, we give him our endorsement.
Baczek might make a successful mayoral run in the future but his current plans - such as one for a renewal of the Neighborhood Watch program - seem impractical. McCue is encouraged to follow up on her nascent ideas and, this time, use any grant money she can get.