Endorsements: Shaw, Prigge, Dunne, Gilliam, Armstrong for Elgin City Council

The Elgin City Council, due to its population growth in recent years, has added two seats for this election. All told, 22 people filed petitions for five available seats. In the primary for the lone 2-year seat, Toby Shaw was endorsed out of seven candidates. He will meet Craig Dresang in the April election. Of the 13 candidates vying for the four 4-year terms, we endorse incumbents John Prigge, Rich Dunne and Bob Gilliam and a face familiar face around city hall, former city planner Tom Armstrong. He has decades of experience working on the vision of what Elgin could be. And that’s valuable. Prigge has been a strong taxpayer advocate during his first term, and he often comes out on the losing end of votes. But he’s a constructive member of the council. He and Shaw would be good checks to the status quo. Dunne, a former Elgin fire lieutenant, has done well in his first term. He doesn’t always take the popular position on the board. And Gilliam, who has served for more than 30 years, has helped see Elgin through many changes. That perspective, and his institutional knowledge, are worth keeping. Also running are Andrew Cuming, Mitchell Esterino, Terry Gavin, Cody Holt, Rosemarie Kahn, Stephen Knight, Jerri McCue, Carol Rauschenberger and Grace Richard.