Kozel has mixed feelings on election outcome

When the dust finally settled and all the results were in, Barrington village president write-in candidate Mike Kozel ended up with 627 votes — 32.9 percent of the ballots cast — in his challenge of incumbent Karen Darch on Election Day.

Kozel said he’s disappointed by how far he fell short of Darch’s 1,277 votes, but believes he proved there were other voices in town not being represented by the current village board.

“Write-in candidates have won elections,” Kozel said. “Is it difficult? Yes, it is difficult.”

Kozel says he didn’t intend his campaign to be a criticism of Darch so much as a way to demonstrate another perspective on getting things done.

At the center of his message was his concern about the redevelopment project on the southwest corner of Hough and Main streets downtown. His concerns centered around the project offering more office space on its upper floors instead of residential apartments.

Kozel said he expected to run for village trustee in two years and continue to make these concerns his platform.

“At this point I’m committed unless things dramatically change for the better,” Kozel said.