Husband joining wife as Hainesville village board trustee
With George Duberstein's election to a Hainesville trustee seat, he and his wife will become one-third of the village board.
Neither he nor his wife, Trustee Georgeann Duberstein, foresees any problems with the arrangement that's perfectly legal. Georgeann Duberstein was elected to the village board in 2009 and is in the middle of her second, 4-year term.
George Duberstein said he's been a longtime community volunteer who has attended village board meetings since 2002 and worked on issues with his wife in that time. He said serving as one of six trustees with his wife won't be different from some friends winding up on the village board together.
"I know a lot about the village, and I can hit the ground running," George Duberstein said Wednesday.
Unofficial results from Hainesville's two precincts in Tuesday's election show incumbent Dena Beth Hein's 133 votes led the pack of six candidates who competed for three seats. Hein was followed by incumbent Kevin Barrett with 123 tallies and George Duberstein's 113,
Rounding out the field were newcomers Mark Typlin with 107 votes, Jacki Brunk with 60 and Michael Russell with 47.
Not everyone in Hainesville supports having a husband and wife on the village board. Russell said he's "quite concerned" about two family members from the same household serving on the village board at the same time.
"This represents one-third of the voices in our great village," Russell said before the election "and to have this much control in one house is not in the village's best interest."
Georgeann Duberstein said she and her husband cannot push through anything on the village board on their own because there are four other trustees and Mayor Linda Soto, who breaks tied votes.
"We're not a majority," Georgeann Duberstein said. "We're not a quorum."
While she applauds George Duberstein's many years of community volunteer work and interest in village government, Soto said she still does not approve of family members or spouses serving together as elected village officials. She said the test for the couple may come if they are on opposite sides of an issue.
"It can be harder to keep out that emotional element," Soto said Wednesday.
Hainesville has had a father-son team on the village board. Wallace Stilz II and his son, Wallace III, were village trustees from 2005 to 2007.