Euker, Weider, Beaudoin win Lake Zurich trustee seats
Lake Zurich's village board will have a new look with two incumbents returning and one challenger ousting a sitting trustee, according to unofficial election results.
Newcomer Mary Beth Euker received the most votes Tuesday with 1,488, followed by incumbent trustees Greg Weider with 1,473 votes and Jim Beaudoin with 1,395, with all 13 precincts reporting. Trustee Jeffrey Halen, who ran as an independent and opposed a significant development last fall, garnered 1,257 votes.
Euker, Beaudoin and Weider were on the Lake Zurich Proud political slate headed by Mayor Thomas Poynton.
Euker, 57, is an attorney. She has been active in village life, starting a not-for-profit children's' theater company.
Voters know "I spend my time volunteering for others," without expecting anything in return, she said.
She thinks her experience as a litigator will be useful to the village board but "the first thing I need to do is learn the job," Euker said.
Downtown redevelopment was one of the key issues in the village board trustee race for three 4-year seats.
Weider, Euker and Beaudoin had similar views on revitalizing downtown. Halen, 48, a marketing and product management professional elected as a trustee in 2009, was the lone dissenter in a 5-1 village board vote last November backing a redevelopment agreement for apartments on the northwest corner of Old Rand Road and Main Street. He contended a comprehensive review should be done for downtown instead of allowing developers take command.
"I've been on the board for eight years and I really appreciate that residents voted me in twice, and for the opportunity to be their voice and represent them for the betterment of Lake Zurich," Halen said.
Beaudoin, a 43-year-old business executive, was elected to the village board in 2013. He said part of the problem for downtown is businesses tend to gravitate toward the heavily traveled Rand Road corridor.
"We want to continue the work we've done for the past four years," Beaudoin said, explaining that includes encouraging residential development downtown to revitalize business there.
Weider, 50, an executive director of a nonprofit organization, was appointed to the board in December.