Endorsement: Michels for Sugar Grove village president

The race for village president in Sugar Grove is a contentious one.

It pits 21-year incumbent Sean Michels, a construction manager, against Trustee Jennifer Konen, who works for a real estate broker.

Konen's candidacy arose out of opposition to a proposal a few years ago to build a massive warehouse/office project on 700 acres at Route 47 and I-88. She won election to a four-year term as trustee in 2019 as a write-in candidate.

Konen complains that with Michels, there is no trust, teamwork or transparency. She portrays Michels as a my-way-or-the-highway village president. She says trustees aren't very involved and much of the high-level discussion occurs outside of board meetings.

To those charges, Michels says trustees in town aren't particularly active, Konen notwithstanding, and that sometimes when developers float trial balloons, it's not productive to immediately hash out first steps in a public meeting.

Our history of covering municipal government gives some credence to that assertion.

Should Sugar Grove have a more engaged village board? Yes. Would it be helpful for the village president to assign trustees areas of expertise to explore and report out on? Absolutely. But we still find his knowledge and experience make him the more appealing candidate.

If he's re-elected, we urge Michels to get trustees more involved in the next four years and to make sure that Konen plays a significant role in supporting him in governing the village.

Michels is endorsed.