Barrington Hills trustee candidates make their case for election

Five candidates are making their cases on why they should be elected to the Barrington Hills village board.

Incumbents Bryan Croll and Brian Cecola will be joined on the ballot by Linda Cools, Debra Buettner and Louis Iacovelli in the April 2 election for three, 4-year trustee seats. Cools was an unsuccessful write-in candidate for trustee in 2017, while in the same year Iacovelli lost his attempt to topple Village President Martin McLaughlin.

All five trustee candidates participated in a joint Daily Herald Editorial Board group interview. As part of the wide-ranging discussion, the candidates cited why they are best suited for the village board.

Cools, a freelance public relations writer, said her longtime involvement as a community volunteer and village advocate, along with her attendance at Barrington Hills government meetings, are reasons she's qualified to be a trustee.

"I really want the job," Cools said. "Personally, I am a person of conviction, passion. I'm action-oriented and am very informed about the village."

Iacovelli, 54, a success manager at Salesforce and part-time emergency medical technician, said he has experience solving business problems and applying technology solutions to them, which would translate well on the village board.

"One of the reasons that I'm running is that I think something is awry in terms of the property values," Iacovelli said. "I think there's some things that could have been done better in terms of branding and marketing."

Croll, 47, who works in investments, was elected to the village board in 2015. He said he wants to return as a trustee to build on his past four years that include improvements in how the village is managed and a roughly 21 percent reduction in the property tax levy.

"I still feel there is more to do," Croll said. "I've gained a knowledge of the issues that the village faces. I'm chairman of the finance committee. And I'd like to continue to try to reduce our spending, reduce property tax levy and help our residents have the best government that they can have and follow through for my supporters."

Cecola, a 53-year-old business owner elected to the village board in 2015, said he's proud of his work as road and bridge committee chairman during the past four years. He said the 62-year-old village paved a record number of roads in that time.

"I'd like to keep going on our roads, keep maintaining our minimum of four miles of being paved," Cecola said. "I'd like to concentrate, if I'm re-elected, on our ditches and drainage."

Buettner, 57, a tax and transactional attorney, is a member of the village's advisory zoning board of appeals. She said her experience in working on zoning ordinances would benefit the village board.

"I can have more impact as a trustee than I've had as a zoning board of appeals member," Buettner said. "And I think that my technical background is a great help to understanding why we have some of the issues that we have with the zoning and what some of the possible solutions are."