Elgin library incumbents win re-election
All four incumbents on the Gail Borden Public Library board won re-election Tuesday, according to unofficial results.
Tiffany Henderson was the top vote-getter with 4,314 votes, followed by Jean Bednar with 4,228, Amanda Garcia with 4,101 and Herbert Gross with 3,537. They were challenged by Winfried Cooper and Randy Hopp, who finished fifth and sixth, respectively.
Henderson, 40, said she was elated at the results. "It's still kind of surreal, because I did this before and I didn't win," she said.
She and Garcia unsuccessfully ran in 2017 and were appointed later that year to fill vacant seats on the board. This time, Henderson said, she could tout her record and the library's programs and accomplishments. "We have a phenomenal library," she said.
Bednar, the current board president, said she was pleased voters supported the four incumbents.
"I'd like to think that it's because people are happy with what is happening at the library and they support that entity," she said. "It helps that there is no controversy and things are going really well."
Henderson said one issue that people really responded to was the upcoming unveiling of the library's bookmobile, scheduled for next week. Henderson lives in a Bartlett neighborhood where residents have among the district's lowest library card-holding rates, she said.
"When I mentioned, 'The library is now coming to you,' that was really a game changer," she said.
The message from voters was clear, Henderson said. "'Keep doing what you're doing.' That's really what they were saying."