New trustees take places on Wauconda board
Tom Shaw and Jeff Sode were sworn in as Wauconda's newest village board members during a festive meeting Tuesday night.
The duo replaced two-term veterans Ken Arnswald and Linda Starkey, neither of whom sought re-election in April.
Shaw, Sode and incumbent Chuck Black were the only candidates for the three board seats on the April ballot. One by one and accompanied by relatives, all three trustees recited their oaths of office with help from retired Judge Henry Tonigan III in a packed village boardroom.
Shaw, 51, is a senior web content specialist at Mitsubishi Electric Factory Automation in Vernon Hills. He's never before held public office, but he has volunteered as a member of Wauconda's Community Emergency Response Team and its Emergency Management Agency.
Shaw cited communicating with residents as a chief concern.
"Communications have changed greatly over the past few years, and we need to change with the times and adopt easier and more effective ways for the village to communicate with and listen to our residents," he said.
Sode, 62, is vice president of special projects at ThermFlo, a Buffalo Grove company. Like Shaw, he has never held elected office.
Sode has served on the Wauconda police commission board but must resign now that he's a trustee. He also worked on Wauconda's rebranding committee and volunteered during the summertime Cruise Night events.
Sode said he ran for the board "to make a positive difference with our community."
Black, 61, has been a trustee since 2011. Professionally, he's a program analyst with the CBRE real-estate firm in Schaumburg.
Arnswald and Starkey had been trustees since 2011, too. Both received parting gifts from Mayor Lincoln Knight on Tuesday before thanking voters, department heads, community volunteers and others in their last remarks from the dais.