4 changes in Libertyville leadership guaranteed
Four Libertyville village board seats flipped in the 2009 election, as the mayor and three trustees were ousted by a slate of candidates led by attorney Terry Weppler.
A change of the guard with four village board newcomers again is assured in the April 6 election, but for different reasons.
Weppler and three trustees are not seeking reelection, meaning those seats will have new occupants.
“I don't think we'll miss a beat,” even though the turnover will result in a new board, Weppler said.
A lifelong resident, Weppler let it be known months ago he would not seek reelection. The three trustees followed suit, citing wishes to free time for family and other activities and allow for a fresh perspective.
The board makeup would further change if longtime Trustee Donna Johnson runs for mayor and wins, meaning four trustee seats would be filled by newcomers. Johnson is in the middle of a term and would remain on the board if she ran for mayor and lost.
She declined to comment until after the first day to file nominating petitions for local elections. Seats on the boards of municipalities, townships and school, park, library and fire districts will be contested April 6.
In Libertyville, the exit of Weppler and trustees Rich Moras, Jay Justice and Pat Carey means more than 40 years of village board experience will be leaving.
Weppler, Moras and Justice were part of the victorious slate in 2009, which at the time was the first contested mayoral race in 20 years. The trio, along with Todd Gaines, rode to victory on a message of dissatisfaction with a lack of responsiveness from village officials.
Since then, Weppler, Moras and Justice have been constants on the board. Gaines left due to business demands in September 2016 and was replaced by Carey. The former Libertyville police chief served out the remainder of Gaines' term and was elected in 2017.
“You need new people,” said Weppler, who plans to stay in town but would like to spend more time at his second home in Oklahoma.
“By the time I'm done, I will have attended 276 board meetings — that's not counting committee meetings. It does tie you down,” he added.
Carey admits to becoming a “cold weather wimp” after retiring as police chief.
“I want to have the option to spend part of the year, maybe the entire year, in Florida,” he said. “I can't do that and serve on the board at the same time.”
Moras, who has chaired the village board's finance committee for 12 years, said government moves slowly by design.
He emphasized it has taken the work of many, but much of what he wanted to accomplish has been done. That includes securing voter approval for a local sales tax to fix streets and taking actions to shore up village finances.
“We have a much better forward-looking picture of what it takes to be sustainable,” he said. “It's time to let somebody with a different set of skills,” serve, he added.
Probable candidates who have taken out nominating petitions include: Matt Krummick, a member of the advisory plan commission since 2015 and chair of the zoning board of appeals; Matt Hickey, an advocate for strong neighborhoods who worked for major banks as a lender and community investor for 26 years; and Dan Love, a recently retired Medline Industries executive who serves on the Libertyville Civic Center board and co-chairs its annual Libertyville Days.