Mundelein mayor postpones State of the Village speech due to technical glitch
Technical problems at Mundelein's village hall prompted Mayor Steve Lentz to postpone his planned State of the Village speech Monday night.
The annual speech now is scheduled for 6 p.m. March 8. That's when the village board next is scheduled to gather.
Lentz had been planning to talk about downtown redevelopment, the recently announced "Made for You, Mundelein" marketing campaign and other efforts. A plan to again shut down a small section of Park Street to allow some restaurants to offer outdoor service on the roadway later this year was expected to come up, too.
But folks who went to mundelein.org to watch the speech saw only a test pattern and a message about an unsupported signal.
Lentz apologized for the glitch at the start of the village board meeting that was scheduled to follow the speech.
Lentz is seeking a third term as Mundelein's mayor in the April 6 election. He first was elected in 2013 and was reelected by a mere five-vote margin in 2017.
This time around, Lentz has three challengers, each with years of political experience. Those contenders are village Trustees Dawn Abernathy and Robin Meier and Mundelein High School board member Tom Ouimet.
Meier was among the opponents Lentz defeated to win the mayor's chair in 2013.
Abernathy and Lentz long had been political allies, but they've been on the outs in recent years as Abernathy has criticized spending at village hall, particularly the Lentz-driven purchase and demolition of buildings on Route 45 near Diamond Lake Road to make way for a new lakefront park.
The village board eventually scuttled the park plan, so the land stands vacant.