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Lake Zurich trustee takes former candidate to task for legal actions involving village politics

Lake Zurich board member Jonathan Sprawka blasted onetime trustee candidate Eric Dubiel for filing what Sprawka calls "frivolous suits against the village and trustees."

Sprawka made his comments at a village board meeting this week. When reached for comment, Dubiel called Sprawka's statement a "lie" because he did not file multiple lawsuits against the village. Dubiel admitted, however, that he has recently pursued two legal actions, both of which are related to the village or village politics.

Dubiel filed a complaint with the Lake County state's attorney's office alleging that Trustee Mary Beth Euker had a conflict of interest and should not be allowed to vote on the village's annual budget. The state's attorney's office began an investigation into the matter in July. The investigation was closed in September.

"It is the opinion of our office that there has not been a violation of the law in any way," a message from the state's attorney's office to the village on Sept. 28 read. "We obviously felt our office had an obligation to perform our due diligence in response to the complaint that was made, and we have done that."

Dubiel said he raised his concern because Euker is a co-founder of Cricket Theatre Company in Lake Zurich, a nonprofit children's community theater. Dubiel cited collaborations between Cricket and the village's recreation department, including classes for children hosted at Paulus Park Barn.

Dubiel, who ran for a seat on the village board this spring, also filed an order of protection against Janet Barron, who was the campaign manager for the slate of candidates led by Mayor Tom Poynton. Village Manager Ray Keller said the case was thrown out by a judge.

Sprawka called Dubiel's actions a waste of the village's tax dollars and said they had to stop.

When asked to respond to Sprawka's statement, Dubiel said he saw a lack of representation on the board and that there should be better representation for residents.

Dubiel finished last of four candidates vying for three seats on the board, collecting 702 votes to Euker's 1,754 votes, Greg Weider's 1,641 votes and Daniel Bobrowski's 1,627 votes.

Jonathan Sprawka
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