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Unite Glenview slates candidates
Updated: December 11, 2012 10:07AM
GLENVIEW — As the deadline to file to be put on the April ballot draws closer, a slate of candidates introduced themselves to the Glenview community Saturday.
In the Glenview Police Department’s community room the Unite Glenview Party slate was introduced to the public. The four Unite Glenview Party candidates will be vying for village president and three trustee seats on the Glenview Village Board.
About 20 people, made up of party supporters, showed up the morning of Dec. 8 to see the new candidates and sign petitions to get them on the April ballot.
Glenview Village Board Trustee Deborah Karton will be running for a third term as part of the slate. She is running for re-election because she enjoys doing it.
“I love it,” she said. “It’s one of the most amazing opportunities of my life.”
She is the lead advocate in successfully petitioning for Willow Road being widened, which she announced at Saturday’s meeting. She currently represents Glenview on the board of directors of Northern Cook County’s Solid Waste Agency.
Karton, 45, said it has been a privilege to serve on the board and says the future is exciting for the village, with its business development projects in downtown Glenview coming in and how for a time those opportunities were hard to come by. “Look at how we (village board) handled the recession and look at how we handled the budget,” she said.
If elected, she said she and her running mates would continue to keep the village’s financial house in order and maintain the village’s AAA bond rating.
Paul Detlefs, 57, also touted how the village’s downtown will soon be getting an economic boost from business development in the area. He’s running for re-election as a trustee on the village board and has served since 2005.
“Our biggest challenge has been keeping our financial house in order,” he said. “We’ve done a pretty good job at that.”
Detlefs has concentrated his village board efforts on financial planning and reporting, oversight of information technology initiatives, and streamlining of processes for efficiency and transparency. The village’s Tax Increment Finance Retirement Plan and planning for the new library are some of the projects he’s worked on while in office.
Detlefs said he wants to serve another term because he enjoys it. “I like to serve and I think we’ve got a good team,” he said.
Giving back is why John Hinkamp, who is running for trustee for the first time, wants to be elected to the village board.
“I’ve lived in Glenview 19 years and I love Glenview and I think it’s a wonderful community,” he said. “I think it’s important for people to give back and that’s why I’m here.”
Hinkamp, 53, has served on Glenview School District 34 Board of Education from 2007 to 2011. If elected, he would replace Pat Cuisinier on the board.
He considers being selected to run as part of Unite Glenview Party a humbling experience and, if elected, said he will work hard and learn from his peers on the board who have more experience. “I will be doing a lot of listening,” he said.
Jim Patterson sat in the audience during village board meetings after serving on the board from 2003 to 2011. He would ask his share of questions about what was going on, but quickly found out he missed being a member of the village board.
“I like it and I couldn’t stay away,” he said.
So he’s coming back, this time running for village president seat as part of Unite Glenview Party. If elected, Patterson would replace current village president Kerry Cummings.
Cummings was at the meeting showing her support for the new slate. She said running for the village president seat for more than two terms hasn’t been done in Glenview.
“That’s been our tradition,” she said. “People thought it was good for the community.”
Patterson said making sure the village maintains its fiduciary responsibilities and AAA bond rating is a key priority.
“I believe we (Unite Glenview Party) can help move the community forward,” she said.
So far the slate is uncontested, but potential candidates have until Dec. 26 to gather petitions and file to be on the April ballot.
