Familiar Faces Remain Trustees on Village Board

Incumbents Jeff Werfel, Ron Jarvis and Kevin Waldenstrom won seats on the Grayslake Village Board after running against Quin O’Brien in the April 5 election.

The four vied for three open seats on the seven-member board, comprised of six trustees and the mayor.  

Werfel received the highest number of votes with 1,381 votes. Jarvis received 1,307 votes and Waldenstrom received 1,131 votes. O’Brien was defeated with 734 votes.

“I’m very happy, very pleased,” Werfel said about the win.

Werfel has been on the board of trustees since 2003.  He is a former marketing, management consultant and is a current legislative aide to State Representative Sandy Cole of the 62nd District.

Werfel said he looks forward to continuing to balance business development, manage the budget and finances [and] deliver high levels of service while keeping taxes low.

“It’s very humbling to get voters’ confidence. I’m looking forward to another four years,” he said.

Jarvis highlighted board members’ ability to communicate and work well together when commenting on the election’s results.

“It’s great. We’re working really well together, let’s keep it going,” he said. “We thought we were doing a good job, evidently everyone else thinks that too.“

Jarvis will be entering his second term and has been a resident of Grayslake since 2003. Jarvis is a veteran of the United States Navy and has been involved in federal service for over 25 years. He currently works as a regional telecommunications manager for the federal government. 

When looking toward the new term, he said, he looks forward to helping the board maintain a balanced budget, attracting more businesses to the area and focusing more attention on the Route 83 corridor to encourage more development opportunities there.  

“We’re feeling like we’re doing a lot better than some,” he said about the village in comparison to other communities. He looks forward to helping the board continue in the same direction.

Waldenstrom was appointed in 2009 to fill the vacant spot left by current Grayslake Mayor Rhett Taylor. Waldenstrom has lived in the Grayslake area for 24 years. He is the owner of Mold Seekers, a mold inspection and remediation company, and is a Commercial Division Manager, Broker Associate of Century 21.

“I’m excited. I want to thank the voters for keeping me in,” he said.

Waldenstrom said he is looking forward to another good four years and “keeping the village running smoothly.”

The six trustees of the village board are elected to serve overlapping four-year terms and may be elected for an indefinite number of terms.

The results posted on the Lake County Clerk’s website are not official and do not include provisional ballots nor late arriving vote by mail ballots.

Electricity Referendum

Over 80 percent of voters voted yes to the public question on the ballot regarding electricity rates while nearly 20 percent voted no.

The referendum asked whether the village should be able to seek competitive pricing bids for electrical services under a single contract that would include resident and small businesses.

“It is hoped that by combining electrical service for all individual customers into a single bid, consumers will have lower electric bills and save money,” a press release from the village stated. Anyone who does not want to participate in the program may opt out of the program and stay with his or her current provider, according to the village.

Low Voter Turnout

Many voters stayed home Tuesday. The Lake County Clerk's website reported a 14.98 percent voter turnout with 60,787 ballots cast out of 405,690 registered voters.