Hoefert, Saccotelli, Rogers win Mount Prospect trustee races; Korn narrowly ousted

Mount Prospect's senior trustee grabbed most of the votes in the race for three seats on the village board.

Paul Hoefert, who began serving as a trustee in 1991, was elected to another term and Trustee Richard Rogers, who was appointed two years ago to take the seat left vacant when Arlene Juracek was elected mayor, was elected to another term too.

But Trustee John Korn fell to as newcomer Colleen Saccotelli ran second to Hoefert to win her first term.

With all 35 precincts counted in the unofficial tally, Korn ran 67 votes behind Rogers in the competition for the third and final seat up for election.

Trailing the field were challengers John Dyslin, Kevin Nohelty and Kevin Grouwinkel.

With all 35 precincts counted, Hoefert wrapped up his re-election victory with a commanding 2,439 votes, as Saccotelli with 1,587, and Rogers with 1,466, ran second and third.

They were followed by Korn with 1,399, Dyslin with 1,365, Nohelty with 1,210 and Grouwinkel with 589.

"I'm feeling good," Hoefert said. "My campaign crew worked it hard, and the results are obviously great to see."

As for Saccotelli, she said, "I'm so very honored to have the support of Mount Prospect residents and I'm excited and proud to serve the citizens."

Rogers credited "friends. A lot of friends. We did a lot of walking through the neighborhoods. I talked to a lot of people."

As for Korn, he said he feels he has made a positive contribution on the board.

But, "We knew from the get-go that it was going to be a difficult race," especially with seven candidates running for three seats.

He also said, "With a woman running, there were going to be a lot of gals who were going to vote for her because she was a gal."

Dyslin said he was disappointed at his finish, but also with the low turnout.

"It's difficult to overcome incumbency, when there is a low voter turnout," he said.

The incumbents came under fire during the campaign over the lack of economic development downtown, the $6.5 million settlement paid by the village to Ye Olde Town Inn owner Tod Curtis and his lawyers, and the general secrecy surrounding some village business - including the family leave and subsequent retirement of village manager Mike Janonis after 20 years.

(The village is not releasing Janonis's separation agreement until Wednesday morning, and the board is voting on it Wednesday night.)

Dyslin is making his second run for trustee, and his campaign, like last time, was highly, highly critical of the current board and administration and based largely on the need for change.

He and Grouwinkel in particular are upset about the $6.5 million settlement Mount Prospect paid to Curtis and his lawyers to settle Curtis's racketeering lawsuit.

All four challengers said they think the board was unnecessarily secretive about the suit and Grouwinkel in particular thinks the village's treatment of Curtis was bad and that they brought the suit on themselves.

The village announced in August it had agreed to settle its dispute with Curtis, who sued village officials in 2008, accusing them of breaking federal racketeering laws by trying to seize his land and redevelop it without him. In making the settlement, Mount Prospect continued to deny all his charges.

About four months after the settlement was announced, Curtis closed Ye Olde Town Inn.

Nohelty and Saccotelli are less critical but want more to happen in terms of economic development and transparency.