Voters To Make Picks In Packed Races In Crystal Lake, Cary

CRYSTAL LAKE AND CARY, IL — It will soon be again time to head to your local polling place to make your selections for local mayoral, city council and school board races.

Election Day is Tuesday for several local races across McHenry County. For those wishing to take a peak at your sample ballot before you head to the polls, you can do so here. And if you want to find out where your polling place is, the McHenry County Clerk's Office has information on that on their website.

In McHenry County, there are several packed city council and school board races, including Woodstock's city council race where nine candidates are vying for three open seats. Village board and city council races in Cary, Algonquin and Crystal Lake are all contested this year, and Mayor Haig Haleblian, who is running uncontested as a write-in contest, is looking to win a second term as Crystal Lake's mayor.

Haleblian was appointed as acting mayor of Crystal Lake in May 2020 after the sudden death of longtime Mayor Aaron Shepley. He was also picked by voters in April 2021 in a special election to continue in the post.

Haleblian had been a Crystal Lake city councilor for three years when he was picked to step into the role as acting mayor after Shepley, who served as Crystal Lake's mayor for 21 years, died in his sleep at age 56.

Haleblian says he will be focused on holding the line on property taxes in Crystal Lake, which has the lowest property tax rate in McHenry County, according to Haleblian's campaign website. He's also focused on attracting commercial and residential development to the "old Walmart property," which has sat vacant along Route 14 for years in Crystal Lake.

Haig, who owns Exceed Floor and Home, says working to attract and retain small businesses is also important to Crystal Lake

"Small businesses are part of the life-blood of Crystal Lake providing jobs for local residents and enhancing the economic development of Crystal Lake, which means less reliance on property taxes," he wrote on his campaign website.

Meanwhile, many school board races in the area have several candidates vying for open seats, and state education officials say they are curious to see what the turnover rate for candidates will be this election as several new candidates hope to pick up open seats in many packed races across the Chicago area, including McHenry County.

At the same time, incumbents who made it through heated school board meetings — some even facing safety issues and threats from parents peeved over COVID policies — are ready to hand the baton to someone else.

Among candidates who told Patch in recent months they'd be stepping down is Joe Stevens, who was first appointed to the D300 school board in 2006 and then elected to his current seat in 2007.

The District 300 school board race is among the more contentious in the area with eight candidates vying for three open seats.

After 17 years on the board, Stevens told Patch in December that it's time for "new blood." Stevens, who is 77 years old, says he will miss being a part of the school board.

"In reality, I will miss it but these last few years have been especially difficult with the pandemic, and a very vocal minority who attack us on a regular basis," he said. "My hope is that whomever replaces me on the board will have one goal and only one goal, the truly best interests socially, emotionally, and educationally of the children of this district."

Leslie Lamarca, who was first elected to the D300 school board in 2019, also will not be running for re-election.

Incumbents Stephen J. Fiorentino, who will be seeking his third term as a school board member, and Nancy Zettler, the board's vice president who will vie for a second term, are running for re-election as are six other newcomers.

• 8 Candidates File To Run For D300 School Board

Other packed school board races we will be watching include Cary Community Consolidated School District 26, where five candidates are vying for three open seats; and Huntley Consolidated District 158, where nine candidates are seeking three open seats. In addition, seven candidates are vying for three seats on the Community Unit School District 47 school board, and Fox River Grove Grade School District 3 has six candidates vying for three seats.

Thomas Bertrand, executive director at the Illinois Association of School Boards, told Patch earlier this year that the typical turnover rate for school board races during an election is 20 percent. That refers to the rate of incumbents who either lose their seat to a different candidate or who decide not to run at all.

Officials expected last election, which was in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, to have a higher turnover rate. But many incumbents stayed the course and that rate stayed around 20 percent. This election, he said, may be different.

"We will see. I think a lot of board members hung in there and endured during the pandemic, and now that we are having a return to normalcy, they are tired," Bertrand said. "Some board members, they wanted to see the district through the pandemic and now it's time to hand it off to someone else."

The differences vary by communities and much of the interest, and disinterest, is still fueled by COVID-related issues and school board meeting headaches, Bertrand said. During the pandemic, parents voiced strong opinions regarding thoughts on masking and other policies effecting their children.

Districts where school boards dealt with higher stress levels during meetings may see fewer incumbents deciding to run again, according to school officials. Meanwhile, more interest from parents and the community on how school boards are run and district policies is fueling interest in various districts.

"But certainly where you saw contentious board meetings, there seems to be more interest," said Bertrand.

As for other local races we will be watching this election, the Crystal Lake City Council lake has five candidates vying for three open seats. Two incumbents, Ellen Brady and Brett Hopkins, will face three newcomers, Denise Smith, Donald Kountz and Robert Brechbiel.

We sent candidate questionnaires to all Crystal Lake City Council members and received responses from the following candidates, which you can check out below:

• Brett Hopkins
• Robert Brechbiel
• Denise Smith

We also sent candidate questionnaires to District 26 candidates and received the following responses:

• Nancy Swart
• Jason Janczak
• Deanna Darling

Other contested races include the Cary Board of Trustee, Crystal Lake Park District Commissioner, Cary Fire Protection District board of trustees and Cary Library Board.

More on Patch

• Crystal Lake Mayor Files For Re-Election
• More Early Voting Locations Open Monday
• Confusion Arises Over Where D26 Candidates Should File