LAKE IN THE HILLS – In May, for the first time in 12 years, the village will have a new leader.
Village President Ed Plaza announced in the village newsletter that he will not seek a fourth term.
“I have thoroughly enjoyed every moment I have been allowed to serve as your village president and I will miss it,” Plaza wrote, and discussed some of the village’s accomplishments during his tenure.
Growth in the late 1990s led to the village becoming a home-rule municipality under Plaza. He also was president during the construction of a new village hall and expansion of the police department and public works.
He said upgrades were made to the village’s water system, which included the addition of several wells. Lakes in the village have been dredged and internal roads improved systematically, Plaza said.
Safety improvements also were made at the Lake in the Hills Airport.
“These improvements have happened over the years because we have a core of thoughtful, hardworking trustees, each and every one of them putting the village ahead of any personal interests,” Plaza wrote. “Not half of what has positively occurred in our village over these years would have been possible without the village staff.”
There is at least one person hoping to succeed Plaza.
Trustee Paul Mulcahy said he plans to run for village president in the April election. The retired U.S. Postal Service worker has been collecting signatures for his election petition.
Mulcahy’s term as trustee is set to expire in April 2015.
Mulcahy, 60, first served as trustee from 1997 to 2001, when he lost re-election. He then served for five years as chairman of the Planning and Zoning Commission before being re-elected to the Village Board in 2007.
“I thought I could do more as a trustee,” Mulcahy said. “It’s a greater scope of what the village is all about.”
Mulcahy said he didn’t want to immediately discuss what he hopes to accomplish as village president, but said the village is running well.
“I don’t think the village needs wholesale change,” Mulcahy said. “Even at the Village Board level, I think continuity is very important.”
Run for office
Those interested in running for village president, village clerk or for one of the three village trustee seats up for election can pick up packets between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. at Village Hall, 600 Harvest Gate. Petitions have to be returned during between Dec. 17 and Dec. 24.
