Mayor Taps Cindy Traustch to Fill Dist. 1 Trustee Seat

Mayor Dave Heilmann has submitted his recommendation for to the

was selected out of seven candidates vying to fill the seat vacated by Jerry Hurckes.

“I feel honored,” Trautsch said. “I hope I can fill the shoes of Jerry.

Heilmann said he had a difficult decision to make.

“All of the candidates were qualified,” the mayor said. “I spend many weeks and hours trying to encourage public input so that residents could see what was going on.”

Trustees have 30 days to decide whether or not to accept the mayor’s recommendation. While on the village board’s meeting agenda for this Tuesday, Heilmann was not sure if trustees would table voting until later this month.

“It’s up to [the village board] what they want to do,” Heilmann said. “I did tell the board I took five weeks and certainly didn’t expect them to make a decision after five days. That wasn’t what I was implying by putting it on the agenda.”

“It would be great if they wanted to vote on Tuesday, but it’s OK if they want to take some time.” Heilmann added.

The village board has 30 days to vote on the mayor’s recommendation. Should they choose to decline it, the mayor can make a second choice. If trustees vote down the second recommendation, the mayor selects one of the two applicants to fill the seat.

The appointed trustee will fill the seat until the April 2013, after which a special election for a 2-year term will be held.

Heilmann said he was impressed by Trautsch’s intelligence and her involvement in the community of over two decades. Trautsch was a latecomer to the applicant pool and did not speak at the public forum at on Sept. 20.

“Her involvement in the homeowners association, the school park, it’s kind of a microcosm of what a trustee does,” Heilmann said.

He said Trautsch was his choice, although he did ask Hurckes to fill him in on each candidate’s background.

“I did discuss the process with Jerry but he never said, ‘pick candidate X,’” the mayor said. “I do value his opinion.”