With roughly 84 percent of precincts tallied, Janet Kelenson led the field of five candidates for Oak Park Public Library Trustee with 3,845 votes, followed by newcomers Elizabeth Guillette (3,499) and Lane Hart (3,396). Incumbent John Hayes trailed with roughly 15 percent of the vote, followed by Charlie Rossiter at 13 percent.
Hart said getting the endorsement of both local newspapers helped his cause, as did name recognition from his years leading the Friends of the Oak Park Library. He campaigned “a fair amount” at the three libraries and said a pretty well organized letter-writing campaign also helped.
Looking ahead, he would like to take a good look at revenue streams, particularly “non-traditional” revenue streams, “in a more disciplined fashion since no one has the stomach for more tax increases.”
“I believe there are some that we can tap into,” he said. “The board could use a little more creativity and thinking outside the box. I look forward to my term.”
Kelenson, who has been on the board since 1991, said she appreciates the continued support of the voters. She said she still has plenty of energy and enthusiasm, and, in fact, was looking forward to heading to Springfield on Thursday for the annual library advocacy day. They have concerns about a bill proposing mandatory computer filtering which would amount to an unfunded mandate. “We have other things we would like to do with our budget,” she said.
Kelenson is also committed to continued intergovernmental cooperation through the Council of Governments, and recently attended a meeting on interlibrary cooperation in Elmwood Park which showed promise in terms of cost-savings and pooling of resources.
She is committed as well to a cooperative approach with schools and local governments on narrowing the achievement gap.
Though she’s disappointed about the loss of dedicated board members like Katrina Young-Weekley (who did not run for re-election) and John Hayes, “it was a strong field of candidates, and whoever comes on the board, we will continue to function well.”
Elizabeth Guillette could not be reached for comment.
-Ken Trainor