It’s morning again

Last week, an impressive scene played out in Dallas at the dedication ceremony for the George W. Bush Presidential Center.  All five living past and present presidents were on hand.  And despite the differences in their deeply held political perspectives, they all spoke respectfully, and at times, with much warmth and admiration of their colleagues.

This Monday evening the Barrington Hills community will have a chance to play out its own version of that scene as a new Village President, Martin McLaughlin, new Trustees Colleen Konicek-Hannigan, Michael Harrington, and returning Trustee Fritz Gohl are sworn into office.

The Observer sees this as an opportune time for outgoing President Bob Abboud to leave his tenure on the Village Board on a positive note.  Though the Observer has not always seen eye to eye with Abboud, we must acknowledge his years of public service to our residents.  The contributions made by Trustees Skip Gianopulos and Elaine Ramesh also warrant recognition.  In all cases, serving as an elected official, even in a community as small as ours, requires significant personal sacrifice and dedication, and for that, we are grateful.

Later this month, McLaughlin, Harrington and Konicek-Hannigan will formally meet for the first time as Village Board members along with Trustees Gohl, Meroni, Messer and Selman.  This new board will face many challenges as it seeks to improve management of the Village’s finances, as it negotiates the police union contract, as it deals with East Dundee and the Insurance Auto Auctions (IAA) proposal, and as it finds solutions to better fund the police pension fund.  These issues are not easy, so we hope our elected officials unite to cooperate for the good of their constituents.

The healing process should also extend to residents participating in our village government, whether during public comment at meetings, or to residents giving of their time to serve on the various commissions and committees.  Our residents have a wealth of knowledge and expertise in matters affecting not only themselves and their immediate neighbors, but our community as a whole.  Divisiveness and favoritism should become things of the past as the new board strives for balance and inclusiveness.

To paraphrase the famous Ronald Reagan ad, “It’s morning again in Barrington Hills.”  Let’s join together and pledge to work for the good of the community we all call home.

–     The Observer