Politics & Government

Election 2011: Richmond Joins Incumbents Labriola, Engler on Village Board

Jim Richmond will take his seat as Mokena's newest village trustee.

will trade in his current title of park district commissioner for the shiny new one of village trustee.

"All the candidates did a great job," Richmond said of village board campaign. "Everyone worked hard."

Richmond, who won 23 percent of the vote in Tuesday's election (according to unofficial results from the Will County Clerk's Office), came in third in the contest for three village board seats. Incumbents and kept their seats by winning 26 and 24 percent of the vote, respectively.

Find out what's happening in Mokenawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"I am ecstatic," Engler said about her win. "I was nervous, because you never can tell, but I can't wait for the next four years."

Engler said one of her goals in her next term will be to bring more taxing bodies to Mokena.

Find out what's happening in Mokenawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Labriola, who was elected to his third term, said he would continue to try to improve the tax base and pursue bringing 911 surcharge money back to Mokena. "We run as tight a ship as we have and there's not much we need to change," he said. "The voters just proved that."

Richmond came in ahead of another challenger, , who got 21 percent of the vote. Poole said he was disappointed, but felt he had done well for his first time running. "I knew it would be an uphill battle," he said. 

Poole added that he was proud of his opponents and that the campaign did not become negative. 

Pete Anaya, who dropped out of the race after the deadline to be removed from the ballot, received five percent of the vote. "I don't know if that's the community sending a message," Labriola said. "I'm concerned with the underlying factor there."


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