Community Corner

Huntley Village Board Moving to Fill Vacancy

Board seems split on Mayor Charles Sass's appointment, to vote on issue at this week's meeting.

A familiar face may be heading back to the Huntley village board, if his appointment can garner enough votes.

Mayor Charles Sass put former trustee Jay Kadakia's name up for appointment to fill a seat vacated by Paul Mercer. Mercer recently resigned because he moved out of town.

Kadakia served on the village board for four years until April when he lost his bid for reelection.

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

This week, village trustees will vote on Sass’s recommendation. The board needs to approve the appointment.

However, Kadakia’s appointment is not clear-cut. He has some support but not all the trustees are behind the appointment, sources said.

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

Trustee Nick Hanson, who edged out Kadakia in the election, is one trustee who will be voicing his opposition.

Hanson does not feel it is fair to voters to appoint someone who just lost an election, a sentiment he expressed to the mayor when Kadakia’s name came up to fill the spot.

“It almost makes you feel like your vote doesn’t count,” Hanson said, who added his constituents are sharing the same thoughts with him. “It didn’t matter if it was Jay or whoever who lost the election. It doesn’t make a difference. It’s the point that it’s an incumbent who got beat. I don’t think it’s doing any justice for the residents.”

Sass has the authority to appoint vacancies on the village board within 60 days, but trustees have to authorize the appointment so the board could vote against Kadakia.

“The other issue is I would think in a democracy, the person making the appointment would reach out to the board to get their position and ask for suggestions for potential candidates,” Hanson said. “Then the mayor could make a decision on that. In this instance, we were just told who would be appointed.”

Sass could not be reached for comment Tuesday, however, he has stated he considered Kadakia because he had the fourth highest votes in the April election. Kadakia was not available for comment.

Trustee Harry Leopold supports Kadakia’s appointment.

“Jay was the next highest vote getter in the last election,” Leopold said. “He was an incumbent before so he will hit the ground running and he’s from Sun City. With Sun City being 40 percent of the population of the town, it makes sense to have another trustee from Sun City so I support it 100 percent.”

Hanson said he would support another candidate from Sun City. The community deserves equal representation on the board and Mercer was from Sun City, he said. There are lots of candidates from that community who the board could consider, he said.

Sass talked to each trustee and some had suggestions for him but the decision was made that Kadakia was a good candidate to fill the vacant seat, Leopold said.

“I would be very surprised if we didn’t have an affirmative vote,” Leopold said.

Hanson, however, does not think the appointment will be approved.

The village board meeting is scheduled at 7 p.m. Thursday at village hall, 10987 Main Street.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here