Lake Bluff Village President Will Be Challenged in Bid for Re-election

LAKE BLUFF, IL - Lake Bluff Village President Kathy O’Hara will seek re-election to her post, but will be challenged in 2017 by Rick Lesser.

Both expressed their desire to serve the community in the highest political post in the village via separate letters to the Daily North Shore.

O’Hara has been president of the board of trustees for four years and says the village has “flourished” during that time.

Lesser, an attorney, has been a resident of Lake Bluff for more than 20 years and served on the board as a trustee from 2003-2011.

O’Hara has touted the current board and administration’s achievements in financial stability, sustainability, public safety and with capital improvements. She mentioned in her letter the village has been “very careful” in aggressively pursuing other forms of revenue to help alleviate the burden of property taxes.

Lesser says he believes in the village’s “future as a family-oriented village.”

“I see a need for leadership that emphasizes cost cutting, encourages economic growth and keeps new residential developments in harmony with our existing housing,” expressing his view that the current village procedures have “consistently” favored developers over residents.

He is against higher density housing “that is out of scale with existing neighborhoods.”

O’Hara praises the village’s “vibrant” downtown, special events and the new Target development.

More via the Daily North Shore: Read Kathy O’Hara’s letter. Read Rick Lesser’s letter.

Photo by Tim Moran / Patch