Barbara Evans, supervisor candidate on the Ela Tax Reform Party slate, filed nominating petitions at the Ela Township offices.  “The eight people running on our non-partisan slate are committed to using Ela Township tax dollars more responsibly,” says Evans.  “It is often impossible to figure out what our current township leaders are spending our money on.  We want to bring transparency to township government and work cooperatively with residents so they know where their money is going and the justification.”

 The Ela Tax Reform Party is a new party filing a complete slate of candidates for township government.  Those running include four MBAs, a Ph.D. and a firefighter.  Candidates on the slate are:

 For Supervisor: Barbara Evans, former trustee of the Village of Deer Park, is a quality consultant to the health care industry and holds an MBA in Management. Barbara has served on various community boards over the past 17 years including PTO president at Charles Quentin, Director of the Ela Festival of Arts and Ela Fine Arts Show,  Zoning Board of Appeals, and on the Government Affairs committee with the Lake Zurich Area Chamber of Commerce.

For Assessor:  Wayne Wnek, MAI, is president of Wayne Wnek & Associates, an appraisal firm in Hawthorn Woods.  Wnek is also a HUD-approved appraiser.

For Highway Commissioner:  Randy Abbott, of Lake Zurich, has 18 years of experience working for the Ela Highway Department, including eight years as foreman.   He was born and raised in Ela Township.

For Clerk: Paul Jankowski, of Lake Zurich, is the retired vice president, residential food service division, of Reedy Industries in Glenview and also holds an MBA in Management.

For Trustee:  Vaseem Iftekhar, of Hawthorn Woods, is the retired associate director of project management at Abbott Labs and holds an MBA in Management.

 For Trustee:  Mike Jennings is a firefighter in Skokie and a business owner in Lake Zurich.

For Trustee:  Nancy Shepherdson, of Deer Park, is owner of NS, Inc., a communications company, and holds MBA in Marketing and Finance and a Master’s Degree in Economics.  She is the co-author of Built on Values: Creating an Enviable Culture that Outperforms the Competition (Jossey-Bass, 2011).

For Trustee: Nick Buris is president of Nebens, LLC, a Wireless Telecommunications design services and software development firm, who holds a Ph.D. in electrical engineering and is a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.     

“Townships are required by law to provide road and bridge maintenance in unincorporated areas of the township, emergency assistance to the needy, and assessments of property.  All other services are optional and are initiated by township trustees at their discretion,” said township supervisor candidate Evans.  “The Ela Tax Reform Party wants to use the financial, technical and budgetary skills of our candidates to make sure taxpayer money is used in the best possible way for the residents of Ela Township.”   

After filing the petitions for the Ela Tax Reform slate, Evans will also again request, for the third time, copies of the nominating petitions the current township office holders filed on Monday, December 17. Copies of the petitions were  requested by the Ela Tax Reform slate both on the 17^th and two days later  when they had been promised.  Township officials have refused, contrary to state election law, to release these petition copies until Wednesday, December 26.

“This is just one more example of the lack of transparency that pervades the current Ela Township administration,” said Evans.  “I don’t believe this is how townships should do business.”

The Consolidated election for the township slate is on April 9, along with all other municipal candidates. 

This news release was provided by the Ela Tax Reform Party.