This is the Hill You Will Die On
- Kim Christesen
- Mar 21
- 8 min read
Like most of the Village of Round Lake, I don’t fancy myself a political strategist or overly involve myself in government. That may seem shocking, considering I’ve attended more village board meetings than parent-teacher conferences in the past 3 years, but I tend to shy away from confrontation. I pay my bills, try to be a good neighbor, and wonder when my street will be repaved as it falls apart at the foot of my driveway. It’s hard to claim independence or apathy when the world is burning, but sometimes we have to come together as a group, a village, a community to ensure our future.
For the TLDR crowd: Here are the choices for Round Lake Mayor and Village Trustees on the April 1, 2025 ballot. I’ll be voting for the highlighted individuals, and the following blog post will tell you why.
Early voting has begun here in Lake County. From township commissioners to school board members, these “off” election years can see poor participation on our part. But it is through these smaller elections that we ensure our voices are heard, because they hit closest to home.
In the last municipal election, our current mayor, Russell Kraly, was elected (unopposed) with just 401 votes in a town of over 18,000 Round Lake residents. This election cycle requires more voters to ensure our government works for us.
It’s interesting to look at the history of running and winning elections in Round Lake. Election results archives are available online through the Lake County Clerk website dating back to 2008. Round Lake’s Mayor is elected every four years, as are its six Village Trustees. Typically, half of those seats would be up for election every two years. Over the years, board members have had to step down and are then replaced by a mayoral appointee until the next election cycle. In that case, the seat is then up for election for the unfilled portion.
This dilemma came to pass during the 2022 Ski Hill debate. Trustee Patrick Duby had to step down due to a job transfer to New York in late August, just before a vote to determine the fate of the property at Fairfield and Route 120. Mayor Kraly appointed Mark Amann to fill his seat on the night of the vote, expecting him to help cast a decision on a hotly debated topic he may have had little knowledge of.
When Trustee Amann had to step down for health reasons, Mayor Kraly was again left to appoint a replacement. Would it shock anyone to know that the mayor proposed Paul Law as a replacement, a man who voted yes to the Ski Hill and did not run for reelection in 2023?
Upon hearing that several trustees would not support Mr. Law’s appointment, Juan Antonio De Luna and John Boyk were put forth as possible appointees. Mayor Kraly told them both no, as he wanted someone with government experience. Guess the mayor forgot Boyk was a sitting member of the Planning and Zoning Board at the time, a position Mayor Kraly appointed to him. Because at that point, our village had no set policy, application, or system for how to replace trustees between election cycles. Apparently gaining a position in village government is like walking into a Hollywood studio with the last name Hanks. It opens doors.
Overall, our village trustees have not had opposition since 2013, and the last time we were afforded a choice for mayor was 2017.
To have choice, you need willing candidates to step forward. Not only do they have to jump through all the basic bureaucratic hoops of local, county, and state government, but they must also be unafraid to challenge the status quo.
It should come as no surprise then, that our current Mayor and former Village Trustee Charlie Foy filed a formal complaint to remove the choices we have when Brian Brubaker, Kevin Strine, John Boyk, Howard Schultz and Juan Antonio De Luna, to their own admission, improperly filed said paperwork. A challenge which cost taxpayers around 10K in legal fees. A special committee found there was no malice or ill intent behind the mistake, and the candidates were allowed to remain on the ballot while having their political party designation, Round Lake Forward, removed.
It can be a juggling act when going through the pros and cons of electing local officials. The saying “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is our personal mantra for the furnace and air conditioner that came with our house when we bought it in 2005. But we also have to acknowledge that new ones, while costly upfront, would likely save us in terms of efficiency down the road, even if they won’t last 20 years. Newer is not always better, but the old stand-by isn’t always the right choice either.
So what to do when it comes time to vote on April 1, 2025? Well, the most obvious is to get out and vote. But when it comes to our choices, I hope you will consider casting votes for Brian Brubaker, Kevin Strine, Howard Shultz, John Boyk, and Juan Antonio De Luna Iniguez.
The Corner Everyone Hates
It’s no secret that most people I know detest CHDS at the corner of Wilson and Route 120. Nothing says “Welcome to Round Lake” like a mountain of dirt and debris. But how did CHDS come to be here? For that, we have to go back to 2013, when Dan MacGillis was first elected Mayor, and Russ Kraly worked for Round Lake as its Village Administrator.
First, it’s important to note that most local government officials have other “day jobs”, as the salary for being a village trustee isn’t enough to pay the upcoming water bill, much less a mortgage.
At some point, Russ Kraly and Dan Powell, owner and operator of CHDS, came to know each other through their work in other communities. By extension, Mayor MacGillis was introduced to Dan Powell. Apparently they got on well enough, seeing as MacGillis was doing personal business with Powell in 2016. This is when the lease for the Wilson Road property was first put before the Village Trustees, and apparently some trustees had opinions about it.
A little over a year later, in 2017, a resolution for a fill and grading project on the Wilson Road property was passed. Russ Kraly had moved from Village Administrator to Trustee at some point, likely appointed to fill someone’s vacant spot, as he was not elected to the position until 2019. Meanwhile, Sanjay Patel was an elected Village Trustee in 2017, and both men approved what would become CHDS.
Something else to know about CHDS-- anything related to this property came from FOIA, the Freedom of Information Act. From the details of the lease to the fact that no stop-work orders were ever issued during the time when the county health department continually found the site had violations, village officials were anything but concerned or transparent.
Mayor Kraly consistently downplayed residents’ concerns with CHDS and was unwilling to take any steps to bring the site operator into compliance. The fact that the county health department had to file a state lawsuit to force compliance should speak volumes.
When the Ski Hill proposal first came to the zoning committee, a group of homeowners and concerned citizens began digging for more information. All of what was uncovered in 2022 regarding the property had to be painfully ripped from the hands of our elected officials using FOIA requests.
Those who were seeking more information about the Ski Hill rightfully wanted to look at the work Dan Powell was already doing with the village. After all, if we were going to give him more village business, it might be worth investigating how he runs his current business. Multiple delays, resubmitted requests, and legal threats were needed to assess how CHDS operates in the village. Even now, there are unanswered questions about how “profitable” the site is given the fox watches the hen house and lets the farmer know how many eggs are produced.
The original lease contained a five year auto renewal, and that is where we stand now, waiting for 2027 when CHDS will permanently close at the Wilson Rd. location. The landscape waste recycling portion of the business, which received health and EPA violations, has been shut down, meaning inspections of the property by village or county agencies are no longer taking place. I guess that’s one way to handle a lawsuit by the state of Illinois.
What remains to be seen is a plan to return the site to its “original condition” if such a thing is even possible.
Baxter & Woodman, the engineering firm the village uses, conducted a study of the CHDS property. By the way, this memo is dated 20 days BEFORE the Ski Hill proposal first made a public appearance at the Planning and Zoning Commission. So the current Mayor and Trustee Patel have known since 2022 how much it will cost the village to clean up Wilson Rd., which is anywhere from $460K to, as a worst case scenario, over $7.5 million.
Dan Powell has already been notified that the village will not renew his lease, but the village is not without empty or undeveloped property. What is to stop our current mayor from working with Mr. Powell to find another site within the village to move operations? Hopefully, the election results on April 1 will permanently end this saga.
Setting the Record Straight
In a recent mass mailing to voters, Mayor Kraly and Trustee Patel attempted to set the record straight by stating that “The Ski Hill and Recycling Center were inherited from previous leadership.” By recycling center, I assume he is talking about CHDS. I don’t know about you, but CHDS is definitely NOT a recycling center.
It is documented that more materials go into than exit this site. And the growing piles over the years are a visual testament to that fact. There is no market for some things CHDS accepts. Clay, wood pallets, large stumps, and asphalt don’t have buyers lining up.
Let’s also not forget that the reason the wood pallets and stumps are gone is because of the enormous fire from 2023. You know, the one that closed Route 120 and used one million gallons of water to control it, with 16 different fire departments responding. And while that fire was the largest, it wasn't the first or last. Over the years, there have been many smaller ones, which the Fox Lake Fire Department has listed as “illegal burning of construction materials.”
As for the Ski Hill, maybe the idea was batted around between Kraly, MacGillis, and Powell back in the day, but Patel has been a member of the “previous administration” as Trustee since 2017 and Kraly as Village Administrator since 2013. They are the previous administration.
The first official public sign of the Ski Hill proposal appeared in summer 2022, with this notice posted on the Fairfield and Rt. 120 property. This is the meeting where Townline Rd. residents first learned that their residential street was slated to be used as a construction entrance, and a 200 foot high hill of dirt would be in their front yard. The Planning and Zoning Committee is where any village business proposal starts and either dies, needs further research or information, or moves forward.
According to one of my older blog posts, one of the six members of the Planning & Zoning Committee was absent. Three voted yes and two voted no for the Ski Hill annexation to be considered before the Village Board. One of the no votes had many questions and concerns, and was subsequently removed from the committee by Mayor Kraly. The other no vote did so because she had only just received the 315 page proposal and had not had time to thoroughly look it over. Seeing as Mayor Kraly was elected in spring 2021, the Ski Hill was definitely not a holdover from anyone other than Kraly himself.
Let's Move Round Lake Forward
Back when those Ski Hill meetings took place, hundreds of people agreed on one thing--while we wanted business development, revenue, and opportunity, we did not want another mud hill in our town, let alone one owned and operated by the same guy who ran the current one. It was evident from the beginning of August 2022 that this idea did not have public support, and that those who chose to align themselves with it did so at their own political peril. This is the hill Mayor Kraly, former Trustee Foy, and former Trustee Law chose to die on. And by supporting Kraly, Trustee Patel has also thrown himself on that hill.
It’s time to bury the recent past and move Round Lake Forward.
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