Voters return two trustees to board, elect one newcomer

The Grafton Village Board will welcome one new member this month after Tuesday’s general election.

Andrew Schwartz won a trustee seat, along with incumbents Amy Luft and Lisa Uribe Harbeck in a six-person race for three spots on the board.

Luft received the most votes, 2,002 (25.63%), and Uribe Harbeck was next with 1,944 (24.89%), according to unofficial results. Schwartz received 1,326 (16.98%).

Incumbent Clark Evans received 1,075 (13.76%). Newcomer Kevin Curtis received 1,007 (12.89%) and newcomer Toni Wilhelme got 429 (5.4%). Twenty-seven write-in votes were cast.

Turnout was 47.13%, drawing 3,775 of 8,010 voters.

Schwartz, 58, worked for 35 years as an air traffic controller and is a contract employee for the Federal Aviation Administration teaching air traffic control.

He came in second to Evans in May 2023 when the board appointed a member to fill a vacancy. Schwartz said he wants to help shape the village’s growth.

“I’m semi-concerned about the direction we’re going in terms of development and how fast we’re growing,” he said. “We need to find a way to grow our city services as we grow our population and stay within our revenue limits.”

Luft, 57, who works at Family Sharing and spent 25 years in sales and marketing, has been a trustee for four years.

“Public safety is my top cause,” she said.

Luft is on the fire department’s consolidation work group that developed the referendum to add firefighter/paramedics. She cited a 95% increase in fire and medical calls over 10 years and supported the plan to add staffing for the larger workload.

Uribe Harbeck, 66, is a part-time oncology nurse who has been on the board since 2010.

“We need to be better with transparency. We need to be better at our own board level,” she said.

She would like citizens to be able to address the board for three minutes instead of the new limit of two minutes, would like them to be able to talk more than only at the beginning of meetings and thinks elected officials’ phone numbers should be available on the village’s website.

Trustee terms are for two years.