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Novak announces Village Board candidacy
Skokie School District 73.5 Trustee Brian Novak announced he will run for village trustee in April, the second candidate to oppose the Caucus Party slate. | Photo courtesy of Brian Novak
Updated: November 26, 2012 6:36AM
SKOKIE
Skokie School District 73.5 Trustee Brian Novak has thrown his hat in the ring for village trustee in next April’s election, the second independent candidate who will be going up against the ruling Caucus Party.
The Caucus Party holds all seats on the Village Board, including those of the mayor, six trustees and the village clerk.
Novak’s announcement comes weeks after Lisa Lipin, a consumer advocate and chair of the Skokie Voice residents’ association, announced her candidacy in the April 9 election.
Novak also has been on the Board of Directors of Skokie Voice, but it remains non-partisan and not a political organization. Novak and Lipin said they decided to run for a trustee seat independent of the residents’ association.
“If we are truly to be a village of vision as our village seal states,” Novak said, “then we need buy-in from the community. We need to elect village leaders who have a proactive approach to ensuring that every Skokie resident has a voice in our village government.”
Unlike Lipin, Novak is not a member of the Caucus Party and was not screened to be slated. He said his candidacy doesn’t have an anti-Caucus Party thrust, and it is based mostly on what he believes he can contribute to the village.
“There are a lot of young families who have not lived in Skokie all that long and they do not see themselves represented on the Village Board,” he said.
Novak, 38, comes from one of those families. He has lived in Skokie for seven years, but he has wasted little time in becoming involved in the community.
A licensed attorney, he was elected in 2008 to the Skokie School District 73.5 Board. Novak also has devoted time to the Skokie Consumer Affairs Commission, the Skokie Chamber of Commerce
Economic Development Task Force, the School District 73.5 PTA, the Skokie Home Delivered Meals Program and the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America.
Novak currently serves as District 73.5 Board secretary and as president of the Niles Township District for Special Education (NTDSE) – District 807. He believes his experience negotiating teachers’ contracts and his focus on making Skokie safe, business friendly and fiscally sound, make him a qualified candidate for trustee.
Six trustee seats are open in the April 9 election.
In addition to Novak and Lipin, the six slated Caucus Party candidates for trustee include incumbents Michele Bromberg, Randy Roberts and Edie Sue Sutker and newcomers Ralph Klein, Karen Gray-Keeler and Ilonka Ulrich. ~.
