HIGHLAND PARK — There will be no competition for Highland Park’s three open four-year City Council seats. A trio of incumbents will retain their positions unopposed after James Lynch withdrew from the race.
Lynch, executive director of The Art Center Highland Park, told Patch that he filed paperwork to withdraw his name from the April 1, 2025, ballot following discussions with board members of his employer about potential conflicts of interest and the financial position of the local nonprofit.
“They said it would be a conflict of interest if I took the job, and I wouldn’t be effective in my role,” Lynch said. “And I agreed with them.”
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Lynch said he was approached by two members of the organization’s board leading up to Thursday’s deadline to withdraw from the ballot.
“I think the board was in deep discussion for a while and it took them a while to come to a consensus,” he said.
The board members also emphasized the need to ensure the financial health of the Arts Center, according to Lynch.
“This is not a 40 hour-a-week job. This is a lifestyle job, and I’m here 50, 60 hours a week. And one of the things that they saw was that the time commitment for that could interfere,” he said. “So they had more than a few reasons to be concerned.”
The Arts Center Highland Park Board President Dave Wigodner said Lynch’s candidacy posed a potential complication to the organization’s development efforts.
“I can tell you that we’ve had some fairly extensive talks between the board and James about this and about our current situation and what’s most important and really needed for The Art Center,” Wigodner said.
“The discussion has really revolved around working on development and shoring up financial issues and making sure we continue to do everything we do and strengthen those things, and the decision was more focused on that,” he added. “I think James’ sense was that that was a big enough job already without layering other commitments onto it.”
The Arts Center pays nearly $40,000 annual rent for its building at 1957 Sheridan Road as part of a 40-year lease with the city. Its tenancy agreement with City Hall was not the only potential conflict of interest were Lynch to have been elected to the City Council, the board president said.
“We’re also a contractor to the city for some programs that we do. We partner with a lot of other organizations in the area that are also involved with the city. So that’s like, ‘Oh, wait a minute, will those be a concern?” Wigodner said.
“But first and foremost, it’s: take care of our operational stuff,” he said. “And we’re concerned about that.”
Earlier this year, The Arts Center fell short of its fundraising targets, bringing in $140,000 of a $200,000 goal. The organization is still paying off a $1.1 million financing plan from 2002 renovations, according to the Lake County News-Sun.
“I don’t think I’ve given anybody a reason to doubt my performance in the last few years, but it was a real bad year last year, I have to be honest,” Lynch said.
“Our fiscal year starts in September and they just want me to really focus on making sure The Art Center, financially, is healthy,” he said. “You can’t blame them for that.”
Lynch’s withdrawal leaves three incumbents — Barisa Bruckman, Annette Lidawer, and Andres Tapia — running for the four-year terms without opposition.
Bruckman, who was appointed to the council earlier this year to fill the vacancy left by Jeff Hoobler’s resignation, is now set to secure a full four-year term without opposition. Incumbents Annette Lidawer and Andres Tapia will now likewise cruise to second terms uncontested
Meanwhile, three candidates are vying for the final two years of Hoobler’s seat: Kim Stone, a City Council member since 2013 who opted to run for the shorter term; Jon Center, a CPA and CFO/COO of a real estate investment firm, and Kevin Cullather, former chair of the Highland Park Zoning Board of Appeals.
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