Sussman winning tight race for Buffalo Grove mayor

Buffalo Grove Village President Beverly Sussman looks on her way to victory over challenger Mike Terson late Tuesday in her bid for a second term as the village's top elected official.

Sussman had 2,492 votes with all precincts in Lake County and Cook County counted. Terson, a former village trustee, trailed with 2,340 votes. All totals are unofficial.

As she awaited the final result Tuesday night, Sussman had some harsh words about the role of social media in the contentious campaign.

“I feel social media played a very big part in this race — a very negative part,” she said, taking particular aim at comments from former village president Jeffrey Braiman, who publicly endorsed Terson.

“And his comments were disgusting and untrue,” she said.

Terson said he was not shocked by the close race.

“I thought that the momentum was kind of going my way in the last couple of weeks,” he said. “But I also knew that challenging an incumbent was somewhat of a daunting task as well.”

The race pitted candidates with dramatically different visions for the village's future, and particularly the failed plans for a “downtown” on the municipal campus and Buffalo Grove Golf Course.

Sussman touted her accomplishments as village president, noting that she presided over the opening of the new Woodman's Food Market, recent successes in the village's industrial area and the public process that culminated in the Lake-Cook Corridor Plan.

While admitting that much work needs to be done, she said efforts are ongoing to redevelop struggling areas such as Chase Plaza, the Rohrman Property and the Town Center.

Terson criticized the Lake-Cook Corridor plan, saying the process it proposes has things backward. While the plan calls for redevelopment of Town Center and Chase Plaza first, he argued that the “game-changer” that should be emphasized first is the golf course, which offers the opportunity for a mix of residential, retail and office uses.

Sussman, however, opposed the development of the golf course, saying it could lead to flooding on neighboring properties. She also criticized Terson for accepting campaign funding from the developer behind the unsuccessful “downtown” proposal.

Terson responded that the donation, as well as that from another commercial property owner, reflected the business community's faith in him.

While acknowledging the benefits of Woodman's, Terson said a third of the village's sales tax revenue already comes from grocery stores and the town needs a more diverse retail base.

Terson also was critical of the village's handling of finances, noting that it lost its AAA bond rating from Moody's.

Sussman also made an issue of Terson's employment as marketing manager for the Buffalo Grove Park District, arguing that it could lead to a conflict of interest between his duties there and as village president.

The race even drew in the previous two village presidents. Sussman won the endorsement of former village president Elliott Hartstein, while Braiman publicly backed Terson.