Incumbent Tim Hoeft leads John Piwko for Huntley village president

Huntley Village President Tim Hoeft appears to be on track for a second term, seeming to have fended off a challenge from Trustee John Piwko.

According to unofficial results, Hoeft maintains a roughly 68-32% lead in the McHenry County side, with 1,515 votes to Piwko’s 726. On the Kane County side, Hoeft leads 1,139 votes to 422 votes, a roughly 73%-27% breakdown.

Hoeft, who defeated then-incumbent Village President Chuck Sass four years ago, touted Huntley’s achievements over the course of his term, such as the redevelopment of some of the properties in town, such as the Cornell Apartments, during the campaign. Hoeft declared victory on Facebook late Tuesday.

Piwko, who was a trustee from 2007 to 2021 and returned to the board in 2023, has said he ran against Hoeft because some of his ideas as a trustee have been ignored or very scaled back, according to an interview with the Daily Herald. Piwko will remain on the board.

The impending Kreutzer Road project, which is slated to be the largest public works project in Huntley history was among the larger areas of difference between the candidates. Piwko said he advocated for speeding up the project and Hoeft has said Huntley has hit every deadline on their end on the project and there’s nothing Huntley could have done from a financial or infrastructure program standpoint to move it along any faster.

The Huntley Village Board had three seats up this year, but incumbents Ronda Goldman and Harry Leopold didn’t run again. Incumbent JR Westberg and newcomers Marilynn Berendt and Don Walz ran unopposed. Walz, who sits on the Huntley plan commission, and Berendt will be seated in May.