Patrick Hynes plans to leave his post as the Township of Lyons assessor, but he wants to leave his job in good hands.
Hynes has been the township’s assessor since 2021 and is also the Democratic candidate for Cook County Assessor in the Nov. 3 election.
After defeating incumbent Fritz Kaegi in the primary in March by picking up 52% of the vote, the expectation is that he will handily defeat Nico Tsatsoulis of the Libertarian party. Tsatsoulis picked up just 17.7% of the vote in 2022 as Kaegi had a whopping 82.3% showing and some think that Hynes will enjoy a blowout victory as well.
The Republican Party did not field a candidate for this year’s election.
At the Sept. 8 Township of Lyons board meeting, Hynes tried to get the ball rolling about his replacement.
“I would like to respectfully request that the board place on next month’s agenda a plan for an appointment process to replace me as township assessor,” he said. “As you know, I will likely have to leave this office to replace the outgoing Cook County assessor, and we will know definitively about that on Nov. 3.”
Hynes, 53, is proud of his work with the township.
“We have worked hard to establish an efficient office and were recently recognized by our peers as the most outstanding assessment jurisdiction in the state,” he said.
“Before I leave, I would like to know that the taxpayers are in good hands and that a plan is in place for a competent replacement.”
He said there are two well-qualified in-house candidates – Carrie Bernardoni and Jason Grant.
While it will still be a while before an official goodbye comes, Hynes gave praise to the staff members in hi department at the September meeting.
“I’m very lucky to work with a talented, dedicated staff who remain focused on our taxpayers needs,” Hynes said. “We have built an award-winning office that the township can be proud of.”