Current City Councilman Daniel Kaufman will run to retain his council seat in next April's election, according to a statement released Monday night. He joins Kim Stone and Alyssa Knobel in the race.

"I am running to continue the work I have begun with the Mayor and my fellow Councilmen to keep moving us forward for the betterment of our residents and community in general," Kaufman said in the statement.

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Mayor Nancy Rotering appointed Kaufman to the city council last summer. The longtime Highland Park resident spoke with Patch shortly after his first meeting as a City Councilman about his priorities for the city council. They include ensuring a fiscally responsible and fully responsive government, promoting economic development and enhancing our human services.

Since joining the city council, Kaufman has become liaison to the Design Review, Human Relations, Transportation and Ravinia Festival Community Relations Commissions, as well as the Human Services and Healthy Highland Park Task Forces and the Ravinia Business District Streetscape Design Proposal Review Committee.

"Dan has been a tremendous asset to the Council," Rotering said in the statement. "We value his guidance, commitment and leadership as we continue to move Highland Park forward.” 

A laywer who specializes in employment law, Kaufman works at Michael Best and Friedrich in Chicago. After attending Highland Park High School, he graduated from Amherst College. 

As Patch noted last summer, Kaufman first addressed the city council as an eighth grader when he attended Northwood Junior High School in 1975. He advocated for bicycle paths that connected northern Highland Park to the central business district. 

“I was promoting the idea of the city building a bike path to connect the Highlands with other parts of Highland Park," Kaufman said. "It passed."

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