Lisle Mayor Ron Ghilardi faces a challenge from a village trustee in his bid for a third term, while a longtime Park District commissioner will try to make the leap to the Village Board in the April 3 municipal elections.
Meanwhile, in Naperville School District 203, 11 candidates, including one former board member, are vying for four open seats. The eight-day filing period for all municipal, park district, school board and other local offices closed Tuesday.
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Ghilardi filed nominating petitions Monday, days after Trustee Joseph Broda had officially launched his bid to unseat the two-term mayor.
Tom Frey, a Park District Board member for most of the last 20 years, including several stints as its president, is one of four candidates seeking to fill three available Lisle Village Board seats. Also running are incumbent Luke Brandonisio, along with newcomers Michael Connelly, Timothy J. Stewart and Stephen C. Browere. But in a surprise move, 13-year Trustee Nancy Earley did not submit nominating papers. Longtime Trustee Judy Yuill had announced earlier this month she would not seek another term.
The ongoing controversy over a proposed Meijer superstore in the village is expected to loom large in the campaign. Two years ago, two trustees who favored building a massive department store near Illinois Benedictine University were defeated by opponents of the plan, and the store’s future is tied up in court.
“People have been tending to dwell on that single issue rather than overwhelming advantages Lisle offers its residents,” Ghilardi said.
Broda is not resigning from the board, a move that Ghilardi has seized upon.
“I’m quite concerned that Trustee Broda, who has said he is running on a platform of opening the community, has refused to surrender his trustee seat, which effectively disenfranchises the entire community,” said Ghilardi. The incumbent added that, if Broda were elected mayor, Broda, rather than village voters, would name a successor to fill the remaining two years of his term.
Broda has a different view. “The people already elected me to serve as trustee, and I have an obligation to fulfill that duty,” he said. If he resigned from the board now, he said, the filing period is over and Ghilardi would appoint a successor.
Blaming an often-cantankerous board mood on Ghilardi, Broda said he would make every effort to preside over a more harmonious Village Board.
While Frey is leaving the Lisle Park District Board of Commissioners, incumbent Park Board President Kim Brondyke is hoping to stick around for four more years. Also running are newcomers Gerry Jackson and Tom Zakosek, but incumbent Michelle Michals Sterling did not file papers.
In the Lisle Public Library District contest, incumbents are unopposed. On the ballot are Patricia Kummer for the one two-year term and Elliot Spiegel, Barbara Lund and Sharon Callais for three four-year terms.
No contests are expected in Lisle School District 202, where newcomer Joan Costin is running unopposed for a two-year board term and incumbents Kathy Chatman, Ed Parkhurst and board President Stephen Pawlowicz and newcomer Jane McGrath are seeking four four-year positions.
The school board race in Naperville District 203 promises to be a heated one, however, with 11 candidates vying for four open seats.
All four incumbents–Tim Costello, Debra Shipley, Ann Staats and Dennis Malchow–plan to seek another term.
Six newcomers are also seeking a voice on the board. They include Charles Geitner, a former school board candidate and retired Naperville Central High School teacher; school volunteer and 1999 candidate Isabella Dudreck; William Bunge, a Lisle resident and former DuPage College trustee; Edgar Rivas, a marketing manager for Panasonic and a part-time teacher at Elmhurst College; resident Robert DeRose; and Dean Reschke, a marriage and family therapist.
The most controversial candidate promises to be former board member David Vaught, one of four members who led the unsuccessful effort to oust Supt. Don Weber. Vaught resigned last February after the new board offered Weber a four-year contract.
Twelve names will appear on the ballot for the five open seats in Indian Prairie District 204, including incumbents Jeannette Clark, Kathleen Baldwin and Jeff Davis. Davis was appointed by the board to the seat vacated by Joycelyn Hafstad in September, and he will face Randy Haap of Naperville for a term that expires in 2003.
Candidates running for four-year seats are David Carlisle, Jessica Johnson, Jim Box, Chuck Maher, Leslie Zogheib, Victoria R. Lynn, Linda S. Wilkins and Edward Harvey.
Long-time board member Owen Wavrinek and President Ken Brissa did not file petitions. Brissa said that he chose not to run for a second term due to his position as executive director of the Naperville Park District. “My responsibilities require me to be at many meetings, which wasn’t the case four years ago,” he said. “The extra time would come at the expense of my family.”
Naperville Park District Board member Tom Kruse and newcomer John Sauntry filed late nominating petitions, joining three other candidates for three open seats. They join incumbents Ronald Ory and Steven Born, and Pam Swafford, a member of the district’s Citizens Advisory Council.