McHenry City Council races to feature contests as candidates across county file to run for municipal offices, school boards

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly omitted James Edward Regelin from the Marengo mayoral candidates who filed to run for office Monday, and it also should have reported Bobbi Baehne had been a McHenry alderwoman for less than a year before resigning due to a move.

At least three contests will take place for McHenry City Council seats in the April 6 election, it was revealed Monday, and Mayor Wayne Jett has shown early support for the campaigns of a challenger to a fellow incumbent.

The competitions in the aldermanic races for the city's Ward 1, Ward 3 and Ward 4 seats started to officially take shape Monday morning as residents from across McHenry County threw their names into the ring for local elected offices ranging from municipal government, to township trustee, to area school boards by filing petitions to appear on ballots in the spring vote.

Residents still interested in running for office have until 5 p.m. Dec. 21 to turn in the appropriate number of endorsements from voters within a particular jurisdiction to have their names appear on ballots as candidates. Monday was the first day to file to run in many municipal and school board races.

In McHenry, where Jett did not file to run for reelection Monday but indicated to city staff he intended to on Tuesday, incumbent 1st Ward Alderman Vic Santi, will face a challenge from Bobbi Baehne, who has drawn early support from Jett on social media.

Baehne was an alderwoman for the 4th Ward for less than year before moving her residency within the city in 2019, according to a Northwest Herald report.

"In the last nine months, working through COVID-19, with the staff of the city of McHenry, working with the mayor, I think that gives me a very beneficial position," Santi said, adding that this would be his last election and his past four years on the council if he won in April after serving since 2005.

Baehne feels she is more of a pro-business candidate than Santi, who also described himself as pro-business.

"I think Vic Santi is a very nice person, but I witnessed him working against small businesses when I was on the council," Baehne said. "McHenry should be a destination for surrounding communities. I just don't see that happening with a lot of the council members at this time."

Incumbent 4th Ward Alderman Ryan Harding, who will face challenger Christine Bassi after both filed petitions with the city clerk Monday, said he had confidence that either Santi and Baehne could represent the 1st Ward well.

"They’re both excellent choices, they're both progressive people," Harding said.

Bassi said she is running after paying attention to meetings for the past several years.

"I just want to be a voice for the people, my neighbors," Bassi said.

In the 3rd Ward, incumbent Alderman Jeffrey Schaefer drew a challenge from Frank McClatchey, who Schaefer said he beat in his first election to city office in 2005. McClatchey, who could not be reached for comment, also was a former alderman, Scahefer said.

"I hope it’s a good, fair campaign and he’s going to be a good opponent," Schaefer said, adding that he was sad that he heard 5th Ward Alderman Chad Mihevc would not be running for another term.

As of Monday afternoon, no one had filed a petition to challenge Jett for the mayoral office, Deputy City Clerk Monte Johnson said.

"I want my last term to be successful and to do that I need to surround myself with council members who bring all different types of knowledge and opportunities to the city of McHenry," Jett said when asked why he is supporting Baehne. He said that he had differences with Baehne while she was on the council. "She's a hard worker who's dedicated to the residents and businesses in our community."

Competitive races for municipal offices also are taking shape in Lakewood and Huntley, among other local governments.

Here are the candidates for McHenry County school boards, and for municipal offices who filed petitions to appear on ballots Monday for jurisdictions that had more than 3,000 McHenry County residents, according to 2018 U.S. Census Bureau estimates.

Lake in the Hills (three village trustee, village president and village clerk seats up for election)

President: Ray Bogdanowski, an incumbent trustee

Trustee: Stephen Harlfinger, Bill Dustin and Robert Huckins, all incumbents

McHenry (Mayoral, clerk, and 1st, 3rd, 4th and 5th aldermanic seats up for election)

1st Ward: incumbent Vic Santi, Bobbi Baehne

3rd Ward: incumbent Jeffrey Schaefer, Frank McClatchey

4th Ward: incumbent Ryan Harding, Christine Bassi

Woodstock (three council seats elected by voters at-large, mayoral seat up for election. Note: Deadline to file petition to appear as a candidate for Woodstock offices was late last month)

Mayor: Mike Turner

Council: incumbent Gordon Tebo, Thomas Nierman, Robet Seegers Jr.

Algonquin (three village trustee, village president and village clerk seats up for election)

President: incumbent Debby Sosine

Trustee: incumbent Laura Brehmer, incumbent Jerry Glogowski, Bob Smith

Huntley (three village trustee and village president seats up for election)

President: Timothy J. Hoeft

Trustee: incumbent Ronda S. Goldman, incumbent John M. Piwko, Lisa Arvanites, Burt Natkins

Cary (three village trustee, mayoral seats up for election)

Mayor: incumbent Mark R. Kownick

Trustee: incumbent Jeffery C. Kraus, incumbent Jennifer Weinhammer, Rick Walrath, Duane R. Dudek

Harvard (Mayoral, city clerk and multiple aldermanic seats up for election)

1st Ward: incumbent Jay Schulz

4th Ward: incumbent Matthew A. Perkins

Clerk: incumbent Lori A. Moller

Marengo (Mayoral, city clerk and 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Ward aldermanic seats up for election)

Mayor: incumbent John Koziol, James Edward Regelin

2nd Ward: incumbent Steven G. Mortensen

Johnsburg (multiple village trustee seats and village president seat up for election)

President: incumbent Ed Hettermann

Trustee: incumbent Gregory A. Klemstein, incumbent Joshua C. Hagen and James Barrett

Spring Grove (three village trustee and village president seats up for election)

President: incumbent Mark R. Eisenberg

Trustee: incumbent Patrick Mazzanti, incumbent Bob McMahon and Thomas Sanders

Island Lake (mayoral, three village trustee and village clerk seats up for election)

Trustee: incumbent Charles Cermak

Fox River Grove (four village trustee and village president seats up for election)

President: Marc McLaughlin, an incumbent trustee

Trustee: Melissa Schladt, Andrew Migdal, both incumbents

Lakewood (three village trustee and village president seats up for election)

President: incumbent Phil Stephan, David Stavropoulos

Trustee: incumbent Pamela Eddy, incumbent Dan Alexander, April Runge, Michael Fischer William Wayne, Tricia Babischkin

Wonder Lake (three village trustee seats up for election)

No candidate filings shared Monday

School board candidacy filings received Monday by McHenry County Clerk’s Office

Johnsburg School District 12: Steve Link, Cathy B. Neiss, James Barrett, Thomas J. Oeffling

Huntley School District 158 Dana Dalton-Wiley, Susan Hochmuth, Laura Murray, Lesli Melendy, Paul A. Troy, Sean Cratty, Katherine (kate) Policheri

Woodstock School District 200: Jacob Homuth

Harvard School District 50: Melinda L. Shafer, Kristina Dawn Duber

McHenry Elementary School District 15: Lindsay Morley

Riley School District 18: Evan P. Maniates

Nippersink Elementary School District 2: Joel Johnson Carl Uphoff

Fox River Grove Elementary School District 3: David Gutierrez

Cary School District 26: Anne Santucci, Melinda Hartman, Anthony W. Stefani, Stacey Sault

Prairie Grove District 46: Steven W. Sebastian

Crystal Lake Elementary School District 47: Betsy Les, Jonathan Powell, Emily R. Smith, Dr. Tim Mahaffy, Debra Barton, Daniel Palombit

Marengo Union Elementary School District 165: Gregory Wright

Marengo High School District 154: Linda J. Dujmovich, Jodie Kanaly

Crystal Lake High School District 155: David Secrest, Nicole M. Pavoris, Jason Blake, Ronald P. Ludwig

Richmond-Burton High School District 157: Theresa Highley