‘Getting reelected is special,’ Ken Kolowski defeats Doug Bernabei for Peru mayor

Peru Mayor Ken Kolowski faced off against former Police Chief Doug Bernabei for the mayoral seat on Tuesday.

According to unofficial results, Ken Kolowski held a 1,679 votes to 561 votes lead with all precincts counted.

“I’d like to say thank you to everyone that voted,” he said. “Getting reelected is special because that means that the citizens like what we are doing.”

Both candidates agreed during the mayoral forum in February the race would not become contentious but within the last few weeks – Bernabei and Kolowski have begun firing shots at each other on social media.

“It’s very unfortunate,” Kolowski said. “At times, I had to defend myself and I didn’t like it, but I had to defend myself and fight off the lies. I didn’t like it and I apologize for it. But, I had to defend myself.”

Bernabei said that while this campaign became ugly at times he hoped the two could move past it as it would be good for the city of Peru.

“While we have some different approaches, I feel in my heart that he truly loves the city of Peru,” he said. “The people clearly agree with that and he earned his victory.”

Bernabei said that Kolowski clearly earned the trust and admiration from the citizens of Peru.

“When someone is able to do that they deserve to be rewarded with such a mandate for reelection,” he said. “I called Mayor Kolowski and was the one ironically to inform him of the results. I told him he should be proud of his accomplishments over the last four years.”

Kolowski said the city already has “exciting” things in the works over the next four years; more jobs, more retail.

“There’s just so much going on that’s in the works right now,” he said. “And again having the experience helps…I always preach that the name on the front of the jersey is more important than the one on the back.”

“The city of Peru is most important to individuals,” Kolowski said. “You just got to do your job and have fun. Keep pushing forward and that’s what we’re doing, and that’s why we’re being successful right now. Because we’re a team.”