Six individuals on the ballot in Downers Grove Village Council election

DOWNERS GROVE – Two incumbents and four newcomers will vie for three seats on the Downers Grove Village Council in the April 6 consolidated election.

The candidates filed nominating petitions in November and December.

Margaret “Marge” Earl, first appointed as a commissioner in 2016, filed her petition for reelection in November. Prior to her appointment to the Village Council, Earl was a member of the Zoning Board of Appeals from 2007 to 2016, serving as the Chair since 2015. She was also a member of both the 2010 and 2016 Comprehensive Planning Ad Hoc Committees and the 2007 Ad Hoc Housing Committee. Earl ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2019.

Earl has worked as a registered nurse, as well as a variety of positions with local small manufacturing, retail and financial businesses, according to her profile on the village website.

Also filing for reelection is Commissioner Greg Hose, who was first sworn in as a member of the village council in 2013. Hose, an attorney, previously worked on the village’s Environmental Concerns Commission and the Plan Commission, where he served as chair until his election to the village council, according to his profile on the village website. Hose is currently the council’s mayor pro tem.

Among the newcomers filing petitions to run are Danny Glover, the owner of Skuddlebutts Pizza & Catering and a Downers Grove native.

Also on the ballot is Andrew Pelloso, a Downers Grove resident since 2011. Pelloso on his candidacy’s Facebook page touts 27 years of experience as an environmental policy analyst, with a focus on the interpretation, assessment, and implementation of federal, state and local rules and regulations and 18 years of government experience as a public employee who “rose through the ranks in the state of Indiana to manage one of the larger regulatory programs.” Pelloso’s wife, Liz, is the chair of Downers Grove’s Environmental Concerns Commission.

Other newcomers on the ballot are Chris Gilmartin and Tammi Karam.

Karam is a Downers Grove resident since she was 16 years old, mother of four and marketing director at Kingswood Academy in Darien, according to her Facebook page. Gilmartin is the CEO and Founder of the Lisle-based digital marketing agency Lever Interactive, according to his Facebook page.

Commissioner Cavanaugh Gray, whose term is expiring, has not filed for reelection.