Senak victorious in Glen Ellyn village president race

GLEN ELLYN – In a race that pitted a sitting trustee against a former one, Glen Ellyn voters April 6 appeared to have elected Mark Senak to the village president post.

With all precincts reporting, plus early and mail-in votes, unofficial tallies showed Senak with 2,929 votes while Pete Ladesic had 1,993.

Senak is poised to succeed first-term incumbent Diane McGinley, who did not seek reelection.

In the middle of his second term on the village board, the 59-year-old Senak was backed by the Civic Betterment Party, a historically dominant force in Glen Ellyn elections.

Ladesic, 59, who previously served three board terms, ran for the village’s top seat as an independent.

Development was a key issue of the race. Senak called for a spectrum of affordable housing and “smart development” in his vision for downtown. The attorney wants to create downtown green space and supports the use of tax incentives to attract developers who will retain the historic character of the area.

A homebuilder who grew up in Glen Ellyn, Ladesic stressed the importance of respecting the town’s historical past while embracing the future. He has been a proponent of diversifying the village’s housing stock through rezoning and creating a vehicle underpass in the central business district.