McHenry candidate floats term limits while Mayor Wayne Jett sets his own, saying 3rd will be his last

With write-in and remaining mail-in ballots not yet reported, Bobbi Baehne is leading Mark Seaquist by 20 votes for the 1st Ward McHenry City Council seat now held by Alderman Victor “Vic” Santi.

Although a win may not be clinched for Baehne, she has started working on one of her campaign promises. Baehne has created an online petition calling for City Council term limits in McHenry. There were 28 signatures as of Friday afternoon.

“I really, genuinely believe – and I have had the same conversation with [Santi] – that 20 years is too long” to sit on the council, Baehne said. After his own 20-year run, Santi did not run for reelection April 1.

“I am comfortable with term limits,” Santi said this week. “I would like to have more people, more citizens, applying ... to being in local government.”

He said he did not have a number in mind on how many terms should be the limit.

The petition reads: “No alderman/alderwoman should serve more than (three) consecutive terms for a total of 12 years in office.” Baehne said she was open to setting that limit at four terms, or 16 years in office.

Baehne was previously on the McHenry council but resigned in her first year because she moved out of the ward. She said she was open on whether the limited terms would have to be consecutive, noting another unelected board that she serves on requires members to rotate off.

“I think it is ridiculous serving 30 years,” Baehne said.

That comment was not targeted at 2nd Ward Alderman Andy Glab, Baehne said.

“I feel like this across the board,” she said.

As of the spring 2027 elections, Glab will have served on the board for 30 years, and he said he does feel targeted, at least partially: “To some extent it is directed toward me, yes.”

He pointed to the July 15 Committee of the Whole meeting, at which the City Council indicated that, overall, it was not in favor of builder Shodeen Group’s plans for downtown development.

“She called me out and berated the City Council, how embarrassing we are to the city,” Glab said.

In the public comment portion of that meeting, Baehne said: “This City Council is becoming an embarrassment to this county. You are not doing your job; you are not educating yourselves” regarding development. And she disagreed with Glab specifically and his comments on downtown development and growth.

It is a lack of qualified candidates that concerns him if term limits were implemented, Glab said: “One, very few people run for it and, two, some are not qualified to run.”

If term limits are created, “the quality of the candidates will be decreased, and the knowledge will be decreased,” Glab said.

He said he remembers a time when three or four people would run for open seats, but in recent years, more elections are unchallenged, with no one running against the incumbents.

In the April 1 elections, all three open seats had two candidates, and 4th Ward Alderwoman Chris Bassi challenged Mayor Wayne Jett. Glab said he has had opponents in six of his campaigns, and Santi said he had an opponent in four out of his five campaigns.

McHenry will have to have succession planning, and people ready to run for office, if there are term limits, Baehne said.

“We need to identify people who are interested and create more opportunities” for them to be involved," she said. “I think a responsible City Council member starts by looking in their own ward as well” to cultivate future candidates.

Cultivating future leaders is something Jett also said he is working on. The two-term mayor, who is projected to have handily won April 1 against Bassi, said his third term will be his last and signed the online petition.

“I am making that very clear. I am done” after this term, Jett said.