McHenry City Council elections competitive this year in three of four wards

Competitive races are on track for three of the four McHenry City Council wards up this coming April.

Seven people, including three of the four incumbents plus four challengers, turned in nomination packets to place their names on the April 4 ballot, Deputy McHenry Clerk Monte Johnson said.

Sue Miller’s 7th Ward did not have a challenger file. She will appear alone on that ballot.

In the 2nd Ward, incumbent Andrew Glab, a 26-year-council veteran, will face Michael Lehman, a current McHenry planning and zoning commission member.

As the two filed their nomination packets simultaneously, a lottery will be held at 9 a.m. Dec. 27 to determine which of the two will appear first on the ballot, Monte Johnson said.

In the 4th Ward, incumbent Ryan Harding will face Christine Bassi.

Harding is a Coldwell-Banker real estate agent. Bassi, who is retired from a career in pharmaceutical finance, has attended city meetings “for over a decade” as a resident.

That race is a repeat of the spring 2021 election, when Bassi challenged Harding to continue the two-year term he was named to in late 2019. Harding retained the seat with a 14-vote difference between the two, according to the McHenry County Clerk’s Office.

Two newcomers will face off for the 6th Ward seat, as incumbent Patrick Devine said he will not run.

After six years on the board, “it was time to let somebody else do it,” Devine told the Northwest Herald.

Voters in the ward will instead choose between Michael Koch and Rob Johnson.

Koch, a 32-year McHenry resident, is a supervisor at the Bull Valley road department.

A 13-year Army veteran, Johnson is the adjutant for the McHenry American Legion Post 491, a role he has been in for about six months, he said.

Several of the candidates, including Johnson, Bassi, Lehman, Glab and Miller, said residents complained about the conditions of McHenry streets as they circulated petitions.

“Some folks were pretty assertive about that,” the candidate Johnson said.

No objections have been filed as of yet to challenge the nomination packets, the clerk said. Any successful challenges could change the final ballot.

The last day to file objections is Dec. 28.