Four candidates running for 2 Sterling City Council seats, 2 incumbents on ballot for 2 Dixon council seats

DIXON — On the ballot for the April 2025 election will be two incumbents running for two open seats on the Dixon City Council along with two incumbents and two newcomers running for two open seats on the Sterling City Council, according to the Dixon and Sterling City Clerk’s offices.

The two open seats on Dixon’s council come as the terms of Councilman Chris Bishop and Councilman Dennis Considine end in April 2025. For Sterling, two alderman at large positions are up for election as the terms of Alderman Jim Wise and Alderwoman Kaitlyn Ekquist end in April 2025.

Dixon City Council candidates

The only two candidates in the running are the incumbents, Bishop and Considine, seeking to serve another four-year term on the council, according to Dixon City Clerk Keesha Kunde.

Bishop was first elected to serve on the council in 2015 for a two-year term. He ran for election again in 2021 and was elected to his current four-year term. In March, he ran as a Republican in the Illinois State Senate District 37 primary but lost to former Dixon Mayor Li Arellano.

As for Considine, the end of his term will mark 14 years of his involvement in Dixon’s government. He was first elected before the city transitioned to the city manager form of government in 2015 and has continued to run for reelection since then.

[ Two Dixon City Council members will run for reelection in April ]

Prior to the election, voters will get a chance to hear from the candidates during a question-and-answer forum hosted by Discover Dixon. However, a venue and date for the forum has not yet been decided, according to Discover Dixon Events Director Jennifer Lang.

Sterling City Council

In the running for two, four-year, alderman-at-large positions on Sterling’s City Council are incumbents Wise and Ekquist as well as two newcomers, Ryan Nares and Allen Przysucha.

Wise was first elected to the council in 2017 and was reelected in 2021 to serve his current four-year term. Ekquist was first elected to the council in 2021 for her current term.

[ Two incumbents will seek reelection to Sterling City Council ]

As for the newcomers, Nares is a business owner who in October opened the Mercantile Ballroom & Cocktail Lounge, at 117 W. Third St. in Sterling, with his wife and co-owner Ashley Nares. The couple also own Nares Event Co. and ‘Til Death Photo and Film.

Przysucha currently serves on the Sterling planning commission and as a youth committee member for Sterling Township. He is also a board member at United Way of Whiteside County and is a member of the Sterling Noon Rotary Club, according to his candidate Facebook page.

According to Janna Groharing, executive director at Sterling Main Street, the Sauk Valley Area Chamber of Commerce typically holds a candidate forum for City Council elections, but as of Monday no plans had yet been made.

Election information

There will be no primary election in either Whiteside County or Lee County, according to the county clerk’s offices. Statewide, election day is on April 1, 2025, and early voting begins Feb. 20, 2025.

Aside from City Council members, there will also be other elected officials, such as school board members, on the April ballot. Certified sample ballots will become available Jan. 23, 2025, Lee County Clerk and Recorder Nancy Petersen said.

In Lee County, early voting is held in the election department on the first floor of the Old Lee County Courthouse, 112 E. Second St. in Dixon, according to Petersen.

In Whiteside County it is held at the courthouse in Morrison at 200 E. Knox St., according to Whiteside County Clerk Dana Nelson.