Election 2025: 5 races we are watching in Whiteside, Lee counties

DIXON — Sauk Valley-area voters headed to their polling places Tuesday to choose who will represent them on city, school, park, library and township boards.

After the polls close at 7 p.m., visit the Sterling Gazette/Dixon Telegraph’s website for election night coverage and updates on the races.

Here are five local races we are watching:

Rock Falls City Council Ward 2: Running for a four-year term, Brian Snow – who has held his seat for more than two decades – is going up against former 4th Ward Alderman Marshall Doane.

Snow was first elected to his 2nd Ward seat in 2005 and has been reelected four times.

Doane ran for a four-year 4th Ward seat in 2021 against Violet Sobottka. Doane lost the election but was appointed to a two-year term as the second 4th Ward representative alongside Sobottka. He resigned in 2022 after purchasing a home outside 4th Ward boundaries, Doane said in an interview with Shaw Local.

Doane has lived in Rock Falls almost his entire life and works as a logistics coordinator with Riverside Logistics in Sterling. He also owns his own business, Phoenix Wicks Candle Co.

Rock Falls City Council Ward 3: In the 3rd Ward, also running for a four-year term, incumbent Steve Dowd will face off against newcomers Mary McNeill and Austin Zink.

Dowd, a retired Northwestern Steel and Wire worker, was first elected in 2021 by defeating 12-year incumbent Jim Schuneman.

Newcomer Zink is a 25-year-old looking to get more young people involved in the city. He will be graduating from Northern Illinois University in May and works at Anne’s Garden Center in Dixon, Zink said in an interview with Shaw Local.

He has lived in Rock Falls his whole life and is a Rock Falls High School and Sauk Valley Community College graduate.

Sterling City Council At-Large seats: In the running for two four-year alderman-at-large positions on Sterling’s City Council are incumbents Jim Wise and Kaitlyn 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.

Nares is a business owner who in October opened The Mercantile, 117 W. Third St. in Sterling, with his wife 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.

Dixon Township highway commissioner: Incumbent Corey Reuter is running against newcomer Cameron Magne. Reuter has been involved in township government for almost 20 years. He first started as a part-time employee at Dixon Township in 2006 and has held the position of highway commissioner for the past five years.

Magne has worked for the city of Dixon for 13 years and currently serves as the general foreman in the water department.

The Whiteside County Public Safety Sales Tax: Whiteside County voters are once again being asked to consider a countywide sales tax to help fund emergency dispatch services.

Residents were asked in November to consider the same 0.5% public safety sales tax but the measure failed after 65.85% of voters said no.

If approved, the sales tax would add an additional 50 cents for every $100 that shoppers spend on general merchandise in Whiteside County. The tax would not apply to groceries or items that must be titled or registered by a state agency, including watercraft, aircraft, trailers, mobile homes, qualifying drugs (including over-the-counter medications and vitamins) and medical appliances.

Amy Robbins, the county administrator for Whiteside County, said dispatch services cost $1.8 million annually to operate. Outside of radio surcharges, the county and the cities of Sterling and Rock Falls foot the bill. Robbins said there is a deficit of about $500,000 each year.

If Whiteside County voters approve the tax, cities would not have to pay to cover the services, and the money that Sterling and Rock Falls now spend for 911 services could possibly remain in their general funds for other uses. If the tax does not pass, cities throughout the county would have to pay for services.

The tax is estimated to raise an annual $2 million that could only be used for matters of public safety. Any funds left over would be used to buy equipment and radio and software upgrades while allowing for multiagency interaction.