Diana Merdian elected Sterling mayor

STERLING – With all 18 precincts reporting, ROE’s family liaison Diana (Vasquez) Merdian handily won the race to replace outgoing Mayor Skip Lee, who opted not to seek re-election this year.

Those unofficial results, tallied around 8:30 p.m., showed 778 votes for Merdian, who works for Regional Office of Education 47 for Lee, Ogle and Whiteside counties, 449 for incumbent Alderman Jim Wise, and 156 for retired radio reporter Mary K. Carlson.

That’s 56.25% of the votes cast for Merdian, 32.74% for Wise, and 11.28% for Carlson. Of the 9,308 registered voters, 15% turned out to vote, the Whiteside County clerk’s office reported.

“I am so honored and so appreciative of the experience,” Merdian said from her league night at Blackhawk Lanes in Sterling. “Representation matters, and our local elections matter, and I’m just honored to have this experience and be part of this community and support this community.”

Merdian appears also to be the city’s first Latina mayor, and “that’s the representation that’s near and dear to my heart,” she said, noting that Sterling has the largest Hispanic/Latinx population in the area.

“It is important to me that our City Council reflects the community it serves.”

Wise will retain his alderman-at-large seat; his term ends in 2025.

The polls still were open by Sauk Valley Media’s print deadline; final results can be found online at saukvalley.com and in Thursday’s print editions.

Merdian, 38, and a Sterling native, is the family education and support services coordinator at the ROE, where she’s worked since 2018. She also owns VasMer Early Childhood Education Consulting Services.

Before the ROE, Merdian worked at the Lee County Health Department for four years and at CGH Medical Center for a year before that.

“That’s the representation that’s near and dear to my heart. It is important to me that our City Council reflects the community it serves.”

—  Sterling's new mayor, Diana (Vasquez) Merdian, who says she appears to be the city's first Latina mayor

Wise, 62 and also a Sterling native, now retired, arguably has the most experience of the three. He has served 20 years as a city official: six years as a Sterling alderman (at-large starting in 2017), a year as village administrator in Cherry Valley from 2013 to 2014, two years as Morrison’s city administrator from 2011 to 2013, and 11 years as an alderman in Belvidere from 1997 to 2008.

Carlson, 63, grew up in Rochelle, lived the past 26 years in Sterling and five years before that in Rock Falls.

Carlson retired as a reporter/news/agriculture director for WSDR after almost 24 years at the local radio station. Covering the City Council was among her duties.

She has done volunteer work for many local organizations, among them the Whiteside Area Healthier Communities Partnership, the Salvation Army, Lets Feed Our Children, the Northwestern Center for Independent Living, and Relay for Life.

All four City Council candidates ran unopposed in their respective wards. Three – Retha Elston, 1st Ward, Josh Johnson, 3rd Ward and Joseph Martin, 4th Ward – are incumbents. Joe Strabala-Bright will be new to the council, replacing Alderwoman Christine Wilen, who has served the 2nd Ward since 2015 and also chose not to run this year.

There also are two aldermen-at-large, Wise and Kaitlyn Ekquist; neither seat was up for election Tuesday.