Joliet OKs new City Council district map

Joliet — The Joliet City Council has approved a new council district map that will be in place for the 2023 election.

The map approved Tuesday leaves all current council members in their districts and eligible to run for reelection.

The mayor and five district council seats will be up for election April 4.

The council voted, 6-0, for the map, which sets boundaries for the city’s five council districts. There was no opposition to the map and no public comment about it.

Council members had discussed the map at previous meetings, suggesting some changes that were incorporated into the final version.

The city needed to create a new map after the 2020 Census showed population changes that led to growth in District Three, a West Side district that extends into Kendall County and includes areas where new home construction is taking place.

The new map was created to put roughly 30,000 people in each of the five districts.

District council members are elected only by voters in those districts.

The current district council members are Larry Hug in District One, Pat Mudron in District Two, Sherri Reardon in District Three, Bettye Gavin in District Four and Terry Morris in District Five.

Gavin has said she will not run for reelection.

The council also has three at-large members who are elected by the entire city. The at-large members are not up for election again until 2025.

The new district map and old district map are posted on the city website, joliet.gov. The proposed maps also were on display on the website before the council vote.