Four Joliet City Council candidates in Dec. 28 lottery for top spot on ballot

Four Joliet City Council candidates will participate in a lottery at the end of the month for the top spot on the ballot for city election next April.

The people participating in the lottery will be District 2 candidates Pat Mudron and Quinn Adamowski and District 3 candidates Sherri Reardon and Janean Jackson, according to the city clerk’s office.

Those four candidates were standing in line when the clerk’s office opened at 8 a.m. Monday to file candidacy petitions. Robert Wunderlich and Nicole Lurry, the other two people who pulled petitions for the District 2 race, were not in line at that time.

Mudron, Adamowski, Reardon and Jackson are deemed to have filed their petitions simultaneously. As a result, they will participate in a lottery at 8 a.m. Dec. 28 at the city clerk’s office to determine who has the top spot on the ballot for their respective race for the April 4 election.

Neither Mayor Bob O’Dekirk, nor his opponents Terry D’Arcy, Gregory Lee, Tycee Bell and Latonya Burnham, were in line when the clerk’s office opened to file petitions.

However, D’Arcy had a designee named JR Patton who was there to file on his behalf at that time.

Patton said D’Arcy was not at City Hall because he has COVID-19.

“He’s in quarantine at the moment,” Patton said.

O’Dekirk did not respond to an email and call Monday.

Based on state statute, both D’Arcy and Rosa Hernandez, a District 4 candidate who also showed up to the clerk’s office before 8 a.m. Monday, will have the top spot on the ballot for their race, according to the city clerk’s office.

Monday marked the first day that both mayor and City Council candidates can file their petitions for office. There are 21 people who pulled nominating petitions for office, including five people who intend to run for mayor. They have until 5 p.m. Dec. 19 to file those petitions.

Another candidate who was in line to file petitions before 8 a.m. Monday was Larry Hug, an incumbent running for District 1. He’s facing a challenge from Mike Eulitz.

While standing outside City Hall, Hug said, “I do enjoy, as cliche as it sounds, helping my community and neighbors.”

Hug said he’s running again for office because he wants to “solve problems for residents.”

Both Jackson and Hernandez were sitting together inside City Hall before the clerk’s office opened Monday.

Jackson said she was running for a seat on the council so “we don’t keep getting self-serving people in office.”

Hernandez said she’s running because she wants to “work for the people.”

“District 4 needs someone that will addressed the issues we’re facing and will work for the people best interest,” Hernandez said.

Hernandez is competing with Cesar Cardenas, Christopher Parker and Damon Zdunich for the District 4 seat.

The four people who pulled petitions for the District 5 race include incumbent Terry Morris, as well as Jim Lanham, Suzanna Ibarra and Michael Carruthers.