2 incumbents, 2 challengers on Naperville council

Naperville residents Tuesday gave a vote of confidence to two incumbent city council members while also supporting two new members.

Incumbents Grant Wehrli and Robert Fieseler were re-elected to their seats. Newcomers Steve Chirico and Joe McElroy will join the council in May.

Incumbent Richard Furstenau lost his re-election bid.

Wehrli, whose 10,086 votes led the pack, said he is grateful for the support.

“I’d like to think that means the people of Naperville appreciate that I listen to all sides of the issues and put a lot of thought into my votes. And I’m grateful for that,” said Wehrli, who was first appointed to the council in 2005. “Serving as councilman is a labor of love for me and I look forward to the next four years.”

Fieseler came in third with 6,992 votes and called the vote a referendum on his previous term.

“I think these results mean the citizens of Naperville want to keep the course and they agree with most of what I’ve done in the past four years,” Fieseler said. “I see another incumbent who was not successful in his re-election bid, so that tells me the voters were selective in deciding who they thought should be in a decision-making position moving forward. I don’t take that lightly.”

Chirico, a first-time candidate, garnered the second -highest vote total, with 8,134. He actively campaigned on his business and leadership background.

McElroy, who finished with 5,160 votes, campaigned on his approach to neighborhood redevelopment and solving the city’s budget woes.

Rounding out the rest of the candidates were Patty Gustin with 4,710 votes, Furstenau with 4,244, Charlie Schneider with 2,896, Tiffany Stephens with 2,779, John Krummen with 2,726, Ben Gross with 1,039, Wayne Floegel with 961 and John Adair with 745.