St. Charles voters return Lemke, elect Vitek, to city council

Jo Krieger's transition from alderman to city treasurer ensured St. Charles voters would have at least one new representative on the city council Tuesday night. That new face in the Fourth Ward turned out to be Lora Vitek. Joining her in victory in the only other contested council race was the return of a familiar face, Second Ward incumbent Art Lemke.

Unofficial results with 11 out of 11 precincts reporting showed Vitek with 430 votes compared to 282 votes for Pietryla in the Fourth Ward contest.

In the Second Ward, unofficial results showed Lemke with 358 votes compared to 245 votes for Jake Wyatt with all five precincts reporting.

David Pietryla and Vitek had similar perspectives on several key issues to the city. A major difference between the two involved picking a site for the city's new police headquarters. Pietryla felt strongly about keeping the station in the downtown. Vitek was much more open to moving the station to a piece of land the city already owns on Red Gate Road.

In the Second Ward, Wyatt made a point of being a vocal opponent of video gambling in the city during the campaign. Lemke, whose vote supported ending the city's previous ban on video gambling, said the jury is still out exactly how much video gambling could help support the city's efforts to maintain a frozen property tax levy.