16 vying for council seats in Naperville

Naperville's city council race will be crowded in April, but not enough to require a primary election.

Thirteen candidates are running for one of four 4-year terms on the council while three are vying for the single 2-year seat.

Monday was the final day for candidates to file their paperwork to secure a spot on the April 7 ballot. To force a primary, 17 or more residents would have had to run for 4-year terms or five or more for the 2-year term.

Three new candidates filed for 4-year terms Monday - Raj Durga, Janet Trowbridge and Timothy Messer. One resident, Kevin M. Lynch, filed for the 2-year spot.

Durga, 62, is a Realtor and has served on Naperville's Sister Cities Commission, volunteers at the 95th Street Library and founded the Indian Children's Cultural Association.

"Doing all these things I think I'm very familiar with Naperville and it's a good opportunity to try serving this community where I live," she said.

Trowbridge, 47, is a senior policy analyst for Cook County Commissioner Gregg Goslin and also has been active on the board of Families Helping Families, Waubonsie Valley High School lacrosse and as a Republican precinct committeeman.

"I have experience on all levels with township and county and state and I thought my skills would translate well to the city," she said.

Messer, 27, also added his name to the mix Monday. Messer is a system administrator at Fermilab who has been an election judge for the DuPage County Election Commission.

"I would like to represent the public, serve the public ... and I think the council could use some new blood and fresh perspective," Messer said.

Two incumbents are running to retain their 4-year seats, Kenn Miller and Douglas Krause. Also running for full terms are Charles Schneider, Ken Bochenski, Patty Gustin, Kamala Martinez, Judith Brodhead, Paul Hinterlong, Joe McElroy and James DerKacy.

One new candidate, Kevin Lynch, filed for the remaining two years of Darlene Senger's term. Senger recently was elected to the state legislature.

Lynch, 44, is an attorney who has represented citizens groups and also has sat on the boards of the Naperville Chinese School and Weekday Children's Center and has campaigned for Senger.

"I thought it was time to actually put my name in the hat and see if we can work on the council to continue the good things and change the things that need to be changed," he said, citing declining property values, transportation and the city's budget crunch as areas that need improvement.

Also running for the 2-year seat are Councilman James Boyajian, whose own 4-year term is expiring, and Bill Eagan.

John Rosanova is the only incumbent not running to retain his expiring seat.