Former school trustee to seek Geneva alderman post

A former Geneva school trustee and a family law attorney have joined the race for alderman in Geneva's 5th Ward.

Ralph Dantino, who served on the Geneva school board from 1996 to 2001, and attorney Douglas Warlick filed Monday, as did John Trierweiler, a college student who announced his candidacy last week.

Dantino and Warlick are 52. Dantino is a manufacturer's representative in the HVAC and plumbing industry. Warlick has a firm in Geneva.

Dantino said he is motivated not by any single issue, but "a vision of where we are as a growing community and how I can help Geneva become even better in the future." He ran unsuccessfully against Alderman Paul DesCoteaux in 2005. DesCoteaux is not seeking re-election.

Warlick has served as a leader of the Kane County Bar Association and the Geneva Lions Club, and volunteers with the Geneva Chamber of Commerce. He said he wants to be more active in the community and has been thinking for a while of running for council, and that the time is right with DesCoteaux stepping down.

"I think of myself as someone who is independent. I'm not a naysayer or a yes man," said Warlick. He did serve as a Republican committeeman when he lived in DuPage County. Warlick has lived in Geneva since 1999. Dantino said he has lived in Geneva for more than 20 years.

Both Warlick and Dantino are married. Warlick has three children, Dantino five. Trierweiler is single.

Warlick said one issue he is concerned about is property taxes, although he understands the majority of a Geneva taxpayer's bill goes to the public school district, over which the city council has no control. Dantino said the city council should be laying the groundwork to make the most of an economic recovery when it does happen, and for the city to take an active role in working with Kane County for the redevelopment of the Settler's Hill landfill on Geneva's east side, including returning some of it to the property tax rolls.