West Chicago mayor appoints longtime resident to become new alderman

More than a month into a rocky start to his administration, West Chicago Mayor Daniel Bovey made his first appointment with city council approval on Monday.

Sergio Santiago, a 45-year West Chicago resident, was sworn in as an alderman for Ward 2.

“It feels good,” said Bovey, who added that he’d spoken with several candidates for the Ward 2 position.

“I’ve been telling people we’re making progress,” Bovey added. ”We’re getting there. It’s not happening as quickly as I would like, but it’s happening.“

Nine city council members voted to approve the appointment, and no one opposed it. But Alderman Joseph Morano abstained, saying he believed council members did not have enough time to meet with Santiago before the vote.

Though Bovey mentioned Santiago as a prospect at the June 2 council meeting, Santiago submitted a letter of intent only last Friday. Some aldermen met with him on Saturday.

“He’s the kind of person that will represent his people well,” Bovey said.

Santiago retired in 2022 after 28 years working with AT&T, mostly in finance and automation, he wrote in a letter to the city. Currently, he works at Geneva High School as a campus manager.

“From a community involvement standpoint, I tend to want to see the community come together,” Santiago said. “We should come together to help one another, to get to know your neighbors.”

The bilingual Santiago noted interests in downtown redevelopment, community events, and helping elderly residents. His position will be up for election in 2027.

The Ward 2 post became available when Heather Brown resigned on May 30, ending a tenure that started with her 2017 appointment to the council.

Brown served on the city’s infrastructure and public affairs committees. She resigned as an alderman because her family moved to McHenry.

Since being sworn in as mayor on May 5, Bovey and city council members have been at loggerheads on appointments, particularly regarding longtime City Administrator Michael Guttman.

After volatile meetings on May 5 and May 19, the last two meetings have gone more smoothly. A brief dustup Monday between Bovey and Alderman Spence Hallett over Hallett’s removal from the city’s public affairs committee ended amicably.

“I don’t doubt that very soon we’ll be off the hamster wheel of procedural things and working on things that we were elected to do,” Bovey said.