2013 Geneva 1st Ward race under way
Zac Ploppert is trying again to win a seat on the Geneva City Council.
Ploppert, 21, intends to run in April for alderman in the 1st Ward, for the seat held by Sam Hill.
Hill has been on the council since 2001.
“I think it is time ... we got some new representation on the city council,” Ploppert said. However, he has no criticism of Hill specifically.
Ploppert is concerned about the health of businesses; “As a city, we have put a lot of regulations and restrictions on a lot of downtown businesses,” he said. Ploppert is the customer service manager for Geneva Ace Hardware, on West State Street.
He also thinks the council needs to include some younger voices. The youngest members are in their 40s, and Ploppert thinks people in their 20s and 30s are moving in to town and are underrepresented.
Ploppert lost in the 2011 election to longtime alderman Chuck Brown. Library board President Esther Barclay also ran.
He is 2012 graduate of Northern Illinois University, with a degree in elementary education. He is looking for work as a teacher. He rents an apartment on Sixth Street.
Ploppert serves on the city’s Strategic Plan Advisory Commission. He was also behind the effort to increase the fines for minors caught possessing or consuming alcohol.
Sept. 25 is the first day candidates can circulate petitions in order to be placed on the April ballot, in municipalities that don’t have primaries. The petitions can be filed with city clerks from Dec. 17 through Dec. 24.
In municipalities that have primaries, petitions can be circulated starting Aug. 28, and filed Nov. 19-26.
Ploppert will officially announce his candidacy at an 11 a.m. news conference Saturday on the steps of city hall.
Hill, 77, said Thursday he hasn’t decided whether to seek another term. Hill, who is retired, has lived in Geneva since 1977. He served on the Geneva park board, is the council’s liaison to the Geneva Chamber of Commerce’s board of directors, and is one of four aldermen working ad hoc on issues with downtown business owners. He and his wife, Carolyn, received the chamber’s Wood Award for community service in 2009.