Naperville elects 'great, diverse group' of eight city council members

Naperville's new city council will have four women and four men, all of whom have experience either on the council or on a city board or commission.

The eight candidates who won council seats Tuesday are Paul Hinterlong, Patty Gustin, Rebecca Boyd-Obarski, Becky Anderson, Judith Brodhead, Kevin Coyne, John Krummen and Kevin Gallaher, according to unofficial election results with all 112 precincts reporting in DuPage and Will counties.

Hinterlong, an incumbent, finished as the top vote-getter, claiming 10,965 votes. Gustin was second with 10,162 votes followed by Boyd-Obarski with 9,499, Anderson with 9,406, incumbent Brodhead with 8,831, Coyne with 8,731, Krummen with 6,576 and Gallaher with 5,168.

"A lot of people really went after the opportunity of all eight seats up and to try to get on (the council)," Hinterlong said. "There's a lot of people that ran great campaigns and worked really hard."

Incumbents David Wentz and Joseph McElroy did not win re-election Tuesday, while council members Steve Chirico and Doug Krause gave up their seats to run for mayor and appointed council member Tom Miers did not seek an elected term. Wentz finished 11th in the 20-way race with 4,852 votes and McElroy came in 13th with 4,630 votes.

Hinterlong, a 49-year-old plumber who has been on the council for six years, called the elected council members a "great, diverse group" and said each has something to bring to the job of leading the city under Mayor-elect Chirico.

Gustin, 55, is chairwoman of the planning and zoning commission and a real estate broker.

Boyd-Obarski, 56, is an attorney and chairwoman of the board of fire and police commissioners who previously ran a campaign for outgoing Mayor George Pradel.

Anderson, 56, is owner of Anderson's Bookshop in downtown and chairwoman of the advisory cultural commission.

Brodhead, 63, is an associate professor of English at North Central College who has been on the council for six years.

Coyne, 39, is a business attorney and planning and zoning commission member.

Krummen is a 50-year-old engineering executive who serves as chairman of the public utilities advisory board.

Gallaher is a 51-year-old attorney and former council member who has provided legal representation for Naperville developments such as Freedom Commons and Springbrook Prairie Marketplace.

Once official results are certified, the top four vote-getters will be assigned 4-year terms and the remaining four winners will receive 2-year terms. The new council and mayor will be sworn in Sunday, May 3.

Because of an unusual series of events related to whether council members should be elected at-large or by districts, all eight seats on the council are expiring at once. Usually four seats come up each election year on a staggered cycle.

This is the first time all seats have been up for election at once since 1969 when there were five seats on the panel.

Other candidates who ran but did not win a seat on the council include John Colletti, Steve Peterson, Bill Eagan, incumbents Wentz and McElroy, former council member Dick Furstenau, Robert Hajek, Nancy Marinello, Steve Purduski, Wayne Floegel, Jim Bergeron and H. Thomas O'Hale.