Ladesic bucks party, wins third term on Glen Ellyn village board; Kenwood, Senak also win

Incumbent Pete Ladesic bucked the party that usually determines elections and has secured a third term on the Glen Ellyn village board. With all 38 precincts unofficially reporting, Ladesic had 2,555 votes. The other two seats available will be filled by John Kenwood and Mark Senak. They collected 2,399 and 2,210 votes, respectively.

The fourth candidate, Carol Fontana, trailed with 2,205 votes.

At a town-hall meeting in December, Kenwood, Senak and Fontana won the support of the village's Civic Betterment Party.

Typically those who have won the support of the party go on to win the official election.

But Ladesic failed to win the nod from the local political group, but chose to run as an independent, duplicating a feat he accomplished in 2007.

"I am ecstatic," Ladesic said Tuesday night. "I am honored to have been re-elected ... I want to keep my sleeves rolled up and continue to work for the residents of the village and continue to move the village forward."

Ladesic, a homebuilder and property developer, has been involved with the Glen Ellyn Jaycees and the Glen Ellyn Police Reserves.

Kenwood is currently the president of the Glen Ellyn Elementary District 41 school board, and Senak serves on the village's architectural review commission.

One major issue the village board has been tackling is the question of development in the village's historic downtown area, which is already the site of a major residential/retail development proposal slated for the former Giesche Shoes property.

While Ladesic has said he would like to see more residential units downtown, Kenwood said the village needs to bring "unique, niche type of experiences that people would want to come to."

Senak said the site of the now-closed McChesney and Miller grocery store would be the most natural area for further development. When it comes to national chains versus mom-and-pop stores, he said he does not favor one over the other.