Fermilab engineer chosen to fill Batavia 4th Ward vacancy
Batavia City Council members on Tuesday picked Dustin Pieper to replace Tom Connelly as an alderman for the 4th Ward.
Pieper will be sworn in at a city council meeting Tuesday. He is an engineer at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and has lived in Batavia for more than a year.
Three people applied for the vacancy, but one withdrew Tuesday night before the council's interviews began. The other candidate, Katherine Swiecicki, agreed to be appointed to the Batavia Plan Commission.
Legally, Mayor Jeff Schielke has the authority to appoint people to fill aldermanic vacancies with the advice and consent of the council. But for many years, he has had the council interview the candidates in public, then pick their favorite in a closed-door ranked-choice vote.