Earley the new Mayor of Braidwood

Editor's note - This story has been updated to include additional races and voter turnout.

The City of Braidwood has a new City Council, with life long Braidwood resident Chris Earley winning the mayoral seat during Tuesday's election.

Earley defeated his challengers, current Finance Commissioner Doug Money and newcomer Matthew Beard, earning 626 votes. Votes for Money totaled 569, and Beard earned 62.

The total represents 1,257 votes cast for mayor on election day, April 4, as well as early voting results and mail in votes received prior to election day.

Earley is currently the President of the Braidwood Park District. He has previously worked for the city as an inspector and code enforcer, is a contractor and retired Union carpenter, and is an active member of the Braidwood Lions Club.

Earley said one of his goals for the city includes economic development, and the potential to add an Economic Development director to city staff.

Earley also pledged transparency in his campaign, stating that copies of bills, paperwork, finances, ordinances, and status reports would be made public at City Council meetings and on the city's website.

Earley has balked at claims that he would replace Police Chief Todd Lyons or consider selling the city's water plant. Earley said rumors that he would do either began with statements he made during a meet the candidates night in March that were misconstrued, and once those rumors hit social media they spread like wildfire.

“I already worked that out,” Earley said in a phone call with the Braidwood Journal after the election. “Todd is staying and the wastewater plant is not for sale.”

Earley said his initial statements were spun inappropriately. He said he always planned to retain Lyons, but said he didn’t articulate his point as well as he could have during the first meet the candidates night. He said during a second night at Shadow Lakes, he reiterated that he planned to keep the chief.

When it comes to the wastewater plant, Earley said he had only stated the pros and cons from other municipalities that had sold off their plants.

“I’m a man of integrity and a man of honesty, and I’m going to protect both of them,” Earley said. “I had to make it clear, those two things got spun around. So I tried to make sure I cleared the air on that.”

Earley also posted to his campaign’s social media channels his desire to keep Chief Lyons, and to address maintenance and upgrades both with city infrastructure and at the water and wastewater treatment plants.

Earley will be joined on the City Council by the four newly elected commissioners:

• Karen Hart, Finance
• Warren Wietting, Public Property
• James Mikel, Public Health & Safety
• Dale Walsh, Streets

In those individual commissioner races, Hart earned 64% of the vote over Sue Grygiel, Wietting earned 61% over Jeff Saltzman, and Walsh defeated Jim Vehrs with 68% of the votes. Mikel was unopposed.

Unlike other municipalities that operate with aldermen or trustees, the city of Braidwood differs by utilizing a commission form of government. Rather than aldermen or trustees who represent a ward or an at-large seat, each member of the council is in charge of a commission.

The city of Braidwood runs on a Commission form of government. That means rather than elect members at large or within geographical districts, as seen with aldermen or trustees, each elected official runs a commission, which oversees a department of the city.

The duties of each commission includes, but are not limited to, the following:

• Mayor — Chief executive officer of the city and commissioner of public affairs as well as liquor commissioner, the mayor appoints, with the advice and consent of the city council, the city clerk, the city attorney, the city administrator, the chief of police, and members of the board of fire and police commissioners, zoning board of appeals, and the planning commission. The mayor also supervises those appointees.

• Commissioner of accounts and finances — Serves as vice president of the Council, hires and supervises the city treasurer/finance department employees, and supervises the financial operations of the city including all tax increment financing districts.

• Commissioner of public health and safety — Supervises the conduct and operation of the police department, emergency dispatching and telecommunications, code enforcement, animal control, and health regulations, and oversees employees who exercise duties for the police department, code enforcement, animal control, and health regulations except those employees under the jurisdiction of the board of fire and police commissioners.

• Commissioner of streets and public improvements — Acts as the superintendent of the street department and all matters pertaining to the city streets, alleys, sidewalks, drainage, storm sewer system, and roadways, and is ex-officio commissioner of public works. Oversees all employees in the streets department, and provides for the annual streets department budget.

• Commissioner of public property — Acts as the superintendent of the department of public property, supervises the conduct of the water and sanitary sewer departments, all real estate, including the city hall, and all personal property which is not used by a specific department, appoints, with the advice and consent of the city council, the water and sewer plant operator, and oversees water/sewer employees.

The newly elected mayor and commissioners will be sworn in during the regular meeting of the Braidwood City Council on Tuesday, April 25.

At Reed-Custer School District, incumbents Greg Boyer and Chris Cavanaugh and newcomer Melissa Micklos won the three available seats on the board. Each will serve a four year term.

Across the three precincts in Reed Township and one in Custer Township, total votes were 866 for Boyer, 886 for Micklos, 956 for Cavanaugh, and 537 for Guistat.

Voter turnout in Braidwood far surpassed the countywide totals.

In the three precincts of Reed Township, of a total of 4,704 registered voters, 1,332 cast a ballot last week, a voter turnout of 28.31%

That includes 251 votes that were cast at Braidwood City Hall during early voting in the weeks leading up to the election.

Countywide, voter turnout was 15.64%, with a total of 71,140 ballots cast throughout Will County.

In neighboring Wilmington, voter turnout was just 7,58%.

Additional race results include:

• Braidwood Park District – Commissioners Scott Howard and Rob Grivetti, who both ran unopposed, will remain in their seats

• Fossil Ridge Public Library District – Kathleen Price and Teri Jones will fill the seats on the Fossil Ridge Library Board of Trustees.

• Braidwood Fire Protection District – Michael Dillon earned another term as a trustee on the board.

One of the tightest races locally, however, was the mayor of Godley contest. With votes cast in both Will and Grundy County, the unofficial vote totals show 35 votes for incumbent Jennifer Uehling, and 36 votes for challenger Cheryl Schott.

Six people ran for six seats on the Godley Board of Trustees, rounding out the board with Jennifer Hoffman, James Peters, and William Cody Brocket each winning an unexpired 2-year term, and Kim Hall, Daniel Butler, and Elaine Belawske each elected to a full 4-year term.

Election results can be found on the Will County Clerk's website, www.willcountyclerk.gov.

Voting results are not final. Provisional ballots cast on election day and all remaining vote by mail ballots that are postmarked by April 4 will be counted by provisional count on Tuesday, April 18. Results will be official after canvassing on Tuesday, April 25.