Naperville’s Lame Duck City Council

The Naperville City Council has four meetings remaining, until the municipal election April 7, making it a ‘Lame Duck’ governing body.

This municipal election will be quite different than any in recent memory, because rather than just four city council seats up for grabs, all nine will be contested including the mayors position. It’s possible that all nine members of the post city council election will be new, requiring all to wear name tags while getting to know each other.

What we know for sure is that at least four of the following five will not return:

• Steve Chirico
• Bob Fieseler
• Doug Krause
• Geroge Pradel
• Grant Wehrli

Chirico and Krause are both running for mayor, with one of the two likely winning, and the other will become a footnote in Naperville politics.

The other four incumbents,

• Judy Brodhead
• Paul Hinterlong
• Joe McElroy
• Dave Wentz

are anything but shoe-ins, considering the “throw the rascals out” mindset of voters on the federal, state, and yes, the local level of government.

With that in mind, it would be in the best interests of Naperville residents for the current city council not to make any unnecessary or rush-to-judgement decisions, and allow the new council to vote on those issues. The new council will already have to deal with leftover issues including liquor-fueled downtown chaos, major budget woes, high density downtown traffic, and a city manager more qualified for Mayberry than Naperville.