Seven months before Lincolnwood voters can cast their ballots, political alliances already have started forming in the village for the upcoming municipal election in April.
Mayor Jerry Turry recently announced his plans to seek re-election in 2017 as part of the “Lincolnwood Alliance Party,” a slate of candidates that includes two incumbent village board Trustees. The group is looking for another candidate interested in running for a trustee spot.
A former village clerk, Georgia Talaganis, one of the mayoral candidates who lost to Turry during the 2013 election, said she is considering another mayoral run. She didn’t specify when she would make her decision official.
“I feel good, I’m healthy and I’m ready to run one more time because I’m committed to this town,” Turry said of his decision.
If elected, Turry would take on his fourth term as mayor, making him the second-longest serving mayor in Lincolnwood behind Henry Proesel, who was the first mayor of Lincolnwood and served 46 years in the position.
Turry was first elected mayor in 2005, when he also ran with a slate of candidates backed by some of the same residents who again are supporting his run in 2017, he said. This time, trustees Ronald Cope and Craig Klatzco, both elected to their first terms in 2013, will join Turry on the Lincolnwood Alliance Party, Turry said.
Cope and Klatzco did not return requests for comments about their re-election plans. They both ran independently during the 2013 election.
Talaganis, a former president of the nonprofit Friends of the Lincolnwood Public Library and former library board member, said numerous residents are urging her to run again for mayor.
“Never say never,” she said. “I have many positive supporters who are pushing me to run.”
More Top Picks Best Magnesium Glycinate Supplements For Women
Municipal candidates interested in running during the April election can start circulating petitions in September and must file for the local election by early December, according to the Illinois State Board of Elections.
According to an August statement announcing the formation of the Lincolnwood Alliance Party, the group’s platform advocates for low taxes, stimulating commercial and economic development, and responsiveness to residents’ needs.
The slate of candidates also is seeking another candidate to run for trustee. Aside from Cope and Klatzco, only trustee Larry Elster’s seat will be open next year on the village board, which includes six members total.
Elster didn’t respond to requests for comment about the upcoming local election.
When Elster ran for his seat in 2013, he was the only candidate for trustee who successfully secured a board spot among the five-person slate called the Independent Party. The slate also included Talaganis.
Another slate called the Future Vision Party was led by former mayor Peter Moy, who also lost to Turry for mayor in 2013.
As for the new Lincolnwood Alliance Party in 2017, Turry wasn’t specific on what the group is looking for in another trustee candidate. An interested person has to bring fresh ideas to the village board, he said.
“I don’t think there’s anything missing from this board, but we’re willing to find good people willing to devote their energies to making the town better,” he said. “If you’re not working toward getting better, then you’re getting stagnant, so I embrace change and new ideas.”
Turry cited economic development as the town’s top priority, specifically the future of the former Purple Hotel Property.
The site went into foreclosure earlier this year after Skokie-based developer North Capital Group was unable to secure financing for a loan needed to build a massive retail center and hotel, which had been planned since 2012 for the property at Lincoln and Touhy avenues.
The question now is whether a developer will come in and take the property off the hands of North Capital Group, which is engaged in a commercial foreclosure lawsuit with Ontario-based lender Romspen Investment Corp.
“We have developers anxious to get in and build, but you can’t get anywhere until the foreclosure suit is peeled away — and so it sits,” Turry said. “A lot of residents think we had something to do with the (failure of the development) but we actually made it easy for North Capital Group to proceed.”
Another reason to stick around for a fourth term as mayor, Turry said, is to witness long-planned public projects come to fruition, such as the new bikeway system and a pedestrian bridge scheduled to open over Touhy Avenue within the next two years.
Natalie Hayes is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.