Craig Soling, a former volunteer Bristol-Kendall Fire Protection District firefighter and paramedic, has been appointed to the Yorkville City Council.
Yorkville Mayor John Purcell recently recommended Soling out of a field of about 12 applicants to fill a vacancy on the City Council in Ward 2 after Ald. Jackie Milschewski decided to resign from the council when her husband accepted a new job.
The Yorkville City Council recently unanimously confirmed the mayor’s appointment of Soling to the post, the term of which runs through April 2023.
Soling grew up in the south suburbs of Chicago. His family moved to Aurora in 1989 where he attended Waldo Middle School on the city’s East Side before the family relocated. He graduated from Kaneland High School in 1993. Soling has lived in Yorkville for about 20 years.
He is a maintenance technician at the Fox Metro Water Reclamation District, a public utility that manages wastewater for Aurora, North Aurora, Boulder Hill, Montgomery, Oswego, Sugar Grove and portions of Yorkville and Batavia.
“I spoke to each one of the applicants and Craig’s experience at Fox Metro will be good as we prepare to make a decision on a big water project,” Purcell said.
Yorkville, Oswego and Montgomery have been studying options for a future drinking water source, including Lake Michigan water. The communities are expected to make their decisions next month.
“He’s had experience in working with people,” Purcell said of Soling. “It will be a tremendous asset to the City Council.”
Soling has been employed at Fox Metro for 21 years.
“I have always been intrigued with local politics and with my kids getting older, the timing seemed right,” Soling told The Beacon-News.
His priorities include attracting tourism and businesses to the city’s downtown.
“Yorkville has a beautiful downtown with the old architecture and Fox River. It can easily become a tourist destination with the canoe launch and the Raging Waves Waterpark nearby,” he said. “Yorkville has great amenities that we could market.”
Soling said he was inspired to one day serve in public office by Aurora’s former Deputy Mayor Chuck Nelson. Nelson previously worked with him at the Fox Metro Water Reclamation District, Soling said.
Nelson was elected as alderman of the 4th Ward in Aurora in 1993 and served for three terms until 2005. In 2006, he began his tenure as assistant chief of staff for the late Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner, a position he held until 2015. Nelson was then appointed as director of Neighborhood Standards for the city of Aurora for two years. Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin named Nelson deputy mayor in 2017. Nelson retired in December 2020.
“I used to have conversations with Chuck about public service. He’s a very good man and it’s what got me thinking about pursuing local politics one day,” Soling said.
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The Yorkville City Council is expected to make a decision on a future water source at its Dec. 14 meeting. Soling acknowledges he has some catching up to do on the analysis of the various options. However, his knowledge from his work at Fox Metro will be beneficial, he said.
“We run in the same circles as the municipal drinking water facilities. The region’s future water supply is something that I have been following. I know the mayor wants a decision made soon on the issue,” Soling said.
Linda Girardi is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.