Harvey Mayor Christopher Clark said Wednesday voters have given him “a vote of confidence” in election to a second term, and that he will “work tirelessly to address the issues that matter most to our community.”
Clark had 48% of the vote, ahead of challengers Anthony McCaskill, a former Harvey Park Board president, with 35% of the vote and 2nd Ward Ald Marshun Tolbert with 17.6%, unofficial results show.
“I believe the residents of Harvey reelected me because they believe I have the experience, knowledge, dedication and relationships to lead our city forward,” Clark said in a statement Wednesday.
Clark said under his administration the city has made strides in areas such as public safety and business development. The city has also touted a $70 million project to renovate a major Pace bus terminal and adjacent Metra station on the Electric Line, with Clark envisioning new housing and commercial development taking place near the stations, at 154th Street and Park Avenue.
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Clark and McCaskill were among seven contenders in the February 2019 mayoral primary after then-Mayor Eric Kellogg was prevented from seeking a fifth term because of a term-limit referendum Harvey voters approved in 2016.
Tolbert is completing his first term as 2nd Ward alderman and did not file for reelection, instead opting to try to oust Clark.
Tolbert said Wednesday he planned to remain “actively involved in my community,” although his term on the City Council will end next month once his aldermanic replacement is sworn in.
“I ran a good campaign and the people spoke,” he said.
On Tuesday, outside Transformation Community United Methodist Church, a polling place in the city’s 2nd Ward, vehicles displaying campaign signs drove up and down the street, honking their horns.
Craig McCullar, who said he has lived in the city nine years, said vacant and abandoned homes are a concern.
“They need to fill them, they need to sell them,” he said.
McCullar declined to say who he voted for in the mayoral contest.
Karl Fortner said he has lived in the city 17 years and works as a real estate broker and investor.
Like McCullar, he said he is concerned about abandoned properties.
“I want to help bring more investment money into the city,” Fortner said. “There are a lot of investors who want to come into Harvey.”
What scares investors, he said, is that with the vacant parcels “the delinquent taxes are so far behind” and need to be paid off in order to obtain a clean title to properties.
Fortner also declined to say who he supported for mayor in Harvey.
In the Harvey 2nd Ward, Colby Chapman had 62% of the vote to 38% for Yarif Vhora, preliminary results show.
In Harvey’s 3rd Ward, where Ald. Quinton Crudup did not seek reelection, Telanee Smith received 58% of the vote to 42% for Mauzkie Ervin.
In the 4th Ward, Ald. Tracy Key had 39% of the vote over challengers A. Mannan Vohra with 29%, Kenneth “Ken” Anderson with 23.5% and Reginald Morris with a bit more than 8% for Morris, according to preliminary results.
In the 6th Ward, Ald. Tyrone Rogers had 57% of the vote over challenger Melville King Jr., with 43%.
Other mayoral races
A close race in University Park showed incumbent Mayor Joseph Roudez III, first elected in 2019, with 35.99% of the vote and just an 8-vote lead over Trustee Theo Brooks with 35.34% of the vote and Trustee Sonia Jenkins-Bell trailing with 28.68%, according to unofficial results from Cook and Will counties.
Brooks has been a trustee for six years and Jenkins-Bell is finishing up her first term.
In Palos Park, Village Board member Nicole Milovich-Walters had 54.6% of the vote in the mayoral race over attorney Ronette Leal McCarthy with 45.5%. They are competing to replace incumbent John Mahoney, who did not seek reelection.
In Country Club Hills, Mayor James Ford held 45% of the vote, leading challengers 3rd Ward Ald. Lisa Evans, who had 25.5% of the vote, 4th Ward Ald. Ricardo Spivey with 21% and Clifton Graham Jr. with a bit more than 8%, unofficial results from the Cook County clerk’s office showed Wednesday.
Ford, formerly the city’s 4th Ward alderman, was first elected mayor in 2015.
Evans was first elected to the City Council in 2013 and Spivey was appointed alderperson in 2015 when Ford became mayor.
Outside Hillcrest Baptist Church, a polling place in Country Club Hills, Sheila and Eddie Sanders said they’ve lived in the city 40 years and high property taxes are a concern.
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“In one year they went up $800,” Eddie Sanders said.
His wife is treasurer of the Grande Prairie Public Library Board, which serves Country Club Hills and Hazel Crest.
Coming out of the church after voting, the couple declined to say which mayoral contender they voted for.
“It wasn’t the present mayor,” Sheila Sanders said. “We need someone new, we need new blood.”