Homer Glen Trustee Susanna Steilen who led the ReSet slate that was victorious in Tuesday’s Republican primary said residents spoke up for a change in township government.
“People want good honest government,” said Steilen, the candidate for township supervisor. “I don’t feel they were getting that. … We are going to have a good team. We are serious about serving the people.”
The rest of the slate also won the primary, John Robinson for highway commissioner, Tami O’Brien for clerk, Sara Palermo for collector and Ken Marcin, Chris Sievers, Don Melody and Keith Gray for trustees.
The ReSet members will go onto the April 1 election, but no other candidates have filed.
Steilen said township residents turned out for the race, noting one polling place had nearly 1,000 voters Tuesday.
Township Supervisor Steve Balich, who headed the Will County Freedom Caucus, said Wednesday he plans an orderly transition to the next administration, but said it was party crossovers that won the election for ReSet.
“The Democrats came out in full force and the Republicans did not,” Balich said. “Anyone who looks at our administration for the last four years will say we did a good job. We increased services. We cut taxes.”
The race was fueled by allegations the current administration divides the community, isn’t transparent and hires family members of elected officials for full-time township jobs.
Members of Homer Township ReSet said the existing administration did not respect residents’ viewpoints, chastised residents during public meetings and didn’t listen to their concerns regarding attempts to sell open space property.
The incumbents countered that the ReSet group were “Republicans in name only” or “Democrats in disguise” after the group received support from the local township Democratic organization.
The Freedom Caucus consisted of mostly incumbents seeking their second four-year term, including Balich for supervisor, Clerk Vicki Bozen, Assessor Carmen J. Maurella III, Highway Commissioner Brent Alan Porfilio, Collector Rose M. Fialko and Trustees Mike G. Bonomo, Mike W. Clausen and Angel Constance Shake. The sole newcomer was Dominic Joseph Pacella for trustee.
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With all precincts reporting, the Will County unofficial election results show 59.44% for Steilen and 40.56% for Balich in the supervisor’s race. For clerk, results show O’Brien with 58.3% and Bozen with 41.7%.
“We will stay to our word,” O’Brien said. “We will do so much good for this community.”
For highway commissioner, Robinson led 58.97% over Porfilio, who captured 41.03% of the vote, according to the unofficial totals. Collector candidate Palermo led with 61.19% over Fialko, who received about 38.81%.
In the trustee race, the top four vote-getters were Sievers with 2,407 votes, Gray with 2,341 votes, Marcin with 2399 and Melody with 2,333.
They were followed by Clausen with 1,613 votes, Bonomo with 1,609 votes, Pacella with 1,518, and Shake with 1,501.
“People in Homer Township were sick of the negativity,” Melody said.
He said the ReSet slate put out informative articles about their platform on Facebook. At the end of the day, he said he believed residents appreciated the professionalism.
“People want to get back to treating each other kindly,” Melody said.
Township Assessor Maurella ran unopposed.
Balich said Monday his slate started the week with a prayer service and believed his slate did everything necessary to win. He touted endorsements by the chair of the Illinois Republican Party, the Will County Republican Central Committee and most Will County township organizations.
The ReSet slate was endorsed by Homer Glen Mayor Christina Neitzke-Troike.
Construction of a $2.2 million civic center on Trantina Farm was one point of contention during the race. The Homer Township ReSet slate accused the administration of failing to seek public input and not disclosing how the project would be funded before construction began.
The 2020 referendum approved by voters asked to seek grants to pay for construction of a pole-barn type structure for Trantina Farm, which was previously bought using open space dollars.
Critics of the project say only $500,000 in grants were procured before construction began. More grants will be required to pay for amenities such as a kitchen or a stage, Balich has said.
The ReSet slate was also interested in ending nepotism, noting that Balich’s son, Bozen’s sister and Shake’s husband were full-time employees at the township. They also pushed for the township highway commissioner to be a part-time position as was stated in a 2020 resolution that stated the position would be part-time if the responsibilities were less than 20 miles.
The Will County Freedom Caucus campaign accused the members of the ReSet group for wanting to dissolve the township after Steilen voted last year to place a referendum on the ballot asking Homer Glen residents if they feel the village should pursue efforts to dissolve or discontinue township government to eliminate duplicative services and save taxpayer money.
The ReSet group said the power to dissolve a township resides with the Illinois General Assembly, and the slate members are not looking to dissolve the township. They said they are for limited government, transparency and fiscal responsibility.
Will County Clerk Annette Parker said Tuesday evening that from the clerk’s standpoint, the election went smoothly with ballots and judges. She said there were a few reports of electioneering outside polling places, which were handled.
Voter turnout was about 12.53%, which included the two primaries held Tuesday in Will County, according to the county clerk’s office. There were 4,573 ballots cast, with more than 4,000 of them coming from Homer Township.
Michelle Mullins is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.