Zediker looks to run for Naperville City Council
By Hank Beckman For The Sun November 16, 2012 11:36AM
John Zediker
Updated: November 17, 2012 8:49PM
DuPage County Board Member John Zediker (R-District 5) lost a close race to retain his seat Nov. 6, losing to fellow incumbent Democrat Tony Michelassi by 1 percentage point.
But that doesn’t mean Zedicker is giving up the thought of politics.
Zediker has picked up a petition packet to run in the April 2013 City Council race.
“We came up a little short on election day,” Zediker said in a telephone interview. “But we did run very well in Naperville.”
He was appointed to the County Board in 2009, having previously served Naperville as director of Transportation, Engineering and Development.
“This is like coming full circle,” he said of his previous stint with the city.
Zediker said that challenges to Naperville have evolved since he served with the city. He pointed out that while Naperville has spent the last several decades growing from a small farm community to one of the largest cities in Illinois, the days of unbridled growth are over.
“Now it’s (Naperville) pretty much built out,” he said. “We have the challenge of dealing with what already exists.”
Because of the 2015 switch to a hybrid election system, with five Council members to be elected from districts and three at-large, the election coming up this April will see four open spots on the Council for only two-year terms. All seats will be up for election when the new system comes into effect in 2015.
With 28 prospective candidates having picked up petition packets, the race could be crowded. Completed petitions need to be returned to the city between Nov. 19 and 26.
If at least 17 of those who pulled packets return completed petitions to run for Council, there will be a primary held in February to winnow down the field to 16.
The Council seats up for grabs in the spring are those of Judith Brodhead, Paul Hinterlong, Doug Krause and Kenn Miller. Miller is not seeking another term, but the other three have picked up packets to stand for re-election.
Others who have begun the process include some familiar faces, such as current Planning and Zoning Commissioners Kevin Coyne and Tim Messer, former Planning and Zoning Chairwoman Ann Edmonds and Tom Glass, co-founder of Naperville Smart Meter Awareness, the citizens group lobbying against the city’s Smart Grid Initiative.
Current City Councilman Grant Wehrli spoke highly of Zediker and thinks that his presence in the race may dissuade others from turning in their packets next week.
“He is one of the best elected officers I’ve ever worked with,” Wehrli said, saying that many current hopefuls might reconsider once they found out Zediker was running.
