Fieseler, Wehrli, Chirico, McElroy endorsed for council

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Updated: August 27, 2011 12:34AM

Unlike the Naperville Park District, which has no opposed races, and both school districts, which have a relatively few candidates, the Naperville City Council race features a large number of hopefuls.

In the wake of last fall’s referendum vote, which will bring a ward system to Naperville, either this election, or the one in 2013 depending on what a judge decides, will be the last in which all the members of the council will be elected on an at-large basis.

There are four council seats up for election, with only three incumbents seeking re-election — Bob Fieseler, Dick Furstenau and Grant Wehrli. Jim Boyajian declined to run again.

There will be nine challengers listed on the ballot, though one of them, John Adair, has dropped out of the race, and a second, Ben Gross, hasn’t actively campaigned. The seven remaining candidates are Steve Chirico, Wayne Floegel, Patricia A. “Patty” Gustin, John Krummen, Joe McElroy, Charlie Schneider and Tiffany Stephens.

All things considered, this is a fairly strong field, and there are several of these candidates who already are serving ably on the council or have the potential to do so if elected.

Of the three incumbents, we consider that Bob Fieseler and Grant Wehrli have performed well on the council, and we endorse them both for another term. Both have been closely involved with the smart grid project which will be important in the years to come. Like it or not, this type of electrical usage monitoring is part of Naperville’s future.

Fieseler is the only attorney on the council and gives the group a valuable perspective that the others just don’t have. Most recently, he has provided a cautionary note on the city’s dealings with its police union and with Scott Huber. His judgment is sound and he adds a lot to the council.

Wehrli is but the latest member of the Wehrli clan to get involved in Naperville affairs on the elected level. The perspective he offers is one of being born and raised here, plus having, at least most of the time, a commonsense approach to Naperville city government.

We wish we could endorse the third incumbent, Richard Furstenau, for another term but find ourselves unable to do so.

Generally, we give Furstenau high marks for his close, capable attention to city finances and for being someone who pretty much never met an expenditure he was willing to support.

However, his protracted lawsuit against the city, which cost taxpayers well in excess of a million dollars in legal fees, as well as a lot of wasted time and energy, makes it difficult to accept his mantle of fiscal conservatism.

Given that litigation, we just can’t support him, though we appreciate the attention he has paid to the bottom line of city government for the years he has served on the council. Should he win, we are sure he will keep that up.

For the other two council seats, we endorse challengers Steve Chirico and Joe McElroy.

Chirico, the owner of Great Western Flooring, has a strong business perspective and would, we believe, fit in well with the current mix of councilmen.

He is interested in reviewing the city’s fee structure for businesses as well as the city’s building codes to make sure they are reasonable and consistently applied.

It can be hard to do business here, and Chirico favors the establishment of a small business ombudsman to help prospective small business owners navigate the city’s myriad requirements. All of the candidates talk of the importance of luring business to Naperville, but Chirico actually has some ideas we think would help accomplish that.

Joe McElroy would bring to the council a wide variety of life experience. Currently the principal of McElroy Associates, a public relations firm he has owned for 20 years, he holds a master’s degree in urban planning and worked as an urban planner for the city of Aurora. He has served on the Naperville Plan Commission and the Naperville Development Partnership Board.

McElroy helped start the Naperville Development Partnership and is particularly interested in accelerating efforts to bring new businesses to Naperville.

To sum up, The Sun recommends Bob Fieseler, Grant Wehrli, Steve Chirico and Joe McElroy for seats on the Naperville City Council.