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Rader, Crossland win re-election for Chester council

Posted April 07, 2015 11:00 pm

By Pete Spitler The Herald Tribune

The 2015 municipal and school board elections have come and gone and Russ Rader and Nancy Crossland won re-election to the Chester City Council on April 7.

In the race for Ward 3, the city's largest with 1,182 registered voters, Rader beat challenger Bruce Williamson by 63 votes, 175-112, to earn a third term on the council. Only 24.3 percent (287) of the ward's registered voters cast ballots.

Results are still considered unofficial until any late ballots are counted.

"I thought it would be a little closer than that," Rader said. "Bruce got out and worked his butt off and did a lot of walking.

"He ran a good campaign and I admire him for that."

Williamson also gave his reaction to the results.

"It's not what I was hoping for," he said. "I was really disappointed and I really thought I was going to do a lot better. A lot of people I've talked to said they thought it was going to be closer.

"I've talked to Russ and wished him well and hope he does a great job for the city."

In the Herald Tribune's pre-election questionnaire, Williamson pointed to a need to help Ward 3's older residents with updating "run down" housing and highlighted concerns regarding entertainment options for children in the city.

Rader expressed a desire to work with Chester Mayor Tom Page to attract more industry to town.

In the Ward 1 race, which had a slightly better turnout with 38.6 percent, Crossland defeated challenger Steve Wallace by a vote of 130-74. In the questionnaire, Wallace, a former Chester alderman, highlighted a need to address the vacant houses in the city, as well as securing funding for a new city pool for the local youth and swim teams to utilize.

Crossland highlighted the infrastructure problems at the Chester Water Treatment Plant and a push to revitalize downtown.

"My knowledge of the community," Crossland said, when asked what she felt resonated with voters. "I was born and raised here. I have eight previous years on the council and four years on the Chester police force."

In winning her third term, Crossland said her goals were to "clean up the community and keep the town safe."

When asked his opinion of the election results, Wallace simply said he "was glad to be able to run" and "wished everybody luck."

Chester wards 2 and 4 were both unopposed, with Donnie Clark (Ward 2) and Ray Allison (Ward 4) elected to new terms. Clark, Allison, Rader and Crossland will be sworn in to their new terms on May 1.

"I look forward to working with this group for another two years," said Page, who will be up for reelection in 2017.

While all four candidates differed slightly in their responses to the Herald Tribune's questionnaire regarding the challenges facing their respective wards, all were consistent in saying addressing financial concerns is a key challenge for the city moving forward.

In his budget proposal last month, Gov. Bruce Rauner proposed cutting the Local Government Distributive Fund by 50 percent, which is the share of income taxes the state gives to local governments.

That loss of funding could result in a big impact for the city's finances, to the tune of $423,000.

"All in all, I was happy to see the election did not get ugly and people handled the campaigns well, I thought," said Page. "I thought it was a very low voter turnout, but we had a monsoon (Tuesday) and the lack of opposition for the school board elections just didn't draw the folks in.

"I just like seeing people get out and vote."

In the the Chester District 139 Board of Education race, Dan Colvis, Mitch Hammel, Tom Welge and Trent Vasquez all ran unopposed for the four open seats on the board.

Three of the four have four-year terms, with Colvis to serve a two-year term. Of the four-year seats, Welge earned the most votes with 596.

In Steeleville, a lack of contested races in the village trustee election resulted in voters deciding a six-person race for four seats on the District 138 Board of Education. The top four vote-getters won seats.

With 308 ballots cast, Shelley Dintelman became the newest addition to the BOE with 233 votes, while Korey Bockhorn (212), Aaron Fiene (195) and Lisa Lowry-Rohlfing (165) won reelection.

All of the re-elected candidates earned second terms. Lowry-Rohlfing appeared to earn her second term by one vote over Lisa Ernsting, but any late ballots could affect that race.

Slightly over 13 percent of the village's 2,290 voters cast ballots in the election.

"I think it is a perfect example of every vote counts," said District Superintendent Stephanie Mulholland. "I had checked (the totals) earlier before the absentee ballots were counted and and Lisa Ernsting was one vote ahead."

Mulholland said the board may seat its members for the new term as soon as its April 20 meeting. She also spoke on the retirement of BOE President Richard Tretter, who decided not to seek reelection after 24 years on the board.

"I dread it," she said. "He's been on the board for roughly 24 years and you just can not replace that experience.

"He's got such a history about the district with him and nobody has that at this point on the board."

"On a good note, he has said he's a phone call away," Mulholland added. "He's definitely put in his years of service and I appreciate that more than he'll ever know."

Roundup

Elsewhere around the region, Linda Butler defeated Anna Jackson 74-37 for village clerk of Ellis Grove and Jason Schlimme was elected to a full term as Sparta's mayor with 71.5 percent of the vote.

Tim Lowry was also re-elected as Red Bud's mayor.

Schlimme had been appointed by the Sparta City Council to fill the term left by former Mayor Charles Kelley, who resigned from his position in October due to health concerns and later passed away in November.

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