Elgin mayor, council race lineups now set

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

ELGIN — With 11 people filing to run for three city council seats and only two candidates stepping forward for mayor, Elgin voters won’t have to head to the polls for a primary to cull the field in February, but just to the general election April 5.

As expected, the mayoral candidates will be incumbent Ed Schock and current council member David Kaptain. Schock has been mayor since 1999; if victorious April 5, he will have held the office longer than anyone in the city’s history.

On Nov. 15, when the city clerk’s office opened at 8 a.m., seven people turned in their petitions to run for council. On Monday, Nov. 29, there will be a lottery to determine ballot position, with those seven vying for the top listing.

Since then, another four people handed in their paperwork, including west-siders David Koldos, Mike Curtin and Tish Powell, and east-side resident Shane Nowak.

According to the clerk’s office, Powell, who worked as public works administrative superintendent for the city for about 10 years, was the last person to file, about a half hour before the 5 p.m. deadline Monday. Powell and east-sider Anna Moeller will be the only women on the ballot.

Powell said she was laid off in November 2008, when the city made cuts to address budget constraints. Part of why she is running is to get better representation on the council for women and for the west side, she said.

“My family and I have lived here for more than 10 years,” Powell said. “This is a great community with a lot to offer, and I hope to help it realize all that it can be.”

Curtin is vice president of Southwest Area Neighbors (SWAN) and became a frequent attendee of city council meetings after old combined sewer lines leading to his and to neighbors’ homes backed up in June 2009. Curtin said he is running because he is dissatisfied with how resources are being allocated in Elgin. He would also like to see the city adopt a mixed ward system of representation.

Koldos was the earliest council candidate to declare he would be running, having done so in September. Nowak could not be reached for comment.

Also running for council are incumbents Mike Warren and John Steffen, and other challengers Tom McCarthy, Michael Robins, Toby Shaw and Manfred Czymmek.

If 13 or more residents had filed for the three council spots, a primary election would have been held to reduce the number to 12. And if five or more people had filed to run for mayor, there would have been a primary to narrow the field to four.