Joliet candidates line up for April election
By Bob Okon bokon@stmedianetwork.com September 25, 2012 3:54PM
Jim McFarland
Updated: October 27, 2012 6:14AM
JOLIET — The three incumbent at-large council members are running for re-election, and they may have at least one challenger.
Troy Township Clerk Jim McFarland took out petitions for the April 9 election Tuesday but said he has not decided whether to run.
“I’m forming an exploratory committee,” McFarland said. “I’ve been approached by organizations and groups and individuals to run.”
McFarland also was a part-time city employee in the late Mayor Arthur Schultz’s office. But Mayor Thomas Giarrante cut his position when he took over in 2011. McFarland also works for the Will County Forest Preserve District as community partnership manager.
Incumbent council members Don Fisher, Jan Quillman and Michael Turk also took out petitions on the first day that they were available. Candidates will file for the election between Dec. 17 and 24.
Only the three at-large seats will be on the April ballot. The council also consists of five district council members, who represent different sections of Joliet, and the mayor.
The at-large contests typically draw out a large number of candidates. Turk said he expected that will happen again this time.
“I would guess there would be a fair number of people running,” said Turk, the senior council member who was first elected in 1987. “There have been eight or 13 candidates (in different elections).”
Quillman, who made an unsuccessful bid for mayor in 2011, will seek her third term on the council.
This will be Fisher’s first election for the council. Fisher was appointed in 2011 to fill the council seat that Giarrante vacated when he was elected mayor.
