JOLIET, IL — The city of Joliet’s biggest municipal in four years is just six months away, and several residents are taking out candidate petitions to run for Joliet mayor or City Council.

Candidate petitions became available on Sept. 20 and the filing period begins Dec. 12. Joliet’s municipal election for mayor and the five open City Council seats is next April 4.

As it stands, three notable Joliet politicians have not taken out positions to run for re-election, so far, two-term Mayor Bob O’Dekirk, Forest Park area City Councilwoman Bettye Gavin and Plainfield area City Councilman Larry Hug.

Meanwhile, three people have pulled candidate petitions to run for mayor of Joliet in the April 4 municipal race including one of Joliet’s most prominent businessmen, Terry D’Arcy, owner of D’Arcy Buick on Essington Road. The other two people to obtain petition papers in hopes of being on the April ballot to run for mayor are Gregory Lee and Tycee Bell.

For Council seat District 1, currently held by Hug, a retired member of Joliet’s Public Works Division, Mike Eulitz, has taken out candidate papers. Eulitz worked for Joliet as public assets supervisor. He retired in 2020 at final salary was $138,720. In addition to his city of Joliet public pension, Eulitz received a retirement severance payout of $65,072, Patch reported last year.

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For Council seat District 2, currently held by Pat Mudron, Mudron has pulled papers to run for a third four-year term. Besides Mudron, well-known Joliet businessman Bob Wunderlich, Quinn Adamowski, who serves on the city’s police and board, and Nicole Lurry, widow of Eric Lurry, the man who died in Joliet police custody, sparking several demonstrations against the Joliet Police Department and an ongoing federal civil rights lawsuit, are also planning to run for the seat.

Wunderlich ran for City Council in 2021, losing an at-large seat to Cesar Guerrero by less than a dozen votes in a 12 candidate race that featured three open City Council seats.

Council seat District 3:

So far, incumbent officeholder Sherri Reardon is the only person to obtain nominating petitions. She will be seeking her second four-year term of office after beating current Joliet Park District member Joe Mutz in the 2019 Council race.

Council seat District 4: currently held by two-term incumbent Bettye Gavin. So far, three people have pulled petitions to run for Gavin’s seat: Rosa Hernandez, who serves on the city’s police and fire board, Christopher J. Parker, chairman of the board of directors for Joliet’s African American Business Association, and Cesar Cardenas, president of Joliet’s Unidos Marketing Network.

Council seat District 5: currently held by incumbent Terry Morris, owner of Joliet’s Minor-Morris Funeral Home on Richards Street. Morris is running for another four-year term. Three others have obtained nominating petitions: Jim Lanham, Suzanna Ibarra and Michael Caruthers. Ibarra currently serves as a trustee on the Joliet Township board.