Your Joliet City Council: 13 Seek 3 Open Seats

JOLIET, IL — The biggest surprises on the last day of candidate filings for Joliet City Council included a news release from Kevin Hegarty announcing he had changed his mind and would not be running for an at large seat on the Council after all.

"I have chosen not to run for Joliet City Council," Hegarty said in a statement sent to Joliet Patch's editor. "I want to thank everyone who signed my nominating petitions and those who helped me secure enough signatures to be on the ballot. I also want to thank my family, friends and everyone else who has reached out to me with offers of support and endorsements.

"After much consideration, I came to the conclusion that I would not be able to dedicate the time needed to run a campaign. One of the main reasons is because of the commitment I have made at my current job. 2021 is going to be an exciting year at IKEA Joliet and I need to be focused on helping my co-workers achieve success."

On Monday, six more people filed, bringing the total number of candidates to 13. There are three open at-large seats on the Joliet Council in the April 6 election.

Monday's additional filings included four-term incumbent Jan Quillman who lives in the Cathedral Area as well as first-time hopefuls Jim Capparelli and Joe Clement. Clement currently serves on the Joliet Park Board. He retired in August as a Joliet police detective. Capparelli is a lawyer in private practice at Joliet's Castle Law Firm at Jefferson Street and Fairlane Drive and he was one of the top three finalists in February for city of Joliet manager.

Monday marked the official submission of candidate petitions from Rev. Warren Dorris, who is pastor of Prayer Tower Ministries Church of God in Christ and was a Joliet city councilman for 24 years.

Dorris is a major political foe of two-term Mayor Bob O'Dekirk. Last summer, Dorris participated in one news conference calling for O'Dekirk's resignation as mayor.

"A video surfaced that showed the mayor attacking one of the demonstrators as they were being asked to leave and go home," Dorris read from a written statement back on June 3 outside City Hall. "In the video, it is very clear that our Mayor was the aggressor in this incident."

Bob Wunderlich is another well-known Joliet community leader who filed paperwork Monday to run for Joliet City Council. Wunderlich has served on the Joliet Junior College Board of Trustees for several decades. He is also chief executive officer at Wunderlich Builders.

Roger Powell Sr., is another community leader who has run for several political offices in the past. Powell filed to run for Joliet City Council on Monday.

On Nov. 15, Joliet Patch broke the news that Mike Turk, who has been on the Council since 1987, was snubbed by Joliet's major unions. The Joliet trades agreed they would not support Turk's candidacy if he chose to run again. Rather than face a major political defeat, Turk chose not to seek another term of office.

Last month, Tom White, executive director at the Three Rivers Construction Alliance, told Joliet Patch that the Operating Engineers Local 150, Laborers Local 75, Pipefitters Local 597 and Ironworkers Local 444 have all agreed to endorse the re-election bid of Councilwoman Jan Quillman as well as candidates Joe Clement and Jim Capparelli.

"I think he turned his back on the building trades as well as the city residents," White told Joliet Patch last month, when asked about Turk. "Mike Turk has turned down new tax revenue potential at the same time he was voting for tax increases on the citizens of Joliet."

The third open seat in the April 6 races was formerly held by Don "Duck" Dickinson, who resigned from office in recent weeks. Dickinson had accused Mayor O'Dekirk of blackmailing him regarding photos Dickinson said he took of his own genitals and sent to a woman. In November, O'Dekirk gave multiple news interviews insisting that Dickinson is a liar "who needs to take responsibility for his perverted acts."

In other candidate news, the Will County Progressives in recent days announced their endorsement of Joliet City Council candidate Cesar Guerrero.