Fleischer wins third term as mayor of Mokena
Also: Friends of Mokena slate sweeps trustee race
Mokena Mayor Frank Fleischer (middle) and Trustee George Metanias (right) go over early election results Tuesday, April 6, at the Friends of Mokena Election Night party at Mr. Benny’s. Both Fleischer and Metanias were re-elected to their respective positions, according to the Will County Clerk’s website. JON DEPAOLIS/RICHARD FREE PRESS
By Jon DePaolis
MOKENA, Ill. – Village of Mokena Mayor Frank Fleischer cruised to a third term Tuesday, April 6, defeating challengers Harley Schinker and write-in candidate Nick Sunzere.
Fleischer netted a total of 1,385 votes (58.36%), while Sunzere took second with 592 votes (24.95%), according to numbers from the Will County Clerk’s website. Schinker finished third with 396 votes (16.69%).
“When you’re up there for a while, you start carrying a lot of baggage, so to speak,” Fleischer said. “You do things that people don’t like, and then you start losing votes. That happens to any elected official that has been up there for a while.
“But it is nice when something like tonight happens, because I don’t feel like I just won the election. I feel like I helped bring everybody [from the Friends of Mokena slate] across the line, and that’s a big deal to me. People must be comfortable with the direction that we’re taking the Village.”
Fleischer was first elected mayor in 2013 and ran unopposed in his first bid for re-election in 2017. Prior to that, he was a trustee on the Village Board for 16 years, spanning from 1987 to 2003.
Looking ahead to his next term, Fleischer said he has always been a proponent of improving the downtown area.
“I need to get some of the trustees to see the vision for downtown,” he said. “That’s going to be one thing that we have to move forward on. The residents want a downtown. It was loud and clear. I heard that. I want it, too. My job is to get the elected officials to understand that we are moving on the downtown.”
Fleischer also said that anyone who has been involved with the Village the past 30 years has “a lot to be proud of.”
“This is financially one the premier villages in the state of Illinois,” he said. “We don’t play with other peoples’ money. We try to do our best to spend it wisely and not to borrow money if we don’t have to borrow it. Our residents work hard like everybody else for their money. We take that very seriously.”
Friends of Mokena slate sweeps trustee race
In the race for three open trustee seats on the Village Board, the Friends of Mokena slate of incumbent George Metanias and newcomers Melissa Fedora and Rob Dauphinais took the Top 3 spots, according to the unofficial results on the Will County Clerk’s website.
Fedora received the most votes (1,410), while Metanias (1,293) and Dauphinais (1,075) were close behind. Coming in fourth was Julie Musselman Oost (997). Rounding out the field were Edward C. Donnelly (774 votes) and Jason J. Wegner (691 votes).
Fedora found validation in the election results, as she has spent many years building up the community as the Mokena Chamber of Commerce’s executive director.
“With the Chamber of Commerce, of course you’re working for the businesses, but the businesses aren’t successful without the community there to support them,” she said. “So, you’re really trying to do both.
“By winning this election, that bridge that I’ve always been trying to gap to get the community support to the businesses came through, because not only did I have [local] business owners that voted for me … but I also had many residents [vote for me, too].”
Metanias, who was re-elected for a fifth term as trustee, said he felt honored.
“I’m very honored that they trust me and believe in me,” he said. “It is an emotional day to know that your community voted for you and trusts you. We ran a good campaign, a clean campaign. We didn’t go after anybody. We just stayed on course and ran on the accomplishments we had.”
Metanias said he will continue to be fiscally responsible as an elected official.
“We want to make sure that we don’t spend the residents’ money stupidly,” he said. “We want to make sure that we continue to build Mokena without having to borrow money and without having to raise taxes.”
Dauphinais, who like Fedora was elected to office as a first-time candidate, said he felt gratitude to the voters of Mokena.
“I’m grateful for the vote of confidence,” he said. “I’m thankful for their trust and confidence to help lead the Village forward. I want to continue to earn that trust going forward.”