Longtime Elmhurst Alderman Bids Farewell

ELMHURST, IL – Elmhurst Alderman Mark Mulliner had a little advice this week for those interested in local politics: You're not going to make everyone happy.

"Don't try to," said Mulliner, who represents Ward 7. "Explain to them the best you can and move on. You got elected for a purpose."

On Monday, Mulliner gave his last speech to the Elmhurst City Council after 24 years on the council. He narrowly lost his bid for re-election earlier this month.

By Mulliner's count, he served through four mayors, two city managers, three public works directors, three finance directors, four police chiefs and seven fire chiefs.

Mulliner, the only lifelong Elmhurst resident on the council, got interested in politics in the mid-1980s, losing a City Council race. But he kept going to council meetings and was a member of the library board for eight years.

During his time on the council, much has changed in Elmhurst, Mulliner said.

"The housing stock has been refreshed. The downtown has been refreshed," he said. "The downtown has become a destination for the Chicagoland area. When I became alderman, you could roll a bowling ball down York Road and probably not hit a thing. Now, there are so many people down there. It's a place people want to come to."

Mulliner called the industrial park a "hidden gem" for Elmhurst. And he said the city has kept it from becoming a place for trucking hubs.

None of this happened by accident, he said, but rather the result of city planning.

"When I grew up here, it was a blue-collar community, and it's totally changed now," said Mulliner, a retired teacher and school information technology official. "People who came here at the time when my parents came here were looking for a place that had green grass, a tree and a spot of land. They had neighborhood schools and neighborhood churches. They took care of each other."

Earlier in his career, Mulliner said former U.S. Sen. Charles Percy, an Illinois Republican, advised him to do things locally and stay away from national issues.

He said the senator told him to be "focused on keeping your town safe, keeping your town family-oriented and God-based."

In his role as alderman, Mulliner stayed away from national politics. But his side activities with local conservatives angered some and drew an opponent, Rex Irby, who defeated Mulliner in the April election.

Mulliner's voice cracked as he thanked his wife, Barb, for putting up with his political career.

"I love you," he told her.

Three other departing aldermen also spoke at the meeting – Ward 2's Bob Dunn, Ward 3's Dannee Polomsky and Ward 6's Mike Honquest. They decided against running again.

The aldermen's terms end early next month. The council has 14 members, with two for each of the city's seven wards.

Bob Dunn, Ward 2

Dunn, who was elected in 2011, was the chairman of the council's finance committee and held leadership positions on the O'Hare Noise Compatibility Commission.

Polomsky noted Dunn's service on the commission, among other things.

"As a northside resident, I'm grateful for your service on the O'Hare Noise Compatibility Commission," she said.

She said Dunn created a subgroup that dealt with the noise from a diagonal runway, which resulted in a voting block.

"If you hadn't done that, we wouldn't be where we are today," Polomsky said. "It was your strategy and ability to communicate and bring people together to advocate for us."

Dunn ran for the park board in the election, but lost. He is being replaced by Karen Sienko. Sienko and the other Ward 2 alderman, Jacob Hill, are librarians.

Dannee Polomsky, Ward 3

Polomsky, who has served a dozen years, urged the public to take part in not only City Council meetings, but those of its committees, where much of the debate happens. She said residents can learn a lot and air their views.

"That's important as we have seen an explosion of community-based online comment forums that can skew a story or sometimes create a new fictional one," she said in her speech to the council.

The council is better equipped when it receives residents' feedback, she said.

Her colleagues credited her with increasing the council's accessibility to the public and pushing green initiatives.

They also praised her ability to outperform them in doing her homework on issues.

In 2021, Polomsky, chairwoman of the council's Development, Planning and Zoning Committee, was in the minority in support of a controversial parking lot behind Roberto's Ristorante.

Polomsky wrote the minority report, which was a detailed document. Some suggested the report wasn't her work. But a Patch public records request yielded hundreds of documents that indicated she wrote it.

A narrow 7-6 City Council majority went with Polomsky's position.

Replacing Polomsky is Michael Bram. He was the other Ward 3 alderman for two decades before losing the mayoral race to Scott Levin in 2021.

Mike Honquest, Ward 6

In his speech, Honquest said he was proud of what the city has accomplished during his decade on the council.

When he started, he said, stormwater was the "overarching" problem. It no longer is.

Ward 7 Alderman Mike Brennan, chairman of the council's public works committee, said he was nervous when Honquest joined the committee a couple of years ago.

"I was a little concerned because we spend a lot of money. I knew that might be uncomfortable for you," Brennan said. "But you always asked super-intelligent questions. And in some cases, (you suggested) accelerating our spend in certain areas to ensure we're protecting our investments in our infrastructure."

Honquest is being replaced by Guido Nardini.