Marty Shanahan Among 7 Running For Joliet City Council In April

JOLIET, IL — After serving twice as city of Joliet interim manager, attorney Marty Shanahan was dismissed as Joliet's corporation counsel in May by now-retired interim city manager Steve Jones, but Shanahan's days at Joliet City Hall may not be over.

Shanahan is one of seven people who have taken out nominating petitions to run for one of the three at-large openings on the Joliet City Council so far this week.

The city council elections are April 6.

"I have almost 20 years of municipal experience, I already have a grasp on many of the issues facing Joliet and I already started formulating some of the solutions to move Joliet forward," Shanahan informed Joliet Patch on Wednesday. "Many Joliet residents have been supportive of me and my track record so I am exploring a run for City Council."

Shanahan lives on Expedition Street in Joliet.

After several years as a lawyer in private practice, Shanahan went to work for the City of Joliet in January 2015. He served two stints as interim city manager, once after Jim Hock retired in May 2017 and the second time came after the city council approved a separation agreement with David Hales in October 2018 after only 11 months on the job into a three-year contract.

In June of 2019, the Joliet City Council, led by Pat Mudron, voted to remove Shanahan as interim city manager and send him back to the city's legal department. Then, 11 months later, Steve Jones fired Shanahan from the city altogether.

In addition to Shanahan, four-term incumbent Jan Quillman is the only incumbent to pull nominating petitions for re-election so far. Quillman lives on Western Avenue in Joliet's Cathedral Area. According to her council bio, Jan is married to retired Joliet Police Detective Tom Quillman.

"Jan’s main focus is the revitalization of Downtown Joliet, Jefferson Street Corridor, the completion of the Transportation Center, and the continued growth of Collins Street. Jan wants to insure that city services always have a top priority," her council profile states.

(Joliet Patch article continues below photo of Jan Quillman.)

Besides Shanahan and Quillman, the other Joliet City Council candidates who intend to run for the office include: James "Jim" Lanham, who lives on Doe Court; Cesar Guerrero, who lives on Francis Street; Isiah Williams Jr., who lives on Parkwood Drive and runs Williams Paralegal Services, helping clients with unlawful detainers, uncontested divorce, will and estate planning and contract reviews, according to the Joliet Chamber of Commerce.

Other Joliet City Council candidates include Glenda Wright-McCullum, who lives on Mason Avenue. Wright-McCullum is a local minister and she serves on the Joliet Housing Authority Board. She is also a former Joliet Housing Authority employee.

According to her Joliet Housing Authority bio,Wright-McCullum has an honorary doctorate of divinity degree from St. Thomas Christian College. She is also the founder and senior pastor of Gateway Worship Assembly in Joliet.

The seventh candidate to pull nominating papers for Joliet City Council this week is Hudson Hollister, who lives on Buell Avenue. In July, Hollister's technology company, HData, was the focus of a Joliet Patch article after he moved HData into an office space in the first-floor of Joliet's historic Union Station.

Two members of the Mudron 5 coalition, Don "Duck" Dickinson and Mike Turk are up for re-election in April. Dickinson recently announced that he would not seek a second term in office. Joliet Patch reported that Dickinson's voting record of raising several city of Joliet taxes, including gasoline taxes, plus getting rid of Shanahan as city manager without offering a reason for doing so, made it unlikely that he would win another four-year term in April.

Turk has served on the Joliet council since 1987. He is considered a political adversary of Mayor Bob O'Dekirk. Quillman, on the other hand, is a political ally of the mayor.

Candidate nominating petitions will be due between Dec. 14-21, according to officials in the Joliet City Clerk's Office. Candidates must submit a minimum of 95 signatures from Joliet residents in order to be on the April 6 election ballot.