‘I’m feeling very honored’: Genoa’s mayor-elect Brust sets goals for first 100 days in office

Jonathon Brust, mayoral candidate for City of Genoa consolidated election on April 6, 2021

GENOA – Jonathon Brust, the apparent next Genoa mayor and current fourth ward alderman, said he’s excited to get started.

According to unofficial Tuesday election results, Brust has 58% of the vote, or 395 votes. Opponent and current Genoa Second Ward Alderman Dennis Di Guido has 42% of the vote, or 286 votes. Ballots won’t be certified official until April 20, according to the DeKalb County Clerk & Recorder’s Office.

“I’m feeling very honored to be leading in the polls right now,” Brust, 31, said.

Brust said the first orders of business he anticipates having in the first 100 days in office include transfer of knowledge from current Genoa Mayor Mark Vicary and making sure current city projects keep moving forward. He said he anticipates beginning conversations with aldermen to create committees for economic development and beautification, for example.

Overall, Brust said he believes he and Di Guido were respectful to each other throughout the campaign process.

“I just wanted to commend Dennis [Di Guido] for a clean campaign,” Brust said. “It was not an easy race.”

Genoa Mayor Mark Vicary said he was pleased to see Brust won the race, though he had no personal stake in either candidate.

“Both candidates have been long term aldermen,” Vicary said. “So I was happy that someone was taking over who’s been involved for several years. If you could roll both of them together, they would be the ideal candidate. I don’t have anything negative thing to say about either candidate.”

Vicary said it’s unfortunate the mayoral election results as they stand would mean Di Guido would be losing his aldermanic seat as a result, though he personally believes Di Guido has a future in politics still. Regardless, he said he hopes to see the city keep moving forward.

“I would be really disappointed if we relapse and don’t continue the momentum that we have,” Vicary.

Vicary said he feels his legacy projects included the city’s trail system and repairing six to 11 major city streets, some of which haven’t been repaired for decades. He said he also hopes to see the city continuing to work with the DeKalb County Economic Development Corporation and to keep pointing to the Illinois Route 23 and Interstate 90 interchange as a way to entice big business to come to northern DeKalb County.

“It’s like the best kept secret,” Vicary said of the interchange. " … I just hope that we can attract some major business.”

Vicary said he wishes all the best for Genoa and it’s time for new faces to run the city. He said he’s committed to help with the mayoral transition in the meantime.

“I was just kind of handed the keys to an empty office and I had to figure it out from there,” Vicary said. “ … There’s no mayor playbook, right? There’s no instructional manual for mayor.”

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