Mark Actis holds narrow lead against Hall to become next Earlville mayor

Actis says if results remain ‘the real work can begin’

Mark Actis held a narrow lead late Tuesday in his bid to unseat Michael Hall as mayor of Earlville.

Tuesday’s unofficial final tally was 119 votes for Actis and 114 votes for Hall.

There are 119 outstanding mail-in ballots across La Salle County that may be counted if they are returned to the county clerk’s office with the correct postmark in the next two weeks. It is not known where those mail-in ballots are from.

“I want to say thank you to the city of Earlville,” Actis said. “Now the real work can begin.”

Hall declined comment late Tuesday.

The race was notably cordial, with both candidates largely agreeing on a vision for Earlville. Both agreed economic development is a top priority and cited common objectives: addressing blighted structures, infrastructure improvements and better communications between constituents and city hall.

Where they split was on law enforcement, particularly on the topic of urban criminals using U.S. 34 as a trafficking route. While both praised the police department, but Hall shied away from the suggestion that increased interdiction was needed.

“We’re not a speed trap community,” Hall said, adding later. “I don’t think we’re trying to highlight stopping people, but we will do what we need to do.”

Actis, by contrast, held that U.S. 34 had become a “superhighway” for drugs flowing out of Aurora and called for more interdiction.

“We need to spend more on police. We need to up patrols,” Actis said, adding later, “We need to send a message, “Hey, we don’t want this stuff here.’ It needs to go.”

Hall is a retired social studies teacher and 50-year resident of Earlville who served as alderman and then mayor. He decided to run again after his wife’s passing.

Actis is a union electrician and 13-year resident of Earlville who has served as alderman for the past five years.