Who Will Be the New Mayor Pro Tem?

The "vice mayor" role isn't just ceremonial. It also can yield political benefits.

Editor’s note: I missed a few pro tems in the first version of this story. I have now corrected the record.

The last item on tonight’s Village Council agenda is a resolution to appoint a mayor pro tem from among the six commissioners. It sounds like a largely ceremonial role—to wield the gavel on the rare occasions when the mayor is absent. But there is considerably more to the position in terms of both substance and influence, and tonight’s vote may even lay the groundwork for the 2027 mayoral sweepstakes.

Duties of the mayor pro tem are set out in Section 2.17 of the Downers Grove Municipal Code. As anyone who has watched a council meeting presided over by a mayor pro tem is aware, these duties include the exercise of “any power vested in the mayor” and the performance of “acts or executive functions as are required of the mayor” during his or her absence.

But they also include lesser-known responsibilities. The mayor pro tem may act as an assistant mayor of sorts by taking on certain duties and activities assigned by the mayor. These can include assisting the village manager in preparing council meeting agendas, either along with the mayor or in his/her place. This is a position of some influence as it involves discussing pending or potential agenda items, and when and where they might appear on the agenda, as well as any matters relating to the function of the council.

The Municipal Code also grants the mayor pro tem responsibility for facilitating communication and information between members of the council. This includes working out the timing and presentation of items by commissioners and any other concerns they may have in advance of a meeting as well as other duties the mayor chooses to delegate. Playing a role in determining candidates for boards and commissions, getting additional details about potential agenda items, and being first among equals in accessing information are other perks typically granted to the pro tem.

These responsibilities all concern the mayor pro tem’s role in governance. But while not specified in the Municipal Code, the role also can carry considerable political weight. If a mayor is reaching the end of his final term, succession planning may be part of the calculus. In that case, he may choose to symbolically anoint as pro tem the commissioner he hopes will follow in his footsteps. In other cases, the choice of mayor pro tem has been a recognition of years of faithful service and institutional knowledge.

Such was the case when Mayor Ron Sandack chose veteran commissioner Marilyn Schnell for the role in 2009 and when current Mayor Bob Barnett chose Commissioner Greg Hosé as mayor pro tem in 2019 and 2023. Hose was prohibited from running for a fourth council term this year under the council’s term-limits policy.*

Commissioner Martin Tully has seen the pro tem role from both sides. He served as Mayor Brian Krajewski’s second-in-command in 2003 and as Sandack’s pro tem in 2007 before leaving the council in 2009. In 2011, Tully was back, this time as mayor. He, too, appointed Schnell as pro tem, then chose Geoff Neustadt for the job when, two years later, Schell retired from the council after 25 years of service.

Neustadt responded by running against the mayor (unsuccessfully) in 2015. Tully then turned to David Olsen, who had been elected to the council only two years earlier and who would resign from the council in 2016 to accept appointment to the District 81 seat in the State Assembly. Bill White, who was serving his first and only term on the council and harbored no mayoral ambitions of his own, was Tully’s final choice for pro tem.

Now, it’s Barnett’s turn to choose the pro tem who will work with him for the remaining two years of his second term* as mayor. It’s widely rumored that both Tully and Hosé are eyeing a run for the office in 2027, but it remains to be see whether Barnett will bless Tully—who has served two terms as mayor and three more as commissioner—with the appointment.

The other obvious choice would be Commissioner Leslie Sadowski-Fugitt, the most senior member of the current council. Barnett had the same choice to make earlier this year when he appointed the chairman of the Joint Ad Hoc Committee of the Village Council and Library Board of Trustees. He chose Tully. And while he likely owed his 2019 election to the support of a growing demographic in Downers Grove that Sadowski-Fugitt ably represents—liberal women—Barnett may choose to hew closer to his conservative roots for this appointment.

We’ll know later tonight.

*Since 2011, Downers Grove Village Council members are limited to three successive terms, while mayors are limited to two successive terms. They may run again after stepping down for a period.