Batavia, Palos Hills Mayors Each Elected To 10th Term
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Two of Tuesday's big election winners were the mayors of Batavia and Palos Hills, both of whom won their 10th straight four-year term.
68-year-old Batavia Mayor Jeff Schielke has served 36 years in office and easily beat back a challenge from school board member Jason Stoops.
Schielke said, "I'm humbled and honored by it. In this era, when people are talking about people serving too long in office, that's obviously a concern."
Schielke and Palos Hills Mayor Jerry Bennett are the second longest serving active mayors in Illinois, behind Robert Butler, the mayor of downstate Marion since 1963. That's 14 terms, so far.
Batavia's mayor said he doesn't have any desire to be mayor that long.
"I've never had any political ambition beyond Batavia. I've never run for anything else," Schielke said of his political career.
He jokingly calls himself "a poster child for term limits."
"This is obviously my life's legacy here, and when I retire from this job, I'll be able to look back on it with some degree of satisfaction and pride that there was a lot of good accomplished and a lot of progress made," he said.
