Seven people have thrown their hats in the ring for one of four seats open on the Naperville City Council next spring, but incumbent Paul Leong is not one of them.
Monday marked the first day candidates could submit nominating peitions for the 2025 municipal election. The deadline to file is Oct. 28.
Council members whose seats are up for election are Benny White, Jennifer Bruzan Taylor, Ian Holzhauer and Leong. All but Leong are running again.
“I just decided that I needed to spend more time on things that were of great priority to my family,” Leong said Thursday. Work outside of his elected role has also played a part in his decision to step down, he said.
When Leong’s career in public office began eight years ago, first as a board member for Naperville School District 203 and then with city council, he worked part time, he said. He now works full time. With his family, “we decided to cut back on some of the service” he was doing, Leong said.
Looking ahead, he said there are “some really big challenges” on the horizon for the city — including potential revenue loss with the elimination of the state’s grocery sales tax and several large scale capital improvement projects — but he’s “sure, with the guidance and help of staff, that the next council will be up to those challenges.”
Apart from sitting council members, other candidates who submitted petitions this week are Mary Gibson, Meghna Bansal, Derek McDaniel and Ashfaq Syed.
Gibson is the current president of the Naperville Park Board. She is the former director of a data analytics firm and the mother of three. She has been a member of the Naperville Riverwalk Commission since 2021.
Bansal is a longtime Naperville resident who has worked as a financial analyst for 21 years. She currently serves on the Naperville Planning and Zoning Commission. She unsuccessfully ran for council in 2023, narrowly losing to Nate Wilson.
Also a member of the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission, McDaniel is a local business owner and financial advisor. He is a member of the city’s Downtown Advisory Committee and is on the board of directors for Naperville Citizens Appreciate Public Safety (CAPS).
McDaniel previously ran for council in 2023 but was taken off the ballot due to a filing error with his nominating petition sheets.
Syed, who’s worked as a banker for the past 30 years, also vied for a seat on council in 2023 but was unsuccessful. Syed is president of the Naperville Public Library Board of Trustees.
There are five other people who picked up packets to run but had not submitted them as of Wednesday afternoon, according to City Clerk Dawn Portner.
If more than 16 candidates file, a primary election would be held Feb. 25. If not, candidates will appear on the April 1 ballot.
