Opponents question timing of Belleville city clerk candidate’s decision to run
Why would someone launch a campaign for Belleville city clerk within days of their election as a St. Clair County official?
That’s one of the questions being asked by Irma Golliday’s opponents and others in local political circles. Some also wonder why she would delve into Belleville politics after decades of community involvement in East St. Louis.
“It doesn’t make any sense,” said Brian Triska, who lost his bid to replace Golliday on the St. Clair County Board of Review in November.
Golliday disagrees, saying she lives in Belleville and wants to do what she can to support Mayor Patty Gregory’s re-election campaign. The two women are running as a team.
Triska, 42, a Millstadt contractor who ran as a Republican, said Golliday and County Board Chairman Mark Kern, both Democrats, seem to have manipulated the process by delaying the announcement of her candidacy for city clerk until after the Nov. 5 general election.
Golliday said this week she would resign from the Board of Review if elected to the city post in April’s consolidated election. That means Kern could appoint a Democrat to replace her on the board, Triska said, negating all the votes cast by county residents in November. The final tally in that race was 60,572 to 55,937.
Triska said he’s still trying to figure out the political dynamics in Belleville that led Golliday to enter a city race and team up with Gregory.
“(Golliday) always marketed herself as an East St. Louis person invested in the government down there, so why would you switch gears and come to Belleville?” he asked.
Kern didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment, nor did Gregory.
Gregory, 71, is being challenged by current City Clerk Jenny Gain Meyer, 49, in the mayoral race. Meyer is supporting Golliday’s opponent, Shelly Schaefer, for her replacement. The nonpartisan election will be held April 1.
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Home within city limits
Golliday, 74, said many people don’t realize that she’s been a Belleville resident for more than 10 years and worked in city elections as Democratic precinct committeewoman in Belleville 15.
County Clerk Tom Holbrook verified that Golliday’s home is within Belleville city limits. It’s on North 89th Street, which doubles as the boundary between Belleville and East St. Louis, parallel to Illinois 157.
County parcel records show that Irma Golliday and her late husband, Eddie Golliday, bought the property in 2008. It’s in the city of Belleville and East St. Louis School District 189.
“I was centered in East St. Louis (for community involvement) because, at one point, I lived in East St. Louis,” Golliday said. “But I live in Belleville now.”
Golliday was a District 189 board member from 1999 to 2023 and executive director of East St. Louis Park District from 2005 to 2023. She remains on boards for Southern Illinois Healthcare Foundation and Bi-State Development. Kern appointed her to the latter in 2015.
Golliday’s husband flipped houses and owned more than 100 pieces of rental property in the East St. Louis area, as well as Alorton Hardware and Golliday’s Catch of the Day restaurant, according to his 2017 obituary.
Golliday said she didn’t know she would be running for Belleville city clerk when she began her Board of Review campaign.
Kern had appointed her to the board in 2023 to replace Kinnis Williams, who became the county’s circuit clerk. Under Illinois law, an appointee must run in the next election to continue in office. In November, Golliday won a two-year term to finish out Williams’ six-year term.
“This position (of city clerk) came up, where I have an opportunity to work in the city government, and Mayor Patty Gregory is an outstanding person, and I’ve seen the good things that she’s done,” Golliday said.
“I’m just a person who enjoys political races and being a public servant, and I always give my best. No one who has ever elected me can ever say I turned my back on them or I didn’t have time to speak to them. I always work for the public and my constituents.”
Signatures gathered quickly
Golliday and 12 supporters collected nearly 400 signatures on petitions dated Nov. 11-18 to get her name on the April ballot, according to city election records. Kern and Gregory were among those supporters.
Schaefer said she heard that Golliday was running for city clerk just after Kern held his annual Gifts from the Heart fundraiser on Nov. 7, two days after the general election.
“Everyone has the right to run,” Schaefer said this week. “Do I think it’s strange that she ran on Nov. 5 and then started circulating petitions (for a different office) on Nov. 11? Yes.
“I’m trying to keep a clean race here and a positive one. But I think there are some people out there who have a lot of questions (about her candidacy) that they want answered.”
Triska said Golliday had to know she was going to run for city clerk before the November election, and that fact may have made a difference in the minds of people who voted for or against her.
Schaefer, 55, has emphasized her Belleville roots and community involvement. She said she grew up in unincorporated Belleville and attended Belleville schools before moving within city limits in 1989.
Schaefer plans to retire this spring after 34 years as a teacher in Belleville elementary schools. She has been a Ward 5 alderwoman since 2017 and formerly spent eight years on the Belleville Township High School District 201 board.
Meyer formerly served as chair of Golliday’s Board of Review campaign committee, according to Illinois State Board of Elections records. She resigned on Nov. 19, the day after Golliday filed paperwork to run for city clerk.
“I did not have any discussions with Irma on her running for clerk or why she’s interested in running for clerk,” said Meyer, who had already thrown her support behind Schaefer.
“I just know that Shelly has an interest, and she has been involved in the city as an alderwoman since 2017, and she’s been involved in the school district, and she’s been on several boards, and she’s a teacher, and I know that her ties in Belleville are strong.”
Board of Review members make decisions about tax appeals on residential, commercial, industrial and condominium property, as well as vacant land. The pay in St. Clair County is $49,702 a year.
City clerks maintain ordinances, contracts, deeds and other city records and act as local election authorities. The pay in Belleville is $78,007 a year, not including insurance and other benefits.
BND reporter Lexi Cortes contributed to this story.
This story was originally published February 21, 2025 at 6:00 AM.
