New mayor, city council takes shape in O’Fallon with one seat short

A new mayor and two new aldermen were sworn in an hour before the O’Fallon City Council meeting Monday, with Mayor Eric Van Hook presiding and Ward 2 Alderman Martha Stoffel and Ward 7 Alderman Jimmy Ford seated on the dais.

Among the Van Hook’s first orders of business is to fill a council vacancy in Ward 4.

The opening was created by Stephanie Smallheer’s resignation for personal reasons and because no one ran for the seat in the April 1 municipal election, nor were there any write-in candidates. The resident would hold the position until April 2027.

Van Hook has announced resumes were being taken from Ward 4 residents from 7 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. on Friday, May 9, at City Hall to fill the vacancy.

Applications may be emailed to Mayor Van Hook at evanhook@ofallon.org by deadline as well. Applicants must be residents of Ward 4. After reviewing resumes, the mayor said he will recommend an individual to the city council for their consent.

State law requires that the mayor forward a replacement to the city council within 60 days after the vacancy occurs. The council then has 30 days to approve the appointment. There are no requirements in the state law on how the mayor selects the replacement.

The new council

Ford and Stoffel were elected without opposition in the April 1 municipal election. Ford replaces Van Hook, who had represented Ward 7 since being appointed to fill the late Dan Witt’s vacancy in 2022.

Stoffel fills the seat vacated by Alderman Jerry Albrecht, who decided not to run again after serving 26 years. She previously served on District 203’s school board.

Van Hook was elected without opposition. He had served as the city’s public safety director for eight years until retirement in 2021 and had a decorated 30-year career as a police officer, starting out as a patrolman in O’Fallon in 1990.

He announced his candidacy last fall after then-Mayor Herb Roach announced he would not seek a third term.

Re-elected to serve another four years were Ross Rosenberg, Ward 1, and Jim Campbell in Ward 6, without opposition. Jim Blackburn was elected in Ward 5 after being appointed last year when Alderman Chris Monroe resigned. Incumbent Roy Carney defeated challenger Vern Malare in the Ward 3 contest.

In other election results, incumbent City Clerk Jerry Mouser defeated Opal Caroline Malare and incumbent City Treasurer Robert Hursey beat Ron Zelms. Hursey was elected for his fifth term.

This will be Mouser’s third term. He served as an alderman for 18 years, from 1997 to 2016, resigned when he moved three blocks out of Ward 3. He ran for city clerk in 2017 and was re-elected without opposition in 2021.

The mayor announced he will be appointing new council committees in June, so current make-up will continue through May, except Stoffel will take Albrecht’s place on his assignments (but Carney will be parks chair) and Ford will take Van Hook’s place on his committees.

“I want to talk to everyone first. See where their strengths and interests are,” the mayor said.