Dear friends,
To say that I love this community is an understatement. It’s been my lifelong home; the place I grew up and that provided the foundation that supports who I am as a husband, father, grandfather, businessman, and mayor. Over the past eight years, we’ve been through a lot as a world, country, and community, including a global pandemic and, closer to home, a natural disaster.
But now it’s time.
It’s time to let someone else chart this community’s course alongside the entire City Council and our professional, hardworking City staff.
It’s time to bring new ideas and leadership into the Mayor’s role and build upon the economic stability I have prioritized since I came into office in 2015.
And that’s why I (Steve Chirico, mayor of Naperville) am announcing I will not be running for reelection in 2023.
I’m proud to have worked with hundreds of people – my colleagues on the Council, City staff, community leaders, residents, and businesspeople – to make significant strides that will leave our community in good standing for years to come. That includes implementing one of the lowest property tax rates in the last 50 years, rebuilding our cash reserves and lowering our debt, balancing our budget, and focusing on putting dollars towards infrastructure projects, which saves money in the long run instead of fixing costly breaks. It also includes making our City a prime location for development and re-development, as seen by our building permit applications reaching highs not seen since the 1990s. And it also includes making sustainability a priority through approving a comprehensive, multi-approach plan that spans the next decade and then some.
We are less than 10 years from celebrating Naperville’s bicentennial; a time where we’ll look back at the decisions of the past and remember how far they’ve allowed us to come. It’s been the privilege of a lifetime to serve as your leader for eight of those years and do the hard – but necessary – work to make Naperville the best place to live, do business, and visit. I’m looking forward to continuing to be involved in the community that my entire family loves, and of course, I’m looking forward to more time with Julie, my kids, and my grandkids. They are a large part of why I serve – to make tomorrow better for future generations.
I know Naperville will be in good hands and look forward to sharing in our community’s future successes – just from a different vantage point.
— Facebook page of Steve Chirico, mayor of Naperville