Lieber and Steen join incumbent Sheperd as Wilmette Village Board victors

Incumbent Justin Sheperd, former School Board President Mark Steen and local attorney Michael Lieber won seats on the Wilmette Village Board on election night, according to unofficial results from the Cook County Clerk’s Office.

The three ended up ahead of Ryrie Pellaton, a member of Wilmette’s Zoning Board of Appeals who was about 800 votes off the pace with all precincts reporting Tuesday night.

Sheperd was the top vote getter with 3,031 votes, followed by Steen (2,993, 27.68%), Lieber (2,804, 25.93%) and then Pellaton (1,985, 18.36%) in the race for three seats.

While not new to elections, Steen — who is coming off two terms with the Wilmette District 39 School Board — said he feels “honored” to earn the support of Wilmette voters.

“I’m very happy and excited and feel honored by folks who are trusting me with this,” he said. “I really appreciate this and all this work from people who figured out who they wanted to vote for.”

Steen added that the campaigning wasn’t all that stressful, and credit for that goes to all four candidates, he said.

“Candidly, we’ve had elections in this village where there were unqualified candidates and that is a more stressful situation,” he said. “In this race, I think all four of the candidates were qualified and so I was less stressed about it.”

Newcomer Michael Lieber laid the groundwork for a successful campaign. He could be seen greeting residents at the train station, knocking on doors across the village and planting election signs around town.

And he thanked his supporters.

“I am truly appreciative of the support from so many people in Wilmette,” he said. “From my family to my friends to so many community members, I am thrilled to be able to serve all of Wilmette.”

Sheperd, Steen and Lieber will be sworn in later this spring, as the terms of Trustee Kate Gjaja, who initially filed for reelection before withdrawing, and Trustee Kathy Dodd, who will term out of office (two terms), expire.

The Record is a nonprofit, nonpartisan community newsroom that relies on reader support to fuel its independent local journalism.

Subscribe to The Record to fund responsible news coverage for your community.

Already a subscriber? You can make a tax-deductible donation at any time.