Blue Island Mayor Domingo Vargas said Wednesday he has left the city in better shape than when he took office eight years ago, and promised to work on a smooth transition with 2nd Ward Ald. Fred Bilotto, who appears to have won Tuesday’s three-person mayoral election.

Bilotto, heading the United Blue Island ticket, had 51% of the vote compared with 35% for City Clerk Randy Heuser and 14% for Vargas, unofficial totals showed.

“From what I inherited eight years ago to what I am leaving now is a transformation of Blue Island,” Vargas said, citing infrastructure improvements and new businesses.

Bilotto, however, called the results “the end of four years of contention and gridlock in our city government,” and that his goal is to achieve a government “that responds quickly and efficiently to residents’ needs.”

Bilotto, 38, is a government and civics teacher at Thornwood High School in South Holland and has been an alderman since 2014.

First elected mayor in 2013, Vargas had also spent 20 years as an alderman in the city’s 7th Ward.

“I have given a good chunk of my life to public service,” he said.

Vargas was running as an independent and said “I had no army of workers compared to other people.”

He said his campaign was also set back a month due to challenges to his nominating petitions.

Heuser, 61, has served on the High School District 218 Board for 16 years, but did not run for reelection to that position. He said Wednesday he raised important issues in his mayoral campaign.

“I got some good dialogue started” regarding ways to improve the city, he said, and that “hopefully people can come together to work together.”

Running for clerk on the United ticket was Raeann Cantelo-Zylman, who had 50% of the vote compared with 35% for Charlette Mitchell-Brown, who ran with Heuser on the Moving Blue Island Forward slate.

An independent candidate for city clerk, Carol DiPace-Greene, had 15% of the vote, according to unofficial totals.

The United party’s candidate for treasurer, Jairo Frausto, had 52% of the vote compared with 48% for the Moving Blue Island Forward candidate, 4th Ward Ald. Tom Hawley, according to unofficial totals.

All seven aldermanic seats were open, following approval last year by voters of a binding referendum question that did away with two aldermen for each of the seven wards. Unofficial results show three candidates with Moving Blue Island Forward and three with United Blue Island appear to have won seats, along with one independent alderman who appeared to have been reelected.

Incumbent 1st Ward Ald. Dexter Johnson, running as an independent, garnered 57% compared with 43% for incumbent Ald. Annette Alexander, according to unofficial results.

In the 2nd Ward, the United Blue Island candidate, Luiz Montoya, had 70% of the vote compared with 30% for Luis Esparza, who ran on the Moving Blue Island Forward ticket.

Incumbent 3rd Ward Ald. Nancy Rita, the sister of state Rep. Bob Rita, D-Blue Island, ran with Bilotto and had 69% of the vote compared with 31% for Stephanie Arevalo who ran on Heuser’s slate.

Incumbent 4th Ward Ald. Bill Fahrenwald, who also ran with Heuser, appeared to have retained his seat with 65% of the vote compared with 35% for Reyna Alvarado.

In the 5th Ward, Gabriel McGee, a real estate agent who lost a bid for a council seat in the 2019 election, had 58% of the vote compared with 42% for Vera Bettis, running on Bilotto’s United Blue Island ticket.

An alderman in the city’s 6th Ward since 2013, Candace Carr, who ran on Bilotto’s ticket, had 59% of the vote compared with 41% for challenger Lauren Trinidad, unofficial totals showed.

In the 7th Ward, Josh Roll, running on the Moving Blue Island Forward ticket with Heuser, had 53% of the vote compared with 33% for Judy Tovar Becerra, who ran on Heuser’s slate. Incumbent 7th Ward Ald. Alan Stevo, who was running as an independent, had 14%.

Bilotto said he does not foresee any issues working with the City Council.

“I have known many of them most of my life,” he said.

Bilotto said he had called the seven apparent winners Wednesday.

“We all have the same goal. We want to do the best we can for the city,” he said.

“We all have the same goal. We want to do the best we can for the city,” he said.

Vargas and Bilotto said that Tuesday’s almost summerlike weather might have kept some people away from the polls, but Bilotto said that turnout topped 2017’s two-way race for mayor.

He said that the city has about 10,000 registered voters and that 2,869 ballots were cast Tuesday, excluding mail-in ballots, compared with 2,509 ballots cast four years ago.

mnolan@tribpub.com