DeKALB | Final candidates for the April 17 DeKalb alderman election were announced Monday.

Incumbent Steve Kapitan Melinda Kay Shelton and Victor Wogen are running in the 3rd Ward. Ron Naylor and Gavin Wilson are running for the 5th Ward seat. Brent Keller will run unopposed in the 7th Ward. There are no candidates running to replace Alderman Karega Harris in the 1st Ward, who is not seeking re-election.

Naylor, retired public works director and city engineer for DeKalb, now works in private practice but still wishes to work in public service.

“I definitely have an interest in the 5th Ward,” he said, listing property maintenance, sanitation and sewer problems, and continued economic growth as issues important to him and those he hopes to represent. Naylor currently serves on the facilities planning committee for the DeKalb School District and wants to continue building on what he described as a good relationship between the committee and the city council.

Wilson hopes his years running a business will help him to better run the business of government. Wilson said he feels DeKalb is in danger of losing its identity with smaller, local businesses being over-run by, as Wilson described them, “carbon copy stores” with little investment in the community.

“I’m running because an individual can make a difference,” Wilson said. “The truth is you don’t have to fight the government.”

Kapitan has been a part of that government and hopes this will help propel him back into office.

“My strong suit is my experience on the city council,” Kapitan said.

Kapitan said he feels feedback from his constituents has been generally positive even on decisions he described as highly emotional for many DeKalb residents, such as the recent smoking ban.

Shelton, an NIU graduate student and university employee working in the Founder’s Memorial Library, is running on a plan drawn from conversations with fellow citizens and a desire to have first-hand experience.

“I wish a lot of people will get involved,” she said. “I see lots of room for improvement.”

Keller, an NIU student, has been a DeKalb resident since 2005 and said his self-described passion for public administration led him to throw his hat in. Keller said he feels entirely prepared to balance full-time studies, work for the university and represent the citizens of the 7th Ward.

“My whole sophomore year had really been a testament to doing twenty things at once,” Keller said.

Keller also echoed fellow candidate Wilson’s support of the downtown revitalization plan but said, “The devil’s in the details. There are aspects of the plan I really like, but not all of it.”

Wogen was unavailable for comment.