John Swedberg may not be the mayor of Sycamore any longer, but being away from the post he held for eight years has not stopped him from keeping busy.

Swedberg, who lost the Sycamore mayoral race to Ken Mundy in April, now occupies his time with a new job and a variety of family-related activities.

“These days, I’m really just minding the store, doing things with my family,” Swedberg said. “When you’re no longer in the limelight of public office, it gives you more time to spend on other priorities, like family and other things you didn’t have time for before.”

Among other family activities, Swedberg and his wife, Debbie, are helping their daughter with her wedding plans, a project Swedberg said will occupy much of his time in the coming months.

Debbie Swedberg said she enjoys the extra time her husband has available to engage in family activities.

“He’s more available, which is great,” she said. “We took up bike riding this summer, which has been great. We’re probably in the best shape of our lives.”

Debbie said she does not expect her husband to keep close to home for too long.

“It’s been great to spend more time with John, but he tends to get involved with different things, so I’m just enjoying it while it lasts,” she said.

Now employed as the building commissioner for the Village of Gilberts, Swedberg said his new job is “quite a bit different” from holding a mayoral post.

“Sometimes you’re almost a police officer, firefighter and fire protection worker all rolled into one,” Swedberg said. “I have a village board that I answer to, and I do think that my background as a mayor certainly helps in working with them.”

Mundy, the current mayor of Sycamore, spoke well of his former opponent.

“John Swedberg and myself are both lifelong residents of Sycamore,” Mundy said. “John is a pretty straight-up individual, and we got along well when I was treasurer [for the City of Sycamore].”

And the race itself was conducted in a classy manner, he said.

“The race was a refreshing change from the national level [of politics], where things can get pretty dicey,” Mundy said. “We actually got a lot of compliments from people on how we conducted ourselves in the race.”

Swedberg said he has no plans to make another run at an elected office.

“No, not at this time,” Swedberg said. “I’ve served my time as mayor, tried to serve it well, but I think it’s time for someone else to step up and do the public office thing.”