The sun will set on DeKalb Mayor Greg Sparrow’s 22 years in municipal government on May 9.

Sparrow will leave office after serving as mayor for 20 of the last 24 years.

Frank Van Buer defeated the incumbent mayor in the April 5 consolidated election. There were 6,012 votes cast in the election and Van Buer garnered 3,578 of those votes.

Sparrow said he intends to continue his employment at Kishwaukee Community College in Malta as the community development coordinator.

Other job opportunities may develop as time passes.

“From time to time I was called upon by other communities to consult,” Sparrow said. “As mayor of DeKalb I couldn’t do that.”

While he will be working, leisure time is one thing the soon to be former mayor will be able to enjoy more often.

A trip to Ireland is in the works for Sparrow’s 25th wedding anniversary, he said.

Time with family and relaxation will also occupy some of Sparrow’s time.

As for his achievements in office, there are a number of which Sparrow said he is proud of.

“I’ve always felt we were a city on the cutting edge for how to run cities,” Sparrow said.

Other communities often look to DeKalb for the best ways to do things in their cities, he said.

Some of the other highlights of Sparrow’s time in office include the establishment of a Tax Increment Financing District in 1986, he said. Before that, in 1984, the city constructed two, 2 million gallon water tanks, Sparrow said.

“You have to have a good water supply to attract development,” he said.

Sparrow again expressed his disappointment with the low voter turnout on April 5. Turnout county wide stood at about 28 percent, 9 percent less than in 2001. The city of DeKalb had a higher turnout than the county average.

“Thirty-eight percent isn’t anything to write home about,” Sparrow said.

He went on to point out the small number of people voting for the new school board members.

“The top three winners got 18, 17 and 16 percent of the total, respectively,” Sparrow said. “That means five percent of the total population decided the school board members. Christ almighty, just about anyone can get elected with five percent of the vote,” Sparrow said.

Not everyone in DeKalb is shedding tears over Sparrow’s exit from office.

DeKalb resident and former mayor Bessie Chronopoulos has been a vocal opponent of Sparrow in the past, having run against him twice for mayor.

One point of friction has been the liquor commission.

“His performance as far as liquor issues is abominable,” Chronopoulos said.