Some candidates in Tuesday’s suburban municipal election are no strangers to controversy

One candidate has been the subject of a federal investigation. Another stands charged in a red-light camera case. Another was charged with taking part in a gambling ring. All are among the mayors and village presidents running for reelection in Chicago’s suburbs in Tuesday’s general municipal election.

As voters choose their local leaders, some longtime incumbents are stepping down, including in Evergreen Park, Frankfort, Northbrook, Lake Bluff and Oak Lawn, leaving wide open races for new leadership, while in Aurora and Hoffman Estates, incumbents face multiple challengers.

One of the more hotly contested races is in southwest suburban Lyons, where federal agents raided the village hall and the private insurance office of Mayor Chris Getty in 2019 as part of a wide-ranging corruption investigation.

The FBI seized information about a red-light camera company, a popular brewery, an embattled video gaming magnate, and a construction and quarry business owner in town, records show.

Getty, 38, who is seeking his fourth term, is the son of former Mayor Kenneth Getty, who went to prison for bid-rigging and theft from the village, after a previous FBI raid on village offices in 1996. Ken Getty maintained his innocence and blamed his political rivals, and later helped his son defeat them, before Chris Getty appointed his father to the village planning zoning board in 2011.

Challenger Richard Gatz Jr., 67, is a Marine veteran and former village trustee who works as a cash handling supervisor at the headquarters of the Illinois Toll Highway Authority. He’s running with a slate of trustee and clerk candidates called the Village Integrity Party.

“It’s time to run against him because of all the corruption going on,” he said. “It’s unbelievable.”

Chris Getty maintains that the FBI interviewed him and never filed charges because, he said, he committed no crime. Federal officials did not respond this week to a Tribune request for comment.

Investigators were looking into bribes allegedly given to suburban politicians to get red-light camera contracts, Getty said. The village had ended its red-light camera operations a few years previously, he said.

“It’s moved beyond me,” he said. “It’s behind me, behind Lyons. We’ve moved past it. We’re continuing to focus on moving the community forward.”

The investigation was part of a wide-ranging probe that already has led to criminal charges against a number of neighboring suburban officials and Democratic power brokers.

A federal grand jury continues to investigate the case, and prosecutors have said in court that further charges are expected.

Chris Getty’s controversies go back several years. Getty told the Tribune in 2009 that he’d give up income from liability insurance sold by the family-run Getty Insurance Agency to local bars, which his administration regulates. The move came after the paper raised conflict-of-interest questions. He also denied claims that his father had sold insurance despite having his insurance license revoked.

In southwest suburban Crestwood, one officeholder who was charged in the red-light camera investigation, Mayor Lou Presta, is running for reelection. Investigators said he was caught on a recording in 2018 accepting an envelope of with $5,000 cash from a red-light camera firm.

Presta, whose case is still pending, has denied the charges. The charges were announced last year, around the same time Presta filed a campaign report that red-light camera company SafeSpeed gave him $5,000 in Election Day workers and expenses in 2018.

Former Crestwood Trustee John Toscas, who ran a losing campaign against Presta in 2013, is running for mayor again with a slate of three trustee candidates and a clerk.

In north suburban Mettawa, Casey Urlacher, the brother of former Chicago Bears star Brian Urlacher, is running for reelection against former Mayor Jess Ray. Urlacher joined the race only after then-President Donald Trump pardoned him in January of federal sports gambling charges. That was too late for Urlacher to have his name on the ballot, so he is running as a write-in candidate.

Though the town has a population of less than 600, Urlacher had raised more than $50,000 in campaign cash, and his opponent had more than $25,000.

Among the other races in the suburbs for mayors and village presidents:

In Wilmette, two members of the village board, Senta Plunkett and Joel Kurzman, are vying to become the next board president. Both candidates emphasized economic development, flood control and affordable housing as top priorities.

In the state’s second largest city, Aurora, Mayor Richard Irvin faces challenges from carpenter and veteran John Laesch, and Ald. Judd Lofchie. With the city facing a $1 billion debt, all three promise economic development. The challengers question the use of tax increment financing, or TIF districts, that divert property tax revenue for development.

In west suburban Oak Park, Village President Anan Abu-Taleb is not seeking a third term. Village Clerk Vicki Scaman is running against community activist and former park district worker Cate Readling for the office.

In Hoffman Estates, retired police Lt. Mark Mueller and challenger Nicholas Waryas are trying to dethrone longtime incumbent William McLeod.

In Norridge, the Illinois deputy secretary of state, Tom Benigno, is challenging appointed incumbent and construction company CEO Dan Tannhauser for mayor.

In Lake Bluff, Village Board trustees William Meyer and Regis Charlot are squaring off in a race to become the next village president. Current Mayor Kathleen O’Hara is following the unwritten tradition of stepping down after two terms, so the election is wide open and not slated.

Also, Northbrook has a contested race to replace departing Village President Sandy Frum. Village Trustee and private attorney Kathryn Ciesla and former Village President Eugene “Gene” Marks are battling for the open seat.

In the south suburbs, Dixmoor police Chief Ronnie Burge is running to become mayor of neighboring Dolton, against Trustee Tiffany Henyard.

Meanwhile, in Dixmoor, Mayor Yvonne Davis is trying to fend off a challenge from Trustees Fitzgerald Roberts and Cynthia Mossuto.

In Blue Island, Mayor Domingo Vargas is seeking a third term. He is challenged by Ald. Fred Bilotto and city Clerk Randy Heuser, who helped spearhead the drive for a referendum that cut in half the number of aldermen in the city.

Flossmoor Mayor Paul Braun is not seeking reelection. Vying to take his place are Lakshmi Emory and Michelle Nelson.

The mayor of Evergreen Park since 2001, James Sexton, is retiring, and backs state Rep. Kelly Burke, D-Evergreen Park, to succeed him. Shawn Good is also seeking the office.

In Frankfort, where Mayor Jim Holland is not seeking a fifth term, Trustees John Clavio and Keith Ogle are running for mayor.

In Markham, first-term Mayor Roger Agpawa is running again but faces three challengers.

Agpawa is running as a Democrat, and three challengers running as independents are city Clerk Jennifer Coles, Perry Browley and Kenneth “Mojo” Muldrow Jr.

Agpawa won election in 2017 but was unable to take office for 18 months while he fought to resolve issues about his ineligibility to serve because of a 1999 federal felony conviction.

First-term Matteson Mayor Sheila Chalmers-Currin will face a challenger, independent Muhaymin Muhammad.

In Oak Lawn, incumbent Mayor Sandra Bury is not seeking a third term. Instead, she is backing Trustee Terry Vorderer, against independent write-in candidate Thomas J. Karones.

Olympia Fields’ first-term Mayor Sterling “Stoney” Burke is challenged from two village board trustees — Cassandra Matz and Desiree Watkins.

In a rematch of a 2017 race, Orland Park’s former longtime Mayor Dan McLaughlin will try to take back his seat from first-term incumbent Keith Pekau.

In Tinley Park, Trustee Michael Glotz and former Trustee Kevin Suggs are running for mayor, following incumbent Jacob Vandenberg’s decision not to seek a second term.

Among the longest-serving mayors, Palos Hills Mayor Gerald Bennett, first elected in 1981, is being challenged by Sandy Szczygiel.

One high-profile race was decided in the February nonpartisan primary, when voters in Evanston chose ex-state Sen. and former candidate for governor Daniel Biss to succeed Steve Hagerty, who left office after one term.

Tribune reporter Jason Meisner contributed.