Niles mayor to face challenger in race; first in 16 years

NILES

For the first time in 16 years, Ralph Infante is facing a challenger in his re-election bid for mayor.

First elected as mayor in 1991 and last challenged in the 1999 Democratic primary, Infante will square off in the May primary against Thomas Scarnecchia, a former 14-year councilman at- large who also served as the city’s safety director in the early 1970s.

Scarnecchia, who last held elected office in 2009, said he’s running for the Democratic nomination for mayor because of the city’s financial problems and Infante’s inability to resolve them.

“There was not good stewardship there,” Scarnecchia said. “The mayor is the CEO of the whole city. Everything should go through the mayor. He should know what’s going on. He’s the [person with the] ultimate responsibility.”

The state put the city in fiscal emergency in October 2014 with a projected general-fund deficit of $2.4 million this year.

Read more about the situation and the race in Friday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.