The New Acting Mayor Of Bolingbrook Is Village Trustee Basta

BOLINGBROOK, IL — Village Trustee Mary Alexander-Basta has become the new acting mayor by a unanimous vote of the Bolingbrook Village Board during a special meeting Thursday. According to Illinois State Law, the mayor's replacement must come from existing elected members of the village board.

"I'm honored to be completing the unexpired term of Mayor Roger C. Claar and humbled to be chosen by the residents of Bolingbrook," she said at the meeting.

Mayor Roger Claar will retire on Friday after serving the village for over 30 decades. According to his interview with WJOL, he wants to spend more time with his family, especially his 5-year-old granddaughter who lives in California.

Basta will serve full-time as Bolingbrook’s acting mayor — until the mayoral election in April 2021 — but at $35,000 annually, the part-time salary set by the board during the Tuesday meeting.

After being sworn in by the Chief Judge of Will County Richard C. Schoenstedt, she asked Claar and his wife, Pat, to join her at the lectern and proceeded to read a letter, expressing gratitude over his years of dedicated work for the Bolingbrook community.

"You have served a lifetime," Basta said. "You had a vision of growth and development and you did what was needed to grow this village into what we now call home. The path was not easy and the road was certainly not paved, but you were able to plow through and make things happen."

She said that even though she has "big shoes" to fill, she knows Claar "will be there to support us."

According to the Village of Bolingbrook website, Basta was elected village trustee just last year and serves on both the Public Safety and Public Services Committees. She was named Bolingbrook Female Citizen of the Year in 2018. She is an event design and coordination consultant with 20-plus years’ experience doing major corporate event planning and hotel/club management.

Basta is experienced in Village Planning and Development; served as Chair of the Bolingbrook Plan Commission, is an active leader in the school district community and currently serving as the John F. Kennedy PTA President. She is also an executive board member of the Bolingbrook Soccer League, founding Vice President of Bolingbrook STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math) Association for youth.

She studied Mass Communications at the American University in Cairo, Egypt. Her background includes social and corporate event planning, hotel and club management at locations such as the Palmer House Hilton, Four Seasons, and the Chicago Yacht Club where she became the first female general Manager in the club’s 125-year history.

Basta said she moved to Bolingbrook with her husband in 2003 and in spite of having other towns to choose from, the saw "in Bolingbrook the diversity."

"We fell in love with it and decided to make it our home and raise our family," she said.

Trustee Sheldon Watts said the board will work together going forward and ensure Bolingbrook remains a great place "to live, work play, shop and raise a family like I’m doing here."

Earlier this month, Will County Board member Jackie Traynere (D-Bolingbrook) announced her plans to run for mayor of Bolingbrook during the 2021 election. Basta has not yet declared her candidacy to continue on as mayor after finishing out Claar’s term.

“As we look towards the future and the April election, I will always do what’s in the best interest of Bolingbrook and will evaluate any future candidacy for this office," she said.