April 03, 2025
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Keast tops Zinanni for Bourbonnais mayor

Bourbonnais Citizens Party candidates re-elected

By Jeff Bonty
Jeff Keast attends an election watch party Tuesday night in Bourbonnais. Keast secured the mayoral seat over opponent David Zinanni.

Jeff Keast attends an election watch party Tuesday night in Bourbonnais. Keast secured the mayoral seat over opponent David Zinanni. (Lee Provost)

BOURBONNAIS – Jeff Keast will be changing titles as a member of the Bourbonnais village government.

On Tuesday, Keast, currently a trustee and member of the Bourbonnais Citizens Party, defeated People’s Choice Party candidate David Zinanni in the mayoral contest.

Unofficial results showed Keast with 1,863 votes (59%) to Zinanni’s 1,291 (41%).

Keast is replacing current longtime mayor Paul Schore, who he defeated in February’s primary. Schore was running for his fifth term.

Keast has been a member of the village’s board of trustees for 10 years. He is chairman of the board’s Economic and Community Development Committee.

“There is a lot of work ahead,” Keast said. “The top two things on the list are to get a police chief in place and concentrate on the growth of the village.”

Last month, the village started taking applications for the police department’s top spot, which is currently held by Interim Chief Dave Anderson.

Anderson was put in charge of the 29-member department upon the retirement of Jim Phelps.

As for growth in the village, Keast said it is time to bring more business to the Bourbonnais Parkway Exit 318 on Interstate 57.

“We have to be more aggressive in our pursuit of businesses building on the parkway,” he said. “We have to go after them rather than wait for them.”

Zinanni said while the results weren’t what he wanted, he felt the ticket ran a good campaign.

“I met a lot of good people over the past few months. We came up short but we made people think about the village’s future,” Zinanni said.

Keast announced his candidacy in October.

“I won two hard fought battles,” Keast said. “This was definitely a challenge to get from point A to point B. I’m excited to do the work. It’s time for us as a board to move forward.”

The rest of the Bourbonnais Citizens Party ticket – clerk Brian Simeur and trustees Bruce Greenlee, Rick Fischer and Angie Serafini – all were re-elected.

Serafini was the leading vote-getter with 2,000 votes followed by Greenlee 1,701 and Fischer 1,627.

They turned back the challenge of People’s Choice Party candidates Dondi Maricle (1,167), Lindsey Patterson (1,238) and Mark Steelman (1,030).

Simeur defeated Khamseo “Kym” Nelson 1,910 to 1,126.