Metro East Sun

Glen Carbon mayor Robert Jackstadt recently spoke at a forum at Glen Carbon Senior/Community Center, which was sponsored by the Edwardsville Area League of Women Voters.

During the forum, candidates were allotted four minutes to discuss issues. Steve Slemer, who is challenging Jackstadt for the mayoral position, also participated in the forum.

Introduced by the League of Women Voters’ moderator Rachel Thompkins, Jackstadt, an Independent, said he lives in Glen Carbon not by chance but by choice, having compared the community to others and consciously settling there to raise a family.

“I want to offer Glen Carbon residents my extensive background and experience to keep Glen Carbon one of the best places to live, work and raise a family,” he said, according to the Edwardsville Intelligencer.

Jackstadt has been mayor for 12 years and served as a village trustee for four years in the late 1990s. In addition, he sat on the Glen Carbon Planning & Zoning Commission and the District 7 Board of Education.

Jackstadt highlighted his participation in local government during the forum. He said that he has been in public service for 20 of his 26 years living in the village and has missed board meetings only three times, attending 270 out of 273 meetings.

“I have served the community in public office for nearly 20 years, or 77 percent of my time that I have lived in Glen Carbon,” Jackstadt previously told Metro East Sun.

Jackstadt earned a bachelor’s degree in finance, investment and banking from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He obtained a law degree from the St. Louis University School of Law and is a founding shareholder of the Tueth, Keeney, Cooper, Mohan & Jackstadt law firm in Edwardsville, where he specializes in the areas of commercial, construction and education litigation, according to the firm’s website.

In addition to trying hundreds of civil cases in construction, employment matters, credit and shareholder concerns, labor, product liability, liens, taxes and securities, Jackstadt gained in-depth experience in construction issues.

The mayor said that his academic background in finance serves him well with budgeting and investment matters for the Madison County village, and his legal training comes is helpful when dealing with local property rights, ordinances and liability matters, according to the Intelligencer;

“These are complex times for Glen Carbon,” Jackstadt said at the forum. “Glen Carbon needs an experienced leader to keep the village financially sound, safe and moving forward over the next four years.”

He said he hopes that voters will re-elect him based on his proven achievement as a public servant.

Jackstadt maintains active involvement with the American Bar Association and the Illinois State Bar Association, as well as the Missouri Bar.

He serves as a director for the Gateway Center of Metropolitan St. Louis Inc., an organization that oversees municipal park development. He has also spent time as a volunteer youth sports coach.

“I will continue to represent all village taxpayers — whether they are lifelong residents or relatively new residents to Glen Carbon,” Jackstadt told Metro East Sun recently. “In essence, I am interviewing for the position of mayor for Glen Carbon. Voters should compare and contrast my background and experience with that of my opponent.”

Given that more development is on the horizon for the village, Jackstadt views his expertise as critical to the municipality’s well-being in the immediate future, according to the newspaper. He mentioned traffic and police protection as ranking among the top issues he plans to confront.

Only Slemer is challenging Jackstadt in the April 4 election.