By Howard Packowitz

NORMAL – A former mayor of Normal has seen it before, a very close race for the town’s top job and an issue that divided the community.

Paul Harmon served two terms as Normal’s mayor in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but before that, he recalls the town’s first and only woman to become mayor, the late Carol Reitan. She won by only 50 votes at a time when residents were debating whether to allow alcohol sales in town.

“So that was a close election. It created a lot of noise. One of the biggest issues was whether or not Normal should go wet, whether or not it should approve selling of liquor, and the town was really divided on that issue,” said Harmon.

This time, incumbent Mayor Chris Koos’ apparent margin of victory over Marc Tiritilli is only 11 votes, and the challenger is raising money to pay for a recount.

Harmon attended long-time council member Jeff Fritzen’s news conference last week, and he agreed with Fritzen that Tiritilli misled voters about the town’s debt, government employee pensions, and use of tax increment financing for economic development.

“The town has $94 million in debt, but it has dedicated revenue streams to pay for that debt,” Harmon said. “It’s not like this debt is unsecured in anyway,” he added.

Harmon believes Tiritilli’s strong showing was due to uncertainty among voters whether the economy has recovered yet from the Great Recession.

Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected].