Eric Jakobsson Will Likely Be Appointed to Urbana City Council

A researcher and former professor at the University of Illinois is expected to serve the next few months on the Urbana city council, and run for the seat next spring.

City Chief of Staff Mike Monson said it is 'highly likely' that Mayor Laurel Prussing will appoint Eric Jakobsson to the seat formerly occupied by David Gehrig in Ward 2 at the council's December 6th meeting. The professor emeritus and husband of Democratic state representative Naomi Jakobsson taught courses in areas like physics and computational biology.

Jakobsson said he thinks a lot about politics and public policy, and only filed petitions just before Monday's deadline to run for re-election next year. The other person pursuing the vacant seat in the election is Brian Dolinar from CU Citizens for Peace and Justice and the Independent Media Center. Both are Democrats, which means there will be a primary in February.