Note to readers: This is the first of three interviews with each of the Elmhurst mayoral candidates — Diane Gutenkauf, Steve Morley and Mark Mulliner — leading up to the April 9 election.

ELMHURST — Mayoral candidate Diane Gutenkauf says better transparency and communication from the city is key in keeping Elmhurst prosperous and helping it improve in the future.

Gutenkauf, who is halfway through her second term as 1st Ward alderman, said she was particularly bothered by the closed-session negotiations leading to the planned parking deck for Addison Avenue.

Discussions that have taken the four-story project in the direction of six stories were largely held behind closed doors, resulting in a nonbinding opinion from the Illinois Attorney General's Office that the City Council violated the Open Meetings Act.