Village Hall has taken on a new look since the election of its first female mayor in April.
Kristina Kovarik successfully fought for the appointment of the first African-American trustee, Greg Garner, this year.
Next, she helped form a diversity committee, with blacks, Asians and Hispanics represented on the six-member panel asked to address village hiring issues.
Gurnee has a nearly all-white municipal workforce at Village Hall–a fact that Kovarik says underscores the need to work harder to bring more minorities into government.
Kovarik has agreed to put up a menorah next to the holiday tree in Village Hall to recognize the Jewish celebration of Hanukkah. She said she also wouldn’t mind adding to the display to recognize African-Americans and others who celebrate Kwanzaa.
“If someone wants to approach me, the board is open to it,” she said.
Rabbi Sholom Tenenbaum of Chabad Jewish Center in Gurnee asked the board if it would be possible to add a menorah to the winter display. The board said yes.
There is a hitch. Gurnee doesn’t have a menorah.
“We need to get one,” Kovarik said.