One in a series of profiles of candidates running for the Plainfield Village Board.
Ed O’Rourke has served on Plainfield’s planning commission for about 10 years.
Now he’s making his first bid for public office as he runs for one of the vacant Plainfield Village Board seats in the April 7 election.
“I don’t have any agenda,” the 49-year-old father of three said. “I just want to try and make a positive difference for our community.”
O’Rourke, who works in the corporate realm of new store development for Dunkin’ Donuts, said he grew up in Oak Lawn and moved to Plainfield in the mid-’90s, right before he and his wife started their family.
O’Rourke said he sees running for village board after a decade on the planning commission as “a natural progression.”
Part of his reason for running, he said, is to be able to take action on complaints he hears from residents.
He said he has no particular gripe with the current trustees, but that “there’s always room for improvement with any organization.”
A professional life in corporate America would bring a fresh perspective to the board, he said.
O’Rourke said his career has shown him what retailers want when deciding where to set up shop and that he’ll bring that knowledge to Plainfield’s village board to help foster economic development.
“Working for a retailer, I know what they look for,” he said.
Three seats will be up for grabs on the Plainfield board this April.
Trustee Paul Fay has chosen not to run again, and the seat formerly occupied by Dan Rippy has been vacant since he won a Will County judgeship in November.
O’Rourke will join incumbent Bill Lamb, Mark Chmura, Michael Lambert, John Green and Brian Wojowski in the candidate pool for the three seats up for election, according to village records.
If elected, O’Rourke said he would also push for more public input and discussion at village board meetings.
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“I think sometimes, some communities don’t necessarily welcome or encourage the community input for certain reasons, because it’s time consuming and there’s a lot of complaints and it gets emotional,” he said.
O’Rourke said such citizen input already helps shape his opinion when projects come before the planning commission.
“It makes my job easier, because then I go to the applicant with those concerns,” he said.
He also said he has not shied away from asking tough questions at planning commission hearings and isn’t afraid to vote “no.”
O’Rourke said he would also like to revisit the public notice signs posted on parcels when a hearing involving the property is going before the village board or planning commission.
As it stands, he said, such signs are small and contain a lot of information.
“For someone to drive by, read that and make contact, that’s difficult,” he said.
Instead, O’Rourke said he would look to just put a public notice and a phone number that concerned residents could call for more information.
Like other candidates, O’Rourke said he sees the major issues of Plainfield being traffic and train problems.
While he supports the idea of a 143rd Street extension to alleviate downtown congestion, he also said he would explore other options to ease traffic, such as ensuring that traffic lights are properly synced to keep things moving.
O’Rourke said he would also seek to ensure Plainfield provides the best services at the most cost-efficient prices.
“If I could get a chance to look at things through my lens, that’s a bit different,” he said of what he would bring to the board. “That could be beneficial.”
Twitter: @JournoGeoffZ