About 60 people turned out Monday night for La Grange Park’s State of the Village event at Posto 31 restaurant on 31st Street.
The theme of this year’s presentation, the fourteenth, is that the state of the village is, well, busy.
“This event tonight is just showcasing what we’ve accomplished in the past year and I think our residents will be amazed at the amount we’ve accomplished and those projects that we’re pursuing in 2024 will be highlighted tonight as well,” Village President James Discipio said before the night began.
He noted specific projects that were completed in 2023, such as Plymouth Place’s Senior Living opening Arboretum Villas, and the nearby Aldi store near Plymouth Place. (which is scheduled to open this spring)
“Those two projects took at lot of staff time to get there,” Discipio said. “We’re going to do the La Grange Road Streetscape improvement, where we are going to enhance La Grange Road, and next year we’re going to do 31st Street.”
Several Village officials attended, including Village Trustees Robert Lautner, Karen Koncel, Mike Sheehan, Jamie Zaura, and Joe Caputo, as did Illinois State Rep. La Shawn Ford, Illinois House Speaker Chris Welch, and U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia.
Department Heads Public Works Director Rick Radde, Police Chief Tim Contois, and Fire Chief Dean Maggos mingled with the crowd, along with Village Manager Julia Cedillo, and Deputy Village Clerk Sandy Bakalich.
Deputy Village Manager Maggie Jarr organized the event and served as emcee for the evening.
Posto 31 brought out pizza and other snacks for the crowd of guests just as the highlight of the event began, a half-hour film of village officials outlining projects completed, or being started, in the past year.
Discipio introduced the film from a balcony at Plymouth Place, and Jarr started by speaking of several developments, including Andy’s Frozen Custard in the Village Market Shopping Center, on the site of the old Original Pancake House, which had been vacant for several years. She also noted other developments, including the Arboretum Villas, and the housing development at Kensington Place, formerly the site of the American Nuclear Society. Ground was broken on the first home at Kensington Place last year.
Jarr went on to say that the Village had completed its work on the Village Market Streetscape Improvement Plan in early 2023, the project designed to improve the stretch of La Grange Road along Village Market that serves as an entrance to the Village.
“The Village is also advocating for a reduced speed limit along La Grange Road in this area,” she said.
Police Chief Contois spoke of his department’s getting back to full staffing with the hiring of five new police officers. He credited the full staffing with the department “carefully reviewing and streamlining our recruitment process.”
Fired Chief Maggos also spoke of recruiting, pointing out that for the first time, La Grange Park’s paid, on-call department extended its residency boundaries to some areas outside the Village. He also noted that the department conducted valuable search and rescue training before the demolition making way for Aldi.
“It is rare to get these training opportunities within commercial buildings,” he said.
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The entire film can seen on the Village of La Grange Park’s YouTube channel.
Julia Cedillo said that the evening was an opportunity for residents not only to look at what happened last year but get an idea of what was to come in the future.
“The focus on people, whether it’s making changes in order to serve our residents better, or to make sure we have the capacity that we need to provide services in a more efficient manner,” she said was the key to understanding the past year.
Cedillo echoed Discipio’s comments about the amount of accomplishments in 2023, saying “We just finished our busiest year ever in the village.”
Trustee Mike Sheehan agreed that the Village had some notable successes in the past year, but cautioned that challenges remained.
“I think that in a couple of months with Aldi opening, that will be great,” he said, “and I think we’re setting a good foundation for (replacing) the lead service lines going forward. From what I hear, we’re farther ahead than some other villages. It’s not one of those things where we can kick the can down the road.”
Hank Beckman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.