The La Grange Village Board approved a Resolution of Appreciation for Trustee Glenn Thompson, who cut his term short after accepting a job offer in Florida.
Thompson, who had previously served on the village’s Environmental Quality Commission and was a founding member of Dry Up La Grange, the citizen’s group formed in the wake of massive flooding in 2021, officially resigned July 31.
“This was something that was not planned,” Thompson said of his new job. “It was an opportunity that just kind of came out of the blue that blossomed into being a full-time role to the point where they made me an offer I could not refuse. … It was just too good to pass up.”
Thompson said he considered traveling back and forth between La Grange and Florida, but that was just too much of a burden, so he decided to relocate.
He spoke at length about the process that resulted in him being a trustee.
“When the flood of 2021 occurred, my wife was watching the comments back and forth on Facebook,” he said. “People were complaining and we had a slight backup in our basement.”
More Top Picks Best Straight Stair Lifts Under 5000 Dollars
Thompson said that he was surprised to find a crowd of citizens at the next board meeting, given that this was in the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The room was packed with obviously angry citizens, their homes had been ravaged, and at that point the anger was really aimed at the quarry,” he said referring to the ongoing legal battle with Hansen Quarry over the rights to the drainage pipes along 50th Street. “So in about six weeks, we had about 1,000 families that were either on Facebook, or on a mailing list, or having meetings.”
The village successfully sued the quarry operators in 2023 over the quarry severing the village’s pipeline on disputed property.
After Dry Up La Grange became active in the village’s politics, meeting with Congressman Sean Castens’ staff and county officials, the goal was to form a government group just to focus on flooding.
But village President Mark Kuchler suggested adding addressing flooding to the duties overseen by the village’s Environmental Quality Commission. And with Thompson being a leading figure in Dry Up La Grange, Kuchler appointed him to the group.
“We were able to get the overhead sewer back flow preventer program pushed through (the Village Board),” he said. “We got the village to put that in and that’s when election time was coming up and there was a two-year term left available. … So Mark said ‘why don’t you run for Village Board.’ He said, ‘you’ve got the connections, and your connections can help us.’ So I said, sure, I’ll run. And that’s how I got on the board.”
Thompson talked about the most prominent success on the board during his tenure.
“I’m most proud of the fact that we were able to put pressure and work together as a community in Dry Up La Grange to see the, hopefully, the 50th Street project finally trying to get to construction. Between Dry Up La Grange meetings with MWRD and officials and trying to get the funding for that and the village finally winning their quarry case.”
As for regrets, Thompson only has one.
“My regret is that I’m actually having to give it up,” he said. “It was a tough decision giving up my position.”
As far as who might be appointed to replace him, Thompson said he didn’t know, but that “I do know there has been a list of people that have volunteered and I have given Mark some suggestions on people to run.”
Thompson stressed that it was Kuchler’s decision. “And they will have to run again right away in ’27,” he said.
More Top Picks Benches Plants
Hank Beckman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.