Sandack Reflects on Tenure as Mayor

As Downers Grove Mayor Ron Sandack prepares to pass the gavel to Mayor-elect Martin Tully, he took some time to reflect on his past four years in office.

“It’s been an incredible honor to serve as mayor of Downers Grove. I’m going to look back on this time in my life with pride,” Sandack said.

After serving first on the village Liquor Commission and later as a member of the Village Council, Sandack won the race for mayor by a 2-3 margin in 2007. After assuming office, Sandack set about expanding village government transparency. Within weeks of being sworn in, Sandack initiated a plan to broadcast Village Council meetings online. He said it was important to give more citizens an opportunity to track what their council was doing.

Sandack’s mettle as mayor also would be tested when the economy crashed a year into his term. As revenues slowed to a trickle, Sandack and village leaders faced a tough task of crafting a budget to meet growing needs with far fewer tax dollars.

“We had some tough decisions to make and we opted to identify those core services provided by local government and focus on those," he said. "We prioritized those services and worked on funding those items only.”

Sandack said it came down to making sure law enforcement, the fire department and the public works department were properly funded. That meant other popular programs, including Heritage Fest, the Ice Carving Festival, DARE and the family and social services department had to be cut, he said. Sandack said each of these programs were beneficial for the community, but he and fellow council members could not justify subsidizing them with tax dollars at the expense of those core services.

Since those programs were eliminated, Sandack said private entities, including the Rotary Club of Downers Grove and the Downtown Management Corp., stepped in to continue them with private funds.

In addition to preserving core services, Sandack said he was proud the Village Council crafted a long-range financial plan. He said the plan partly stemmed from the state of the economy, but also was a fiscally prudent means of sustaining village finances over the next few years. After multiple meetings the Village Council drafted a three-year financial plan. He said he expects the next council likely will draft another long-range financial plan.

“That was something that really needed to be done. We wanted to something that was fiscally prudent and showed good planning," he said. "And that’s something we were able to accomplish. We had to tweak it a couple times over the past three years, but it’s been a solid guide for the growth of Downers Grove."

“The plan was something that flew under the radar and not a lot of people know about it, but I’m very proud of it,” Sandack said.

The mayor said he was pleased the village was able to secure funding for the Belmont underpass project before he left office. He called the underpass both an engine for economic development and a “public safety triumph.”

“There have been an unprecedented number of car and train accidents at that site. This will be much safer, plus one added benefit is it will help ambulances get to Good Samaritan Hospital a lot easier. Those ambulances have had to stop for trains too many times,” Sandack said.

While Sandack may be stepping down as mayor, he is not leaving public service. In November Sandack, a Republican, in the Illinois State Senate. After being elected Chairman of DuPage County, Cronin was obliged to resign his Senate seat.

In his role as a member of the legislature, Sandack said he intends to be an advocate for municipalities. Last week Sandack, along with other suburban Republican senators, ripped into a proposal by Gov. Pat Quinn that would withhold state tax funds allocated for local governments if legislators do not approve a plan to borrow several billion dollars to pay off state bills. Sandack likened the threat to blackmail.

As a minority member of the state senate, Sandack said he will not forget his roots.

“I bring a municipal perspective. It was my training ground, where I cut me teeth. I am a big proponent of local control. It’s still the best, closest and most important role of government there is.”