The Oak Park village board planned to return to session Tuesday, May 6 for the first time since April 1’s Oak Park election.
The meeting would be residents’ first look at its new board, which featured new additions Jim Taglia and Jenna Leving Jacobson. Taglia and Leving Jacobson earned spots on the board in the municipal election last month, taking the places of departing trustees Lucia Robinson and Ravi Parakkat.
The new board is comprised of Taglia, Leving-Jacobson, newly reelected Village President Vicki Scaman, newly reelected trustee Chibuike Enyia and Brian Straw, Susan Buchanan and Cory Wesley.
The board’s first regular meeting will be Tuesday, May 13.
Oak Park always marks the reconstituting of the board with a mostly ceremonial first meeting, which serves to honor the trustees leaving the board and welcoming the people stepping up, Taglia said. Taglia won election to the Oak Park board after previously serving as a village trustee from 2017 to 2023. He lost a reelection bid in 2023.
“That’s the tradition of the village as far as I can recall,” Taglia said. “It’s very formal, actually.”
Taglia and Leving-Jacobson both said they’d been working to get up to speed on village policy and procedures ahead of their first meeting.
Taglia said he is most looking forward to helping guide the village’s approach to large upcoming projects, most importantly developing the village’s plan for a new police station and a renovated village hall.
“Sound decision making is really what I hope to bring because of my business-oriented background. Those decisions are the kind that we’re facing imminently,” he said. “I think that having a reasonable debate and a thoughtful debate is important, and I think the board does that.”
There had been a lame duck session scheduled for April 30 for the previous board to be heard on the future direction of the project, but the discussion was delayed until the summer as village staff pushed to take more time to work with the village’s architect on the proposals that will go before the board.
Leving Jacobson said she is looking to hold true to the principals that got her elected as the village navigates the political moment at the national level.
“We are in a context of fascism and an elected president who is acting like a dictator,” she said. “I would hope to prioritize safety and sustainability with my colleagues without being distracted at the very least from this harmful federal agenda.”