Ex-Clarendon Hills Trustee Running Again, Questions Plaza Idea

CLARENDON HILLS, IL – A former Clarendon Hills trustee is running again, saying the Village Board should listen to residents.

Taps Gallagher, an attorney, served as a trustee from 2001 to 2005.

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In 2021, he won a board seat as a write-in candidate and served for a few months. He resigned because of a conflict of interest, saying he was representing a village firefighter.

In an interview Thursday, Gallagher said he hoped to field a slate of candidates to run for three open seats on the board in next April's election.

Earlier this year, Gallagher publicly opposed a village proposal to convert the village's traffic triangle into a plaza. Plaza opponents argued the change would worsen traffic.

A village survey indicated most people were against the plan, though a top Clarendon official suggested the survey may not be representative of residents' views.

The board later abandoned the plaza idea. Instead, trustees agreed on retractable barriers for events and other "hardscape" upgrades, such as pavers, to make events more doable.

"I don't think the board is listening to residents," Gallagher said. "Why would you close off a lane of traffic when you don't know what's going to happen with Sparrow (Coffee) and (planned) condos?"

He said the village could hold band performances in parks, rather than in downtown.

"All these festivals are great, but they don't help businesses," Gallagher said.

He also said the board should investigate spending.

"We pay a lot of taxes in this town. We should be able to figure out how our money is being spent," Gallagher said.

At the same time, he noted that trustees were volunteers, so he didn't want to disparage them.

Last summer, Village President Eric Tech put then-Village Manager Zach Creer on leave. The public wasn't informed about the development until Patch reported on it.

A couple of months later, Creer left the village as part of a resignation agreement with the board.

Gallagher said he didn't know why Creer left.

"They never told us why," he said.