La Grange Official Headed To Much Bigger Town

LA GRANGE, IL — One of the big challenges in La Grange, like many suburbs, is aging water and sewer pipelines. And Public Works Director Ryan Gillingham has dealt with this issue a lot over the years.

Now Gillingham is leaving for the same job in a town much larger than La Grange — and much newer.

Starting in April, Gillingham will be the public works director for McKinney, Texas, a suburb north of Dallas. McKinney's population is nearly 200,000, compared with La Grange's 15,000.

Although McKinney and La Grange both incorporated in the 1800s, most of the Texas town is much newer. In 1990, McKinney was 21,000, meaning that 90 percent of its growth has occurred in just three decades.

In an interview, Gillingham, La Grange's public works director since 2008, said he has been fortunate to work for La Grange.

"What I would like to note is how much I appreciate the village. It's a wonderful community. It's been great to meet with so many wonderful residents," he said. "The people at public works are a great staff. I will miss them."

Before La Grange, Gillingham was the village engineer in Morton Grove for four years.

Gillingham received a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Purdue University in 1997 and a master's degree in public policy and administration from Northwestern in 2007.