Lake Forest City Manager To Step Down Next Year

LAKE FOREST, IL — Lake Forest City Manager Bob Kiely will retire at the end of January 2019. The city's eighth and longest-serving city manager informed aldermen of his intention to step down in closed session during Monday's City Council meeting, according to a release.

“After close to three decades of putting my community first, it is now time I shift my priorities and put my family first,” Kiely said. “The City is in a strong financial position and has a world-class staff. An ideal situation to be in when you are searching for a new City Manager.”

Kiely, 61, was appointed city manager in November 1990. A Lake Forest resident, he graduated Lake Forest College in 1979, received a master's degree in Public Administration from the University of Kansas in 1981 and got his first job in local government with Lake Forest as assistant to the city manager from 1980 to 1982. He went on to spend four years in a similar role in Wilmette before becoming city administrator of Prospect Heights in 1986.

Mayor Rob Lansing thanked Kiely for his years of service on behalf of the citizens of Lake Forest, wishing him the best in his retirement.

“I have had the privilege of working with Bob for many years...first as an Alderman, and now as Mayor," Lansing said in the release. "Bob is the very definition of the City Council-City Manager form of municipal government, having provided outstanding leadership and management for City Staff, and high-quality support for hundreds of civic-minded volunteers who have served on City Boards, Commissions, and City Council."

During Kiely's time as Lake Forest's chief administrative officer, he has worked with nine mayors and more than 50 City Council members.

"His accomplishments are many, in guiding Lake Forest to be one of the most fiscally-sound, well-planned, and well-operated communities in the United States," the current mayor said. "These talents and Bob’s cheerful, objective manner will be missed, along with his encyclopedic knowledge of the Lake Forest community.”

The city listed a variety of improvements to the Lake Forest community that Kiely helped guide during the past 27 years:

• Becoming a Home Rule community in 2004
• Renovations to City Hall, Dickinson Hall, Stirling Hall, Elawa Farms, the Deerpath Golf Course, the Recreation Center and Forest Park
• Buying and developing Townline Park on Route 60
• Building the Municipal Services Center and the sale and redevelopment of Kelmscott Park, the former services center.
• Improving operations at Gorton Community Center
• Maintaining a Aaa bond rating and the lowest tax rate in Lake County while providing quality services
• Centralizing Police and Fire Dispatch
• Expansion and rehabilitation of the water treatment plant
• Redeveloping the Grove Cultural Campus
• The creation of a sustainability plan and intergovernmental environmental collaborative
• Improvements to Western Avenue and the development of Settler’s Square
• Hosting the PGA Tour events in 2013, 2015 and 2017
• Creating a new marketing campaign for the city

During his final seven months in office, Kiely intends to begin the process of updating the city's comprehensive plan and working on the budget for Fiscal Year 2020 and leave the finalization to his replacement, according to the release.

Aldermen will discuss hiring a search firm to find Kiely's successor at the July 16 City Council meeting, it said.

Residents critical of rail expansion called for Kiely's resignation following the revelation of nearly $200,000 was spent in payments to a D.C.-based firm to lobby Amtrak without the knowledge of aldermen. A special counsel was appointed and issued a report in February, leading to an unapologetic resignation letter from the city attorney and an apology from the city manager.

"I'm sorry for this purchasing procedure oversight and the disruption that it has caused," Kiely said at the Feb. 20 meeting. "But I want to assure you, and I'd like to assure the community, that this is not reflective of who I am or who this organization is."

Kiely's contract, including total compensation of $250,000 was renewed automatically a few months after the report was delivered, Pioneer Press reported. Less than two months before announcing his plans to step down, he told the Lake Forester he was in good heath and had no plans to retire.

"There is no reason to stop doing what you like doing," Kiely said, following the City Council's May 7 meeting.

Related:

• City Attorney Resigns Over Rail Lobbying Payments Report
• Lake Forest Lobbying Report Recommends Discipline
• $192,000 Spent On Amtrak Lobbying Without Council Approval