Mayor Wraps Up 2013, Promises Economic Growth in 2014

The Morton Grove village board had its last meeting of 2013 on Dec. 9, and Mayor Dan DiMaria took the occasion to highlight some accomplishments.

Looking forward to 2014, he said there is "a lot of interest" among businesses in coming to Morton Grove to make its economy more robust.

He spoke about 2013, beginning with its change of leadership as a result of the April election, in which he, Trustee John Pietron and Village Clerk Ed Ramos were elected to their seats.

He praised former mayor Dan Staackmann, former trustee Larry Gomberg and former trustee Tony Kalogerakos (who was elected in April but left during the summer because he moved out of the village) for their contributions, as welll as current trustees and commissioners.

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He also ticked off some accomplishments:

• Morton Grove has its first Filipino American village clerk.

• The village commissioned a strategic plan, and work has begun.
• The village has a new newsletter with 775 subscribers.
• The village has 360 likes on Facebook and 10,000 visitors a month to its website.
• The village has a smartphone app for citizen requests.

•  Made economic development efforts, such as hosting the first meet n' greet to reach out to businesses in the industrial area. 

• Attended two International Council of Shopping Centers conferences to try to attract business to Morton Grove. 

• Have been designated a Tree City USA for the 13th year. 

• Resurfaced 5.6 miles of streets. 

•  Plowed through 31 snow and ice storms (so far) and responded to six rain and high wind storms.

• Established a police department explorer program.
  

•  Responded to 3,500 fire and emergency medical services calls, with a response time under four minutes.
• Has a balanced budget and did not raise the tax levy.  

• Held town hall meetings on the divisive assault weapons ban issue and passed an ordinance that included contributions from different points of view.