09/01/2026
CCLG Update and new old chair:
Hello current, prospective and past council members and those who follow the council;
I am Jim Arnold and I have been a past chair twice and am resuming chair duties while Todd transitions to a webmaster and content creator role. Everything else stays the same.
I have the time and capacity and for those who know me, quite a bit of energy, to devote to helping the council resume regular activities and its position in recruiting, helping and reviewing village, park and library candidates.
I have talked to a few current and former members of the council and everyone agrees it was right to stop slating, at least before the signatures and filing of candidates. However, we should be encouraging those interested or qualified to file for elected La Grange positions and we should be helping them navigate the election filing requirements and direct them to the appropriate sources. After that we should resume our forum and have it like Todd and the current members did in February and after reviewing candidate submissions, reference checks if we do that and then the presentations we can tell the residents our recommendations which could be one candidate only, all candidates or none for each respective race.
To that end, I propose restarting regular meetings to ascertain interest, regrow membership and establish the process for recommendations. I would like to start as soon as possible after the labor day weekend with the first of bi or tri weekly meetings begining that week or no later than the week of September 14th. We will try to schedule a meet and greet candidates and provide feedback or assistance sometime the week of October 12th or 19th because they submit signatures and filing papers the week of November 16th.
I will be checking with the village for village hall for availability. It is central and large enough so we can have space if needed. During our early council meetings we can discuss draft layout and questions for the forum, procedures for recommending candidates, update by laws, etc.
After filing we should look to have the forum the weeks of February 15th or 22nd and then vote to announce our recommendations or opinions or if none announce no opinions on the candidates. This is all up to you as the council. It is less confrontational than the old slating and honestly if we are having a hard time deciding on candidates we can recommend all or none.
I will be at Wednesday's board meeting for the prospective village trustee presentations to replace Glenn.Thompson if anyone wants to informally meet and talk.
Unfortunately I will be away from Thursday through Tuesday so expect a flurry of follow up after this week and weekend.
I have posted this to our page and emailed this to those I have emails for both current and past. So please feel free to directly contact me to confirm your interest in being on the council, ideas other than above or any concerns.
FYI, I come from the council days where we didn't bcc each other we all trusted each other not to reply all with tough messages or repetitive exchanges. We found each other in the neighborhood, schools or on the streets or even on the phone. We all got along and disagreed together and we got it done. It is go time.
Please reach out to anyone interested in being on the council and have them contact us or use the old application on the website. Todd will be updating that soon and might look for feedback too so be prepared for an ask.
Please either Direct Message me through messenger or use my old [email protected] which is what everyone knew back then.
Best,
Jim Arnold
[email protected]
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Cheers,
Citizens' Council of La Grange
Web: https://lgcouncil.weebly.com/
Facebook: Citizens' Council of La Grange | Email: [email protected]
~ Learn more about us: www.lgcitizenscouncil.com/video_la_grange_citizens_council.html
