Local News |

After a lifetime in Glencoe, former village president Larry Levin leaves office and heads out of town

The “For Sale” sign planted in front of Larry Levin’s house symbolizes the end of two eras, one for the Levin himself, and the other for the village.

Levin, after years of work in village government, is moving away from Glencoe.

Howard Roin was inaugurated as the new village president May 20, following his uncontested election in April. Roin succeeds Levin, who after serving the traditional two four-year terms, is now planning a move to Tyler, Texas.

There, he and his wife, Cathy, and their dog, Gibson, hope to enjoy a warmer year-round climate.

“It is an area of the South that looks like the Midwest,” Levin said. “It has a lot of forests and trees and lawns so it not only has gorgeous flowers, it has shrubbery that looks like what you would see in Illinois.”

Levin is also retiring from his work as a strategic management consultant, which followed a legal career.

From the patio of his soon-to-be-former home, Levin, 82, said the decision to move away was a difficult one.

“I’ve lived in this house for 53 years,” Levin said. “I’ve raised all my children in this house, I love Glencoe.”

Levin reminisced about his time in village government. Years that included works as special counsel, before his election to the Village Board in 2009 and then village president four years later.

In one of his first major decisions, Levin and the Village Board hired Phil Kiraly as the new village manager, replacing the retiring Paul Harlow.

Levin recalled Kiraly was skilled at “change management” and the two of them examined every operation within the village, seeking to improve services and make them more cost effective.

“I think he has been outstanding,” Levin said. “I couldn’t have asked for a better village manager to do what we needed to do.”

For his part, Kiraly remembered his early days and the relationship since forged with Levin.

“Larry and I were both new to our positions when I started in December 2013, Larry having started as Village President that May,” Kiraly wrote in an email. “The significant difference was that Larry had spent his life in the community, and his tenure of service to Glencoe was already significant when he became Village President. No doubt, his extensive knowledge of Glencoe and his willingness to share that information helped me to immediately gain a better understanding of the needs of the community. Together with the village board, we forged a strong partnership early on. I’m grateful that he helped me find my sea legs as a new manager.”

Levin believes a major achievement during his time in office was the modernization of village government operations, coupled with greater staff collaboration.

“We did long-term strategic planning and so there is nothing the village does today that is done the same way as when I was a trustee,” he said.

Levin is particularly happy with a shift in garbage and recycling collection, which was outsourced to a private company. He believes that has saved the village a lot of money and improved sustainability by switching to natural gas-powered trucks.

For other successes, Levin highlights the work of the other elected officials and staff.

“All the things we did, we did as a team,” he said. “I had terrific trustees all the time I was president who worked closely with me so we as a board could guide the staff through all the dramatic decisions that have been made. I think that is a terrific accomplishment.”

The biggest physical change for Glencoe during Levin’s term was the February 2016 opening of the Writers Theatre building on Tudor Court, designed by Studio Gang Architects and led by architect Jeanne Gang.

“The architecture and the building itself is world renowned and people come here from all over the world to look at it, which means they are downtown in Glencoe and they frequent Glencoe,” Levin said. “We’ve had people tell us they have moved here because of seeing Glencoe and driving around when they come to Writers Theatre.”

Levin concedes the past year has been difficult, requiring constant meetings with other government officials, notably within the state and Cook County to coordinate response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On a larger level, Levin who had many roles, including as a member of the Executive Committee of the Northwest Municipal Conference, said he would not miss dealing with officials in Springfield, expressing frustration with what he sees as unfunded mandates and excessive regulations.

“Now they have really deteriorated into where they are doing things on a political basis with no attempt to really delve in and find out whether what they are doing makes sense or not,” Levin said.

Other issues discussed over the last eight years have yet to reach a conclusion, with the COVID-19 outbreak a factor in the delays, Levin said.

Early on in his term, he spoke frequently of a refurbishment of the village’s aging water plant, but no action was taken. However, he said a joint study is ongoing with Winnetka and the two municipalities could build a new plant and a water tower for shared use sometime in the future.

Late last year, Levin said he had hoped to finalize an annexation agreement by the end of his term over a portion of nearby unincorporated land now in the hands of the Cook County Forest Preserve District including a section of the Chicago Botanic Garden, but negotiations are still ongoing.

While pleased with the approval last year of a development at the former Hoover Estate on Green Bay Road that will see nearly 30 “empty nester” homes, he said he would have liked to have worked on an update of the village’s housing plan to diversify Glencoe’s housing options.

At the May 20 meeting, after Roin was sworn into office, the board unanimously passed a resolution honoring Levin and staff announced the dedication of a bench on the Green Bay Trail.

“This is going to be a hard act to follow,” Roin said.

With the Lone Star State in his immediate future, Levin spoke lovingly of the village that marked much of his life.

“I felt I was the luckiest person in the world having been able to grow up here, go through the schools and learn all about how to care about people, so I wanted to give back,” Levin said. “To me living in Glencoe was the most wonderful gift anyone could have.”

Also leaving the Village Board was trustee Barbara Miller, who also served the customary two four-year terms.

“I think that local community engagement is a really critical component to holding together a society struggling to remember how much we have in common,” Miller said at her last meeting in April.

Daniel I. Dorfman is a freelance reporter.