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Libertyville trustee resigns because he's moving

He had planned on running next spring for a second term, but an opportunity too good to decline will take Jim Moran outside the village limit and off the Libertyville village board.

Moran isn't going far and will be moving less than a half mile outside town, but trustees are required to live in the village and he had to resign. Moran said the opportunity to provide space for a growing family in a house built by his grandfather in Green Oaks made the decision a "no brainer."

"It's been in the family since the early '50s," said Moran, whose family has been in or near Libertyville for more than 100 years.

"It was a situation I couldn't pass up. It's the right decision to make but it doesn't make having to step down from the village board any easier."

The resignation was made public Tuesday - Moran's last village board meeting - and is effective at the end of business Friday. The term runs until May 1. Moran's replacement will be named by Mayor Terry Weppler with board approval.

"He loves the family home," Weppler said. "It's something he doesn't want to pass up and I don't blame him."

At 37, Moran is the youngest member of the village board, a position he has aspired to since he was a youngster growing up in the Oaks subdivision - the only neighborhood in Libertyville east of the Des Plaines River.

One of his neighbors, JoAnn Eckmann, was elected to the village board and later became mayor.

"I kept an eye on local politics at a young age because of who my neighbors were," Moran said.

He was a captain of the police explorers post in high school and later held summer jobs in the public works department. He also helped set up the first electronic payroll deposit while serving an internship in the village finance department, experience that he said helped during budget time.

But there also always was a love of history and family. Moran serves as vice-president of the Libertyville-Mundelein Historical Society and has hundreds of historical picture post cards and other items, including a poster from the 1908 Lake County Fair when it was held in Libertyville.

"That will be in a prominent place in our living room," he said.

Moran brought a fresh perspective on technology and transparency to the village board.

Before being elected in 2011, Moran and Luke Stowe, now a member of the Libertyville Elementary District 70 board, started an online petition and approached the village board about broadcasting its meetings.

During Moran's tenure, video of board meetings became available online and he helped develop a social media policy for the village. Most recently, he was Weppler's sole ally in supporting a moratorium on liquor licenses downtown until parking issues are resolved.

A former news and traffic reporter on Chicago radio and now a radio ad salesman, Moran said he'll stick close.

"I'm excited for whatever is next," he said. "I don't know what it is but I'll be involved in the community."

  Libertyville Trustee Jim Moran is resigning from the village board because he's moving outside of the village into the house his grandfather built in Green Oaks. Moran said it was a situation he couldn't pass up, but it doesn't make leaving the board any easier. Steve Lundy/slundy@dailyherald.com
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