New mayor, new approach in Naperville

The red-brown walls of Naperville Mayor Steve Chirico's office are bare as he sits at his desk facing the Riverwalk, one framed photo of his family behind his right shoulder.

The lack of office decor is a far cry from the days when Naperville's longest-serving mayor, George Pradel, filled the space with all manner of plaques, photos and mementos from 20 years in office.

“I'm a minimalist when it comes to this stuff,” Chirico said.

Less clutter means fewer distractions, and the last thing Chirico needs, as he settles into his 4-year term leading the city of 145,000, is distraction.

Fortunately, when it comes to focusing on the task at hand, bringing a thoughtful approach and getting others on board, Chirico is the man for the job, those who know the new mayor say.

“Steve casts a great vision, which is what the folks in Naperville voted for,” his longtime friend Don Larimer said. “What they've got is a guy with a big heart.”

In its new leader, Naperville has a four-year city council member who seems intent on doing things the right way — from starting meetings on time to making carefully reasoned appointments to boards and commissions. A hometown kid who still runs into high school classmates when he's out and about. A business owner who passed along leadership of his flooring company so he could put nearly all of his energy into being mayor.

“He's all city, all the time,” his wife, Julie, said.

And he was ready to jump right in the day he got inaugurated. It was May 3, a Sunday.

But Chirico, 55, said he was frustrated when he didn't accomplish a single productive thing toward promoting business development during his first two weeks in office. He got bogged down in introductions and formalities and settling into a position formerly held by the same man for five terms.

Since that slow start, he's zoomed in on the real work of advancing an already well-regarded city.

“I feel very good about the direction we're going in terms of some of our economic development initiatives,” Chirico said.

Shaping the future

When Chirico took his seat as mayor, one of his first jobs was to fill all the other seats that make up the city government. And there are many.

City council took care of itself. Leaders to fill all eight positions were elected along with Chirico on April 7 and sworn in with him on May 3.

But that left roughly 40 vacant spots on 20 advisory boards and commissions. And that required a game plan.

Fill the boards related to public safety first, Chirico decided — mainly the liquor commission and the board of fire and police commissioners. Conduct interviews with interested volunteers and run background checks to make sure no one's hiding anything untoward. Then move on to the rest of the empty seats.

“He's really making sure he gets the right people on these commissions who have the knowledge and the interest in the community,” said Tom Miers of Naperville Bank & Trust, an informal adviser of Chirico's who has been appointed to the downtown advisory commission. “He's being very thoughtful to make sure he has good diversity, good geographic distribution.”

During one of his first weeks on the job, Chirico conducted interviews with 17 candidates for boards and commissions. He's made a lot of his picks, and 14 appointments or reappointments have been approved by the council. But more than 20 remain to be vetted.

The process might be slower than Chirico would like, but he recognizes it's important because “that is truly how we shape the future of Naperville.”

“He is looking for inclusion and is receptive to all different points of view,” longtime friend Win Wehrli said. “He's always been that way.”

A desire to work

Growing up in Naperville, Chirico watched his mom, Phyllis, work hard while she raised seven kids. He said the long hours she put in to provide for her family taught him the importance of working hard.

He made his way through Naperville Central High School as a wrestler, beating stronger, older competition to gain a spot on the varsity roster his freshman year. That's when he met Larimer, who was impressed with Chirico's toughness.

“He had older brothers who wrestled him a lot when he didn't want to get wrestled,” Larimer said.

At Northern Illinois University, Chirico delved into political science and friends say he had dreams of becoming a lawyer.

But when he returned to Naperville for the summer, Chirico needed to work. So he put an ad in the paper.

“College student desires concrete work,” it read.

Concrete work? For a man destined to become mayor of Illinois' fifth-largest city?

He ended up with tile work, instead, installing flooring for a woman who managed apartments in neighboring Lisle.

“It was difficult, dirty work,” he said. “I was making pretty good money.”

The next summer, he went back to the tile gig and trained some friends to help.

The following year, he opened a tile boutique in downtown Naperville and started installing tile in new homes constructed by three prominent Naperville builders.

It was 1981, and the building boom that turned the former farming town into a destination was on. Chirico stuck with it and started running his business — Great Western Tile — full time after three years of college.

'Well thought-out'

Good working relationships with major builders helped Chirico grow his business into the Great Western Flooring of today, a regional company with three stores now run by his daughters, 31-year-old Lauren Voit and 28-year-old Dana Chirico.

The transition started two years ago. That's when Chirico learned Pradel wouldn't seek a sixth term as mayor and when he decided he wanted to fill the role himself as the top leader in his hometown.

“My girls were already in high management positions,” Chirico said. “They're smart girls, and they know the business.”

About when Chirico started handing over the final business responsibilities to his daughters, he started campaigning. Slowly, at first. Just going around town seeking support so he'd be ready and well-funded when the time came.

“He really was well thought-out, well-planned and well-funded because he started really, really early,” Miers said. “He asked people more than a year ago if they would endorse him, and he got a lot of people who did.”

Seven weeks into his term, Chirico's supporters haven't turned off their campaign talking points just yet.

He's a consensus-builder, they say. He has strong business experience. He's levelheaded with an even personality and great integrity.

“He has that gift of hard work and intelligence and getting along with people,” Larimer said.

Chirico says a lot of the mayoral job is about teamwork, and it all starts with the team he's built with Julie and their seven children from previous marriages, ages 24 to 31. They ran his campaign. They keep track of his schedule and plan accordingly. They support from afar. And Chirico takes care of the city.

“You really can't do this without the support of your family,” he said. “I can't imagine being able to be an effective leader without them.”

'Strength' in leading

Leading starts with listening for Chirico.

He's listened to concerns about the city budget and the need for more tax revenue, and he's responding with a push to bring in more businesses.

“He really understands economic development, and he's a motivator,” said Christine Jeffries, president and CEO of the Naperville Development Partnership. “There's little or no learning curve.”

The new mayor has listened to former Mayor Pradel, who expressed a desire to continue serving in some official capacity. Chirico responded by creating a position of mayor emeritus and appointing Pradel to fill the honorary role. It comes without a salary or a budget, but with free rein to represent the city at ceremonial functions. And free praise from a thankful Chirico whose schedule is packed enough without trying to attend every last fundraiser.

“It frees him up a little bit to focus on the business side, which is his strength,” his wife says.

The current and former mayors meet twice weekly, going over calendars in a true meeting of the old and new.

Pradel lists functions jotted down on pages of a legal pad, one sheet for each week. A Boy Scout dinner one night, a block party another. A charity auction one evening, a food pantry event one afternoon.

Chirico rattles off obligations from the calendar app on his personal iPad.

A library business event. He'll handle that by asking the city council member whose turn it is to serve as mayor pro tem to attend in his place.

A visit from some French exchange students. He wants Pradel's advice on this one, and he learns he should prepare a speech, recognize each student by name, pose for photos with the group and have a token gift ready so the Europeans can remember Naperville. He says he'll buy them some McDonald's french fries, too, for a hint of “local” American cuisine.

In his first seven weeks, Chirico has listened to taxi drivers concerned about ride-sharing companies. He's listened to a resident with complaints about police and to business people intrigued by vacant spaces along Ogden Avenue or Route 59.

Pradel says Chirico's story of rising from high school wrestler to self-made flooring executive to mayor can be summed up as this: “Local boy makes good.”

“It's such a delight,” Pradel said, “To see him hit the ground running.”