Outgoing Deer Park trustee gives poignant farewell

When Joel Thomason first started coming to Deer Park village board meetings more than seven years ago, he did it because he was mad about the state of the village's roads and parks.

At the board meeting Monday night, his last one as a trustee and village resident, Thomason took a moment to reflect on how far the village has come since.

"When I joined the board everybody was looking backward, there was lots of infighting going on," Thomason said. "We got through all of that and we started working on positive things."

Those include a major overhaul of the village's roads and renovation projects at several village parks.

The day before his final board meeting, Thomason was on hand to celebrate the ceremonial reopening of the Charles E. Brown Park, even using oversized scissors for the ribbon cutting.

Thomason, who advocated for a plan to reinvest in the park, said it was a rush to see more than 100 people out enjoying the facility, many of which were young families.

Village President Bob Kellermann presented Thomason with a plaque commemorating his achievements during his seven years on the board.

Thomason, who was chief financial officer at Pepper Construction, said he and his wife are going to spend most of their time in Florida.