Two mayors who left their posts for health reasons doing better

The former mayors of Wheeling and Prospect Heights are taking it easy this year after resigning unexpectedly last year, citing health issues.

Rodney Pace and Greg Klatecki, who stepped down just months apart, are being nice to themselves in an attempt to get healthy again.

Pace, who declined to reveal his health problems, is working full time at his job without the added pressure of being the top dog in Prospect Heights.

"I spend more time at work and I'm doing my honey-do list, which is almost done," Pace said, who is a construction executive with Maman Corp. of Palatine.

"I take the dogs for more walks and enjoy myself that way."

Pace, 49, stepped down in September, ending his five years in office.

Voters elected him to his second term in April, when he defeated Kurt Giehler and longtime foil Gerald Anderson. Health problems weren't new for Pace, as he made an extended six-week hospital visit during his second year in office.

Patrick Ludvigsen, a Prospect Heights alderman, is now acting mayor.

Klatecki, 67, was in his third term as village president when he resigned in April. His responsibilities have been split up among three trustees who are taking turns as president until the next election in 2009.

Klatecki has been undergoing intense therapy for back problems, which were so severe in March that he found himself in a hospital emergency room unable to walk.

He was told part of his spinal column had deteriorated to the point where he was no longer able to use his legs. Doctors told him he'd have to undergo surgery, but exercise, therapy and taking it easy have made that unnecessary right now, he said.

He's been at his winter home in an Orlando, Fla., suburb. He'll come back to the area in the spring, he said.

The time spent on public service contributed to his back problem, Klatecki said

"It was the nail in the coffin," Klatecki said of his political career. "I had been neglecting myself."

As far as future political ambitions are concerned, Klatecki, a retired school teacher, is done with politics for good, saying he's permanently retired.

But Pace said he might want to come back in some form to serve Prospect Heights.

"It all depends on my health," Pace said. "That's what's driving everything."