Pingree Grove swears in new trustee

Without delay this time, Pingree Grove village trustees appointed Cathie Vavra to the lone open seat.

Vavra, 44, takes over for Ricky Popilek, who resigned from the board last month, citing increased family responsibilities.

The village was initially due to appoint Vavra May 3, but put it off for two weeks, with Trustee Steve Wiedmeyer saying he wanted to sit down and talk with her and get to know her better before casting his vote.

"I was having a heart attack the entire time," Vavra said. "I relaxed the minute I sat down (with the other trustees)."

Vavra intends to focus on bringing more industry to the village that has barely any sales tax to speak of.

She also plans to be a strong advocate for downtown development.

Before she was appointed, there was a bit of shuffling around at the village hall, said Village President Wyman "Clint" Carey.

Vavra's husband Chuck created and maintained the village's website for three years, up until he resigned from the post last week, pointing to a conflict of interest with Vavra being on the board.

Vavra, a Pingree Grove resident for four years, first got involved with the village by running its centennial committee.

The village turned 100 years old in 2007 and she was responsible for planning events around the celebration that were meant to bring residents together.

She also regularly attended the village's weekly staff meetings for the past three years, which gave her an opportunity to further understand the village's day-to-day operations, Carey said. From there, Vavra went on to become the village's events coordinator.

Due to budget cuts, Vavra was let go from that part-time position last spring after the village canceled all of the events.

Even so, she still volunteered to run the special events committee that is organizing fundraisers in hopes of bringing some of the events back.

With all she's done and now that she's a trustee on the board, Vavra vows to never lose touch with the people and to remain approachable and accessible.

"Basically, we're working for the residents and that's how I look at it," Vavra said.