Gilberts names new trustee
The Gilberts village board is now whole again, as trustees have appointed an attorney and former chairman of the village's plan commission to fill a vacancy.
Peter D. Cullotta was sworn in Tuesday to fill the remainder of Jesse Garcia's term, which runs through April 2011.
Garcia stepped down in early May because of family commitments.
Cullotta, a personal injury attorney who has served on the plan commission for more than six years, the last two as its chairman, emerged from a field of five candidates.
"I feel privileged that they chose me. There were a lot of qualified people that threw their hat into the ring," Cullotta said. "Jesse did a good job."
Cullotta, who has lived in Gilberts for seven years, said his plan commission service has helped him understand the wants and needs of the community. New projects must go to the commission first for review, which often entails a public hearing where people express their views on a new subdivision or shopping center. The commission then makes a recommendation to the village board, which has the final say.
"We see it first at the plan commission level," he said. "It gives us a lot of insight as to what the feelings are in the community."
Gilberts Village President Rick Zirk also noted Cullotta's experience on the commission.
"He's been involved. He's been active and he has a good feel for the issues," Zirk said, adding he didn't want to keep Garcia's old seat open until the next election. "I think having seven people participating is better than having six people participating in the process."
Zirk said the most pressing issue going forward is how to provide services in the face of lower revenues until development and sales tax receipts rebound.
"The village is still going to have to deal with limited resources in coming years." Zirk said. "The biggest challenge we're going to have is balance the needs of the community with the resources we have without spending our reserves."
Doug Hagen will take Cullotta's place as plan commission chairman.