Wheaton councilman to step down

Tuesday night’s Wheaton City Council meeting will be Howard Levine’s last time on the dais.

The councilman who has represented the city’s South District for nearly six years says he’s stepping down for personal reasons. He plans to submit his resignation to Mayor Michael Gresk during Tuesday’s meeting.

“It’s been a true pleasure and honor to serve the community and be elected twice to this position,” Levine said. “But it’s been a lot of years of night meetings.”

The 49-year-old said he has no plans to run for public office in the future.

“I think this will be a nice closing chapter to my public service,” he said.

Still, Levine said he will maintain his personal interest in local government through his work as an attorney. He is a partner with the law firm of DeAno & Scarry, which specializes in municipal litigation.

“I work with municipal law and municipal government every day at my job,” he said. “I just won’t be a policymaker.”

His departure means Gresk will need to appoint someone to complete the rest of Levine’s term, which expires in May 2013. Gresk’s choice will need city council approval.

With five newcomers competing for two at-large seats on the council in the April election, Levine said he hopes his replacement is chosen soon. “It would be nice to have someone join now and maybe hit the ground running a little,” Levine said.

Before being elected to the city council in 2005, Levine served for two years on the Community Consolidated District 89 school board.

Levine said he joined the city council with the goal of being a responsive representative of the South District.

“I hope the people who I have represented over the last six years have felt that I’ve done that,” he said.

In recent years, Wheaton City Council members have had to make some difficult budgetary decisions because of the economic downturn.

Still, Levine said now is a good time to move on because the city is “running fine” and is in good financial shape.

“I am proud that we got to the point where this year we didn’t have any layoffs and we didn’t have to increase our levy,” Levine said. “In fact, we decreased our levy, even though minutely. That’s still better than a lot of places that have found themselves in the red.”