New Huntley trustee’s guided village for decades
Ron Hahn, a man who has been a mainstay on the Huntley planning commission for three decades, has been tapped to bring his service to the village board.
“It’s just an opportunity to approach it from a different angle,” Hahn said.
“The mayor called me up and asked me if I was interested in a position on the board ... and I said, ‘Yeah, it may be time for a change. I’ll give it a try.’”
Last week, Village President Chuck Sass selected Hahn to fill the vacancy on the board that was created when Trustee Paul Mercer resigned in September, due to his pending move to Arizona.
The drama that unfolded after Sass’s attempted appointment of former trustee Jayant Kadakia a few weeks ago was nonexistent with Hahn. This time, the board unanimously agreed with his pick.
“Ron Hahn is a quiet man, very shy, very definitive in his actions,” Trustee Pam Fender said. “He’s kind of like a John Wayne kind of a guy. He’s quiet, but he gets things done.”
Hahn sat on the planning commission for 30 years and spent the last 12 as its chairman. During that time, he helped oversee and review all of the growth that came into Huntley, including the Sun City development. Hahn has lived in the village since 1977 and reared two children there, so he remembers when it was a town of 1,000 people. Today, nearly 25,000 people call Huntley home.
Now that he’s a trustee, Hahn’s goals are to keep Huntley true to its slogan — “The friendly village with country charm” — by keeping certain traditions in place, like its farmers market.
He also wants to continue to attract new business to Huntley. Finally, Hahn hopes to improve traffic flow issues and work with the Illinois Tollway Authority when it builds a complete interchange on I-90 at Route 47 to ensure the project stays on schedule.
Hahn’s term expires in May 2013.