Prospect Heights City Administrator Joe Wade retiring after a decade of service

Prospect Heights City Administrator Joe Wade will retire Monday after 10 years of service to the city and a three-decade career in municipal government.

He and the city council shared accolades at their final meeting together last week.

“It’s been a great pleasure and it’s been my honor to work with a great group of people, and I want to thank all of you,” Wade said. “This council — don’t ever underestimate the importance of what you do. You really are dedicated people.”

Every member of the council weighed in on the guidance they’d received from Wade over the years.

“You’ve always been just a huge resource for myself and I know for the entire council and you’ll be missed,” Ward 4 Council Member Danielle Dash said.

“When I was made acting mayor, the times when I felt I’m in just a little over my head, you were there to answer my questions,” Ward 5 Council Member Matthew Dolick added.

Mayor Patrick Ludvigsen recalled interviewing Wade in 2015, when he was among 38 applicants for the job.

“It’s gone by very fast,” Ludvigsen said. “I’ve always said you’re like a Zen master. You just have a way of reading situations and understanding them. And you always seem to know what the solution or the path to the solution is from the very beginning. You’ve forgotten more about this line of work than most people will know. We were very, very lucky to have you.”

A proclamation Ludvigsen read acknowledged the professional atmosphere Wade maintained at city hall and accomplishments including stormwater improvements and expansion of the sidewalk network.

Before Prospect Heights, Wade served as assistant village manager and economic development director for Carpentersville for three years, and village administrator in Morton Grove for six years. He holds master's degrees in public administration from Northern Illinois University and industrial relations from Loyola University in Chicago.

At the time of Wade’s hire, then-mayor Nick Helmer particularly emphasized his economic development background as a growing need for Prospect Heights.

The position had been vacant for a year when Wade started in June 2015, following Ken Lopez’s resignation after only two months on the job. Former Buffalo Grove administrator William Balling served as interim administrator during that year.