Arlington Heights trustee resigning at end of year

Citing health reasons and a desire to travel, Helen Jensen said Tuesday she is retiring from the Arlington Heights Village Board, effective at the end of December.

Jensen, 72, has been on the board more than 10 years. Before that she served almost 24 years as the village nurse.

About two years ago, Jensen married Jack Whisler, a retired developer. The two spend winters in Florida, and Jensen has been flying back to Arlington Heights for board meetings, but that is getting harder, she said.

Mayor Arlene Mulder said Jensen will be missed.

"Helen was a tremendous asset to the village board because of the depth and breadth of her experience and knowledge of a variety of aspects of this community," Mulder said.

"She represented a great variety of contingencies within the community."

With the approval of the village board the mayor will appoint a replacement for the rest of Jensen's term, which ends May, 2011. Interested residents can send their resumes, said Mulder.

When she was village nurse 27 years ago, Jensen's interviews with victims' families helped identify Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules as containing the poison that killed seven people, including three in Arlington Heights.

Of her work on the board, Jensen said she is most proud of efforts to obtain housing in an attainable price range. She mentioned the Timber Court complex in the north part of the village and the rule that developers must include a percentage of affordable housing in their projects.

"Of course the village does not have enough attainable housing," she added. "I want my diversity."

Keeping the village's immunization clinics, which she started when she was the nurse, has been very important to her. Social services and speaking for women and children were her ongoing causes.

The board established Harmony and Friendship parks during her tenure, and she was on a committee that helped select outdoor furniture and artwork for downtown.

Jensen supported the TIF district for the Town & Country shopping center, and opposed one at International Plaza on Golf Road east of Arlington Heights Road.

Support for the Teen Center, which the board voted to do away with to cut the budget in hard economic times, will be one of her last acts on the board.

"How many kids does it serve? It doesn't matter," she said Tuesday. "It really serves children, kids at risk or who need that kind of companionship."

If the village has a Senior Center, it should have a youth center, said Jensen, who pointed out no one is suggesting doing away with the dynamic Senior Center.