New Arlington Heights mayor sworn in, meets with Bears president on first day
An Arlington Heights architect who will help shape the future of the Northwest suburb — including the 326-acre property owned by the Chicago Bears on the west side of town — was sworn in as mayor Monday night.
James J. Tinaglia, a 12-year village trustee, took the oath of office hours after an introductory meeting with Bears President/CEO Kevin Warren.
The ceremony in front of a packed village boardroom of family, friends and supporters was administered by Tom Hayes, the outgoing mayor who held the gavel for the past 12 years and endorsed Tinaglia as his successor.
Tinaglia won a three-way race for village president with nearly 55% of the vote last month over Trustee Tom Schwingbeck and Arlington Heights Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Jon Ridler.
The ascent to the top office in village hall has been a long-held aspiration for 63-year-old Tinaglia, who moved to town with his family from Berwyn as a fourth grader in 1971 and graduated from Arlington High School in 1980.
Just out of architecture school at Iowa State and working at his first job at the Arlington Heights architecture firm Hundrieser/Gutowsky, Tinaglia recalled when he was a weekend bartender the night the Bears won the Super Bowl in 1986.
“That was a fun place to be,” he told the audience Monday night. “I told (Warren), ‘Wouldn’t it be wonderful to do that again together sometime soon?’ Maybe there’s a road path to make that happen. I’m crossing my fingers that that’s true.”
Tinaglia once told Mayor Arlene Mulder he wanted to be mayor someday. She helped him collect signatures and get elected to the village board, where he became the senior trustee after serving three four-year terms. He also spent 11 years on the village’s advisory design commission following an appointment by Mulder.
Tinaglia is owner of local architecture firm Tinaglia Architects, which he opened in 1991, and has been designer of commercial and residential buildings both large and small and in and out of town.
He faced questions during the campaign over potential conflicts of interest, but said only five out of 563 projects his firm worked on — from kitchen renovations to new high rises — came before the village board for review and approval during his 12 years on the panel. He recused himself from those discussions and votes.
When it comes redevelopment of the former Arlington Park property, Tinaglia committed to having no professional involvement in designing buildings on the site, saying such big projects are left to national firms.
But as mayor, he has said he does plan to bring insights and expertise to the review of any proposal by the Bears or others so that “whatever it becomes is a benefit to us (and) only makes us greater and better.”
After he was sworn in Monday, Tinaglia administered oaths of office to four trustees who will join him on the dais the next four years. That includes returning Trustee Jim Bertucci, a four-year board member and local financial adviser who was the top vote-getter in a crowded eight candidate race.
The new trustees are Carina Santa Maria, CEO of Arlington Heights-based nonprofit child welfare agency Shelter Inc.; Greg Zyck, chief operations officer for a tax service company who spent a dozen years on the Arlington Heights Memorial Library board; and Bill Manganaro, a health care marketing executive and one-time firefighter and EMT.