Colin Gilbert confirmed as new Arlington Heights trustee

Colin Gilbert, an Arlington Heights attorney known for his involvement in community organizations and businesses, was confirmed and sworn in Monday night as a village trustee.

Gilbert was Mayor Jim Tinaglia’s pick to replace Scott Shirley, who resigned last week to spend more time taking care of his elderly family members and at his full-time job as an engineer.

Tinaglia swore in Gilbert after an 8-0 confirmation vote of the board. Before Gilbert took his seat at the dais, the youth baseball coach addressed a number of his players who came to watch the swearing in ceremony.

“Politicians get a bad wrap nowadays. But the people up here are really invested in your future,” he told them. “They’re really invested in your town. There are a lot of good things that politicians can do, especially local politicians.”

Despite having the endorsement of Tinaglia and outgoing Mayor Tom Hayes, Gilbert finished fifth in the eight-candidate race for village trustee in April. He was about 1,000 votes behind the next highest vote-getter, in which the top four finishers earned seats on the board.

The 45-year-old attorney — a partner at Rolling Meadows-based Drost, Gilbert, Andrew & Apicella — said his top priority is to help the eight other board members fulfill the strategic initiatives they established during a goal setting session over the summer.

“I’m not trying to get in and change anything up,” Gilbert told the Daily Herald. “I understand that they have their priorities set. This is something that’s the train has left the station. So I’m just hoping to be part of the team and be able to contribute to whatever they have going on. I want to try to get caught up and up to speed as fast as I can so I can start contributing in a substantive way.”

But chief among the board’s strategic priorities is the ongoing effort for a “transformative, responsible and one-of-a-kind redevelopment” of the sprawling Arlington Park acreage by the Chicago Bears.

During the campaign, Gilbert was among the most ardent supporters of the prospective Bears stadium project.

“I am very pro-Bears,” he said. “My biggest thing is trying to just get in there and be part of this (village board) team that’s already in place. They seem to have the ball. I just want to run with them.”

Gilbert, born in Prospect Heights, attended Prospect Heights Elementary District 23 schools and graduated from John Hersey High School in 1998. After attending the University of Illinois, he got a law degree at Chicago-Kent College of Law, then moved to Arlington Heights about 20 years ago.

He and wife Lisa operated Tuscan Market & Wine Shop from 2015 to 2021, during which time he was the 2017 board president of the Arlington Heights Chamber of Commerce.

Gilbert also served on the village’s special events commission and was a board member of the Northwest Suburban Bar Association.

He’s currently on the board of the Arlington Heights Youth Athletic Association, an organization that oversees football, cheerleading, lacrosse, softball and baseball, and is the group’s director of the travel baseball program. He is also a board member of the Hersey Feeder Youth Sports organization.

“I want to continue to try to make Arlington Heights a great place to live for everybody,” Gilbert said. “Having grown up here and gone to Hersey, Arlington Heights has always been such an important part of my life. I’m honored to be able to give back to the community.”

Gilbert will serve the remainder of Shirley’s term until May 2027, but says he is planning to run in the April 2027 election for a full four-year term.