Meet Your Village People
Community Services Director Rogene E. Hill
Rogene Hill joined the Oak Park management team as Director of Human Resources in 1997, becoming Community Services Director in 1999. Hill has more than 19 years of management experience having worked in a variety of analyst and management staff positions before becoming director of Human Resources and Labor Relations for Denver Water, the American Water Works Association and the City of Bellevue. Hill holds a Master of Public Administration Degree from the University of Colorado, with emphasis in organizational development, and a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Denver. She has participated in numerous postgraduate programs including the Neighborhood Revitalization and Community Development certificate program with the Asset Based Community Development Institute. Hill is an Oak Park resident and homeowner.
Finance Director Gregory J. Peters
Greg Peters became Director of Finance in November 1996. Prior to joining the Oak Park municipal staff, he served as finance director in Des Plaines and Wheeling. Peters holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Loyola University and a Master of Public Administration degree from Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. Peters is a past president of the Illinois Government Finance Officers Association and the Chicago Metropolitan Government Finance Officers Association. He also has participated in numerous training courses and workshops including the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government Government Performance Program. Peters has been an Oak Park resident since 1977.
Watch for profiles of other key Village staff in future issues of OP/FYI.
Village President Joanne E. Trapani and Trustee Diana Carpenter took the community's ideas for the Eisenhower Expressway directly to the Governor's Office in late February, urging the staff of the state's chief executive to make sure all alternatives and impacts are carefully studied before any highway expansion plans are finalized. Village officials asked the Governor to intervene in the planning process with IDOT and help craft improvements for how major transportation corridor projects are planned and executed. A more progressive approach to highway planning than that typically taken by Illinois Department of Transportation is critical if the region is going to meet the future transportation needs and congestion challenges, Village officials stressed in their meeting. Such an approach would incorporate objective analyses of transit alternatives to highway expansion not just for Oak Park, but also for the entire I-290/I-88 corridor from Chicago to Lisle, instead of just between Mannheim Road and Central Avenue as IDOT has proposed. Village officials supported their call for a more comprehensive approach to transportation planning with a list of some 20 alternatives to highway expansion developed in concert with Oak Park's Eisenhower Citizen Advisory Committee. Transportation planning also needs to incorporate community needs, including livability and quality of life issues, as well as allow greater citizen input into the planning process, Village officials told the Governor's staff. Creative thinking, such as covering portions of expressways with green space, as has been done in many communities across the country, needs to become an integral part of IDOT transportation planning, Village officials said as they delivered a report on highway caps recently completed by a subcommittee of the citizen volunteer Ike advisory group. The report demonstrates that not only is a cap over the expressway feasible, but desirable and achievable. For more information on the Village's activities regarding the Eisenhower, including the list of expansion alternatives and the "Cap the Ike" working group's report, visit www.oak-park.us -- click on news, then the I-290 icon.
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