It is said that great leaders stay calm during a storm.
Applies intelligence, passion and thoughtfulness to solving problems. Are
empathetic and respectful , hearing out all views before acting. If this is so, then
Councilman and Mayor Pro Tem Jim Kirsch is a great leader. This past Monday Jim
kirsch ended a 12 year career as a City Councilman in Highland Park. I had the
pleasure of serving with Jim for 10 of those 12 years. First as a fellow Council Member and then as Mayor.
Jim is a lifelong resident of Highland Park and began his love of public
service as President of the Student Council at Highland Park High School. Jim
has a genuine love for the community he grew up in and is now raising a family,
and it showed it every day he walked into City Hall. In that ten year period we
accomplished so much including affordable housing initiatives; award winning
master plans for street and infrastructure improvements; a plan for improving
the quality of water; the Taste of Highland Park; a sustainability plan to name
a few; I always appreciated Jim’s encouragement and support on what we
accomplished. He was an eloquent spokesman for progress. Jim served as one of
the first Chairman of the Downtown Business Alliance, which was tasked with attracting
shoppers and businesses. Our downtown is the envy of the North Shore, in part
because of Jim Kirsch. With respect to land use planning Jim was always
outspoken on maintaining the aesthetics of the City he loves. Jim was Chairman of the Finance Committee for
most of his tenure. His leadership led to maintaining the highest bond rating
by Moody’s Investor’s service, enabling the city to fund critical public works
at the lowest possible cost. He brought reform to revenue and expenditure
forecasting and budgeting by having staff provide the Finance Committee with
monthly reports on the budget and underlying economic data such as building
permits, home sales, and sales tax activity. His leadership resulted in keeping
the City’s portion of the property tax low and manageable for taxpayers and
maintaining a fund balance in excess of 40%, a needed cushion during the great
recession. The budget enables to City to provide a high level of service its
citizens. We should be grateful to Jim for his hard work and effectiveness in
this regard. The City worked extremely hard to obtain higher levels of impact
aid from the Navy when new housing was constructed at Fort Sheridan. I took a
personal interest in this as Mayor, travelling to Springfield and Washington.
Our funding per pupil went from $700 to $4500, closing a $3.0 million subsidy (unfortunately
it was recently allowed to lapse). At the end of the day it was Jim and the
respect he garnered from our Congressman US Senators, and resident s active in
Washington that sealed the deal. Finally, Jim was a great advisor and a friend.
He is the type of person that would drop everything to help you out with any
problem personal or otherwise. It was this sort of compassion that made him
such an excellent elected official. I am honored to have served with him and
hope someday he will appear on another ballot.
