The plaques and photos that once covered much of the grey walls in his office are gone and his empty chair faces an inactive computer. There are no memos on his desk, and no one is waiting to see him.
Tom Mick, who spent 27 years working in Park Forest and for 20 years as its village manager, has retired.
Several years ago, former Mayor John Ostenburg said Tom Mick “was the finest municipal manager” in the state. He added that today “Tom’s status has increased.”
Come Tuesday, his replacement, Jon Kindseth, who, for the last five years has been the assistant to the village manager in downstate Decatur, will sit at that desk, turn on that computer and put his personal stamp on those bare walls.
But this story is about Tom Mick and his tour of duty for his community.
A graduate of St. Laurence High School in Chicago, Mick joined the Marine Corps for a four-year stint, using the corps’ service’s tuition benefits program to attend and graduate from Northern Illinois University with a degree in political science.
After gaining experience in the suburbs of River Forest (internship) and Glencoe (Public Works Department), he was hired in 1998 by Janet Muchnik, Park Forest’s village manager at that time, who was looking for a personnel director.
“We could tell from his references that he had a strong work ethic,” Muchnik recalled. “He was a workhorse. He would get there early and not leave until things were done.
“Wow. What kind of young person works like this,” she said she asked herself.
Mick’s ability to get the job done began to make an impression on nearby communities, and it wasn’t long before Muchnik, who was contemplating retirement, realized Mick was her logical successor.
“He shadowed me on the budget process, asking questions and knowing things I needed to accomplish,” she said. “He was smart, committed, with a willingness to do what it takes. If a community did a national search for a village manager, it would have come up with Tom.”
Tom Mick (Village of Park Forest)
In 2001, Mick was named assistant village manager and in 2004 he signed a contract to take over as village manager the following year.
Over the next two decades, the dogs of change were running loose. Where Park Forest once was the shopping center of the south suburbs, the commercial center of town morphed into a series of smaller shops which would open with a bang and close without as much as a whimper.
To many, when Rich Township High School District 227 voted to close the local high school, it seemed as if Park Forest, whose birth and development depicted a new kind of community life, had lost the wind that once whipped its sails.
Not even the office of the village manager was immune.
Shortly after Jon Vanderbilt won a close election for mayor in 2019, there was talk that Vanderbilt wanted a new village manager. A closed-door session lasted for nearly two hours to discuss such a scheme after numerous residents urged the board to vote against such a plan. The board listened and Mick stayed on.
Mick says he isn’t going anywhere. Park Forest was home for the last 24 years; the place where he and wife, Tracy, raised their three children, Meghan, Tom and Aiden.
When asked recently what his proudest accomplishment was in his 20-year tenure, he replied it was the $132 million in grants he helped the village receive from public and private sources for needed improvements and repairs. It was money local citizens did not have to pony up.
Perhaps the best tribute to the man comes from Christine Blue, the former head of the now defunct Nurses Plus program.
“Tom Mick is the best boss I ever worked for,” she said. She then changed her mind.
“No,” she added. “Tom is the best person I ever worked for.”
So welcome aboard Jon Kindseth. Come Tuesday, those big shoes under that desk are all yours.
Jerry Shnay is a freelance columnist for the Daily Southtown.