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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of
3 Representatives are pleased to congratulate John Perry,
4 Village Administrator for the Village of Woodridge, on his
5 retirement; and
 
6     WHEREAS, John Perry graduated from the University of
7 Chicago in 1970 with a B.A.; he received his M.P.A. from
8 Syracuse University in 1972; when he began his professional
9 management career in 1972, John Perry saw his role as one of a
10 "community builder" willingly contributing as a member of the
11 management team to the progress of his first employer, Park
12 Forest; he was promoted four times during his seventeen years
13 in Park Forest, advancing from Assistant to the Village Manager
14 to Village Manager; and
 
15     WHEREAS, He helped form, and served as a Charter Member of,
16 the Illinois Public Employer Labor Relations Association for
17 six years; he also served as chairman of the Intergovernmental
18 Risk management Agency; during that time Park Forest was named
19 an All-American City; John Perry pioneered municipal
20 involvement in supporting diverse communities long before it
21 became fashionable; he served as the first Chair of the Housing
22 Coalition of the South Suburbs; and in 1983, his efforts to
23 defend the municipal right to achieve a diverse community led

 

 

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1 to a landmark Supreme Court case that established support for
2 these community initiatives, especially marketing, to achieve
3 successful community diversity; and
 
4     WHEREAS, In 1989, John moved on to become Village
5 Administrator of Woodridge; one of Mr. Perry's main goals with
6 the Village of Woodridge was to reduce the tax burden on
7 Village taxpayers; he implemented a strategy of prioritizing
8 expenses and expanding the tax base, resulting in twenty-three
9 years of declining municipal property tax rates; Mr. Perry also
10 focused on promoting high quality balanced development; and
 
11     WHEREAS, John Perry has guided three significant retail
12 developments and seven new business parks which together
13 account for more than twenty-five percent of municipal property
14 and sales tax revenues; he used his knowledge and experience in
15 diversity to work with the intergovernmental and citizen
16 Quality Community Task Force appointed by Woodridge's Mayor in
17 the early 1990s; this community improvement process led to a
18 broad-based action plan, the most noteworthy aspect of which is
19 the multi-family licensing ordinance; in the mid-1990s he
20 received the intergovernmental cooperation award from the
21 Dupage Mayors and Managers Conference for his work on this
22 initiative; and
 
23     WHEREAS, John Perry once again won the intergovernmental

 

 

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1 award in 2007 following work that he did to support communities
2 working on issues related to interoperable radios and regional
3 water supply; in 1997 Mr. Perry received the Special Service
4 Award from the Illinois City/County Management Association for
5 his efforts to involve managers throughout the State in the
6 Annual Illinois Municipal League Conference; encouraging
7 participation of managers helped cement relationships between
8 the elected and appointed officials; and
 
9     WHEREAS, The DuPage Mayors and Managers Conference
10 annually recognizes the innovations of its member communities
11 and Woodridge gained the initial award for its multi-family
12 license program; it has since repeated the annual award for
13 programs as diverse as cultural enrichment for at-risk
14 neighborhood youth, sponsored by the Police Department, and a
15 Public Works hydro excavator; Woodridge is the only three-time
16 winner of this Municipal Innovation Award; and
 
17     WHEREAS, The Village of Woodridge has excelled under John
18 Perry's stewardship, and in 2007 it was designated one of the
19 100 Best Communities by Money Magazine; Woodridge has also been
20 named one of the World's Greatest Communities by the producers
21 of the "World's Greatest" TV Show; therefore, be it
 
22     RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
23 NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we

 

 

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1 congratulate John Perry on his retirement and wish him the best
2 in his future endeavors; and be it further
 
3     RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
4 presented to John Perry as a symbol of our respect and esteem.