The village of La Grange has hired a new community development director.
Charity Jones is replacing Patrick Benjamin, who retired in February after working 27 years for the village. Jones will earn a salary of $112,000 a year.
Jones, who lives in La Grange Park, worked for the village of Lemont for eight years. She was hired there as a village planner and in 2013 was promoted to the position of director of planning and economic development.
Jones graduated from the University of Iowa and earned a master’s degree in Urban Planning and Policy from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners.
“Charity has the experience and energy to help La Grange build on its strengths in the coming years and we are fortunate to have her on the team,” said Village President Thomas E. Livingston. “During the interview process, her knowledge of economic development, personal energy and awareness of La Grange gave her a competitive advantage among a very good field of applicants.”
Jones said one reason she was attracted to the job in La Grange was the downtown business district.
“It has a lot of assets. It has a lot of forward momentum,” she said.
Jones said one of her tasks will be to look at how the village is performing in terms of economic development.
“A goal will be to assess the village’s economic development strategies and then work with the village leadership to build upon or modify those strategies to best position La Grange for continued economic success,” she said.
Jones said she also expects to be working closely with the local business community to build on the downtown district’s momentum.
“One of my first goals will be working in partnership with the La Grange Business Association on the effort to develop a cohesive marketing identity for the LGBA’s annual series of events,” she said. “This project will help further raise awareness of the many great events in La Grange and make our future promotional efforts even more effective.”
The village hired a recruitment firm, GovHR, based in Northbrook, to find candidates for the position. The firm received 70 applications and interviewed nine of them before narrowing the field to two, including Jones, who were interviewed a second time.
GovHR’s fee was $18,700 including an allocation of $3,500 for reimbursable expenses. The firm previously helped the village hire Ryan Gillingham, who is the public works director, and Kim Knusten, the first director of the newly established combined dispatch center. The funds to pay the search firm came from the community development budget, said Robert Pilipiszyn, village manager.
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