'It's All About Timing:' Newly Appointed Village Trustee

PLAINFIELD, IL — On Monday, Dec. 16, the Plainfield Board of Trustees welcomed a new member into their ranks: Patricia Kalkanis, a defense attorney with the Tomczak Law Group. She was sworn in as a trustee by her husband Judge Daniel Rippy, and said on Monday only, "I want to thank the mayor for giving me this opportunity and I look forward to working for the people of Plainfield to benefit and better the community."

On Thursday the 19th, she spoke with Patch a bit more in-depth about her appointment, her motivations, and her plans as a village board member. Here is the conversation Patch had with her, lightly edited for clarity:

Patch: So can you tell me a bit about yourself? Your background and why you were interested in the village board position?

Kalkanis: I moved into Will County about ten years ago. I lived in Shorewood and was a public defender for a couple years until I started working for Jeff Tomczak, and now I've been with him for the last five years doing criminal defense work. I'm also part of the Will County board for the Bar Association, I just took the position last year. Since moving to Plainfield a few years ago... I've wanted to be more active in the community. It's a great community to be a part of, so I thought [becoming a trustee] would be a perfect opportunity.

Patch: Is there any specific reason why you wanted to join the board of trustees?

Kalkanis: Not necessarily. It's all about timing. I got acquainted with the mayor at several functions in the Plainfield area after I moved there. I really took a liking to him and thought he was a great leader to have in the community. Being in the area, you know there are things that you'd want to see, but we want to preserve what Plainfield was all about. Plainfield was quaint, and we want to keep that, but... the growing population, we want to accommodate that as well. I always thought there could be more things that we could do to accommodate the growing population, that we could bring into the area.

Patch: Can you give an example of something you'd like to do to accommodate the growing population?

Kalkanis: It's small things, like a Trader Joe's, for instance, or more locations for coffee or groceries stores... You know, we have grocery stores, we have Jewel, we have all that, but the options, the variety, because of the growing population and different ethnicities as well, to accommodate them, to bring more grocery stores into the area. It's stuff like that. Like I know from this last year we're getting a Costco. It's things like that, that hopefully we can grow but still keep what Plainfield was all about. Keep it quaint... and not over-expand it, of course.
Patch: Is this your first time serving on a government body?

Kalkanis: Yes it is.

Patch: Have you had a chance to speak with any of the other trustees about what they have to say about the job? Is there anything they've told you that you were surprised by?

Kalkanis: No, not necessarily. I've had brief conversations with some of them... and I'll talk with them more in the next couple weeks after the holidays, but I haven't had much opportunity to talk with them. As far as what they've told me, they said that [trusteeship] is something that I'll enjoy, that they've enjoyed doing, they thought I'd be a good person in this position. But as far as specifics, we haven't had the opportunity at this time due to the holidays to speak more.

Patch: Could you tell me, whose seat on the board of trustees are you filling?

Kalkanis: It was Larry Newton I replaced, and I believe it was because he moved out of the area. (Patch note: According to the Village Clerk, Newton resigned on Nov. 26 of this year to pursue a job in Tennessee. Kalkanis is finishing out Newton's term that expires in 2021)

Patch: If you were to describe your priorities as a trustee, what would they be?

Kalkanis: Number One is to get a lot more educated. You think you know enough just by living in the area for so long, but the first thing is I really need to spend a lot of time looking at the history of what Plainfield is all about... You know there was a lot of discussion last meeting about tax levying, there's a lot of research I need to sit down and zero in on to see what this is all about. Another bigger discussion was putting in a Dunkin Donuts, for instance, like what I was talking about earlier, bringing in new businesses into the area. But I'm mostly interested in, in the last few years, what have we approved, what have we brought in, what have we adjusted, what have we allowed, not allowed. Kind of see the trend of what we're looking to do. I definitely need to spend a lot of time to see exactly what has transpired in the last few years on the board of trustees and what they've done to make Plainfield a better place.

Patch: Is this the start of a bigger career in politics, or are you content to be a village trustee?

Kalkanis: It's hard to say. Politics was something that really came to life with me when I joined the Tomczak Law Group. Mr. Tomczak is a well known politician in the area and in many areas. Since working for him it's kind of opened my eyes into politics, but I can't say for sure... if it's a more rigorous direction of politics that I want to go in. I'd like to take it step-by-step and see where this [position] may take me. I'm very passionate about my work as a defense attorney, but politics is also really something that's starting to interest me.

Patch: Well, thank you very much for your time.

Kalkanis: Thank you.