City Council Likely to Name Ken Koch New Yorkville Alderman

After more than a decade serving the Yorkville Park Board, Ken Koch has decided to step down.

But he’s not leaving the public sector.

Instead, Koch said he is venturing down a different path of service. Tonight, he will likely be named to the Yorkville City Council to fill the seat of Ward 1 Alderman George Gilson Jr.,

“I felt that I have been blessed with my Park Board years and truly enjoy public service,” Koch said. “I learned a lot and met a lot of quality people in the process. With my current experience with staff and City Council, I felt the timing was appropriate at this time.”

The mayor is responsible for appointing the new alderman with the advice and consent of the rest of the City Council.

Mayor Gary Golinski said Koch will be a good fit on the council.

“He's a common-sense conservative that has the knowledge and experience to be productive from day one,” he said. “In his service on the city's Park Board, I've always known Ken to be honest and straight-forward with a true love of serving the community while asking for nothing in return.”

Koch began his tenure on the Park Board in 2001, and became president three years ago.

Golinski said through Koch's role as president he has been able to gain knowledge and experience of the inner workings of Yorkville's city government and establish relationships with many of the staff and current aldermen.

“When I served with Ken on the city's Park Board, while we didn't always agree, he always kept an open mind while debating issues and was respectful of those with an opposing view,” Golinski said. “Those are the qualities that make a great public servant and Ken possesses them all."

Koch expects his new role to keep him busy.

“Our town will be going through some exciting physical changes with the various projects on the horizon — (the) Route 47 widening and a revamped downtown to start with,” he said. “I would also like to see our city make progress on our debt issues while trying to maintain the quality services that we currently have.”

But most importantly, it will allow Koch to do what he enjoys most.

“Serving the residents of the United City of Yorkville would have to be the most important role for any alderman,” he said.