South Cook News

The Village of Tinley Park said goodbye as the results of their spring election come to fruition.

“Just thank you very much,” Trustee Diane Galante said during the April 18 Village Board meeting. “It's been truly an honor to serve my community. Everything I hoped to get it done, unfortunately, I couldn't. But really, nothing changes for me. Just for the last two years, I've been kind of on my own, obviously. And I love our community. I'm going to continue to be very active member and what I'm doing today. So really, nothing changes except I'll be back at the mic asking questions instead of sitting up here. So I look forward to seeing everybody around town, just like I've been doing for the last 27 years. So thank you.”

The members of the Tinley Park Village Trustees bid farewell to Galante as she attended her final board meeting. She was first elected to the board in 2019 and completed her four-year term. Galante did run for reelection on the April 4 ballot, but her independent party campaign did not secure her a continued seat on the board. Three other City positions were on the ballot, with trustees Michael Mueller and William Brennan keeping their incumbent seats and City clerk Nancy O’Connor beating out her challenger to retain her position.

Mayor Michael Glotz gave a proclamation in honor of Galante's four years of service to the village. The proclamation honored her long residency in the village with her husband and two children, along with her 30-year career in accounting that allowed her to bring her expertise to the Village's Budget, Finance and Community Development committees. Galante was also recognized for her dedication to the local police and fire departments and her continued involvement with the citizens’ academies and events.

The Board of Trustees was not always a peaceful place for Galante, as she often had heated exchanges with other members of the board including Glotz and O’Connor, a December South Cook News report said. She was even removed from a May 2022 board meeting by a board vote after events escalated following Galante filing a police report against another trustee. There were continued tensions through the end of 2022, but Galante was not removed from another meeting and no charges were ever filed. Many of the trustees thanked her for her service to the village in a very stressful job that was made even more difficult by the pandemic that took hold for most of her term.