Homewood Assistant Village Manager Tyler Hall’s last day with the village was Friday, March 1.
He is leaving to join a small consulting firm based in Ohio that focuses on economic development.
The job change was prompted in part by a new opportunity for his wife, who is a veterinarian.
“She had an opportunity to acquire a third hospital,” he said. “She kind of needs me closer to home.”
The couple lives in Logan Square, and the consulting job will be mostly remote, so it will provide more flexibility.
Hall said his experience at Homewood would apply to the new position, where he will be helping small municipalities with economic development efforts.
“A lot of these communities don’t have full time economic directors,” he said. The firm helps bring in development ideas and technical experience.
He said he enjoyed his time working in Homewood and felt the people on staff and in the community were welcoming and collaborative.
Among his accomplishments while at Homewood, he considered improving transparency as the top achievement.
“We’re making progress toward public understanding of municipal government, how it works, the reason why we make certain decisions,” he said.
He cited as an example the practice of selling village-owned property for $1 to facilitate redevelopment. The village often does that to entice developers who might otherwise not tackle a project because of high property taxes in sourthern Cook County.
“There’s no hidden agenda. It’s explaining why we made certain decisions,” he said. “That’s something I saw as a challenge when I first started and I think we’ve made some strides.”