Photo credit: Claudio Rodriguez – Chief Photographer

By: Leah Mini – Managing Editor

The Village of Summit is home to 11,161 residents, according to the 2020 census. While Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet discovered the area in 1673, the city was not incorporated until 1890. Its name cleverly hints at the town being the highest point on the Chicago Portage between the Chicago and Des Plaines Rivers.

Their motto, “Strength, Unity, Progress,” reflects the town’s consistent efforts to support local infrastructure, focus on education, and empower residents to achieve success.

“We have a lot of working-class families, and there is a large Hispanic population,” said Sergio Rodriguez, mayor of Summit. “A lot of times, people from Summit tend to raise their families here and then move on from Summit. There are many success stories of kids coming through a hard-working family and being very successful.”

Rodriguez attributes many of these success stories to the city’s focus on education as a priority. 

Rodriguez was born and raised in Summit. Like today’s students, Rodriguez attended Argo Community High School and eventually received his Master’s of Education from Lewis University. He was elected as a trustee on the Summit Village Board in 2005 and has served as mayor since 2015.

In Summit, the day-to-day is managed by the public works director, chief of police, and other directors while the board and mayor work to make funding decisions. The mayor works with board members during committee meetings to discuss different goals and how to spend money.

When making these decisions, the committees look at several data sources. These include numbers from the census, school information, and discussions with the public works department about the state of infrastructure. Rodriguez said that several decisions look to the future, sometimes planning 10 years in advance. He learned the effectiveness of this approach from personal experience. 

“When I came in as a trustee, we were just putting together things with Band-Aids, just because we didn’t have the funding,” Rodriguez said. “Luckily, we were able to turn it around and allocate different funding for things that have really helped us to be able to afford and address issues before it was too late. It was more costly than last minute, but I think it allowed us to kind of plan ahead and say, ‘Now I’m focused on this, but what else do we have to look at?’”

Some of the current maintenance and improvement projects in Summit include replacing lead pipelines over the next 10 years and paving gravel alleys. The city is also looking to resolve difficulties over limited parking availability.

In addition to receiving government funding, the Village of Summit collaborates with various nonprofits and applies for grants to advance their plans. Some successful grant partnerships have worked with the Midwest Water Reclamation District to support green infrastructure and the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning on capital improvement plans and comprehensive housing development grants.

“It’s just about being very open to different ideas and collaborating with an organization that really can affect getting different types of grants,” Rodriguez said. “They will reach out to [state senators] and say, ‘These are some of our needs, and whatever you can do when it comes on the budget will be great.’”

The Village of Summit also looks for ways to improve by investing in new businesses and developing the land. Rodriguez said that they are constantly looking for potential new businesses, but the challenge is finding the right type for their area. Recently, they opened a Dunkin’ Donuts and are set to open a Jet’s Pizza.

Since taking office, Rodriguez has started hosting coffee with the mayor every Saturday so that residents can share their opinions. Rodriguez said that being willing to take a punch and having an open mind has been important to building a better connection with the town.

“If you’re going to be a good politician, you need to be involved. You need to get your hands dirty,” Rodriguez said. “You need to be able to be seen connected. I think that has been something that I made sure I try to do with my schedule.”