New Mayor Rogina Lays Out Vision for St. Charles

St. Charles new City Council was sworn in Monday night during a two part meeting in which the exiting City Council wrapped up some old business and the new council started some new.

Among the new items the council addressed were the ratification of committee and liaison appointments by new Mayor Raymond Rogina, and the council’s approval of the mayor’s recommendation that the city approve of the nomination of John McGuirk as city attorney for the coming fiscal year.

But first, the newly elected and re-elected officials, including Rogina, each took the oath of office before Judge T. Clint Hull. Then, as everyone took their seats, Rogina stepped to a podium alongside the council dais.

Below is the text of his speech to the the City Council and the residents of St. Charles:

“Members of my family, my wife Diane, my son Matthew, my brother and sister-in-law Mike and Sally, mom and dad, members of the City Council, friends and residents.

I want to start by acknowledging two outgoing colleagues of mine on the City Council, Jon Monken and Cliff Carrignan. Their kindness to me over the past two years will always be remembered. I stand here tonight as mayor in part because of their encouragement and support.

To the remainder of my supporters, and you know who you are, your willingness to work on my behalf and encourage me will never be forgotten. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I will do my best to uphold the trust you have in me.

Just about everyone knows that I have spent the vast majority of my life in St. Charles as a public school teacher. I did quite a bit of teaching and experienced a significant learning curve in the process.

As alderman, with a larger class size, I believe I have learned from and have educated my constituents. As mayor, the class size will become extremely large and the learning curve will grow exponentially.

Hopefully, we should always realize that we are always educating one another and learning from one another. We should talk to each other without hesitation or reservation. We should agree and disagree with respect and dignity. And in the end, we become part of an unbroken chain, the ageless passage of wisdom from one generation to the next.

Our predecessors in this Fox River Valley have given to us a community with a wonderful heritage to augment natural beauty. Our former mayors, our City Council members, past and present, and our city employees, past and present, have delivered a wonderful city for families, young and old. The benevolence of numerous benefactors has touched many of us. And the legacy of entrepreneurs, many who have run successful businesses for years, sets a standard to emulate.

Do not let the economic repercussions of a recession or political rhetoric fool you. St. Charles stands tall, St. Charles always will be re-creating itself, St. Charles is the pride of the Fox River Valley.

And we all recognize that together there is work to do. We do not rest on any laurels; we know that together we can take St. Charles to greater heights and in doing so leave an additional legacy for those who follow. And we do it together. Let me paraphrase the words of a young popular singer, Phillip Phillips:

Let’s hold on together as we roll down this unfamiliar road

Settle down, it will eventually all be clear,

Pay no mind to the demons, they fill you with fear

The trouble, it might drag you down

If you get lost, you can always be found

Just know you are not alone

Because together we are going to make this place our home.

I close with a simple request to my colleagues on our new city council and to our staff: Let’s adopt the words of American author Wilfred Peterson — “Walk with the dreamers, the believers, the courageous, the cheerful, the planners, the doers, the successful people with their heads in the clouds and their feet on the ground. Let their spirit ignite a fire within you to leave this world better than when you found it.”

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