TMA visits with Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson

ELK GROVE VILLAGE – In Chicago’s western suburbs, near O’Hare International Airport, is a village that boasts of its world-class data center and nationally-renowned manufacturing park. 

In March 2025, TMA’s Advocacy Team visited with Mayor Craig Johnson, who shared some of the village’s unique insights and rationale for catering to businesses.

“Having grown up in Elk Grove Village, the old timers here talked me into running for the trustee board, and now I’ve been mayor for 28 years. Now I’m giving back so my kids and grandkids have a better community to grow up in,” Mayor Johnson told TMA members.

“Elk Grove is home to the largest business park in North America with almost 65 million square feet under roof,” he said with a smile.  “We have the second most manufacturers in Illinois after the city of Chicago, recently passed up Rockford, and we’re very proud of that.”

Mayor Johnson said that the village has hired business and building experts to be able to direct prospective business owners through the municipal requirements in order to make the best use of business owners’ time.

“Time is money. A business does not want to waste time. They can ill afford to not get things done efficiently and quickly and be successful,” he said.  “So our staff is prepared for that. When you come in, you’re appointed a person. That’s your point person. So if you have a question, you go to that one person.”

“You don’t call this department, oh, then this department, oh, then this department That one person is your contact person. They get you the answers you need… Our people know what you’re talking about and sometimes know more. They help you out. That’s being beyond business friendly. That’s working with you to be successful.”

That’s just one way Elk Grove Village’s staff is set up to support businesses. And their system pays off – both for business owners, and for village dwellers, he said.

Elk Grove Village residents love their business park and the main reason is that the city officials take the benefits of the business park and pass them on to the residents. Elk Grove has the reimbursed their citizens four times in the past four years by sending out $200 gift cards to every household.

“We also this year cut our property taxes,” the mayor said. “We’ve not raised it in decades. This year we actually cut them. So we share the benefits of that business park directly with our residents. We make sure to take care of our business park.”

Mayor Johnson, who is running for re-election unopposed this year, encouraged manufacturers to get involved and vote in the upcoming municipal elections to be held April 1.

While most people vote in presidential elections, mayoral elections commonly get only three percent of the population to turnout to vote.

That shouldn’t be, Johnson said.

“Who has the most influence on your day-to-day life? The president of the United States, maybe one out of 10,000 things he does affects you. But everything a mayor and a local government does affects you all the time,” he said.

“I jokingly tell kids, I said, what’s the first thing you do every morning when you get up? And most of them say, well, go to the bathroom. I say, ‘Exactly. You couldn’t do that if it wasn’t for the village giving you the water.’”

Johnson urged TMA members to “know what the candidates are speaking about when it affects your livelihood, your business. Know what to talk about how they want to direct the community for the future, how they’re going to address your concerns today.”

“That’s so important,” he said.  “Now, you may not live in a community, but as a business owner, I know they spend more waking hours at their work than they do at home.”

TMA’s complete interview with Mayor Johnson is available on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBKEyd2YogE

Mayor Johnson was also featured in TMA’s January/February 2020 News Bulletin by Fran Eaton.