left to right: Trustee Norm Abbott, Clerk Jean Eisha, Trustee Tony DeLaurentis,  Village  Mayor Dan Podgorski, Trustee Patty Eidam,  Trustee Nancy Eichhorn,  Trustee Bob Ryan, Trustee Dawn Myers not pictured.
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The Village of Lansing, a home rule community, is governed by a mayor and  trustee form of government.
The mayor is a full time position serving as the chief executive officer over the day to day operations of the village.

Each of the six trustees has assignments of responsibility for governance of specific functions of the village. Each is assisted by another trustee as a co-chair.

The Village formally attained government status in 1893 when its citizens, then numbering 200, met to decide by means of a general election whether certain territory should be organized and governed as a village under the general law. 
A total of 78 ballots were cast, tallying 67 in favor of village organization, 10 opposed and 1 defective ballot. 
Lansing, under new law was recognized as a village and preparations for an election of officers were laid. 

On April 18, 1893 the residents of the Village of Lansing came to the polls to elect one president, six trustees, a village clerk and a police magistrate.

Mayor Podgorski has lived in Lansing, IL. since 1979 and went to Heritage middle school and graduated from Thornton Fractional South High School in 1986. After high school, he attended the University of Illinois in Champaign Urbana, and graduated with a bachelor's degree in accounting in 1990. After working as an auditor for Deloitte & Touche in Chicago for two years, he began working for the family accounting firm of Podgorski & Associates in 1992, where he worked full time until being elected mayor in 2001.

The mayor was elected to the South Suburban Mayors and Managers Association (www.ssmma.org) board of directors in 2004. He serves as the current Cook County at large delegate. Mayor Podgorski was also appointed to serve on the Chicago area transportation study executive council of mayors, and is one of two south suburban mayors to sit on that council. He also is a member of the transportation committee for South Suburban Mayors and Managers.

Jean Eisha has been a Lansing resident since 1959, and along with husband Tom, a former Village Trustee, have raised 4 children in Lansing. They are now proud grandparents of 7 grandchildren. Jean is a child of German immigrant parents, Emily and Hans Betz and graduated from Hyde Park High School, Chicago, IL, in 1954.

Prior to becoming the Village Clerk in 2001, Jean served the Village of Lansing as the Mayor's secretary for 16 years, first for Mayor Balthis  and then for Mayor West. Before her village employment, Jean was a librarian at St. Ann's School and assisted her husband in the operation of Eisha Appliances.

Today, as Village Clerk, Mrs. Eisha is responsible for the day to day operations of the administrative offices for the Village of Lansing. Her responsibilities include; staff supervision, document management and all other Clerk duties as governed by the position.

Jean has been a long time member of St. Ann Parish, a charter member of LBWA and the Athena Award Recipient in 1994.

Tony DeLaurentis is a lifelong resident of Lansing, attending Lester Crawl & Coolidge Elementary, Memorial Jr. H.S., and T.F. South H.S. After high school, Tony enlisted in the Armed Forces and spent one year serving in Viet Nam. Tony and his wife Toni, a school teacher at Oak Glen Elementary have three daughters, Chris, Gina, and Angela. Chris and her husband, Rick Ver Wey reside in Lansing with their children,  Austin and Courtney. Gina and her husband, Jim Danehl, also live in Lansing. Angela is currently attending Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo. 

Tony became interested Lansing government in the 1970's, and began attending Village Board Meetings and Planning and Zoning Board Meetings. The 1980's saw Tony serving as chairman on the 911 committee & the Cable committee. In the 90's Trustee DeLaurentis was a member of the Planning and Zoning Committee, the West Lansing TIF District Committee, and served on the committee that prepared the 1995 comprehensive plan for the Village.

Tony was elected Trustee in 2001 and has been Chairman of the Building & ADA Committee.   
Tony and his family are all members of St. Ann's Church, where Mr. DeLaurentis serves as an usher on Sundays.

Bob Ryan has called Lansing home his entire life. Educated in Lansing's Public Schools, Bob is a graduate of North Central College, Naperville, IL, and has numerous credit hours of graduate curriculum at DePaul University, Chicago, IL. 

Bob has served as the State Representative of the old "79th Legislative District where he sponsored and lobbied for the passage of key pieces of legislation including "Amber Missing Kids Alert". 
The Lawyer's Assistance Program, Inc. honored him as "Legislator of the Year". Bob was the state's sole representative in the GENESYS PROJECT, a national intergovernmental technology initiative in Washington D.C.

For 23 years, Mr. Ryan has worked as a Financial Institutions Examiner and subsequent to his accreditation by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (Austin, Tx.) is one of the first certified "fraud examiners". Most recently , Bob's expertise has found him as a lead regulator in the combatant of money laundering and other BSA and Patriot Act Matters.

Mr. Ryan was appointed to serve as Village Trustee in 2003 and working closely with the Lansing Police Department and Local School officials, he and the board took his AMBER ALERT legislation to a higher height by establishing a volunteer system by which the ID's of children of the village can be digitalized, captured, cataloged and easily accessed in the advent of a child abduction.

Bob vividly recalls walking "up town" to the Ridge Road Business District to shop with late father, Robert and his mother Dolores. he recalls the popcorn machine at the dime store, "earth shoes" at the shoe store, and the prescriptions at the drug store and most notably the gift registry at Gus Bock's. It is his wish to preserve and re-energize the Ridge Road business district for the convenience and enjoyment of all of Lansing's families, seniors, & visitors. Trustee Ryan continues to assert that public safety and the success of "Ridge Road" are paramount to the interest of Lansing's residents.

Bob is a lifetime member of the Illinois Citizens Coalition of Disabilities, a member of the Sons of American Legion, Edward Schultz Post 697 and greatly enjoys all water and snow sports. Mr. Ryan is a parishioner of St. Ann's Church.