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Board President retires after 19+ years of service
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By Member Lauren Clausen
April 22, 2015

Earlier this year, a big change took place within the Prospect Heights Fire Protection District: For the first time in nearly 20 years, James Cagney did not take his seat at one of its monthly board meetings.
Cagney had led the fire protection district for 12 years as president, and served on the board since 1996, when he was appointed by Wheeling Township officials.
At the fire district’s December meeting, Cagney announced his retirement. But even before he did, he checked to make sure that the budget was balanced.
“During his time with the district, Mr. Cagney drew on his business experience to take on the many challenges we faced,” said Chief Donald Gould, Jr. “He helped us grow from a small, volunteer fire department, into a two station, 50-man combination full-time and part-time department --- that responds to more than 2,000 emergencies each year.”
Cagney’s legacy bursts with accomplishments.
Nearly all of the rigs and ambulances have been replaced, a new, permanent fire station stands on Wolf Road, on the district’s east side, and between the consolidation with the Palwaukee Fire Protection District and recent annexations, the fire district boundaries nearly match the contiguous border of the city of Prospect Heights.
Perhaps most importantly, was the hiring of a full time fire chief, deputy chiefs, lieutenants, and firefighter/paramedics, signaling the shift from a rural, volunteer force to a professional fire district.
Yet, what really drove Cagney in leading the fire district were two tenets from his business background: Fiscal responsibility and a balanced budget.
“I tried to utilize my professional background in order to run the district as if it was a private company,” Cagney says.
He points to a five-year financial plan, updated each year, which he had the staff and trustees draw up. They went on to create separate operational and capital reserves as part of the overall annual, balanced budget.
“The integrity of the annual budget was important,” Cagney says, “and the district learned to live within its means.”
Under Cagney’s leadership, the district established a pension fund and then hired an outside firm to invest reserves and pension funds in accordance with strict state regulations.
“Our pension fund is as near to being 100 percent funded as state actuaries allow, with their complicated calculations,” Cagney says. “We don’t have any stockholders, but we do have taxpayers who want us to run an efficient, well run fire protection service.”
Cagney is the first to admit he had no background in fire service when he joined the board.
“I didn’t know which end of the hose to connect,” he says with a laugh. “It took me a while to learn things.”
Cagney had built a career in the textbook publishing industry, moving from sales to his role as an editor and ultimately serving in operations. It was in that capacity that he guided the company’s shift from posting its general entries in a ledger, to a computerized system of bookkeeping and financial management.
“I was a history major in college, so I didn’t know much about accounting,” he says. “But after years of working with consultants from IBM, I learned about organizational skills.”
Cagney also brought a passion for the community and its way of life to the role. It started back in the early 1990s, when he, along with former Alderman Thomas O’Donoghue, lobbied against a proposed Target store being built near the Rob Roy Country Club Village.
He eventually joined O’Donoghue on the city council, where they went on to successfully bring Lake Michigan water to the Rob Roy subdivision.
Following O’Donoghue on the fire protection board was the next step, and when O’Donoghue retired in 2003, Cagney succeeded him as president.
“We’re in good shape,” Cagney says. “With the changes we’ve made, we’ve set the tone for a fiscally responsible organization. I hope the citizens of Prospect Heights --- the taxpayers --- realize what a gem of a fire district they have.”


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