Dave Hinton: Longtime Tilton mayor hit all the right buttons to help village thrive

Apr. 29—He started working summers with the town's public works department at age 15, was public works supervisor out of high school, served many years as the town's volunteer fire chief and ambulance coordinator, worked as a police officer, and was elected five times village president.

David Phillips is "Mr. Tilton."

Phillips retires May 31 as village president, fulfilling his promise to himself to step down when he reached 65 — a milestone he will hit June 5.

He loves his community, located in Vermilion County, just south of Danville. Tilton appears to be a better place to live today than when he took over as village president. Not many municipal leaders can say that.

Phillips' community service came naturally. His father, Harry, was fire chief for about 25 years. As a youngster, Phillips enjoyed being able to push the fire button sounding the fire sirens to alert firefighters to a call while his dad headed the two blocks to the fire station.

"Back in the day, they didn't have notification pagers and stuff like that," Phillips said. "The fire button was at my house."

Having worked part time for the sewer department, primarily mowing, he became public works supervisor out of high school in 1977.

"Of course there was only two us," he said.

Being with public works wasn't an easy job in the '70s come winters.

"In the '70s we had the big blizzards," Phillips remembers. "The snow was higher than the snow plows. We had to open shelters at the fire station. We had to have a Caterpillar open one street on one end of town because the snow was higher than the houses."

Phillips' eight years as a police officer ended due to hand surgery for Dupuytren's contracture and carpal tunnel syndrome.

He has seen society get meaner and police work more hazardous since the days when he wore the blue.

"You pretty much have your gun out now on a traffic stop," Phillips said. "Most police officers get killed within 2 feet" of a vehicle that has been stopped.

There have been major changes in Tilton's budget since Phillips' early days as village president.

"Our financing went from $30,000 a month when I started from sales tax to we're working on a $10 million budget nowadays. We went to the voters and asked for a sale tax increase about a year after I was elected. People realize if you're going to develop (a town) you have to have money to do it."

The following year voters approved a proposal to allow home rule.

"They had trust for the board and the mayor," Phillips said. "We have been home rule ever since. That was progress to get development to have the same authority as Danville has. Plus home rule gave us zoning (capabilities)."

People didn't want businesses setting up in residential neighborhoods.

A new cannabis dispensary was approved last month that could be a boon for the village, with the company's projected annual revenue of about $15 million. Of that total, about $900,000 would go to Tilton — "just from sales tax," Phillips said — with additional money coming in from a utility tax.

Tilton has four tax increment financing districts and has added a number of other new businesses over the years, including Cabinet City, a bar, Danville Township offices, the driver's license facility, Big R and a rebuilt Vermilion Chevrolet. Two senior citizen care facilities also came in — Autumn Fields and Garden View Manor nursing home and assisted-living homes.

When Phillips started his first term as president, the GM foundry in Tilton had already closed.

"A lot of people left Tilton and went to other spots to work for GM. We probably lost a couple hundred people," Phillips said. "Some of them came back when they retired."

The town population has remained about 2,600.

Phillips said area state legislators Bill Black, Mike Marron and Paul Faraci have been helpful to the village, and recently elected U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinski has stepped forward to determine what the town needs.

"I don't vote by party. I vote for the person," Phillips said.

Phillips said with a village administrator being hired three months ago, the village president's job will switch to a part-time one.

"The board said there was no sense two people collecting a full salary," Phillips said.

Treasurer Tiffany Jones earned an administrator degree online.

"It's unusual for a town of that size to have a full-time mayor," Phillips said. "We got it because we were developing so fast. We had 87 businesses originally — home businesses and everything. I think there's probably over a couple hundred now."

He anticipates the village board appointing Bill Wear, the trustee with the longest tenure, to succeed him.

Phillips lost his wife, Rhonda, to COVID-19 two years ago. He has five children, with three of them living in the area, and 16 grandchildren.

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"I've got a life partner (Charla Brewer). I'm sure she's got a list for me" of work to do once retirement hits.

Phillips enjoys vegetable and flower gardening, something he'll have more time to do. He has a bass boat and is a member of the Fairmount Conservation Club and the Pollywog fishing group.

Phillips also intends to have his right hand worked on, this time at the Indianapolis Hand Clinic. "My right hand is pretty much numb." Two previous surgeries on it didn't help much.

A text that changed his lifeQuintin Porter gets lots of texts, but one he received March 16, 2022, helped to change his life.

It was from a former high school girlfriend. Christy Stott wanted to catch up with Porter, but, more important, had seen his social media posts informing of his need for a kidney.

Stott, of Rockford, offered hers to the 56-year-old Mahomet resident.

There, however, was a problem. It was their size difference. Scott is petite, and Porter large.

OSF HealthCare Mission Partners in Peoria had a solution that involves a kidney donor and recipient who aren't compatible. As a result, on Oct. 4, Stott gave a kidney, which went to a Cleveland recipient, and Porter received one from 25-year-old Eris Diaz of Miami.

Porter, Stott and Diaz are all doing well, and each one is a big believer in organ donations. They encourage everyone to consider donating, either living or after having passed away.

Hear more of Porter's story on a podcast of Thursday's "Penny for Your Thoughts" on WDWS, now available at news-gazette.com.

He takes first place in national science meet

Ryan He, an Urbana Uni High student, captured first place in the chemistry division for research on integrating 3D printing into titanium dioxide nanotube fabricato at the 61st annual National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium.

He was one of 227 students who competed from across the country. There were 48 national winners.

JSHS is a Department of Defense-sponsored STEM program (U.S. Office of the Secretary of Defense and the U.S. Departments of the Army, Navy and Air Force) that encourages high school students to conduct original STEM research in a variety of STEM disciplines, from environmental sciences and computer science to mathematics and biochemistry.

Each year, regional finalists are invited to compete at the national competition where they present their original scientific research to DoD STEM professionals, university faculty, military personnel, peers and family and friends for national recognition and cash awards and scholarships.

Three UI students honored with Goldwater scholarshipsUniversity of Illinois students Daniel Cudzich, Max Fan and Aidan Lindsay were awarded Barry M. Goldwater scholarships for their potential to contribute to the advancement of research in the natural sciences, mathematics or engineering.

Daniel Cudzich

Cudzich, a junior from Niles and a graduate of Niles West High School, is pursuing a degree in materials science and engineering. He has compiled a 4.0 GPA as a member of both the college James Scholar Honors Program and the Campus Honors Program. He began researching novel battery types in high school. For the past three years, he has been working in the lab of Illinois materials science and engineering professor Paul Braun, under the mentorship of doctoral candidate Carlos Juarez-Yescas, developing solid-state electrolytes for lithium-ion batteries.

Max Fan

A sophomore from Andover, Mass., and a graduate of Choate Rosemary Hall, Fan is majoring in computer science and philosophy to support his career goal of becoming a computer science professor researching programming languages and formal verification. At Illinois, Fan has conducted research with computer science professors Talia Ringer and Charith Mendis and philosophy professor Jonathan Livengood.

Aidan Lindsay

Lindsay, a sophomore from Overland Park, Kan., and a graduate of Blue Valley High School, is pursuing a degree in chemistry.

A member of the Campus Honors Program, he also is minoring in mathematics and computational science and engineering while taking graduate-level chemistry courses.

Lindsay has conducted research with Illinois chemistry professor Prashant Jain since January 2022 and participated in the National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates program at Kansas State University.

Lindsay has presented his research nationally, winning an outstanding oral presentation award.