Plano mayor makes adopted city his own

PLANO – Mike Rennels didn’t grow up in Plano, but he has adapted the city as his own.

Rennels first became acquainted with his future home while working with a public access cable TV operation that served Plano.

“I just fell in love with Plano and the people I met,” Rennels said. “I thought this is where I want to live.”

Rennels moved to Plano in 2006 in the Lakewood Springs residential development in the growing community.

His interest in the community was apparent and by 2013 Rennels was serving on the city’s plan commission. Two years later, Rennels began serving on the Plano City Council.

In 2021, he was elected mayor.

“I think I’m the first non-native to be elected mayor of Plano.”

Yet Rennels’ election as the mayor was far from improbable.

Rennels grew up in West Chicago where his father, Gene Rennels, served as that city’s mayor for 12 years during the 1970s and 80s.

“He fought some pretty good battles,” Rennels said of his late father, particularly noting the effort to remove radioactive material from an industrial site in town.

“I learned about committing your life to a community. He was a great role model and I just decided that it’s all about giving back.”

With a population of more than 12,000, Plano is poised for continued growth. Rennels is focusing on growing the community’s business and industrial base and likes the city’s prospects.

“We’re small enough that we can be agile,” Rennels said. “It’s a competitive process to attract new businesses.”

With the recent opening of the Eldamain Road bridge, Rennels is looking for business growth along that corridor, which is the border between Plano and Yorkville.

“There are things in the works for Eldamain,” Rennels said, declining to be more specific for the time being. “This town has a proud manufacturing heritage and I have hopes for Eldamain Road. We’re going to be the destination.”

A Gas ‘N’ Wash already has opened on Plano’s side of Eldamain Road. Elsewhere in the city, new businesses include Culver’s, Smoothie King and Scooter’s Coffee.

“We’re attracting a lot of businesses,” Rennels said.

Rennels also wants to revitalize and improve business in the city’s historic downtown area.

“A sign for me of a vital downtown is people walking on the sidewalks. There is a lot of charm here in the downtown and I’d like to focus on that.”

One potential project would be the transformation of the historic Plano Hotel building at the northeast corner of Main and West streets into six apartment units.

Built in 1868, the Plano Hotel is a two-story Italianate structure that was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1993.

“A big challenge in the downtown for any residences is parking,” Rennels said, noting the city’s ban on overnight parking on the streets.

Rennels also is looking ahead to providing new facilities for the city’s water and street departments as the community grows.

The city owns an 8.5-acre piece of property along the north side of Route 34 just east of the downtown area, formerly the home of the Monarch Foundry, which was demolished years ago.

Rennels is interested in using $1.5 million in federal American Rescue Act Funds the city received to help redevelop the site as the home for the water and street departments.

‘I want to seek and seize opportunities for change.”