Trustee Robert Napoli will head the Willowbrook Village Board in the wake of President Gary Pretzer’s resignation.

The board voted unanimously Monday to approve Napoli as acting village president. Napoli will fill the remainder of Pretzer’s term, which lasts until the next municipal election in April.

Pretzer served on the Village Board for a quarter-century, the past 15 years as village president. It was Pretzer who suggested that Napoli pursue the acting president position, stating Napoli would be “a breath of fresh air.”

Napoli, who has lived in Willowbrook for 13 years, was appointed to a vacant trustee position in 1997 and has been reelected in every election since.

As acting president, Napoli assumes all the rights and duties of village president, except the power to veto, said Phil Modaff, Willowbrook village administrator. Because Napoli is filling in for a resigning president, he also can retain his trustee position. As long as Napoli serves as both trustee and acting president, he will be forbidden from exercising the president’s veto, Modaff said. If he so chooses, Napoli can give up his trustee position and appoint his successor. Napoli said he will wait at least two weeks to make that decision, but stated that he is against public officials holding more than one office simultaneously.

Pretzer submitted a letter of resignation in June, and he and his wife since have retired to Arizona. His resignation became effective at 7:40 p.m. Monday, Modaff said.

“Gary was a stabilizing force for our community,” Modaff said.

After 15 years as president, Pretzer said he is proud of the development he and the Village Board have brought to Willowbrook.

“When I started, we were 50 percent developed. Now we’re 99 percent developed,” Pretzer said. “We’ve had tremendous growth. We’ve been able to build and fill-in retail and residential areas.”

Though Napoli is only guaranteed seven months as acting president, he has several initiatives he would like to bring before the board. In addition to maintaining the village’s services, such as its police, public works and recreation departments, Napoli wants to introduce more community activities to Willowbrook, taking advantage of the new Willowbrook Town Center.

Napoli wants the village to host activities “where the community can come together.” Namely, he’d like to see the village celebrate its 50th anniversary, which will occur in 2010.

As for the April municipal election, Napoli is uncertain if he will run for village president. He first wants to evaluate the community’s response to his leadership as acting president.

“I want to wait to see what the village needs,” he said.