LANSING | A former village trustee has taken the first official step toward a possible 2009 run for village president.

Donald Sciackitano, who served on the Village Board for eight years, is in the process of forming an exploratory committee and is considering running for the seat held by Dan Podgorski. Podgorski will not be permitted to run because of Lansing's two-term limit on elected offices.

Sciackitano said he's been encouraged to run by friends, family, residents and civic and business leaders. The 43-year-old plans to go door to door beginning this weekend in an effort to gather feedback from residents.

"I want to be the most informed candidate out there," he said. "It's going to take time, but you can't do it in 20, 30 or 40 days."

According to the Illinois State Board of Elections, Sciackitano filed a Statement of Organization on Sept. 17, which establishes a political committee.

Sciackitano said he started to consider the idea following April's election, which Sciackitano sat out because of the term limits.

"Before the last election, people asked me what I was going to do after the board. That's when I first started to think about it," he said. "I enjoy being part of the community and missed that to an extent.

"I was raised in a service-oriented family, and I learned from that, and I want to continue to do that."

Following the election, Sciackitano said he began to speak with school, business and civic groups.

"It takes time to gather information on all the issues," he said. "What happens when you start meeting all these people is you start seeing patterns. But you can only do that with hundreds of people."

While on the Village Board, Sciackitano was chairman of Lansing's Ordinance Committee, the Youth Center Committee and the Public Works committee.

Sciackitano was born and raised in Lansing and has three children with his wife of 18 years, Julie.

For the past seven years, he has been the funeral director of Schroeder-Lauer Funeral Home on Ridge Road. He previously worked for IBM and graduated in 1986 with a degree in business communications from Illinois Benedictine University.