Village Manager's Message
Spring is here, or at least my calendar says so. Regardless of what the weather brings, the Village staff is making plans for a busy spring and summer season. Parks and Recreation is planning concerts in Cortesi Park in June and August (in cooperation with the VFW Post 2801), opening Jefferson Pool after Memorial Day, Villa Park Summer Festival, and lots of sporting events. Public Works is gearing up for sidewalk repairs in our 50/50 program. Community Development is scheduling the first staff meetings with Houseal Lavigne for the Comprehensive Plan. Look for more information in the next edition of Village Matters the thrice-yearly e-magazine that we send out to all residents signed up for it on www.invillapark/notifyme. You can also sign up for the Village’s bi-weekly e-newsletter which includes the weekly reports at the same location.
The Villa Park Fire Department has been much on my mind these last few weeks. We are negotiating with IAFF Local 2392 for a new contract. It is a difficult time for the Fire Department faced with a number of recent retirements and a couple of injuries, the staff is stretched thin. They are also recruiting in an environment where there are fewer applicants, and so the laws of supply and demand are driving the recruiting wages up. Help is on the way. We have seven new recruits signed up to start a Villa Park training academy early next month. Thank you to Rae Rupp Srch, Al Bulthuis and Glenn Nystrom of the Police and Fire Commission for moving the applicants through quickly. I also took some time last Friday and spent five hours in the station and going on three calls with the paramedic/firefighters in Station 81. In that time, we took three calls, two medical and a gas leak. I also got a chance to try my hand at intubating a dummy and had a delicious lunch. I think we all hope to have negotiations completed early next month.
At the Board of Trustees Meeting on Monday, you will face a difficult choice about how to proceed with the Lions Park Community/Recreation Center. Some costs that had not been presented before will be added back into the mix – site preparation and basic landscaping. Earlier it had been decided to focus entirely on the building itself when making decisions about costs and revenues needed. With the cost of the building exceeding the $17.4 million set aside from the sale of bonds and the grant from the State of Illinois of $10,000,000. The explosion in the costs of structural materials will limit what we can afford, but with sober discussion and consideration we can afford to build a facility that will redefine our relationship with our residents.
Thursday night I attended the Intergovernmental Meeting with President Nick Cuzzone and Fire Chief Steve Stapleton, and we updated our surrounding governmental units on what is happening in Villa Park. We got to meet with County District II Commissioners Yeena Yoo and Paula Deacon Garcia as well as representatives from School Districts 45 and 88, Oakbrook Terrace, York Township and the Villa Park Library. I also had the opportunity to meet Brandon Kearns at Major-Prime Plastics where he is the plant manager and a Vice-President in the parent company Hoffman Transportation. This company nestled quietly next to the Canadian Pacific line off of Hill Street blends and ships ten truck loads of plastic pellets to manufacturers all over the world. Every one of these visits to Villa Park businesses impress me how diverse and strong our economic base is in Villa Park.
The Final Report is complete on the Employee Engagement Survey and it accompanies the email to the Trustees today. This report covers a lot of ground. The results are already being used to direct leadership decisions and further discussions. It will be shared with all the employees. I also met with department heads individually and as a group this week.
Sincerely,
Matt Harline,
Village Manager
To view the full report, click here
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