Village Manager's Message

I started last week by attending the DuPage County Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Unity Breakfast at Drury Lane as a guest of the Tri-Town YMCA. Fred D. Gray, Esq., a renowned civil rights attorney, a former Alabama State Representative, and a former confidant of Dr. King and former U.S. Representative John Lewis, was the keynote speaker. It was a powerful event dedicated to a man of peace that attracted approximately 1,400 people.

Last week many of our staff spent time training with the staff from BS&A for the new ERP software. With the old software, a handful of people had the training and the full set of applications to allow them to obtain basic financial data. Moreover, our community development and permitting software was made by a different company and incompatible. Therefore, many processes were inefficient and clumsy. Talking with the BS&A training staff, they were impressed by the level of engagement and the amount and depth of questions asked by our employees. We go live with the new software today and start entering payments that came in during the week. Online and credit card payments will open back up one week later on February 3 (date subject to change).

We have completed the draft Redevelopment Agreement for The Union in preparation for presenting it to the Board on February 10th. That will officially launch the project. I participated in two meetings that related to the project; one remotely to give the Agreement a final review, and one to visit the site with ComEd staff to discuss moving a 34KV transmission line that cuts across the property. The timeline of securing all the financing puts the demolition in the late spring and the start of construction to follow immediately after that. One of the required elements is a mitigation of the impact on buildings with historical significance. To that end, the Village will hold a meeting on February 18 at 6:00 pm in the VPRC Multi-purpose Room to collect information about 100 South Villa, especially its connection to the automobile industry. This is the former home of Villa Park Fuel and Materials, Villa Park Body Shop, and most recently, Cherokee Rose Embroidery.

In addition to the meetings concerning The Union and BS&A, I met with our auditors, Lauterbach & Amen about the 2024 Audit. I also met individually and collectively with Department Heads. We have added Stephanie Avila, a new full-time employee in Village Hall for utility billing, and this week we added Carolina Sturgeon as a temporary worker during the BS&A transition. Make sure to say “Hi” to them when you are in Village Hall next time. View the full report here.

Matt Harline

Village Manager