The following is the Minute with the Mayor in the March/April hi-Lighter
This winter brought many exciting things to our hometown. On January 16, 2008, the Hanover Park Chamber of Commerce and Industry was born. It is open to all businesses, individuals, and non-profit organizations. Patricia Langenstrass is the President and she can be reached at 630-372-2009. Application for membeship is available on-line: http://hanoverparkchamber.com/2008%20Member%20Application.pdf
The Mallard Lake Landfill continues to deal with the problem of methane gas with oversight from the EPA. It appears the extent of the underground escape has been identified and a complete recovery process is being developed at this time. I’m hearing from the construction site that the problem will be resolved this year. I’m pleased to say we have seen a high level of professionalism across all organizations who are seeking to resolve the problem in a timely manner. Congressman Roskam and State Senator John Millner have been instrumental in assisting me to have direct contact with the EPA in Washington and the Illinois EPA State Director.
Concerning our ongoing discussions surrounding the proposed Wind Turbine Generator, I continue to discuss the merit of the project in terms of tax savings and energy independence with our Congressman, State Senators, and State Representatives. I seek to identify solutions that can meet our needs and alternatives to doing nothing at all as I continue to support the school district's plan. Most recently Representative Crespo has been instrumental with new legislation. Additionally, Senator Noland in a meeting with the District Mayor’s spoke to the opportunities for Wind Turbine Generators.
I continue to encourage residents to join with friends and family in the fight against cancer. The Tri-Village Relay For Life chose Hanover Park as a highlight for our 50th year anniversary. I'm really pleased with the collaboration between the Park District and the Village with this endeavor. I am also pleased that Hanover Township will participate as they come to highlight their Social Services and the ongoing values they provide everyday. A link to register for the Relay For Life site is available on the Village Web site. Finally, it was a pleasure to meet Hanover Park resident and 2007 Honorary Survivor Chair, Jenny Konstanzer at the kick-off. http://relay.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RelayForLifeIllinoisDivision?fr_id=7485&pg=entry
A new business initiative I recently discovered in Hanover Park is the “Take Care Health Clinic.” We are very excited to have this new endeavor of Walgreen’s in Hanover Park providing convenient, accessible, and most importantly affordable health care on a walk in basis. Stop by and check it out at County Farm Road and Sterns Road.
Congratulations to Einstein School, Robert Kaplan, Principal and Linda Walser, PTA President for their wonderful 50th Anniversary Celebration of Reading and Writing. The students created essays about why they like Hanover Park. These essays are special and full of the value for our diverse culture. What a great event! Jessica Harberts really rolled it all up for me when she wrote: “I learn new things everyday with my classmates. Do you know why? They are all different. They have different cultures, beliefs, and they sometimes speak different languages!” Thank you, Jessica. We do value our differences.
Finally, I will continue to monitor the code enforcement and inspection process in the village. The overcrowding and code issue in the rental units in our town pose public safety concerns. We don’t have to reinvent the process as many of our neighboring communities have demonstrated successful approaches to ensure that codes are enforced and that our neighborhoods are safe and maintained. This year’s budget will include a new employee to handle these inspections to be paid for by the landlords licensing fee’s.
Overall, I'm proud and honored to serve the residents of Hanover Park. Our town is more diverse than many and that is a benefit to those who have chosen to make Hanover Park their home. We enjoy a cultural richness that represents the global world and the global economy. It continues to be my pleasure and a blessing to represent the people of Hanover Park, our hometown. I hope you will take an opportunity to get involved.
Rod Craig, President
Village of Hanover Park
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Comments of Mayor Rod Craig, on the State Budget
Comments of Mayor Rod Craig, on the State Budget to Representatives Fred Crespo and Paul Froehlich on March 17, 2008.
Greetings from the people of Hanover Park.
I’m pleased to come before you this evening to share our concerns and some good news.
Given the $750 Million dollar State deficit, I find it difficult to make demands upon our legislators. However, I am confident that a capital bill will be forthcoming as we have many needs in Hanover Park as well as across the state.
As the Deputy Director on the DuPage Mayor and Managers Transportation Policy Committee, I’m pleased to see good work going into the Cook-DuPage Corridor to bring transportation to people who must travel North and South from the Schaumburg area into the Naperville area. The Blue Line extension of the CTA is a beginning that will have a profound effect on the area. Soon, we must also include the Western boundaries that boarder the Barrington Road and County Farm Road arterial. Many blue-collar families live along this corridor and they too have a need for public transportation.
On the issue of state mandates, I must recommend that a balance of the impacts on the residents is being weighed along with the needs of the interest groups. The pension debate is one example that is of great concern. This is especially given that we rely upon quality investments, and, currently, we face a weak market that can cripple our long-term ability to pay. We are concerned, but we still have to value the work of our police and firefighters provide for the residents everyday. They earn their pensions, and they are truly professionals in Hanover Park.
I would like to point out that the state isn’t alone with unfunded mandates. The environmental analyses on our wastewater from the EPA are killing us as the targets keep moving. We are looking to spend $400,000 to reduce the amount of dissolved oxygen in our wastewater. Over the years, we’ve managed to meet all requirements put forth by the EPA. Now, on top of these mandates, water costs are being impacted by increases from the City of Chicago, so we just had to raise the cost to the residents over 10%. The combination of these issues present significant challenges to our future abilities to manage a balanced budget.
Besides these issues, we are still looking to complete the bike path and begin to design a much needed Police Station, as I have mentioned in my recent letter of request.
In conclusion, I must share with you the exciting Green news of the Wind Turbine Generator initiative in Hanover Park. Since November 2006, the Keeneyville School District 20 has been working with the Village of Hanover Park and its local energy provider, ComEd, to reduce its cost of energy as well as find an alternate renewable source of energy to meet its operational needs for the next thirty years.
We believe schools need to be pro-active and plan as best it can for economic downturns as well as prepare for the increased costs in the operation of its facilities.
We appreciate all the legislation that the General Assembly has approved which allows all school districts in Illinois to own and operate a wind turbine farm and participate in revised net metering with our electrical provider. The reality of this legislation is that very few schools north of I-80 can implement a wind turbine on its own property due to the local ordinances. Passing a variance in our ordinances has proven to be a major challenge for our municipality.
To further complicate the matter, electrical providers are being asked to work with school districts in the implementation of the new net metering laws. As you can imagine, favorable responses are not forthcoming. It has been refreshing that our local Legislators have been supportive of these changes in the net metering objectives.
My goal is to have each School District that touches Hanover Park participate in a prototype program to share the energy a wind turbine can provide.
Thank you very much for your time,
Rod Craig
Greetings from the people of Hanover Park.
I’m pleased to come before you this evening to share our concerns and some good news.
Given the $750 Million dollar State deficit, I find it difficult to make demands upon our legislators. However, I am confident that a capital bill will be forthcoming as we have many needs in Hanover Park as well as across the state.
As the Deputy Director on the DuPage Mayor and Managers Transportation Policy Committee, I’m pleased to see good work going into the Cook-DuPage Corridor to bring transportation to people who must travel North and South from the Schaumburg area into the Naperville area. The Blue Line extension of the CTA is a beginning that will have a profound effect on the area. Soon, we must also include the Western boundaries that boarder the Barrington Road and County Farm Road arterial. Many blue-collar families live along this corridor and they too have a need for public transportation.
On the issue of state mandates, I must recommend that a balance of the impacts on the residents is being weighed along with the needs of the interest groups. The pension debate is one example that is of great concern. This is especially given that we rely upon quality investments, and, currently, we face a weak market that can cripple our long-term ability to pay. We are concerned, but we still have to value the work of our police and firefighters provide for the residents everyday. They earn their pensions, and they are truly professionals in Hanover Park.
I would like to point out that the state isn’t alone with unfunded mandates. The environmental analyses on our wastewater from the EPA are killing us as the targets keep moving. We are looking to spend $400,000 to reduce the amount of dissolved oxygen in our wastewater. Over the years, we’ve managed to meet all requirements put forth by the EPA. Now, on top of these mandates, water costs are being impacted by increases from the City of Chicago, so we just had to raise the cost to the residents over 10%. The combination of these issues present significant challenges to our future abilities to manage a balanced budget.
Besides these issues, we are still looking to complete the bike path and begin to design a much needed Police Station, as I have mentioned in my recent letter of request.
In conclusion, I must share with you the exciting Green news of the Wind Turbine Generator initiative in Hanover Park. Since November 2006, the Keeneyville School District 20 has been working with the Village of Hanover Park and its local energy provider, ComEd, to reduce its cost of energy as well as find an alternate renewable source of energy to meet its operational needs for the next thirty years.
We believe schools need to be pro-active and plan as best it can for economic downturns as well as prepare for the increased costs in the operation of its facilities.
We appreciate all the legislation that the General Assembly has approved which allows all school districts in Illinois to own and operate a wind turbine farm and participate in revised net metering with our electrical provider. The reality of this legislation is that very few schools north of I-80 can implement a wind turbine on its own property due to the local ordinances. Passing a variance in our ordinances has proven to be a major challenge for our municipality.
To further complicate the matter, electrical providers are being asked to work with school districts in the implementation of the new net metering laws. As you can imagine, favorable responses are not forthcoming. It has been refreshing that our local Legislators have been supportive of these changes in the net metering objectives.
My goal is to have each School District that touches Hanover Park participate in a prototype program to share the energy a wind turbine can provide.
Thank you very much for your time,
Rod Craig
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Meet Your Principal: Tod Tecktiel
Principal Tod Tecktiel of the Greenbrook Elementary School, Hanover Park, Keeneyville Elementary District 20 was featured in the Daily Herald's Know your Principal series. We are fortunate to have Principal Tecktiel serving Hanover Park youth.
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Einstein School "Celebration of Reading and Writing"
It is with great pleasure that I was able to participate in the Einstein School "Celebration of Reading and Writing" event. It was truely a family event and there were many families in attendance as students celebrated by participating in the activities. The Drama Club and their performance, the Storyteller, and of course all the written material found throughout the school was a wonderful sight.
When I took the opportunity to read a few of the compositions, I enjoyed them greatly. It was clear that these students valued the diversity in our community. Just reading those as composed by our 4th grade students tells me that they understand the value of living in a community that affords this opportunity to learn about our differences in a healthy and dynamic environment of Einstein School. How lucky and fortunate we all are to have educators in Hanover Park who really care that our children develop in an appropriate manner.
Comments from Sherry Craig on the Elimination of the Collector Position
The following is the transcript of the comments of Sherry Craig at the February 21st, 2008 Hanover Park Village Board meeting. These comments address the elimination of the Collector position, which she has held for 23 years.
“I’ve been here in May, I will be here 23 years. And I ran with Sonya Crawshaw when she ran for Mayor. She came and asked me to run for Clerk. I had a career at the time, and I was told that the Clerk/Collector were one and the same. I’ve made decisions for the residents of this community, for the businessmen of the community, who I consider as family, as well as my family. Every four years when I re-ran for election, the Collector position was part of the Clerk position that paid my salary and my decision was made on that basis. I believe that the residents in this community are the heart of the Village of Hanover Park and the business men in this community are the soul of the Village of Hanover Park. I have enjoyed working with each and every one of them. I was very disappointed with the way this came down. We have had budget retreats and Mr. Bakes, we have eliminated positions over the 23 years that I have been here, and we’ve added many positions over the 23 years that I’ve been here. And last year when we eliminated, it was a code enforcement officer. If you all remember, I vehemently spoke against eliminating that position. We had come a long way to clean up areas in our community. I understand if you want to eliminate the position of Collector. I ask you that if you want to eliminate the position that you eliminate it at the end of the collection of the term of the Village Clerk so that anyone who would go into an election would know what they are running and what they are up against. The residents who are voting for that person would know what they are going to get by that position. Mr. Manton, someone told me that you had said I could apply for another position in the Village. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I wish to tell you that by State law, the only position that I can hold is the position of Collector. The position of Collector was set by State statute that an elected official could hold in a municipal government the position of Collector as a full-time position. People on the Board have said that they don’t know what I do. I guess I have a hard time understanding that comment because you’ve all been with me for many years, you’ve seen what I do. I’m not a supervisor who sits at a desk behind a computer. If I’m sitting at a desk behind a computer, it’s before 8:00 in the morning, or way after 8:00 at night. I’m a working supervisor; I work wherever I’m needed. If the counter is busy, I work at the counter; if there are business licenses to be issued, I’m working with those people; if the water turn-offs are heavy and I have to answer phones, I’m the last dog hung when you see me sitting at the switchboard. I’ve worked that position many times. Over the years there have been times when we’ve had horrendous weather, where a snow plow driver has picked me up in my driveway and brought me here so that I could open the switchboard so that I could answer calls from residents.
On Tuesday, just to give you an example, 580 people walked into my office to pay their water bills; 168 people over the weekend put their payments in the drop box; 416 people paid their bill by mail - all on Tuesday. I have 3 people that work in Collections, that handle phones, the counter, and over the years you have given us more to do and we’ve handled it. From the time a police officer writes a ticket, the ticket comes to my office, all the data entry is done in the Collections Department, the collections of the monies are done in the Collections Department, court dates are set in the Collections Department. When you implemented the transfer tax, that all fell into the Collections Department. Those documents are processed in my department, they’re given to attorneys and realtors and residents to record out of my department, and they come back from the county through my department. When you enacted a vehicle immobilization policy, all of those dollars come through my department, all of the paperwork comes through my department, all of the spreadsheets are done in my department. There’s a Hearing Officer twice a month, all of those documents come through my department, both before the hearing and after the hearing. It’s a very busy department, extremely.
When you enacted nice things, such as the Maxwell Street West twice a year, and the Harvest Fest, all of that was handled through the Collections Department. And as you know, Trustee Manton, you spent many hours helping me reconcile cash drawers, count money, and make deposits. There was no money expended to pay people to do that. I have never charged the Village any comp time, any overtime, ever, in the 23 years that I have been here.
So I guess I was very disappointed when it wasn’t part of the budget discussions. It’s always come through Mr. Hummel and his budget team when there were situations or when there were employees or positions that needed to be rearranged. I was disappointed that there was no discussion at the budget retreats. I was disappointed to see that it was just a direction that was given for a vote to be taken at the next meeting. And personally, in my opinion, that was very vindictive, not only to the position that you want to eliminate, but to me as a person, personally. I ask that if you wish to get rid of the position that you do so at the end of the Village Clerk’s term, which would be April 30, 2009, so that everybody who would run in the next election for the position of Village Clerk would be on an even playing field and the residents and the business men in this community would know what they were dealing with. And I thank you very much for your time.”
------------------------------
President Craig asked if there was any discussion from the Board. There was none. Roll call:
AYES: Packham, Eby, Manton, Kaiser
NAYS: Nicolosi, Carter
ABSENT: None
Motion carried – Deleting the Position of Village Collector in the Village of Hanover Park
“I’ve been here in May, I will be here 23 years. And I ran with Sonya Crawshaw when she ran for Mayor. She came and asked me to run for Clerk. I had a career at the time, and I was told that the Clerk/Collector were one and the same. I’ve made decisions for the residents of this community, for the businessmen of the community, who I consider as family, as well as my family. Every four years when I re-ran for election, the Collector position was part of the Clerk position that paid my salary and my decision was made on that basis. I believe that the residents in this community are the heart of the Village of Hanover Park and the business men in this community are the soul of the Village of Hanover Park. I have enjoyed working with each and every one of them. I was very disappointed with the way this came down. We have had budget retreats and Mr. Bakes, we have eliminated positions over the 23 years that I have been here, and we’ve added many positions over the 23 years that I’ve been here. And last year when we eliminated, it was a code enforcement officer. If you all remember, I vehemently spoke against eliminating that position. We had come a long way to clean up areas in our community. I understand if you want to eliminate the position of Collector. I ask you that if you want to eliminate the position that you eliminate it at the end of the collection of the term of the Village Clerk so that anyone who would go into an election would know what they are running and what they are up against. The residents who are voting for that person would know what they are going to get by that position. Mr. Manton, someone told me that you had said I could apply for another position in the Village. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I wish to tell you that by State law, the only position that I can hold is the position of Collector. The position of Collector was set by State statute that an elected official could hold in a municipal government the position of Collector as a full-time position. People on the Board have said that they don’t know what I do. I guess I have a hard time understanding that comment because you’ve all been with me for many years, you’ve seen what I do. I’m not a supervisor who sits at a desk behind a computer. If I’m sitting at a desk behind a computer, it’s before 8:00 in the morning, or way after 8:00 at night. I’m a working supervisor; I work wherever I’m needed. If the counter is busy, I work at the counter; if there are business licenses to be issued, I’m working with those people; if the water turn-offs are heavy and I have to answer phones, I’m the last dog hung when you see me sitting at the switchboard. I’ve worked that position many times. Over the years there have been times when we’ve had horrendous weather, where a snow plow driver has picked me up in my driveway and brought me here so that I could open the switchboard so that I could answer calls from residents.
On Tuesday, just to give you an example, 580 people walked into my office to pay their water bills; 168 people over the weekend put their payments in the drop box; 416 people paid their bill by mail - all on Tuesday. I have 3 people that work in Collections, that handle phones, the counter, and over the years you have given us more to do and we’ve handled it. From the time a police officer writes a ticket, the ticket comes to my office, all the data entry is done in the Collections Department, the collections of the monies are done in the Collections Department, court dates are set in the Collections Department. When you implemented the transfer tax, that all fell into the Collections Department. Those documents are processed in my department, they’re given to attorneys and realtors and residents to record out of my department, and they come back from the county through my department. When you enacted a vehicle immobilization policy, all of those dollars come through my department, all of the paperwork comes through my department, all of the spreadsheets are done in my department. There’s a Hearing Officer twice a month, all of those documents come through my department, both before the hearing and after the hearing. It’s a very busy department, extremely.
When you enacted nice things, such as the Maxwell Street West twice a year, and the Harvest Fest, all of that was handled through the Collections Department. And as you know, Trustee Manton, you spent many hours helping me reconcile cash drawers, count money, and make deposits. There was no money expended to pay people to do that. I have never charged the Village any comp time, any overtime, ever, in the 23 years that I have been here.
So I guess I was very disappointed when it wasn’t part of the budget discussions. It’s always come through Mr. Hummel and his budget team when there were situations or when there were employees or positions that needed to be rearranged. I was disappointed that there was no discussion at the budget retreats. I was disappointed to see that it was just a direction that was given for a vote to be taken at the next meeting. And personally, in my opinion, that was very vindictive, not only to the position that you want to eliminate, but to me as a person, personally. I ask that if you wish to get rid of the position that you do so at the end of the Village Clerk’s term, which would be April 30, 2009, so that everybody who would run in the next election for the position of Village Clerk would be on an even playing field and the residents and the business men in this community would know what they were dealing with. And I thank you very much for your time.”
------------------------------
President Craig asked if there was any discussion from the Board. There was none. Roll call:
AYES: Packham, Eby, Manton, Kaiser
NAYS: Nicolosi, Carter
ABSENT: None
Motion carried – Deleting the Position of Village Collector in the Village of Hanover Park
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