Holiday Hiatus

As you’ve noticed, offerings have been a more than a wee bit slim here at the Chronicle.   Santa himself called and begged (begged) for help, so of course the Chronicle obliged.   Would you turn down Santa?

We’ll meet back here bright and early Monday morning, shall we?  Back from the hiatus and raring to go– with a couple of stories in which I think you’ll be veeeery interested!

But before I finish helping the elves clean up the unbelievable mess (here’s the scoop on elves:  raunchy and odiferous, but tremendous workers), I thought you’d want to check in and see where my boss of the last few weeks is right now.  Happy holidays to you and yours!

Where is Santa?

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From The Editor: Downers Grove Relationships and The Ties That Bind

I have long thought that I should make up a scorecard for Downers Grove, finding and listing all the connections that exist among the personages of our village.  When I first moved here and became involved in the community I was often told, ‘but you have to know the story behind this’ and the conversation that ensued always revolved around the people involved in the issue.  It’s what happens when you have a town that people want to stay in;  there are friendships and connections and bonds that run deep.

It’s difficult to look at any story, as a resident, and not consider the connections.   Dan Cermak, who works for the Park District, was hired in the late 7o’s, when Linda Wander was on the Park District Board.  It was Wander, in fact, who signed the current facilities lease agreement between the Park District and District 99.  Now, all these years later as the Park District and 99 work together to revise and rewrite the antiquated agreement, Cermak is the Park District Administrator and Wander’s daughter, Deb (Wander) Boyle, is a school board member for District 99.

Megan Schroeder, another 99 School Board Member, is the sister of Kathleen DiCola, who sits on the Library Board.  DiCola is joined there by Dave Humpreys, who continues his family’s fine tradition of serving our village.  Humphreys’ mother, Mary Ann Humphreys, is well and fondly remembered as a longtime community leader.  Jim Russ, Jr. is a well-known local attorney, who has been honored by the Chamber of Commerce as ‘Citizen of the Year’.  This year his father, Jim Russ, Sr., was awarded the Chamber’s Lifetime Achievement Award.  The senior Russ is President and CEO of Downers Grove National Bank.

There are connections that most of us are unaware of and conversely, there are perceptions of connections that don’t exist.   Art Jaros, former Park District Board member, was married to Claire Jaros while she was on the District 58 school board.  Art Jaros’ brother, Wes Jaros, ran unsuccessfully for the 99 school board in 2007.   Julia Beckman, President of the 99 Board, served with Bruce Beckman on the 99 Board and would later go on to campaign for him when he ran (successfully) for Village Council.   They are not related.    Somewhat notoriously, a local blogger once claimed that Paul McCarthy and Megan McCarthy Schroeder- both 99 members- were brother and sister.  No relation there, either.    Some family relations are more diluted.  Greg Bedalov, President of the Economic Development Corporation, is married to the cousin of Martin Tully, who was a Village Commissioner when Bedalov was hired.

That’s exactly why our governmental bodies have nepotism policies; to clearly define and delineate the familial connections that are considered to be too close for comfort.

We are all connected in Downers Grove, be it as neighbors, friends, relatives or colleagues, making it all the more important that our public officials disclose those connections when they occur.   Even when such disclosure is not statutorily required, our local officials owe us the respect as voters and residents and neighbors to let us know when there is a conflict so that we can determine the propriety of them sitting in judgement or making a decision.   In a 2007 summary opinion prepared for the Illinois Municipal League by Klein, Thorpe and Jenkins, Ltd., the authors said, “..even when a public official does not have a statutory conflict of interest, he/she must be certain that he/she does not have such a personal interest in a matter that he/she cannot render a fair and impartial decision.”

Usually, our elected officials get it right.  Village Commissioner Sean Durkin, who works in the banking industry, physically stepped down from the Council dais and left the Council chambers when the Village’s banking services were discussed during a Council meeting.   He took special pains to avoid the appearance of impropriety and, as a result, there could be no questions about his integrity.

It was with disappointment, therefore, that when I questioned 99 School Board member Bob Lemke about the perceived appearance of a potential conflict, I received in response a letter from the attorney that represents Lemke’s organization.  Lemke, besides being on the 99 school board, is also President of Roadrunners, a local soccer club.  Roadrunners has a MOU (Memo of Understanding) with the Park District and the Park District proposed revisions of the PD/99 facilities lease agreement includes a new article that provides special consideration for all Park District MOUs.  As President of a MOU and a 99 school board member, I believe Mr. Lemke should have publicly disclosed his affiliation with a MOU before participating in the extensive discussions about the proposed change at the November 30 99 workshop meeting.  He did not, and the letter from his attorney stated  that it wasn’t “a secret” that Lemke is President of Roadrunners.

Well, I didn’t know.  Maybe you didn’t either.  And, in the interest of full disclosure (a connection of my own)- I was Bob Lemke’s campaign manager for his school board reelection in 2007.

Downers Grove is in many ways still a small town, with small town entanglements.  When these conflicts- real or perceived- occur, our elected officials must work gingerly around them.  It may not always be legally required but, in my opinion,  it is certainly ethically required.

Eventually, I’ll have a complete chart of Downers Grove connections for all of us to see.  Sunshine, as the saying goes, is the best disinfectant…and transparency is always a good thing.

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A Letter From Our Mayor

Dear Friends of Downers Grove:

I am writing to offer some context and perspective as to my vote on the 2010 Downers Grove budget, a budget that did many new things including the removal of public funding for Heritage Fest. First, please know I am not speaking for my Council colleagues or the Village right now; only myself. Next, I’d ask all to consider dialing down some of the charged rhetoric, please, there are no bad guys here and people of good will can see things differently without imputing evil motives for those with differing views. I support a new structure for future Heritage Fests– one that is funded through private partnerships between for-profit businesses, not-for-profit groups, civic organizations and interested residents. If this community event will take place in the future –and I for one sure hope it does– it will take all within the community to involve themselves because the Village can no longer afford to fund Heritage Fest alone.

Clearly, there are many in Downers Grove who love Heritage Fest and are angry over the Village’s decision to cease its funding; which is undoubtedly a fair perspective. However, the Council’s decision was not reached casually and ultimately came down to prioritizing and selecting “need” over “want.”  There are many things, an infinite list really, of services and things residents might want the Village to provide– but the Village cannot print money and has a very finite supply of it; from taxpayers who require the Council be as prudent and circumspect as possible with their tax dollars. Since early May the Council has been meeting and seriously looking into the financial future of the Village and has painstakingly looked at all services the Village provides and at what costs. With respect to the 2010 budget, the Council was required to address a $4.5 million dollar budget short-fall which is a huge, unprecedented in fact, budget gap requiring drastically different actions than in years prior. This gap was definitely economy-related but our work also revealed some structural aspects that showed a lack of sustainability for the long-haul… absent changes to the Village’s business model. Indeed, business as usual was no longer prudent and similar to what lots of families and businesses are doing right now, the Village had to scale back and focus upon basic services all within the Village need and require– fire, police, public works and infrastructure– when deciding our budgets and the best use of sacred tax dollars. In sum, the Council needed to focus on services deemed “needed” even if others were “wanted,” meaning funding HF was impracticable balanced against other truly needed and important Village services.

Here are some more facts: The 2010 budget required that the Council cut 25 full time positions in the Village, including two police positions. Meaning people who want to work and provide for their families lost their jobs. The Council also had to reduce the taxi cab subsidy program to seniors in the Village and could no longer make a contribution to the DuPage Seniors Council. The entire department providing counseling and social services was eliminated, meaning people who relied on such services need to look elsewhere and pay higher fees. And, of course, community events were cut, including Heritage Fest. There were other reductions or service eliminations too; all of which were immensely gut-wrenching tasks with significant negative consequences on people’s lives. All of these cuts were difficult decisions and yet the Village STILL needed to raise the Village’s portion of the property tax and home rules sales tax in order to meet the projected 2010 Village expenses; reduced as they were! So, even after all of the cuts were made, taxes still went up…amongst a Village population experiencing job reductions, job losses, family budgets squeezed ever more, declining home values, and home foreclosures. As you may expect, we were hearing from many who advocated for no tax increase of any kind. But in order to have avoided even these modest tax increases, the Council would have needed to cut another $1.5 million; meaning far more personnel and service cuts at the Village yet. Thus, the entire scenario was shrouded in a context of overall angst.

Most recognize that different people may prioritize differently, so I would welcome your suggestions going forward as to the size and scope of Village services. I can be reached at rsandack@downers.us. If anyone is interested in reading the entire public record of the Council’s deliberations regarding the 2010 budget, please visit www.downers.us to review all of the minutes, or hear all of the podcasts, of the 17 or so public meetings undertaken with respect to the budget.

All of that said, I believe we’ll have Heritage Fest again, using some of the good momentum and enthusiasm that members of our community have expressed and channeling it towards having a privately funded Heritage Fest. In connection with its decision to stop public funding of Heritage Fest, the Council charged those good resident-volunteers in the Community Events Commission (“CEC”) to work with all private and civic organizations to transition Heritage Fest, and other community events, in order to form new community partnerships for these and possibly other events. Events like NaperDays, Eyes to the Sky, Rib Fest, Daisy Days and Last Fling are festivals other nearby towns host but do not subsidize via its taxpayers; meaning they are not publicly funded. These events are privately managed and paid for. And this is exactly the charge given to the CEC and residents interested in keeping our events or adding new ones. The dates of those meetings can be found on the village website, www.downers.us.  Interested people are welcome to attend and participate as these are open meetings.

I am hoping that these changing times will invigorate our community and serve as a call to action to those who are unhappy about Heritage Fest or other events no longer being the responsibility of all taxpayers. In that regard, people should know that the Ice Festival is going to occur, without taxpayer funding, in February of 2010 because the downtown business merchants want it to and are willing to fund it…because it is good for their business. I am told that the sponsors of the Pro Bike Race are also looking for financial partners in order to keep the race in Downers Grove. In sum, these are exactly the types of reactions many thought would occur if these events were taken out of the public realm and placed into the private sector. Last point here, the suspension of Heritage Fest in 2010 was deemed reasonable given that every not-for-profit was having difficulties. Rotary, for example, cancelled its most recent Oktoberfest due to lack of sponsorships. So, a respite was deemed appropriate to plan events in 2011 so that CEC could transition as smoothly as possible. But if the Rotary, the Moose, the Lions Club, the Kiwanis and/or others can step-up and run and fund HF in 2010, that’s a great thing and an example of the community pulling together to plan and run an event deemed worthy by many. I promise I’ll do what I can to help make that happen in 2010.  I hope you will do the same.

Ron Sandack

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To Manly Men and Wonderful Women

Last night, on my way home from a week in NOT sunny Florida, I passed car after car that had spun out and crashed.  Some were worse than others; some looked pretty bad.   Standing next to those cars, and those scared and shaken drivers and passengers, were policemen and women and paramedics and fire fighters and tow truck drivers.   I passed a state patrolman who looked like he had ice hanging off of him and yet, there he stood, calmly doing his job in the freezing sleet and miserable cold.

Later, when I got home, I heard the trucks from Fire Station #1 go out on a call, their sirens wailing with urgency as they sped to help.   I heard and saw the Public Works trucks go up and down my street on their way to other places, plowing through the night so we could wake up to safe streets.   I watched a school bus driver this morning patiently wait for a young girl to pick her way through the slush to get on the bus, obviously not wanting to slip and fall in the mushy mess.

We take them for granted, perhaps, sometimes.  We certainly bitch about their pensions and their contracts and their vacation days.  They are the backbone of our village, our county, our state.   When the weather is bad, or the hour is late- or both!- they do not hesitate.  They don’t call in sick.  They miss their children’s Mosaic concerts and anniversaries and they put duty and responsibility before personal comfort.

When I picked up the phone one night because there was an intruder in my back yard, the nice woman at 911 didn’t tell me that the police would be there after they took their lunch breaks.   She didn’t say, we’ll get back to you on that at the next meeting.   She said, hold on, they’re on their way.  Are you okay?  30 seconds, now.  They’re there.  That’s them outside.  You’re safe.

When my parent’s home and the two homes next to them caught on fire one hot June night, those firefighters didn’t say, you know, I don’t really feel like crawling in the screamingly hot attic space to make sure we’ve got it all.  They didn’t tell my parents that they were pretty sure they had it taken care of, and they were going home to get some sleep.  They kept at it, until it was safe, and they stayed until long past dawn to make sure the fire was truly, finally out.

And that patrolman who stood on the Stevenson, getting iced over and probably more physically miserable than either you or I can remember being for a long time?  He was doing his job.  And, yet, so much more.

So here’s to the men and women who keep our streets safe, who protect us from harm, who patch us up when we are hurt, who plow through the night, who hold our hands when we experience trauma and who do it every day, every hour, every minute.   Good job. Thank you.

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For more information about snow plowing in Downers Grove, here’s the snow route.  Visit here to learn even more about the snow policy and public works in Downers Grove.

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Our Best And Brightest

220 students from District 99 have been designated Illinois State Scholars for 2010.  This prestigious award recognizing outstanding academic achievement is given annually by the Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC).  This year, 19,345 high school students from 725 high schools in all 102 counties are being recognized as  State Scholars.

Illinois State Scholar honorees rank in the top ten percent of the state’s high school seniors.  Selection is based on SAT, ACT and/or Prairie Sate Achievement Exam scores, and/or class rank at the end of the junior year.

Downers Grove North

Rafael Angelucci, John Baker, Alexander Barry, Joseph Barton, Nicholas Blashill, Katherine Bondi, Matthew Bucher, Emma Buckley, Chloe Burnham, Navika Chhabra, Andrew Cook, Adelyn Danchisin, Emily Dang, Emily Daugherty, Joseph Depeder, Kathryn Digiulio, Robyn Eggert, Faith Enenbach, Danielle Eppen, Robyn Feldmar, Bryan Foster, William Fox, Allison Gilbert, Nicholas Goergen, Julie Gonzales, Jordan Graham, Kendall Gretsch, Alex Haig, Thomas Heinz, Evan Karl, Julie Katrenak, Andrew Kelliher, Joanna Kluzowska, William Kolschowsky, Erika Kropp, Catherine Krygeris, Caitlin Landry, Julia Larson, Cassandra Lauer, Maranda Leigh, Emma Levalley, Ryan Lewandowski, Joshua Longmire, Samantha Marek, Nicholas Marsteller, Ellen McCammon, Elizabeth McKay, Philip McNulty, Joseph Moscinski, Sarah Muenzer, Rebecca Mulcrone, Krishna Nalla, Kelsey Navins, Emily Norco, Trevor North, Kevin O’Malley, Madeleine O’Rourke, Julia Pasquale, Anita Pattanayak, Mitchell Penninger, Jennifer Poad, Maxwell Prepejchal, Mohammed Raheem, Diana Riggs, Abel Rodriguez, Roberto Romay, Dana Rotz, Stacey Ruffolo, Ankit Sahni, Emma Sassano, Clare Scanlon, Stephen Seitz, Ami Shah, Kathryn Smith, Natalie Smith, Corbin Souffrant, Eric Spilky, Andrew Stawarz, Benjamin Stein, Rebecca Stevens, Jonathan Strukl, Angie Suh, Amanda Take, Rehan Tariq, Mike Vannorman, Matt Verzak, Kristina Via-Reque, John Walgamuth, Brynne Walker, Michael Walser, Matthew Walthius, John Weber, Joseph Wegner, Matthew Weiss, Emily Wilkinson, Joshua Williams, Alexandra Wirtas, Mitchell Witek, Hannah Wittman, Alexander Yeager, Andrew Zahn, Marisa Zahn, Ayden Zarkhah.

Downers Grove South

Anthony Allegretti, Michael Allison, Jennifer Alter, Disha Ankola, Arjun Bajaj, Alexander Bartel, Kristina Behnke, Kristen Bennett, Mark Bentley, Eric Bernard, Kevin Berning, Patricia Bularzik, Matthew Bury, Ieva Butkute, Robert Castillo, Alison Chan, Carol Chang, Rebecca Ciota, Catherine Danko, Lindsay Dec, Heather Deklyen, Kelly Del Valle, Majlinda Dervishi, Cara Drennan, Katherine Even, Sunnie Farrar, Joseph Ficaro, Daniel Field, Quinton Ford, Kyle Freischlag, Lauren Gannon, Dana Gawel, Alex Gilio, Dragan Gjorgiev, Henry Gordon, Michaela Grenier, Rachel Haake, Syeda Hasan, Michael Herman, Christopher Hernandez, Michael Hernandez, Jenny Hois, Ryan Hood, David Huettner, Leenu Jacob, Katherine Jalette, Jaime Johnson, Bradley Jones, Vaibhav Kadakia, Ridhika Kartan, Ryan Kelly, Mark Kennedy, Timothy Kennedy, Carly Kolosh, Kevin Kral, Kristen Krumwiede, Lauren Kurey, Matthew Lalonde, Brittany Larson, Nicole Lech, Laura Ledvora, Sheila Lesiak, Elizabeth Lestina, Emily Levine, Grace Magliola, Daniel Marshall, Stephen Martinek, Victoria Mata, Colleen Mathew, Ryan Mihalko, Brenda Miller, Mariah Miller, Shane Molidor, Ryan Moser, Jake Mueller, Robert Mueller, David Nguyen, Emily Olsen, Ryan Orth, Jack O’Sullivan, Sandip Pal, Shruti Patel, Laura Paton, Eric Placek, Angela Prasnikar, Katrina Prosek, Jennifer Purcell, Mitchell Reeter, Jacqueline Reinert, Thomas Reusz, Kelli Riggs, Annalisa Rodriguez, Shannon Rooney, Johanna Schnitzler, Jeremy Schultz, Andrea Schumacher, Kelly Seranko, Colleen Smith, Douglas Smith, Jack Sombeck, Jessica Sonnenberger, Breanne Stromberg, Savannah Stromberg, Cody Stuth, Mazen Syed, Alyssa Szynal, Alice Tindall, Cal Tondelli, Minh Tran, Timothy Utesch, Michelle Walaszek, Daniel Walsh, Alex Wen, Cassidy Williams, Colum Wilson, Lauren Wood, Peter Wysocki, Melissa Zemke, Bing Zhu, Spencer Zidarich, and Adriana Zurbano.

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That’s the press release, here’s the skinny:  99 students from DGN and 121 students from DGS- it’s easy to see why our high schools are among the finest in the state.  Congratulations to our best and brightest and we look forward to reading about your many accomplishments in years to come!  On a personal note, one of those names belongs to one of mine….

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