Politics & Government

Board Meeting: Inter-Town Service Cooperation, Red Speed Report

Also: debates over approving Timber Trails improvements, progress towards an Ogden Avenue crossing and a resident's water-bill appeal.

Monday’s Western Springs Board of Trustees Meeting was dominated by an appearance from William Balling of WRB, an LLC consulting firm that works with local municipalities, in part to reduce expenses.

Balling was presenting the preliminary results of a recent study commissioned by the Service Delivery Task Force of the Metropolitan Mayor’s Council on how the Villages of Western Springs, La Grange and La Grange Park could cooperate and partially consolidate public services as a cost-saving measure. (The study has already been shared with La Grange and La Grange Park's boards.)

“Basically, it is a look at how these three communities could get together, share services and save money,” said Trustee Patrick Word as an introduction.

Find out what's happening in Western Springswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

In presenting the first part of a multi-part study, said first part focusing on police and fire service, Balling told the Board that while the study was only a first step on the road towards further cooperation between the three Villages, it had already identified ways in which costs could be potentially be reduced in the future without sacrificing levels of service.

Examples of these included a “shared supervisory system” for the three police departments, and increasing the size of police beats during slow hours. Balling added that the study found fewer ways to trim costs from the three fire departments, since they already often respond in tandem—but that, for instance, fleet sizes could be slightly reduced, as the number of certain emergency vehicles across the departments is somewhat redundant.

Find out what's happening in Western Springswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“Overall, we think there’s a good opportunity to proceed further,” Balling said, adding that any actual implementation of the study’s recommendations would be “your show,” i.e., the Villages’.

Village President Bill Rodeghier approved of the spirit of the study. “We have shrinking revenues and rising costs, and we have to do something to face up to that situation,” Rodeghier said. “I’d like to see greater savings than what I’ve seen here, but this is a start, and it makes all the sense in the world to go forward.”

Going forward would involve further studies, as well as a general consensus forming between the three Villages, before any implementation could take place. The presentation was accorded an informal consensus approval from the Board.

Red Speed cameras

Trustee Patrick Word then presented an update on the Red Speed photo-enforcement cameras installed going both directions at the corner of Ogden Avenue and Wolf Road, saying that citations are down to an average of 190 per month, from 400 when the cameras were first installed in May of 2009. (Of those 190, only about 130 are found liable.)

Word said that the program was making approximately $7,100 per month as a net to the village; statistics show that revenue is much higher in winter months. In May of 2012, the Village will be required to complete a study as to how traffic and accident ratios have changed over 36 months (as per legislation passed in late 2010.)

Deputy Chief of Police Brian Budds said that such a study would be nothing new for the department, as it has been looking at (and releasing) statistics on Red Speed intersections since six months into the program.

“I’m looking forward to compiling this data, because it’s really going to let us draw some sound conclusions when you’ve got three years worth of data, versus when we had it in the early goings,” Budds said.

The results of the 36-month study will be made available to the public.

Ogden crossing to Bemis Woods

In other matters, Trustee Susanne Glowiak told the Board that progress has been made towards creating a safe pathway across Ogden Avenue to access Bemis Woods, in particular a bike path. The newest proposed crossing would be at Woodland Avenue and would consist of flashing yellow lights to be activated by a pedestrian or biker.

The Public Works and Water Committee received a bid for approximately $35,000 to add the crossing, which was below estimates; Glowiak recommended that the Board prepare to approve a resolution to begin construction as soon as possible.

However, as Village Engineer Jeff Ziegler pointed out, the construction is partially “temperature-sensitive,” and thus the proposed crossing is unlikely to be completed before spring.

“We’re all optimistic about it,” Ziegler said. “It’s going to be something new. We’re also going to need to make sure that the people in the community… understand that, while it’s intended to improve safety, it’s not that you push a button and all the cars magically stop. There’s still risk involved in crossing a four-lane [road.]”

Discussion over accepting Timber Trails improvements

Village attorney Michael Jurusik reported that the owner of the LLC representing Unit 1 of Timber Trails (the development having been split into two LLCs when original developers Dartmoor filed for bankruptcy) has requested that the Village approve that all necessary improvements have been made to Unit 1 (the eastern, developed unit.)

However, issues remain with structures that fall into a nebulous zone between the two units; i.e., a bridge over Flagg Creek, and certain drainage sewers. Since Timber Trails was originally conceived as one development, the split has created problems with defining what constitutes a “complete” Unit 1.

In accepting the improvements, the Board needs to consider what conditions to place on the acceptance—for instance, a maintenance contract for the bridge, or the planting of more trees.

“Right now, the long-term projection for building up the development is very long-term, and there is possibility that Unit 2 does not get built in the near future,” said Jurusik. “Our recommendation is that some of these hard improvements that haven’t been built yet in Unit 2 that really support Unit 1 should be built in the near future.”

Ridgewood woman seeks water refund

The oft-vacant Citizen Comments portion of the meeting saw some liveliness in the form of one Ellen Wheelihan, a Ridgewood resident directly across from the new South Fire Station.

Wheelihan hadn’t come to complain about the station—in fact, she opened by saying that “we are thoroughly enjoying the Fire Department,” and called the officers of the Department “wonderful” and “considerate,” and has personally signed up as a volunteer—but to petition for relief from her rapidly increasing water bill that she claimed resulted from her repeatedly watering the grass sod on the public parkway outside her house.

Displaying a water bill, she showed how her monthly water charge had gone from $45 to $191 as a result of her public service actions, and requested some reimbursement, as she had been maintaining Village property.

The Board referred her to confer with acting Municipal Services Director Matt Supert.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from Western Springs