Mayor's Message - Summer 2019

The weather has finally decided to “play nice”. This spring is the wettest and coldest one that I can remember. The dreary spring has given way to a fresh and invigorating summer and the Village of Glenwood is poised to move forward with great plans and expectations.

I have ordered an assessment of the street surfaces throughout the entire town and we will be embarking on an aggressive resurfacing program starting with the worst sections of road. The finding for this work will come from the annual Motor Fuel Tax allotment from the State of Illinois as well as the proceeds from our recently enacted fuel tax. I had the fuel tax proceeds earmarked for rehabilitation of Glenwood infrastructure.

We have submitted several projects to the State Legislature with the hopes of some of them being included in the Governor Pritzker’s Capital Improvement Budget. These items include water tank rehad at the Komer Pumping Station, Water Main Replacement throughout town, Fire Hydrant and Water Valve Replacement as well as more street resurfacing and sidewalk replacement.

Work has commenced on the crumbling bridge that travels south on Glenwood – Chicago Heights Road to our Industrial Park. This is the culmination of several months of negotiations with IDOT. This bridge is in danger of collapse and the whopping $2.3 Million cost will be the burden of the State of Illinois. The State demanded that we take ownership of this bridge after they rebuilt it, but I refused this demand and got to a point where they agreed to do the work and maintain the bridge in their stock for the future. I apologize for any inconvenience this may be causing you, but we have worked with our business partners to assure that they have alternative travel plans as this project will not be completed until November of this year.

The final plans and specs are being worked on to begin the work on the Arquilla Park Flooding Project. The acquisitions will complete in the next few months and the final plans can reflect a new vision of the flood wall to enhance the safety of adjoining properties. I will be working with Staff, the Board and Residents to develop plans for the new Park, Ball Fields, Basketball and other amenities, but the flood project work will be ongoing in the spring of 2020. I am officially announcing my First Annual “Golf for the Kids” Fund Raising Golf Outing. We will be working with all of the youth sports organizations in the Village to promote this event and guarantee a large crowd.

I am looking for volunteers to assist with this project. Put the date of August 17, 2019 on your social calendars. Put together a foursome and come out to support the youth in our Community. The entire proceeds of the day will be equally split between the organized sport organizations. The day will include a “goody bag” for each registered golfer, lunch “at the turn” as well as refreshments on the course. Dinner will be available at the end of the day for purchase in the Grill Bar.

The revitalization of the Glenwood Plaza is top on my priority list. Now that we have the basic infrastructure installed we can focus all of our efforts on the construction of new businesses. Please take some time to visit the new Anytime Fitness as well as the Good Vet. These two businesses occupy the second building in the new Lincoln Crossings with the first being the new Burger King. We need to make sure that we are patronizing these businesses to assure that they are prosperous and thrive. We have received hundreds of suggestions on occupants for the plaza and we have followed up with each one of them. The unfortunate part is that the decision making people normally just look at the available statistics and never take the time to get to know our great little village. I have doubled down with the efforts to fill the center.

If you have interest in voicing your thoughts on what should go there, please drop me a line or make an entry on our Village Website.

Summer affords us the privilege of extended daylight hours and the increased safety that the light affords in our residential neighborhoods. I am embarking on a program to offer new LED High Efficiency – Low Operational Cost light fixtures to willing residents who will have these bright lights installed on their homes in place of the coach light at their front doors. The concept is that every house in Glenwood has a coach light at the side of their front door. The changing of this fixture to a broadcast light will wash light across their front yard as well as into the public way and street. The cost of installation of conventional street lights is something that we could not afford without creating a special tax or taxing district. This project has been successful in older neighborhoods and should help us to “Light Up Glenwood”.

In closing I would ask that anyone who would like to serve on any Village committee, commission or group please take a minute to send me your desire. I would like to fill out all positions. I would also like to congratulate Police Chief Derrick Peddycord on his promotion to Chief Of Police. Chief Peddycord was chosen from a pool of candidates that excelled in Police Administration. We look forward to many years of great leadership of our fine Glenwood Police Department. Please enjoy your summer and reach out to me if I can be of any assistance to you.