Village of
Westchester From the desk of Acting Village President Nick Steker
APRIL, 2022
At this point in time, we have no update on the St. Joe’s property accept that everybody involved is working towards something that would be an asset to the community and enhance our community. Nothing will be done without community involvement as evidenced by the open meetings, so thank you for your input. The Roosevelt Rd. Development is still in progress working towards a ground breaking. As you may or may not know, the soil in that area north of Roosevelt on Mannheim is marshy land which makes it more difficulty to build on. The Village knew this going in and anticipated the additional costs it would take to develop. It is actually a very interesting engineering project that will have to use casons to build on. We will keep everyone posted as we move forward with phase I of the redevelopment.
PUBLIC WORKS POLICE DEPARTMENT
3 4
FIRE DEPARTMENT
6
SCOUTS
7
SCHOOL DISTRICT
12
SPOTLIGHT ON SENIORS
14
LIBRARY
21
The “fun committee” has met and we have come up with our plans for the year. We are working closely with the Park District and all of the non-profits to have another 4th of July parade. We will most likely start earlier this year at 10:00 a.m. and we estimate to finish about 2:00 but more details to follow. We will also be holding our Westchester Fest August 26, 27 and 28th at the same location on Enterprise Drive. More details to follow, but we’ve already locked in most of the talent and many food vendors. We are also considering a fall fest this year in late September or early October, as well as Farmers markets. We have been working now for over a year on developing some senior programs that include the Senior bus program, snow plowing, lawn maintenance, and events. We’ve held 4 senior outings so far this year, 3 to the Four Winds Casino and an upcoming trip to Drury Lane Theatre. We’ve also implemented a snow shoveling program that was very well received and we are hoping the lawn maintenance program will be the same. When we get into our new Village Hall, there is a 2,500 square foot space dedicated to senior programs and we will invite all senior clubs to utilize the space. Speaking of the new Village Hall, progress is a little slower than we anticipated. We initially hired a General Contractor to do what’s called a design build project and when they came back with the estimates, we were not happy with the numbers.We changed the method of engaging a contractor and when to a“Bid Spec” type of project where we had drawings done by an architect and we sent out an Request for proposal based off the drawings. We were anticipating getting those bids in but we had to extend the bid timeframe due to lack of participation. Once the construction starts, we anticipate it only taking 120 days as we saved approximately 70% of the layout of the main building and the other building is going to be the public works garage. We are as anxious and excited as you to get in our new facility but we want to be prudent with your money and get the best prices possible.