Fox Valley mayors look back on 2017
It's become an annual New Year's tradition at the Daily Herald to ask our community's mayors and village presidents to share their thoughts on their towns' successes of the past year. Here's what Fox Valley leaders had to say about 2017.
Batavia Mayor Jeff Schielke
In Batavia, the story with a lot of past and present impacts was the news that Fermi Accelerator Laboratory was marking its 50th year in 2017. And on July 21, I was invited to witness the groundbreaking, which took place in a deep mine in South Dakota, to commence construction of the next generation of accelerator technology which will be placed under the earth between Batavia and the western state. Our town is strongly blessed with the operation of a highly admired school system network, which includes both public and private opportunities. The sports, music and theatrical programs coming out of Batavia High School is an area of great civic support and pride. We are finding that many new residents seek to live in Batavia because of the good records of its school network as well as our strong sense of community appearance, low crime rate, access to commuter services both rail and Illinois Tollway and an inclusive history of being a town which welcomes everyone regardless of race, religion or ethnic background.
Cary Village President Mark R. Kownick
The village's largest employer, Sage Products, now part of Stryker, completed a 200,000-square-foot expansion to their facility. The next phase of the expansion is planned to add an additional 600,000 square feet. In total, the phased expansions will add approximately 350 jobs over the next few years. Sage Products currently has over 850 employees. The village restructured our Finance Department, which resulted in annual savings of over $80,000. The village began construction on a $3 million upgrade to our wastewater treatment plant. The upgrade is required to meet new EPA phosphorus limit regulations. The village finalized plans for the downtown streetscape project. These plans create a shovel-ready project design to enhancement the aesthetics and functionality of the village's downtown. The village invested over $1 million in road infrastructure during 2017. Construction was completed on a new 60-unit affordable apartment building. Cary has helped to lead the expansion of the joint municipal partnering initiative in McHenry County.
Elburn Village President Jeff Walter
The year 2017 included my taking office along with two re-elected trustees and one new trustee, Matt Wilson. We welcomed our new public works director, Phil Vanbogaert and a new trustee, Sue Filek, who replaced John Krukoff when he retired and moved to Texas. The board approved an expansion project for the current village hall and a sidewalk replacement project for downtown, both which will take place in early 2018. We also acquired a skate park from the village of Gilberts, which will hopefully be installed in the spring along with a new park in Blackberry Creek, which is being partially funded by donors.
Elgin Mayor David Kaptain
I would like to highlight the efforts of the residents and employees of the city of Elgin. I am fortunate to be the mayor of this city and we are all fortunate to live here. We have achieved in the past year milestones in police, public works and fire department accomplishments. We have achieved growth as a city in the areas of being able to address the issues of racism and immigration through mature, understanding and respectful community conversations. Congratulations to all.
Geneva Mayor Kevin Burns
Geneva's success in 2017 can be found in multiple settings - filling vacant big box retail sites on Randall Road, welcoming new businesses throughout Geneva and the City Council taking decisive action to address citizen and business needs through generating revenue that will meet the immediate and long-term opportunities to strengthen Geneva's brand as a premier community.
Lake in the Hills Village President Russ Ruzanski
As far as 2017 goes, winning the president's election was a huge accomplishment for me, personally. Together with staff, we were able to lower our projected expenditures for 2018 by over $200,000 by eliminating the assistant administrator position and three others by attrition.
North Aurora Village President Dale Berman
We are excited to have our new entryway signs installed with the village's logo and "Crossroads on the Fox" slogan. The signs stand out and welcome residents and visitors to our community. A consulting firm was hired to plan the use of the Silo next to Harner's bakery for a possible observatory and light display. The consulting firm will provide ideas for utilizing the historic silo along the Fox River, and it is our hope that this will be a destination to bring people to North Aurora. The village acquired Riverfront Park from the Fox Valley Park District and held the Fourth of July Fireworks at the park, as well as held a concert in conjunction with North Aurora Days. The village is excited to move forward with activities at our recently acquired Riverfront Park and hope to plan more events in the future. The village is looking forward to providing community information using our soon-to-be installed new digital community sign at the corner of Route 56 (State Street) and Route 31 (Lincolnway) with electronic LED display and lighting. This will replace an old, outdated sign that had to be updated manually, and will make it easier to get information out to the community. My Place boutique hotel was approved for development next to the Turf Room restaurant in Randall Highlands subdivision along Randall Road. The village earned a Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for fiscal year 2017-18 - its 12th consecutive award - and the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for the 16th consecutive year. North Aurora is proud to continue to maintain our strong financial position and AA+ bond rating. The Springs, a 300-unit gated apartment complex, has been developed at Oak Street and Orchard Road. With its completion, the Springs will be developing the commercial portion of the property. The North Aurora Hotel has been rebranded to a Rodeway Inn, which will help attract visitors to North Aurora. The village also welcomed several new businesses in 2017.
Pingree Grove Village President Steve Wiedmeyer
The year 2017 was very busy for us. We continue to grow our village with close to 300 new home starts. We worked with our developer to amend their plans for future building. They will be adding close to 300 more homes in both our Carillon Community as well as the Cambridge Lakes Community. We had a commercial development break ground in 2017. Aspen Valley/Site One Landscape Supply should be open in early spring. We have added two new vehicles to our public works fleet. Both of these are very versatile and will increase efficiency in snow plowing of village streets. We launched a new village website and reinstated the village Facebook page. We continue to operate with a balanced budget.
• Coming Tuesday in Neighbor, mayors and village presidents look ahead to what they expect the new year to bring in their towns.