New Winfield village president ready to put politics behind her

This is part of an occasional series featuring newly elected leaders in DuPage County.

Deborah Birutis isn't scheduled to be sworn in as Winfield's next village president until Thursday.

That hasn't stopped her from getting to work.

Birutis already has started the search to replace interim Village Manager Phil Page, who is expected to leave at the end of May. She's also looking for someone to appoint to her soon-to-be vacant village trustee seat.

Just last week, Birutis' daily schedule was filled with meetings with other elected leaders, town officials and area business leaders. She says she's hoping to build relationships while planning for the future.

"I talked to them about bringing positive results in the next four years," she said. "I don't care that you didn't vote for me. That doesn't matter. What matters is how are we going to improve Winfield going forward?"

Birutis went on to talk about her new role as village president. Here is an edited version of that conversation:

Q. You made no secret you consider being village president a full-time job. Why?

A. There is so much that has to get done in Winfield. For example, we need to develop our town center. Yes, it could be developed 20 years from now. But maybe I can make it happen in five to 10 years - and have a lot accomplished in the four years of this term - just from the fact that I am spending full time on it versus 10, 15 hours a week.

Q. What are your immediate goals?

A. To hire a village manager, appoint my replacement, have a strategic planning session with the village board, (and) start our stormwater committee.

Q. You said after the election that you wanted to bring the community together. What has the response been?

A. I've actually had people who I know were not supporters come forward and want to meet with me. I am having different meetings with people scheduled now to try to work together to better Winfield.

Everybody has to speak positive about our village to be able to attract new developers and businesses. The more you think positive and speak positive, the more will get done in this community.

I have heard from hundreds of residents who said they would like to see bikeway paths through Winfield and a riverwalk and a town center developed so they could have community events and retail shopping there. We all have the same goals. So let's put aside who we might have voted for or who we preferred or something that might have happened in the past. Let's forget about that and look to the future.

Q. Speaking of downtown Winfield, what's the next step in getting the pedestrian underpass built near the Metra station?

A. It went out to bid this month, and we expect the bid process to be completed in the next couple of weeks. The board probably will be able to vote on that, and we could start construction in the fall.

Q. How crucial is this project to downtown?

A. It's important to have another avenue for our pedestrians to walk, because we are going to have retail development on both the north and south sides of the tracks.

Q. Is there a plan to address the vacancies downtown?

A. I am committed to working with the (Winfield Chamber of Commerce) to help them attract businesses to these vacant store fronts. That's part of my full-time job.

Q. What role will Roosevelt Road play in the redevelopment of the community?

A. Roosevelt Road in our zoning is considered residential right now. What is zoned residential will be developed as residential. There could be more density. But it's going to be residential.

Q. How's the budget coming along?

A. The budget will be approved on April 30, so we are done. We had our budget meetings. There were no changes from the trustees. So we have a balanced budget. Roads are still important. We don't have the money to fully fund our roads. We will definitely need to discuss with the residents the need for other revenue streams.

Q. Where there any significant cuts?

A. We have been going line item by line item for four years (eliminating expenses) all along. We've had to be very cautious spending our money. But we didn't have to cut any (village employees), which is wonderful. People at this point are still going to get a normal percent increase. Everything seems to be status quo because we have been slowly looking at our costs and reducing the unnecessary costs over the four years.

Q. How are you going to address flooding concerns?

A. We are creating a new stormwater committee. The residents I am asking to be part of the committee are the ones who are truly impacted with some of the flooding issues that we have. Basically, they will be solely focused on how are we going to fix the flooding in Winfield.

Q. You have no plans to hire a search firm to help find a new village manager. Why?

A. Cost. I have the time to pour through the resumes. I can interview. I have a lot of experience hiring and firing people, so I think I could deal with that. Phil Page has graciously offered to sit in on those interviews, which is great because he has 20-plus years of experience in Geneva. Then I will present candidates to the board for their recommendation.

Q. What are you hoping to have accomplished at the end of four years?

A. That the roads are fixed and on a maintenance schedule, our town center is on its way to development - the budget continues to be balanced and, most importantly, that everybody's happy and working together.

Getting to know Deborah Birutis

Family: Husband, Andy; son, Alex

Hobbies: Playing tennis, bicycling, gardening, reading and volunteering

Fun fact: Has been collecting Native American art since childhood

Favorite beverage: Diet Pepsi

Favorite food: Sushi

Favorite sports team: Chicago White Sox

Favorite band/musician: The Rolling Stones

Leader you look up to: Abraham Lincoln