Fox River Grove village hall may be dark during holidays

There is a good chance Fox River Grove won't be decking the village halls this holiday season.

Thursday night, the public works committee, composed of several village board members, agreed it would not spend $1,250 to decorate the village hall with lights, bows and garlands.

All in the name of protecting the bottom line.

"I don't mean to be Scrooge, but I'm not into holiday decorations," Trustee Suzanne Blohm said.

Trustee Steve Knar said the village needs to prioritize its spending, especially now that it is going in debt for the next 20 years to build a public works garage estimated to cost $3.5 million.

"We're spending on a deficit," Knar said. "We've got to make some tough choices."

But Trustee James Tuman said it wouldn't be right if the building remained dark during the holidays.

"You've got to have something around the village hall," Tuman said. "To me, it seems silly not to have (decorations)."

The measure passed by a 4 to 1 vote - Trustee Michael Ireland also supported stripping the village hall of any festive decorations.

Superintendent of Public Works Jon Huizinga brought the matter to the board Thursday for approval.

In his report, he said it would cost $4,490 to decorate the light posts on main roads and the Christmas tree at the train station.

For the past two seasons, a company out of Oswego called Temple Display has put up the decorations in Fox River Grove. The money basically pays for rental and labor of Temple Display's decorations. It doesn't include the cost of electricity.

Contracting the job out is cheaper than keeping it internal, Huizinga said, adding that public works employees previously handled decorating duties.

Knar said it wouldn't make sense to decorate Illinois Street near village hall, and the conversation went from there. He and Blohm suggested the village save the $1,250.

It may seem a bit early to be thinking about Christmas, but Huizinga said he brought it up now so he wouldn't forget about it later.

"It's one of the capital improvement items I have on my list, and I don't want to wait until the last minute," he said.

The matter now goes before the village finance committee.