Fox Valley mayors reflect on 2018 highlights

As part of an annual New Year's tradition at the Daily Herald, Fox Valley mayors and village presidents share thoughts on their towns' successes of the past year. Here's what some leaders had to say about their biggest accomplishments in 2018.

Batavia Mayor Jeffery Schielke

The year 2018 was a year of construction starts around Batavia. A new subdivision of townhouses, which will be adjoined by an 18-acre retail area, commenced construction on the east side of Kirk Road at Wind Energy Pass. When finished, this new addition to the city's southeast side will offer 242 new townhouse units. Throughout the numerous residential areas of town, a large number of existing older homes were purchased by investors who commenced remodeling and enhancements to make them attractive for first-time homebuyers. Downtown Batavia also realized several improvement projects that included the Batavia Government Center on North Island Avenue and the city's wastewater treatment plant on South Shumway Avenue. Upgrades along the banks of the Fox River through the downtown area were also begun.

Carpentersville Village President John Skillman

The village of Carpentersville is proud of several accomplishments in 2018. Fiscally, we reduced expenses by hundreds of thousands of dollars and kept taxes down. Several new businesses have come to town: 25 new business opened, including the Brix on the Fox banquet facility and over 50,000 square feet of new retail buildings, and the village worked with OTTO Engineering to develop a new training facility which will bring more jobs to the village. Crime rates have decreased by more than 20 percent for violent offenses. The community enjoyed new events, such as Burger Fest and El Grito, both of which brought in more people than were anticipated, and both of which are planned again for 2019.

Cary Village President Mark Kownick

The village of Cary has completed a very successful and productive 2018. The village is experiencing one of our lowest vacancy rates for industrial, retail and office space with combined vacancy under 4 percent. Numerous businesses relocated to Cary while several existing are completing expansions, including our largest employer, Stryker, completing a 200,000-square-foot expansion with more to come. In addition, we started construction of Cary Senior Living, a 62-unit senior apartment complex opening in 2019. We also welcomed Tasty Sushi, Golden State Bank, Car One Auto/Goodyear, several new home starts and DR Horton will finish West Lake Subdivision with 160 new townhouse units.

Elburn Village President Jeff Walter

2018 for Elburn was a very busy year with some major accomplishments. Downtown Elburn has a whole new look provided by the new sidewalks and streetlights that went up in 2018. The village also saw the completion of the village hall expansion, a major road resurfacing project in the Prairie Valley subdivision and the purchase of some much needed capital equipment in the police department and in public works. Elburn also hosted HBO for the filming of the pilot episode of a new series called "Lovecraft Country." We are also very proud of the new park that opened in the Blackberry Creek subdivision, which was paid for with private donations and a donation from the homeowner's association as well as a small portion coming from village park funds. All of the labor and concrete were donated and made for some great opportunities to get to know your neighbors on the work days. Thank you to all who contributed your time, talent, money and support!

Elgin Mayor David Kaptain

I'm proud to serve the city of Elgin as mayor. It's my honor to share the many accomplishments we've seen over the past year and also praise initiatives underway that will continue to improve Elgin's quality of life as well as attract new businesses and residents to our thriving city. Going into 2018, Elgin faced budgetary challenges. Through strategically diversifying revenue streams, the city not only overcame projected deficits but also was able to maintain both a flat property tax levy and AAA bond rating. City Council adopted the 2018-2022 Strategic Principles and Priorities, which brought forward a Diversity and Inclusion Framework in early 2018. The city has hit the ground running, already putting many initiatives in motion that support these policy-guiding documents. Elgin is truly a city of choice and is well positioned for the future. It remains in the top five cities in Illinois for housing starts. 2018 brought Elgin 38 new industrial businesses and over 25 new retail and office businesses. Elgin is not only attracting these new businesses, but also retaining and expanding several successful businesses. Elgin has a 46-year low-crime rate and the lowest vacancy and unemployment rates seen in the last decade.

Geneva Mayor Kevin Burns

2018 proved to be a busy year in the city of Geneva as we welcomed At Home on the corner of Randall Road and Fabyan Parkway, Taylor Morrison's residential development on Route 31 toward the southern edge of Geneva called Riverbank Crossing, and the city of Geneva again received the Distinguished Budget Award for sound management and stewardship of public funds.

Hampshire Village President Jeffrey Magnussen

2018 was another good year for the village of Hampshire in both residential and commercial developments. 2018 saw the completion of unit 1 in the Tuscany Woods subdivision and the start of development of the Prairie Ridge subdivision on the west end of town. The new Copper Barrel restaurant, formerly the Corkshire, is now open on State Street. We broke ground on two projects in the Interstate 90/Route 20 area. One is going to be a Love's travel center with a tire center and Arby's restaurant. The second building is a new 150,000-square-foot facility for an existing Hampshire business, Pet-Ag.

Lake in the Hills Village President Russ Ruzanski

The village again delivered a balanced budget for 2019 and for the ninth year in a row, has kept the (tax) levy flat, no increase. During 2018, the Centre at Lake in the Hills was auctioned and the successful bidder was U-Haul International. They will operate the business out of the south side of the building after extensive structural changes. Another highlight of the year would be the grand opening of Speedway Petroleum, which included an appearance of world famous Budweiser Clydesdale horses.

Pingree Grove Village President Steve Wiedmeyer

2018 was another very busy year for us building wise. We added more than 300 new homes and that pace will continue into 2019. We annexed a piece of property along Route 47 that will bring us commercial development and some additional residential.

Sugar Grove Village President Sean Michels

2018 saw the village of Sugar Grove welcome a new fiber optic internet service provider for both residents and businesses. This addition to the community meets a long anticipated goal of providing an alternative to the current internet provider. Sugar Grove was also happy to mark the opening of Anytime Fitness in October and the continuation of building the Prairie Point Assisted Living facility. The Chelsea Senior Apartments started construction in October, with occupancy anticipated for November 2019. Phase I engineering for the widening of Route 47 south of Cross Street to Kendall County was completed and the start of Phase II engineering began. In the best case scenario, Phase II engineering will be completed in 2021 and construction will be completed in 2024. Furthermore, developers are continuing to build single family residences in the village with new homes being constructed in the Settlers Ridge and Hannaford Farm subdivisions.