After a breather, Glenview board back at it
The Glenview village board was back at it Tuesday after a little more than a month away.
After a grueling stretch dealing with a long series of big-ticket topics, controversies and an election, all underpinned by the COVID-19 pandemic, the board vacated its bimonthly meeting on March 15.
On April 5 the board returned to field a potpourri of innocent items.
As innocent as a $4 million expenditure can be.
Including a contingency fee, that was the approximate amount approved for the lowest bidder considered, The Blinderman Construction Company, to make parking lot repairs to the north and south decks at The Glen Town Center, near where the new Landmark Theatre is slated to go into the ArcLight Cinema space.
Even with another $233,000 approved for a different firm for construction management, it was actually a good-sized savings from the nearly $4.7 million budgeted amount. The reserve fund of the expired Glen tax increment financing district will cover the bill.
The parking deck rehab was one of 11 different items on the meeting's consent agenda, typically approved in an omnibus motion unless a trustee asks to remove one or more items for further comment or debate.
Trustee Mary Cooper requested that in this case, to make a couple points.
"I just want to call this one out because it's a pretty big number," she said.
"We're putting a sizable investment in the area, which I'm very supportive of. But I just think it's worthy of a call-out that this is a big deal that we're committing to, to get The Glen area re-established, and I hope that we'll think about it in context of this when we think about approving dollars for downtown as well," she said.
Trustee Adam Sidoti did the same as Cooper to highlight an item of significantly lesser expense, the completion of the Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan Update to Chicago's A. Epstein and Sons for under $105,000.
"I think it's kind of an important piece to the overall way that we view Glenview," he said.
The existing, 14-year-old Village Bicycle and Sidewalk Master Plan will get an update that will incorporate American with Disabilities Act practices.
"We talk a lot of times about the way that we want people to be able to get around town, and so I think it's really important. But the other part that I think is critical is that we're also updating it to be more inclusive, and that's something I think is really important that we do here," Sidoti said.
Early in the 59-minute meeting, board President Mike Jenny recognized Mike Caplis, retiring from Glenview's Fire Pension Board.
A large group of firefighters stood at the rear of the Burnham Board Room to share the moment with Caplis, who has been with the department since 1977.
"They say time flies when you're having fun," Caplis said. "I've had a real good 40-years, plus, so I can't complain."