Carpentersville - As I move into my final 10 days as your Village President I find myself at peace. I’m satisfied with my legacy.
We are currently working on 12 million dollars of infrastructure projects. That may be unprecedented in Carpentersville’s history. If you take into consideration the fact that we are in the midst of a disastrous economic downturn, not seen since the Great Depression, that makes this even much more impressive.
These projects were planned during my administration. We continue to provide this needed service and these long over due improvements to our community. This is your money being invested into your future. These projects are the results of good planning and foresight. We bonded for these projects and we have received grants on some of them. The bottom line is we continue to keep people working while improving the Village.
If you’ve been keeping up with the local news, I’m sure you have also noticed that Carpentersville is in relatively good financial condition as compared to our neighboring Villages. We have been able to pass a balanced budget without any layoffs or any tax increases. This is due to our dedicated staff and their forethought in making necessary cuts in their requests for this year. These cuts were across the board. But service has not been drastically cut. I still hope that the Village board will decide to fund the Ride in Kane program. A cut in that service is unacceptable in my opinion.
I do plan on spending some time at the Tuesday, April 28th staff meeting to personally thank our staff for the fine efforts they have made to improve Carpentersville during my time in office.
I have made my own personal contribution to this effort, but the major credit is due to our staff.
I especially wish to thank our Village Manager, Craig Anderson for his ability to have put together a very good team. Not only did he hire some very good staff members, but he has been a stabilizing force on our overall workforce.
I don’t know when a Village Manager has lasted an intire term of a Village President. Prior to my election we had a revolving door of key staff changes. Manager Anderson has done a very good job of not only adding key positions but in retaining good people.
Our Village was known for its rapid turnover that lead to many problems with our finances and overall productivity. Our progress to a very large part is due to the fact that we have been able to maintain a steady team working well together.
I will continue to work up until May 5th. I have offered my public congratulations to President-elect Ed Ritter and to the other new members of the Village board. I’ve also offered my continued help to the Village if I’m asked.
