Long Grove Village Government

Office Hours

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Signing a liquor license for Finch's Beer with Village Clerk Heidi Locker-Scheer at the Four Seasons in Chicago.

Signing a liquor license for Finch’s Beer with Village Clerk Heidi Locker-Scheer at the Four Seasons in Chicago.

One of the questions that I am often asked is how many hours a week do I spend volunteering as Village President? Is it a full-time job? While the time spent on Village concerns varies widely from day to day, one thing that I can guarantee is that this is a job without regular “office hours.”

Most weekdays I spend a minimum of two hours answering emails and phone calls, oftentimes more. Several days a week I have meetings to attend, many in Long Grove but others further afar in Lake County or downtown Chicago. Quite a few of my meetings are in the evening, including Village Board meetings which typically run until 10 pm or later. Invariably, issues “blow up” on weekends, and I will spend time dealing with something unexpected on a Saturday afternoon or while on vacation. The demands on my time are consistently unpredictable!

More of a surprise to me are the various locales that I find myself working in. Our Long Grove Village Hall is in a restored 1850’s Tavern, and while quaint and charming, it is short on work space. I do not have an office, and the only place for me to work at Village Hall is in the public meeting room, when available. So when I need to meet with someone, I most often go to them. I sometimes joke that our local coffee shop, Beans & Leaves, is my office because I use it so often as a spot to be available to others who want to talk with me one on one. I have also conducted meetings in many of the shops and restaurants in our historic downtown, and really, can you beat the atmosphere of the Village Tavern for a serious discussion with a couple of merchants? Recently, a liquor license needed to be signed ASAP for our newest establishment, Finch’s Beer. Neither I nor our Village Clerk work at Village Hall more than once or twice a week, but I just happened to be seeing Heidi that evening at a charity event in Chicago, so I took the document along and we were both able to sign it. And since our office that evening was the Four Seasons, we were able to enjoy a Finch’s Beer after making it legal to be sold in Long Grove!

Of course, a major amount of my work is done on the computer or over the phone from my home office. One benefit from working at home is that you can work from wherever that home may be at the moment. I am extremely blessed to have a personal “Camp David” where I can retreat for a few days of R & R with my family. And while it is mentally helpful to occasionally get out of Dodge, I do find myself working from my vacation home on a regular basis. The most unusual places I have worked on Village issues include exotic spots like Bora Bora and Anguilla. I used to quip that a tropical vacation for me would not be complete without a call from our Village attorney detailing some new threat of litigation. My husband broke the string recently by taking me to a tiny island in the Caribbean where my cell phone would not work. It was bliss! Probably the strangest experience of working for the Village remotely is when a reporter for the Daily Herald tracked me down at my hotel in Salzburg, Austria for my thoughts on the antics going on in Long Grove during a contentious Trustee election.

I do actually have an answer for that question about how many hours I put in on a weekly basis. For a three month period last fall, I kept track of my time spent volunteering for Long Grove and it averaged out to 30 hours per week. And for the record that does not include time spent blogging!

Route 53: Fear and Loathing Part 2

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Members of the Long Grove Village Board at the October 27, 2015 meeting.

Members of the Long Grove Village Board at the October 27, 2015 meeting.

I have never used my gavel more times in a meeting to maintain order and civility than I did last night. Things never truly got out of control, but emotions were high in the capacity crowd of Rt. 53 objectors. The mood of the room prevailed as the Trustees voted 5 to 1 in favor of a resolution declaring formal opposition to the extension of Route 53 by the Village of Long Grove. The Illinois Tollway Board is set to make a decision in December on whether or not to move forward with further engineering studies for this project. Time will tell if this action of taking a stand by Long Grove will have any effect.

For those of you who are interested, below is a link to the letter written to our Village Board from Lake County Chairman Aaron Lawlor, concerning the informational meeting held last week about Route 53. This was read aloud last night by our Village Clerk and entered into the public record. The letter also contains an additional link that takes you to the Route 53 website which features video, maps, and additional details on the project.

Letter from Chairman Lawlor

 

Route 53: Fear and Loathing Part 1

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53-Mtg

Elected officials in attendance at the October 20th Route 53 Informational Meeting include (L to R) Long Grove Village President Angie Underwood, Lake County Treasurer David Stolman, Lake County Board President Aaron Lawlor, Lake County Board Representative Sid Mathias, and Hawthorn Woods Mayor Joe Mancino.

Last week our Village Board hosted a public meeting to discuss the proposed extension of Route 53. An initiative of Trustees Stan Borys and Mike Sarlitto, this meeting was billed as “neither pro nor con” on the issue, but simply a presentation of facts to better inform our residents. I don’t think anyone walked out of the meeting feeling that it was a neutral discussion. I am on the record as having objected to the last-minute timing and organization of this meeting, and the Village Board as a whole had limited opportunity to vet or approve the materials being presented.

Since last Tuesday, the fallout from the meeting has been significant. County officials who were in attendance to observe (they were specifically asked not to present by Borys and Sarlitto) were treated in an unprofessional manner and have responded with a letter to “correct the false and/or misleading information that was shared in the official presentation.” Chairman Lawlor’s letter will be read tonight at our Village Board meeting and I will reprint it in my next blog entry (Route 53: Fear and Loathing Part 2).

Our communication and working relationships with County officials whom Long Grove is dependent on for critical services such as police and road maintenance (think Diamond Lake Road) are now strained.

My inbox has been filled with impassioned emails from residents opposing the project, many of whom live in the proposed path of the road. A few of these included threats.

Trustees Borys, Sarlitto, and Jacob have as of Friday, forced on to our agenda tonight a vote for our Village to take an official position opposing the Route 53 extension. This short-circuited the normal open process of having two weeks of public awareness in between a Board discussion and a Board vote. This process is in place to ensure consistency, fairness, and transparency. I will write tomorrow on the results of tonight’s meeting, to which we are expecting a large crowd (perhaps brandishing a few pitchforks and flaming torches?)

To better clarify my position on the matter, my opening remarks from the Oct. 20th meeting are reprinted below. Following that is the article that appeared in the Chicago Tribune describing the meeting.

I first learned of the proposed Rt. 53 extension 18 years ago when my husband and I were looking for a home in Long Grove. Over the years this project has surfaced again and again for study and debate, never advancing to fruition due to lack of funds and consensus. I have never been in favor of this project. If it were all up to me, I would preserve our beautiful open spaces and natural areas as they are today, and this road would never be built. However, I am also aware that many residents do support this project. I don’t believe that I was elected to advocate for my personal point of view, but rather to be a representative for ALL Long Grove residents.

Shortly after I took office, I was asked to participate in committees to further study the Route 53/120 Extension. In the past two years, I have attended over 15 of these meetings and I have witnessed firsthand the strong support this project has within both the County and State. At this time, the decision whether or not to advance the Route 53/120 extension rests with the Tollway and our State legislatures. If the road is eventually constructed, it will be dependent on many future decisions of which Long Grove’s active involvement will be crucial, particularly in safeguarding our environmental concerns.

I am ever mindful that what is done and said in the name of Long Grove has and will have consequences, good and bad. My role as Village President is to lead our residents into the years ahead maintaining the best quality of life possible. If that future must include a toll road, then my responsibility is to preserve Long Grove’s seat at the table, and work with other State and County officials to make sure our voice is heard. It is my belief that the best possible outcome for all can be achieved by collaboration and respect.  –Angie Underwood, Long Grove Village President

Audience “gangs up” on County Board Chair during Route 53 Meeting by Ronnie Wachter, Pioneer Press/Chicago Tribune

No new information–but a lot of old emotions–came out of Long Grove’s open-house meeting to discuss the possible extension of Illinois Route 53. Lake County Board President Aaron Lawlor responded to criticism by saying he would not be treated like a “punching bag,” and Long Grove Village President Angie Underwood asked the crowd to stop berating him. Two other members of the Long Grove Village Board spent about 90 minutes on Tuesday skewering aspects of the Illinois Tollway’s plan to extend Route 53 from its current terminus at Lake Cook Road up to Illinois Route 120 in Grayslake. The project would build an entirely new, likely four-lane highway near or through wetlands and neighborhoods. The 12 miles of new pavement, currently estimated to cost about $2.5 billion, would then join a renovated Route 120 in an attempt to ease traffic and spur economic development. In a recently published public-opinion survey that Long Grove Village Hall funded, 53 percent of respondents opposed the project, while 47 percent favored it. Only three members of the Village Board spoke at the session–Stan Borys, Michael Sarlitto, and Underwood. All three identified themselves as against the extension. Underwood said she wanted to keep an open mind to its possibilities, but Sarlitto and Borys spoke frankly about the flaws they see. “If there are any residents here who support this, I dare you to come up here and explain something positive about it,” Sarlitto told the audience of about 200. No one in the standing-room-only audience answered that challenge. At several points, crowd members called for Chairman Lawlor to answer questions, which he stood up and responded. Lawlor challenged nearly everything Sarlitto and Borys put into their presentation. No new information on the project itself came from the gathering. Lawlor said Long Grove invited him on the premise that he would not be asked to make a presentation. “I’m not going to be here, at a meeting that I was explicitly told I wouldn’t be speaking at, just to be a punching bag,” Lawlor told the crowd. Underwood admonished the visitors to respect Lake County’s top elected official. “This is not a meeting for everyone to gang up on Chairman Lawlor,” she said. But Sarlitto said some of Long Grove appears to be misinformed, saying that the 47 percent of survey respondents who want Route 53 needed to know what he knew. “If you had the facts that have been crammed up in this little noggin in the last month, it would be a hell of a lot higher opposition,” Sarlitto said. “Long Grove is Ground Zero for this project,” Sarlitto said. “It starts right here, in this gym.”

Slumdog Millionaires

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Collapsed sewer pipe at Cuba Road and Old McHenry Road

Collapsed sewer pipe at Cuba Road and Old McHenry Road

The recent warm Indian Summer days have been lovely, and it has been such a treat to be able to open the windows and enjoy the fresh autumn breezes that we all know are quickly going to turn cold. Unless of course, you live on Cuba Road. Residents in these million-dollar homes have had to close their windows as of late, in an effort to keep from invoking images of “the slums of a third-world country,” as was described to me by one resident. Slums, in Long Grove? Well, it only smells that way.

On the night of September 18th, a sanitary sewer owned and maintained by the Village of Lake Zurich collapsed on East Cuba Road in Long Grove, leaving a large hole in the pavement over the open sewer pipe. Originally thought to be a week or two of repairs, the problem has been found to be more extensive and a much larger section of pipe needs to be replaced. Final costs are still not in, but Lake Zurich has recently authorized an ordinance to issue up to $1.5 million in bonds to pay for the work, which could take as long as six weeks.

I was recently interviewed by Phil Rockrohr of the Pioneer Press about this road collapse and the resulting odors. Answering reporter’s questions is something that initially made me very nervous when I became Village President. With some experience behind me now, it has gotten easier not to be so tongue-tied. An excerpt from Phil’s article posted on October 12th describes how we are dealing with the stinking situation:

Lake Zurich officials have worked closely with Long Grove officials to address complaints of foul smells emanating from the hole created by the sewer collapse, according to Mayor Tom Poynton of Lake Zurich and Long Grove Village President Angie Underwood. Long Grove residents complained about the road closure caused by the hole and about the smell, Underwood said. “The residents that I’ve talked to and that I’m aware have called the Village seem to realize that it is a bigger situation than originally thought and that it’s going to take some time,” Underwood said. “We can all be patient about fixing the road, but when you’re dealing with a horrible smell day in and day out, that is a different level of inconvenience.” Several Long Grove residents complained to Village Hall staff, trustees, and Underwood about the smell, she said. Long Grove Village Manager David Lothspeich has conferred with Lake Zurich officials about the issue, and Underwood personally contacted Poynton, she said. “It was a very good conversation,” Underwood said of calling Poynton. “Long Grove and Lake Zurich have good working relationships between the two of us. We’re working together to get the best temporary situation in place for residents until it gets resolved.” In response to Underwood’s call, Lake Zurich officials spread deodorant blocks along the stretch of Cuba affected by the smell and placed a tarp over the hole, Poynton said. The tarp was sealed with sand bags, Underwood said. “I heard from one resident who said the situation was much better, “Underwood said. “There was some improvement. Hopefully, they will continue to monitor things, and everybody is keeping their fingers crossed they can get it fixed as quickly as possible and get back to normal.”

Yes, back to the sweet Long Grove smells of autumn bonfires and apple cider donuts. ASAP!

The Last Volunteer Mayor

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Speaking at a local community event this spring.

Speaking at a local community event this spring.

Last week the Village Board gave me a new title. I will be the last Village President to serve Long Grove in a voluntary capacity. The Trustees have decided that starting in 2017, when my current term expires, this position will become salaried. Granted, it’s not much at $14,400 a year. But for the first time since our Village was incorporated in 1956, our Mayor will be paid.

This change came about quickly. Personally, I was surprised that this was even being considered, especially as it conflicts with the policy set forth in our Comprehensive Plan. The rationale given is that making the position paid will encourage more candidates to run for the office in future elections.

I think it takes a special kind of person to want to step up to the responsibility and challenge of holding any elected office. One who is at heart a public servant, and who has the ability to put what is best for the community ahead of what is best for themselves. And one who is willing to pay a personal price in being vulnerable to public scrutiny without any recourse.  The best sort of individuals will do this without needing to be motivated by money or perceived power. The Village deserves to have that type of citizen in this role.

I agree with the need to have money set aside in a budget for expenses that are incurred while representing the Village. It has become increasingly necessary for our Village President to interact and serve with other local, county, and state officials on issues that encompass the entire metropolitan Chicago area. Long Grove is no longer an island amongst suburbia. However, the Trustees were clear in their desire for this compensation to be a salary or stipend, without any “strings attached” to turn in receipts for validation.

Putting my own thoughts and concerns aside, I remain a firm believer in majority opinion, and so I accept this change and will support going forth with the wishes of the Board. Time will tell us if a future Mayor just voted himself a salary.

A Bit Further Down the Path

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My favorite walking buddy, Aaron Underwood, tests out the new pathway segment.

My favorite walking buddy, Aaron Underwood, tests out the new pathway segment.

With the recent completion of another trail segment, our Long Grove pathway system is one step closer to making a connection to Buffalo Creek Forest Preserve. Several years ago, when the sewer lines were put in for the Menard’s development, the Village took the opportunity to have a pathway installed on South Schaeffer Road. This north-south path runs almost the whole southern length of our village, and is considered a “spine” in the system to eventually link all neighborhoods to the historic downtown. Starting at Schaeffer Road and Route 53, the path had previously ended at Checker Road. The plan has been for this path to connect into the Lake County Forest Preserves pathways at Buffalo Creek, but making that final connection has proven very costly. Surprisingly, pathways are very expensive to engineer and construct–it’s almost like building mini roads. This is why most paths are created as part of a new housing development, or added by taking advantage of the opportunities created when roads are widened or infrastructure added.

The Village had applied and received some grant money from the State of Illinois, but it was only enough to get halfway there with the connection. By working with our counterparts on the Lake County Forest Preserves Board, we have been able to partner with them and they have committed to adding a path that connects where ours currently ends, linking the Village system with the one in Buffalo Creek. So even though the path currently looks like it dead-ends halfway, it will eventually connect to the Forest Preserve when they undertake their enhancements.

Pathways are one feature that our residents consistently advocate for, and we have a Village Pathways Committee that meets monthly to make headway on this initiative. This weekend, my husband and I went out to check out the new path and give it a spin. We’re getting closer to making that final connection to the Forest Preserve, one step at a time!

Is it Lawn or is it Prairie?

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Open space in Long Grove this time of year features many wildflowers and native prairie plants.

Open space in Long Grove this time of year features many wildflowers and native prairie plants.

Most municipalities have rules and regulations regarding property maintenance and in particular, standards for keeping a tidy yard. But Long Grove is not like most municipalities. Our community includes many acres of forest preserve, park district lands, and platted conservancy, which are protected through county and state regulations. In addition to this, many privately owned lots in our Village have been partially or fully maintained as open space prairie. Residents have seeded these areas with native plants, and hold the occasional controlled burns suggested for best management.  Many of these natural areas are adjoining platted conservancy, so that there is no distinction where lawn ends and open space begins.

Nevertheless, I was surprised to learn this summer that we have an ordinance restricting the height of grass and weeds on private property to 8 inches. Prior to 2009, this rule did not exist, due to the unique nature of our local open spaces as described above. But after the economic crash in 2008 and the subsequent default of properties to banks and other agencies, exterior property maintenance became a concern. The “tall grass” restriction has been successfully used by our staff to keep vacant properties from becoming an eyesore, in the few instances where it was needed. Until recently.

Disputes between neighbors happen, even in friendly towns like Long Grove. Complaints ensued, and unfortunately this ordinance was used to force a resident to mow a large unbuilt lot that was being maintained as open space. As a result, our Village Board took a look at this rule at our past meeting, with an eye on making it more compatible with the character of our community. When is it a lawn, and when is it a prairie? Is Long Grove a better place with less milkweed for the monarchs to find? We will revisit the distinctions on our upcoming agenda, with the goal being to craft standards that can be more practically applied.

I do know one thing. Lawn or prairie, the wildflowers they contain this time of year are gorgeous!

Circling The Drain

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Sinkhole and collapse of Diamond Lake Road in Long Grove.

Sinkhole and collapse of Diamond Lake Road in Long Grove.

Heavy rains last week caused some localized neighborhood flooding in Long Grove, and more dramatically, a sinkhole and collapse of a portion of Diamond Lake Road. The drainage pipe running under the road at Indian Creek was old and failing, and storm water pushed through a rotted hole and washed out supporting gravel around the pipe. As the water levels receded, gravel further slid out of place and fell back into the tunnel, causing the pavement to collapse and leaving a crater several feet wide. Thankfully, the problem was detected immediately by nearby neighbors, and no one was hurt in the incident. Lake County is responsible for Diamond Lake Road, and this repair was previously scheduled for August of 2016. Mother Nature has accelerated this plan to August of this year, with repairs anticipated to be completed by early September.

This illustrates the fragile health of our infrastructure. And this problem is not limited to Long Grove, but is a concern to our County, State, and Federal road systems as well. When money is short and budgets constrained, one of the areas that can be susceptible to underfunding is infrastructure maintenance. The cost of repairs to our aging road systems has escalated over the years. Our Village budget revenues have not kept pace with the rate of infrastructure repairs that are needed on an annual basis. The Village Board has for many years engaged a series of discussions, town hall meetings, focus groups, and a referendum question in an attempt to address this growing problem. Sometimes amid a controversy, we can overlook why a change is really needed. Big events like a road collapse capture everyone’s attention for the moment. And if we pay attention, before the moment drains away….maybe there is something here to be learned?

Tapping Into the Future–Part 1

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Village Board Members at work on July 14, 2015

Village Board Members at work on July 14, 2015

Village Hall is undergoing some minor renovations this month, and our Engineering Firm, Gewalt Hamilton and Associates, was kind enough to host the Village Board meeting last night. One major piece of business we accomplished was the approval of an engineering proposal from GHA for the design of the extension of our village public water system. Currently, the village-owned deep well near Sunset Foods only serves the businesses in Sunset Grove Plaza, and last night’s action set into motion the ability for that system to serve the entire historic downtown. Work is also progressing towards a connection to Lake Michigan water through the Northwest Water Commission, which will have the capacity to be delivered through this downtown watermain loop. Expansion of our municipal water system is key to opening the flow of economic development in our downtown, and the Village is working hard to enable several new opportunities to develop.

Harbor Chase Senior Living is set to begin demolition soon of the old Midwest Bank building, and completion of this development is planned for February of 2017. They will be a major user of the newly expanded water system, and are contributing towards the cost of installation. In addition, this development will bring much needed revenue into the TIF district. The costs of the expansion are being born by the developers and users, not the residents. The Village expects to close soon on the sale of the Archer building pads, and the expected development of these lots will be for restaurant use, which is heavily dependent on water. Our existing downtown businesses and restaurants will be able to connect to the new water lines, bringing better quality. And most exciting to consider is the opportunity that a resident is exploring, to relocate a well-established craft beer brewery from the city of Chicago to Long Grove. The revitalization that this new addition to our downtown could bring is significant, and the Board is collaborating to help make this a reality. In addition to spurring economic development, our enhanced water system will provide added capacity for fire fighting. The stage is set for our downtown taps to soon be able to dispense higher quality deep well water, eventual Lake Michigan water, and craft beer brewed locally in our historic downtown. If these goals can all be accomplished, a flood of new possibilities for Long Grove awaits.

We Get By with a Little Help from Our Friends

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My friends (L to R) Steve Lentz, Mayor of Mundelein, Joe Mancino, Mayor of Hawthorn Woods, and Tom Poynton, Mayor of Lake Zurich.

My friends (L to R) Steve Lentz, Mayor of Mundelein, Joe Mancino, Mayor of Hawthorn Woods, and Tom Poynton, Mayor of Lake Zurich at a recent Lake County Municipal League meeting.

Today, an article appeared in the Chicago Tribune on the topic of the proposed IL Route 53 extension and the recent concerns being voiced by the municipalities directly in the path of this road. As Village President, I joined with the Mayors of Hawthorn Woods, Mundelein, Kildeer, and Round Lake to sign a letter to the Tollway Board and CMAP to express our collective concerns over recommendations regarding land use in the highway corridor. We are asking for more information and specific details regarding a proposed oversight body, a Corridor Planning Council, which has the potential to override local municipal decisions on how land along this roadway could be zoned and utilized. Our voices have been heard, and I do believe that more information will be forthcoming in the months ahead. But this is just one example of the ways in which Long Grove works together with our neighbors to enable positive changes.

Recently our Village Board approved an intergovernmental agreement with the Village of Buffalo Grove to work cooperatively towards tightening up our code enforcement. Under a two year agreement, Buffalo Grove will assist us with property maintenance inspections, issuance of tickets, and administrative adjudication proceedings. Why is this needed? Because by partnering with our neighboring towns or agencies to get services done, we can increase efficiency and save both time and money.

You may have heard Governor Rauner talk about the need for our various units of government in Illinois to combine and share services. This is nothing new to Long Grove. We have partnered for many years with the Lake County Sheriff’s Office for our police protection. The Village currently contracts with both Ela and Cuba townships for various road maintenance services and use of their equipment. This summer, we have partnered with the Village of Kildeer to cooperatively bid road repair contracts to take advantage of volume pricing. Having a minimal government philosophy means that old Beatles tune is right on–we do “get by with a little help from our friends.”