SEE WHAT THE VILLAGE OF BROOKFIELD PUBLIC SAFETY WORKERS
ARE SAYING ABOUT THE STAFF CUTS AND HOW THEY WILL EFFECT
THE PUBLIC SAFETY OF ALL BROOKFIELD RESIDENTS.

CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT IT!

Brookfield in cash crunch
Short on money, village will extend line of credit, implement cost cuts
Landmark 2-25-09
Faced with unexpected expenses, lower-than-expected tax revenue, higher insurance costs and late payments from state agencies, Brookfield's village manager Monday sounded a warning on finances.

He also recommended the board approve an early retirement incentive to non-union workers, eliminate the village's annual "clean-up" weeks, implement an employee furlough policy and consider staff layoffs if the situation doesn't improve in the coming months.

"I'm also asking directors to take a more diligent look at their departments, to restructure and find more efficient ways to operate," Village Manager Riccardo Ginex told trustees Monday night. "I think that's essential."

During the board's regular committee of the whole session, Ginex laid out the cash crunch facing Brookfield and asked trustees to extend a line of credit that is scheduled to expire March 8.

With cash on hand tight, Ginex said the village needed to extend the line of credit with First National Bank of Brookfield for six more months, because the village could not pay off the $650,000 owed by the March 8 maturity date.

"We're not out of money," Ginex said during an interview Friday in his office at village hall. "It's a cash-flow position."

Ginex estimated Monday night that the general operating fund reserve is at $900,000, but on Friday the village's finance director, Doug Cooper, who started with the village in January, indicated he was still unsure exactly what the village's cash position was.

The village's 2007 audit indicated a general fund balance of over $7 million as of Dec. 31 of that year. But village management says that number does not reflect the village cash reserve. The village's day-to-day operating costs are paid through the general fund.

Whatever the actual general fund number is, the situation is serious enough that Ginex recommended implementing immediately an early retirement plan for non-union employees where the village would pay out $25,000 to employees close to retirement over four months, or those employees could use that money to pay for health insurance premiums until the amount is expended.

As for replacing those employees, Ginex said that positions will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Some of those positions may be eliminated. Others may remain vacant until the budget allows them to be refilled.

Trustees agreed to let Ginex move ahead with that plan, which will also be presented to union employees soon, and to scrap the annual clean-up weeks, where public works employees haul away large trash items (such as appliances and furniture) during a two-week period throughout the village.

While the program is popular, Ginex said that homeowners can already have one large item per week hauled away under the village's existing garbage contract. He estimated the savings in man hours and disposal fees in the $100,000 range.

The village will also implement immediately a five-day unpaid furlough for all the village's non-union employees, a measure that would save the village $136,000, said Ginex, who also said that the furlough issue "has to be on the table" for union employees, who are all negotiating contracts with the village this year.

Ginex also floated the idea of layoffs.

"This is the worst-case scenario, but it has to be on the table if finances don't improve," Ginex said.

Ginex said that Cook County taxes, which normally are paid in the last two weeks of February were late, that the state was two months behind on income tax payouts to municipalities and that the village was waiting for $177,000 in grant reimbursements from Metra.

In a memo to trustees at Monday's board meeting, Ginex stated that since Jan. 1 "we have reduced cash on hand by approximately $922,000."

Late payments accounted for part of the cash crunch, but other factors included a decline in Cook County property tax revenue by $300,000, a $175,000 unexpected charge to the village by its risk management cooperative, some $180,000 in staff overtime related to January snow removal and $90,000 in additional road salt costs.

Assistant Village Manager Keith Sbiral said the combination of revenue hits and added expenses will mean some budgeted items for 2009 will either be pushed back to the second half of the year or be cut.

"We continue to cut back on discretionary projects to supplement our core personnel costs, benefit costs and union obligations," Sbiral said.
The village's $125,000 financial software replacement effort is still expected to be completed this year, but not until after June. Meanwhile, the $35,000 set aside in the 2009 budget for codifying the village's ordinances and building code may be deferred until 2010.

The village will also not fill several vacant positions, including one each in the police and fire departments, one in the building department and two in public works.

Getting a handle on finances
THE LANDMARK VIEW
2-25-09
It's not a secret that at some time in the future, Brookfield was going to have to address its financial situation. During the annual budget hearings late last year, village staff warned that expenditures continued to outpace tax revenues and that the village board was going to have to deal with that structural issue.

But few could have seen that the time to address it would be just over a month after the village pass The first warning was sounded late last week when the village published Monday night's board packet on the Web. A committee of the whole item regarding the village's line of credit with First National Bank of Brookfield indicated that the village was not in a position to pay off its debt by the March 8 maturity date of the loan. Village management was asking for six more months to pay it off.

The Landmark last week requested an interview with the village manager and finance director to address the village's finances. During that meeting Friday morning, it also became clear that there was uncertainly about just how much money the village had in its general operating fund reserve.

On Monday, Village Manager Riccardo Ginex, in response to a question by VIP Party presidential candidate Wil Brennan, stated that the general fund had "about $900,000" in cash on hand. It sounded like a guess!

From early 2006 until January 2009, Brookfield had no finance director to speak of. While the village outsourced CPA services, the 2007 financial audit (released in 2008) was a perplexing document that was at complete odds with the budget that the village had passed way back in 2006, when it was moving to a calendar fiscal year.

The audit mysteriously showed a whopping increase of almost $5 million in the general fund by the end of the 2006-07 fiscal year. At the end of the eight-month 2007 fiscal year, the fund was still pegged at over $7 million.

It's a change in the general fund that village staff has so far been unable to completely explain and is an issue that the village's new finance director is attempting to unravel. Last Friday, he said he hoped to have the question answered this week.

In the meantime, the village has notified its non-union employees of an early retirement incentive, an unpaid furlough program and the possibility of further cuts if the finances don't change.

There are forces beyond Brookfield's control that have conspired to make the situation worse and more immediate. The village is not alone in being buffeted by a national economic spiral.

But, now that the case for cuts has been made, Brookfield government needs to bring solid, understandable financial data to residents and show them what the situation is now and what it looks like it's going to be in the years to come.

Builders In default
Forest Creek townhome development lender
Landmark 2-18-09

The Forest Creek Townhomes, a vacant 18-unit development at 3627-31 Forest Ave. in Brookfield, is in foreclosure with the property's owners on the hook for $4 million.

The development is just the latest local project to run into financial trouble. Earlier last month, the developer of the Courtyards of Brookfield, a 16-unit townhome project, announced that he would seek to auction off up to 11 residences after notching just one sale in the past year. The auction is slated for March 1.

Elsewhere in Brookfield, the former Brookfield Moose property at 4000 DuBois Blvd. has had a pair of liens filed against it since August 2008. That property was to have variously been home to a condominium building and a townhome development. The parcel is for sale.

In Riverside the unfinished luxury townhome development at Burlington Street and Herbert Road in Riverside was hit with a foreclosure suit that is still pending in Cook County Circuit Court.

On Jan. 27, Private Bank and Trust Company filed a complaint in the Chancery Division of Cook County Circuit Court seeking the foreclosure and sale of the development along with fees associated with court costs and maintaining the property.

Bass Builders, the general contractor for the project is named as the defendant in the suit as are two of its reported principals, Kerry Koranda and David C. Purdy, both of Clarendon Hills.

On March 27, 2007, Private Bank loaned the pair $5.35 million, setting March 31, 2008 as the maturity date for the loan.

According to the foreclosure complaint, Koranda and Purdy owe $4.07 million in principal and interest on the loan through Jan. 23.

Calls to both Koranda and Purdy were not returned.

The Forest Creek Townhomes have been star-crossed since they were first proposed for construction back in 2006. The village's Zoning Board of Appeals recommended against granting zoning variations, principally because the development lacked enough parking.

But the village's board of trustees overturned the zoning board's ruling and granted variances

The Salt Creek walk bridge was finally installed today 2-5-09!!!
We are happy that the Hypocrite President Garvey and the PEP Party Board finally got in done! We should all thank God that nobody got hurt or killed walking in the street for the last 4 years! PEP made campaign promises in the 2005 and 2007 elections that it would be done right after those elections. Better late that never or could it be there is an election in April and people would have remembered those past promises? Why was the engineering for that bridge done 4 times? That was about $200K in taxpayer’s money!

After 5 years, new bridge in place !!!
The Landmark Newspaper 2-5-2009

Commuters have been waiting nearly five years, but soon they will be able to walk from the Prairie Avenue Metra station across Salt Creek by way of a new foot bridge installed today on the south side of Brookfield Avenue.

While the bridge is in place on top of the concrete piers, work is not yet finished and it won't be available for commuters this evening.

The new bridge replaces the rusting span closed down in April 2004, when it was determined to be unsafe. The replacement looks remarkably similar to the old bridge, installed in 1986, except that it is painted to prevent the corrosion that proved to be such a problem in past years.

Workers shut down Brookfield Avenue between Arden and Forest avenues this morning and set about removing the old bridge, which was bolted to concrete piers on either bank of Salt Creek.

After freeing the structure from the bolts, the bridge was picked up by a crane to clear power lines along Brookfield Avenue and swung clockwise over the street before being placed on the roadway. A worker then sawed the bridge in half so it could be carted away on two flat-bed trucks.

This afternoon, the two halves of the new bridge were bolted together and were lifted by the crane onto the existing concrete piers. However, new bolts needed to secure the bridge to the piers were not able to be installed today.

Village Manager Riccardo Ginex said he was not sure when the bridge would be open to foot traffic, and that the village might hold an official ceremony next week.

“POOR PLANNING AND VILLAGE MANAGEMENT
COST BROOKFIELD TAX PAYERS MONEY!!!”

Brookfield puts in call for more road salt

600 tons means bill for 2008-09 winter close to $250,000

Landmark 1-21-09

Facing a dwindling road salt supply and the prospect of two more months of snow and ice, the Brookfield village board voted on Jan. 14 to purchase 600 tons of salt despite prices that are already breaking the budget.

The newest order, which also includes more sand and salt additives, will cost Brookfield roughly $90,000. In November, Brookfield ordered 1,200 tons of salt from the International Salt Co. at $138.52 per ton, totaling over $166,000.

In the 2009 village budget, passed by trustees on Jan. 12, just $150,000 was set aside for road salt. With the latest purchase last week, Brookfield has pledged to spend roughly $250,000 on salt.

In 2007, Brookfield paid less than $40 per ton for road salt and budgeted roughly $66,000 for that line item. The village was one of many towns which were left to fend for themselves after a loophole in the state's cooperative bidding process for road salt failed to yield a contract with a salt vendor for 2008.

Even towns that were picked up during the state's bid process, like Riverside, saw prices jump. In 2007, Riverside paid also under $40 per ton for salt. In 2008, its price went up to just over $60 per ton.

"I made a promise to the board that this would get us through to the end," said Brookfield Public Works Director William Heider.

Through late last week, Brookfield had used some 600 tons of the salt/sand mix that public works crews have been applying to streets. Heider is making the salt last by applying the mix only and doing it sparingly.

Trucks apply the salt mix at intersections only, though trucks are plowing all of the streets.

A combination of consecutively snowy days and cold temperatures have kept a layer of snow on the pavement-something that many residents have complained to Heider about.

His response: Be patient.

"People forgot what a Chicago winter was like," said Heider, referring to a stretch of 13 winters where Chicago saw at least 40 inches of snow only twice.

Through last week, some 40 inches of snow had fallen in the Chicago metropolitan area since the start of winter. Chicago averages around 38 inches of snow in winter. In 2007-08, the city was socked with 61 inches of snow.

The area had not seen close to 60 inches of snow during a winter season since 1981.

"In past years, everybody's expectation of snow removal was that they'd be on good pavement after two days," Heider said. "People are just not used to it. They have short memories of what used to be."

Riverside has also run through just over half of its salt supply as it headed into the second half of January. Greg Koch, who took over the reins of the Public Works Department on Jan 5, said that the village has used roughly 500 tons of the 900 tons it was promised.

Last week, Riverside received another 200 tons from its supplier, Cargill, with another 200 tons available for the rest of the winter.

Riverside's approach to salt usage is a bit different from Brookfield's. For example, Riverside does not mix its salt with sand. Second, Riverside salts its main streets- Longcommon, Delaplaine, Barrypoint, Riverside Road, Lionel, Desplaines, Woodside, 31st Street, Harlem, Forest, and East Burlington-but does not salt residential streets.

"It's mainly due to the fact there's a salt shortage and we're trying to manage our supplies better than in the past," Koch said. "We're keeping those secondary routes safe and clear of snow. People just need to maneuver the streets a little slower than they would normally do."

Brookfield increasing fees for yard waste, water
Landmark 1-21-09

Six months after absorbing increases for garbage services, Brookfield residents will be hit with another increase for landscape waste removal when the village board votes on Jan. 26 to pass along the increase, effective Jan. 1.

In addition, Brookfield will pass on the second of three water increases that resulted from a hike in water charges to suburban customers from the city of Chicago. The city in 2007 announced that it would be increasing water charges over 40 percent between 2008 and 2010. Last year, Brookfield home and business owners saw a 4-percent hike in water charges.

For 2009, the price customers pay for water in Brookfield will jump to $4.07 per 100 cubic feet of water, an increase that includes a rise in administrative costs as well as the water itself.

That increase represents a 6 percent hike in water costs over 2008. Residents can expect a similar increase in 2010, the final year of the three-year phase-in of Chicago's new water charges.

With respect to waste hauling services, Brookfield homeowners will see the fee for landscape waste removal jump another 2.5 percent from $4 to $4.10 per month. That's on top of a 48-percent increase in landscape waste removal the village imposed back in August, when it renewed Groot Industries waste hauling contract for one year.

At that time, Groot's five-year contract with the village was coming to an end. Village officials suggested extending the contract for a year to give staff time to put together criteria to be used for inking a new garbage contract in 2009.

Village Manager Riccardo Ginex said last week that staff would like to expand recycling services in particular, and that Brookfield would seek requests for proposals from waste haulers this year before settling on a new contract with any one firm.

The contract would include waste hauling for single-family homes and two-flats. Multifamily residential and commercial buildings would still have to negotiate their own waste hauling contracts

We all know there is a nationwide economic recession but

in Brookfield it is like a depression under the current administration!

Economy puts squeeze on townhome projects
Brookfield units will be auctioned; Riverside site for sale, in foreclosure
The Landmark News 1-14-09

On the block: 11- units at the Courtyards of Brookfield will be auctioned off on March 1st.

The nationwide economic recession and stagnant real estate market has caught up with two local townhome developments, with one heading to the auction block in March and the other in foreclosure.

Last week, the "for sale" signs in front of the Courtyards of Brookfield at Shields and Eberly avenues came down in favor of two signs announcing the auction of 11 unoccupied units in the development.

The project, which features 16 townhomes in four separate structures, broke ground in the spring of 2007 at a base listing price of $355,000 per unit. The development has been completed, but only one unit has sold. Four others are occupied and have rent-to-own leases.

The remaining 11 townhomes will be auctioned off on Sunday, March 1 by Sheldon Good & Company starting at a minimum bid of $189,000. According to Michael Fine, executive vice president for Sheldon Good, the owner of the property is obligated to sell four of the townhomes subject to the $189,000 minimum bid. Other units could be sold off for more or less than the minimum.

"We just decided to break with the traditional marketing and decided to use an approach that can lead to the immediate sell out of the Courtyards," said David Hrizak of Burzak Investment Group, which owns the development. "It's an opportunity to sell the remaining inventory and buyers can name their price."

Fine said that owners looking to move real estate can take a couple of different routes. They can reduce the sale price over time and find the marketplace over a longer period of time, or they can auction the property by setting a low minimum price "and let the bids come up to the market."

Open houses for prospective bidders will be held from 1 to 3 p.m. at the property on Feb. 1, 8, 14, 15, 21, 22 and 28. Attendees will be given a primer on the auction process as well as be given access to units up for bid.

Burlington townhomes face foreclosure

Meanwhile, a proposed luxury townhome development on East Burlington Street in Riverside, is in the midst of a foreclosure action, which was started last month.

On Dec. 18, 2008, Park National Bank filed its foreclosure complaint in the chancery division of Cook County Circuit Court, stating that it was calling its loan and naming James F. Gay, David Sundstrom, Eric Sundstrom and David Knecht as defendants in the suit.

The suit seeks repayment of roughly $3.3 million of a $7.3 million mortgage that was executed on May 30, 2007. The mortgage was due to mature on Nov. 30, 2008. The bank also seeks possession of the office building at 52 E. Burlington St., which houses the Sundstrom Agencies and which was put up as collateral for the mortgage.

On Dec. 29, Park National Bank asked the judge to appoint a receiver for the properties, but that does not appear to have happened at this point, according to court records on file with the county.

Robert Patullo, the attorney for Park National Bank, declined to comment on any aspect of the suit.

Reached on Monday, Eric Sundstrom said that he is in negotiations with the bank regarding the foreclosure action. In addition, the development has been put up for sale through Sotheby's, with an asking price of $3.1 million.

Sundstrom said that "a couple" of buyers have shown interest in the development, half of which has been built.

The townhome project was first pitched to the village in March 2006, but did not win approval until the end of that year. Other delays, including a lengthy storm water system review by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District in 2007 and a harsh winter in 2007-08 delayed construction.

Sundstrom said that ComEd committed to install power to the property in January 2008, but didn't do it until September, by which time the bottom had fallen out of the economy.

A year to forget
The Landmark News
12-31-2008

Money in the bank

Despite attempts to brush it off as a clerical error, the village of Brookfield's failure to levy the full amount of taxes owed the library at the end of 2007 had a real impact on 2008.

While the mistake may not have hurt the village with respect to its 2008 budget, the fact remains that Brookfield is out nearly $600,000 because of the error.

With the village's cash reserves continuing to dwindle and a call from staff for the village board to create a "lock box" cash account to cover emergencies, it's clear just how important that extra half million dollars is. The village plans on setting aside $200,000 to begin the lock box account in 2009. It could be over double that had the taxes been levied correctly.

2009 brings same old problems – The Landmark News
12-31-2008
The economic landscape of 2008 also pretty much doomed our hopes in Brookfield for new commercial construction on Ogden Avenue. That may have been a bit optimistic anyway, given the fact that it wasn't until late summer that the village adopted legislation creating an Ogden Avenue TIF district.

At least the creation of the TIF was successful, setting the stage for future years. However, a more immediate problem is in the residential sector, where a pair of townhome/condo developments wrapped up with no one waiting to buy.

While the development at Eberly and Shields has had a little success, the Forest Creek condos in the 3600 block of Forest Avenue look to be in jeopardy. With no sales, the project still sits partially unfinished.

We're not sure what to hope for this development in 2009; perhaps just that it doesn't become an albatross for the neighborhood and village.

We're not going to ask a whole lot of 2009 after last year's experience. If nothing else, maybe we'll all be pleasantly surprised. But we doubt it.

Brookfield levy hike for '08 reflects library gaffe
After getting $770,000 last year, library seeks $1.9 million

By BOB UPHUES -Editor
Brookfield trustees voted to pass the 2008 tax levy last week for both village operations and the Brookfield Public Library, which calls for a 19.85-percent increase over last year's tax levy.

At a special meeting of the village board on Dec. 10, trustees voted to levy just over $8.1 million for the village of Brookfield, which includes general operations, police and fire protection and police and fire pensions.

The library's proposed levy for 2008, meanwhile, is just under $1.9 million, which represents a large increase over last year's levy due to a mistake in 2007 when village officials mistakenly under-levied for the library.

According to statute, although the library's levy was low in 2007 Cook County can use the last three years of levy figures and take the highest of the three to determine the levy base line.

In 2007, the Brookfield Public Library's proposed levy was just $766,320. The library had proposed a levy of $1.4 million, but a mistake in filing the levy resulted in the library receiving much less than they had planned on getting.

When the Cook County Clerk's tax extension office determined the final 2007 levy amounts, the library ended up receiving $770,177 to pay for operations in 2008.

It is not yet known what Cook County will finally determine as Brookfield's actual 2008 levy, which is subject to tax caps. In recent years, the village has asked for tax increases of roughly 7 percent.

When the village's levy request is finally determined by the county, the increase for the village and library combined will be less than 19.85 percent. The county caps tax levies at 5 percent or the consumer price index, whichever is less. The CPI for 2008 is 4.1 percent.

The library's increase from 2007 to 2008 will be greater than 5 percent, however, because the library won't be using the 2007 levy request as its starting point, it will be using 2006's, which is the highest of the past three years and because this is the final year it can capture money pledged by voters as a result of the successful 2004 tax referendum to bolster the library's operating fund.

The large increase in the 2008 levy makes up for what was essentially a tax cut in the 2007 levy due to the mistake with the library's portion.

Records show that, because of the mistake, Brookfield failed to levy $575,363 that it could have in 2007.

Both Keith Sbiral, the village's treasurer, and Trustee Kit Ketchmark, who is the village board's finance chairman, said that while the village did not levy the full amount in 2007, the village was not short over a half million dollars with respect to its 2008 budget.

That budget, crafted early in 2007 as the village moved from a May-April fiscal year to a calendar fiscal year, estimated tax revenues conservatively. The hit to the village's bottom line in 2008 was closer to $30,000, they say.

The increase in the village and library levies also will not result in an equal increase in overall property tax bills for residents. The village's portion of a residential property tax bill is only a part of the total bill. The property tax bill also includes local school districts, Cook County and other smaller taxing bodies.

Please read the following stories about the Village of Brookfield
President and Board of Trustees and what is really going on…

What happened may be a violation of the Illinois Open Meetings Act, which requires public business to be conducted in public view; it is a criminal offense punishable by a fine of $1500 and a prison sentence up to 30 days. Is this why the Finance Director quit? What other mistakes have President Garvey and the P.E.P. Party board made?

“Suspected violations should be reported within 60 days of discovery to the Illinois Attorney General's Office of the Public Access Counselor.” Concerned residents have already notified the Illinois Attorney General, Cook County States Attorney and
The U.S. Better Government Association.

Village pays library for $669K levy mistake !!!
Trustees approve tax transfer without comment;
From The Brookfield Landmark 11-19-2008

Brookfield trustees quietly approved a $669,369 payment to the Brookfield Public Library on Nov. 10, correcting a mistake village officials made last year in levying taxes on behalf of the library.

The mistake, which resulted in the library receiving just $770,000 of its original $1.4 million tax levy request, was not acknowledged previously in any public meeting.

Instead, a check for the amount owed to the library was added to the village's voucher list at the board's Nov. 10 meeting. Trustees unanimously approved the payment without comment.

Asked why the village board never discussed the matter publicly, President Michael Garvey said that "no board action was needed until the transfer was made. I was told the county said when you get the money, transfer it to the library."

Garvey said he learned about the mistake in late August from Village Manager Riccardo Ginex and Assistant Village Manager Keith Sbiral. Library board President Jonathan Platt said he also learned about the mistake around that time via Library Director Kim Litland.

Village board members were made aware of the mistake individually throughout September, according to Garvey, a time during which the village attempted to figure out how to make good on the error.

At one point, according to Garvey, Ginex "had some thought that the money could be transferred to the library electronically."

When the village's attorney informed Ginex that the transfer couldn't be done that way, the check to the library ended up on the voucher list. Garvey also said that Litland had expressed a concern over the appropriateness of an electronic transfer of funds and notified her board of the potential electronic transaction.

In the end, such a transfer was never made. Asked if even contemplating an electronic transfer of funds might give the impression that the village was attempting to hide its mistake, Garvey denied that was the village's intention.

"There was no attempt to hide this," Garvey said. "Any claim of an attempt to hide this is ludicrous and against all the facts."

Ginex also said that if the funds had been transferred electronically, the transaction would have appeared on the check register and approved by the board.

Both Garvey and Ginex added that the error would have shown up in banking statements and in the annual audit of village funds and that the board would have been notified of any such transfer.

"The goal was to get the library the money as soon as possible and then notify the board," Garvey said.

Revenue neutral transfer?

Garvey and other village officials also stated that the transfer of funds to the library was cost-neutral. When the village mistakenly failed to levy the full amount for the library, they contend, those funds were instead deposited into the village's corporate levy.

However, documents obtained from the Cook County Clerk's tax extension Web site appear to indicate that the village could not have levied the full amount owed to the library.

For the year 2007, the village of Brookfield levied a total of $6.43 million, while the library levied about $1.4 million. For 2008, the village's levy increased to $6.83 million, while the library's fell to $770,177.

The difference in the 2007 and 2008 levy amount for the village alone is $395,091. With the village paying over $660,000 from its general fund to reimburse the library for the levy mistake, it would appear that the village did not receive the full amount owed to make the library whole.

According to Bill Vaselopulos, director of the Cook County Clerk's Tax Extension Department, based on the levy Brookfield received in 2007 and legislation that caps taxes at 5 percent or the consumer price index, whichever is smaller, the village of Brookfield would have been able to levy approximately $230,000 more in 2008.

The village appears to have received additional tax money that should have gone to the library, but that amount is roughly $165,000, using Vaselopulos' figures as the guide. The village could not have recouped the entire $669,000 amount, according to Vaselopulos, because of tax cap legislation.

"It went to $6.8 million because the library portion was so low, but as a group, they are capped," Vaselopulos said.

As a result, the village of Brookfield looks to be on the hook for the rest of the money that it just paid to the library.

Ginex and Sbiral said that they were led to understand by their discussions with Bill Vaselopulos and the village's attorney, Richard Ramello, that the transaction would not come at the expense of the village's general operating fund.

Shhh! Intense quiet over library levy
THE LANDMARK VIEW – 11-19-08

The debacle over the tax levy for the Brookfield library-see Page 1-is pretty simple and pretty complicated. In all the efforts by various players to stir up the murkiness, though, one thing is clear to us: Brookfield officials have been anything but transparent in addressing this. And that disappoints us.

Mistakes happen. Even big, honkin', slap-your-forehead sort of mistakes-like levying only half the amount of money the Brookfield library had legitimately requested via the village government.

The error, shorting the library by more than $600,000, was discovered in August, everyone agrees after being peppered with questions from The Landmark. That would be three months ago by our count. And yet no public acknowledgment came until last week, when the village board quietly slipped a check for $669,369 onto the bill list to be approved by the village board.

How quietly was it done? Not a single board member made a peep as the bill list was approved. We've rightly heard a lot more discussion over a lot less money at the board table.

Elected and appointed officials will chafe at any suggestion they were trying to conduct the public's business on the QT. But we see no other explanation for the long delay in fessing up to the error, to the private discussions over whether an electronic transfer of funds might be allowable and push any disclosure further into the background of bank statements and auditor's reports, to the effort to bury the transfer in the bill list.

This is no way to conduct the public's business. An error was made. Acknowledge it quickly. Debate possible solutions. Take public action. Apologize. It is the same advice officials would give their 11-year-old when he or she screws up.

There remains a serious question of what the actual out-of-pocket cost to the village (read taxpayers) is going to be here. We find it odd that this issue isn't clearer. By our toting-and we're not CPAs-there is an unrecoverable amount of money-perhaps in the range of $200,000 at stake here. In our discussions with county tax officials, that seems to be the amount that Brookfield will have to forgo because of this error. While it is a lot of money, it's not enough to ding your credibility over.

We have been impressed by the current Brookfield board and the staff they have put in place. This has not been their finest moment.

New Salt Creek foot bridge slated for '09
New structure will take 10-12 weeks to fabricate
The Landmark 11-12-08

Why was this bridge engineered 4 times already and why did
the P.E.P Party promise it would be done in 2005, 2007 & 2008?

A pedestrian bridge across Salt Creek at Brookfield Avenue in Brookfield, closed since April 2004, is now expected to be replaced in early 2009.

Village Engineer Derek Treichel said last week the contractor who was awarded the bid for replacing the bridge has submitted detailed drawings and specifications to the village, which signed off on them last month.

The bridge is being fabricated right now, Treichel said. That is a 10- to 12-week process.

"We're projecting now that the bridge will be replaced in mid-January," Treichel said.

According to Treichel, the bridge is similar to the one that currently spans Salt Creek and will be placed directly on the existing concrete abutments. The bridge will be about six inches taller than the current one and the steel structure will be painted. The decking of the bridge will be untreated Ipe, a South American hardwood that is naturally weather-resistant.

"The old bridge was made of weathering steel and was made to develop a layer of rust," Treichel said. "The problem is that no salt is supposed to be applied to those bridges."

It was rock salt applied during winter months that compromised the bridge's structure. According to a report on the existing bridge done in May 2004 after it was closed, a structural engineer said salt caused the rust to flake off the bridge "exposing underlying layers of unprotected steel."

When the existing bridge was constructed in 1986, Treichel said back in 2004, the effects of salt on weathering steel were not widely known.

While the new bridge will be constructed to better handle a Midwest winter, Treichel said the village should go easy on the salt after snow and ice events.

"I've talked with public works about eliminating or minimizing the use of salt on the bridge," Treichel said.

Treichel said that since the new bridge will be prefabricated in two sections, it can be put in place in January.

"We'll pick the old bridge off with a crane and put the new bridge on," Treichel said. "We estimate it will take one day for each activity."

Treichel added that the two halves of the bridge will be bolted together onsite. The bridge will also be fitted with walkway lights mounted in its steel structure.

Landmark Posted: Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Article comment by: Bill Russ

Big campaign issue in 2005, PEP promised to get it done and not sit on their hands. In 2007, PEP says it will be done in 2008. Fact... It will be 5 years!!! PEP promises are made at election time and broken time after time.

Brookfield officials miffed over road salt cost
Trustees approve spending almost 4 times more per ton!!!

Landmark 11-22-08
With the threat of snow hanging over the Chicago area at any moment, Brookfield officials on Nov. 3 swallowed hard and ponied up big bucks for road salt after being one of over 100 Illinois communities who weren't included in the state's cooperative purchasing program for 2008-09.

Trustees at a special meeting of the village board voted unanimously to buy 1,200 tons of salt from the International Salt Co. at a cost of $138.52 per ton. The total cost-over $166,000-is nearly four times more than the village paid in 2007-08 through the state's joint purchasing program, which has long been Brookfield's sole source for road salt.

Last year, Brookfield paid about $60,000 for road salt, when the commodity cost under $40 per ton.

"To this day they can't give us a reason of why we were left out of the bidding process," said Village Manager Riccardo Ginex.

According to documents provided by the village, Brookfield put in its request to be part of the 2008 rock salt bid back on April 23, requesting 2,000 tons for the coming winter. The deadline for requesting participation was April 30.

"It's never been an issue," said Al Kitzer, Brookfield's public works superintendent, who has been making the village's salt requests to the state for years.

Area resident donates his time to VFW and is rewarded

Bill Russ at Veterans Park in Brookfield. Bill was recently named Senior Vice Commander and received a Recognition and Appreciation award at the Brookfield VFW's 75th anniversary. 9-11-08

By Janice Hoppe, Brookfield Suburban Life – Sept. 12, 2008
Former village president Bill Russ recently was elected senior vice commander of the Men’s Auxiliary at the VFW Post 2868.

Russ became a member of the men’s auxiliary about 10 years ago to give something back to the veterans who fought for the country. Russ never served in the military, but was able to join the auxiliary through his father’s military service in World War II and Korea.

“It’s my obligation as an American to pay them back for what they did,” Russ said. “I feel I owe the post and the veterans for preserving freedom.”

At the 75th anniversary picnic Sept. 7, Russ was given the a recognition and appreciation award for his support and involvement in the VFW.

“I still have it in my car and showing people around town,” Russ said.

Russ said he was given the award because he continues to support and do the “little things” for veterans. He said if families needed food, he was there to help them, along with giving money to those in need to pay for their mortgage or other life necessities.

“It is like a family with the veterans,” Russ said. “It is all about helping people.”

VFW Commander Dave Kivi said many awards and certificates were given out that night to people and businesses that have supported the VFW through the years.

“A lot (of awards) were given out because of all the years these people have supported us financially, manpower and coming up with ideas,” Kivi said.

Brookfield finance director walks
Says good-bye to village manager via e-mail
10-8-2008
Just two months after hiring a full-time finance director, the Village of Brookfield is again looking to fill the position.

Somer Arroyo, hired after a five-month nationwide search and with a salary of $83,500, notified her staff at lunch Friday that she was leaving. Village Manager Riccardo Ginex was out of the office at a meeting of the Illinois Municipal League in Chicago and Assistant Manager Keith Sbiral, who was Arroyo's immediate supervisor, was also out of the office at the time.

Ginex confirmed that Arroyo sent him an e-mail Friday notifying him of her departure. He contacted her later, at which time she said she said she was leaving for "personal reasons" and that she was sorry "things didn't work out."

He declined to elaborate on Arroyo's personal reasons for leaving, saying the matter was a personnel issue.

Arroyo was not forced out of the position, Ginex said.

"We all had lunch on Thursday; she was meeting with staff; she brought in a couple of new software vendors-I thought things were going fine," Ginex said.

Sbiral said that he thought the department under Arroyo was "moving forward on getting standard operating procedures in place for the finance department."

Asked if perhaps the 30-year-old Arroyo felt she was in over her head, Sbiral replied, "I didn't get a sense of that. I really don't know what the deal was."

Arroyo, who was hired Aug. 1, came to the village from Phoenix, where she worked as an accounting coordinator for the Honeywell Corporation. Brookfield hired the Par Group for the search, an effort that cost the village $14,250.

As part of the Par Group's guarantee, a new recruitment effort will not cost Brookfield any more money. The village will restart the search for a finance director this week. According to Par Group's contract, the firm will find the new candidate within the next 12 months.

Except for Arroyo's brief tenure, Brookfield has not had a full-time finance director since January 2006.

Comment by: BILL RUSS

Maybe they asked her to do something that she felt was illegal? Maybe she looked at the village finances and saw the village was in big financial trouble? Maybe we will never know the truth?

Developer puts Brookfield Moose property on the block
Townhomes moving ahead, but owner will step aside for right offer
Landmark 7-9-08

While still moving forward with plans to build a 21-unit townhome development, the owner of the former Brookfield Moose property at 4000-20 DuBois Blvd. has put the property up for sale.

Michael Beckerman, of Triumph Real Estate confirmed last week that the 33,350-square-foot parcel of land was on the block. The listing price is $1,990,000.

"We listed it for sale partially to allow the village some flexibility," said Beckerman. "If someone wants to do something bigger they can keep their options open."

Since buying the property in January 2006 for $1.35 million, Beckerman's attempts to develop the property have been stymied.

Prior to his purchasing the site, the village had granted 11 zoning variations to allow a six-story condominium building to be built. Beckerman initially wanted to follow through on that plan, but balked when the cost of commercial construction made the project untenable.

Since late 2006, Beckerman has pitched a townhome development for the site, but the 2007 downturn in the residential real estate market has slowed progress on that plan to a crawl.

In November 2007, the village board gave approval for a preliminary development plan for the townhomes. With the real estate market continuing to lag, Beckerman has delayed seeking final approval, hoping to weather the market.

In late June he provided the village with final engineering drawings for the development and could appear before the Plan Commission for approval in September, with village board approval to follow.

But even if the village gives its blessing to the townhome plan, Beckerman made it clear that nothing would be built until at least spring 2009.

As he waits out the market downturn, he's more than open to selling the property. At least one other developer expressed interest in the DuBois Boulevard property, Beckerman said, though that was six months ago.

That developer was interested, he said, in assembling property that would have also included the former Lucas Tire property at 9528-40 Ogden Ave., which is owned by the village of Brookfield. Beckerman also indicated that a blighted commercial/residential property at 9508 Ogden Ave. is available.

The entire area bounded by Ogden Avenue, the Burlington Northern Railroad right-of-way, Eberly Avenue and DuBois Boulevard is zoned C-2, a special district created to promote future mixed-use commercial/residential development.

The area is specifically targeted as ripe for development in the Brookfield 2020 Master Plan and has been included as part of a proposed TIF district. The only parcel not included in the TIF map is Beckerman's parcel, which was slated for residential development and not eligible for TIF funds.

Beckerman suggested the village might want to include his property within the TIF map to provide an incentive to developers who might want to include it in a bigger plan.

"I think it would help if someone wants to incorporate it as part of a mixed-use plan," Beckerman said. "I think it would behoove them to put the property in."

But at this stage of the TIF process, including Beckerman's property inside the district would delay adoption of the TIF for months.

Townhome sales continue slow in Brookfield
Brookfield Moose townhomes on hold until 2009
6/25/2008

With sales at two townhome sites in Brookfield slow to materialize, the developer of a proposed 21-unit townhome project near the Congress Park train station won't break ground until at least 2009.

Michael Beckerman, who has owned the former Brookfield Moose property at 4000 DuBois Ave. since January 2006, said last week that until the glut of townhome units in Brookfield dissipates, he'll bide his time on construction.

"There are two townhome projects with 34 units that are basically all available," Beckerman said. "From an inventory perspective, that's a lot.

"We are being deliberate and are taking our time. As they move their units, then we'll move ahead."

Beckerman earlier this year predicted he'd break ground this summer, completing infrastructure improvements to the entire site and slowly building the townhome structures as they sold.

This week he has a meeting with village officials on final engineering plans for his project, and may appear before the village's Plan Commission in late summer or early fall for approval.

That could set up a vote by the village board this fall approving the planned development. Still, the project won't move ahead before 2008 is over.

"I don't think we'll start construction this year," Beckerman said. "I need to see some movement and sales on [the] behalf [of the other two developments in Brookfield]."

Construction has effectively wrapped up at the Courtyard of Brookfield, a 16-unit townhome development on the southeast corner of Shields and Eberly avenues, while some exterior work still remains to be completed at the 18-unit Forest Creek townhome development in the 3600 block of Forest Avenue.

Both developments broke ground in 2007, but Courtyards of Brookfield is the only one of the two which has made a sale. According to records obtained from the Cook County Recorder of Deeds, one townhome unit sold for $374,500 on Dec. 3, 2007.

David Hrizak, the principal owner of the Courtyards of Brookfield development, said that two of the units are occupied and two more will be occupied by the end of July. He stated that four of the units, or 25 percent of the development, had been sold, though only one sale is noted by the recorder of deeds.

"It's slow obviously; the market isn't the best," said Hrizak, who also blamed media coverage of the slow housing market as scaring away buyers.

"We're in a holding pattern until the people in the media tell the buyers to start shopping," he said.

At Forest Creek, there has been no sales activity recorded by Cook County since Bass Builders purchased the lots to build the development in May 2006. Construction was started in 2007 and then halted for two months over a permitting issue.

In the past two weeks, exterior work on the buildings has been completed and construction fencing was removed. Some concrete and landscaping work remain.

Dan Stivers of Prime Property Partners, a LaGrange real estate company listing the Forest Creek development, said that two model units have been completed and will be rolled out during a July 18 open house.

"There has been interest but no actual sales," Stivers said. "There's no question it's been slow."

Cold water thrown on car wash request
Brookfield trustees unlikely to approve zoning variation
6/25/2008

The owner of a Brookfield car wash faces the prospect of having expansion plans delayed by months or scuttled after village trustees indicated they might not support his request for a zoning variation.

William Klump, owner of the Brookfield Express Car Wash at 9545 Ogden Ave., said he plans on a $1.1 million improvement to the current facility, which he purchased in 1995. In addition to a general makeover of the current facility, reconfiguring the traffic pattern and increased landscaping, the centerpiece is the construction of an 80-foot addition along the south lot line.

The addition would create a modern, enclosed, automatic car wash facility with new equipment that would allow cars to be properly washed during the winter and improve quality during the car wash's busiest days.

An ATM-like entrance lane would allow customers to pay with a credit card before the car wash and the streamlined process would eliminate double-tipping that customers often provide for workers at the start of the line and at the end.

At a June 5 meeting, however, the village's zoning board of appeals voted to deny recommending a zoning variance by a vote of 5-1, saying that Klump had not proven hardship under the code.

The south wall of the existing automatic car wash bay is just 1.85 feet from the lot line. The zoning code calls for a five-foot setback. Despite the fact that Klump would be extending the non-conformity and not creating a new one, the zoning board recommended denial.

The vote meant that a supermajority of village trustees (four of the six) needs to vote for the variance to overturn that recommendation. That vote will take place at the board's July 14 meeting.

On Monday, two trustees voiced their opposition to granting the zoning variance, saying that there was another alternative available to Klump which would allow the village tighter control of final design elements.

Trustees Kit Ketchmark and C.P. Hall said the village's planned unit development (PUD) process would be more appropriate, since it would not entail asking for a simple zoning variance and would allow the village to sign off on specific design details, including traffic patterns, landscaping and building materials.

Ketchmark pointed to the townhome development at 31st Street and Prairie Avenue, which was approved through zoning variances, as the reason for it.

Once approved, the Prairie Square Townhomes ended up looking much different than the plans pitched to the village.

"Approving this variation could lead to other problems we have no control over," Ketchmark said.

Klump, a Darien resident, said that while village staff offered the PUD process as an alternative to the variation process, he incorporated all of staff's suggestions into the plans and gave his word to trustees Monday that what was presented would be built.

He also told the board that when he went through a PUD process to build a car wash in Romeoville, it took over two years and cost an additional $200,000.

In response to the illustration of the Prairie Square Townhomes as an example of the need for PUD, Klump said that he has owned the business for 13 years and wasn't looking to make a quick buck and then leave town.

"I don't understand the need for a planned development," Klump said.

Klump also tied the variation process to the resurfacing of Ogden Avenue, which will begin later this summer. Tearing up the street will effectively close the car wash for 90 days, Klump said, because the construction dirt will drive people away from it.

Klump indicated he could use that 90 days for construction.

"My understanding is that Aug. 1 is when Ogden Avenue will begin resurfacing, and I'll be shut for 90 days," Klump said. "If I go through a PUD, it'll be another 90 days."

Village President Michael Garvey indicated he agreed with Ketchmark and Hall's assessment.

"I think it's a great project ... but there is a way to make this happen under our ordinances," Garvey said.

"[Approving the variance without proving hardship] is the old-style way of doing things," he added. "That's the trap boards have fallen into all these years. We have to either follow our ordinances or get rid of them."

Another Unforeseen $49,000 expense for Jaycee/Ehlert Park project
MORE TAX DOLLARS FOR A SOMEONES’S MISTAKE !!!
Storm water drainage needs upgrades before approval
6-4-2008

In order to meet storm water detention standards required by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD), the village of Brookfield will need to shell out an unexpected $49,000 in order to move ahead with the construction effort at Jaycee/Ehlert Park.

Just where the money for the new expense will come from is unknown at this point. Village management is expected to recommend at the June 9 meeting of the village board either cutting something from the village's 2008 budget or dipping into general fund reserves to cover the cost.

"We haven't sat down yet to talk about that," Assistant Village Manager Keith Sbiral said last week. "We need to come up with that before next week."

But the village is going to have to come up with the money somewhere, since it needs a permit from the MWRD in order to complete the storm water drainage work at the site.

In addition, Sbiral said he learned during the process of applying for the permit that the village had never obtained MWRD permits for either the Shields Avenue fire station or the Ehlert Park restroom facility.

The fire station was built in 1979, while the restroom facility in the park was rebuilt following a fireworks mishap during Brookfest in 2005.

According to Sbiral, each of those projects must also provide storm water detention that measures up to MWRD requirements. The village's engineering firm, Edwin Hancock Engineering is working on completing those specifications, said Sbiral. The cost for that work is not included in the $49,000 required for the new work at Ehlert Park.

"Whoever did the village permitting would be responsible for contacting MWRD," said Sbiral in an e-mail response to questions about the older projects. "Typically on projects like this, that would have been the architect or general [contractor] for the fire department project or possibly the village engineer, depending on the project. Someone at some level should know the requirements for doing projects in Cook County."

Sbiral joined the village as the village's assistant manager and director of building and planning in 2006.

Brookfield broke ground on the 5.67-acre park improvement project in the fall of 2007 after inking a $1.1 million contract with the Kenneth Company. The village bought the property, originally across Sunnyside Avenue from Jaycee/Ehlert Park proper, in 2004 for $2.15 million from Brookfield-Lyons School District 103.

That purchase was funded in part by a $750,000 federal Open Space Lands Acquisition and Development (OSLAD) grant. The village received another OSLAD grant for just under $400,000 in 2006 for developing the open field into a park that will include a soccer fields, a baseball field, bocce court, skate park, pavilion and walking paths.

Officials say they expect the project to wrap up in early August.

Brookfield police charged a 13-year-old Brookfield boy with aggravated arson on May 21 for a fire the boy allegedly set inside an S.E. Gross School bathroom on May 7.

Police and Brookfield and LaGrange Fire Department personnel responded to the school around noon on May 7 after a small fire was discovered in a third-floor bathroom stall on the southwest end of the school, 3524 Maple Ave.

Brookfield-LaGrange Park District 95 Superintendent Thomas Hurlburt said that a student notified a teacher of the fire. One teacher pulled a fire alarm while another went into the bathroom and doused the fire.

By the time Brookfield fire personnel arrived on the scene, the school had been evacuated and the fire extinguished. Fire Chief Patrick Lenzi said there was smoke in the third-floor hallway and the bathroom.

While the source of the fire was a roll of toilet paper, "it smoked things up pretty good," Lenzi said.

Police reported that the fire damaged a toilet paper dispenser and stall partitions, whose replacement value was listed at just over $212.

Students remained outside the building for roughly 20 minutes as firefighters ventilated the third-floor. After that students reentered the building and school resumed as usual.

"The students responded and staff responded, so evacuation was extremely smooth," Hurlburt said.

Over the next two weeks, school officials began to piece the facts of the incident together through the help of students. A disciplinary hearing was set for the evening of May 20, but was canceled.

The next day the boy, who is not being identified because he is a juvenile, was taken into custody at school in the presence of his father.

Earlier that morning, the boy reportedly confessed the act to Principal Todd Fitzgerald. Police reported that several students previously came forward to school officials claiming that the boy told them he had set the fire.

The boy has been suspended through the rest of the school year, according to Hurlburt, and the district is pursuing disciplinary measures.

"We'll exhaust what's in our rights to do what's appropriate with this child," said Hurlburt, who would not confirm the grade the boy was in. "The board, administrators and teachers take this extremely seriously."

Brookfield police petitioned the boy to Cook County Juvenile authorities. After being held overnight, the boy was released to the custody of his parents after a detention hearing on May 22.

Aggravated arson is a Class X felony in Illinois. If the boy were charged as an adult, he could have faced six to 30 years in prison, if convicted. As a juvenile, the boy, if convicted, could be sentenced to anything from probation to detention for a time in the Cook County juvenile facility

What is going on in Brookfield? Six fires in one week!!!

Five fires set on Brookfield's north end
4-30-08
On the afternoon of Sunday, April 27 someone appears deliberately to have set five fires on the north end of Brookfield, one of which seriously damaged a garage.

The fires were all reported between 1:40 p.m. and 4:20 p.m., the majority of them started in garbage receptacles next to garages. Fire Department personnel responded to fires at 3222 Maple Ave. and 3215 Arthur Ave. just after 1:40 p.m. In both cases, someone started fires in the plastic garbage cans. The garage at 3215 Arthur Ave. suffered some charred paint.

Just after 3 p.m., the fire department responded to 3309 Arthur Ave. and 3228 Arthur Ave. where garbage cans were ablaze. Fire damaged the garage at 3309 Arthur Ave., while smoke and fire damaged items inside the structure.

At 4:20 p.m., emergency personnel responded to 3120 Arthur Ave. In that incident a pile of mulch beside the garage had been set afire, doing minor damage to the siding.

Brookfield home sustains major damage in fire
Family escapes unharmed; cause still under investigation
4-30-08

Fire heavily damaged a south side Brookfield home on the afternoon of April 24, with high winds whipping flames to the property's detached garage, charring it as well.

Emergency personnel from Brookfield police and fire departments responded to the blaze at 4301 Vernon Ave. just after 3:30 p.m. when they saw smoke billowing from the area near the intersection of Vernon and Shields avenues, a half block east of Brookfield's main firehouse.

Lenzi said that three family members, a mother and her son and daughter, were at home when the fire started and that all escaped injury. Family pets were also rescued from the home, Lenzi said.

A Brookfield police officer reported that he was on patrol in the 8900 block of Shields Avenue when he saw flames coming through the slats of a wood fence at 4301 Vernon Ave.

Opening the gate, he reported seeing a tan plastic garbage can on fire under the deck stairs.

In all, 15 emergency vehicles responded to the fire along with personnel from a dozen communities. Vehicles and personnel from three other communities, meanwhile, were called to the village to man the fire stations as Brookfield firefighters battled the flames.

It took 20 minutes for firefighters to get the flames under control, said Lenzi and the entire main floor of the home was damaged by fire, smoke and water. A portion of the roof on the east side of the house collapsed. The upper portion of the garage also sustained heavy fire damage.

Lenzi said the fire appears to have started in the vicinity of the raised deck attached to the rear of the house, but that the exact cause of the blaze was still under investigation.

Two years ago, in April 2006, the home directly south of 4301 Vernon Ave. sustained major damage as the result of a fire.

Building department forced closed for two days because of too many FOIAs

What are the employees at the Village Hall trying to hide or cover up?
Where is the open and transparent government that Garvey promised?

4-18-2008
Brookfield’s building department was forced to shut down for two days while staff worked around the clock to gather a voluminous amount of material to fill Freedom of Information Act requests from one individual.

The Freedom of Information Act provides that any person has the right to request access to agency records or information. Village President Mike Garvey said there have been more than 40 FOIA requests from one individual since the beginning of the year. The department had to close Wednesday and Thursday to fill some of those requests in the seven-day time period required by law.

“The average resident who knows nothing about this is going to be affected the most,” Garvey said. “They may not understand why the building department is unavailable.”

Building permits usually take about 24 hours to complete, but now residents are going to have to wait three days.

All those people in the building department and nothing getting done. Why?

Riverside resident and Brookfield business and property owner Steve Campbell said he has submitted the requests because he wants to unveil any corruption in the village government. The majority of his requests include zoning code violations and special assessments, he said.

Why are they taking so long? What are they trying to hide or cover up?

“I am the one who has submitted over 40 FOIAs because I am investigating what appears to be a very corrupt and self-serving administration,” Campbell said.

Terry Mutchler, the Illinois attorney general’s public access counselor who handles matters regarding freedom of information, said it’s unique to hear of a public body closing their doors to fill FOIA requests. In her five years on the job, she’s never heard of such a situation.

“On one hand, we applaud (the public body) for the attempt to comply, but it needs to be able to operate while compiling a FOIA,” Mutchler said. “They should be looking a little more critically at the request.”

She said the requests seem extreme and the village should consider whether the request is unduly burdensome.

Brookfield Village Manager Riccardo Ginex said Campbell has prohibited three employees from doing their work because their time is spent filling the FOIA request.

“I have a box full of files for him to come and view. That was two and half weeks ago and he never viewed them,” Ginex said.

Campbell said the village has not provided him with any notice that there are documents ready to view, and said the village is grand-standing with its two-day closure.

“I am investigating sub-standard performance by employees, and they don’t like it,” Campbell said.

Comments from Residents …
Sheila
04-18-2008
Yep, grandstanding, and maybe a little "lock the doors and hide the incriminating documents" work?

Mags
04-19-2008
Freedom isn't free. A citizen has every right to ask for and receive these documents and receive them in a timely manner. Maybe you will want to access documents to, for example, ascertain if your real estate taxes are being calculated properly. You might have a deadline to meet to avoid penalties. The workers should remember who REALLY signs their paycheck and quit grumbling about having to do their jobs.

Sandy & Pam
04-21-2008
The Village of Brookfield Building dept was "forced to shut down" in order to gather a "voluminous amount of material" for FOIA requests???? Sounds a bit melodramatic. So, it takes one person's "voluminous" requests to put the VOB Building Dept into a tailspin and shut it down for 2 days? Glad this person didn't ask for any FOIAs from the Police or Fire Dept. seems like grandstanding to me.......perhaps they do have something to hide? If there is corruption, then it should become public knowledge. Let's not have the village officials hide behind the "we're over worked" excuse. Looks like damage control. Do your job and quit whining to the media.

Lee Vassos
04-21-2008
Why is this particular business man being harassed by the Village of Brookfield? What about all the other business owners that have peeling paint, gutters that need cleaning, etc. Seems to me this business man has the right to not only file FOI Requests but also a Discrimination Charge with the Attorney Generals Office. Corrupt is Corrupt. What are you guys afraid of?? Ginex better clean up his act quickly!!

Joe O'ryan
04-21-2008
I agree with Lee shouldn't we require accountability in government? Maybe an investigative reporter would be interested in this story?

Wil Brennan
04-22-2008
Fortunately, there is a law regarding freedom of information. Many items of interest are not reported accurately or fully and a citizen has the right to know. The unfortunate response to FOIA's has been inspections by the "blight police" as retaliation.

Shaun Pace
04-22-2008
Forced to shut down seems pretty extreme. Maybe someone should've been Forced to file the request 4 months ago, but that just seems too simple. Mr. Garvey is complaining that there has been more than 40 FOIA requests from 1 person since the beginning of the year. You would think that after 4 months the person would've received at least 1 of the requests, but maybe he'll get one since the office was shut down for 2 days so they can file (shred) some papers.

Bill Russ
04-23-2008
The Village Manager should quit complaining about the staff being over worked and follow the laws. After all everybody at the Village Hall is making some big bucks!

New business; no parking

Is this what happens when you donation big money to the P.E.P. Party campaign fund?

4- 21- 2008
A potential Brookfield sports bar and grill owner is seeking a variance from village ordinance requiring the business to have more than 40 dedicated parking spaces — something that’s a little tough to find on Grand Boulevard.

Martin Serwinski, owner of the proposed bar and grill — now a vacant and boarded-up property at 3747 and 3747 1/2 Grand Blvd. — said he doesn’t anticipate a parking problem if his patrons share parking on Grand Boulevard with other businesses on the street. Serwinski said he believes other business owners are under the assumption he wants to take over 43 of the public parking spaces for his use only.

“People are misconstrued that they think I am getting 43 spots; I don’t own the parking,” Serwinski said. “The village owns it.”

The village requires a certain number of spaces for tavern and restaurant use based on the total square footage, the number of bar stools and the number of employees. Serwinski is requesting a variance to reduce the required number of parking spaces for his restaurant and bar.

Village Manager Rick Ginex said the village controls parking spaces, and other business owners want specified spaces. He said that allocated spaces are not possible since no one has private, off-street parking.

“We have a lot of commuter lots we use for commuters and employees,” Ginex said. “We don’t have the area for parking decks.

Keith Sbiral, director of building and codes for Brookfield, agreed that 43 private parking spaces would not be feasible. But he said the village staff understands there’s a hardship concerning the zoning requirements and the availability of private parking ownership.

In the past he believes the staff may have counted the public parking as spaces eligible in the zoning requirements; however, Sbiral said, this is not allowed.

“The variation will move forward with a positive staff recommendation,” Sbiral said.

Serwinski doesn’t believe there will be parking issues when his restaurant opens. He said the sports bar and grill will be a nice sit-down and family oriented spot during the day and early evening.

The restaurant will turn into a bar in the evening and will allow adults the chance to enjoy a game and the nightlife, which he believes will bring more people into the area to see what Brookfield has to offer.

Ticket fees about to go up in village

Brookfield is almost bankrupt and needs more (cash) revenue!
All those people hired from Dupage County working in Village Managers office make big bucks!

4-18-2008
Ticket fees may increase if a proposed ordinance is passed at the next Village Board meeting in Brookfield.

Brookfield’s Police Chief Steven Stelter said fees have not been raised in 15 years and the department hopes the hike will make people take note of — and abide by — the laws.

“The goal is not to generate revenue,” Stelter said. “(We are trying) to get people to comply with the law.

(Somebody should tell this guy that everything else in the Village of Brookfield is about revenue. The Village is almost broke; we all know it is all about the revenue!)

Mike Garvey, Brookfield’s village president, said any money made will go to support the Police Department. He said any revenue will help cover the cost of having an officer out on the street enforcing the rules.

(So Garvey it is about the revenue)

“We are not going to buy new vehicles or buildings,” Garvey said. “(The increase) will cover cost of employees and having fuel.”

Stelter said the ticket fees that will increase are: parking tickets from $20 to $35, compliance tickets from $10 to $20, police security at events from $46 to $60 an hour, and a new false alarm ticket will range from $100 to $200.

Garvey said the new false alarm policy will ensure business owners and residents check their alarm system to make sure they are in working order. Many businesses and homes in the village have security alarms, and when the alarm sounds, police respond.

Stelter said if officers respond to one location four to five times, the fine will be $100 and if the alarm goes off six or more times the fee will rise to $200.

“We looked at and found a lot of fees and policies that were never reviewed,” Garvey said.

The ticket fee increase ordinance is expected to be voted on at the April 28 board meeting.

Southview Avenue paving project lives in legal limbo
Even if land deal OK’d, Brookfield runs risk paving street in ’08
4-16-2008

Soggy following last week’s rains, Southview Avenue just east of McCormick Avenue was covered with water-filled potholes.
Parts below taken from the Landmark
Of all the streets in Brookfield, one of the most forlorn, historically, has been Southview Avenue in the Hollywood section of the village, between McCormick and Woodside avenues.

More alley than roadway, it has never had curbs or gutters, pooling rainwater on the north parkway and in driveways. West of McCormick Avenue, the street has a curb on the north side of the street, which has made a dramatic difference.

East of Rosemear Avenue, the street has finally failed. Since mid-winter the pockmarked blacktop has been covered completely with gravel to level out the driving surface. It's an effort that's had little success. First, a brutal winter and, later, driving rains have made the street a pothole-laden swamp.

"Ever since they put the gravel down it's been worse," said Sylvia Gross, who has lived in her home on McCormick Avenue for 52 years. "My driveway is in a mess."

Village officials say they are confident that the street could be rebuilt this year, but the project was scheduled to be completed in 2007 and has been twisting in the wind of a legal issue that still hasn't been resolved.

Part of the Southview Avenue improvement project involves widening the street by acquiring a 3-foot wide and 1,000-foot long piece of property that extends from Woodside Road to the alley just west of Rosemear Avenue.

Acquiring that property will allow the village to widen the parkway on the north side of Southview Avenue by three feet, shifting the street south. The new street would have a curb and gutter on both sides to address drainage issues.

Without the additional three feet on the south side of the street, the village would have to remove most of the 23 trees on the north parkway to provide room for a curb and gutter.

The trouble is, officials are not at all sure who owns that narrow strip of land they covet.

"If I knew the answer to that, this would be a lot simpler issue," said Village Attorney Richard Ramello.

The land does not belong to the Cook County Forest Preserve District despite the fact that the land immediately south of the 3-foot strip is forest preserve land. The oddly shaped parcel has been on the books and in private hands since at least the early 1900s, according to Ramello.

There is some belief that the parcel may have been created as a so-called "spite strip" to block the development or expansion of the property south of Southview Avenue.

The theory, though Ramello said it wouldn't hold up today in a court of law, is that by creating the 3-foot strip, one could prevent street access from Southview Avenue to property south of the street, thus blocking development.

Since September 2007, the village has begun two parallel strategies to acquire the land. The first seeks to obtain the property through the Cook County No-Cash Bid Program, which allows municipalities to acquire tax-delinquent property at no cost.

According to Ramello, real estate taxes have not been paid on the property for the past 15 years. The total amount owned for the taxes is roughly $8,500, said Ramello.

Brookfield concurrently has been pursuing eminent domain to acquire the property. If an owner comes forward to block the eminent domain proceedings, it could result in a lengthy delay.

In late March, Cook County notified Brookfield that its no-cash bid for the property had been forwarded to the Tax Delinquency Subcommittee for approval. If all goes well Brookfield could receive its certificate of purchase by the end of April.

According to Ramello, however, that doesn't mean the issue is dead. There's a six-month period during which taxes can still be redeemed by the owner-whoever that is.

The property was held in a real estate trust that has since lapsed, and Ramello said that neither the title company that held the trust nor village has any idea who owns the property.

If Brookfield wants Southview Avenue to be completed in 2008, officials are going to have to risk someone coming along and redeeming the taxes after the street is built. Or they could wait until 2009.

WHY CAN’T WE LOOK FOR VOLUNTEERS TO RESTORE THIS WAR MEMORIAL? THE VFW, THE BEAUTIFICATION COMMITTEE OR CONSERVATION COMMITTEE?
… WHY?- NOBODY ASKED THEM!

Memorial to get facelift
Firm that painted U-505 to restore Sabre jet in Ehlert Park
4-9-2008 Landmark
A Korean War-era jet that stands as a war memorial in a Brookfield park will get a much-needed face-lift this spring and the work could be finished prior to Memorial Day.

Village Manager Riccardo Ginex announced last week that the village will spend just over $8,500 to have the jet repainted, courtesy of the same company responsible for the exterior paint job of the U-505 submarine on display at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.

Summer Street work to begin but only ONE block south of the tracks will be done!

Brookfield street work to begin mid-month
Parts of Oak, Vernon, Garfield avenues to be completely rebuilt
4-1-2008
By BOB UPHUES
Street improvement projects in Brookfield will begin in a matter of weeks after village trustees voted to award a $1.55 million construction contract for the work at their board meeting March 24.

Village Engineer Derek Treichel said that work on seven blocks of village streets should begin "mid-April" and is scheduled to wrap up any time from mid-August to early September.

Letters detailing the effort will be sent to residents of the blocks where construction is to occur. Among the streets affected will be Oak Avenue and Vernon Avenue from Garfield Avenue to 31st Street; Garfield Avenue from Maple Avenue to Prairie Avenue; Forest Avenue from Brookfield Avenue to Lincoln Avenue; and Grove Avenue from Shields Avenue to Rochester Ave.

BROOKFIELD GOES INTO THE HOUSE RENTAL BUSINESS WITH TAX-PAYER DOLLARS. WHAT IS THE LIBRARY BOARD THINKING AND WHO MADE OUT ON THIS BACKROOM DEAL?
THE PRESIDENT OF THE LIBRARY BOARD SHOULD RESIGN!

Library looking to rent Arden Ave. house
3-25-2008 Landmark
Having failed to get a single offer on the home it owns at 3507 Arden Ave., the Brookfield Library Board is now seeking to rent out the home and holds out hope for a buyer to step up in a very weak housing market. (Looks like taxpayer dollars are going to waste here)

Last week the Library's Board of Trustees passed a resolution authorizing the library to rent the home with the option of terminating the lease with 60 days notice.

The Library Board passed the resolution because they had someone who had expressed interest in renting the home; however, on Monday library public relations coordinator Carol Mattar said that the interested party would not be renting the home after all because they had found somewhere else to live.

In December the library put the home up for sale, but specified a minimum bid of $410,000. It received no bids. Now the library is willing to entertain all offers but has still has yet to receive an offer according to Mattar.

The library bought the home for $400,000 last summer as part of a plan to assemble land for a new library building. That plan has been abandoned, and the library is looking for other sites.

"The board's goal is to sell the home," said Library Board President Jonathan Platt.

However renting the home would generate some income as the library looks for a buyer.

"The idea is that we can generate some income form the property and maintain the ability to sell," said Platt.

In order to save money, the library is trying to sell the home itself without using a real estate broker. It has not specified a new minimum price that it is now willing to accept nor has it disclosed the rent it would charge if it can find a renter.

"We don't anticipate taking anything that we would consider too low," said Platt.

Peraica's son gets jail time for 2007 DUI
Candidate calls jail sentence ‘very disturbing’
3-19-2008

“Marko Peraica” County Employee	“Tony Peraica” Cook County Commissioner

The son of Cook County Commissioner and Riverside resident Tony Peraica was sentenced to 30 days in Cook County Jail and two years conditional discharge for a 2007 driving under the influence conviction.

Marko Peraica, 27, was convicted of DUI in a bench trial last year in connection with an accident that occurred on Oct. 11, 2007 on southbound I-294 near I-290. Peraica was improperly changing lanes when his car clipped another vehicle, according to a spokesperson for the Cook County State's Attorney's Office.

State Police reported that Peraica appeared intoxicated, but he refused to submit to sobriety tests.

A pre-sentence investigation prior to Marko Peraica's March 13 sentencing date included a drug test, which he failed. He tested positive for both marijuana and cocaine, according to the state's attorney's spokesperson.

Last Friday, Tony Peraica, who is the Republican candidate for Cook County State's Attorney in November, said the jail time ordered by Associate Judge Domenica Stephenson was "very disturbing."

While it was Marko Peraica's first conviction for DUI, the October 2007 incident was not his first arrest for the offense. Marko Peraica was arrested on Sept. 29 in Brookfield and charged with DUI after a traffic stop in the 8900 block of Ogden Avenue. Peraica also refused all sobriety tests in that incident.

Marko Peraica is employed as a clerk for the Cook County Circuit Court. He also performs as a hip-hop DJ under the name "The Oracle." According to his web site, he was scheduled to perform at a night club in Miami next week.

Blighted building back in village's sights
Small fire uncovers over a decade of problems on Ogden Ave.
3-12-2008

It took a minor fire, but the owners of a blighted building on Ogden Avenue that has been the source of complaints for nearly a decade have been put on notice by the Village of Brookfield that they must bring the structure into compliance.

Firefighters were called to 9508 Ogden Ave. around 3 p.m. on March 4 after several emergency calls about fire seen coming from the roof of the two-story, brick building, which has two vacant commercial spaces on the ground floor and residential units above.

The fire was started, said Chief Patrick Lenzi, by roofers using a propane torch on the northwest corner of the roof. By the time fire personnel arrived the roofers had doused the blaze on the roof, but firefighters poked holes through the roof and used a thermal imaging camera to make sure the fire hadn't spread. Lenzi also reported that there was a haze of smoke in the second-floor hallway.

But firefighters also uncovered something else. First, the roofing work had not been permitted by the village. Second, there was evidence that eight one-room apartments were being occupied on the second floor of the building; despite the fact the village had declared such an arrangement illegal as recently as October 2004.

"The building's got so many violations at this point, we're going to have to look at some kind of comprehensive solution for this," said Assistant Village Manager Keith Sbiral, who also serves as the director of the village's Building Department.

The building department slapped "stop work" notices on the windows of the first-floor immediately after the fire, and village building inspectors and Sbiral were inside the structure last Friday.

"It's a dangerous place to be," Sbiral said.

Brookfield Library may take a hit on home sale
After no bids surface for Arden Ave. site, officials will field all offers
3-5-2008

“Tax payer Purchased House for Sale or Rent”

With no takers the first time around, Brookfield Public Library officials may be looking to sell property it owns on Arden Avenue at a loss.

At their board meeting Feb. 27, library trustees voted unanimously to approve a resolution that allows the library director to field any offers for the home at 3507 Arden Ave., whether they're above or below the library's original asking price of $410,000.

"Because it's no longer a closed bid, there is no longer a minimum bid," said library board President Jonathan Platt. "People can tender whatever bid they feel is appropriate and the board will follow up on that."

The board was scheduled to open sealed bids on Feb. 27 for the Arden Avenue property, which the library purchased for $400,000 in July 2007. The property was one of five the library sought to create a large enough parcel to build a new facility at the corner of Arden and Washington avenues in the village's Hollywood section.

Prior to putting the property up for sale last December, another $7,500 in improvements were made to the home, resulting in the $410,000 minimum asking price during the sealed bid period, which ended Feb. 26.

However, the library received no bids for the home, prompting the library board to forgo the sealed bid process for an open bid process. Despite the lack of formal sealed bids, Litland said, there has been interest in the property. She said that she has shown it more than a dozen times and that one party has viewed the property at least twice.

Asked if she expected an offer soon from that party, Litland replied, "I would say that is possible. ... It should be [coming] shortly."

Litland declined to name the interested party.

Litland would not confirm whether the library was seeking a lead deal with the Village of Brookfield. In November, Village President Michael Garvey sat in with library trustees on a closed session about land acquisition.

However, Garvey stated last week that "nothing was going on" related to a land deal with the library.

"We're always willing to work with the library if there were options down the road," Garvey said. "The ball is kind of in the library's court at this time."

NOTE!!! “So we hear” the Village of Brookfield may buy the house???

Brookfield water hike will be 4%

(Section on Brookfield from 1/22/08 Landmark)

At their meeting on Jan. 14, the Brookfield village board voted to increase the village's water rates by 4 percent in 2008, and indicated similar hikes would follow in 2009 and 2010.

In November 2007, the Chicago Water Commission notified suburban customers that due to increased costs for infrastructure maintenance and operations, the cost for water would jump 44 percent between 2008-2010.

That increase did not mean that water bills would be going up that amount, since actual charges for water comprised just part of the municipal water bill.

For example, Brookfield's water rate in 2007 of $3.68 per unit (100 cubic feet of water) included more than charges for the water itself. Administrative and maintenance costs made up $1.57 of that amount.

Beginning with water bills mailed out March 1, Brookfield's water rate will increase to $3.84 per unit. The minimum quarterly bill for Brookfield water customers will rise to $38.40 (based on use of 10 units of water).

Brookfield will also be raising its sewer charge, which is part of the water bill, from $1 to $1.04 per unit. As a result, the total water/sewer rate will be going up 4.3 percent in Brookfield in 2008.

In real dollars, that means that a property owner using an average of 30 units of water per quarter will see the water/sewer portion of his bill increase annually by $20.

Cop contract will go to arbitration
Brookfield officers want to keep12-hour shift schedule

1-8-2008

The last time Brookfield police and village officials fought over a union contract for patrol officers and sergeants, it took 15 months and an independent arbitrator to help get the job done.

It may take even longer for the two sides to get a deal done this time.

Brookfield's police union is preparing to file paperwork to call in another independent arbitrator to break an impasse in contract negotiations over the way police shifts are scheduled in the village.

Police have been working without a contract since April 30, 2007, when a two-year deal ended. But while the two sides have agreed on every other major issue, scheduling remains a stumbling block.

Police rank and file want to retain the 12-hour shifts they have been working since 2004, but the village has imposed its right under the old contract to revert to the eight-hour shift schedule in place prior to that date.

Both sides met for a second time with a federal labor mediator on Jan. 4, but the union decided to break off negotiations and call for an arbitrator to resolve the issue.

Village Manager Riccardo Ginex said that the issue of scheduling was strictly a management issue and that the village didn't understand why scheduling is even an issue.

But the union's lawyer, Gary Bailey, said that while the most recent contract handed that prerogative to management, the union wanted that part of the contract changed. Bailey is an attorney with the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police Labor Council, which represents the Brookfield FOP.

While Bailey said that Brookfield officers will work the eight-hour shifts during 2008, the union will seek to change that from 2009 forward.

"There is a clause in the contract that the village can change the schedule as they see fit," Bailey said. "That's the part we want to renegotiate."

Ginex said the eight-hour shift schedule will cut down on the amount of sick time officers take and increase productivity, while the union maintains that 12-hour shifts put more officers on the street and allows the department to avoid incidence of minimum staffing levels.

He also said that the eight-hour shifts will allow supervisors more contact with officers under their command. Under the 12-hour shift format, an officer works only two or three days at a time with two or three days off in between. Officers also get every other weekend off.

"The command staff found that communication in the entire department was lacking," Ginex said.

There's also a cost issue, Ginex added. If an officer calls in sick, a replacement costs the department 12 hours and time-and-a-half rather than eight. According to the 2006-07 village audit, Brookfield paid some $27,000 more in police overtime than it budgeted, a number attributable to the shift arrangement, according to Ginex. Numbers were not available for the eight-month 2007 fiscal year, which just ended.

Under the eight-hour shift format, officers work five days, get two off, work five days and get three off.

"Each schedule has its advantages," said Police Chief Steven Stelter, who walked into the labor dispute when he was hired late in 2007.

"It gives employees a significant amount of time off and they work fewer days throughout the year. But it's hard to keep continuity and communication tends to break down."

But the 12-hour shifts make the community safer, said Bailey, explaining that half of the force is on duty at any one time instead of one-third.

"What we're proposing is putting more people on the streets," Bailey said. "We still haven't heard a good reason why the 12-hour shifts didn't make any sense.

"It's not only beneficial to the officers, but to citizens."

While no one is sure just how long it's going to take for an arbitrator to make a ruling on the issue of the shift scheduling, it's likely to remain unresolved until mid-2008, according to Bailey.

Any pay increases which have already been agreed upon by both sides will have to wait until a new contract is finalized.

"The raises won't kick in until this is over," Bailey said. "That's how strongly they feel about this.

Brookfield seeks 7% property tax levy hike
12-19-2007

Brookfield's village trustees on Dec. 10 voted to approve a 7-percent property tax levy extension for 2007; property taxes levied in 2007 will be collected in 2008.

However, Brookfield is unlikely to get a property tax hike of 7 percent due to tax cap legislation, which caps annual tax increases to either 5 percent or the Consumer Price Index, whichever is smaller. The tax cap rate for 2007 is 3.3 percent. Brookfield, like many other municipalities, is asking for more than the cap amount in order to capture tax revenue from new construction, which is taxed at the full amount for the first year it comes on the tax rolls.

"If we don't attempt to capture all of the tax dollars, we will not come close to capturing what we need to pay for operating costs," said Village Manager Riccardo Ginex.

Brookfield expects to collect roughly $7 million in property taxes to fund village operations and another $1.3 million to fund the Brookfield Public Library. In 2007, Brookfield collected roughly $6.5 million in property taxes to fund village operations. The reason the village expects to collect so much more in 2008 is that the equalized assessed value of properties in the village has gone up by some $4.4 million.

"We hope to capture 4.6 percent more in dollars for the village alone this year," said Ginex. "With the library added in the total is 5.01 percent. But we won't know the actual levy until mid-2008."

Just a big pile of problems
THE LANDMARK VIEW
11-28-2008

If it's autumn (well, it's actually getting more and more like winter every day) then there must be a huge, stinking pile of leaves somewhere in Brookfield. Kind of like a game of Russian roulette, you never know just when it's going to go off in your neighborhood.

This year it's at the corner of DuBois Boulevard and Burlington Avenue next to the Congress Park train station. Trucks come and go regularly, either dumping loads of the rotting plant material onto the pile or noisily carting some of them away. And, man, it stinks. We quite frankly don't know how the people who live nearby-and there's one apartment building about 10 yards away-put up with it For the past two years, the giant leaf pile was out of sight, out of mind. The village got a bonus gift from Brookfield Zoo, which let the village use a parking lot as a temporary leaf-holding area. That was great, but it wasn't a permanent solution. Four years ago, the leaf pile was directly between several apartment buildings and businesses near 47th Street and Vernon Avenue. That turned out to not only be a neighborhood nuisance but a political pain in the neck.

There has been some mention made of paving the village's Public Works lot on Eberly Avenue and storing the leaves there permanently in the future. While that makes some sense in theory, the practice may be just as flawed. After all, that lot is just an alley's width from a residential neighborhood. Those people are going to be thrilled when the prevailing west winds blow that smell into their backyards and kitchen windows.

Actually, we're not so certain that the village collecting the leaves is such a great idea. Oh, sure, residents can rake the leaves into the gutter and go back inside, but do you see what the trucks leave behind when they're done scraping the leaves from the street? It ain't pretty. What happens when the snows come early, like in 2006? Piles of leaves on the street frozen in snow.

This is what comes of politicians trying to lure voters with promises of doing their yard work for them. It's a great idea, except for the not-having-a-place-to-put-the-leaves part.

So what the village needs is a comprehensive plan for either collecting leaves raked into the village's streets, have residents rake up the leaves and put them out in the alley where the village's waste hauler will pick them up (heck, they'll do that right now) or change the village's waste hauling contract and have the waste hauler collect the leaves without having to store them in the village.

Of course, that'll cost more money-which will be passed on to residents-but you can't get anything for free. Witness the current situation.

Getting your leaves collected for free by the village is great-until they dump the rest of the village's debris next door. Those folks? They're paying the price.

Leaves piling up on former Moose Lodge lot
Village, developer say no deal discussed
11-6-2007

Photo by Bob Uphues

A mountain was born in this neighborhood in the fall.

When Brookfield residents rake their leaves into the street each fall and a big truck carts the leaf piles away, most never give a thought to what happens with them after that. For many years, the leaves were simply piled behind village hall until the old "berm" (a kind word for dump) was removed earlier this decade.

In 2003, leaves suddenly became an issue when the village began dumping them on a piece of village-owned property behind the 4600 block of Vernon Avenue. A business owner lodged a complaint, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency got involved, it became an issue in the press. The leaves were removed, but the annual tap dance of where to put them remained.

For the past two years, Brookfield has hauled its leaves to Brookfield Zoo, which allowed the village to use a parking lot to store them before other trucks could come by and remove them.

This year, the leaves are back in a more conspicuous place, specifically in the old Brookfield Moose parking lot in the 4000 block of DuBois Boulevard. Snow fencing, anchored in sand barrels and forming a perimeter around the lot, was erected a couple of weeks ago. In the past week, trucks carrying loads of leaves come and go throughout the day. Occasionally a semi-tractor comes in to collect a portion of what's there.

By last Friday afternoon there were two distinct piles, both some 6 feet high or more. Downwind, the acrid scent of decomposing leaves was powerful. While the site is near Ogden Avenue, the lot is surrounded by residential structures. A six-unit apartment building at 9509 Burlington Ave. sits just yards from the leaves.

"I thought they had a lot of nerve to do that without letting us know," said Mary Farina, who lives across the street from the old Moose lot. While her home has been upwind of the leaf piles, she complained about the noise of trucks bringing leaves to the site "all day long."

"When they put the netting up, I thought, good, they're going to tear [the old Moose building] down," Farina said. "But they don't seem to care about this side of town much."

At some point, the Moose Lodge will be demolished. The owner of the property, Michael Beckerman, currently has a townhome plan under consideration by the village. The village board is expected to discuss the preliminary plan for the development, which was recommended for approval by the village's Plan Commission, on Nov. 12.

In fact, it was the assistant village manager, Keith Sbiral, who is also the head of the village's Building and Planning department, who approached Beckerman about using the asphalt lot for temporary leaf storage. Brookfield Zoo did not extend the invitation to the village this year and the village's public works lot, which may have been a logical place, is unpaved. One requirement for storage according to the IEPA was that the area must be paved.

"We were in a tight situation, the outlay to pave the public works lot was expensive and not in our budget, and this lot was available,' Sbiral said. "There was no (official) agreement made. I just asked Mike if he would do it to help the village in this situation."
Beckerman said that he was happy to oblige the village and that he didn't feel in any way pressured to accept the invitation because of his pending development application.

"It was pretty simple," Beckerman said. "They called and mentioned they had a need, and I said sure. That was it; I'm not using the lot. All along I've done anything I could to be a good neighbor."

According to Sbiral, this year's solution is a temporary one. The way the village collects leaves will be reviewed for next year, he said, and may be part of the village's contract discussions with its trash hauler as it works out a new deal.

He also said that a portion if not all of the public works lot should be paved in the future, which could solve some of the problem of finding a place for leaves each year.

As for how long leaves will be piled up on DuBois Boulevard, it shouldn't last much more than a month, and leaves shouldn't remained piled there indefinitely.

"Our commitment to Mike [Beckerman] was to keep it moving fast," Sbiral said. "We don't want to fill the lot and leave them there."

Silence Golden?
THE LANDMARK VIEW
7/24/07
Time was when Brookfield's village board meetings were lively affairs where there was a lot of give and take between trustees. The talk didn't always center around an actual policy issues and more often than not strayed into political speechmaking. But at least you knew where people stood.

Maybe we're jumping the gun here in believing a new trend has developed, but during the meetings since the April election that swept PEP into complete control of the village board, you can hear a pin drop when it comes to trustees discussing issues.

During the two meetings in July for example, trustees have silently considered issues relating to everything from imposing new property taxes to creating liquor licenses. Twice in the past two meetings, trustees have failed to even bring issues to a vote due to the lack of a motion or a second. While it would appear obvious where the trustees stand on those issues, we suppose, it'd be nice to hear why.

On Aug. 13, the village board will vote unanimously to impose a new property tax to fund special recreation activities and make up the difference on the cost of developing Ehlert Park. We're sure there are excellent reasons for doing both things, and we'd like to hear trustees tell residents just why that is.

Believe us, we're not pining for the days when trustees bickered with each other and revised history to suit political ends. What we're asking is that the board discuss issues, weigh in on their points of view, suggest changes, ask questions, proffer opinions on why something might or might not be appropriate.

Silence does make for nice, short meetings. But they're also short on clues to how elected officials process information and make decisions. That, we presume, is not the goal.

Residents Say Keep Hollywood Quiet, Residential
Little support for commercial/high-density residential development on Brookfield Ave.
By BOB UPHUES
7/17/2007
The Hollywood section of Brookfield is a quiet neighborhood known for its tree-lined streets and single-family homes. And it ought to stay that way.

That was the message roughly 100 residents sent to village officials last Thursday night during a two-hour town hall meeting that focused on everything from mass transit to commercial and residential development to traffic to the Brookfield Public Library to the relationship of the neighborhood with its most famous neighbor, the Brookfield Zoo.

In what was mostly an amiable give and take between residents and the village's planning staff, citizens sent the message that the key to Hollywood's future was strengthening its single-family character and abandoning any hope for economic redevelopment of its tiny commercial strip on Brookfield Avenue.

That now-obsolete retail strip was identified as ripe for commercial and residential development in the Brookfield 2020 Master Plan adopted by the village in 2005. But the district's antiquated zoning and secluded location have made it difficult for retail and service businesses to succeed.

The master plan envisioned the area taking greater advantage of the commuter rail stop at Hollywood Avenue to draw visitors going to Brookfield Zoo and to build higher-density housing to support businesses in the area.

"This is a quiet residential area," said resident Neil McDonald, who is also a member of the village's Zoning Board of Appeals. "You can't impose an economic development plan on it to make it a commercial theme park of 'Welcome to Zoo Land'. The zoo's not going to get any closer to the train."

Resident Mike Glazik said that one of the master plan's weaknesses was that it relied too heavily on a relationship between the Hollywood train station and Brookfield Zoo.

"It makes a big deal out of using the Hollywood station to connect with the zoo," Glazik said. "I see no advantage in hundreds of people [walking through Hollywood] to get to the zoo."

Keith Sbiral, the village's assistant manager and the head of its Building and Planning Department, suggested that perhaps the Hollywood section should not be part of the Brookfield 2020 Master Plan at all, since the master plan is an economic development document.

"Maybe a Hollywood neighborhood plan would be more appropriate," Sbiral said. "If there's no economic viability and you need to build condos to sustain the businesses, maybe you don't want the businesses at all."

Instead of seeking retail uses for the few commercial structures at the east end of Brookfield Avenue, residents suggested trying to attract professionals to set up offices there rather than retail. John Benedetto, owner of Johnny B's Bar and Grill at 8436 Brookfield Ave., said that the zoning needed to be updated to make that transition possible.

Currently the zoning district allows for such uses as gas stations, but doesn't allow professional offices. The zoning, in other words, no longer matches the reality of the district as a commercial area.

Residents were four-square in agreement about prohibiting high-density housing in the neighborhood. That sentiment was consistent with fall's uproar over a proposed five-story, 60-unit condominium building at 8544 Brookfield Ave. In addition to limiting construction to 2.5 stories, resident also suggested that the village should encourage the construction of more single-family homes and should tighten the zoning code to prohibit the construction of oversized homes as a result of teardowns.

"Teardowns could be an opportunity or a threat," Sbiral said. "We need to look at it before it hits the village."

Residents also appeared nearly unanimous in their opposition to building a new public library in the northwest corner of the Hollywood section at Washington and Arden avenues. While last Thursday's meeting was intended to focus more on the neighborhood's small commercial area, the library was an inevitable subject as talk turned to future threats to the area.

Mention of the library as a threat drew the biggest applause of the evening. It also drew an impassioned defense of the library board from Sandra Baumgartner, the president of the Friends of the Brookfield Library.

"They know this plan might fall through," Baumgartner said of the library trustees, "but they felt they didn't have time to go through the community process. But in spite of the perception, there's no done deal."

The library board is expected to close on the purchase of a piece of residential property at 3507 Arden Ave. late this month. Other similar land purchases may follow.

Sbiral said that the information from Thursday's meeting will inform amendments to the zoning code, and that work on making the code more clearly reflect the wishes of neighborhood residents should begin in earnest by late August.

Library Takes Heat Over Land Buy
Residents suggest other locations, want more input
By BOB SKOLNIK
7-10-07
Approximately 75 people, many agitated and angry, crammed into a small conference room and two overflow rooms to vent their opinions Monday night at the Brookfield Public Library as the library board held a two-hour public hearing concerning its planned purchase of a home at 3507 Arden Ave.

The purchase, which is scheduled to close at the end of this month, is the first of what the library hopes is a series of purchases of up to five private homes in the Hollywood section of Brookfield. The library is planning on eventually tearing down the homes it buys and building a new library to replace its current cramped quarters at 3609 Grand Blvd.

Most of the crowd at the hearing spoke out against the plan, and some expressed outrage that the library board did not consult with the public more before signing an intent to purchase agreement to buy the home at 3507 Arden Ave. for $400,000.

Many complained that the board had already made up its mind. The public hearing was required by law to be held before the purchase of any property.

"You have already made up your mind, and you don't give a damn," said Hollywood resident Frank Drazan.

Others agreed with that comment.

"I think it is audacious of the board to purchase the property without the approval of the voters," said Barb Krueger, one of many who expressed that sentiment at the sometimes loud and contentious meeting.

Some asked why the board would want to purchase homes in the most expensive section of Brookfield.

"We don't have to buy a house in the most expensive part of Brookfield to build a library," said Michelle Huedepohl. "I'm disgusted that they went ahead with these plans."
A few people spoke in support of the plans of the library board.

"We have one of the worst libraries I have seen in my entire life," said Jennifer Perry. "I'm proud of this library board to actually take an innovative step to address this problem."

The current library, built in 1985, is too small, does not have adequate meeting space, and does not have adequate parking Jonathan Platt, the president of the Library Board of Trustees told the crowd.

The largest meeting room at the library has a capacity of only 32 people, a number that was exceeded Monday night. The library does not comply with the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), lacks study rooms, doesn't have enough computer work stations, and has only 10 parking spaces, Platt said.

"I grew up in this area, and I only came to this library a handful of times because it didn't have the materials," said Ariel Steffens.

The library board maintains it needs a new building because the foundation of the current building is not strong enough to support another floor.

"When this library was built it wasn't built to last for 50 years," said board Vice President Margaret Blasage. "It's only a million dollar building. We're trying to keep up with what people want and need in these libraries."

But a few people thought the current library was adequate and saw no need for a new building.

"I don't think this is a good idea," said Ronald Sowa. "I like the library. It doesn't look overloaded to me."

Some suggested various alternative locations for a new library, including the now defunct Paw restaurant at the corner of Brookfield and Hollywood avenues, the now empty Church of the Nazarene church at 4301 Prairie Ave. across the street from Ehlert Park and a few other locations.

Platt said that the library board is still keeping its options open, although he said that the board has a contract pending to buy another house in Hollywood.

Platt agreed that a more central location would be ideal.

"If we could do it in a central location that was financially feasible, we'd do it in a minute," said Platt. "It comes down to what's available in a limited space landlocked village."

The library has a $2 million dollar line of credit from the First National Bank of Brookfield that it can draw upon to finance its purchases, or it can use reserve funds for the first purchase. It plans on renting out the homes it buys until it can mass the necessary land to build a new building.

If the library cannot amass the land to build a new library at its preferred location on Arden, it can always sell the homes it purchases, Blasage said.

"What we've done is give ourselves an option," said Blasage. "Maybe we'll find a better option."

But Platt said that the board has looked at a lot of options already.

"People in their anger have trouble in accepting the fact of how much work we put into looking around," said Platt. "We put a tremendous amount of time looking around."

Platt said that he understood that some people felt the board should have let people know earlier of its plans, but said that public disclosure is not easy to do when discussing real estate transactions.

"We had to think about what we needed to do if we were to develop the library," said Platt. "I definitely understand why people wanted and felt let down that we didn't consult first. On the other hand that's not how a development person works."

Platt repeated Monday that the library is seeking members for a new Library Advisory Committee of citizens, which will advise the library board on plans for the library's future.

Blasage said that the board will soon move to purchase a second home in Hollywood. But she maintained that the board still has an open mind and is willing to look at other options for a new library.

"We are welcoming suggestions," said Blasage. "If there are pieces of property that you think we should consider, please tell us."

Getting Back On Plan
THE LANDMARK VIEW
7/3/2007
Economic development in Brookfield is one of those political footballs that is forever kicked back and forth, often to no avail. Every couple of years it's an important talking point of politicians eager to unseat incumbent candidates, charging that they have done nothing to improve the economic fortunes of the village.

For the most part, the charges are basically accurate. Economic development in Brookfield has occurred strictly according to market forces. And the market has not been particularly generous to Brookfield.

That's why Brookfield's effort back in 2003 and 2004 to formulate a master plan for the village and its commercial areas was such a departure from previous efforts at economic development. It laid out specific (if sometimes overly optimistic) scenarios that could move the village forward and bring its commercial potential into the 21st century.

The trouble is that after two years, little has been done to address key aspects of the master plan that would make it possible for the kind of development envisioned there to actually move ahead. However, the village may be moving on looking at those issues now.

The first stab at addressing the master plan will happen next week at a town hall meeting regarding the Hollywood section of the village and what its future should look like. That is a good idea, but it's also a small idea. While Hollywood is an important and historic neighborhood in the village, it has little in the way of an economic future. Its commercial buildings were built to serve another era, one that will never again exist.

Where the village really needs to focus are on three areas-Ogden Avenue, Grand Boulevard and 47th Street-the areas in the village with the greatest potential for economic opportunity.

In the village budget there is a line item for $75,000 to fund a TIF study. While a TIF could certainly be used to advantage on Ogden Avenue, creating a TIF is a long, sometimes contentious process. It's going to take time for both officials and residents to be educated on the concept of TIFs. And it is almost certain to become political ammunition (the village presidential election is in 2009), which will complicate and slow the process. Best case scenario, a TIF could be created by sometime in mid-2008.

Forty-seventh Street, still relatively untouched, needs attention. Its zoning needs to be updated in order for Brookfield to move on economic opportunities afforded by development across the street in McCook. While that development is still in its beginning stages, it will come, and Brookfield needs to ready to respond with an attractive land use plan for developers.

Momentum in Brookfield's traditional Grand Boulevard downtown has slowed. While it's taking a look at Hollywood, perhaps officials could do the same for Grand Boulevard. What can it look like, what must it look like for the area to succeed. It's time to take the master plan and shape it into reality.

Ehlert Park Plan Estimates 100 Percent Over Budget
Dilemma to scale back or cut other village services
By BOB UPHUES
6-26-2007
Brookfield officials are scrambling to find a way to fund improvements for Jaycee/Ehlert Park after estimates to develop the eastern portion of the park came in over 100 percent higher than budgeted.

Initial estimates pegged the long-awaited park improvements at just under $800,000, but at Monday night's meeting of the village board, trustees received sticker shock when they learned that the plan is now expected to cost over $1.6 million.

The increase in the cost is related to several factors, according to Steven Konters from the Hitchcock Design Group, which is managing the design process for the village. They include increased construction costs since the original plan for the park was mapped out in 2003; costs for field drainage, which weren't included in the original estimates; costs for burying electrical wire, a provision not expected in the original plan; and construction contingency costs, which were originally estimated much lower. The initial estimates also apparently didn't include any costs related to site preparation, including surveys, soil borings and site testing.

"My first reaction to the design was that I was very excited," said Village President Michael Garvey. "Then the price tag came in. We have to figure out what we're going to have to do here."

The village is going to have to find answers to the problem quickly. Assistant Village Manager Keith Sbiral said that the goal is to put the project out to bid in late August. In order for that to happen, he wants the board to approve either cuts to the plan or cuts to other areas of the village's budget to pay for the improvements.

"We'll take the next two weeks to work with Hitchcock and determine where we can make amendments to get a plan that gives us the most value for the money," Sbiral said.

The village acquired the L-shaped park property from School District 103 in 2004 for $2.15 million. Part of that purchase was funded by a $750,000 Open Space Lands Acquisition and Development (OSLAD) grant. A condition of that state grant was that the village began developing the vacant land as a park within three years, or in 2007.

Since the village lacked all of the funds necessary to complete the improvements, which were estimated at roughly $800,000, the village sought and received a second OSLAD grant in 2006 for just under $400,000. The village was responsible for matching that amount.

Hitchcock Design Group, responding to neighbor concerns over the location of a new parking lot and park security, redesigned the plan. The basic elements of the plan remained-a full-size soccer field, junior soccer field, youth baseball diamond, skate park, bocce court, shelter and walking paths-but Hitchcock added provisions for field drainage and onsite water detention and increased lighting among other things.

The parking lot was moved from the corner of Sunnyside and Shields avenues to a site farther south on Sunnyside Avenue to reduce traffic and parking concerns on Shields and Vernonavenues and to place it closer to the full-size soccer field. In addition, the skate park was relocated west of Sunnyside Avenue south of the main fire station to move it farther away from residences and increase opportunities for surveillance by placing it adjacent to the parking lot and fire station.

A naturally landscaped water detention area is slated for the north end of the property, one that will not retain water over long periods of time but will ease drainage on the fields to the south. The park area to the south has drainage which Konters describes as "poor."

What village staff and trustees must now do is decide what, if any, elements they wish to reduce or take out of the plan to lower the cost of construction. To eliminate any elements, however, the village must get approval from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, which administers OSLAD grants in Illinois.

There was some thought given to eliminating the skate park (a $194,000 line item) and replacing it with another, lower cost alternative or reducing its size. Konters also suggested that the parking lot could be reduced in size and less lighting be installed now and phased in later.

"I'm going to ask the staff to mesh this proposal with a budget amendment," Garvey said. "We need to find out how we can make these park improvements without breaking the budget."

LOOKS LIKE THEY DID ALREADY!

One sought relief from a neighbor who, he says, is illegally running a business out of his home and storing potentially dangerous substances on the property. Another was a resident asking the village to address an overcrowding problem in the single-family house next door. The third was a married couple, one which happened to have a tree fall on their garage a couple of weeks ago, alerting the village to another potentially dangerous situation with the neighboring property.

The reason that these people took the extraordinary step of bringing their pleas to the village board is because they don't feel they are getting the response they deserve. Their impression is that the village is somehow protecting those who allegedly flout the village's zoning and blight ordinances, while they are stuck living with problem neighbors.

Village officials are frustrated, too. There are procedures to follow. There are laws that prevent certain actions. Legal action is slow to produce results and consumes staff time and money.

This is the delicate balance every municipality faces. But for residents, these are the problems that really matter. That neighbor who won't fix the broken window, the guy who won't clean up after his dog, the guy who dumps ladders and tarps next to the garage-you grind your teeth and mutter under your breath each time you walk out of the house.

It drives people absolutely crazy.

Is the village doing nothing to help solve the real problem properties in the village? No. It's clear that they are addressing the problems-via letters, blight adjudication hearings, visits from inspectors and, in some cases, police.

What frustrates people most, though, is that they don't see any result. After years of going to hearings and being told the situation is being addressed, the problem is as bad as ever.

That's where the village-not just Brookfield necessarily, but every municipality-has to start putting real pressure on the worst offenders, sooner. If there is a dangerous situation, then the village can't sit back and wait. It should seek a remedy as soon as possible. If that means legal expense and time, then so be it.

If someone is running an illegal construction business out of a home or garage, then, yes, it may take a daily visit by an inspector and constant fines for a number of weeks to get the message across that it's not going to be tolerated.

If four families are living in a single-family home and the village lacks an ordinance to deal with the situation, then it needs to produce one now, before the situation becomes an epidemic.

What people don't want to hear is that there are processes in place and we will continue to follow those processes until the situation is rectified. People want to hear, "Your problem will be solved."

What people want is responsiveness to protect their homes and families and neighborhoods. That's Small Town 101, and Brookfield needs to get better at doing that.

A Tree Falls In Brookfield
Family says village moved too slowly; village says it did everything it could

Photo by Frank Pinc
Crushed: Dan and Mary Flynn stand before a pile of debris that was formerly their garage. After two years of warning that an overhanging tree could fall on the structure, last week it did just that.
By BOB UPHUES
6-13-2007
Back in April 2005, Brookfield resident Mary Flynn wrote a letter to her next door neighbor hinting that the box elder tree towering over their driveway could fall on their garage.

"Your trees are becoming a safety issue for our property and although the cost is high we believe that if nothing is done the cost will be much higher if one of those trees fall on our garage or property."

Nothing was done. Despite pleas to the village to help the Flynns force the removal of the trees and many e-mails back forth to and from village officials for over a year, as of last week, the trees still stood.

On a breezy afternoon last Thursday a tree cracked in two and flattened the Flynns' garage. No one was hurt.

But the Flynns were mad. Mainly at the Village of Brookfield.

"They told us, 'We'd take care of it,'" said Mary Flynn, who for the past seven years has lived in the house on the 9400 block of Monroe Avenue with her husband, Dan and their two kids, Hannah, 9, and Michael, 3.

"They told us they were preparing papers. When we had a meeting in January, they made it sound like it'd be a two-week deal. It's ridiculous."

That meeting, on a cold January day this year, involved Mary Flynn, another neighbor, the owner of the home next door with the box elder tree, and four village employees, including the assistant village manager, village planner, forester and building inspector.

But it wasn't until recently that village trustees decided to take legal action against the owner of the property next door to the Flynns.

According to an e-mail to Flynn dated April 24 from Assistant Village Manager Keith Sbiral he stated that he had "contacted the village law firm today to emphasize the importance of the tree issue on your neighboring property. ... I do not expect to achieve compliance from your neighbor, so the village will have to move forward from this point."

That move forward came, according to Village President Michael Garvey, via a directive by the village board during an executive session in May for the village to seek an injunction against the neighbor to have the tree removed.

"It is a frustrating legal process, but people have individual property rights," Garvey said. "We can't just go on people's properties and take their trees down."

Asked why the village didn't take action in January, Garvey said he wasn't aware of the January meeting with village staff. Village Manager Riccardo Ginex said that the village acted appropriately.

"It had been in adjudication," Ginex said. "We were trying to get them amicably to take this tree down. The village has to be very careful about that. People are very property-minded. That's why these usually result in a civil issue."

That it might have been difficult to persuade the next door neighbor to take down the trees should have been plain to anyone looking at the case.

The house at 9403 Monroe Ave. has been in and out of blight adjudication for years. The Landmark filed a Freedom of Information Act request for all adjudication information on the property last Thursday, but was unable to obtain the information before press time.

Mary Flynn and another neighbor, Randy Cain, said they had showed up at least five hearings related to the property. At one point, it appears the village fined the owner of the property, Paul Carey, several hundred dollars.

According to records obtained from the Cook County Recorder of Deeds, the village had placed a lien on the property back in 1990 because of a delinquent water bill. In June 2003, the house was in foreclosure. However, in 2004, the mortgage was paid off.

Paul Carey does not live in the home; his ex-wife, Heather, resides there. Son-in-law Steven Ross said that Carey has no homeowner's insurance for the property.

Ross defended Heather Carey, saying that the village ruled that the tree was not in imminent danger of falling down and that it looked to be a healthy tree.

A May 10, 2006 e-mail between village employees appears to validate Ross' contention that the village didn't see the trees as a hazard.

"I spoke to [forester] Scott DeRoss and [former building inspector] Bill Kernan," wrote Building Department employee Lydia Strebing. "Scott reevaluated the trees and decided they did not have to come down but needed to be trimmed."

The trees were never trimmed, but Ross said the village could have had access to the property to get that done.

"They didn't have an access problem," Ross said. "[The village] has had long enough to make a decision, but they're hedging their decision."

Garvey dismissed Ross' contention that the village is at fault, saying the blame rests solely on Carey, the property owner.

"It's absolutely ridiculous for the offending property owner to have criticism of the village," Garvey said. "It would have been cleared up if people just showed respect for their neighbors. I stand by the fact that we did what we could and were moving forward by taking what I feel was an extraord The tree that fell crushed the Flynns garage. On Thursday afternoon, the tree still lay atop the crumpled roof while three garage walls angled outward. The east wall had fallen over completely. The family's SUV, parked in the driveway, was covered by a large branch and leaves, but escaped with a broken windshield and scratches. When the tree was removed later in the day, the garage collapsed in a heap.

The Flynn children, who often play in the driveway were not around at 2:15 p.m., when the tree split apart. Michael was taking a nap. Hannah was finishing her last day of school. Two or three hours later, the children might have been outside with their dad, who likes to set up his grill next to the garage.

By Monday, the demolished garage was removed and the Flynns retrieved property that hadn't been destroyed. It's now in the hands of their insurance company, which will be investigating whether the neighbor or the village could be charged with negligence.

The incident had one unintended effect-the trees that once overhung the driveway and property are now gone. The village received an emergency OK for tree trimming crews to enter the neighbor's property and cut down the tree that split along with at least two others that were damaged when the box elder fell on them.

Records obtained by the Landmark through a Freedom of Information Act request also indicate that Assistant Village Manager Keith Sbiral was frustrated at a lack of direction on how to proceed against the offending homeowner, at one point warning that neighbors demanding the tree's removal perceived the village's lack of action as incompetence.

In an e-mail to village lawyers on April 24, 2007, Sbiral wrote:

"The first time that a trustee brought the issue to my attention was almost a year ago today. So far the issue has been at adjudication several times and there has been absolutely no resolution. I have made several promises based on conversations with Tom [Bastian, an attorney with the village's law firm, Storino, Ramello & Durkin] that the village would either take this case to court or go on the property and cut the tree down.

"Unfortunately, now we have another adjudication coming up Thursday [April 26] and we will again have all the neighbors in attendance and they are essentially pounding the drum that we are inept and ineffective."

In apparent response to Sbiral's concerns, the village hastily prepared to bring the matter before a Cook County Circuit Court judge. Village Forester Scott DeRoss on May 9 made a sworn affidavit that he had inspected the tree on April 26 and that it posed "a hazard to the health and safety of any person who might come into proximity of the tree."

That was roughly the same assessment DeRoss made back in April 2006.

On April 3, 2006, the village sent a letter to Paul Carey, owner of 9403 Monroe Ave., stating that "the three box elder trees on the west side of your home have been declared as dying and in dangerous condition by Mr. Scott DeRoss, the forester of the Village of Brookfield.

"All three trees must be removed as soon as possible but no longer than 30 days or by Monday, May 1, 2006."

But, by May 2, 2006, DeRoss appeared to backtrack from his assessment of the trees' condition. A Brookfield Code Enforcement report notes that "trees do not have to be removed."

Six months elapsed before Bastian wrote another letter demanding the trees be removed. The letter, dated Nov. 10 and written on the stationery of Storino, Ramello & Durkin demanded that the trees be removed within 15 days and that a $750-per-day fine would be assessed after that unless the trees were cut down.

"If the condition is not corrected ... the village will cause the dead trees to be removed and remaining trees to be trimmed and all costs associated therewith will be charged against you, the property owner and a lien for said costs and fines will be recorded against the property."

The village does not appear to have ever followed through on the $750-per-day fine threat, and the village never started any legal action after the 15 days were up.

The village received a response from Carey in January of 2007, a letter, stating he had no intention of cutting down the trees after getting an independent assessment of their condition and in light of DeRoss' assessment in May 2006 that the trees didn't need to be cut down.

Still, the village did not start legal action to get the trees removed until April. On April 24, Village Attorney Richard Ramello responded to Sbiral, saying he was "instruct[ing] my office to draft a complaint for mandatory injunction, which should be ready tomorrow. Assuming that the ins There's no evidence that a lawsuit was ever filed.

Asked to comment on the matter last week, Sbiral said that the village considers it a matter of pending litigation and that he couldn't say anything.

Asked about the frustration he voiced in his April 24, 2007 e-mail to the village's attorney, Sbiral admitted "I had gotten to the point where I was frustrated with the inability to move forward."

Mary Flynn, whose garage was crushed by the fallen tree on June 7, said she and her husband, Dan, had not filed any legal action regarding the matter and that their insurance company was handling it. The couple's homeowner's insurance is covering most of the costs associated with the incident, including $9,200 for tree removal, $1,500 to demolish the garage and $3,000 to repair damage to their damaged SUV. 

Betty LeClere, the owner of Betty's Flowers on Broadway Avenue who was first vice president of the chamber, was named the new president of the organization. LeClere is the mother of recently elected village Trustee David LeClere.

Campbell largely blamed his decision to bail out on a lack of communication and support for the business community from village hall.

"I'm disgusted with the performance and behavior of the village manager, assistant village manager and board," Campbell said. "They made it impossible for me to move the chamber forward. Maybe another person will have more success."

Campbell said that the village wouldn't cooperate with plans the chamber had to move its annual car show to Grand Boulevard this summer, a situation that ended with the car show chairman and chamber vice president, Jeff Wahl, resigning his post as well.

While not an official chamber event, Campbell also pointed to the fate of Oktoberfest, whose future is currently in limbo after initial indications that it would happen this fall.

There was also a public disagreement in March between Campbell and village officials over a Chamber of Commerce proposal to hang "Buy in Brookfield" banners on the light poles in the village's business district. Before allowing the banners, village officials wanted an ordinance on the books, despite the fact that the village had previously allowed other banners. The village board later passed a generic sign ordinance related to banners, which would have allowed the chamber banners with few restrictions.

The disagreements with Campbell and village hall are not new, but Village Manager Riccardo Ginex has had little patience for Campbell, who has been known to file repeated requests for information and contact village hall staff sometimes on a daily basis.

By March, Ginex notified Campbell that only the village manager would receive communications from him, and then only formally in writing.

Ginex said he did not know that Campbell had resigned from the chamber presidency and said he couldn't comment on why Campbell was singling him out for blame.

"I have no idea what he's talking about," Ginex said.

Village Trustee C.P. Hall, who serves as the board's liaison to the chamber said that previously the chamber had an amiable relationship with the village and that getting village OK for events had been routine.

"Mr. Campbell seems to make his own problems," Hall said. "If the desire is to have an argument, then it becomes something that, eventually, people walk away from."

Betty LeClere, the new chamber president, said she does not anticipate a contentious relationship with the village, saying that for the nine years she's been a member, "the chamber has worked with the village. We did not have any problems; they were always cooperative."

LeClere added that the chamber is still hoping to have the car show this summer at its traditional location in the Broadway Avenue business district. As for Oktoberfest, she said it was not something the chamber was pursuing as an event. The chamber is still planning to hold its "60 to Win" raffle this fall.

"I think Betty is someone who can pull this together," Hall said. "She's one of those people who cares a great deal about the chamber. She's a bulldog-type of person who can take a grip of this thing and run with it."

Linda Stevanovich Outgoing Brookfield Trustee

Brookfield Ushers In New Era Of PEP Dominance On Board
Standing ovation for outgoing trustees
By BOB UPHUES
5-23-07
In a gesture that put a positive spin on the end of a contentious era in Brookfield politics, Village President Michael Garvey honored outgoing trustees Linda Stevanovich and Alan Dorobiala during the last meeting of the split board on May 14.

Garvey, who just moments earlier had refereed a final spat between Stevanovich and Trustee Kit Ketchmark, presented the two trustees with plaques, noting their years of service to the village.

"I want to congratulate and thank our outgoing trustees," Garvey said. "We all believe we are doing the right thing up here. Anyone who sits up here makes sacrifices. It's one of the greatest honors you get, but it's also a tremendous responsibility of time away from your family."

Stevanovich, a member of the VIP Party, was first elected to the board in 1999. She was reelected in 2003, during a time in which the VIP Party controlled the board. She served with Garvey, who was also elected trustee in 2003 as a member of the rival PEP Party.

But VIP's support waned in 2004 and 2005, and PEP, led by Garvey, regained the board majority in 2005. Stevanovich and Dorobiala were the only members of VIP left on the board, and Dorobiala, more often than not, sought consensus with the new majority. As a result, Stevanovich was often isolated in her criticism of PEP policies. In recent months, she routinely voted against accepting the village's voucher report and questioned how expenses were being allocated in the budget.

On May 14, she voted against an amendment to the 2006-07 appropriations ordinance to reconcile expenses related to overtime and other payments. She voted with the rest of the board in adopting the appropriations ordinance for 2008 that same night.

"I personally thank you for all you've done for the residents," Garvey said while presenting Stevanovich with the plaque.

Stevanovich was prohibited from running for a third consecutive term as trustee due to the village's law regarding term limits. She did run for an unexpired two-tear term as clerk, but was defeated by incumbent Brigid Weber, also a PEP Party member.

"Being trustee gave me an opportunity to know so many wonderful people," said Stevanovich, who received a standing ovation from most of the citizens in the council chamber. "Thank you all for allowing me to serve you for eight years."

Garvey likewise thanked Dorobiala, who served as both trustee from 1997-99 and from 2001-07. After the death of former President Thomas Sequens, Dorobiala, was named acting village president from 1999-01. Dorobiala was a member of the PEP Party before switching parties and joining forces with VIP. Note! Now Alan “Judas” Dorobiala has flip flopped back to the PEP Party!

V.I.P. Party Candidate Wil Brennan was correct and the Landmark corrects story from March 21, 2007

Correction - Brookfield Water Bills Come With Sticker Shock!
March 28, 2007
Regarding Riverside's policy for dealing with large water bills resulting from their water meter change-out program from 2003-06 [Brookfield water bills come with sticker shock, News, March 21]: Public Works Director Michael Hullihan last week said he was "unaware" that Riverside's former finance director, Christy Powell, did put in place a formula to address unusually high bills following a change in water meters.

Riverside, until 1995, had a program in place to have Water Department personnel reconcile outside and inside water meter readings. It was not done in 2000. As a result, some water customers had gone 11 years since having their outside and inside meters reconciled. Several customers, typically multi-unit buildings, ended up with large bills as a result.

In those cases Riverside charged for water usage at two different rates, half at the 1995-2000 rate and half at the 2000-05 rate. Those adjustments were made by the Riverside finance director, who has that ability under village code.

Thefts Lifted Brookfield's Crime Rate 6% In 2006
Violent crime also up slightly
By BOB UPHUES
March 14, 2007
After two years of declining crime numbers, Brookfield's crime rate inched upward by 6.2 percent in 2006 thanks mainly to a rise in thefts. Meanwhile, the village also saw an increase in some violent crimes, with both robberies and criminal sexual assaults edging upward though remaining few in number overall.

The crime numbers come courtesy of the Illinois State Police's Uniform Crime Report, which tracks eight different categories, including murder, criminal sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault/battery, burglary, theft, motor vehicle theft and arson. According to the latest report, released to local departments in February, Brookfield noted 404 reportable crimes during 2006. In 2005, by contrast, Brookfield reported 385, an increase of just under 5 percent. While higher than last year, the number of crimes is still lower than any year since at least 1996 and much lower than the high-water marks of over 550 crimes reported in 2001 and 2003. However, since Brookfield population fell slightly in 2006, the village's statistical crime rate rose by just over 6 percent.

Deputy Police Chief Michael Manescalchi said that he couldn't say for sure what types of theft accounted for a 21.3 percent rise in that category. Some 308 incidents of theft were reported to Brookfield police in 2006, the highest number since 2003.

"It's a really broad thing," Manescalchi said of the thefts. "It could be everything from leaving a bike in the front yard to leaving your cell phone on the seat of a car. The really common thing is cell phones."

No homicides were reported in Brookfield for the fifth straight year. In 2001, one murder was reported by police. However, the number of robberies jumped in 2006 to six. In 2005, three had been reported. That's the most robberies reported since 2003, when there were eight.

The number of criminal sexual assaults rose in 2006 to three from two in 2005. Two of those cases, according to Manescalchi, involved offenders and victims who are minors. The third was the arrest of a 21-year-old Bellwood man who reportedly had a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old Brookfield girl.

Meanwhile, Brookfield saw decreases in a number of other categories, including burglary, motor vehicle theft, arson and aggravated assault/battery.

The number of burglaries in Brookfield dropped 28.2 percent, with 61 incidents reported in 2006 versus 85 in 2005. That is far and away the fewest number of burglaries reported in Brookfield since 2000. From 2000-03, Brookfield reported no fewer than 184 burglaries annually. In 2004, that number dropped dramatically to 74 before edging upward to 85 in 2005. The number of aggravated assault/battery cases dropped into the single digits in 2006, according to Brookfield police, who reported just nine instances. As recently as 2001, Brookfield reported 89 aggravated assault/battery cases. After reporting 48 in 2002, Brookfield changed the way it was reporting those cases, however.

After concluding that misdemeanor counts of battery did not qualify as reportable crimes, the number of those cases fell dramatically. In 2003, Brookfield reported just 11 cases.

While the number of reportable crimes rose in 2006, the number of arrests for those crimes fell, according to the same report.

Of the 404 total reportable crimes, Brookfield police made 34 arrests. In 2005, the department made 47 arrests on 385 crimes. As a result the village's arrest rate fell by nearly 27 percent.

The number of drug-related offense arrests, which are tallied separately, was the same as in 2005, at 32.

Part of that effort, he proposed would be placing banners on light poles in the village's business districts. The chamber would take care of any cost related to the banners, in part, by hitting up chamber members for donations in exchange for a mention of their business on the banners. The cost to the village, he said, would be virtually nothing, although village crews would have to put up and take down the signs. In addition, the village would be able to see the banner design and give input (and presumably an OK) before any were manufactured.

You would think that such an offer would be summarily embraced and that an avenue for making this basically pedestrian approach to business boosterism would be quickly paved.

But this is Brookfield . For about an hour on Monday night, the village board bent itself into contortions to make this process about as difficult as possible, raising everything from questions about banner ownership to First Amendment rights.

At the end of the discussion, the board promised another hour at a future board meeting devoted to this subject.

Of course, this stonewalling is also about Steve Campbell. A Riverside resident who owns commercial and residential property throughout the village, Campbell has been a nonpartisan thorn in the side of village administration after administration.

He's currently a burr under the saddle of Village Manager Riccardo Ginex in the form of a sign hanging in the window of a house Campbell owns at the corner of Prairie and Washington avenues. The sign's been up for months and refers to Ginex's tenure as manager as the Brookfield "chainsaw massacre."

So when Campbell comes to the village manager asking to use village light poles for an organization he's leading, it's not really surprising that this is the response.

But this nonsense should end. We do believe that Campbell wants economic development to succeed in Brookfield (it's surely in his best interest as a commercial property owner) and that he wants his "Buy in Brookfield " campaign to focus on Brookfield , not personalities.

We also believe that the village would see a "Buy in Brookfield " campaign as a positive development from a chamber that has been content to stay on the sidelines with regard to publicly boosting business.

With that underlying common goal, both sides need to set aside their egos and do what's best for the village. Campbell 's sign should come down, and the village ought to find a way to make the chamber's banner campaign happen.

The village board just recently created an economic development subcommittee. Here's a perfect opportunity for that subcommittee to partner with the chamber on a program to benefit Brookfield business. There are lots and lots of examples of this type of program in towns surrounding the village-it can't be that difficult.

 
Second Brookfield Hit-And-Run Victim Dies
Suspect may face further charges
By BOB UPHUES
3/14/07
Brookfield resident Thomas J. Postulka, already indicted by a Cook County grand jury for reckless homicide and aggravated driving under the influence, faces additional charges after the death this morning of Francis Lilly, 88, at RML Specialty Hospital in Hinsdale .

Lilly and his wife, Helen Lilly, were crossing the street in the 4000 block of Prairie Avenue on their way to an evening service at St. Barbara Church when a vehicle allegedly driven by Postulka struck them. Postulka reportedly attempted to flee the scene but was detained by an off-duty Chicago police officer who was driving behind him at the time of the crash.

Helen Lilly, 83, was pronounced dead at the scene. Francis Lilly spent two weeks in intensive care at Loyola University Medical Center , where he underwent two surgeries, before being transferred to RML Hospital . According to Brookfield police, Francis Lilly died at 3:45 a.m. The Lillys were longtime residents of Brookfield .

The Cook County State 's Attorney issued a nine-count indictment against Postulka on Feb. 21 that included one count of reckless homicide and eight counts of aggravated DUI. Postulka, who is scheduled for an April 4 court appearance, now faces re-indictment by the state's attorney.

Postulka, 45, who was charged with DUI in North Riverside two days before allegedly hitting the Lillys, remains in Cook County Jail; his bond is set at $1 million.