Sorted by date Results 26 - 49 of 49
When village manager Kathleen Gargano shows up for work at village hall each morning, she's never quite sure what her day will hold. And that's her favorite part of the job. "No day is the same, and it is very uncommon that the day I plan actually turns out that way," she said. As village manager, Gargano oversees village operations, including fire, police, public works, parks and recreation, community development and finance. She also must pursue the objectives of village...
Hinsdale Village Board Among other business at Tuesday’s meeting, trustees: • agreed to postpone a discussion on a revised proposal from McNaughton Development for Heather Highlands because the Zoom link printed on the meeting agenda was incorrect. Trustees will hold a special meeting on the 26-home, 19.4-acre plan proposed for the IBLP site on Ogden Avenue on May 26. • unanimously approved an intergovernmental agreement with the Illinois Tollway Authority and the village of Western Springs for the construction, maint...
What will summer in Hinsdale look like? It's hard to say. "It's been challenging because we've been planning everything with three scenarios," said Heather Bereckis, superintendent of parks and recreation for the village. The region is currently under Phase 4 restrictions, but Gov. JB Pritzker said Tuesday the state is "making progress" in its coronavirus metrics and could enter the bridge phase of its reopening plan soon - maybe within a week. "Every single event, every...
By Ken Knutson [email protected] Water usage in Hinsdale has been decreasing for a number of years, which means less revenue for the village to pay for needed and expensive system upgrades, projected to cost $3.1 million in the next four years. At a March 16 joint committee of the whole meeting, trustees and members of the village’s finance commission discussed a two-pronged solution of raising the water and sewer rate and implementing a fixed infrastructure maintenance and improvement fee (IMIF) to provide a s...
Work to replace the 98-year-old, 12-inch water main under West Chicago Avenue from Washington Street to Stough Street will begin later this month. Trustees Tuesday awarded the $1.7 million contract for Phase 2 of the project to John Neri Construction Co., whose bid came in $515,000 under budget. Work is tentatively set to start March 15. Before that project begins, ComEd has construction work to complete on Chicago Avenue from Vine Street to Washington Street. “If you’ve been down Chicago Avenue in the last couple of days, yo...
As the state prepares to move into Phase 1b of vaccinations Monday, village officials are focused on making sure residents will have access to the vaccine. “The village is working with its community partner, Tammy Prentiss, from District 86 to see if there is an opportunity to use the (Hinsdale Central High) school to have a vaccination site in town to do the distribution,” village manager Kathleen Gargano reported at Tuesday’s village board meeting. She said more information about the partnership will be available in the c...
Hinsdale Village Board Among other business Tuesdays, trustees: • passed a resolution pausing the processing of applications to construct small wireless facilities related to 5G due to the state of emergency created by the COVID-19 pandemic. Village officials reported that no permit applications have yet been received to build 5G facilities but said the action was needed to avoid burdening a short-handed village staff. • approved the use of $995,000 in motor fuel tax funds for the reconstruction of Eighth Street from Gar...
Hinsdale officials say they will finish the 2020 fiscal year with a surplus despite tax revenues coming in nearly $1 million under budget. At a committee of the whole meeting Dec. 3, trustees and members of the village’s finance commission reviewed 2020 economic numbers and the impact that the pandemic has had on the village’s tax receipts. Sales tax revenue had been forecast to be about $2.95 million for the year, but is now projected to be just under $2.6 million. Village finance director Darrell Langlois said the impact fr...
Hinsdale police earned praise at Tuesday night’s village board meeting for preventing a suicidal man from jumping off the Ogden Avenue bridge over Interstate 294 on Friday, Oct. 30. “They did just an exemplary job of taking control of the situation and not using any lethal force, if you will, to contain someone who was wanting to do himself harm,” village manager Kathleen Gargano told trustees. “We don’t realize our police officers are trained to negotiate with these individuals and take control of these situations because t...
The Hinsdale Fire Department lost a firefighter/paramedic candidate Tuesday when 25-year-old Nicole Hladik took her own life. "It's a devastating loss for her family, and the fire department itself is a family. They are grieving the loss of one of their own," village manager Kathleen Gargano told The Hinsdalean Wednesday. Village officials have been in contact with her family and brought in grief counselors to talk to her co-workers in the department, Gargano stated in a...
After decades of debates about parking solutions, years of negotiation between the village and District 181, months of construction - and a global pandemic thrown in for good measure - Hinsdale finally has a parking deck. The new facility on Garfield Avenue just south of First Street opened today, July 16. "We are very pleased with the outcome and very happy that we could provide this much-needed amenity to the village," village manager Kathleen Gargano said. Village...
The Hinsdale Community Pool is poised to open next week after village officials determined the potential loss in revenue from COVID-19 restrictions was outweighed by the community benefit the facility provides. Heather Bereckis, superintendent of parks and recreation, said June 22 is the target date for opening, provided all preparations have been completed. With Illinois under Phase 3 guidelines at least until June 26, the pool will be available only for swim clubs and lap swimming. If the state does move into Phase 4 next...
Beep, beep, beep. Let’s back up a bit. Despite the media hype that might suggest otherwise, Hinsdale will not offer outdoor dining on its downtown streets in the near future. Village officials are not planning to violate Gov. JB Pritzker’s five-phase plan to Restore Illinois. What they are doing is starting a conversation about steps the village could take to expand restaurant capacity once eateries are allowed to reopen in phase 4. Many expect that won’t happen until the end of June at the earliest, but the time to plan is n...
To help village restaurants recover from the economic hardship wrought by COVID-19, Hinsdale officials are considering converting central business district streets this summer to al fresco dining corridors. At Tuesday night’s village board meeting, Village President Tom Cauley credited village manager Kathleen Gargano with, shortly before the meeting, floating the idea of shutting off First Street between Garfield Avenue and Washington Street to vehicle traffic so the area can instead be used for outdoor dining. This will e...
Hinsdale Village Board Among other action at their meeting Tuesday, trustees: • agreed to waive a first reading and voted 6-0 to extend the purchase date for animal and vehicle licenses to June 15, which means no late fees will be charged until June 16. • listened as Village President Tom Cauley offered assurances that the village has enough cash on hand to operate during this economic downturn, even if it lasts another month or two. The village has kept a close eye on expenses over the years, he noted. “As a result of that,...
What a difference a week makes. Last week, Gov. J.B. Prtizker banned events with more than 1,000 attendees, canceled Chicago’s St. Patrick’s Day parade and urged businesses to allow employees to work from home. The state had only 32 confirmed COVID-19 and no deaths. This week, the governor has closed schools, restaurants and bars. The number of cases in Illinois is approaching 300 and the state reported its first COVID-19 death. Hinsdaleans, like Americans across the cou...
The village of Hinsdale and local school districts report that they are closely monitoring developments regarding the coronavirus. Brad Bloom, assistant village manager and director of public safety, said Wednesday that village manager Kathleen Gargano has been participating in COVID-19 informational conference calls at the state, county and regional levels. No village events or meetings had been canceled due to the pandemic, but that crews hired to clean its facilities were asked to provide additional cleaning sessions, he...
In an effort to stem the teardown tide of historic homes in the village, officials are exploring ways to promote preservation. At Tuesday night's village board meeting, trustees discussed measures including a moratorium on demolitions after Village President Tom Cauley said 716 S. and 419 S. Oak St. were poised to be razed. Both sit in the National Register's Robbins Park Historic District in southeast Hinsdale. Cauley told trustees that the village's historic preservation com...
The village has received a $400,000 grant to help pay for renovations at the Hinsdale Community Pool. Staff learned Friday that the Illinois Department of Natural Resources had selected the village to receive a 2020 Open Space Land Acquisition and Development grant. The grant will provide almost a third of the needed funds to renovate and repair the aging pool. “I’m really excited that the IDNR saw this is a quality project,” said Heather Bereckis, superintendent of parks and recreation. “Everyone should have that opportu...
The Land Rover and Jaguar dealership in Hinsdale opened for business at its new 336 E. Ogden Ave. site last week, but neighboring residents and village officials say items related to the project still need to be completed. At Tuesday’s village board meeting, Village President Tom Cauley used his president’s report to address residents’ concerns about the absence of landscaping that the Bill Jacobs dealership agreed to install on the east side of the property facing Oak Street. “The ordinance that we passed called for eight-f...
The Hinsdale High School District 86 Board is poised to pass a $85.3 million property tax levy at its Dec. 12 board meeting. Josh Stephenson, the district’s chief financial officer, presented the proposed 2019 levy at the Nov. 14 meeting, and board members approved it Nov. 25. “We are not required to have a Truth in Taxation hearing,” Stephenson noted, since the amount does not exceed 105 percent of the 2018 property tax extension. “Year over year, we’re looking at a 2.8 percent increase.” Board member Marty Turek asked...
The Hinsdale Village Board unanimously approved a new contract with the Fraternal Order of Police Tuesday, the same day Community Consolidated Elementary District 181 and the Hinsdale-Clarendon Hills Teachers Association announced they had reached a tentative agreement on a new four-year contract. Village staff and representatives of the Fraternal Order of Police Labor Council have been negotiating since the previous contract expired April 30, Trustee Jerry Hughes said. “It’s the definition of a successful outcome bec...
The imminent proliferation of small cell towers in Hinsdale to support new 5G cellular technology has raised fears among village residents over potential health and aesthetic detriments. But with federal and state regulations governing installation of such infrastructure, local officials say they have virtually no power to block it. A number of residents gathered at Tuesday night's village board meeting to express their concerns. Many were alerted to the issue by the sight of...
Advance work began last week on work to rebuild the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Bridge over Interstate 294 as part of the Central Tri-State Tollway widening project. The Illinois Tollway is reconstructing the bridge, which carries the triple-track railroad over I-294 between Hinsdale and Western Springs, to accommodate the reconstruction and widening of the Central Tri-State Tollway. The new bridge will be a longer, wider, two-span steel beam structure that will accommodate four tracks, with the fourth track to be...
