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Staff recommends keeping current system On Tuesday council will again visit the next garbage contract.  DGreport readers already know the options, but now staff has weighed in, recommending the existing program be kept in place for another three years.  This is a first reading (workshop) of that motion, and council is expected to vote next week on [...]

The Rotary Club raises the curtain on GroveFest this evening, culminating three months of frantic effort in an attempt to provide Downers Grove with a summer festival. The 45-member club has been scrambling to put the smaller, more local festival together, with some members working as many as 30 hours a week on the endeavor, [...]

Tuesday was the Long Range Financial Planning meeting (see Required reading for background, as well as category budget for DGreports extensive posts on past budgets).  Barnett and Beckman were unable to attend.  All the curve balls and budget sucker punches thrown by the state we’ve already discussed.  There was a general agreement among council members that the existing [...]

The process for filling the vacant D99 board seat is well underway, with a deadline of 4:30 p.m., Thursday, May 13 for applications. On Monday, May 17, the board will meet in closed session to winnow the field to three candidates.  It remains to be seen whether the names of the three finalists or the [...]

Updated: 4 p.m. The village has added a page to its website explaining its share of residents’ property tax bills and linking to tax bill information presented by Assistant Village Manager Mike Baker at the May 4 council meeting. The village also uploaded a video of Baker’s presentation to YouTube, which can be accessed by [...]

The Downers Grove Rotary Club’s  GroveFest proposal was approved by the village council Tuesday night, ensuring a privately operated alternative to Heritage Fest, which the council suspended last year citing budget issues. The club, which has hosted annual Oktoberfest celebrations and also operated the Heritage Fest Beer Garden for the past five  years, is confident [...]

Because I’m constantly losing track of the public meetings I wish to attend or tune into, I’m starting this feature, which will normally run on Fridays.  Let’s see how if it works to discipline this blogger to check governmental websites on a weekly basis. Monday, April 19 D99 School Board, 7:30 p.m., Administrative Service Center, [...]

The village council approved Mayor Ron Sandack’s advisory referendum questions Tuesday night, which means residents will get a chance to vote on the three matters come November. The council was unanimous in its approval of the question of whether the General Assembly and governor should immediately undertake  “meaningful” pension reform. Commissioner William Waldack cast the [...]

Updated: 9 a.m. April 9 with bank account information. Aid efforts are underway for displaced residents Fire Chief Jim Jackson told a breath-taking story of courage and cooperation as he recounted for the village council April 6 the department’s mammoth effort against the three-alarm fire that devastated a west-side apartment building in the early morning [...]

In suggesting a November advisory referendum on term limits for village council members,  Mayor Ron Sandack said he is interested in sparking community discussion on the issue. I’ll take him at his word — and offer a few of my thoughts later in this post (and invite you to do the same). But first a [...]