The venue of the meeting, which begins at 7:30 p.m., was changed to the  South High cafetorium to accommodate the expected large audience.

While the Klamm controversy is sparking the most attention, a series of recommended budget modifications should also be of interest to district taxpayers. At its Feb. 1 workshop meeting, the board reviewed potential cuts for 2010-11, including administrative pay raises, the reduction of a counselor at each school, the elimination of summer school busing and an increase of the staff-to-student ratio, among other measures.

The staff-to-student ratio, which would increase from 22:1 to 21.5:1, would result in savings of $300,000. It’s also a step the district eschewed last year, when it resolved to cut $750,000  without changing the historic teacher-student ratio.

In addition, the district is looking to add or raise certain fees, including requiring a non-athletic participation fee for Competitive Marching Band participants and instituting a $200 registration fee for students who take technical classes.

This year’s round of cuts and revenue enhancements are necessitated by the state budget crisis, which has led D99 to plan for a potential $2 million loss in revenue. The amount of the potential loss is the focus of much discussion among the state’s school districts, which could see state aid dip as a result.

D99 has been soliciting the public’s input to the proposed budget cuts and fee increases via a “Community Engagement” button and form on its Web site. The DGreport is still awaiting word on how many responses the district has received via the links.

However, there is no 2010-11 preliminary budget information available on the Web site and  the Annual Financial Report for 2009-10 has not yet been posted.

Further, unless members of the public were present for the workshop meeting, they have little recourse to understand the full range of the materials presented and discussed. The Feb. 1 meeting –  like more than half the board’s open meetings — was not audio-taped for downloading on the district Web site.

For weeks the council has deliberated how to shore up the gaping $4.5 million budget shortfall, leaving employees on edge as they await the final vote in December. On the block:  10 full-time and six-part time positions including two police officers,  the Department of Counseling and Social Services, and at least one of three full-time positions in the Community Events Dept.

Clearly, whatever pain is being felt in Village Hall has been shouldered by the private sector for the past many months of this deep recession. There are probably few readers who have not experienced a recent job loss, either personally or among friends and family.

Still, it must be agonizing to see the future of your job so publicly debated — and at the cusp of the holiday season. And there also must be a certain discomfiture in being one of seven responsible for wielding the budgetary axe.

“Our job isn’t to put faces with dollar signs,” one village commissioner told the DGreport. While cutting jobs is personally very difficult, “the bottom line is we have to figure out a way to right-size this organization. You can’t put a face with a job because then it becomes personal.”

Separating the face from the job became a little harder at the Nov. 17 council meeting, when Officer Greg Mayyou addressed commissioners during public comments.

A North High School graduate, Mayyou said he was fortunate to follow his dream of becoming a Downers Grove police officer. Employed by the DGPD for two years, “I have enjoyed every second of my job,” Mayyou said, adding that he had moved to town to start his family.

Despite what many residents believe, crime is a problem in Downers Grove, he said. And in tough economic times, it often increases as people resort to criminal activity.

“Not only is elimination of  the DARE program proposed, but also the elimination of two sworn officers, reducing the total number of officers from 81 to 79,” Mayyou said.

“I stand before you, officer number 81.”