FRANKFORT
Village says goodbye to economic official
Frankfort officials bid farewell this week to a longtime employee they credited with helping village development achieve architectural distinction.
Paula Wallrich, the village’s economic development recruiter, is leaving to take a position as assistant village manager in Homer Glen next month.
Wallrich began her career in Frankfort in 1993 as director of community development and worked to develop and enforce the town’s building standards, as well as working on the village sign ordinance and comprehensive plan. In 2005, Mayor Jim Holland tapped her to fill the newly created economic development position.
Major retailers such as Kohl’s and Dominick’s chose Frankfort locations during her tenure with the village. One of her most recent projects was a business retention program.
Wallrich also was active in other community activities, representing the village on the Old Plank Road Trail Commission and serving on the Winter on the Green Committee.
“Frankfort is the special place it is today because of your skill in working with developers,” Holland said Monday.
More Top Picks Best Premium Diamond Painting Kits
Pat Harper
JOLIET
Bistro leaves station without a tenant
If things had gone as planned, an Irish-American bistro and bar would have begun operating Saturday in Joliet’s historic Union Station. Instead, the 4,160-square-foot area at 50 E. Jefferson St. will be empty as city officials look for a new tenant.
Would-be operators Matt Harrington and Roseanne Ruth opted out less than two weeks after the City Council approved an 18-month lease June 5 with their Harrington & James company. A major stumbling block was the lack of a liquor license for the pair, who had planned to offer a microbrewery and a line of wines as part of the menu.
City Atty. Jeff Plyman said this week that Joliet never received a liquor license application or application fee.
City Manager John Mezera had said the duo’s “very strong” business plan set them apart from the seven other applicants.
Now city officials are considering whether to offer the space to another applicant, or solicit new potential tenants.
The Down From the Tracks bar previously occupied the location.
Dennis Sullivan
RICH TOWNSHIP
District 227 OKs school upgrades
The school board for Rich Township District 227 this week approved several structural improvements as part of a massive $53.5 million renovation plan for the district’s three schools.
The $1.4 million work includes mainly outdoor sports-field improvements at Rich Central High School in Olympia Fields, Rich South High School in Richton Park and Rich East High School in Park Forest. Regrading and seeding the football fields, as well as installing football press boxes, an irrigation system and two portable security stations, will be done at all three schools.
Pond-erosion repair will be done at Rich Central, along with rebuilding and resurfacing a baseball infield and fencing a football field. Rich East will renovate its west lobby, football concession stand and scoreboard, along with cooling, lighting and electrical work. Tennis courts at Rich South will be renovated.
Work will start this summer, and is scheduled to be completed by the 2008-09 school year, said Ilandus Hampton, director of fiscal affairs for the district.
Janice Neumann
TINLEY PARK
Athletic facility set to open in August
A vacant 22,000-square-foot facility in Tinley Park is expected to become an athletic training center by late August.
Village officials approved a special-use request Tuesday for Velocity Sports Performance to occupy the former Andrew Corp. building at 7700 Graphics Drive.
Andrew Corp. recently moved its headquarters from Orland Park and consolidated its facilities to a Joliet location, which left its storage facility in Tinley Park vacant.
“We train the athlete, not the sport,” said Walter Altmann, one of three developers in the sports center project. The other owners are Dr. Mark Grennell and Rick Lakie. “We are going to make them a better athlete because we are going to make them quicker, stronger, faster, and a lot of this has to do with preventing injury.”
The building will have four running surfaces, including a 40-yard track.
Patricia Trebe
Outdoor watering limits will continue
Tinley Park officials recently decided residents will continue to be on a tight water restriction, limiting them to outdoor watering on specific evenings, until Oak Lawn’s new booster station is up and running.
More Top Picks Best Alarm Clocks For The Hearing Impaired
The Village of Oak Lawn, which supplies water to nine communities in the southwest suburbs, built — along with the other towns — a booster station that will supply between 10 and 15 percent more water to the villages along its line.
The station, which was to be operational this spring, has created problems for Tinley Park, which reached a peak use June 15 of 19 million gallons a day.
Oak Lawn, which buys the water from Chicago, allocates 17 million gallons a day to Tinley Park. The 2-million-gallon difference came from the village’s storage tanks.
At one point late last week, the tanks were down to 35 percent capacity, which is roughly 20 million gallons, said Public Works director Dale Schepers.
The added restriction, which allows outdoor water use only from 7 to 11 p.m., was set in place last week and will remain in effect until the new booster station is operation, whenever that is, Schepers said.
“We have lost all trust and confidence in Oak Lawn’s ability to operate the system,” Trustee Michael Bettenhausen said at Tuesday’s meeting.
Patricia Trebe