MOKENA
Towns to combine police, fire dispatch
A higher level of public safety will result from an intergovernmental agreement that consolidates police and fire dispatch, officials said.
The future dispatch center, which will be in a new building planned for Frankfort Township offices, will serve four towns and five fire districts, said Mokena Trustee Don Labriola, who worked with Frankfort Trustee Cindy Heath, New Lenox Trustee Dave Smith, Mokena Police Chief Randy Rajewski, Frankfort Police Chief Rob Piscia and New Lenox Police Chief Dan Martin to hammer out the agreement.
“This is something we worked on for a long time,” Labriola said. “It’s been three years working on this, but it’s worth every minute.”
The new center will provide faster emergency response and a more organized dispatch system for residents, he said.
When Mokena, New Lenox and Frankfort first set up the original Lincoln-Way Police Communication Center to answer police calls, they were serving a population of about 15,000.
That number has almost quadrupled to about 58,000, Labriola said.
The new center, which will be on U.S. Highway 30 east of Wolf Road, will offer both security and room for future expansion, he said.
In addition to the original three towns, the center will handle calls for Manhattan police and for the Mokena, Frankfort, New Lenox, Manhattan and East Joliet Fire Protection Districts.
“The outcome is purely and simply greater public safety,” said Mokena Mayor Joe Werner. “Although we may be different villages, we’re one community.”
— Pat Harper
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More retailers in line at shopping center
Mokena Marketplace has not opened yet, but the list of stores is growing.
On Monday, the Mokena Village Board approved a second phase for the shopping center under construction at U.S. Highway 30 and Wolf Road.
The site of six new buildings, primarily retail centers, “wraps around the corner” of the area where the two major anchors, a JCPenney and a Meijer store, will be located, said community development director Alan Zordan.
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Four multi-tenant retail centers — with businesses that will include a Potbelly restaurant, Chase Bank, Verizon Wireless and PetSmart — are planned for the site, Zordan said.
The JCPenney is expected to open this year, he said. “They’re right on track for their August groundbreaking,” he said.
Shoppers will have to wait longer for the Meijer opening, developer Andy Goodman said.
Meijer “is fully invested in the site,” Goodman said, but the company won’t target an opening date until late this summer.
— Pat Harper
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OAK LAWN
Art course created for disabled students
A new art course will be geared toward the needs of students with severe disabilities.
On Monday, the Oak Lawn Community High School District 218 board unanimously approved a new art curriculum for BUILD students at Eisenhower High School in Blue Island. BUILD stands for Building Understanding, Independence and Learning Development.
The course, which will begin this fall, will address the mental and physical challenges the 44 students face, from being in a wheelchair to low cognitive skills.
One element of the course will be making crafts to sell at bazaars.
Students also will do artwork to show to residents at a nursing home and display at the district administration center.
Though students remain in the BUILD program until they are 21, the art course is for those ages 14 to 18. The remaining students are in a transitional vocational-life skills program.
— Janice Neumann