COMMUNITY BRIEFING

Oak Park- River Forest

Tentative deal with custodians

Oak Park-River Forest District 200 and its custodians have reached a tentative agreement on a contract, ending a contentious debate over whether their jobs should be outsourced.

Twenty-eight members of Service Employees International Union Local 73 will vote on the agreement April 8. A vote by the District 200 school board is slated for April 9.

The new agreement, reached Wednesday after nearly 10 months bargaining, includes raises of 1.5 percent each year for three years beginning in July, said Attila Weninger, District 200’s superintendent. The contract expires June 30, 2012. The previous contract expired June 30, 2008, but there will be no retroactive pay increase.

Total cost of the new agreement could be about $1 million, Weninger said.

The school board had scheduled to review bids Thursday and decide on which of four companies would do the custodial work in the one-building high school district. But state law bars school districts from considering outsourcing once a tentative agreement is reached.

Debate surrounding privatizing custodial jobs had been heated. The district asserted its need to contain costs while others in the community sought to preserve jobs. Custodial salaries and benefits cost the district $1.9 million last year, said Cheryl Witham, the district’s chief financial officer.

This was the second time that the school district had taken up the issue. Last year’s proposal was shelved because a resolution did not move forward for lack of a motion, according to the minutes from the March 20, 2008, meeting, when the matter was to be taken up.

— Deborah Kadin

Wheaton

Approval expected for development

The Wheaton City Council is expected to give final approval Monday to a development of million-dollar homes despite misgivings by some council members.

The council voted 3-2 in March to give preliminary support to a plan to combine three lots totaling 6 acres along East Farnham Lane and subdivide them into 11 lots for new houses. The project had failed to achieve approval from the city planning board in November before a revised plan was resubmitted and approved.

Although the new plan did not require any variances from city ordinances, council members had expressed concern the new development would impact future development of an adjacent property.

“As proposed, the plan completely ignores the potential development of this parcel,” Wheaton staff planner Tracy Jones wrote in a memo to the council.

The project developer had met with the adjacent landowner, former Illinois Supreme Court Justice S. Louis Rathje, about jointly developing their land, but the talks were not fruitful, Rathje told the council in March. The home of Rathje’s parents, who are now deceased, sits on the adjacent land.

The council suggested waiting 30 days to allow for final talks, but both Rathje and Gary Taylor, the attorney for developer Anthony Cesario, said they were at an impasse.

“I don’t think we’ll get over the hurdle,” Taylor said.

The council members who voted in support — Liz Corry, John Prendiville and Howard Levine — said they felt they had to vote for it since it met the requirements of the city subdivision ordinance.

Council members Dave Johnson and Tom Mouhelis voted against it.

“I’m disappointed both parties can’t get it resolved and do what’s best for the city of Wheaton,” Johnson said.

— Clifford Ward

Downers Grove

More Top Picks Recycling Bin

Officials begin plans for police station

Downers Grove officials are cautiously moving forward in discussions to build a new police station while acknowledging that current economic conditions could forestall such an effort.

Assistant Village Manager Mike Baker outlined the findings of a recent facility needs study at a meeting last month.

The study found that although the current Village Hall could be maintained for another 10 years pending renovations, a new police station was necessary.

Baker said a new police station would likely be built on the west end of the current civic center site on Burlington Avenue and cost around $33 million. The study will be incorporated into the village’s long-range financial planning meetings over the summer.

Both facilities were constructed in the mid-1960s. Baker said the renovations and maintenance repairs to Village Hall would cost around $500,000.

The idea for a new police station and Village Hall was bounced around as early as last summer when Mayor Ron Sandack said the police station had become too antiquated to accommodate the present-day requirements for evidence storage.

“Between the police station and Village Hall, we had to prioritize, and the priority is the police station,” Sandack said. “How we are going to pay for it is what the long financial plan is all about.”

While the Village Council acknowledged the need for the new police station, some commissioners felt that building a new police station in the current economy could be a tough sell to residents.

“If we do not come out of the economic slump that we are in during the next three to five years, there is no way we can build a new facility,” said Commissioner Marilyn Schnell. “A lot of this just has to play out, and we have to see where we are in the economy and where we are in the recovery.”

— Matthew Rogina