Lincolnshire Mayor Elizabeth Brandt began the May 10 Village Board meeting – the first with trustees and staff in person in months – by saying goodbye to departing trustees Mark Hancock and Gerard Leider, and by administering oaths of office to a reelected and two newly elected trustees.
The three sworn in at the meeting include incumbent Trustee Jill Raizin, newly elected Robert Mitchell and write-in candidate Sandra Wright.
Two years ago, Raizin won election to a two-year term and is beginning her first full, four-year term on the Village Board. At the meeting, Raizin called the last two years on the board “a great experience.”
“I’ve learned so much about Lincolnshire. I’m looking forward to the next four years,” she said.
Mitchell, a 29-year resident of the village, told Pioneer Press in December that his retirement a couple of years ago has given him time to give back to the Lincolnshire community, which he said has been a good place for him and his family.
“Time to help out and give back,” Mitchell said then.
He said at the May 10 meeting he is very much looking forward to working for the village as a board member.
Wright, an 11-year resident who teaches in the social studies department at Stevenson High School, in Lincolnshire, has been a member of the village’s advisory park board for the last five years.
“I know how much local government matters and I always say to my students, ‘be engaged,'” she said at the meeting where she was sworn in.
May 10 was also a day of personal sadness for Brandt, as her mother’s funeral took place that day. She presided over the Village Board meeting, but left when it adjourned and asked Trustee Mara Grujanac to serve as president pro-tem for the Committee of the Whole meeting that followed.
Meeting as the Committee of the Whole, the newly seated Village Board discussed several issues.
The first issue was a pre-application review of a request from LifeSport Athletic Club, 96 Elm Rd., for a major amendment to an existing special use permit. The club, formerly the Lincolnshire Racquet Club or simply the Lincolnshire Club, is seeking a permit to replace its long-unused outdoor swimming pool and deck area with raised four platform tennis courts on its 4.4 acre property at the northwest corner of Half Day and Elm roads.
While there were no strong objections, trustees did ask Michael Firsel, an attorney representing the club, to consult with neighbors about light levels and times of nighttime use of the courts to make sure no objectionable light spilling or noise would impact neighbors. Firsel said the nearest neighbors were about 300 feet away, but assured trustees their voices would be heard.
The proposed changes are expected to go to the Zoning Board for a public hearing and then on to the Architectural Review Board before returning to the full Village Board for final action.
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A majority of trustees also agreed to go forward with the bid process for the final two phases of the village’s cross-town water main project. Trustees previously questioned whether the village should proceed with both phases of the project, or delay Phase 4 for another year.
Village Manager Brad Burke told trustees at the meeting that “the village is in a good position financially” and could go forward with both Phase 3, with an estimated cost of $2.3 million, and Phase 4, estimated to cost $1.6 million.
Burke said that since last October, the projected revenue shortfall in village finances has narrowed from about $6 million over the next five years to about $2 million. Burke said with possible grants and expected federal pandemic recovery funds, the gap may well narrow further.
“We see the gap closing,” Burke said.
Before leaving the meeting, Brandt said she supported going ahead with both phases. A majority of the remaining trustees also agreed, so the bidding process will likely go forward.
Graydon Megan is a freelancer.