The Case for Voting NO’ on the Winfield Road Referendum TAX

This an archived article from February of 2010

This fall our village is putting to a public vote a referendum for $3.3 Million in order to fix the most decrepit roads in our town. After that, we need an additional $705 Thousand Dollars per year just to maintain the remaining roads. The initial tax will show up on your property tax bill as an extra $243 charge if your house is worth $300,000. If your house is worth more, your tax bill will be proportionally more. The tax will continue until the bond is paid off in 20 years. (Daily Herald, 12-18-09)

Note: The $243.00 does not include the additional cost of  the $705 thousand dollars for the next 20 years. In reality you are looking at approximately a 200% tax increase on the Winfield side of your tax bill.

An Epic Failure of Leadership

If you have been a resident for a few years, and if you watch the newspapers, you are probably aware  Winfield has had many opportunities to develop and grow our commercial tax base, which alleviates the financial pressure put on residents in the form of property taxes. Commercial real estate creates higher land values, puts no additional pressure on our schools, and they pay higher taxes per square foot than residential real estate does. Commercial developments also have the distinct advantage, if done right, of creating sales taxes. This town’s politicians for years have actively denied growth opportunities that would create net tax revenues for our town. (Daily Herald 3-25-09) If we had taken even a few of them, we would not find ourselves in such dire straights.

Lost Annual Transaction Tax

It is impossible to truly know how much sales tax revenue Winfield has forgone. I checked with the Illinois Department of Revenue and they tell me specific numbers are confidential. I have general numbers, and they are in the millions of dollars.

Currently, our heaviest traveled corridor is Roosevelt Road. The land along Roosevelt is zoned residential. Roosevelt Road has a traffic count of 30,000 cars each day. Of all the opportunities our village has to generate revenue in order to provide services like road maintenance, there is no better opportunity than Roosevelt Road.

“Winfield has lost every opportunity to raise tax revenue without raising taxes on our people…”

An Epic Failure of Government

During the last election cycle we were assured that Winfield Village President Deborah Birutis was a financial wizard that had spent 5 years on the finance committee and all was well with the budget. Glenn VadeBonCoeur and Jack Bajor also served with her on the finance committee and still do. Jack Bajor and Joel Kunesh are long time Winfield Trustees. One has to wonder, given their financial prowess, how did they NOT see this coming? In that same election cycle we were assured the budget was balanced and there was nothing to worry about. We should all be disappointed that we have arrived at this juncture in our town’s history; out of money and worse, out of ideas that do not revolve around raising taxes on the residents of this great town. The next step for these politicians is apparently to outsource our police department. The way I see it, if you boil the village’s responsibility to the residents down to its core, the local government is responsible for delivering clean water, disposing of sewage and garbage and providing police protection. If Village President Birutis doesn’t think Winfield should provide police protection anymore, then what, really, are we paying a local government for? If disbanding the police department is really an option, then disbanding the Winfield’s Village government should be too.

Why I ask you to join me in voting NO for the Winfield Road Referendum.

Let’s be honest with ourselves, the roads need to be fixed and Winfield is in a very bad spot because of monumentally bad management. But unless we take this opportunity to set the town on a path to fiscal responsibility, you can rest assured your politicians will come back to you in a few years from now to ask for more money for something else that is lurking (or should I say lacking) in our budget. However, we must vote NO for the Winfield Road Referendum UNTIL such time as they adopt reforms such as changing the zoning on Roosevelt Road to create the possibility for future revenues and outline a plan for developing a sustainable revenue stream. If our elected officials can put together a cogent plan with vision that clearly demonstrates a path to sustainable revenue, then we should change our vote to YES. I am not looking at a complete denial of the fact the roads need to be addressed, just a pause in doing what needs to be done. A pause just long enough for our current elected officials to do the right thing, to remember they are the stewards of the entire town and they manage the resources for the benefit of all the residents. I ask you to vote NO until a clearly defined plan has been devised to never have to come back to the residents again for more tax dollars.

Questions to Ask Your Elected Officials

1. President Birutis, Trustee VadeBonCoeur, with your 5 years on the finance committee, how long did you know that Winfield was out of money?
2. Did you know we were going to have to go to referendum for the roads during the last election cycle?
3. All your campaign literature said that you had “Balanced the Budget”. Tell me, is the budget really balanced when you are robbing from the road maintenance fund to cover operating expenses?
4. If getting a “Yes” vote for this referendum required changing the zoning of land in Winfield’s control on Roosevelt Road to commercial zoning would you do it?
5. Would you support leasing the Metra Commuter lots to a private company in order to raise $1 Million dollars?
6. Why did you vote against video gambling in Winfield that would have raised $45,000 per year?
7. Why did you not support the proton treatment center and its estimated $450,000 of tax revenue in the TIF district?
8. If we had the opportunity for a major commercial development to go in on Roosevelt Rd would you support it and the millions of dollars it would make for the Village?

“…the village needs to realize that there is a correlation between having an anti-development mindset and paying increased taxes …”

Winfield’s Good Old Days Near an End?

At the June 17 Winfield village board meeting the topic of discussion was the road referendum that will be on the Nov. 2 ballot. The village board is asking the village residents increase our property taxes by 200 percent to fund $18 million in deferred road maintenance.

I understand that Winfield’s roads are in disrepair but I find it foolish to give my authority to the village board to increase my real estate taxes without them first composing a plan to create sustainable revenues for the future. This plan should probably include developing Winfield’s most promising retail corridor which is Roosevelt Road. In what can only be described as a rhetorical “red herring,” Village Manager Curt Barrett informed me that in order to address the needs of the village roads we would need sales taxes of “$100 million,” and it was not as easy as “flipping a switch” to find other funding sources in place of the referendum.

Twenty minutes earlier Rich Bysina from the Winfield Chamber of Commerce asked village board members if they could pick up the tab for police services for the annual Winfield Good Old Days. Based on the responses from the trustees there is about a 50 percent chance there will be no Good Old Days this year.

I find it hilarious that Mr. Barrett can compartmentalize my demand for sustainable revenues into “only” needing them for road maintenance. From time immemorial money has been made for villages through the careful cultivation of commerce. Winfield should have started 20 years ago but there is no time like the present to have a plan. It’s time for Winfield to make money the “old” fashion way, by earning it, or Winfield’s Good Old Days will truly be behind it.

Are Winfield’s Good Ole Days Behind It?????

At the June 17th Winfield Village Board meeting the topic of discussion once again turned to the road referendum that will be on the November 2nd ballot. The village board is asking the village residents if we would like to have our property taxes increased by 200% to fund 18 Million dollars in road maintenance that should never have been deferred in the first place. As usual I rose to the podium during public comments to reiterate that I was actively working to educate the citizens about the road referendum. I understand Winfield’s roads are in disrepair and need to be fixed but I also understand our current administration is actively working to deny any vision or plan to create sustainable revenues such as developing our most promising retail corridor on Roosevelt Road. As such, I find it foolish to give my authority to the village board to increase my real estate taxes without first hearing some kind of plan that assures me I won’t have to be taxed again the next time some piece of Winfield’s infrastructure wears out.

When I finished speaking Winfield Village Manager Curt Barrett, in a display that would have given his high school rhetoric teacher apoplexy, trotted out not only a straw-man but also a dish of red-herring. He informed me that in order to address the needs of the village roads we would need sales taxes from “$100 Million in retail sales on Roosevelt Rd” and it was not as easy as “flipping a switch” to find other funding sources in place of the referendum.

Now hold that thought for a second.

Twenty minutes earlier Rich Bysina from the Winfield Chamber of Commerce rose to the podium to ask the village board if they could see their way clear to picking up the tab for police services for the annual Winfield end of summer event known as Good Ole Days. The cost is $6000, the same as it was last year. There was plenty of trepidation and from this observer’s point of view, there is about a 50% chance the village board will say “NO” and there will be no Good Ole Days this year.

Now contrast the fact Winfield cannot find a measly $6000 in it’s budget to fund a long standing Winfield institution against the chiding I took from Village Manager Barrett about not being able to “flip-a-switch” or the unlikeliness of finding “$100 Million in sales tax revenue” in developing Roosevelt Road.

Mr. Barrett, our politicians have not even laid the groundwork to have revenues of 6 flipping thousand dollars, to create a table-scrap of a “quality of life” Winfield wide event. How pathetic is that?

Village Manager Curt Barrett

I find it hilarious Mr. Barrett can compartmentalize my demand for sustainable revenues into “only” needing them for road maintenance. At the February 27th road referendum town hall meeting Mr. Barrett suggested to the gathered crowd that Roosevelt Road could create sustainable revenue but the political will was such that it was not an option that was available. So I guess I am to understand that either Mr. Barrett drank Village President Birutis’ Kool-aid or else the water-boarding she gave him for making such statements in public has adjusted his attitude. What is perplexing to me is that President Birutis is on vacation this week. The boss isn’t there to suck up to. Shouldn’t Mr. Barrett leave what was an obvious political defense to the politicians?

From time immemorial money has been made for villages through the careful cultivation of commerce. Both sales tax AND commercial real estate tax help to remove the burden of funding government from the shoulders of the citizens. It will take time, maybe ten years or more. Winfield should have started on this twenty years ago but there is no time like the present to have a plan and a vision for how we will make sure we never find ourselves in this position again. It’s time for Winfield to make money the “Ole” fashion way, by earning it, or Winfield’s Good Ole Days will truly be behind it

Winfield’s Infrastructure Woes

This is an archived article from February 2010

Chances are you don’t spend a lot of time thinking about the intricate system of underground pipes that bring us drinking water, carry away sewage and ensure rainstorms don’t leave us waterlogged. That is, of course, unless you’ve found your home flooded or your commute blocked by thousands of gallons of water gushing into the streets.

Winfield officials have been warned for years their system is in need of repairs, many pipes are close to 60 years old and worn down by ground water and acidic soil. Over the last five years Winfield Village President Deborah Birutis has failed to even marginally address a solution to mend Winfield’s crumbling infrastructure and miles of deteriorating roads throughout town. Now she’s in panic mode scrambling to get support from a taxed-out public for a referendum to fix the massive problems caused by her leadership mismanagement.

A few years back the village had a long cold snap with about a month and a half of below-freezing temperatures. Then, abruptly, the mercury rose and over the course of the next several months, 54 water mains broke, causing all sorts of havoc. The pipes were old. Some were ancient. And they were laid shallow without much protection. So with any radical changes in temperature, they were susceptible to breaking. The village is currently operating at about a 20 percent loss in their system of finished water out of the system through leaks and failures. How long could a business stay viable if they have a 20 percent shrinkage walking out the door?

The question that is now on everyone’s mind is: What has Village President Birutis and the village board done to stop the hemorrhaging of Winfield’s infrastructure?

The answer, absolutely nothing.

Trustee Jack Bajor has been the Public Works Committee Chairman for the past five years. Maybe Mr. Bajor can explain why over the last five years under his leadership he turned away from our screaming infrastructure needs and let the deterioration continue. It has been Mr. Bajor’s responsibility as public works chair to ensure the village’s infrastructure needs are met and the community is safeguarded. Public Works Chair Bajor talks a good game but that’s all it is, talk. Sadly, Mr. Bajor needs to be informed that ignoring these problems imperils public safety, diminishes our economic competitiveness, is penny-wise and pound-foolish, and results in tremendous missed opportunities for the village.

Winfield is near the top in DuPage County for the number of structurally deficient and functionally obsolete infrastructure. Why is Winfield in this predicament? The answer lies with Village President Birutis and her board. Ms. Birutis along with her village board blindly follow the anti-growth philosophy of Winfield United. Ms. Birutis espouse Winfield United’s self-serving and highly flawed position that Roosevelt Road should remain residential. This is a thoroughfare which is commercialized from the Lake Michigan to DeKalb and affords Winfield the best opportunity for revenue growth. The past five years of  Ms. Birutis’ economic plan has produced not one single dollar in new revenue. Revenues badly needed to repair and maintain the decaying infrastructure in town.

At the start of every year Ms. Birutis throws around the terms economic development – downtown redevelopment and this years was no different. But these are merely buzz words to try and hide the failed policies of her administration and mislead the voting public. In the last 6 years Winfield has not seen one new development, downtown or anywhere else.

How did Ms. Birutis think she was going to be able to fund the needed infrastructure improvements? Obviously she had no idea. So the village board pushed aside infrastructure initiatives, including basic maintenance and repair. If you think this is an exaggeration consider a little known fact, the village owns the fire hydrants in town, the village is responsible for their maintenance yet the village has not tested the fire hydrants in over 5 years. Hydrants must be tested on a regular basis to ensure they are capable of delivering water at a pressure and a rate of flow for public health and effective firefighting operations. If this isn’t a cause for concern, I don’t know what is?

Now throw in the board’s wasteful spending of $8 million in taxpayer’s monies earmarked for water, sewer and road improvements on projects to make themselves look good. Think $2 million for remote meters, $1.5 million for new water and sewer lines to an empty lot and $1.5 million for a new public works building. Try finding out where the remaining $3 million went, you’ll need a full scale forensic audit. While the village board boast about these projects they mean nothing if the village they are operating in has its vital organs fail on them.

What this board never understood is infrastructure spending is a crucial investment in the village’s future. Delaying infrastructure maintenance, repairs and replacement never pays off in the long run. Who can say what breach of public health and safety it might result in next time? Addressing Winfield’s infrastructure shortcomings should be of the highest priority for the community.

It is clear, maybe not to this board that getting Winfield’s infrastructure act together is critical to the town’s future. If Winfield doesn’t, it would be worse than foolish. It would be tragic.

Romanelli Rants

Editors Note: The following is a series of email exchanges between Tim Allen and the President of the political action committee Winfield United, who is now going by the name Steve J Romanelli. The emails were forwarded to us by Mr. Allen with his permission to post them for everyone to read.

Email 1

Hi Tim,

Just wondered how your WU debate went. I am sure I know the outcome. I saw you had quoted me from some conversation we had a year ago (as you stated) about why I started WU. Interesting recollection. Is that all I had to say?

Anyway, I do remember a conversation we had several years ago when we first met at the chamber installation dinner when you were a candidate and you told me that I looked bad wasting my time on 411 swinging at “ghosts”. At least you still have the balls to identify yourself, but why on earth are you wasting your time supporting such a group of gutless wonders?

If people want change, it is hard to do so when you are some fake alias on a dead end blog site.

Good luck with your battles. I like your energy but wish you focused on doing some positive things inside the village with positive people.

Steve J. Romanelli

Email 2

Steve,

The Winfield Debate Club meeting about Districting has not happened yet. I moved it to the Wednesday after the next village hall meeting. The next Referendum meeting at the village hall is May 22. Of course they never advertised it so I am sure the room will be empty. The next debate club is May 26 (Wednesday) 7:00 at John’s Buffet.

Winfield411’s last incarnation was counterproductive. It’s a blog now and the writers are more than happy to put their names up there. You may notice Patti Weber did a nice post that is up there now. The comments are still anonymous but that is no different than any blog anywhere including places like the New York Times.

I don’t think that it is a dead end anymore. I also need a place to communicate with the people on a daily basis. 411 suits that purpose fine. The way I see it there are people that hate the site, people that like the site and people that have never heard of it. I am interested in communicating with the last two.

Considering we don’t have a newspaper and we certainly haven’t had one that was unbiased in awhile I am thinking that 411 is as good as it gets.

The way I see it I AM doing positive things for positive ends. Roosevelt Road is going commercial and I am going to put everything I have behind that charge. Having sustainable revenues is the most positive and important and pressing opportunity to come up in my 7 years in this town. You should help me get it done.

-Tim

Email 3

Hi Tim,

Sorry but that is a sad state if you need a place like 411 to get your message across. You are better than that…..at least I think you are. Any blog that “controls” who is able to post and uses selective editing on comments they choose as beneficial to their site is not a blog by any sense, just a self serving propaganda tool.

I have no problem supporting sustainable revenue and if Roosevelt Rd. is the best option, so be it. If it was a good project that provided a nice look (I don’t believe your concept drawing is realistic, but sure is pretty), then I would be in favor. However, I have always wanted a Town Center with a Riverwalk and my efforts would be focused on at least making this a reality. Why not join me on doing this first?

We have some spots on the committee and could use someone with excessive energy ;)

Steve J. Romanelli

Email 4

Steve,

Excessive energy. Heh. Very funny.

Your indignation is selective. You should have found your voice when Stan Zegel’s propaganda tool was self-serving you.

Work on Town Center first? I learned a few things from knocking around the North Woods in Wisconsin. More hooks in the water catche more fish. Your support for Roosevelt Road is a head-fake. There is no more work involved in changing the town center plan to allow for development on Roosevelt Road than there is in working on Town Center. It’s not like Deb Birutis is digging the foundations to those spectacular buildings in town center herself. The reality is that the documentation (comprehensive plan) is the only “work” involved. There is no good reason to start one project “first” before starting the other. I would like a vibrant town center as well but to borrow another phrase from fishing, you have to fish were the fish are. There are tens of thousands of fish driving down Roosevelt Road every day.

I will believe you are serious about sustainable revenues for Winfield when Winfield United puts that as a goal on your website.

-Tim

Editors Note:

Contrary to the self-serving rantings of  Steve J Romanelli, President of the political action committee Winfield United, Winfield411/blog is an information blog publication that goes against the grain and tells stories that many in power and especially Romanelli’s organization Winfield United would prefer to be kept secret.

Since our founding, we have generated a truthful counter-narrative to the false narrative that has long dominated Winfield.  We’ve done this by bringing together columnists, editorial writers and residents, who dared tell the unwelcome truths about those in control of our town.

Winfield’s Road Referendum Won’t Benefit Residents

The residents of Winfield are currently agitated by the specter of having to pony up $3.3 million and another $14 million over 20 years for deferred road maintenance. So far, there have been three town hall meetings, one hosted by the village and two hosted by me for the purposes of educating the people about the referendum.

There is another issue that runs hand in hand with the road referendum and that is the Winfield politicians’ disinterest in finding sustainable revenues through retail sales taxes and commercial real estate taxes to help take some of the burden off the citizens of this town. Six out of seven of our politicians are either members of the Winfield United Political Action Committee or are hand-picked by President Deborah Birutis, who was elected as the candidate choice of Winfield United.

When you consider that Winfield’s best opportunity for creating sustainable revenues is on the Roosevelt Road corridor, it calls into question the motivation of the members of Winfield United. Based on records from the state, I have compiled a list of Winfield United political donors and where they live. Not surprisingly, they all live in a one or two block radius of Roosevelt Road.

The choice to not develop Roosevelt Road into a commercial district that can be harnessed to alleviate some of the financial burdens associated with running a village represents a wealth transfer payment. The wealth transfer is from all of the other 9,000 people who do not live along Roosevelt Road to the few people that do. It is a miscarriage of justice that Village President Birutis is using her political station not to the benefit of the whole village but to the benefit of a small cabal of landowners who have paid $32,000 in political donations for a small town village election to make sure their backyard view never has to change.

NIMBY stands for “not in my backyard”; this self-serving attitude is a sad commentary on the state of Winfield politics when our elected officials run the town for themselves and their cronies at the expense of the rest of the residents. The $32,000 represents a small amount of money to pay to buy an outcome to an election that ensures the rest of the town gets taxed for $18 million over 20 years.

I am writing to you today to let you know that as you cover the story of the Winfield Road Referendum which will be on the ballot this November, there is a back story that explains the motivations of this referendum. I would also like you to know that I plan to have on that same ballot, an opportunity to vote to district the Village of Winfield so that each section of Winfield is represented and the needs of the whole town are considered when planning this towns future.

CDH ‘welfare’ idea typical myopia

The Winfield Inn

As I hear and read about Winfield’s budget shortfall to fix our streets, I can’t help but think that developing Roosevelt Road is part of the solution.  I realize our village board is diligently working to develop our Town Center to bring in revenue and I’m very hopeful that it happens someday.  But just as a wise investment advisor tells you to diversify your portfolio, Winfield must diversify its sources of new revenue.  We can’t put all our eggs into the Town Center basket and we can’t keep hoping that more businesses will open on Geneva Road.  We have to open up the most widely traveled road in Winfield to the development community.

I’ve been thinking about the types of business that would fit in well in the Roosevelt & Winfield Roads area and what came to mind was Cantigny.  Since 2008, when Cantigny opened Les Jardins restaurant, they’ve gone from booking 5 to 8 wedding receptions per year to 65 wedding receptions per year!  When asked where they refer the wedding guests, they told me they refer them to the Lisle Hilton.  What a perfect opportunity for Winfield to offer accommodations across the street from Cantigny at The Winfield Inn.  I imagine something quaint to fit with the character of the village nestled among the trees across from Cantigny.  We could also expect these guests to patronize other Winfield businesses as well as Central DuPage Hospital visitors to take advantage of the Inn as it would be the closest accommodations to the hospital.

I believe that if done correctly with proper attention to architecture and location, the Inn will be an asset our community can be proud of.  I hope tour elected officials endeavor to find ways to capitalize on this opportunity.

Would Chuck?

I had a conversation with Winfield Village Trustee Chuck Martschinke last night. We shared a beer at John’s Buffet and talked about Winfield. I was very interested to talk to Chuck to see how he fit into the village board. I enjoyed the conversation very much. I think Chuck is a straight shooter and while he may have been hand picked by Deborah Birutis, I believe he does his own thinking. When Village President Deborah Birutis torpedoed the Union Pacific Railroad underpass the first time it was up for a vote, Chuck Martschinke resigned from his involvement with the village. Former Winfield Village President RudyCzech, who hasd a habit of blind cc’ing people on emails, cc’d me on Chuck’s resignation letter. I thought that his commitment to something he believed in was admirable and I think he is an admirable guy.

That being said, I think he recognizes what I am trying to accomplish by shooting down the road referendum but he made abundantly clear he disagrees. I see the crumbling infrastructure as a symptom and I see the disease as being a lack of sustainable revenues. My purpose in working to kill the road referendum is to force attention to the lack of revenues so we cure the disease, then we can work on addressing the symptom. Its like having a boat with a hole in it. Do you bail the water out as it is rushing in? Or, do you fix the hole, and then bail the water out? To fix this hole in our budget we have to address the issue of Roosevelt Road in our comprehensive plan. From what I understand, the comprehensive plan for Winfield is up for review this summer and will be in front of the planning commission. I will be at those meetings and I think any concerned citizen should make an appearance too. Unfortunately it will probably be December before the village board votes to approve the comprehensive plan, so it is probably already too late for the November election and the vote on the road referendum.

Would Chuck support changing the comprehensive plan to allow commercial development on Roosevelt Rd? I think if anyone would give it honest consideration, Chuck would.

Winfield Resident Speaks Out Against Possible Road Referendum

Tim Allen, a Winfield resident and outspoken critic of a possible $3.3 million road referendum put forth by the Village of Winfield, drew about 35 people to a presentation at John’s Buffet in Winfield April 20.

During his PowerPoint presentation, Allen—a former village plan commission member and 2009 trustee candidate—outlined his opposition to the referendum, which asks voters two questions.

The first part would ask voters to approve a bond issuance of $3.3 million to repair the most deteriorated roads in the village. A second question would ask homeowners to raise property taxes to fund $700,000 worth of road maintenance each year for the next 20 years.

Such an aggressive maintenance cycle would be a first for Winfield, said Village Manager Curt Barrett.

If both questions pass, the owner of a $300,000 home could expect a yearly tax hike of $260.

Barrett and Village President Deborah Birutis were invited to present the argument in favor of the referendum but neither attended.

Lackluster revenue from a motor fuel tax and significant increases in both material and labor for road repair have limited the village’s ability to pay to fix the village’s streets, Barrett said.

“At this point, we can’t afford a half-mile of resurfacing funded by the motor fuel tax,” Barrett said.

Allen said poor planning and a lack of sales tax revenue generated by commercial development in Winfield, particularly along the Roosevelt Road corridor, is the reason the village has been forced to ask voters to raise taxes to fund road repairs. Land along the corridor in Winfield is primarily residential, but homeowners can petition the municipality to have their land re-zoned.

“We can pass a road referendum and repair the roads but we haven’t solved the problem of not having sustainable revenues in this town,” Allen said. “Everything comes back on you and your residential taxes because we don’t have another way to make money that doesn’t include dipping into your pocket. What I’m asking you to do is say no until we fix the long-term problems of sustainable revenues for Winfield.”

While the presentation focused on the future of one of DuPage County’s smallest municipalities, it was also something of a showcase for Allen, who acknowledges that he plans to run for trustee in the future.

“I won’t deny this is putting me on a stage for a political future, but somebody’s got to do it,” he said.

Allen discussed alternative road funding options during the hour-long presentation, which turned contentious as one attendee called Allen and others who held similar viewpoints members of the Me Generation.

In addition to re-zoning and developing Roosevelt Road, Allen urged residents to consider video gambling and leasing the parking lot at the Metra station to a private operator to generate funds.

Cliff Mortenson, chairman of the village’s plan commission and a former trustee, was in attendance and spoke up several times in defense of the village.

“We’re not the only ones in this predicament,” he said.

Mortenson said it made more sense for the village to focus its commercial recruitment efforts on Winfield’s downtown area and Geneva Road as opposed to Roosevelt Road.

“Let’s concentrate on those areas that are already considered commercial,” he said.

Resident Patti Weber said she thinks certain developments on Roosevelt Road—like an inn to accommodate the guests of weddings at nearby Cantigny Park—would be very promising opportunities for the village.

Josta and James Kalasmiki sat through the presentation to learn more about the road situation in the village and possible ways to finance repairs.

“Garys Mill Road is deteriorated,” James Kalasmiki said. “It’s beautiful in West Chicago but as soon as you hit Winfield, you better slow down.”

When asked how they would vote on the referendum, both residents said they hadn’t made up their minds.

By Patricia Murphy, Triblocal.com reporter

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