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Beecher Trustees consider reports  Share
At their Monday board meeting, Beecher Village Trustees reviewed various reports. After noting that the Illinois State Capital Bill allotted $125,000 to the village, the trustees learned that it might take months before the village will see any of the money. The state has to first sell $31 billion in bonds to cover the cost, and this may be difficult, given the state's financial status, according to Village Administrator Bob Barber. The question seems to be, ''Who would buy these bonds?'' Four years ago, the village adopted a disaster plan. Monday night, the trustees approved Ordinance 1122, which would update the disaster plan. Most of the changes in the plan were to phone numbers, addresses and names. ''The plan is written in homeland security format,'' said Barber. Once copies of the plan are printed, local officials will receive copies. The village announced that yard waste bag distribution dates would be on Saturday, October 10 and Saturday, October 17. The distribution of bags will take place at Beecher Junior High School from 9 a.m. to noon each day. The village will distribute 10 bags each to those not living in the leaf collection zone. For more information, contact the village hall at 708-946-2261.
Village trustees learned that the traffic signal light at Chestnut and Dixie Highway has been delayed by the state until the November 11 bid letting. Although the project has been engineered and is ready to go, the state is delaying work in the project until the bid letting. This means that probably no action will take place until the spring of 2010, if then. Many of the residents in this area have been awaiting a report on the progress of the Illiana Expressway. According to Barber, the $1 million dollar report was made public by the State of Indiana, which is the lead agency for the project. ''It is obvious from reading the report that it was written more for Indiana's purposes than Illinois','' said Barber. Three different routes - one north of Beecher, using a Goodenow/Pauling road alignment; one central, using a Corning Road alignment and passing south of Beecher; and one south - using Whitaker Road, just north of Grant Park. The 296-page report is careful not to recommend one of the three routes. It appears that the states of Illinois and Indiana are short of the $1.21 billion needed to build the road. ''This means that Federal funds will be needed,'' said Barber. Both IDOT (Illinois Department of Transportation) and INDOT (Indiana Department of Transportation) will study the report to decide on the next course of action. This road is a long way from being built. Other factors, such as the proposed Peotone-Beecher airport, will be considered. On July 13, the Video Gaming Act was passed to legalize the use of video gaming terminals in specific land locations in Illinois. According to a report from the Illinois Municipal League, the new act will impact local governments and local businesses. ''A video gaming terminal is any electronic game machine that, upon insertion of cash, is available to play or simulate the play of a video game, such as video poker, line up and blackjack.'' The Illinois Gaming Board has jurisdiction over - and will supervise - all gaming operations under this Act. ''This seems to be just another way the state wants to make money to offset its financial crises,'' Barber said. The village trustees received copies of a summary of this new way of bringing in money for the state. There are many ramifications to the act, which have not been spelled out. Barber believes that once the entire list of regulations is made known, each municipality will have to seriously consider how it wants to proceed. According to Barber, village trustees will need to read the entire Act and determine if the village wants to participate in such an undertaking. Finally, the trustees voted unanimously to cancel the August 24 board meeting, due to a lack of agenda items. Terry Gatlin is a reporter for Russell Publications.
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