Homer Glen Mayors Endorse Creation Of Village Public Works

HOMER GLEN, IL — As Election Day nears, residents will soon vote on whether or not the Homer Township Road District should be abolished. The referendum was placed on the ballot by the township, after the Village of Homer Glen announced a plan to transfer stewardship of the road district from the township to the village.

Now, the village has said every Homer Glen Mayor – past and present – has announced support for the Village to establish its own public works department.

Former Mayors James P. Daley and Russ Petrizzo and current Mayor George Yukich believe that by creating a public works department, the Village would provide residents and taxpayers with financial security, accountability and control over the 135 miles of streets within the boundaries of the Village, a release from the village states.

The Homer Township Road District currently has jurisdiction of maintenance and funding of those streets. If the referendum from Homer Township is successful, then the township would take over control of village-owned roads, the village said in a release.

The three Mayors warned that the referendum may cause confusion among voters because of its wording, a release from the village states.

According to the village, the passage of the referendum with a "yes" vote would "prove costly to taxpayers and undermine the creation of the Village’s public works department." The Village would also relinquish control of the Village streets and funding from the Road District to the Township Board.

If voters vote "no," the Village can move forward with its plans to secure the stewardship of the roads.

According to the Township website, a "no" vote could have the potential for "unnecessary litigation"because the commissioner's "unlawful transfer of assets to one stakeholder will need to be challenged by court action."

The township said a "yes" vote would reduce taxes since two taxing bodies would be merged into one. The tax levy line item for the township road district would be removed from property tax bills.

In a letter to residents, former Homer Glen Mayor Russ Petrizzo wrote that giving up control of the Township streets would create uncertainty that could end up costing taxpayers more in the long run.

“Every other municipality in Homer Township (Lockport, Lemont, New Lenox) and most every municipality in Illinois maintains its streets with its own public works department – for good reason,” wrote Petrizzo who served as the Village’s first mayor. “Just like we needed two decades in forming the Village, we must control our own destiny and not let others dictate our future for us. The Village now has the capability and means to seize this opportunity.”

Former Mayor James Daley who served two terms from 2008 to 2014, took aim at the Township Board’s tactics for rushing to put the referendum on the ballot and voting to sue the Village, and therefore “suing their own residents.”

“It’s time that the Village moves forward with this plan and becomes completely independent from the Township,” Daley said in a release. “Independence and self-control were the reasons we incorporated 20 years ago.”

Yukich noted in a release that the Village entered into an intergovernmental agreement for the Road District to maintain Homer Glen roads when the Village formed in 2001 because it lacked the resources and finances to fund its own public works department. Now, the village has grown and is ready to operate its own public works.

“Homer Glen residents have been paying for the Road District’s assets and equipment – and paying its staff – for the past two decades, and we own the vast majority of streets that the Road District maintains,” Yukich said in a release. “The transfer makes sense for many reasons but most importantly, maintaining the status quo puts the Village at risk. In doing so, we will remain beholden to the whims of an outside government entity that not only controls our funding but has the authority to tell us what roads to maintain, what roads to fix and what roads to plow.”