Winnetka Trustees Opt to Reroute Water Main, Discuss Tax Levy

Winnetka trustees met for their first village council meeting with Tuesday night. Below are highlights from the meeting.

• Trustees voted unanimously to reroute one of two water mains that supplies 60 percent of the village's water away from Lloyd Beach, where a portion of it is now exposed due to soil erosion. The cost of the project could be $365,000 to $390,000, according to Brian Keys, Winnetka's water and electric department director. According to documents presented at the meeting, the water main would be rerouted beneath the access road and through the southeast corner of . The construction would require Park District approval. Park District employees noticed that about 100 feet of the 20-inch pipe was exposed Nov. 16. Residents should not see a change in water service if the pipe is shut down for repairs or construction because water use is low during the winter and using the one other pipe wouldn't pose a problem until about mid-May, Keys said. Trustees also considered the option of installing a breakwater in front of the existing pipe to protect it from damage and further exposure. That option would require permits from various regulatory agencies since the breakwater would be placed in Lake Michigan. Though the breakwater has a lower cost estimate ($109,000) than rerouting the water main, trustees chose the second option, agreeing that it would be more of a long-term solution. Finance Director Ed McKee told trustees money was available in the budget to pay for the project, which would require a loan from the village's general fund. According to the report prepared by Keys, the project is estimated to be completed in the first half of April 2011.

• Trustees discussed and introduced an ordinance related to the 2010 tax levy but requested more information from Ed McKee, village finance director, before a Dec. 14 study session. In the ordinance, property taxes would be increased 4.1 percent, with 2.7 percent for existing property owners and 1.4 percent coming from new development. At that rate, residents with a $20,000 tax bill would see an increase of about $72. With those numbers, the village would gain about $13.3 million in revenue. Trustees considered options that would cut the bill for residents and Trustee Rintz brought up the frustrations of the tax levy process. "The dilemma we're faced with is that we set the levy before we have a budget," Rintz said. "The tendency is, we already know how much we have to spend and if we budget less, we're still collecting more than we have to." The Dec. 21 council meeting was canceled, but trustees will discuss the levy in a study session Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m.

• The language in the village code regarding protests of special use permit applications was discussed. Trustees talked about who is eligible to submit a written protest to an application, how the protest must be recorded, and when it must be submitted. Under the ordinance as it currently stands, when 20 percent of property owners within a 250-foot radius of the property in question submit a protest, four of the six village trustees must vote to approve the special use permit. Trustees favored policy that would require written protests to be notarized, but there was discussion over the deadline for protest submission -- from the day before the first reading at the village council meeting, to noon on the day of the council meeting, to the time of the council meeting. Trustees will revisit the issue in the Jan. 4 meeting.

• During public comment, Richard Kates expressed frustration that the village decided to retain the former village fire chief as a part-time consultant without public discussion. Kates was nominated by the Winnetka Caucus to run for village trustee in the April election. Kates questioned Scott Smith's level of expertise on issues including collective bargaining and health insurance. Village Attorney Katherine Janega responded that Smith will work a maximum of 600 hours at an hourly rate of $75, and he was brought on within the legal power of the interim village manager, Liz Rosenthal. In addition, Smith will aid the transition of the fire department to the leadership of a new fire chief because the senior level command staff members have all left the department.