2023 Spring Sweep Recycling and Shredding event InfoRMATION

What is spring sweep? 

The F.U.N. Commission and the Environmental Concerns Commissions are once again teaming up to bring residents the 2023 Villa Park Spring Sweep. Recycle from the safety and comfort of your vehicle. Drive your car to each station (below) and volunteers will collect and remove items for safe disposal. Simply load your car, drive to the event, and volunteers will be ready to assist. Let us do the heavy lifting! Attendees are asked to please remain in their vehicles at all times.  

When is the event?

Saturday, May 20, 2023 from 9 a.m. to noon.  

Where is this event located and how do I enter?

The Spring sweep event is located along Home Ave. Cars will be heading east bound on Home Ave, entering on the West side of Home Ave. Traffic will enter from northbound Harvard Avenue, and exit onto Ardmore Avenue.

Cost of the event? 

This event is FREE for Villa Park residents. There is a $20 fee per vehicle for non-residents. Also, some vendors have fees.

For more information, click here

Cop on A ROOFTOP

Officers from the Villa Park Police Department will be participating in the "Dunkin Cop on a Rooftop" event on Friday, May 19, 2023, at Dunkin (298 W North Ave. Villa Park IL. 60181) from 5 am to noon.

The event is a fun and unique way to raise funds to support Illinois Special Olympics. Also, officers will be selling merchandise for the law enforcement torch run.

Village Manager's Message

I want to start this week’s message by thanking the Employee Appreciation Workgroup members: Patty Ruiz, Yolanda Clark, Zandra Shook, Deb Posch, Kristin Karl, Viviana Munson, and Doris Pacenti. This group planned the activi-ties all week for Public Service Appreciation Week including the Cookout pic-tured (above/below). I can tell you that the work of this group of employees did a lot to show the gratitude our employees deserve. After this picture was taken (see page 3) there was a lot more interaction between the different departments. Creating a workplace where people enjoy working is important for productivity, but it is also important for the human beings that work for us to work in an environment where the organization doesn’t generate any addition-al stress beyond the actual work.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Chamber of Commerce event at Windy City Curling. What a great asset to Villa Park the revitalized Chamber is and Windy City Curling. I also went on another retention visit arranged by Economic Development Director Patrick Burke. This time we visited Bone Roofing, a family owned and operated business that supplies about 55 employees with meaningful work in a growing business. They recruit a large portion of their work-force by word of mouth. Interestingly they have a leadership book club too and they just read the book we will read next – Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t which is all about creating organizations that we want to work for.

I also want to update you on several projects going forward in the Village. This week the Village contractor completed most of the “50/50” sidewalk projects. I want to especially that School District 88 for stepping up and agreeing to pay their share of the sidewalk along Ardmore near the baseball field of Willow-brook High School. That heavily used stretch of sidewalk was in poor shape. We should be doing about twice as much this year as last, which does not include sidewalk upgrades in the Monterey Separation Project area. That project is moving along and should be complete and buttoned up in about a month. All the piping is done, and we are currently finishing driveway approaches and aprons. The Well #10 project is completed, and the well was successfully shut down. The Jackson Pond project continues. We have authorized work this Saturday to help them catch up on some days lost to rain.

We continue to proceed with some technology improvements. All the Depart-ments are working with our Communications Specialist Donny Pisano to up-date material on the website and purge material that is years old. In about a months we plan to launch the new look for the website (a free upgrade included in our software package) which we hope will further improve the function of our website. We also had a demonstration of software for permitting that would work hand-in-glove with the preferred ERP software we have looked at. The goal is a better experience for the customer and a more efficient Village operation.

As with every week I met collectively with Department Heads.

Matt Harline, Village Manager

To view the full managers report, click here

NO-MOW MAY 

The Village of Villa Park Board of Trustees is proud to announce the passing of a "No Mow May" resolution. This initiative invites residents to avoid mowing their lawn or a section of their lawn through the month of May. 

Why Mow Less?

The start of the growing season is a critical time for hungry, newly emerged native bees. Floral resources may be hard to find, especially in urban and suburban landscapes. By allowing it to grow longer, and letting flowers bloom, your lawn can provide nectar and pollen to help your bee neighbors thrive.

Mowing less creates habitat and can increase the abundance and diversity of wildlife including bees and other pollinators. One way to reduce mowing is by participating in No Mow April, No Mow May, or Low Mow Spring.

Just allowing weeds to grow is better than no flowers, but the typical lawn weeds may not be the best for bees, or the best neighbors to other flowers. Dandelions, for example, have pollen that is low in protein (poor nutrition for bees) and is known to suppress other flowers. You can go beyond reduced mowing by changing your lawn to include more flowering species. A “bee lawn” may include white clover (Trifolium repens) and other low-growing flowering plants such as creeping thyme (Thymus spp.), selfheal (Prunella vulgaris), and others. Some plants, such as native violets (Viola spp.), may already be present and should be encouraged as they are valuable host plants for fritillary butterflies. 

Regular lawn care code enforcement will resume in June. 

Annual Independence 

Day Parade 

Happy Independence Day! Hosted by the Villa Park VFW Post 2801, Join us for this annual Villa Park event. This year’s theme is “Reflections" The parade route is approximately 2 miles long. We step off at 10:00 AM, going west on Central to Harvard, South on Harvard to Madison, East on Madison to Summit, North on Summit to Park, and West on Park to Ardmore for dispersal. Thank you to the Villa Park Chamber of Commerce, Tri-Town YMCA, and the Villa Park Public Library for making this event possible. 

Do you want to sponsor or participate in the event? 

Participant and sponsorship forms can be found here.

Jefferson pool passes on sale Now!

Water are you doing this summer? Jefferson Pool passes are on sale NOW! The first pool day of the season is June 3rd.Call 630.834.8970 or visit the Iowa Community Center for more information.

Job Openings

We are now hiring for multiple summer seasonal positions. To apply, please visit here.

Upcoming meetings and events

Never miss a meeting or special event. To access our full calendar, click here.