Village Manager's Message

At the Committee of the Whole meeting tonight our Director of Public Works, Michael Guerra, will be making a presentation about the requirements the Village faces to identify and replace the remaining lead service lines for drinking water (the water lines that connect the home or business to the connection with the Village’s water main) in the Village of Villa Park. In the most recent annual report that the Village submitted to IEPA, we reported 105 known lead service lines (plus another 32 galvanized lines) out of 7,152 total service lines. The majority of service lines remain unknown, although the installation of lead service lines was banned in 1986. New regulations require the Village to make sure that any lead or galvanized service line is eventually replaced when we find them.  We have to determine how much should be paid directly by the property owner, and how much should be paid by the community via the water utility. 

The history of lead and plumbing is so closely linked that they share a common root word. The reason Pb is the symbol for lead on the periodic table is because the Latin word for lead is plumbum, which is also the root of the word plumbing.  As far back as ancient Rome, lead was used in plumbing because it was malleable, sturdy, and was not corroded by water.  Having lead service lines is not necessarily as bad as it sounds.  Even though the high toxicity of lead makes it a legitimate target of elimination, the actual amount of lead that leaches into the water depends on the water's pH and other trace compounds. If the water has high acidity or low mineral content that corrodes pipes and fixtures, then lead can be leached out of pipes, if not the actual amount of lead in the water can be undetectable.

We learned recently that our E-Waste vendor, Kuusakoski, has ceased operations. We believe we have a new vendor to take their place, but we are canceling the March electronics recycling event this Saturday. Look for notices on Facebook and the Village website for more information.

My Civics teacher in high school used to say, “Repetition is a better teacher than I,” so with that in mind I will mention again that Trine Construction is requesting to work on the Jackson Area Project all Saturdays, extending through the end of September. The stormwater portion of the project is partially funded by a $4 million grant from FEMA for flood mitigation and the grant period ends September 30. We apologize in advance for the inconvenience.

The Villa Park team met again about the G.O. Bonds that will be needed to support the Union Apartments project (paid from TIF proceeds) and the timing. We interviewed a potential temporary HR Director at MGT (formerly GovTemps/GovHR).  Last week I attended the DMMC Manager’s meeting, had coffee with the District 88 Superintendent, attended the Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission meeting to talk about future pool needs and options, attended a Zoom conference with other municipalities about utility taxes, and as usual, I met with department heads locally and individually.

View the full report here. All weekly reports can be found in our Document Center under Village Manager.

Matt Harline

Village Manager