11/01/21 Letter from the Mayor

Dear Residents,

The RECYCLE-O-RAMA event was a wonderful success. In the great spirit of volunteerism, Riverwoods residents met over 90 cars and filled massive containers with donated shoes, stuffed animals, clothing, and sporting goods. Many thanks to Louise and Roger Simonson, David Shimberg, Laurie Breitkopf, and Randi Merel for their time and effort in spearheading this event.

Speaking of volunteerism, I’d like to address the issue of community. Riverwoods was incorporated on December 12, 1959 and the founders selected a raccoon’s face as the Village symbol. In an early letter to new residents, the Mayor wrote that the raccoon was chosen because of “its pervasive presence, independent attitude and feisty behavior whenever threatened from the outside”. Today we have many more “outside” threats. Safety from harm to person or property, fire, water (both lack of and too much) are just some of the current issues that residents face. In order to protect against those threats, we must be financially secure and act as a community rather than fall back on the old “user-pay” philosophy.

Toward the goal of protection from “outside” threats, the Board recently reviewed the Finance Committee’s budget projections. As many of you already know, we have an excellent Police Department and police expenses occupy the majority of the Village’s operating expenses. That “majority” is expected to exceed our revenues however, this public service is critical to ensure resident security and safety.

As we consider important public services, thoughts also turn to public water availability for safety and usage throughout the Village. It should be noted that real estate agents do call asking if homes for sale in Riverwoods have wells or are on public water, the latter being preferable. The Board has chosen to explore the issue of Village-wide availability of public water which is a timely exploration considering this is the year for the Lake Michigan water allocations review.

We will be facing some important decisions in the next few months. Guiding our discussions must be the ideas of community, and the future financial stability of Riverwoods.

Respectfully,
Kris Ford