Now that residents have agreed that the Westmont Surface Water Protection District should no longer exist, district trustees are preparing for the step in dissolving it.
Residents voted to support a referendum in the Feb. 2 election ballot to dissolve the 60-year-old district, which worked to address flood concerns, but has been obsolete and can no longer afford to serve the residents of the district.
Water District Trustee Bonnie Wingert said the referendum approval was a good thing for the residents. The district has been trying to dissolve itself for the past three years, and finally decided to go to referendum to let the people decide the future of the district.
“The people of the district have spoken,” she said. “As a member of the board for over 30 years, I realize we cannot do what the villages and county can do to address flooding,” she said. “We just don’t have the funds or resources to do it anymore.”
Wingert said the district, which was formed by referendum in the 1950s to address storm water, is obsolete. The Village of Westmont, along with DuPage County and Downers Grove, have supported its dissolution.
The district collects taxes through property owners within the district, and has operated on a budget of about $75,000 annually, said Justin Tedrowe, an attorney representing the district.
District trustees were scheduled to meet this Monday, Feb. 8, to begin the process of how to dissolve the district, which Wingert said could take several months.
“This isn’t something that is going to happen overnight,” she said.
Westmont Public Works Director Steve May said once the district is disbanded, the areas that fall in the Village of Westmont will eventually be serviced by the village. But he is uncertain how long that could take.
“The decision to dissolve is in their hands, and it will be their choice on how to move forward,” May said.
Once it does occur, the operations, property and equipment owned by the district will be transferred to DuPage County, and responsibility of duties would be delegated through the county and the two villages through an intergovernmental agreement, May said.
“We would then offer the same service to those residents who are in the district as we would with the rest of the village,” he said. “And Downers Grove would do the same with theirs. Water doesn’t follow jurisdictional boundaries, which is why we will need an agreement on this.”
Once the village assumes control of that area, a cost would be determined for maintenance of the areas that were part of the district, May said.
In recent years, with the complexity of the laws passed to protect the environment and inter-governmental relationships between the district, Westmont, Downers Grove and the county, district trustees were unable to effectively make any major contribution to the alleviation of the flooding problems, said Tedrowe.
