Former trustee gives kudos to village staff for work
As a noisy critic of our staff upon occasion, particularly about our deteriorating roads, I wanted to offer my thanks and congratulations to Village Manager Dave Cook and his staff on their excellent work to secure 100 percent of the funds (estimate of more than $1.1 million) to complete the sewer separation under and resurfacing of Garfield Street.

As a result of Dave’s initiative, under his sole direction and without the help of paid lobbyists or any trustee help, Dave and his staff were able to position our project to the No. 2 rank of 16 recommended projects to receive federal funding within DuPage County under the recently enacted American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The project has smoothly passed through the various committee recommendations and approved at the April 15 DuPage Mayors and Managers Executive Board meeting. Well done Dave!

Michael K. Smith, former Hinsdale trustee

District 181 board needs to be more open with public
While the headlines will say “School Board Approves $4+M HVAC,” the untold story is not of waste but perhaps of a new era.

The outgoing District 181 Board of Education ended its tenure with more than $81 million in debt and annual deficits. While understandable as three new schools were built and all schools in the district were renovated, much of this financial distress came from not heeding the wisdom of residents with expertise in finance.

Similarly, no one has spent more time analyzing the HVAC replacement at HMS than I.
The process in Illinois is simply too ambiguous regarding “energy conservation.” Other states and federal regulation are much stricter in specifying that such projects are fully guaranteed to save money year after year. District 181 did not receive such as guarantee, though Chevron made other concessions.

I urge the District 181 board to institutionalize more openness — to comply not only with the letter of the law but to actively seek out the expertise of talented residents. I believe District 181 should have a Facilities Commission, just as it has a Finance Commission, with regular schedules to allow knowledgeable residents to help direct precious resources toward meeting commitments inside the classrooms.

John J. Czerwiec, Clarendon Hills