Gilberts must decide infrastructure key in five-year plan

Decisions, decisions.

In the next month or two Gilberts trustees will have a bunch of them to make to determine the path their village will take in the next five years.

They'll have to decide if they will form a parks commission to create an organized recreation program or have voters create a park district.

Remember, this is a growing town that doesn't have a public swimming pool.

They'll have to decide if they will work to urge educators in Huntley Unit District 158 or Community Unit District 300 to build a middle or high school for the families who have moved into new neighborhoods. Both school districts' boundaries fall in the northern Kane County town.

Gilberts trustees will also have to decide if they will set aside money for a street sweeper or a shelter for police squad cars.

"We need both," said Village President Tom Wajda. "It's tough in the winter when police officers have to dig their cars out of the snow before they can drive them."

But the street sweeper would keep the roadsides clean and free of leaves that could clog storm sewer drains.

All these proposals are being discussed by village trustees who are drafting the community's five-year plan. About 20-30 ideas are on the list, Wajda said.

In the coming week, they will pick the five most pressing needs and present them to village residents. Then, homeowners will have a chance to say what is most important.

"It all comes down to infrastructure," the village president said. "We have to have the roads, and the water and sewer lines in place so we can serve new businesses and homes.

"What we also need to do is come up with a way to attract more business, so we can expand on our tax base and give residents more of a choice on local stores."

Gilberts has two churches, three bars, three stop lights, one gas station and an estimated 6,400 residents. Twenty-four hundred of those people moved into the community in the last three years.

Trustees are waiting for the results of their special census to see if their predictions are true. If they are, the community will be entitled to $220,000 more a year in state and federal funds.

That will help officials pay for items on the wish list, but it won't be enough to pay for them all at once, he said.

"A new street sweeper, that's about $200,000 right there," Wajda said.

He and other village board members haven't calculated how much the police squad-car shelter will cost. Nor have they decided how much more infrastructure they will need to meet the growing demands of Gilberts.

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