Dundee-area cutting back on mowing

The price of gasoline may be coming down, but it's still too expensive for some municipalities to run on a business-as-usual basis.

With gas guzzling cars and lawn mowers chewing holes in many budget, officials are trying to defang their biggest monsters.

Crews at Dundee Township-owned cemeteries have been told not to mow as often.

And in East Dundee, some employees are riding along village streets in golf carts instead of cars.

"(Cemetery employees) need to mow once a week, not twice a week," said Liz Gade, township cemetery board clerk. "It doesn't have to look like a golf course out there. It just has to look nice."

To run those mowers and weed trimmers, Dundee Township officials don't pay the $4 a gallon motorists pay at the pump. They receive the gas for them in bulk and pay a little less, Gade said.

Still, the three employees have 24 acres of cemeteries to maintain. They are responsible for keeping the grass cut at Dundee Township Cemetery East, on Route 25, in East Dundee and the smaller west cemetery on Route 31 in West Dundee.

"It's a big job to keep the grass mowed and trimmed around the headstones," Gade said. "It takes them all week just to do it. And this year it's growing like crazy.

"This is August. By now it should have been dormant."

But this isn't the normal August in Northern Illinois. Weekly rainstorms have fed the thirsty grass and caused it to grow again quicker. Except for the weekends, mowers have had little time to cool.

Engines of East Dundee public works trucks have more time to cool, though. Instead of being started for short trips, some employees ride a golf cart.

"The village has two golf carts," said T.J. Moore, public works director. "One's electric for village business and the other one is gas-powered for our use. The gas powered one doesn't use much gas. So far, we've had to fill it up once."

As an additional savings, East Dundee contracts with a private landscaping firm to mow grass on public property, leaving the high gas prices to the company's owner.

West Dundee public works employees still mow the grass as regularly as in the past, said Joe Cavallaro, village manager. Keeping village grass trimmed and neat looking is a public service.

In the village of Gilberts, police officers have been told not to keep their squad cars running when they aren't being used.

"If they are coming to the station to do work, they don't need to keep the cars running," said police chief Mike Joswick. When we are out on calls, though, we'll have them running."

The 10 vehicles used by Gilberts police get their gas from a local service station. It takes a lot of money to keep their tanks full so some can be used 24 hours, he said.

"Next year, we'll replace three of our squads that have V-8 engines with six cylinder engines," he said. "It won't save a ton of gas, but it will help."