Does Darien Have Issue With County's Plowing?

DARIEN, IL — There's no chance of snow anytime soon, but the issue of plowing took center stage at a Darien City Council meeting this week.

Alderman Eric Gustafson criticized the way DuPage County plows 75th Street. The topic came up when the council was considering spending money for an irrigation system for the planter beds at 75th Street and Plainfield Road.

Gustafson said the city should split the costs with the county, suggesting the city gets the short end of the stick with 75th Street.

"What does the county pay for? Anything? And they barely plow, so let's not count plowing into it," Gustafson said.

Officials told the alderman that the county was paying the city to mow the median and sides of 75th Street.

But Gustafson said the county was not paying enough.

"We're losing money on the deal because we're doing a lot more than they're paying for," the alderman said.

City Administrator Bryan Vana said it was the council's choice to do more. And other elected officials said the mowing benefitted Darien.

"Years ago, when I first joined the council, we didn't take care of the medians," Mayor Joseph Marchese said. "I can't begin to tell you how bad that looked."

Alderman Ted Schauer agreed.

"There would be so many weeds up and down 75th Street, we would get complaints all day long about how ugly it looked," Schauer said. "Then we would have discussions that we are spending money when the county should take care of it. It's one of those situations where it's our home. We have to take care of it. That's how I look at it. I think we're chasing good money after good."

Gustafson said he understood how the street used to look.

"That's what we're getting to," he said. "The county can't do their job on any of those things. We have to pick up the burden. I'm tired of picking up the burden for a county that is getting a huge amount of tax revenue and not putting it back into the community."

Marchese cautioned Gustafson to be careful what he said.

"We work hard to develop a good relationship with the county," he said.

The council voted 4-1 to approve spending the money on the irrigation system. Gustafson was the lone dissenter. Aldermen Lester Vaughan and Tom Chlystek were absent.

On Tuesday, Patch asked Vana about the city's view on the county's plowing of 75th Street.

In an email, Vana said the comments about the plowing came from one alderman, not a collective statement from the city.

"If we had concerns with any county operations, we would have worked it out with them directly and in a professional spirit," Vana said. "We enjoy an excellent working relationship with the County and have worked successfully together on numerous projects benefitting the public. We will continue to work closely with the County and maintain the excellent relationship we have had for many years."

He said Marchese was writing a thank-you letter to County Board Chairman Dan Cronin for the county's assistance with Darien's cleanup efforts after Sunday night's tornado.

"Other examples of our excellent working relationship includes the development of the SERF water system, joint water main and road improvements, exploration of a combined automated meter reading program and joint grant applications," Vana said. "Those are only a few."

Vana copied his email to several county officials.