Every six months or so, officials in Brookfield resurrect the idea of replacing water meters in the village. Last Wednesday the board’s Infrastructure Subcommittee met to hash over the issue again, and another meeting has been slated for this afternoon.
Hopefully, this will result in a coherent, final recommendation to the full village board to finally get this project underway.
It has been literally years since the first call to change out the water meters in Brookfield and install a contemporary system that requires fewer Public Works man-hours to implement. Installing a computerized reading system?”whether its a fixed-point system where information is fed to a central computer inside village hall via antennas or a mobile-read system where Public Works staff can drive through town and collect meter readings in one day?”will help Public Works Director William Brandt more efficiently deploy the department’s employees.
The critical step, of course, is actually implementing a process for the meter changes. This is sure to come with wrangling over who should install the meters?”an outside vendor or Public Works employees?”but we encourage village trustees to quickly come to a decision on this and get this project moving forward.
Two years ago, village officials estimated that because of the failure rate of water meters, the village was losing some $400,000 in unbilled water charges. The question of changing the meters has been on the radar screen for at least that many more years. Get the water meters installed and start collecting what’s due the village. This is a project that’s way overdue.
New era in District 95
Next week begins a new era for Brookfield-LaGrange Park School District 95. Superintendent Douglas Rudig will leave the district in the capable hands of Thomas Hurlburt. He will also leave a school board still flush with a spring referendum victory in their rearview mirror.
We’re happy to say that the new leadership passed the first test, by finding a way to avoid installing a mobile classroom trailer outside Brook Park School during the next school year. It’s heartening that the board, Hurlburt and Brook Park Principal Claudia Newman responded positively to concerns voiced by neighbors of the school and came up with a temporary solution that allows for all programs to continue while addressing a particular need for space in fourth grade.
The next hurdle will be coming up with a design for an addition to Brook Park that will serve the communities for decades to come. It’s a once-in-a-generation opportunity to bring the school into the 21st century and a way to prove that the current board can be stewards of the district’s pocketbook as well as its curriculum.