Spirits were high inside Irish Times Tuesday night as members of Brookfield’s PEP Party celebrated the party’s uncontested election victory to fill the village board.
“I’ve been through many election nights, but each one is still exciting,” said Village President Michael Garvey, who was elected for his sixth consecutive term on the board, having served as president from 2005-2013 and as trustee from 2013-2021 before being reelected as president. “I’m sorry we’re losing some people. Our term limits ordinance causes that to happen, but we always seem to be able to find really high-quality people to step up.”
Garvey said his plans for the term include furthering the village board’s goals of improving Brookfield.
“I always say, the people might think we’re boring, but we take care of the important functions that we’re supposed to, like the infrastructure improvements. That’s the thing that I’m most proud of,” he said. “We’re doing another $24 million worth of work this year. We’re getting the things that are underground, that people don’t necessarily see. They’re not glamorous, but people are going to have safe, reliable water, and things we’re doing in the parks and streets.”
He said he never expected to have such a long tenure on the village board.
“When I ran in 2005 for president for the first time, I told my wife, ‘I’m going to do this one term, OK? One term.’ That was in 2005,” he said. “I don’t take anything for granted, and I look at it over the course — it’s truly been one of the greatest honors of my life to be elected. This is my hometown. This is where I grew up, and being elected to any position here has been a big deal, and to be a village president for this long is a big deal.”
Outgoing Clerk Brigid Weber, who has held the role since being appointed in 2006 with a gap from 2013-2015, said the night was bittersweet. Weber was ineligible to run again this year due to reaching her term limit.
“I’ve been doing this for so long, and I’ve been involved with all of the projects and everything. I want to see them come through, but I got to sit out. But it’s OK, because then I will have my Mondays back,” she said.
She named some of her favorite memories as village clerk, including the lighting of the Veterans Memorial Circle at Eight Corners and the construction of the new Brookfield Avenue bridge. Another favorite took her all the way back to the beginning of her time as clerk.
“I know when we got in, Mike was elected after Bill Russ, who was in [as president] previously. He didn’t even have email at the village hall. He didn’t have that, so that was a huge thing, technology-wise,” she said.
Incoming Clerk Michael Melendez, who was elected Tuesday night, said Weber has been preparing him to move into the role.
“She’s been very accommodating and very accessible, just to answer some very high-level questions. We are going to meet and go over the more granular responsibilities and duties,” he said.
His attitude, which was shared by many, was one of excitement over worry.
“The outcome is known, right, so you don’t have that trepidation that you normally have. I’ve been in contested elections before,” he said. “It’s always those nerves that accompany a normal election where you’re running against a group of other individuals, but this one, obviously, is just excitement. I’m ready to roll up my sleeves and get the work started.”
Trustee Jennifer Hendricks, who was elected to her second term on the board, said she’s enjoyed being a public official.
“I love it. I love it! For me, there was no question whether I would run again. My husband laughs at me sometimes because I come home and I’m just so happy,” she said. “This is the job that I absolutely love. Just helping in my community and feeling like I’m making a difference, it feels so good.”
Hendricks said she’s looking forward to the culmination of Brookfield’s updated zoning code.
“Frankly, it affects the entire town. All of these little, tiny things that seem like little decisions, but that could mean, ‘Now, why can’t I put a shed in my yard?’ I mean, all of these little things are really going to affect the way people are able to use their property,” she said. “One of my priorities since the very beginning has been to get a landscape code in there, and now we’re going to have one. I’m a landscape architect, and I work with developers all over the suburbs and the country, and, in most cases, developers don’t want to put any green in there if they don’t absolutely have to. If it’s in the code, they do it, and if it’s not, they don’t. So, it’s a matter of, if we just write it in there, then we get trees.”
Outgoing Trustee Edward Côté, who reached his term limit like Weber, lauded the efforts of staffers from all across village hall, from Village Manager Tim Wiberg and Assistant Village Manager Stevie Ferrari to Finance Director Doug Cooper and Community Development Director Libby Popovic, for their work in pushing Brookfield forward over his eight years on the village board.
“There was already good work happening prior to me getting on the board, but it [takes] a long time. Nothing happens overnight,” he said. “The board can establish all the policies it wants to and do all the talking, but it’s still up to village staff to enact and enforce. You have to put [in] people who can do the job, who are willing to do the job and have a positive impact as well. For a long time, when I first got on the board, it was always like, ‘Oh, you don’t want to go to village hall. Oh my God, it’s horrible.’”
He said many of the choices trustees are tasked with making play into one another and reinforce the village’s goals.
“If we can get rid of the lead pipes, we can expand the water supply. I think we’re replacing six inches to eight inches, something to that effect, making it bigger. That way, you can increase population. You can increase size,” he said. “We want higher capacity in the downtown, but you got to supply the water, too, so you have to do these things. You have to get the right people in the right spots. You have to make — I don’t want to say brave decisions. You have to make decisions that aren’t easy and popular, but in the long run, that you know are going to be the right things.”
