“We’ve got a lot going on,” said River Forest village president Cathy Adduci as she and the village start 2024.
Village president since 2013, Adduci noted efforts to spur economic development and investments in infrastructure as examples.
Adduci credited members of the village administration and members of the village board for continuing the village’s forward progress.
“As village president, I am confident and pleased with our village board and staff for what we have accomplished 2023 and what lies ahead for our village in 2024 and beyond,” she said.
Leading the administration is Matt Walsh, who was appointed village administrator in April after Brian Murphy’s surprise resignation in January.
“Although we had some turnover going into 2023, in 2024 we have a strong, young, bright new administration led by village administrator Matt Walsh,” she said. “Matt and his team have the board’s full confidence going into 2024.
“Additionally, we have experienced, qualified and proven Public Safety department leadership with police Chief Jim O’Shea and fire Chief Tom Gaertner. And our finances are managed by a seasoned, experienced and proven department under the leadership of our finance director, Rosey McAdams.”
Adduci noted the ethnic diversity of the village board. Of six trustees, three are men and three are women; two are Latino, one is Black and three are white.
“We are the most ethnically diverse board in River Forest’s history,” she said.
Development this year
Regarding economic development opportunities, Adduci pointed to the village’s efforts to attract developers to the former Lutheran Child and Family Services Building at 7612-7620 Madison Street and adjacent single-family homes at 11 Ashland Ave. and 10 Lathrop Ave., which were demolished.
“I’m really happy about knocking those buildings down,” she said. “I hope we get a lot more looks at the property.”
Officials also are exploring changes to the zoning code to encourage development on Madison Street, as well as on North Avenue. Possible changes include increasing building height to accommodate an additional story, increasing allowed residential densities and decreasing parking requirements for residential uses.
“The purpose is to allow us to generate more interest in development,” Adduci said, adding that any developer would still be required to go through the zoning process.
She also said officials are hoping to attract new tenants to the Town Center at Lake Street and Harlem Avenue, noting they would be “excited to see some new tenants there.”
Another target for economic development is the property at Lake and Lathrop, where a planned four-story, mixed-use development containing condominium units and retail space never came to fruition. In September, Beverly Bank and Trust, affiliated with Wintrust Bank, foreclosed on the development, ending the project that had lurched along since 2016.
“The good news is Wintrust is managing the property appropriately,” Adduci said. Noting the village “is not in the development business,” she said the concern of officials was to clean up the contamination on the property that was moving toward residences.
“We invested in getting the property clean and we accomplished that,” she added.
Regarding infrastructure improvements, Adduci pointed to the plans to use grant funding to improve crosswalks and sidewalks not compliant with Americans with Disabilities Act regulations and completion of the green alleys project, which she called “a wise investment” that will reduce flooding.
The village also is offering residents assistance with replacing lead service lines with a subsidy program similar to the sewer repair and sidewalk replacement programs.
“We have a lot of programs,” Adduci said. “We try to make it as easy as possible for residents.”
She also said officials will inventory village-owned lead pipes and address any needs.
Adduci said she wants to continue to provide a safe community.
“Residents feel safe here, “she said. “It’s a great community. People look out for each other and I’m happy about that.”
Major contributors to that safe feeling are the police and fire departments, which Adduci noted are fully staffed.
“We have a young police force and fire force and they enjoy working in River Forest,” she said. “And we’ve added to management in both departments.”
She said the village is continuing to invest in both departments. For example, all police officers will be issued body cameras in 2024, something she said the officers want and that she is “excited” about, and the fire department is awaiting delivery of a new quint.
In addition to considering changes to the zoning code, officials will be addressing the recommendations of the village-wide traffic study in 2024 and continuing to monitor the traffic issues in the northeast section of the village. In addition, recommendations of the Age Friendly Committee and the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advisory Group will be considered in 2024.
Adduci said the ability to secure grant funding has contributed to the village finances being on firm footing, referring to a “robust” budget.
“We’ve done a great job of finding grants to fund our programs and that’s important,” she said.
Included in grant funding is a $1.9 million grant received by West Suburban Consolidated Dispatch Center from the Statewide 9-1-1 Administrator to be used to facilitate and enable additional consolidation efforts. River Forest is a member of the dispatch center along with Forest Park and Oak Park.
Adduci said River Forest “will continue to lead” in the area of sustainability and predicted an increase in electric vehicles, use of solar energy and composting in 2024.
She also cited the progress of the Cross-Community Climate Collaborative (C4) which she helped found in 2022. The C4 initiative was created in June by officials from 12 west
suburban municipalities and spearheaded by Adduci, Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson and Oak Park Village President Vicki Scaman. It is designed to bring together Black, indigenous and people of color and non-minority communities across income lines to share ideas, secure resources and drive large-scale projects within and across communities that achieve agreed upon greenhouse gas emissions reductions, equity and sustainability goals.
“It’s all about environmental equity and sharing ideas,” Adduci explained. “We’re working together instead of solo. There’s been a lot of progress and we’re really excited about that.”