I just read in the March 19 edition of Wednesday Journal that the final cost estimates for the remodeling of village hall will not be available to the voters until after the April 1, 2025, election. This means voters will not be able to judge the candidates for village president or village trustee on their positions on what could be one of the most (or the most) expensive municipal projects in Oak Park history.
President Scaman said the scheduling change was “disappointing.” However, she had the authority to write a “due date” into the cost estimates contract to make sure this information arrived and was available to the voters, existing trustees, and trustee candidates before the election. Her failure to do so is an example of her lack of leadership and competent planning. At worse, it could be downright nefarious; she would not be the first politician to hide bad news until after the election.
The end result is the same: we will not know until after the election how many cups of coffee Vickie Scaman planned to sell in her proposed “village hall cafe” to pay for the village hall renovation.
Alan Krause
Oak Park