The Deeper Meaning of Flags!

I had a great question from one of my loyal readers Anthony Pham. What are the meanings of the little flags that you see used by surveyors and public works departments? Well I did not know but I was able to find out pretty easily.

Typically pink flags are used to delineate the limits of a wetland area and or temporary markings. Utilities use the following colors: electric is red; phone and cable are orange; gas is yellow; water is blue and sewer lines are marked with green.

Now you know! I can glance at them now and tell almost exactly what is going on, however I am red green color blind so some of that might not be a big help to me.

Streets of Summer Ends Today

Today is the last of the Third Annual Streets of Summer Festival. There was a large crowd to see American English last night and they even let me on the stage! So rather then give a 7 hour Fidel Castro style speech, I thanked the following people for all there efforts on the fest committee. Fest committee Chair Sean Gillette, Committee Directors Butch Torkelson, Monika Pickard, Paul Hollingsworth, Lis Shaw, and Patty Blauvelt. A big thank you has to go out to our major sponsors as well Ray Raymond Dealerships, Baxter and Woodman, New Century Real Estate, Waste Management, and Centerville Properties.

Next year we have been promised an ever bigger festival! Plus we will have only one year to go until we have our 100th Anniversary Celebration thrown into the mix as well!

Fest Kicks Into High Gear

Local H, Rule 22 (with Tommy from Round Lake as the lead vocalist) kicked the Streets of Summer into high gear last night in front of about 1,000 people. There was a good steady flow of people from the start of the fest. You can see the crowd in this picture and the carnival in the background.

Seanstock!

Today is day one of the Round Lake Streets of Summer Fest! Many many thanks to festival organizer Sean Gillette, I have driven by the area behind Magee Junior High about 5 times in the last few days and each time I have seen Sean there! His energy passion and commitment towards the fest is extraordinary. Every one of you who sees him for the next three days better thank him! Make sure you also thank all the other volunteers as well, but Sean is the man!

The Giant Fish Tank has Racing Stripes!

The 2.5 million gallon water tank is taking form. If you track back to this post you can see the internal scaffolding that was built to lay the concrete shell. I have been told that the wood scaffolding inside has 6-8 spots that if you yank on at the same time the whole wood frame work collapses and then the wood is carried out through a 2 foot service door!

Soap Opera at Stormwater Management

I serve as one of the 6 mayors and along with 6 Lake County board members we act as the board of directors for the Lake County Storm Water Management Commission (SMC). This commission's mission is to coordinate the stormwater activities of over 90 jurisdictions throughout the county.

Over the 15 year history of the organization it has had a history of overstepping boundaries, and for the last decade most municipalities had been very unhappy with the performance and bureaucratic inefficiencies of the permit process. This coupled with the interjecting of the Director, Ward Miller, into local issues which were not SMC related led to a acrimonious relationship to say the least. A variety of Mayors told me this when I agreed to serve as the board member for the 12 municipalities I represent. I did however go in with an open mind.

As it turns out I did not get much of a chance to evaluate the organization as it was, because after about 3 months the Chair, Stevenson Mountsenior (County Board Member District 17) fired Ward Miller with zero discussion and or feedback to the board.

At the next board meeting he appointed a search committee chaired by him and 2 mayors and 2 county board members. This board used the Lake County HR department to screen and whittle down applicants. This committee then presented two candidates, one external the other internal, to the full board. Sadly that night only 9 members of the board attended the interviews. One candidate interviewed poorly and the other did quite well.

After a lengthy discussion on the candidates one was chosen over the other, which to me was suprising since the one that the interviewed poorly (my opinion) was the one selected. We decided to vote unanimously to recommend the external candidate that was selected by the majority for the job. The goal here was to show solidarity for the new director.

That fragile 9-0 vote barely lasted to the parking lot. One of the minority mayors immediately started to regret the vote, and to be candid so did I, however not as vocally. The next day one of the members of the County Board decided to breach the confidentiality of the executive session and tell other board members who voted for whom. To say the least I was somewhat surprised to hear the accuracy of the supposedly confidential voting in executive session related to me by someone at the county who was NOT in the board room.

Apparently at the county board meeting the next day quite a few people were quite upset with the board for not hiring the internal candidate and some county board members on the SMC felt the urge to discuss the vote as a way of defending their actions.

A movement then appeared to not approve the selected candidates contract. By the way I was against that particularly nasty piece of business, my feelings were and are, we voted, we lost, move on and make the best of it.

So yesterday guess what? The gentlemen we hired told us he was not going to be taking the position, for unspecified reasons. So we are either back to square one or we hire the internal candidate.

While this may seem kind of bland here on the blog, there are a variety of subterfuges, back stabbing and intrigue that I can't relate because of the nature of executive sessions in the State of Illinois

Schedule of Events for the Fest!

Here is a complete schedule of the Streets of Summer. Friday, July 28th
Midway Opens	5:00 pm
Holeshot (rock)	5:30 pm
Rule 22 (punk/ska/rock)	6:30 pm
Poor Pauly (rock/funk)	7:30 pm
Headliner: Local H	9:00 pm
Saturday, July 29th
Car Show Registration	10:00 am
Midway Opens	11:00 am
American Eagle Gymnastics Demo (main stage)	12:30 pm
Car Show (through 2:00)
Life Souce (blood donation)
Bubbles The Clown Face Painting (through 3:00)	1:00 pm
Car Show Trophy Presentation -main stage	1:45 pm
Round Lake Area Community Band	2:00 pm
Traditional Martial Arts Academy	3:00 pm
Round Lake Park District Belly Dancing Demo	4:00 pm
G Tech Dance Team (main stage)	5:00 pm
38 Acres (alternative /rock/ pop)	6:30 pm
Headliner: American English	8:00 pm
Sunday, July 30th
Motorcycle Show Registration	10:00 am
Midway Opens	11:00 am
Save A Pet / Angel Paw Adoption Center
Bubba The Bus (interact with fine arts)
Pet Parade with Prizes	Noon
Bubbles The Clown Face Painting (through 2:00)	Noon
Round Lake Police K-9 Demo	2:00 pm

All entertainment is subject to change without notice. Please check back often. No food or beverages may be brought on to Fest Grounds.

3rd Annual Streets of Summer this Friday, Saturday and Sunday!

One of the goals I had when I was elected was to create a festival for Round Lake. The long range goal was for us to have a celebration mechanism in place for our 100th anniversary in 2008. Our first year we had some great bands, the second year we had some name bands!Committee Chairman Sean Gillette has been organizing the festival for a three years now and each year he does a better job then the year before.

The highlights (complete details are here) of this year are:

• 3 day festival (Friday, Saturday and part of Sunday)
• Located behind Magee Junior High School
• Large Carnival by Windy City Amusements
• 2 major headliners on both nights.

I look to see you all there!

Comments on Comments

Many of you have been enjoying the comments on the blog. Recently however the comments on some posts have turned personal with a variety of comments about village officials and residents. I think we should all take a step back and use this forum for what it was intended for. I have written about comments before for your information.

My Other Obsession--Le Tour! (de France)

Yesterday was the last mountain stage in the Tour de France. I watch every morning on OLN live! Two days ago American Floyd Landis bonked and lost the yellow jersey (the leader wears a special yellow jersy) and lost 8 minutes and fell to 11th place.

Yesterday in the Alps Floyd rode alone for 115 miles over four high mountains in the French Alps and closed to within 30 seconds of the lead. He has an excellent chance of winning the whole thing this Sunday because of Saturday's time trial where he is one of the best in the world!

The picture is of Floyd when he crossed the finish line 6 minutes ahead of the race.

Pet Parade and Animal Talent Show at Streets of Summer

Pet Parade and Animal Talent Show Sunday, July 30th at 12:00pm! Do you have a well dressed pet or one that can do a trick? Join the Village of Round Lake at the Streets of Summer festival for a pet parade and talent show. Bring your furry or feathery friends and the rest of the family to downtown Round Lake and join in the fun!

Trophies will be awarded for:

• Best Dressed
• Best Trick
• Best Behaved
• Worst Behaved
• Best Owner/Pet Look-a-Like

For more information contact Sherry Perkowitz at sperkowitz@eroundlake.com

Things to be Aware of with the Emeral dAsh Borer Insect Infestation in the State

If visiting the sites where the insects have been located, the State suggested checking your clothing for any insects prior to leaving the site and keeping car windows rolled up to prevent transporting adult borers to new locations.

I would encorage you to check the trees on their property if you have traveled to Michigan or Ohio any time in the last 10 years and possibly transported firewood back to Illinois.

The website www.emeraldashborer.info has the most current information and research data. The State said to recommend only those chemical treatments that are cited as potentially effective in the material on this site. These have had the most extensive research and testing to date for effectiveness in treating the emerald ash borer.

New Building Commissioner Named

Last week the board ratified my appointment of Dale Engebretson as the new Building Commissioner. Dale comes to us with well over 25 years of experience and service to municipal government, he comes to us from Glendale Heights. Dale can be emailed at dalee@eroundlake.com with questions or concerns.

I believe the village's building department is slowly changing into one of code enforcement from one of new home inspection, and Dale's skill set is a close match for this, which is one of the reasons the board liked Dale.

Streets of Summer is Fast Approaching

“The Round Lake "Streets of Summer" is quickly approaching. With this year going to a three day event, we can always use more help. The festival committee is looking for people to assist in the beer tent, sell carnival tickets, work backstage loading and unloading band equipments, and just cleaning up the grounds.

If you would like to help and you have any availability from July 28 thru July 30th, please send an email to Event Chairman Sean Gillette at RLFEST@eroundlake.com with what you are interested in doing. Please contact him for any general questions.”

We have also added Bubbles the Clown face painter, G Tech Dance Unit, and the American Eagle Gymnastics not to mention that RL Park District Belly Dancing Troupe.

Overall, the fest is going to be bigger and better and nothing that the local towns has seen before. Over twenty carnival attractions, a bike show, a motorcycle show and great entertainment.

By the way Sean is a blogger as well! His blog can be found here, and its well worth checking out, but I would caution you, you need to be a White Sox fan to stomach most of it. He does however talk about the fest!

The Winners of the 2nd Annual Blog Giveaway!

I had 38 entries to the contest I announced a few days ago here. Which is almost double what I had last year. I had a good time with my draw system. I also think this is a nice idea to raffle off stuff that I win as Mayor. By the way cash I keep! Not that I win any of that!

Please note the picture has nothing to do with this post other then he is diving into a pool, he appears to need to workout and he should spend some cash on new shorts!

For those of you fascinated in the elaborate double blind system used to determine the winner. I sorted the emails by arrival date, the first email to arrive was number 1, the last to arrive was number 38. I then found this website and generated three random number between 1 and 38 which were 11, 4, and 14, then I counted down to number 14 on the email list and lo and behold I had a winner.

So with out further ado the winners of the prizes are:

• Family Pool Pass for the Round Lake Park District (you better have kids) valued at $135 dollars. The winner is Jeff Weiss of Madrona Ridge
• One Year Membership to the Round Lake Park District Fitness Center (Value $235)
  The winner is Mike Vanata of Valley Lakes.
  
• $50 in Rec Bucks, good for any Park District program and the winner is Paul Hollingworth of Bright Meadows.

Lets all hope I can get some more goodies to be distributed to my loyal readership.

Report on Track and Field

Way to hot for me! I got there and it was over 100 degrees. Considering that I had 6 jumps which are basically 30 yard sprints. Then I would have to run at least a half mile all out in the races. On top of that I would also have to keep jogging to keep loose. I decided to withdraw. I walked 100 feet to the judges table and I already had a sweat worked up. I am disappointed.

More Track and Field Today

I am going out to Sterling again this Saturday to run in the USATF Midwest Masters Championships and compete in the Long Jump, 100, 200 and 400 meters. Hopefully I can improve on last weeks Illinois Masters times. Good day to practice proper heat and hydration management. My goal is under 14.50 in the 100, under 31 seconds in the 200, and 1:11 in the 400 as for the Long Jump we shall see!

Newspaper Coverage of the Elected Official's Transportation Meeting.

Wednesday night was the elected official meeting at the College of Lake County and there was a lively discussion about priorities for state funding. I can tell you that I spoke up on a couple of areas. Route 60 in general, and 60 & Peterson in particular were the main ones I emphasied.

There was also a lively discussion on transit, where my central points revolved around more parking and double tracking which would give us the ability to run express trains to Chicago on Metra. That would cut an estimated 15 minutes from the 75 minute commute downtown.

In attain under future projects there was a "lively" discussion about Route 53 and its possibility of happening if the state leases or privatized the tollway. Big "if" there however! Of the 800 comments we received from the public comment portion of this process over 20% were about a highway (53) that does not exist. I think its important to at least address the project and get in line if money is to be handed out!

The Daily Herald wrote about the meeting here.

Transportation Day Yesterday, or so it seemed!

I attended three meetings today. Two relating to transportation and the other for the Lake County Municipal league. The major one was the Lake County Transportation Alliance's Elected Official's meeting. We discussed the ballot for the September Transportation summit quite energetically. I was one of the more vocal Mayors along with the Mayors of Buffalo Grove, Gurnee, and Waucounda. The highlight was the discussion of route 53, it seems that the public forums held around the county about traffic issues had roughly 800 formal comments. Over 20% of the comments centered around 53, a road that does not exist. The upshot is that elected officials will vote in September at the summit on 53 in some form. (Not sure what right now!).

The other meeting was of the Lake County Municipal league where I was elected as a Director. Oh boy! More things and meetings to go to! Actually I think this is a very worthwhile organization and am grateful that my peers thought enough of me to ask and then nominate me to be on the Board of Directors.

Second Annual Blog Sponsorship Giveaway

Every year the village sponsors various events and the like in the village, one of the traditional sponsorships is the fireworks at the Round Lake Area Park District. We also sponsor the July 4th fireworks with the other villages as well as well as the winter fireworks.

Every year the village gets freebies from the park district in appreciation of our sponsorship. In addition I win things all the time at the various local golf outings like the Chamber of Commerce etc.

Last year I had the First Annual Blog Contest, and this year I am announcing the second! The prizes are as follows:

• Family Pool Pass for the Round Lake Park District (you better have kids) valued at $135 dollars.
  
• One Year Membership to the Round Lake Park District Fitness Center (Value $235)
• $50 in Rec Bucks, good for any Park District program.
  

Here are the rules.

1. You must use it, I will find out!
2. You must be a resident of the Village of Round Lake.
3. I will take any email to bgentes@eroundlake.com within 72 hours of the blogs post time on the web site and then I will do a random drawing.
4. Please reference the contest in the subject of the email. (That means midnight on July 15th)
5. You may not be an elected official of the village.
6. All my decisions are final. As they should be!
   
7. You can't win any of the other two prizes.
8. You can not have been a winner of last years contest. Last years winners Posts here here here and here.

SWALCO Electronics Recycling Drive was Yesterday

Davis Clark our Public Works Director sent me an email and the above picture updating me on how much was collected during our SWALCO recycling drive.

"There are at least 40 PCs, a dozen printers, a dozen TVs and radios, coffee makers, bug zappers, DVD players, VCRs and a whole bunch of other things. We had 35 cars stop in and drop off as of 4pm with one hour left to go."

When we hired Davis this was one of the things that excited us about his vision for the position. So good job to all the Public Works staff who helped and of course all the residents who dropped things off as well!

Drug Bust by Round Lake Cops and MEG

What follows is a press release that was sent to the media over the weekend. I am very proud of the Police Department.

On July 7, 2006 at 6:55 p.m., during a joint operation of the Lake County Metropolitan Enforcement Group (LCMEG) and the Round Lake Police Department, Astrit A. Roboci of Chicago, IL was arrested for delivering more than fifteen pounds of cannabis to undercover police officers.

The suspect was arrested on Kristina Lane in Round Lake for Unlawful Possession with Intent to Deliver 7,114 grams of Cannabis, which is a Class X felony punishable by 6-30 years in prison and up to $200,000 in fines. The estimated street value of the drugs is $71,000. Roboci was remanded to the custody of the Lake County Jail on a $150,000 cash bond pending a court date of July 14, 2006.

“The Round Lake Police Department is proud to work with Lake County MEG and the fruits of this new relationship are already evident. This arrest involved a considerable amount of cannabis that no doubt would have been re-sold to people in the Round Lake Area. The Round Lake Police Department and Lake County MEG will continue to take a zero tolerance stance on drugs and gangs.” said Police Chief Cliff Metaxa.

Running and Jumping

Well I jumped further then usual 14' 5" (4.40 meters) and ran the 100 in 14.56, but was disappointed with a 33.05 in the 200 and a 1:11 in the 400. They measured me with a sundial I think in the 200.

Track and Field Meet Today

For those of you who know me, you know that I run track and field. So today I am competing in the United States Track and Field Illinois Open & Masters State Championships in Sterling Illinois. I run in about 3-4 track meets a year and this one in particular is the biggest in the region. I am competing in the Long Jump, 100 meters, 200 meters and the 400 meters.

I have been tapering the last week, along with carbo loading which is something in the past that I have not done, but I thought it worth a try. I have also sharpened up my speed by doing specific speed drills the last few weeks. I have a couple goals, today which I will share with you.

I want to set personal bests (PR) in all of these events today so that means:

• Long Jump (PR 3.78) I want to get over 4 meters (thats 13' 3")
  
• 100 Meters (PR 14.83) under 14.50 which might be hard to do today.
• 200 Meters (PR 32.08) I think I can do less then 31 seconds
• 400 meters (PR 1:15) My speed training has focused on this quite a bit so I would like to get under 1:10.

Check this page tomorrow for the details!

Want To Get Rid of Some Old Household Electronics?

All of us have accumulated stuff! Some of us more then others, and in todays gadget rich society we have many things we may not want or use anymore.

So the Round Lake Public Works Department is hosting a Household Electronic Collection at the Public Works Facility on Monday July 10, from 8am to 5pm. The Public Work's facility is at the corner of Bacon and Townline Road. What follows is a list of things that we are accepting.

Adding Machines, Main Frames, Answering Machines, Mice (Computers), Blenders, Microwaves, Calculator,s Modems, Cameras (film, magnetic tape, digital), Monitors, CB’s/Two-way Radios Pagers, CD ROM/Zip/Tape Drives Palm Organizers/Hand Held Games, Cell Phones, Paper Shredders, Coffeemakers, Portable Radio/CD Players, Copy Machines, Postage Machines, Cordless Telephones, Power Tools Cords and Cables (power, USB, etc.), Printers (laser, ink jet), Curling Irons, Radio Controlled Toys, Desk Top PC’s (CPU), Radios/Stereo Systems, Electric Razors, Scales, Electric Tooth Brushes, Scanners, Electric Toy Slot Cars, Sewing Machines, Electric Toy Trains, Speakers, Fans, Telephones, Fax Machines, Toasters, Hair Dryers, TV’s, Hard Drives, Typewriters/Word Processors, Humidifiers/Vaporizers, UPS Battery Backups, Irons, Vacuums, Joysticks/Game Controls VCR, DVD, Laser Disc Players, Keyboards, Video Game Players, Lap Top PC’s, Waffle Irons, and a partridge in a pear tree.

Round Lake is a member of SWALCO (the Solid Waste Agency of Lake County) and we plan on having more of these programs in the future.

Email and Taking a Few Days Off

About a week ago I decided to take a few days off from the email that I get. Although I did glance at it regularly I did not make any effort to answer it. Over the holiday weekend I was getting very little in any event. Or so I thought! So when I noticed an email on my phone (no spam filter on the phone) and decided to read it when I got home, I could not find it. So I glanced at my Spam filter and lo and behold there it was. Along with nearly 400 emails that should have been in my inbox. Some stretching back over the last week and a half!

So anyway for those of you who are wondering why I am not responding to you, shame on you for sending me spam! The odd thing was some emails made it through and others did not from the same person.

For the technical wizards out there I uninstalled and reinstalled my spam filter and it seems to be running fine now. To the people who emailed me, you are one of 568 that I need to start working my way through and answering. To the Mayor, never do that again!

On the average I get 100 legitimate emails a day, with about 50 of them needing answers, and the rest being read only. I also get 400-500 spams a day it seems... most of them appear to come from my personal account however although I don't know for sure.

Pictures from the 4th of July Fireworks

Well I am having trouble uploading pictures this morning it seems, so it will have to be words from the 4th of July instead. Saw tons of people at the fireworks last night. They had been switched from one side of Hook Lake to the other side. So we all sat where they used to shoot off the fireworks and they shot them off where we used to sit.

It was a nice show, and they threw in some new fireworks that were very cool, as you can't see in the pictures I took, but you will eventually!

There was an excellent crowd and the usual traffic nightmare returning home!

Golf Cart Driver and Boy Superstar!

The one on the right! Daniel Rude drove me today in the Fourth of July Parade, he was the lucky kid whose parents bought a day with the Mayor for charity at Village School a few months ago. He is going to be my driver at the next parade which I think is the homecoming parade. I can tell you one thing about Daniel! He had a good time!

Happy 4th to Everyone

See you all at the Fireworks at Hook Lake (behind K-Mart on Rollins)! I am going to attempt to post from the fireworks and the pre-fireworks festivities as well.

Future School Ground Breaking

Last week I helped at a ground breaking for the Goddard School at the corner of Townline and Amarias. This is a nice use for an awkward placed piece of property. Kudos to Dale Multerer who chairs our economic development committee for targeting the use and the company for this corner.
Owner and operator John Burnett is a welcome addition to our community.

Bike Parades & Boat Parades

The Round Lake Area Queens and I partied on a boat in the middle of Round Lake while judging the second annual Venetian Night. Earlier in the day I judged the First Annual Madrona Home Owners Association Bike Decorating and Parade. I was unable to get pictures of the boats because of the darkness.

Who Scheduled All This?

Ran at the track already in preparation for next weeks Illinois Masters Championships. I am currently watching the prologue of the Tour de France which will ease the transition from my World Cup obsession which only has 5 games to go.

So today I am judging the Madrona bike decorating contest (which seems appropriate for the opening day of the Tour de France) at 10, then racing back to watch the England vs. Portugal Quarterfinal, then off to race sail boats at 1 then back home to watch the Brazil vs France Quarterfinal.

Then its off to 2 neighborhood block parties, and if that's not enough I am judging in the 2nd Annual Venetian Night on Round Lake and then enjoying the fireworks afterwards!