Taylor Media February 12, 2021
SAUK VILLAGE | Mayor Derrick Burgess announced last October he was seeking re-election to a second term as Sauk Village’s Mayor. Burgess took office in 2017 and was handed an administration and a community which routinely found itself with over $1 million in unpaid bills, severely mismanaged human resources that resulted in numerous employees suing the village, a mismanaged finance department with repeated and severe audit findings, unbalanced, irresponsible and unprofessionally prepared budgets. Basically, when Burgess assumed the position of Mayor, on day one he inherited an absolute mess. But Burgess was well aware of the difficulties he faced as he had been a Trustee for the past 11 years and three administrations.
What Burgess did not do when he took office was fire everyone immediately. Instead, he chose to work with current personnel to assess their performance and contributions in wake of the new policies, procedures and mandates he set. Personnel changes came later as he learned the source of the mismanagement.
Burgess also grappled with the fact that there was no new commercial development in Sauk Village in over twenty years which became Mayor Burgess’ immediate goal to change. Mayor Burgess and his newly formed administrative team were successful in landing a $13 million commercial development on the Northwest Corner of Sauk Trail and Illinois 394 within the first two years of his administration. This would-be Gas-N-Wash’s largest facility built to date as of April 2019. The Gas-N-Wash development is a 32.9-acre Truck Stop, housing a convenience store, Pops Roast Beef, Dunkin Donuts and Little Mexico Restaurant. The Village realized a $1.3 million profit from the sale of the land and impact fees. This resulted in the Village establishing its first ever reserve fund.
Simultaneously, Burgess and his team worked at reducing the Village’s bills with all its vendors including legal bills from 2017 to 2019; realizing a savings of over $440,000 during that period. With this newly found surplus of funds, Burgess immediately began paying off the Village’s backlog of $1.1 million in unpaid bills while not having to tap into its water fund, a practice that had become the norm with previous administrations. Burgess’ administration adopted the sound financial practice of operating within the Village’s current means. Following this practice, Burgess was also able to reduce the Village’s property tax levy while being able to increase revenue to the grossly underfunded Police Pension Fund. Burgess worked hard at getting the Village’s Finances back in order by addressing years of repeated audit findings. Burgess hired a professional Finance Director who immediately began implementing industry best practices and for the first time in over a decade, this professional was able to prepare a balanced and responsible budget; earning the Village a Distinguished Budget Award in 2018 from the Government Finance Officers Association.
With the promise of improved financial management, Burgess was able to save the Village significant monies by refinancing its higher interest rate bonds to a lower rate and secure $2.5 million in proceeds that would fund and complete long over-due road and water improvements at no cost to Sauk Village taxpayers. “Because we worked hard at putting together a good team who were well versed in multiple fields including Finances, we were able in 2018 to make significant strides toward re-obtaining a bond rating. My plan is to re-initiate that hard work after the 2021 election,” Burgess said.
For decades before and since the housing collapse in 2008, the Village has been plagued with vacant and abandoned homes which had driven down real estate values allowing many investors to gobble up cheap homes to make quick profits. Burgess continues to work to raise the housing standards and home values in Sauk Village by tightening its housing code and holding investors responsible for their properties. Even though Burgess has met severe opposition for this, he continues to seek ways to make needed improvements and will continue to do so after the 2021 election.
At the onset of his administration in 2017, Mayor Burgess presented his Strategic Plan for Progress to the Village Board for adoption. Burgess had begun identifying needed changes in the Village’s nearly 20-year-old outdated Comprehensive Plan back in 2013. His self-authored Strategic Plan for Progress was the Village’s very first plan in decades and was the springboard for the Comprehensive Plan’s successful update in 2017. The Plan was adopted by the Village Board and the Village’s Zoning Board of Appeals and will help guide the Village for the next 20 years.
“With all of the changes we implanted, we were able to finally begin saving a modest amount in our Water Fund” Burgess said. “This has allowed us to begin repairing or replacing broken fire hydrants that have been inoperable for years. This was already identified our 2017 Strategic Plan for Progress and hopefully we can have all inoperable fire hydrants repaired in an efficient and timely manner so that every resident can benefit from it; not just a few” Burgess said.
“I will also be directing our staff and Engineers to prepare plans to repair and replace all inoperable streetlights, cut down all dead trees on the parkways and public areas, and begin repairing our crumbling streets and have it all done by 2023. You just don’t go out to fix a few at a time without a realistic plan that addresses the entire problem; that’s irresponsible and a great waste of money. I stated there are no more excuses for this not getting done. With a balance of new and professional people on the Board, we can look forward to and will get the job done” Burgess said.
Also, during 2017-2019, the Board of Trustees and my administration were successful in securing $1.7 million in grants and assistance for Sauk Village which has not been done since. Additionally, Burgess was able to negotiate an intergovernmental agreement with Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning for a free embedded Planning Staff member who was also instrumental in assisting the Village with completing many projects and facilitating grants from 2019 to 2021.
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| R to L: Rodrick Grant, Mayor Derrick Burgess, Larry Sapp and Arnold Coleman |
“We have a lot more to do, a lot more ahead of us and we are out aggressively asking for the residents’ support. My team and I are up for the challenge and look forward to the next four years” Burgess said.
