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Lake Zurich mayor, village manager talk water supply and more at ‘Coffee’ session with residents

Village Board meetings in Lake Zurich usually start and wrap quickly, without much public input, or other comments or discourse. Instead, some residents gather around the table with the mayor and village manager monthly at a local coffee shop and share with the village leaders their concerns, hopes and support for whatever is on the horizon in their hometown.

Mayor Tom Poyton and Village Manager Ray Keller hosted the mayor’s “Coffee with the Mayor” event March 20 at the Koffee Kup restaurant where the big topic was village trustees’ vote at the Village Board meeting two days before to officially switch to a Lake Michigan water supply source.

Currently, wells serve as the village’s water source.

“I’ve been here for 37 years, and this should have been done a long time ago,” said Wayne Kubacik, referring to the now-approved change.

The switch could cost Lake Zurich some $150 million over time – which is expected to be passed on to water customers via higher fees or a bond referendum –  but prove more sustainable and cheaper than the current groundwater wells supplying the community, officials have said.

The approval at the March 18 board meeting set in motion a process first considered in 1981 and, while expensive and lengthy, the folks at the Koffee Kup agreed with the mayor and other village leaders that switching would be best. They said continuing to wait would only make the process more expensive.

Keller agreed.

“It’s been a long time in the making,” Keller said. “It’s a time when the stars aligned, and it’s still going to be a long time coming and we’re going to keep folks in the loop.”

He said the decision to switch to Lake Michigan water didn’t please everyone, but that’s the nature of public water policy.

“Water is the one thing that is most fundamental and important that we provide and that no one thinks about,” Keller said. “It’s one thing hopefully you don’t worry about.”

He said the switch to Lake Michigan water allows for replacing a diminishing reservoir of water for a near endless supply of it at a cost of pennies more to village water customers — especially if voters support a measure to partly pay for the switch through a half-cent sales tax increase.

Officials expect that the bumped-up tax would, in part, be paid by visitors and other out-of-towners. Should the village move to have the referendum, that vote would not take place until the November General Election. That issue isn’t yet wholly settled and is expected to be on a near-future board agenda – as well as a topic of discussion at the Koffee Kup.

Kubacik is a regular at the informal community meetings and while he’s happy to weigh in on stuff like water supply issues, he said that is not the main reason he attends.

“I like hearing the local gossip,” he said. “I like hearing from the mayor about what’s coming in real estate.”

Kubacik said the coffee meetings are still the best way he knows of getting estimates on other local issues affecting his neighborhood; things like road repairs, sewer repairs and other routine projects that could shutter his street and demand an alternate route.

“It’s usually the same guys, in my development, Cedar Creek,” Kubacik said about who turns out for the approximately 90-minute coffee chats. “They have a sewer development going on so I want to know how it’s going to affect me.”

Resident Troy Smith, agreed.

“It’s a good way to get caught up,” Smith said about the monthly informal sit-downs. “The things that make a difference are the things closer to you. It makes more difference what happens with the mayor than the president.”

The coffee with the mayor events are held every third Wednesday at Koffee Kup starting at 9 a.m. Anyone can attend.

Jesse Wright is a freelancer.