By Jeff Vorva
Palos Park first responders are now a part of the Will, Cook and Grundy County Fire Investigation Task Force.
Police Commissioner Dan Polk said at the Oct. 9 village council meeting that this will beef up resources for the community.
“This provides collective strength under a unified command while allowing each agency to maintain their own autonomy,” Polk said. “The goal of this task force is to provide training, education, support and assistance to local municipalities.”
He said that the task force is valuable.
“It’s another one of those programs where there is strength in numbers,” Polk said. “The Village of Palos Park is relatively small, and we have relatively few Palos Fire Protection personnel as well as in the Palos Park Police Department.
“But when we band with these other agencies, we have the strength in numbers that can provide much more broad types of training and types of education and access to other resources that we might not be able to do if we were just looking to feed our own or clothe our own.”
The village flower
Mayor Nicole Milovich-Walters said that residents can vote for a village flower.
Three flowers – the New England Aster, the Black-Eyed Susan and the Purple Coneflower – are the three finalists.
“They were picked off of a specific set of criteria such as being native to our area and east of acquiring these flowers so that everyone can plant them,” the mayor said.
She said residents can vote via ballots that will be sent in their utility bills. Votes can also be cast on Facebook on a page titled The Village of Palos Park Office of the Mayor.
Appointments
The committees are filling up.
The council voted in five new committee members to plug a few gaps.
Theresa Gavin and Lisa Gibbs were named to the Zoning Board of Appeals Committee with a term to expire June 1, 2028.
Carol Alesia and Carol Anderson were voted in as members of the Beautification Committee through June 1, 2026.
Liz Galvin was named to the Newcomers Welcoming Ad Hoc Committee with an unexpired term.