The Village of Beecher bought a red car.
But the white car was less expensive.
In an unusual piece of business at the village board meeting on April 14, the board voted to purchase a car for the Fourth of July raffle.
All that is publicly known is that it’s red, the cost is not to exceed $26,000, and it was sold by Dralle Chevrolet and Buick in Peotone.
The board is treating this like it’s a state secret because the Fourth of July Commission wants to make an announcement about the make and model at a future date.
For those enterprising folks who think they are going to pull a fast one and get a sneak peek and call up the 48-page agenda/packet online to seek it out, forget it. The bid information is not included among the bidding information for fencing and blinds.
So, Mayor Marcy Meyer and the trustees spoke in code during the meeting, as the red car was known as “Vehicle A” and the white car was known as “Vehicle B.”
“The higher bid was the car they felt would be more sellable,” Meyer said. “It’s a red color and fully loaded, and it was $1,200 more than the next lowest car.”
Because of that, the village sought a legal opinion on the action to take. The board felt Vehicle A would sell more raffle tickets. There was a colorful loophole in the bid request that allowed the village to go with Vehicle A.
“It was two different models, so you can’t compare apples to apples,” Meyer said. “The way the bid letter was written was the preferred vehicles would be red, black, or blue.
“Vehicle B, even though it was the lowest bid, was not one of those three colors, it was white. So, it was not the lowest responsive bid is the way the attorney put it. So, we are not under an obligation to take that, since it did not meet the bid requirements.”
Impact fees are back
The village’s 90-day moratorium on impact fees will be lifted on May 1. Impact fees generally are levied against new developments to pay for schools, infrastructure, and other services.
Meyer was puzzled by how the taxes were assessed – especially when it came to helping to fund schools – and said she took a few field trips to Will County government offices to dig around for the information and spent “two or three” 12-hour days trying to figure out what to do with the impact fees.
After crunching some numbers and variables, it was deemed that 834 students, who are living in the village boundaries, attend Beecher School District 200-U.
It was calculated that there are .52 students per residential unit.
She also calculated numbers for parks and water and sewer, and the board voted to have its attorney draw up an ordinance that includes $900 per new home for park impact fees.