The Beecher Youth Commission is not gone, but it will not be affiliated with the village anymore.
Beecher board members voted at the Aug. 10 meeting to dissolve the commission, but it will run independently.
“This is something that the Youth Commission requested,” Mayor Marcy Meyer said. “They thought it would be better for fundraising to go out if they were not a part of the village.”
The village took on the responsibility of helping to run the Youth Commission years ago.
“Verbally, many years ago, the township and the village had agreed that the township would take care of senior programs and the village would take care of youth programs,” Meyer said.
Meanwhile, another commission gained some attention.
The Beecher Historic Preservation Commission won the Distinguished Public Service Award at the Crete Township USA Fest in July.
Nixing Nixle
The village is discontinuing using the police information/emergency app known as Nixle in favor of Rave Mobile Safety’s Guardian.
“We wanted to wait until after the storms to make the switch,” Meyer said.
Rave allows people to receive alerts in various forms – phone, text and e-mails.
Local authorities can message out situations involving traffic, weather and other situations.
Elections coming
The April 6 election seems like a long way off, but the preliminary work is going on right now.
Election packets for the Village of Beecher will be available beginning Aug. 25 at Village Hall, 625 Dixie Highway.
The filing period is Nov. 16-23.
Up for election on the board are three four-year trustee positions.
For more information, contact Clerk Denise Abbink at 708-946-2261.
Weather woes
The July 27 board meeting was postponed because of bad weather and rescheduled for Aug. 3.
The Aug. 10 meeting went off without a hitch, but the storms the next day caused internet problems, and the YouTube video of the meeting was not able to be posted until Aug. 13.
The Beecher School District 200U board meeting was not spared. The Aug. 12 meeting was rescheduled to Aug. 19 because of weather-related issues from the Aug. 11 storm.
The July 27 storms featured 1,383 calls and 859 incidents to the Laraway Dispatch Center. Thirty of those calls were from Beecher residents.
Swearing in
Heidi Demas was sworn in as the village’s deputy treasurer. She has also served as deputy clerk and administrative assistant.