Happy New Year

Linda and I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year and we hope your year was as blessed as ours.

As we reflect on the last year, let's take a look at Sauk Village. We have come a long way and we continue to make improvements

We have come from an all time low in financial status by making cuts and reducing debt. This has been accomplished because we have tightened our belts as our residents have had to during difficult economic times. 

The village is currently 67% through its budget year and the General Fund expenditures are at 65% of its budget which is 2% lower than anticipated for this point into the budget. Our revenues are higher than anticipated while we have only received 40% of the projected property taxes. Financial records are being recorded accurately; grants being used for their intended purpose, spending through state programs that offer municipal discounts have been implemented and utilized by all departments.

This administration has followed up with the audits to make them current so that our financial future can look brighter and we can move toward improved bond ratings. As of December 2014, Sauk Village audits are complete and submitted to the state. Sauk Village is no longer behind on completing or submitting our financial audits.

Our village business meetings, both regular and committee, have become more professionally conducted at reasonable lengths of time due to better planning and attempting to stay on topic to improve our village.

Visual improvements include the removal of the wooden signs along the entrance to our village on State property through cooperation of the businesses in our village. They were removed through appeals to those businesses and the administration working together.

Beautification committee worked with several local businesses to promote a beautiful and appealing image at several locations in our village by creating the Adopt-A-Spot program, encouraged residents who have made great strides in improving the image of their homes by continuing the Hootsie award program and acknowledging those that take pride in where they live and work.

Housing Commission and Beautification both worked together most of this past year in an effort to improve our image. The Housing Commission spent a great amount of time and effort promoting and implementing the grass mowing and debris removal at many residential homes. Both committees also with the help of the Township summer kids program accomplished much work done at our municipal buildings this summer. Beautification made improvements to some of the signage in our village.

Our local Scout Christopher Witt did a fantastic job improving our park by staining the picnic benches, gazebo and a local resident James Williams created a new sign for the park next to the community center and did a beautiful job.

This last year the Parks and Recreation committee has worked tirelessly to provide programs for children and other events and has a plan for improvements to other park areas within our village which include upgraded ball fields, new soccer field, walking paths for our local residents use and more.

The administration has made improvements in communication by initiating the email alerts for those residents who provide their email addresses. The Public Relations committee is currently working to create a new visually improved and user friendly web site and hopefully will be completed early in 2015 and can be located at www.saukvillage.org

The administration continues to encourage residents to bring their questions to the village hall so they can be answered or worked on by the appropriate departments. All sub committees continue to encourage residents to join in with ideas and solutions to improve relationships within our community.

This last year we negotiated the contract to improve our water and the loan to make those improvements and later worked with the Governor’s office to help put our village in a better financial position. As of today well #3 is up and running thus alleviating any water shortage in the event of a substantial fire emergency. Air strippers were installed to insure safe water and improvements to filtration has improved many water issues. Work continues to improve the water infrastructure and decrease water loss so that we may someday be at an acceptable level for application for Lake Michigan water.

Still much work needs to be done in some areas where a second water line needs to be installed to insure water availability and to improve looping so that some lines do not become stagnant. The administration continues to work with residents to bring their bills for services up to date and to bring current any outstanding penalties for non compliance with ordinances.

In the last two years streets have been repaired as funds became available, street lights and fire hydrants repaired or replaced and recently Sauk Village received a grant to make further improvements to street lighting throughout the entire village. The administration has worked diligently to address the areas that were neglected over the years.

Below are the streets repaired in 2013 and 2014 and the streets to be repaired in 2015.

 Our Police Department is working tirelessly to improve safety concerns within our village and added officer Falco to assist them in their efforts. The department will continue their work as well as taking advantage of events in which they can get to know the law abiding citizens as well as they know the criminals camping in town.

The administration, police and neighborhood watch has worked to insure that inappropriate behavior will not be accepted in Sauk Village and will be reported to the police department when it occurs. We encourage safe and respectful behavior in our community.

The administration encourages the cooperation of all taxing bodies within our village to work together to promote communication and cooperation within our community. Our McConathy Library has been a generous source of donations to the children of Sauk Village and worked often with the administration to insure efforts for the children including the community garden for all to enjoy and take part in.

The School board has worked to improve communication to promote programs for the children of Sauk Village by sharing information on their projects as well as sharing village projects with the families of Sauk Village. All three taxing bodies realize that everyone in Sauk Village does not have a computer and that communication reaching every family will require working together and sharing information.

Yes there is still much work to be done but the current atmosphere of cooperating and an open door policy to share will improve understanding for all. Can everything you desire be provided by our village? No, we are not financially able to provide all that people wish but the door is open and the administration is willing to listen and share ideas and solutions with all those who take the extra effort to step through the door and communicate.

Most importantly to insure forward motion is to put words into action and volunteer. In 2015 Sauk Village needs your help as we work together “Moving Sauk Village Forward”.

Mayor David A. Hanks