Oak Forest City Council Welcomes New Firefighter

Matthew Wienke was sworn in as an Oak Forest firefighter during Tuesday night’s Oak Forest City Council session.

Members of Wienke's family accompanied him to the meeting and watched with pride as Wienke was sworn in by Village Clerk Scott Burkhardt.

“It's my great pleasure to invite Matt Wienke up for his Oak Forest firefighter swearing in,” Mayor Hank Kuspa said. “Again Matt, congratulations.”

Following Wienke's swearing-in, the board heard from Public Works Director Troy Ishler, who discussed the potential for several policy and ordinance changes that would allow the city to accept a grant through the “IKE” CDBG Disaster Recovery Public Infrastructure Program. Ishler said the grant is believed to be worth about $540,000 and will be used to repair the Waverly Avenue culvert.

“It's actually the Ike hurricane disaster grant for public works infrastructure,” Ishler said. “It will be applied to the Waverly culvert, which is failing the town. … To get this grant, we've had to jump through a lot of hoops.”

Ishler added that without changes to the policies, the city would not be eligible to receive the grant. Although the grant is not in the city's coffers yet, once the policy and ordinance revisions are approved, the city can begin work on the culvert.

“The reason that this was brought before (the council) was to make sure that, conceptually, you agree with the concurrences gained tonight,” Burkhardt said. “Then at the next meeting we will come back with the ordinances so that we can approve it and continue that forward.”

The council also approved the appointment of Nancy Hullinger to the Streetscape Commission and Eric Ivancicts to the Emergency Management Agency before adjourning.

The next city council meeting will be held Tuesday, Aug. 23, at 8 p.m. at the .