Ninety business owners gathered on Wednesday to listen to Village of Gurnee officials talk about the progress, challenges, and changes in the Village.  Mayor Kovarik was proud of this first ever format, State of the Village, modeled loosely after the President's State of the Union addresses.

The department heads from the Police, Fire, Engineering, and Public Works departments each gave a brief overview of the issues, challenges, and changes that they were making.  One thing that each of the department heads made clear was that they were interested in public input.

:If we don't hear from the public we can't improve on our services," said Gurnee police chief Bob Jones, with  fire chief Fred Friedl agreeing. 

Mayor Kovarik said, "I'm proud theleadership in the community are committed to being receptive and open to ideas about how to improve our community," adding  "One way to communicate with the Village and it's department heads is to become a member of the Gurnee Chamber of Commerce www.gurneechamber.com..  Being a member gives business owners access to the Village leadership, as well as a sounding board for their ideas.  

Gurnee is a sales tax driven community with no property taxes being collected at the Village level.  That means the Village is funded by the business community.  If you want to make an impact and see more progress, you have to get involved.  Check out the Chamber  website for more information.