Keep Up To Date With What's Going On!
Greetings!

The Village recently launched a redesign of the Village website and newsletter. The new design focuses on providing easy to use navigation, a better mobile experience, and new tools to make it easier than ever to find information and communicate with the Village.

The Village website and newsletter is our way of communicating important, timely information to citizens. The newsletter is published monthly and is an integral part of the Village Board’s commitment to keeping residents as informed and engaged as possible. In the newsletter, you will find information on upcoming programs, activities, and concerns that impact the Village as well as some of the key success stories that improve the quality of life here in our community.

If you have any comments, questions or ideas you would like to see included in the e-newsletter, please email me at dmacgillis@eroundlake.com.

Sincerely,
                                                   Mayor Dan MacGillis

News And Announcements
March 2020 Primary Election
Early Voting
Early voting in Lake County will run through March 16, 2020. Use any of the 16 early voting sites regardless of where you live in Lake County!

Vote By Mail
Registered Lake County voters can complete an  application online  to request a ballot by mail. Completed ballot applications must be received by the Lake County Clerk's office by 5 PM on March 12, 2020 

Election Day - March 17, 2020
To view a complete list of the candidates, visit  Candidate List  . Learn more about how and where to vote, how to preview your ballot and how to vote by mail at   Lake County Voter Power .
Save the Date for Arbor Day 2020!
Administrative Adjudication
Over the last year, Village Staff have researched extensively the potential of establishing an Administrative Adjudication process in the Village. Staff has had numerous meetings on the subject and also visited other communities to attend their Administrative Hearings and discuss their Adjudication processes. The Village Board adopted an ordinance creating an Administrative Adjudication System in accordance with Illinois State Statute. 

Hearings are conducted by an Hearing Officer who is not a Village employee, but rather an impartial, licensed Illinois attorney, who must meet strict State requirements to serve in this capacity. 

Hearings will be held monthly at the Village Hall to provide a convenient location and method of contesting citations. The first hearing is scheduled for April 9 at 2:00 pm.  
Attention Business Owners:
It's time to renew your Business License! Renewal forms will be sent out mid- March, by email, and must be returned on or before April 30, 2020. 

Online Renewal is also available through the Village website. Upon receipt, your 2020-21 license will be emailed to your business email address on file. Any Renewal received after April 30, 2020 will receive a late fee. We wish you a successful year!
2020 Census:
How the Census Bureau Protects Your Data
Did you know the U.S. Census Bureau is bound by law to protect your answers and keep them strictly confidential?

Under Title 13, the Census Bureau cannot release any identifiable information about you, your home, or your business, even to law enforcement agencies. The law ensures that your private data is protected and that your answers cannot be used against you by any government agency or court.
The answers you provide are used only to produce statistics. You are kept anonymous: The Census Bureau is not permitted to publicly release your responses in any way that could identify you or anyone else in your home.
Sanitary Sewer System
Have you ever wondered where dirty water goes after it flows down the drain or gets flushed down the toilet? The dirty water (sanitary sewage) flows out of your building through a service pipe which connects to the Village sanitary sewer system. This system consists of over 50 miles of pipe that carry the sanitary sewage of Round Lake to a Lake County Public Works interceptor sewer. 

The sewage flows through pipes by gravity which means every sewer pipe has to be installed at a precise angle for the sewage to keep going downhill. As you can probably guess, sooner or later the pipe gets too deep to keep carrying the sewage by gravity. At that point the sewage dumps into a lift station. A lift station is similar to a big sump pump. Sewage fills up in a large chamber to a certain point and then a pump turns on and pumps the sewage up and out. This is all handled automatically through a system of controls and is monitored by Public Works staff. The pumps push the sewage up to a higher elevation and dump it into a manhole where it can then continue to flow by gravity to the next lift station.
Round Lake is part of regional sanitary sewer system that includes several communities in the northwest Lake County area as well as Lake County Public Works and the Northwest Regional Waste Water Treatment Facility. Lake County Public Works owns and maintains several large interceptor sewers that all the member communities tie into. These large interceptor sewers carry all the sanitary sewage in the area to the treatment plant located in Fox Lake.

By working together with our neighboring communities, we can provide reliable sanitary sewer service at a much lower price than if we had to operate and maintain individual treatment plants.
ProChamps Vacant Property Registration
Vacant and abandoned properties harm our communities. They breed dumping, hazardous building conditions, drug activity, and other crimes. They threaten the health, safety and welfare of our neighborhoods. When not addressed they also impose significant economic costs on the larger community by lowering property values and requiring costly code and police enforcement.

Property abandonment can occur in single-family, multifamily, industrial, or commercial properties. Common abandonment triggers include: foreclosure, liens and repair costs that exceed the market value of the property, property deterioration, and difficulty in obtaining financing for improvements.

The key to having success in reducing blight is to understand these triggers and take a proactive approach in identifying the high-profile properties early and providing an opportunity for responsible party collaboration that can insure quick resolution to the ramifications of these triggers.  
 
But these issues are not inclusive to just vacant and/or abandoned properties. Non-owner-occupied properties also can pose a threat if they are not managed and maintained properly. Rental Property Registration is an essential tool for creating a code enforcement system that effectively identifies problem property candidates and, through random inspections, deters landlords from engaging in deferred maintenance and lax property management.
To minimize these negative impacts, the Village has partnered with ProChamps to establish a property registration process to ensure foreclosure parties and/or property owners maintain the adequate level of maintenance an d security on vacant properties.
Code Enforcement FAQ's
Q) I have noticed a lot of holiday lights still displayed. Shouldn’t they have been taken down by now?
A) Holiday lighting should be removed by the end of February. The National Electric Code (NEC 2017) limits the installation of temporary holiday decorative lighting to a maximum of 90 days. The wiring used in decorative holiday lighting is not designed for or approved for continuous exposure to the elements and over time can become an electrical hazard.

Q) I just received a notice from the village about shoveling sidewalks around my house when it snows. The sidewalk belongs to the village why do I have to shovel it?
A) Section 12.04.070 of the Village Code states: The person occupying the ground floor of any building, the user of any lot without a structure thereon, and the owner of any vacant building or other premises shall remove the snow and ice accumulating on the abutting sidewalks within twenty-four (24) hours after any snowfall has ceased. If snow or ice cannot be removed the surface shall be sanded or otherwise treated to lessen the hazard for pedestrians until the climate permits removal.

Residents are required for the safety of everyone, including school children, to shovel the abutting sidewalks. If you have a corner lot that means all the sidewalks not just the one directly in front. 
Visit us at www.eroundlake.com
Village Officials
Dan MacGillis, Mayor
Debbie Perlini, Clerk
Trustees
Charlie Foy, Henry Frye Jr., Russell Kraly,
Don Newby, Sanjay Patel, Jake Mandelman 

442 N. Cedar Lake Road Round Lake, IL 60073 · 847-546-5400