On Jan. 31, Metro-East counties and municipalities take next step in working together to prevent flooding, protect water quality
(Collinsville , Ill.) … At a workshop on Wednesday,
Jan.
31,
in
Collinsville,
Ill., stormwater management experts will explain how new
state legislation can help counties and municipalities work together to prevent
flooding, protect property values, and maintain water quality in three
Metro-East counties – Madison, Monroe and St. Clair, three of only nine counties
statewide eligible to opt into the legislation.
All three counties have weathered
devastating
Mississippi
River flooding and other floods in the past. As part of their
pledge to head off future flooding, county officials pushed hard to help pass SB1910
in 2005, legislation that authorized Madison, Monroe and St. Clair counties –
as well as Boone, DeKalb,
Grundy,
Kankakee, Kendall
and LaSalle counties in fast-growing northeastern
Illinois
– to create
stormwater management committees. Such committees were authorized more than a
decade ago for six counties in northeastern Illinois – Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake,
McHenry and Will – and have been successful helping local municipalities develop
stormwater management plans and enacting county-wide ordinances to protect water
quality and prevent flooding.
Stormwater management practitioners from active
Illinois
stormwater management committees will facilitate the Jan. 31 workshop. They’ll
help participants understand the benefits of county and metro-wide stormwater
management planning; learn how to organize a stormwater program that serves
their local and regional needs; and develop a plan of action.
County board members, mayors, managers, engineers,
consultants, public works professionals, and the public are encouraged to attend
the workshop, at the invitation of Madison County Board Chairman Alan Dunstan;
Monroe County Board Chairman Dale Haudrich; and St. Clair County Board Chairman
Mark Kern. The workshop is funded by the McKnight Foundation and Lumpkin Family
Foundation, with additional support from RJN Engineering and Christopher B.
Burke Engineering.
WHAT:
A workshop to explain how new state
legislation can help counties and municipalities work together to prevent
flooding, protect property values, and maintain water quality in three
Metro-East counties – Madison, Monroe and St. Clair.
WHO:
Mike Fruth,
Coordinator, Metro East Regional Stormwater Management District, Madison County
Lenore Beyer-Clow, Director of Policy, Openlands, Chicago
Scott Goldstein, Vice President of Policy and Planning,
Metropolitan Planning Council, Chicago
Mike Warner,
Executive Director, Lake County Stormwater Management Commission, Libertyville,
Ill.
Kay Whitlock, Vice President, Christopher B. Burke
Engineering, Ltd., Rosemont ,
Ill.
WHEN:
Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2007
8:45 to 11:30
a.m.
WHERE:
Collinsville Area Recreation
District
10 Gateway Dr.
Collinsville,
Ill.
REGISTRATION: The workshop is free and
open to the public, but registration is required. Local officials and members of
the public may request further information and register by contacting Ed
Weilbacher, coordinator, Southwestern Illinois Resource Conservation and
Development, Inc., at (618) 566-4451 or ed.weilbacher@il.usda.gov; or Richard Mariner, project
consultant, at (312) 953-1484 or rmariner@msn.com.
Members of the media may request further information and
register by contacting Ed Weilbacher at (618) 566-4451 or ed.weilbacher@il.usda.gov; or Mandy Burrell, Metropolitan
Planning Council communications associate, at (312) 863-6018 or mburrell@metroplanning.org.