Schools
De-Annexation Causes Water Woes for COD
After announcing de-annexation plans, the community college is figuring out where it will turn for utility services.
How will get its water is unknown as COD moves forward with separating from the Village of Glen Ellyn.
In an interview after the last COD Board of Trustees meeting, COD attorney Kenneth Florey described the water/sewage issue being the most “technical” issue facing the college as it moves forward with de-annexation.
Village trustee Carl Henninger said that COD would “no longer qualify” to use the village’s water system.
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Both Joseph Moore, COD associate vice president of external relations, and Terry Burghard, interim village manager of Glen Ellyn, said that it is too early to see how this issue would be resolved.
Moore said there are multiple places that the college could receive those services.
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“We could look to another municipality like Wheaton,” Moore said. “We could develop a healthy working relationship with the village [to] get our water and sewer from the village.”
Burghard was also sparse on the details of how water would be worked out. He said it was hard to say because the village has not received official word of the college’s de-annexation plans. Moore disputed this, stating that COD has given them several notices, including personal phone calls.
Burghard could not be reached for his reaction to these comments.
Regardless of the college’s status, Moore said they would receive the same fire protection. However, a spokeperson for the Glen Ellyn Volunteer Fire Department said they would be unable to comment because they have not received any information in regards to the de-annexation. The spokesperson said in the mean time they will still be serving COD.
Because COD has its own police department, COD Police Chief Mark Fazzini said he does not anticipate interactions to change on this level either.
“I don’t see any impact on police services with this issue coming to the forefront,” Fazzini said.
Because of a statewide mutual aid agreement, Fazzini said Glen Ellyn police would respond to COD in the case of an emergency, whether COD de-annexed or not.
Fazzini also expects day-to-day activities to remain the same, as both departments have their own jurisdictions.
