A new day for once-feuding Glen Ellyn and COD?
Glen Ellyn's new village president says it's a new day for the village and College of DuPage — two governmental entities that had a protracted and expensive legal dispute over jurisdictional matters for more than two years.
Perhaps one example will take place Monday, when the college will host the Glen Ellyn village board's strategic planning session.
The biannual meeting, held soon after new board members are seated, typically occurs away from the village's civic center.
Last time, it was held at the Glen Ellyn Historical Society at Stacy's Corners.
But this year village officials picked a spot on COD's 273-acre campus — which only a year ago was such a subject of contention that both sides went to court and COD nearly detached from Glen Ellyn.
COD and Glen Ellyn sparred over the degree to which COD was subject to village regulations, especially in regard to village inspections of new college buildings.
Early last year, the two sides signed an agreement with DuPage County that transfers jurisdictional control of the college campus from the village to the county, while the college agreed to not disconnect from the village.
Village President Alex Demos, elected in April, says he's not sure the dispute could have been avoided, and it may not have been any different had he been on the village board at the time.
But he's hopeful the village and college can work together.
“We're coming together and looking at today and tomorrow and moving forward. This starts an emphasis that we're going to work together in every capacity,” Demos said. “It's a beginning of a new relationship.”
Demos said he's already had a few meetings with COD President Robert Breuder and that one of his goals when he ran for office was to have “the best, most efficient” relationships with other governmental entities.
Monday's village board planning retreat will take place at the college's Technical Education Center.
Demos said there could be a “meet and greet” at some point with some COD staff members, but it isn't clear exactly where that would take place.
With respect to the village meeting, COD spokesman Joe Moore said the college's administration isn't participating in any way.
“They're holding a workshop to work on village business. But it's not to work on college-related business,” Moore said. “No one here is very aware of it. They're just using that space.”
Moore said the college is “always interested in having a good working relationship with not only the village, but any of the surrounding entities with whom we work.”
Former Glen Ellyn village president Mark Pfefferman said before he left office, he met with Breuder to discuss “the past and the future.”
And though they were on opposite sides, even “in the darkest days, there was never no dialogue,” Pfefferman said.
He said the fact the village board is meeting Monday on COD's campus is a positive.
“There's plenty of room for improvement, and I think President Demos is doing a great job in that regard,” Pfefferman said.
The Glen Ellyn Economic Development Corporation board, before it was dissolved last year and its functions brought into village government, held a strategic planning session of its own at COD in 2010, Pfefferman said.
The village board's strategic planning session is where trustees will “define our goals, what we want to put on our radar screen, and what we want to remove from our radar screen,” Demos said.
“We're not diving into any topic, but defining topics we'd like to dive into,” he said.
Monday's meeting will be held from 6 to 10 p.m. in Room 1038B of the Technical Education Center at College of DuPage, 425 Fawell Blvd.