Will County Gazette

At its Dec. 13 meeting of the Village of Bolingbrook Board of Trustees, Mayor Mary Alexander-Basta recounted an award-winning presentation on innovation by Chief Information Officer James Farrell at the DuPage Mayor and Managers Conference.

“So James gets up there. And for those of you that don't know, James... expresses himself very well,” Alexander-Basta said. “And so he walks into the room and he has baggies of glitter. I'm an event planner. Event planners and venues hate something called glitter. And we just cringe when we say glitter. So I'm like, 'James, what are you going to do with that?' And he says, 'Well, you know, Michael Jordan used to put chalk and (clap his hands), and I don't want to do chalk, so I'm going to do glitter.'”

Alexander-Basta said though she was doubtful about their ranking because of the mess of glitter Farrell would make, Bolingbrook won first place in the competition. She said many mayors came up to her and Farrell asking about the presentation to get more details. The conference awarded the village of Bolingbrook the Best Presentation in Innovation award, which the mayor gave to Farrell at the village meeting.

“So I just want to say thank you, Mayor, for allowing me the opportunity to represent the village of Bolingbrook at this prestigious event,” Farrell said. “It was an honor and a pleasure to not only represent all of the departments and administration when it comes to technology, but the biggest honor was representing the residents of Bolingbrook. The Village of Bolingbrook is no longer the sleepy little village of past years. It is a village that has grown into the envy of many here in Illinois and across the country. We have been recognized as one of the best places to live in the country several times nationally, and people come from all over for the chance to make Bolingbrook their home. Now, Bolingbrook can be called an award winning community when it comes to technology and innovation.”

The village board will meet again at 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 10 at the board room at the Village Hall on 375 West Briarcliff Road.