Village of Cherry Valley changes mind about 100-year-old bricks, thanks to residents

CHERRY VALLEY, Ill. (WTVO) — The village of Cherry Valley Board of Trustees voted to remove the original plan of repaving the iconic bricks that make up State Street Tuesday night.

After last week’s board meeting, where multiple residents showed up to provide public comment to the issue, Village Administrator Jim Claeyssen was tasked with asking each individual board member how they feel about it.

Claeyssen said the members expressed their thoughts and opinions to him, and ultimately, they put a Resolution of the issue onto Tuesday’s agenda.

“The item had been on different agendas throughout the year, but no one really realized it,” Claeyssen said. “When they did realize it, they came out and voiced their opinions and the village board was encouraged by it. They’ve already reached out to the contractor Rock Roads companies, and they said they’ll just pull it from the contract.”

One resident, Stuart Rucks, has lived in the area for 37 years. He said the city was happy to know that their voices were heard.

“I was very pleased when I heard that the trustees talking behind closed doors,” Rucks said. “It’s extremely important that those bricks remain not just to me, but to the majority of people. I think in Cherry Valley.”

As for what’s next, with the board’s new decision to discard the original plan, Claeyssen said they now turn to the public.

“We’re going to keep them {the bricks} in their entirety as long as we can; that’s the plan,” Claeyssen said. “That’s how we’re moving forward and will replace things as we have to when we have to. We had a good show of people come out, a lot of positive comments, a lot of people offering to help to do whatever they could. We’re just going to move forward.”

Rucks also said that the people are ready to help in any way that they can.

“There’s a number of people that are so interested in the history of this village that there will be some input and there will be some research done and we will do what we can to help where we can,” Rucks said. “We will make sure that we find the bricks we need and keep the bricks where they’re at.”

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