Michelle Nelson’s term as mayor included big successes and big challenges.
Under her leadership, the village tackled ambitious infrastructure projects, including rebuilding the worst street in town, replacing an elderly bridge and embarking on a drainage project designed to provide flood relief downtown and in the Heather Hill neighborhood.
She said she’s proud of the grant money the village has brought in to accomplish those projects and an impending renovation of the downtown streetscape that will start this spring.
She said when Congress passed the federal infrastructure bill early in Joe Biden’s term, the village acted.
“I knew we had to get to work right away to secure federal grants. something we had previously not done,” she said “We’ve brought in over $7.4 million in grants since 2021.”
Some much more difficult situations included the police shooting of a resident, Madeline Miller, in 2022; the firing of the village’s first Black police chief, Jerel Jones, in 2024; and the controversy surrounding the construction of the Heather Hill detention basin in 2024.
Those controversies have prompted the village to increase communication with residents, she said.
