News from Lake County

The Village of Antioch's Department of Parks & Recreation is looking forward to a bright Spring Day to hold the annual Easter Parade on Saturday, April 3rd, 2010.

Your presence with an entry in the parade will greatly enhance it's success. There is no entry fee and we encourage you to participate. The parade will begin at 10:30 a.m. and line up will take place between 9:30 and 10:15 a.m. on Skidmore Dr. The parade will head north on Main street to Williams Street again this year. You will receive a line up position in the mail on or before March 26, 2010.

Please no Easter Bunny in your entry, we will have it in the final entry!

We will be using Williams Park for the Easter Egg Hunt which follows the parade, so there will be no parking there. Please arrange for parade participants to be picked-up back at the Parking Lot on Skidmore. If you have any questions, please call Shawn Roby at 847-838-4032. Click here for your entry.

Deadlines for entry is March 26, 2010 at 5 p.m. any entries received after this date will not be accepted!

Lake Villa Easter Egg Hunt

Saturday, March 27 (March 28 Rain Date)

11:00 am SHARP

Lehmann Park

Downtown Lake Villa on Cedar Avenue

Ages 3 to 8

Free Event. Bring a food item for the Lake Villa Food Pantry. More information

Lindenhurst - Lake Villa Chamber of Commerce

Springfest Expo 2010

Saturday, March 27 and Sunday, March 28

9:00 am - 3:30 pm

Lakes Community High School

Grass Lake Road & Deep Lake Road

Over 150 exhibitors participated and over 4,000 people attended last year. I look forward to seeing you at the FREE, informative and fun event.

How Many People are Homeless in Lake County

On one night this winter, 474 persons in Lake County had no place to call home. On January 28, 28 volunteers in ten teams hit the streets to count the homeless in Lake County. This Point-in-Time Count is a snapshot census of the homeless population living here.

Volunteers from a variety of organizations met at Waukegan City Hall to review strategies, locations, and techniques before heading out into the cold at 10 p.m. Teams searched throughout Lake County until 2 a.m.

"We had excellent participation this year. It really helped us find and offer shelter to the persons we could find," said Joel Williams, coordinator of the count and the Lake County Continuum of Care. "We managed to get 20 people who were not linked with services into the system."

Connecting 20 homeless people with the services they need is significant, but it is only the first part of the equation. Volunteers also counted people living in shelters that would be in the street without homeless service programs. There were 454 homeless persons counted in some sort of shelter.

The Lake County Community Development Division has used the data from the count and developed a report titled Homelessness Counts in Lake County. This report explains who is homeless, why they became homeless, and how the community can help to eliminate homelessness. The report is available on the Lake County website (www.lakecountyil.gov/planning/communitydevelopment/default.htm) or at the Lake County Coalition for the Homeless' website (www.lakecountyhomeless.org).

Questions about the report should be directed to Joel Williams at 847.377.2139.

Lake County Gets "A" for Transparency

Lake County's website ranks among the best state and local government websites in America for transparency according to "The Sunshine Review", a non-profit organization dedicated to state and local government transparency.

Lake County is among 39 "Sunny Award" winners to earn an "A" transparency grade out of 5,000 government websites. Sunshine Review's "Transparency Checklist" analyzes websites for information about budgets, meetings, elected and administrative officials, permits and zoning, audits, contracts, lobbying, public records, and taxes.

In recognition of Sunshine Week, a national initiative to bring attention to open government and freedom of information, Lake County encourages residents to connect with County government by visiting the County's website at www.lakecountyil.gov.

You can request services on-line, find information using navigation tools like "I WANT TO," email elected officials, watch County Board meetings and other original programming on LCTV, access tax and assessment information, sign up for news and information, view interactive maps, and much more!

We continue to make enhancements to the website. Please send your suggestions or comments to communications@lakecountyil.gov

Lake County's New Permit Facility Opens April 19th

If you need to get a permit from Lake County Building and Zoning, contact Stormwater Management or get a permit for a well or septic, this information will be important to you.

Beginning Monday, April 19, the location of the new Central Permitting location will be at the Libertyville complex at 500 Winchester Road. There are postive changes and every customer will be assisted by a project manager who will provide guidance throughout the process. Additionally, customers can sit in one chair and have the County's various permitting agencies come to them.

The Lake County Center for Planning, Development and Environmental Services will be a "one-stop-shop" for customers applying for permits from Lake County. The permit process will be more efficient and customer-friendly by having the Planning, Building and Development Department; Stormwater Management Commission; Health Department's Environmental Health Services; and laboratory operations for Public Works and the Health Department in one central location.

University Center Night

University Center of Lake County

UCenter

April 8, 2010 from 6pm to 8pm

University Center at Grayslake

1200 University Drive

If you would like to explore returning to school to complete your bachelor's degree, earn a graduate degree, or pursue professional development programs, the University Center of Lake County is here to help. University Center will host an information session on Thursday, April 8 from 6 to 8 pm at the Grayslake facility (1200 University Center Drive; at the intersection of Washington St. and Lancer Lane).

"University Center Night" showcases the 90+ programs available in Grayslake, Waukegan, Great Lakes Naval Training Center, or via online study. Representatives from the University Center's eighteen member institutions will be on hand to answer questions and provide further information about their programs.

The University Center's member institutions are: Benedictine University, The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, Concordia University Chicago, DePaul University, Dominican University, Governors State University, Illinois State University, Kendall College, National-Louis University, North Park University, Northeastern Illinois University, Northern Illinois University, Roosevelt University, Saint Xavier University, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, University of Illinois at Chicago, University of Illinois at Springfield, and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Each offers selected programs.

For more information about programs offered through the University Center of Lake County, visit its website www.ucenter.org or call 847/665-4000.