Mayor: Serenity Park to be turned over to Park District; police accreditation, traffic study and road projects planned

Mayor Andrew Johnson used parts of his State of the City address to preview several public‑works and public‑safety items that will affect Warrenville residents in the coming year.

On parks, Johnson said Serenity Park is entering Phase 2 and will be turned over to the Park District after Independence Day. He described the park project as funded with grants and as "an over $1,000,000 project." The mayor also said the city funded planning for a Veterans Plaza renovation and that local VFW and American Legion partners, together with aldermen, will lead the fundraising and design effort.

Regarding public safety and operations, Johnson said the police department has invited an outside operations assessment and is pursuing Illinois law‑enforcement accreditation. He noted that evidence storage and records space are a growing concern in the current police facility because of recordkeeping and legislative requirements.

Infrastructure plans include the annual road program ("millions of dollars" worth of improvements, the mayor said) and a specific major reconstruction on Shaw Drive (off Butterfield and Galbraith, west of Route 59 and south of Batavia Road) that will involve tearing up road surfaces in that neighborhood. Johnson said the city completed a traffic study with short‑term monitors and plans to create a toolkit of measures — not ad‑hoc solutions — to address local traffic and speed concerns.

During Q&A the mayor also said the police station will serve as an "internet transaction safe zone" with 24/7 camera monitoring to provide a secure location for exchanges of goods from online sales.