The Village of Oak Park | 123 Madison St.  Oak Park, IL 60302 | village@oak-park.us

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Village bids farewell to engineer of 35 years

Photo of retiring Village Engineer Jim Budrick (left) with Public Works Director John WielebnickiVillage Engineer Jim Budrick recently retired after 35 years. Budrick joined the Village’s Public Works Department in March of 1979 as a staff engineer, rising to chief engineer eight years later.

His first major assignment after taking the helm of the Engineering Division was the reopening of Lake Street east of Harlem Avenue to vehicles after several years as an open-air mall. He later managed the reopening of Marion Street south of Lake, which was the remaining segment of the downtown mall. The project won regional and national accolades while making the area a shopping, dining and gathering destination, as well as a frequent backdrop for filmmakers.

The capital improvement projects Budrick managed were many and varied, as he oversaw upgrades, repairs and maintenance of the Village’s 103 miles of streets and 105 miles of water and sewer lines.

Among the other major projects he oversaw were the implementation of the Village’s computer-managed, interconnected traffic signal system and the construction of the 2.5-million-gallon water reservoir and pumping station near Stevenson Park at Lake Street and Lombard Avenue.

Budrick also was among the first Village employees to embrace a program to use unclaimed bicycles collected by the Police Department to travel between Village facilities and around the community.

A fount of institutional knowledge about everyone and every project undertaken by the Village over the past three and half decades, the void left by Budrick’s absence will difficult to fill, officials say.

The Public Works Director told a local reporter that he intended to keep Budrick’s cell number on speed dial, an intention that the now retired former Village Engineer said was fine by him. In a resolution honoring Budrick, the Village Board offered “the warm appreciation of a grateful community.”