New Lenox Mayor Tim Baldermann talked recently about new projects for the village with Michael Nolan, a student at the Joliet Job Corps Center.

Michael is a New Lenox resident who is a earning his high school diploma at the center while studying to become a pharmacy technician. Mr. Baldermann met with Michael and BCL Stewart Warren in his office at New Lenox Village Hall on July 12. During his training at the Joliet Job Corps Center, Michael had expressed an interest in government.

“I wanted to know more about what a mayor did every day,” Nolan said.

So the mayor agreed to sit down with him. Mr. Baldermann explained that the New Lenox Village Board of Trustees had held its regular meeting Monday night and discussed proposed changes to the zoning of some property near Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox. The development could soon have a new hotel and restaurant, Mr. Baldermann said. There aren’t many other businesses around the hospital now. So the possibility of building a hotel and a restaurant in the area would be important projects for the village – and for the people who come to the hospital for treatment or to visit family members, the mayor said. Michael appreciated the opportunity to spend time with the mayor.

Joliet Job Corps Center student Michael Nolan (left) watches as New Lenox Mayor Tim Baldermann adds his official signature to a set of plans.

“It was an educating experience,” he said. “I learned about government and what is being planned for my hometown.”