The Village of Westchester is a smaller village (population approximately 17,000) in the Chicagoland area, which is located in the western most part of Cook County. The Village of Westchester was incorporated in 1925 as a non-home rule, general-purpose government approximately 14 miles west of Chicago. By the early 1920’s the few residents in the area began to experience this change, as plans were being put in place for “improvements”. Samuel Insull, then the President of Commonwealth Edison, purchased 2,200 acres of land, for twice the estimated value. In January of 1925, Westchester was officially incorporated, with great hope and anticipation for the future. Today, expansion and annexations have consumed nearly all open land within the village, except for the 85-acre Wolf Road Prairie. The Village is now primarily residential with housing stock consisting of 5,724 detached single‐family homes and 1,278 multi‐family dwelling units. Westchester is not home rule, although there has been much discussion of it during strategic planning sessions in the recent past. Westchester operates under a Council/Manager form of government. The Village President, Village Clerk, and six trustees are elected at large to serve four year terms, with three trustees elected every second year. The Village Manager oversees all fulltime staff within the five departments including Administration & Finance, Police, Fire, Public Works and Community Development.