West Cook News

in an effort to  recognize and honor small business owners in the community, The village of Brookfield Board of Trustees, at its Dec 12 meeting, recognized Betty LeClere, who received a standing ovation from the board and all in attendance, despite her protesting all the special attention.

LeClere, who owns Betty’s Flowers and Gifts, has been in business in the village for 24 years.

The city had a local artist paint a streetscape with the focal point as the front window of her business. They gave her the painting before reading a proclamation in her honor. 

Betty has been a resident of Brookfield for over 50 years. She has served on village committees and has been the president of the chamber of commerce for many years.

Because of LeClere’s longstanding commitment to the village and the hundreds of hours she has donated to helping organize and run special events, especially in the downtown area, the village board also presented her with an honorary street naming. The area of Broadway Avenue that runs past her business will honorarily be named Betty LeClere Avenue. This received another standing ovation from all in attendance.

“Myself and the board have always known what a great community we have,” Board Vice President Michael Garvey said. “We have great residents. We also have great business owners and community members, and we always thank people and groups and stuff like this. But we talked about, you know, doing a better job of recognizing people for what they do. And we talked about recognizing business owners going forward.”

The board uploaded a livestream of its public meeting to the village’s YouTube channel.

The board also discussed creating a tax levy. The board noted it as approximately $14.9 million for both the village and library levies.

The board will meet again 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 10 at the Edward Barcal hall board room in the Village Hall on 8820 Brookfield Ave.