Stimulus Watch: Carpentersville Projects

The U.S. Conference of Mayors released a list of “shovel-ready” projects that they would like to see receive federal funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (the so-called “stimulus bill”).

An independent group of folks took this list and created “Stimulus Watch” to “help the new administration keep its pledge to invest stimulus money smartly, and to hold public officials to account for the taxpayer money they spend.”

The site allows people from all across the country to vote on where they think the money would be best invested.  This doesn’t mean that it will be in the final stimulus bill, but are simply “candidates for funding” that could come as a part of this bill currently being decided in Congress.

According to the site, there are 14 projects listed as candidates for Carpentersville, with a total of approximately $15 million being sought for those projects.

Board meeting notes

Got a few emails requesting information on what happened at last night’s Village Board meeting, so here is a quick rundown…

Residents will begin seeing the water and sewer rate increase on their bills starting in January, that was originally approved in September. The Board voted unanimously to accept the January, rather than April, date. The Board also approved credits for those residents billed in October at the increased rate. Originally, the Village was to put the rates into effect beginning October 1st, but reconsidered after being alerted to the fact that the increase was retroactive.

The Board also voted to have an amendment written to the Municipal Code (“6.08.190 Number of dogs to be kept-Limitation.”) to allow two dogs to be kept in multi-unit dwellings. The current number is one. So, it is expected that this amendment to the current ordinance will be on a future meeting agenda — perhaps the next meeting.

And, another significant item was the “Resolution Approving a Professional Services Agreement for Municipal Facilities Site Planning Services“. The Board voted to table that item pending a review and recommendation from the Audit & Finance Commission.

This was an item designated for a land study and planning for the former site of Tamarac Crossing (a high-density housing development that was opposed by residents and eventually voted down by the Board in late 2004, which subjected the Village to a lawsuit that the Village Board ended by voting to purchase the property in late 2005. The purchase was a cause of some controversy (surprised?) because it didn’t get a prior Audit & Finance review and resulted in a 4-3 vote to approve the purchase).

Development of a new Public Works building has been in talks for a few years now, and was one of the top priorities in the strategic planning that occurred last year. When the property was purchased, this was the usage proposed for this site. Because the property is larger than is needed for the new building, however, it was proposed that the surplus acreage could be parceled and sold. That would allow the Village to recoup a portion of the funds spent on the land purchase.

At issue, however, is that the planning — estimated to cost approximately $45,000 $49,200– was not included in this years budget numbers. Thus it would be necessary for an amendment to be made to the 2007 budget — similar to what was done for the Kimball Farms work that was approved this year.

Some members of the Board, however, want to hold off considering this until next year’s budget.

That’s a quick wrap-up of some of the Board actions that took place last night.

Village officials ready for more planning

President Sarto sent the following message about the Village’s upcoming Strategic Planning meeting:

Once again this year as we did in 2006, the Village Board and the staff will hold a Special Meeting at Randall Oaks Golf Club. The purpose of this meeting is a Strategic Planning Session.

Last year I opened this session with some remarks that were meant to set the tone for this worthwhile planning session. Again this year I will be making some opening remarks. A year ago my comments were very upbeat and positive about our future. I stated: “This meeting reflects extraordinary changes that have taken place in the Village over a relatively short period. It reflects elections in Carpentersville. We are at a crossroads. We have before us today an opportunity that only comes around once in a while. We are in a position to make sure that our programs are moving in the right direction and addressing the issues that we as a Village need to face. We are on the right course.”

I went on to say: “The Village now has an outstanding staff. Our job on the Board is to now keep our good people. So, today, we are here to help build and develop a strategic plan that will identify issues that may involve short-term, medium-term and long-term consequences. We are ready at this time to move ahead in this strategic direction.”

I continued: ” Our predicament in the Village is to think as a dreamer. We need to think outside the box. This is a good thing. We need to look and think about the bigger picture. In my opinion, we can do better than we are doing now.”

I concluded my opening remarks with this: “What is important is that the Board members and staff now seem to be on the same page and ready to go. We need to conceptualize a future and then decide how we want to get there.”

That was last year. So, much has happened in that short time. Here are some of the thoughts that came from that session just one year ago. These were the comments from the Village Board members given in one on one interviews with the facilitator: Under the heading “Core Values of Carpentersville”

1. Down to earth community that reflects a

2. “diverse” demography that helps make the

3. Village a highly family oriented place to live.

4. The village has a “small town feel” even though

5. it is located in a highly populated suburban location convenient to

6. shopping and other cultural amenities.

7. The Village offers a wide variety of housing stock ranging from very affordable single family homes to those on the high end.

8. Carpentersville is a maturing community that is known for its high quality drinking water, hard working residents, and high quality schools.

9. In summary, Carpentersville reflects the future now. It displays the characteristics of a family oriented, ethnically diverse, high service community where municipal government sustains a high quality of life with a small town feel.

Listed below were the top 5 “Strategic Issues” that we identified a year ago:

1. Improve the Village infrastructure (i.e. roads) Build a Public Works Facility, Identify funding sources for additional Village staff, especially for Public Works, Educate citizens about the need for a potential property tax increase to fund needed infrastructure improvements.

2. Have the Village engage in more intensive business/retail recruitment. Focus on economic development. Increase Village Revenues, i.e., grants, sales tax, and link to economic development.
-Hire an Economic Development Director.
-Hire an Economic development advisory firm.
-Create an Economic Development Council to advise the Board and Village.

3. Engage in active redevelopment of those areas of the Village that need it.

4. Improve the Village’s Image:
a. externally in a broad sense, and
b. internally between Board and staff.

5. Have the Village grow wisely.

I’ll let those reading this make up their own minds in grading the Village on achieving those goals that we set out to accomplish one year ago.

Bill Sarto – President
Village of Carpentersville