Special Meeting Board of Trustees

Village of Lombard Village Hall 255 East Wilson Ave. Lombard, IL 60148 villageoflombard.org Minutes Thursday, December 2, 2021 4:30 PM Lorraine G. Gerhardt Community Room Special Meeting Board of Trustees Village President Keith Giagnorio, Village Clerk Liz Brezinski Trustee Brian LaVaque, Trustee Anthony Puccio, Trustee Bernie Dudek, Trustee Andrew Honig, Trustee Dan Militello and Trustee Bob Bachner Special Meeting Board of Trustees Minutes December 2, 2021 I Call to Order The Special Meeting of the President and Board of Trustees of the Village of Lombard held on Thursday, December 2, 2021 in the Community Room of the Lombard Village Hall was called to order by Village President Keith Giagnorio at 4:30 pm. II Pledge of Allegiance Director of Public Works Carl Goldsmith led the Pledge of Allegiance. III Roll Call Present 8 - Keith Giagnorio, Elizabeth Brezinski, Brian LaVaque, Anthony Puccio, Bernie Dudek, Andrew Honig, Dan Militello, and Bob Bachner Trustee Andrew Honig arrived at 4:36 p.m. Staff Present: Village Manager Scott Niehaus Director of Finance Tim Sexton Director of Community Development Bill Heniff Director of Public Works Carl Goldsmith Chief of Police Roy Newton Fire Chief Rick Sander Assistant Village Manager Nicole Aranas Communications Coordinator Stephanie Calvillo Executive Coordinator Carol Bauer IV Public Participation V Items for Discussion and Action A. 210378 Approval of Final Draft of the Strategic Plan Request for approval of the 2021-2024 Village of Lombard Strategic Plan as reviewed by the Village Board at the December 2, 2021 Workshop. An overview was provided by Assistant Village Manager Nicole Aranas. Nicole also introduced the Communication Plan to get the Strategic Plan to the community. Question from Trustee Dudek: How can the Trustees help in communicating the main objectives of the strategic plan? Staff explained that in addition to broad communications on social media that Village of Lombard Page 1 Special Meeting Board of Trustees Minutes December 2, 2021 a power point for use with small groups and organizations would also be prepared for use by elected officials and department heads when interacting with the community. B. 210379 United States Census Bureau Decennial Data for the Village of Lombard - Overview Village Manager Scott Niehaus provided an overview. The Village only started receiving census data in late summer. The overall population of Lombard increased, mostly in District 3 due to the Elan and Overture complexes at Yorktown. This population growth equals additional funds from the federal government of $209.65 per resident, which is $226,631.65 per year for the next 10 years. The Village will monitor the Woodmor Development on Finley Road. This complex is currently unincorporated, but there is a discussion to be made for annexation. In addition, as more granular details come out from the census bureau with regard to age, income, background, etc, staff will continue to update the information and distribute it accordingly. C. 210380 Trustee District Boundaries Re-alignment as a Result of the 2020 Census Per State Statute, all districts must be within 10% deviation of any other district. Due to the large increase in population primarily in District 3, re-aligning the district boundaries is required. 4 map options were presented: Option 1: Displaces the least number of residents Option 2: Most even population distribution Option 3: Boundaries aligned along major arterials Option 4: Creates one downtown-centric district The Board discussed the different map options. There was no interest from anyone on the Board to do any specific changes of the boundaries based upon known addresses of other citizens. In general, the consensus of the Board was to have the process be as open and transparent as possible without any political influence over how the maps would be drawn. Upon discussion, everyone expressed their support of Option 1 for the following two reasons: Village of Lombard Page 2 Special Meeting Board of Trustees Minutes December 2, 2021 1. It displaces the fewest number of residents in comparison to the other options presented. 2. The boundaries were the most consistent with the existing boundaries; Question from Trustee Honig: Is it possible to create a map Option 1B? With the proposed borders, there is less than the desired contiguity of 300 ft in District 2 at the intersection of Finley Road and Wilson Avenue. Village Attorney Tom Bayer agreed that the boundaries of Districts #2 & #6 at that intersection should be reviewed. Staff was directed to modify the map accordingly. In addition, staff was directed to place an ordinance on the February 3, 2022 Village Board meeting to adopt the amended district boundaries for first reading only. The Village Board also asked that the amended maps be communicated broadly during the month of January so that there was advance notice to the community prior to any board action. D. 210381 Introductory Discussion on Form of Government Pertaining to Trustees Being Elected by Districts Versus At-large At the October 7, 2021 board meeting, a resident asked during public participation if the board has ever considered moving to an at-large form of government. Staff did some research to find out how long the Village of Lombard has been a district form of government. It was in 1975 that the Village moved to districts. If there was truly an interest in moving to an at-large form of government, a referendum is required. There was a lengthy discussion among the board members, and the consensus was that there is no interest in moving to at-large government for the following reasons: 1. The current form of district governance had been in place and is working well. It allows the elected officials to communicate on a personal level with their constituents so that they can advocate on their behalf. At the same time, the historic approach of Lombard trustees has also been to do what is best for the community as a whole when necessary; 2. District based governments by their nature are more open to a broad range of candidates that provides for a more diverse representations as there are less barriers to involvement that traditionally come from larger geography and the need for campaign funding; 3. District based governments are typically more resistant to party based polities since people only need to communicate and appeal to smaller groups. At-large governments often require candidates to have a more involved network of campaigning that Village of Lombard Page 3 Special Meeting Board of Trustees Minutes December 2, 2021 may need to rely on support and funding of political parties in order to be successful 4. Businesses could suffer if there wasn’t a trustee representing the interests of that area of town. In general, the consensus of the Village Board was that the district form of government is more inclusive, allows for more diverse candidates, and is more accessible to the average resident. As such, there was no interest in pursuing a formal change of the government form via referendum. VI Adjournment A motion was made by Trustee Anthony Puccio, seconded by Trustee Brian LaVaque, that the Special Meeting of the President and Board of Trustees of the Village of Lombard held on Thursday, December 2, 2021 in the Community Room of the Lombard Village Hall be adjourned at 5:37 p.m. The motion carried by the following vote: Aye: 6- Brian LaVaque, Anthony Puccio, Bernie Dudek, Andrew Honig, Dan Militello, and Bob Bachner Village of Lombard Page 4