Sept Updates

Written By Jay Balachandran

TL;DR:

  • 10/9, 6P Town Hall meeting to discuss the Community Development Director role. Please try to make this meeting if you feel this role is important for our community and have input on what you'd like to see this role (and our village) focus on. Read on for thoughts on some of the common misconceptions about the position.

  • The community magazine concept is still in the works. Village funding is off the table but other visions are being considered.

  • No leads on the culprit/s behind the hate speech flyers distributed earlier this month, but likely not WFB residents.

The village board meeting last week was very brief so, in light of a recap, here’s a meeting notice and general updates:

1. Community Development Director Town Hall- Mon 10/9 at 6PM

  • On Monday 10/9 at 6P, the Village Board will be hosting a Town Hall style meeting to elicit feedback about what community members would like to see the Community Development Director role to include (the Village has already solicited feedback from the CDA (Community Development Authority) and BID (Business Improvement District) boards).

  • This can be a useful meeting as long as the discussion stays focused on a  community vision. This position has already been approved by the Village Board by a 5-2 vote and the opening will be posted in October, so a re-litigation of the merits of the position really isn’t warranted.

  • There are some common misconceptions regarding this position:

    • First of all, some folks are worried about the cost of adding a full-time position to the village staff. Turns out, we were already paying an external consulting agency, GRAEF, a substantial amount of money annually to provide "community development" consultation that has more limited in scope than what could get from a full-time Community Development Director, and there are ways to adjust our village budget so that the tax burden is minimal on residents.

    • Second, some folks are concerned that this role does not include a specific description of the community vision the hiree should be working to achieve. I can tell you that from working in health care, public health, and nonprofit sectors, it is very normal to have a growth-oriented role for which the achievables are measureable steps toward developing a vision and then achieving that vision. Put another way, folks are arguing that this role is "putting the cart before the horse." But, we have actually approved a role for "cart builder," whose role will be to determine the best cart for the community, the right horse to pull the cart, and then to assemble and lead it to success. So the argument just doesn’t hold water, in my opinion.

2. Community Magazine- update

  • After nearly a year of assessing options and developing a vision for a community magazine, we learned that while there is broad community support this concept, getting village organizations to commit financially was going to be nearly impossible, even if we had good financial modelling that the magazine would most likely pay for itself and not add any expense to taxpayers (!).

  • Through the process, we have identified WFB residents who believe strongly in the value of a community magazine and we are still working on that concept. A fall meeting is planned to discuss ideas and figure out next steps. More to come....

3. Hate speech flyers in WFB- update

Jay Balachandran
Previous

Upcoming Budget Public Hearing
Next

8/28 Mtg Recap and Updates