Will County Gazette

Village of Channahon Committee of the Whole met Aug. 5.

Here are the minutes provided by the Committee:

VP Moorman Schumacher called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. with Trustees Greco, Host, Perinar, Scaggs and Slocum present. Trustee McMillin was absent.

Also present were Village Administrator Thomas Durkin, Director of Community Development and Information Systems Mike Petrick, Finance Director Heather W agonblott, Director of Public Works Ed Dolezal, Chief of Police Adam Bogart, Village Attorney Eric Hanson and Deputy Clerk Leti Anselme. Village Clerk Kristin Hall was absent.

VP Moorman Schumacher informed everyone present that anyone who speaks at the meeting shall be deemed to have.given his/her consent to the recording of their likeness and speech. This meeting is being recorded.

VILLAGE PRESIDENT

Discussion - Appointment of Assistant Village Administrator

VP Moorman Schumacher stated that this topic will be discussed during administration's Staff Reorganization item and Executive Session.

ADMINISTRATION DEPARTMENT

Discussion -Approval of Agreement for a Town Center Master Plan Update - Ginkgo Planning and Design

Durkin stated that Ginkgo Planning and Design submitted a proposal for creating an updated Town Center Master Plan for the Village.

Originally developed in 2005, the goal of the plan for the Channahon Town Center was to provide for an active, well-rounded, attractive and flexible Village core complete with shops and parks, office and entertainment, a government center and churches, a library and post office and numerous public amenities, which are all good to aspire, but nothing has happened.

For various reasons, the development of the Town Center has never fully materialized. Significant public and private development has occurred, including the construction of a Village Hall and Police Station, St. Ann Catholic Church and single and multi- family residential developments. But the core of the Town Center, envisioned with a Village Green, public spaces and a mix ofland uses, remains undeveloped.

In late 2021, the Village purchased the 22.5 acres of the Town Center core area and in June of 2022 created the Tryon Street TIP District, which includes this area. Village staff has embarked on a series of discussions with members of the planning and development community to solicit information and ideas regarding the potential development of the property in the hopes of realizing the vision for the community core established in 2005. Overwhelmingly, the feedback provided applauds the Village's proactive approach which will be key in the successful development of the Town Center. They also stressed the value of public partnership typically through the form of investment into a project and a streamlined, predictable approval process.

That was the biggest take away. Of note in the discussions has been that public investment is best directed to public infrastructure improvements.

The goal of this process is to update and create a new market-viable Master Plan that will realize the vision for a Town Center. It will also define the area best suited for the public spaces and infrastructure improvements desired and necessary for the success of the project and the community as a whole, allowing the Village to actively continue public and private investment in our community.

Durkin introduced Ferhat Zerin, Principal, of Ginkgo Planning and Design who gave a presentation to the Board.

Zerin stated that the company has been in business for 17 years and they have done buildable plans for municipalities. They are not a company that have plans sitting on shelves. She introduced Pericles Georgopoulos, Senior Associate, of Ginkgo Planning and Design, along with

• Bill Loftus, of Spaceco. She also mentioned that Michael Mondus from Spaceco was not able to make the meeting but is working with them on this project as well.

Zerin stated that everything that you would want for a town center is in the original concept plan and it has come along. They hope to make it a realization.

The Scope of Work they anticipate are:

• The Village Green

• Street, Parcel, and Land Use Framework

• Stormwater Management

• Environmental Stewardship and Best Practices

• Possible Center Street Realignment and New Signalized Intersection on Route 6

• Trail and Pedestrian Framework

Zerin and Georgopoulos showed project examples of other municipalities that they have worked with:

• New Downtown Square, Joliet -They want something that could be used year-round.

• Downtown Waterfront Master Plan, Ottawa

• Kollar Park, Streamwood Municipal Campus - Areas around the park sculptures, fishing, pavilions, trails and now how to use it during the year.

• Town Center Master Plan, Monee - There Town Center plans have lots reserved for retail and they may or may not have the municipality in the plan.

• 90 North District Master Plan, Schaumburg-This was a challenging project, since it was 400 acres with public open spaces.

• Village Green, Roselle Town Center

• Bradley 315 Master Plan, Bradley-This is labeled "The Hub", which will create an entertainment-oriented and family friendly outdoor space.

• Town Center Master Plan, Richton Park - Their Village Green is less than an acre.

Loftus stated that having the watermain all around the property is a great asset. He also suggests exploring the Rate Control Facility Stormwater Management Approach.

Zerin stated that the plan is anticipated to be developed in three phases in 6 to 7-month overall timeframe. There would also be two interactive workshops with Village leaders and staff, a public open house, a Village Board presentation, along with regular virtual meetings.

VP Moorman Schumacher asked if it building the town center is doable. Zerin stated that the Village is aware of what they want and the focus will need to be on the parcel plan. The Village can be flexible on the land use, since the clarity is already there and now that the Village is the owner makes it even better. The parcel plan allows the Village to control what is desired for the parcels.

Trustee Slocum asked if the look should be an architecturally uniform look. Zerin stated not necessarily, it should be well done, but not tacky. She stated that they are here to do what the Village wants and if the Board feels it is horrible the Board needs to.say it is.

VP Moorman Schumacher.statedthat they start with the Village Green as the centerpiece. Zerin stated that development of the public reahn is the key.

Durkin stated that the total lump sum fee for the proposed scope of work is $45,000, including all reimbursable costs. TIF funds as well as budgeted miscellaneous planning funds will be utilized for this project.

Discussion - Staff Reorganization

Durkin stated that in early 2024, discussions began regarding the development of succession planning in the Village Administrator position and filling the long-vacant Assistant Village Administrator position with the current Director of Community Development and Information Systems.

In furtherance of this effort, along with addressing current and anticipated needs of the departments and Village, Village Staff reviewed and modified the Assistant Village Administrator position's job description. In addition, the Director of Community Development and Information Systems job description was modified to remove oversight of the Village's information technology program and associated activities, which are now listed under the duties of the Assistant Village Administrator. Finally, in anticipation of a future need identified in the 2022 Space Needs Analysis, a job description for an Assistant Director of Community Development position was created. The Space Needs Analysis also indicated the future establishment of an additional Information Technology position, a job description which has not yet been fully formulated. These positions do not currently exist and would need to be created by Village Board action.

During the week of July 21, 2024, the Village part-time planner informed management staff that she would be leaving employment in mid-August with the Village to begin new employment elsewhere, creating a vacancy in the planner position. Petrick stated that James will be starting her new job the week of August 19th.

After significant discussions among the Village President, Trustee Slocum, Village Administrator Durkin and Director of Community Development and Information Systems Petrick, along with the impending departure of the part-time staff planner sooner than expected, the most advantageous course for moving forward with the staff reorganization of the Community Development Department, subject to the appointment of the current Director to the position of Assistant Village Administrator, is to seek a qualified and capable candidate for the Director of Conununity Development position. The suggested positions of Assistant Community Development Director and the Information Technology staff position are not to be filled at this time.

Durkin stated that management's number one goal is to not lose the positive momentum the Village elected officials and staff have fostered over the past ten years.

Durkin stated that ten years ago there were only three residential building permits and over 1,000 buildable lots, and those are all but spoken for at this point. The diversification of the tax base has created an environment that the development community knows they can do business with the Village. The Village can look forward and stay the course.

He stated with James leaving, theVillage can seek out a Director of Development who can do those tasks, at least on a temporary basis. Someone that has that expertise, knowledge and experience in performing those duties.

Petrick stated in addition to the suggested structure, the duties of the new Assistant Village Administrator position will take away that big cloud of things from the conununity development department. It gives the Village a better opportunity to have a candidate with more experience in development.

VP Moorman Schumacher stated as a Board we discussed hiring a person who has more abilities but now with James leaving, it becomes more important that we hire someone that has the experience and can quickly step into that role. Otherwise that just makes that transition period all that much longer and stops an Assistant Village Administrator from transitioning into that role, if we have a brand new person that has to be trained.

Durkin stated that it is not only that, it is everything else that is happening. The Village has the Town Center Master Plan that will be developing, the new public works building, the new police department facility and/or extension, the CN Project, Lake Michigan water and other utility extensions. These are only a few of the projects moving forward.

Petrick stated that the planner position is a lot of things that don't pertain to the position. The position is more to view plans that are being submitted and conformance to our ordinances, along with taking phone calls from the public.

Trustee Host questioned what the plan was to replace James since it was anticipated this coming April of 2025. Petrick stated that it was not going to happen until our next fiscal year and it was to be discussed if the position would become a full-time planner position.

VP Moorman Schumacher stated that if someone is hired with community development experience, that person could take on the part-time role and it would buy us time. Durkin stated that someone could come in with those experiences and capabilities, similar to what Petrick was doing before James was here. If a person could fill the position at least for the short term during the transition period from turning over the department.

VP Moorman Schumacher asked what the salary range is for the position for the Director of Community Development. Durkin stated that the range is from $107,000 to $150,000.

Trustee Host stated that another municipality hired a Director of Community Development at the rate of $180,000. Petrick stated that the qualifications for a director for a municipality of that size are different compared to Channahon.

Durkin stated the Village of.Mokena is currently seeking a full-time Planner position and the salary range is $80,000 to $102,000.

VP Moorman Schumacher stated.with James leaving, she felt it was important to get someone to step into the role of Director .. She is looking for direction from the Board to come to an agreement on the appointrrrent· of the Assistant Village Administrator and to talk about advertising for the position.

Petrick stated that with trying to hire quickly, there's a month to advertise, a month to interview, two-week notice for the. candidate, it may be late November when we hire and fill the position.

VP Moorman Schumacher asked the Board their thoughts on advertising in the event of appointing an Assistant Village Administrator. Trustee Scaggs asked if we advertise the dollar amount. Durkin stated that we would advertise the range depending on the candidate's qualifications.

The Board had concerns with the salary range, so the question of the posting the range on the advertisement was asked of the attorney. Attorney Hanson stated that the Village is publishing the range that we are deciding. VP Moorman Schumacher asked the Board if they were comfortable with advertising the hiring range from $107,000 to $125,000 depending on qualifications. The Board agreed with the range.

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT & INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Discussion - Village of Channahon Branding Update

Petrick stated on June 4, 2024, the Village of Channahon issued a Request for Proposal to identify a branding consultant capable of developing a comprehensive brand strategy for the Village, including a refreshed visual identity, messaging framework, and positioning statements that align with the Village's mission and goals.

The Village received six proposals from branding consultants prior to the July 12, 2024 deadline. Each submission was carefully evaluated on several criteria, including municipal experience, aligrmrent with our organizational values and goals, the creativity and innovation of proposed solutions, and overall value.

Following a thorough review, Village staff shortlisted four promising candidates. Of these, the top two firms were selected for interviews, conducted by Mayor Missey Moorman Schumacher, Tom Durkin, Mike Petrick, and Sydney Thompson. Conversations surrounding these interviews are still ongoing.

The majority of proposals received were greater than the previously anticipated budget for this project. Staff had requested the currently budgeted amount of$25,000 based on an estimate from a neighboring community who went through a logo update process with a much smaller project scope. Village staff feels that undergoing a thorough, research-based approach to the brand development process - going beyond simply designing a logo and creating an entire brand personality for the Village of Channahon - will better allow us to differentiate and market our community from others in neighboring municipalities, counties, region, and state.

Sydney Thompson, Marketing and Communications Manager, was present and stated that she is going to explain branding the best way that makes the most sense. There is a misconception that a logo is your brand, but the logo is one piece of your brand. The brand is an identity from your name, the visuals that are used in the marketing collateral, color schemes, slogan, and tag lines. The logo is a presentation of your brand. The brand is the personality of the company, organization and the community. The Village of Channahon needs an identity. We could pay $2,000 to a freelance graphic .designer to create us a new logo that looks nice but what does that logo mean. We need to create an identity for our brand, as an identity as a whole. The brand will build the connection with the audience, our residents, the public and it will attract the developers.

She stated as with the Ginkgo presentation, the same thing she kept seeing in what they were building. A unified look, a unified vision that goes back to what those communities stand for as a whole. Ifwe want to attract bigger, better, different, ifwe want to market ourselves different from our neighbors, we need an identity. It is time for us to build one. The logo that we have is lovely, but it is time for us to build an identity for the Village of Channahon. This is something we cannot do by ourselves, we need the help of outside firms to do this. They have the time to research, there is quality and quantity of data to determine what our brand identity is. There is a value to who we are and it is a big number to look at, but there is a lot into creating who Channahon was, who Channahon is and who we want to be.

Trustee Host asked what the dollar amonnt was. Thompson stated that staffs preferred vendor is $72,000.

Petrick stated that the total was from one of the firms. The information is not in the packet, since we were not looking to get anything approved tonight. The number was just one of the proposals received, and the proposal was tailored down so it would be within the price, but they also suggested additional items which brought the number up. He is looking for guidance from the Board with which direction to go, since the number was three times the budgeted amount.

VP Moorman Schumacher stated that Petrick and Thompson were in a meeting with a potential firm and she zoomed into the meeting. After they spoke with the second firm, there was so much of a difference. One of the firm's response was we would take the direction from you, to the point of then we are doing it ourselves.

Trustee Slocum questioned the rebranding cost of the vehicles, letterhead, clothing, our website. Committee Minutes 6 August 5, 2024

Petrick stated when it comes down to it this will be something we need to discuss, because how do we have any new officer uniform, for example, come in with the new lo go, but not the rest. Do we do everything or only so many vehicles at a time? This needs to be further discussed.

Trustee Perinar asked if it is possible to do an outreach to the community. Since we have Ginkgo, maybe they know a company that can do the branding.

Petrick stated that we would still have to pay both vendors. Petrick stated that there were six companies that responded to RFP's. This project has been in the works for nine years when there was talk about an alternative logo.

VP Moorman Schumacher stated that she would like for the firm to come to the next Board meeting.

VP Moorman Schumacher stated that Petrick also wanted to. talk about the Gateway.

Petrick stated that he is looking for guidance from the Board, since it is still with !DOT for the second review. The project may need to be postponed, we need to bid or move to next year;· which means prices will go up.

Durkin stated that this is an on-going issue with !DOT and we should reach out to Ann Schneider.

FINANCE DEPARTMENT

Wagonblott stated that she had no formal items for discussion.

POLICE DEPARTMENT

Bogart stated that he had no formal items for discussion.

PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT

Discussion-Approval of National Wash Authority, LLC Proposal for the Cleaning of Water Towers 2 and 4

Dolezal stated as budgeted in this fiscal year, we seek to recruit National Wash Authority, LLC for the cleaning of Water Towers 2 and 4. Towers are located on McKinley Woods Road and Bluff Road, respectively. National Wash Authority, LLC has previously perfonned this work satisfactorily.

Dolezal is requesting a motion to execute the proposal provided by National Wash Authority on 7/11/2024, for the cleaning ofChannahon's water towers 2 and 4 in the amount of $15,800.00.

Trustee Greco asked how often are the towers cleaned. Dolezal stated that it's about every five to six years. Petrick stated it would be nice to get the branding done to have a color scheme before any repainting.

VP Moorman Schumacher stated that the Village pays a lot for landscape maintenance, some of it is IDOT's responsibility, but we know it won't get done, so the Village maintains it. The company we used last year was great, this year, not so much. Now that the Village owns the property across the street it needs to look maintained. If it did belong to someone else we would be sending letters. She asked the Board when is it time to hire someone to do it and how many hours before it is a full-time position? This is something to keep in mind.

COMMUNICATIONS

Letter from IDOT dated July 26, 2024 for Letting Notice on August 2, 2024.

PUBLIC COMMENT

Dave Ferro, Channahon resident, thanked Thompson for the information on the branding for the Village of Channahon.

EXECUTIVE SESSION

Appointment, Employment, Dismissal, Compensation, Discipline and Performance of an Employee of the Village of Channahon.

Trustee Perinar made a motion to open Executive Session at 7 :20 p.m. for Appointment, Employment, Dismissal, Compensation, Discipline and Performance of an Employee of the Village of Channahon. Seconded by Trustee Scaggs.

ROLL CALL AYES: Greco, Slocum, Perinar, Host and Scaggs

NAYS: NONE MOTION CARRIED

Trustee McMillin was absent.

Trustee Host made a motion to close Executive Session at 7:23 p.m. for Appointment, Employment, Dismissal, Compensation, Discipline and Performance of an Employee of the Village of Channahon. Seconded by Trustee Slocum.

ROLL CALL AYES: Greco, Slocum, Perinar, Host and Scaggs

NAYS: NONE MOTION CARRIED

Trustee McMillin was absent.

ADJOURNMENT

Trustee Perinar made a motion to adjourn the Committee of the Whole meeting at 7:25 p.m. Seconded by Trustee Host.

VERBAL ROLL CALL: ALL AYES MOTION CARRIED

https://www.channahon.org/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_08052024-602