Comprehensive Plan Implementation Subcommittee

Niles 2030 Plan Implementation Sub –Committee Meeting Summary Tuesday September 18th, 2012 The following persons were in attendance: Committee members Pat Dalessandro, Steve Gorski, Fred Kudert, Harry Major, Chairman Chuck Ostman, and Mike Shields. Niles Village Manager George Van Geem attended but was delayed until 6:53 PM by a prior commitment. Niles Chamber of Commerce President Iwona Filipiak, Niles Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Katie Schneider, Assistant Village Manager Steve Vinezeano and Niles Community Development Manager Rich Wlodarski were also present. The meeting was called to order at 6:30 PM by Chairman Chuck Ostman. 1. The Minutes of the August 21st, 2012 meeting were presented and approved unanimously by the committee members present. 2. Mike Shields requested a further update of the objective summary document, currently titled “Niles 2030 Comprehensive Plan - Action Tracking Quarterly Report” which the committee has been working from, to include committee members votes on 10 objectives which remained to be posted along with additional formatting and grammar corrections. Chairman Ostman indicated that this would be completed within the next two weeks, by October 2nd. 3. Chairman Ostman informed the committee of the upcoming general steps concerning the planned November presentation to the Village Board. The purpose of the presentation is to summarize the committee’s activities since inception and to present specific implementation recommendations based on the results of the review process of the past several months. The following steps were presented. a. An update on the 2030 Comprehensive Plan Implementation Sub- Committees work is a scheduled agenda item for the September 20th meeting of the Building and Zoning Committee. This follows the formal reporting relationship in the Villages operating organizational structure. After a brief discussion it was agreed that Fred Kudert will attend the meeting scheduled for 8 AM September 20th as a subcommittee representative along with Chairman Ostman who is a formal Building and Zoning Committee  member. It was agreed that a brief informal general outline of the committees work and upcoming presentation will be provided at the meeting. b. Following protocol, the 2030 Implementation Sub Committees presentation, after it is completed, will be presented on an advisory basis to the Building and Zoning Committee at its general October meeting, date TBD, prior to the presentation to the Village Board in November. 4. Following the Agenda, Mike Shields led a page by page presentation of the first draft of the proposed presentation, “The Recommendations to the Mayor and the Trustees”, dated September 18th which was emailed to the committee members on September 15th. Mike Shields prepared the draft with assistance from Fred Kudert, per committee decision at the August 21st meeting. Mike highlighted that the main objective of this review was to develop a document reflecting the Committee’s unanimous opinion of the program and specific details to recommend to the Village Board of Trustees. Mike Shields outlined the following key aspects of the document: It is a recommendation, the result of significant efforts on the part of the six (6) committee member’s detailed review and discussion of each of the 183 objectives outlined in the formal 2030 comprehensive plan. Mike also drew a comparison from his private sector experience to the fundamental bases for the proposed recommendations. In his perspective the essential singular purpose and focus of the presentation is to provide specific operating recommendations and program details to the Board of “Niles Inc.”, the organization which is ultimately responsible to the Village residents and businesses, it’s “shareholders”. A detailed page by page review and discussion followed. P.1 and 2 No changes were identified. P.3 Assistant Village Manager Vinezeano recommended adding the “Environmental Sustainability Plan” to the highlighted list of in-process activities. P. 4 “Summary of the Committees Ratings”. It was noted that the matrix listing the eleven (11) major vision categories and the calendared implementation sequence of objectives reflects the key areas as identified by the committee’s votes. In addition it was highlighted that one of the main economic dynamics which the committee considers as very important to communicate is the need to recognize and address the high likelihood of both near term and future budget issues resulting from increased pension contribution requirements and the probable conflict with potentially no to limited sales tax and revenue growth. (See the discussion concerning P.10 for further details and related comments) P. 5 “Key Implementation Considerations from the Committee’s Perspective”. It was noted that the purpose of highlighting the need for ownership and accountability for each objective was to emphasize the need for good project management methods: to have direct assignments for each objective, time tables, and frequent operating reviews as the plan is implemented and throughout its life cycle. P. 6 “Primary Implementers of 2013 and 2014 objectives’ etc.” The importance of promptly filling the open Planner and Economic Development positions was highlighted along with a need for timely actions in establishing the Ordinance revision program. It was also noted that objectives which are functions of the Village Managers office are those which primarily require budgeting and priority assignments, management and on-going follow-up. Mike Shields noted that the main message of this page/slide is that the key objectives, which is the majority of all objectives, can be successfully implemented by focusing on four (4) main avenues which are already in place: 1) Community Development with the approval for two (2) new hires 2) The approved and funded Zoning Ordinance Program 3) The existing Office of the Village Manager and 4) The existing Public Service Department. Fred Kudert also added that the timetable shown does not reflect an expectation of full completion of certain objectives as many begin with verbs such as: provide, encourage, etc. He added that one of the key goals of the calendared matrix shown on this page is to highlight the need to establish certain functions at the outset of the program so that they are in place for its duration. P. 7 & 8 provides specific examples demonstrating how certain objectives fit within the four main implementation areas of 1) Ordinance revision program 2) New hires – Planner and Economic coordinator 3) Public Services Dept. and 4) Office of the Village Manager. The examples also describe the range in scope among the objectives, from very detailed and exacting in definition to broad goal oriented “cultural” objectives. P. 9 lists specific 2013 -14 priority objectives which the committee has identified as likely to require funding decisions in the upcoming budget cycle, involving both re-allocation and new spending. Chairman Ostman indicated that this will have the attention of the Village Board and that a funding estimate will be developed in detail by his department (Community Development) in conjunction with the Village Manager and Public Services. The target is to include this estimate in November’s presentation to the Village Board. He also stated that future meetings will be held to develop the project details for the signage, façade and streetscape objectives. P.10 presents the committee’s perspective of the primary driving forces justifying early implementation, the timetable described in the preceding pages. There was considerable discussion concerning the economic drivers described in this section, primarily revenue and several key spending items such as pension funding, along with an earlier and related “pro-forma” income and spending analysis that Mike Shields had previously submitted to the committee and to Village officials in April. The following reflects comments and opinions from the various committee members and attendees about this topic and the main economic items described in the presentation draft. Village Manager Van Geem expressed concern on the ability to use a pro- forma approach to reliably forecast outlying years. Mike Shields commented that the fundamental benefit of a pro-forma approach is not the absolute values that are generated by the analysis, but the directional information that it provides over a range of assumptions and the discussion that it should foster about the financial projections to develop an approach for going forward. In this case the most probable pro-forma, based on a range of reasonable assumptions concerning revenue changes and cost growth, driven primarily by professional estimates of pension fund spending increases, shows that general fund spending is likely to continually exceed income for the foreseeable future across a number of scenarios, a situation to be discussed. Village Manager Van Geem offered a different opinion regarding sales tax growth from the one outlined in the draft and in the pro-forma, a key variable in the analysis. He stated that sales tax revenue growth for Niles has been better than “slow to no-growth” in recent years, at an actual 4% to 5% level for 2010 and 2011, higher than the general rates of Cook County. In his opinion sales tax growth rate is not a current or foreseeable concern and that retail commercial vacancies within Niles were generally down also suggesting in his view that sales tax growth rates may be sustainable. Regarding income, he did state that the growth in revenue was not available for the general fund because of the necessity to allocate the greater part of the additional revenue to pension funding and other essential Village spending needs related to infrastructure, etc. It is noted for reference that the general fund is the primary fund category for supporting on going Village operations and the area where most of the objectives and activities outlined in the 2030 plan would be funded from. In addition to pension funding Village Manager Van Geem also cited that upcoming necessary street repaving, water distribution and other essential infrastructure system spending needs were likely to increase and also outpace income increases, which he indicated does support the need to improve revenue growth. Harry Major commented from his general observations and business experience within Niles and other communities that retail growth is declining, citing the recent changes at Touhy and Milwaukee (more professional occupancy than retail) as a local example of what his observations indicate is a much broader regional phenomenon. Subsequently he believes retail sales tax growth rates are likely to be inadequate and that a need to expand the tax base in some manner may have to be addressed at some time in the planning horizon. He cited local taxation of internet sales and general services as potential areas to consider. Pat Dalessandro added his opinion from his real estate and property management business that he expects the current slow growth rates being experienced nationally and locally as likely to continue into the foreseeable future, probably becoming the norm. He added that these conditions point towards the need for determining ways to do things better as the demands on uses of income increase. Mike Shields added that the basic message of page 10 is that Niles will fundamentally need more money in the near term and upcoming years, which is the prevalent view among the committee members and shared by the Village Manager; and that the 2030 plan is one of the best tools Niles has available to generate the necessary higher local revenues by improving growth in the local retail and general business sectors. Harry Major suggested the committee consider rewording the message but in a manner which retains the key points and the need for urgency. Based on the discussions, it was decided that Mike Shields and Fred Kudert would modify wording on this page while retaining the key element of spending needs outpacing revenue growth. It was agreed that they will work with Village Manager Van Geem and Chairman Ostman via email on a revision prior to the next meeting. P.11 “Committee’s perspective on ‘Near Term’ Steps”. This focused on what the committee sees as the necessary elements that need to be established and placed into practice to insure that the implementation roll-out will be quick, broad (Village wide), and sustainable. The goal is to establish a “total cultural commitment” through the following: formal orientations for all Village employees; assigning Village implementers, actively engaging the Chamber and other Village governing bodies (Park District, Library, etc.) and establishing quarterly business like operating project management review meetings lead by the Village Manager and Village Board. The following are comments from the specific discussion concerning this page and the elements it describes. Fred Kudert presented his view that a primary purpose of this section is to emphasize the importance of the recommended broad communication steps within and across Village organizations as an essential implementation tool and method to establish and maintain a Village wide “2030 culture”. Pat Dalessandro provided the committee with a local personal example related to the cultural concept. Pat described his own individual custom of picking up random waste in the alley and public parking areas at and near his business location. Related to this Pat described a past situation where random alley waste would not be picked up as a routine matter by Public Services when present in the area, without formal direction to do so. He expressed the opinion that this should be a routine job duty, something one does as a matter of course without supervisory direction. Subsequently Pat indicated that he sees a great community benefit from communication to the Village employees and their “buy in” to 2030. Mike Shields related his personal private sector business experience with implementing cultural change, describing the need for strong support and participation from upper management in order to be successful, to make it happen. He also noted from his experience the importance of the Village to consistently follow the professional project management steps of maintaining accountability and assessing program status with appropriate decision making through the proposed quarterly tracking/operating review meetings. Fred Kudert also added a personal business example of the importance of upper management leadership to industrial safety, how the priority of safety was only demonstrated and accounted for in one of many management structures that he worked in. Its priority was driven by the direct actions of management, by requiring it to be the first topic of reporting and discussion, with appropriate decision making and accountability, in all monthly business operating review meetings and communications. Harry Major added a similar comment based on his experience with a tenant and how they also developed and maintained a priority focus on safety by creating a positive broad based culture within  their organization which was the result of continuous active monitoring and maintaining accountability by upper management. Village Manager Van Geem added a sports analogy to support his view of the importance and benefits of “a culture”. In his perspective from baseball the New York Yankees have a strong winning attitude vs. the Chicago Cubs with an atmosphere of “good enough”, with corresponding results. Mike Shields also added previous comments from John Houseal where he reflected upon his significant experience in long range planning by noting the relationship between the role of leadership and the level of success in implementing long range plan objectives. Mike described Mr. Houseal’s professional observation that he shared with the 2030 plan development sub-committee in 2010/11 that the best success rates occur where the recommended leadership actions become “standard operating procedure”. P. 12 and 13 were reviewed and accepted without major discussion. This closed the specific agenda item to review the draft of the presentation. The committee agreed unanimously to proceed with the presentation as is, only incorporating the aforementioned requests for wording changes regarding funding and expenditures on P. 10, a minor wording change on P.11 concerning the first implementation recommendation on cultural change from commitment and buy in, and the addition to P. 3 noted in these minutes. All other pages were accepted as is. It was stated that the committee sees the presentation as a set of unanimously agreed upon “good faith recommendations” evolving from the detailed review and discussion process on which the presentation is based. 5. A general discussion followed covering other related topics and some general broad program thoughts. Pat Dalessandro reiterated his individual agreement that the presentation and the recommendations it embodies represent the committee’s joint actions. He added that he believes the committee has the right concept and direction and that implementation of the 2030 program will significantly help Niles. He also expressed a concern that implementation may take longer than the committee estimates. Pat also offered further thoughts from his personal business experience. For the benefit of the committee he provided the following information. Residential “purchasing decisions” in Niles and surrounding communities have a long standing history of being very detail oriented. The greater majority of potential customers commonly ask a series of very specific questions across a broad array of items about Niles: including tax rates and Village services, school locations and performance; the Park District with a request for details on parks, services and programs; the Library; what are the walkable activities and areas, etc. He sees an ongoing trend in the residential purchasing customer’s desire to maximize the benefit of services with a minimum level of spending. This view is supported by his offices detailed historical records regarding real estate purchasing and location decisions. Mike Shields added that Pat’s comments support the importance of the very basic and broadest aspect of the 2030 plan, a change in Vision: the move from a singular ‘60’s day to day approach, successful in its time, to a more unified broad base Vision and time horizon form of planning, a method now commonly in place in Northern Illinois and many other areas. This planning approach is the foundation for 2030. This new wide scope process establishes the focus and structure for adding Niles specific services, features and broader cultural activities desired by the younger generation to the strong base currently in place. Pat Dalessandro added: if we are not moving forward we are falling behind. Katie Schneider supported the need for the proposed communications recommendations and the focus on 2013 and 2014, but questioned what happens beyond these years. A brief discussion followed. Fred Kudert indicated that the methodology resulting from the recommended project management approach and the proposed education, communication and outreach programs should form the basis and establish the structure for managing the objectives and process in future years. Chairman Ostman encouraged all committee members and the Chamber representatives to attend the Board presentation. Katie Schneider asked about the potential timing for a separate 2030 presentation to the Chamber members, possibly including the Park District and the Library. Chairman Ostman indicated that it was open at this time but that it may be possible to have a meeting in October before the November Board Meeting. Chairman Ostman also mentioned a second possibility, the upcoming Mayors luncheon on November 1 with the local business community. Mike Shields added that it would be important for Village Manager Van Geem, Mayor Callero and Chairman Ostman to attend this meeting, to provide and demonstrate an ongoing commitment from the Village of Niles and its leadership in support of this effort. Assistant Village Manager Vinezeano commented that the Village employee presentations may require some small differences between groups in order to address specific aspects and objectives unique to certain functions. He also added that future priority decisions are likely to be required as new, unforeseen opportunities occur. The next meeting to review the presentation changes and any new business was scheduled for October 16, 2012 at 6:30 PM. The meeting was adjourned at 8:24 PM.