Board and Committee of the Whole Meeting Recap #
Quick recap of decisions from last night’s 3 hour long meeting… (I’m convinced the long meeting was the new guy hazing ritual.)
I WAS WRONG ABOUT TITLE 14! #
And by that I mean it wasn’t on the agenda after all. Next time. Stay tuned.
Traffic impact analysis for N Green Bay Rd and 4 Mile Rd #
Lots of discussion on this. The report, commissioned by the developer per our requirement, suggests only adding a left turn lane going westbound. Arguments summarize as:
We aren't doing enough to address traffic there
vs
Traffic study says we don't really need to
I voted No on this because I think we should use the opportunity of a developer building on that property to address the issue, even if we are over-addressing it in the short term.
Vote was 4-3 approving the study, so if the development proceeds, we’ll get just the left turn lane going westbound on 4 Mile.
Site plan for N Green Bay and 4 Mile #
Concern on this one, which I shared, was that the plan was being brought forward independently of the financial terms of the deal. The property is in TID 6 and I remain concerned that the financial terms are going to be contentious. If there is a bunch of back-and-forth on those terms, the site plan might change to accommodate changes to the terms.
In the end, I voted yes with everyone else because the text of what we were approving was simply that the developer’s proposal checked all the boxes of our zoning ordinance.
I eagerly await the financial terms.
Gorney Park Firearms Training Range #
We voted to rescind the prior approval.
My No vote rested on two arguments:
- Sound of the gunfire at locations in the park would be loud enough that we’d have to close the park. Signs saying “police training in progress” would not be enough. 90db+ is too loud.
- It doesn’t pass the “headline” test. If something really bad happens (eg gun accident resulting in injury or death), 100 out of 100 people will read the news headline and say “What were they thinking putting a shooting range in a public park?”
Everyone wants the police department to get the firearms training they need, but the public comment and the board discussion resulted in a unanimous vote to rescind. Back to the drawing board for staff to propose alternative solutions to the problems of cost and scheduling for firearms training.
Trustees Code of Conduct #
This one was a little odd. One trustee wanted the staff to develop a trustee code of conduct ordinance. Concern was expressed over social media posts by trustees over the last few months. Specific examples were not provided, though that was a conscious choice, not wanting to name names. 1st Amendment concerns were raised. I raised a simple practical issue – how would you write such a policy, who would oversee it, who arbitrates disputes over whether it was violated or not, and so on. It just seemed to me that the old-fashioned method of talking to the person you felt was slighting you publicly was probably best. And the village staff has far bigger issues to attend to than crafting ordinance that governs trustee behavior.
In the end, a motion was made but no one seconded it. That meant the motion failed.
The meeting was adjourned … but then maybe not … 8B on the agenda was a possible closed session. Most of us thought that when 8A (code of conduct) died so did 8B, but apparently the author of 8B disagreed. After a little back and forth that was confusing, we stayed adjourned, but apparently there is some other concern that we didn’t address that lurks behind the conduct/social media umbrella. Maybe there will be some clarity on it for the next meeting.
Commentary #
Should I, shouldn’t I, should I, shouldn’t I… ah, what the heck. Transparency, right?
We, the board and the staff, have some work to do. There’s a tension in the air that isn’t healthy. I’m biased but the dialog last night was a small improvement and I think we largely came to the right conclusions on matters requiring votes. Nonetheless, the last section about code of conduct, social media content, and references to matters that need attention in closed session, all highlight an unhealthy tension that is going to get in the way of getting stuff done, let alone getting the right stuff done.
We also have two straight major proposals that have harmed the relationship between community and village board/staff. First the data center, then the firing range. No need to relitigate or rehash history of each, but we definitely need to improve our change management processes on these tough issues. Admitting we messed up, no caveats and no excuses, is the best first step to restoring that relationship.
Relentless forward progress…