That seemed to be the big question last night when council came to accepting the TCD3 documents.  When the consultants Houseal & Lavigne announced at the conclusion of  TCD3 that the main outcome that was needed is Neighborhood Community Networks to facilitate better communications between village and village government, a lot of participants were left scratching their heads.

Apparently so were council members.  The motion last night was to accept the report and pass it on the Human Services Commission. Council seemed ready to accept the report, but no council member seemed sure about the rest.

Staff proposals and council member reactions after the break.

Staff proposed four steps to evaluate information in the report and appendix:

• First is that the report be accepted by council.  This allows the report to be designated as an official village document without requiring action on anything in the report — just acceptance and inclusion in the files.
• Second is to refer the document, more specifically the “Neighborhood Community Network” (formerly “Neighborhood Group” or “Neighborhood Organization”) concept to the Human Services Commission as a way to investigate/evaluate in a public setting this proposal (see pages 5-7 of the Summary Report).  A report and recommendation from the HSC would come back to council, who would then talk over how HSC thinks it could be implemented.
• Third would be further consideration of certain topics as part of the Comprehensive Plan update.  TCD3 was intended in part to feed the Comp Plan effort, especially in the areas of zoning and economic development.  There’s plenty of meat in TCD3 for that.
• Last would be identifying “other opportunities for consideration by the Village Council as part of the 2011 Strategic Plan process or by other Board and Commissions – Items in the report or appendix that are deemed worthy of further consideration, but are not being addressed in steps 2 or 3 (that) can be brought forward and discussed either by the Village Council or a designated Board/Commission.“

Council viewed the TCD3 documents, the HSC’s involvement with the TCD3 documents and the Comp Plan update effort with more questions, indicating a council unready to simply plow ahead when they were still scratching their heads about NCNs, about what they would be and why they would be.

Commissioner Marilyn Schnell wanted to see a larger discussion from the HSC about group types that would become Neighborhood Community Networks, and look at the broader picture of communication and engagement with the community, based wider than just, say, elementary school areas with one group representing a physical area.

Commissioner Bruce Beckman opened up the discussion with the observation that resident groups tend to dissolve and drift away, and wondered if the NCN groups would do that too.  Groups tend to dissolve after a goal has been met or dealt with (successfully or unsuccessfully), so he would like to see the HSC look into how to make the NCNs a long term device.   His  concerns were repeated with additional perspective by the most of council.

Commissioner Bill Waldack wanted to see NCNs as a possible subset of already existing community organizations that had continuous existence.  He also raised the prospect of farming out TCD3 items to more than one committee or commission, to spread the work load among more resident volunteers and make better use of existing boards and commissions.

One of Commissioner Geoff Neustadt’s concerns was staff time for the HSC meeting prep.  NCN were interesting but he zeroed in on the conclusion being brought to DG by the facilitators rather than the participants themselves coming up with a big hitter physical need like a hospital or sidewalks, as previous TCDs had done.  He felt the HSC should be given free reign to work with the report, and that groups that spoke at the meeting could serve as examples of NCNs that could be made up of existing community groups.

Commissioner Bob Barnett (lean into the mic a little more, Bob) suggested he might be a contrarian, but underlined Neustadt’s concern that the recommendation for NCNs came from the consultants and not the TCD3 participants themselves, and that trying to create new groups of residents might not be the best action to take with the limited time and staff assets.  He felt the groups that wanted to be heard were heard, and that any new groups created by the village might simply fade away in a couple years.

Mayor Ron Sandack reminded council the first step is to simply accept the report and that ought to be done given all the work the entire village put into it.  What comes next is the tripping point because of the lack of that singular new need.  We’re pretty set, mature, good schools, the whole nine yards, and what comes next is a big deal.  The Comp Plan is an implementation item to follow from TCD3, but when it came to handing off the report to the HSC, Sandack agreed with the consensus; he couldn’t come up with a hard, nail-it-down charge for them on what to do with it.

Sandack asked council to vote to accept the report and to discuss next week on what the charge should be.  So there’s a first meeting benefit of the new format; instead of waiting two weeks to re-workshop, it’ll get discussed next week, maybe.

Staff time is a big concern.  None on council wants staff burning up a lot of unnecessary time on this; they have enough on their plates.  So next week Village Manager Fieldman will bring the acceptance of the TCD3 report forward and take a bit more time before coming back to council with a plan on what the Human Services Commission will be asked to do with it.

The TCD3 Report is here.

The TCD3 Appendix is here.

The summaries for all the various group meetings held so far are posted on the TCD3 website and can be found here.

Questions and issues identified at the series of meetings that began several months ago will probably be the focus of this meeting, and will be the last chance for residents to be heard.  Major topic areas for business have shaken out as attracting business, improving the retail mix, and beautifying the various commercial areas.  Top items from residential input includes tree preservation, expanded recycling, and improved energy conservation.