Buffalo Grove discusses growth, workforce efficiency

Talk is in many cases, as the saying goes, cheap.

But not when you’re talking about the best way to handle $60 million in operating expenses.

Then words became very valuable indeed.

In Buffalo Grove this week, the talk was about strategic planning, a wonky phrase that could wind up having a real impact on village services.

This week, trustees, meeting as a committee of the whole, gathered in the bowels of village hall to continue to hammer out details of a strategic plan, under the guidance of Craig Rapp, strategic planning consultant with the Northern Illinois University Center for Governmental Studies.

The group wrestled with the tension between seeking economic development, while at the same time preserving the quality of life.

“We definitely want the development end of it, but we want to make sure to preserve and enhance the quality of life in the community,” said Deputy Village Manager Ghida Neukirch.

The group also discussed diversifying revenue, reducing reliance on property and state-shared taxes. Village Manager Dane Bragg said there has been talk of “controlling our destiny a little more. I think that’s an interesting concept for us and will take some time and effort.”

Ideas discussed later in the meeting included how to make the village workforce more flexible and efficient through such methods as cross training.

Bragg noted that the village has already achieved crossover between the fire department and the building and zoning department. But he said that was several years in the making and required both training and certification.

“Some departments are going to be easier than others to get that accomplished,” he said.

Trustee Steven Trilling sounded a note of caution, “You don’t want the person stepping out of his actual responsibilities, because you don’t want him doing somebody else’s job, when he’s … not qualified to do it.”

Village President Jeffrey Braiman replied, “But if he’s trained, he will be qualified.”

That prompted Trilling to clarify, “You want to be careful how far you take that person out of his role.”

Village Clerk Janet Sirabian raised the issue of employee morale, referring to fears that stemmed from the village’s Voluntary Separation Incentive program (VSI), in which the village offered a severance payment based on years of service to encourage higher salaried personnel to retire.

She noted the importance of the village stressing it is not trying to get rid of specific employees.

“Not an individual person,” Braiman agreed.

Sirabian continued, “But that’s what a lot of (what) was perceived.

“Tonight’s meeting is strategic planning. There is probably 240 different opinions of what’s going on tonight. You need to let everybody know, from the top on down, what’s going on.”

Trilling, however, said there was a previous strategic planning session with department heads and staff members. “If they’re not communicating with everybody else as to what’s going …. We had 40 people in this room, which were all from the village. You can’t be any more transparent than that toward the workforce, unless you invite all 240 people into the room.”

Bragg agreed communication is a sensitive issue said the village wants to make sure that each department has a system for handling ideas and conflict. “That’s one of the problems that we have seen. Some departments do it very well and some just don’t,” he said.