Mt. Prospect extends its vision to 2020
Mount Prospect has a new 2020 vision, one that hopes to foster "a climate for innovation and entrepreneurship" for business, as well as sustaining "a balance between preservation, revitalization and growth" in the area of development.
On Tuesday, the village board updated its strategic plan, the culmination of a series of meetings in January and February with trustees, village staff and facilitator Lynn Montei, former executive director of the DuPage Mayors and Managers Association, who was hired at an maximum cost of $15,400.
The goal was to develop an updated plan that would contain a long-term vision, define a general village mission and provide direction for more detailed tactical planning.
"When we first decided to do a strategic plan, we realized that we had not done one for several years and our prior strategic plan really was more technical than strategic in nature," Mayor Arlene Juracek said.
The plan offers a vision with a description of values toward which the village will strive as it moves toward 2020.
"Essentially we took a look at who we are what we would like to be, and how we would like to get there," she said.
The plan contains a mission statement: "The mission of the Village of Mount Prospect is to advance our community's collective quality of life and potential through adaptive leadership and leading-edge service delivery."
Among the specifics are goals that address long-term problems like flooding, calling for "a reliable dedicated funding source" for flood control, water and sewer.
In the area of transportation, it suggests talking with the Illinois and Cook County highway departments to resolve "troublesome intersection issues." It also calls for a dedicated funding source for roads.
In the realm of business, the plan calls for fostering a climate for innovation and entrepreneurship by expanding the "connectivity role" of the chamber of commerce and downtown merchants with the community at large, and empowering the economic development commission.
Trustee A. John Korn said staff provided valuable input in helping shape the plan.
"Many of the things in this we found that we have actually been implementing and using all along for a number of years, but we wanted to enhance and refine some things we have here and highlight other things."
Juracek said the group started with a blank slate, with the consultant engaging the members with a lively discussion with spirited pushback and competing ideas.
Even Trustee Paul Hoefert, who voted against hiring the consultant, was converted.
"We don't always agree on certain things, and if you recall I wasn't initially supportive of spending money to hire a consultant," he said.
"I was outvoted, which is fine, because in the end, I think the strategic planning process that we went through was very robust," he added. "We came out with a good process and ... an outstanding document."
He added that while it is a strategic plan for 2020, it is also a dynamic document - if conditions change, trustees can make modifications without the aid of a consultant.