Des Plaines aldermen clash over hiring event planner

A Des Plaines City Council decision to hire a part-time special events planner came after the city's two longest-serving aldermen clashed over how quick the decision should have been made.

Alderman Dick Sayad sought to postpone the hiring Tuesday night, asking City Manager Mike Bartholomew to first bring council members a job description and qualifications before aldermen decided if they wanted to go along with the move.

But Alderman Don Smith pushed for a vote Tuesday, because delaying it to the next council meeting Feb. 1 would mean less time to start planning for two downtown summer events: the Taste of Des Plaines and farmers market.

"We're talking about a part-time person. I think you're overthinking this a little bit," Smith told Sayad. "We're not talking about large amounts of dollars that's going to be spent on this person. What type of qualifications? I think Mike knows what we want. Why are we beating this to death like this?"

Hiring a part-timer, who wouldn't receive benefits, will cost about $35,000 a year.

"I watch all the dollars. I know to you it's nothing," Sayad responded. "To me it is. It's something important. Before I spend any kind of money on anything, I want to see what I'm buying. I want to see what he has and what's he thinking."

"Do you think you're the only one that cares up here?" Smith asked.

"Absolutely," Sayad replied. "More than you do."

Bartholomew said he would recruit for the position by using a common event planner job description other municipalities use.

The council voted 5-3 to direct him to start looking for the new employee, in lieu of contracting with private firms to run special events.

The city spent $19,581 last year on the Taste of Des Plaines, plus $16,312 in public safety staff time. Officials from Ravenswood Event Service, which ran the two-day event, told city leaders they're not interested in organizing the fest again this year.

The farmers market, which returned after a seven-year hiatus, cost the city $12,794 in supplies and staff time. The city contracted with market managers Connie Groat and Monika Montemayor to operate the market.

Alderman Patti Haugeberg, whose 1st Ward includes downtown, said the salary cost for a city event planner would be worth it.

"We keep talking about bringing people to downtown Des Plaines to create the foot traffic there," she said. "I think this is important."