Glen Ellyn mayor making more changes

Slowly but surely, Mark Pfefferman is changing the way things work in Glen Ellyn.

The village president, who was elected in April, has been proposing tiny modifications since he first took office.

This past week, the discussion was about board meetings. Pfefferman's proposal is to have more meetings dedicated to discussion and just one for board actions.

The normal routine is to have two ordinance-heavy meetings a month and one as a workshop open to discussion items. That also includes discussing items that will be voted on in upcoming meetings.

Pfefferman also wants to have board packets, which give detailed information on items the trustees will be voting on, by Wednesday instead of Friday to give members five full days to digest topics that are discussed at Monday meetings.

On Monday, Pfefferman threw out some things that the board needs to flesh out, such as fiscal integrity, disaster recovery, ethics, green initiatives and a downtown plan.

He said if the board doesn't discuss topics in that setting, then they'd have to come up with an alternative way to bring in new ideas.

Pfefferman also said the board needs to familiarize itself with some key issues. They include: determining the three main revenue sources for the village, whether the deputy village manager's postion should be filled; repealing the sales tax, and privatizing services.

"We have to concentrate a lot on our finances," he said.

The big initiative that Pfefferman will be taking on is forming a finance committee.

The village has two options: have a group of private citizens give their expertise on finances or have their own committee and take time out to discuss saving money.

Pfefferman said he's prefer the former, especially since he has been receiving many unsolicited applications from interested residents.

Although he's met with some resistance, the board will be discussing a finance committee at its next meeting.