Residents offer their input at Lombard forum

Dozens of Lombard residents got the chance to play king, finance director and cheerleader of the village at a special town hall forum Saturday.

The gathering was made up of community survey respondents, rookie members of the various unpaid village commissions and other invitees. An elected official and a village department head sat at each table with the residents.

"You can kind of tell us what you would do in Lombard and we'll incorporate that into our strategic planning sessions as we head into next year," said Village President Bill Mueller.

The crowd is a little different from how forums have been organized in the past, said Village Manager Dave Hulseberg.

"Previously, we had trustees invite residents from their districts and also invite representatives from other units of government," he said. "We wanted to be more creative and have residents who maybe never touched local government before."

Hulseberg believes this group of residents is the most diverse to participate in the biannual forum since its inception.

The day was broken into three different exercises. First the groups were asked to come up with a list of what they considered to be the village's successes during the past two years. This allows officials to see if what they considered to be important projects were perceived similarly by residents. The addition of the new Westin Hotel and conference center along with upgrades to Yorktown Center were on most groups' lists.

The second exercise sought input on areas of improvement. Mueller asked the residents what they would do "if they were king or queen." Downtown development, using the old DuPage Theatre land, burying utility lines and stricter zoning were listed multiple times by the groups who also said they would eliminate the village vehicle sticker, build a parking garage, cut pensions and provide wireless Internet access throughout the village.

"It would not surprise me if some issue raised here become adopted as part of our strategic plan," Hulseberg said.

The third exercise had groups playing the part of village finance director by giving them a list of needed programs or projects along with a $1.2 million budget gap. They were also provided with a list of programs that could be cut or fees that could be increased to make up the shortfall and help pay for any of the projects they wanted. Hulseberg said this allows him to see a sample of the population's priorities.

Ten-year resident Jim Bohan found the four-hour session useful.

"I came to have my voice heard and share my ideas with staff and management and I got to," he said.