10/14 Council

I attended Council on 10/14, and here's what I saw.

Ms. Busam, new Tax Administrator.  Welcome to Patti - she'll be a great add to the Village.

Mayor addition to ARB.  I think the ARB ought to be an independent body, and this setup will hurt this.  I am fine w a member of Council (similar to Economic development).  Adding the Mayor, though, will further concentrate power.  I believe this is bad for the Village.

Zoning Change.  I struggled with this decision. I was a No during the 2010 vote for Phases 2 and 3 (Madisonville Rd) because of their height vs their neighbors.  Quality & Character were obviously no issue, but height was a deal breaker for me.  Fast-forward nearly 4 years, and the neighborhood has changed tremendously.  The "weighted average" height is now much taller than before.  And there are 100-200 residents who would say move forward.  And Phase 4 is more isolated than any of the others.  So I voted Yes.  Did I get it right?

Shared Drive for Phase 2 & 4.  I strongly support fully utilizing infrastructure like pavement.  In this case, a shared drive is a much better utilization of "ugly" pavement vs a suburban model of inefficient duplication.  A traffic study should obviously be performed, but we should share pavement, not let it proliferate.

No Treasurer on the Ballot.  This is unfortunate, and I believe we haven't done enough to canvas the Village for a replacement.  I oppose any effort to consolidate the roles.  While we have a fine Clerk in Tony B, the separation of responsibility is a smart and prudent Internal Controls design for those who come later.  We must find a new Treasurer and not change our structure to collapse both into 1 person.

I voted in the affirmative on all votes except 1, as all were procedural in nature except:  Residence B to Residence D for Phase 4 Condos.  I voted no on the conditional zoning change for the empty lot next to Mios.  Approving a change with no hint of a plan is irresponsible.


Cortney
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