Politics & Government
Trustees Undergo Governance Training
The two-day session, run by professors at Northern Illinois University, cost $4,000. Trustees weigh in on whether it was worth it.
UPDATED with Trustee Andy Kaczmarek's comments.
Though most of their meetings in June were canceled, due to a lack of pressing business, village trustees haven’t spent the whole month idle.
This week, the six Village Board members participated in a two-day governance training session at , conducted by professors at Northern Illinois University. The sessions cost a total of $4,000, and were designed to help the new board communicate with one another.
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Half the trustees weighed in on the experience on Wednesday. (The other half could not be reached for comment.) And reviews were mixed.
Trustee Denny Lee, who has been through similar training before, said he always finds it worthwhile. He said the sessions were free of argument and controversy, and found the trustees looking at the way other villages are governed, sharing ideas—and having their own notions challenged.
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“All of us realized we have to change some of our ideas to move forward,” Lee said.
One topic that did come up, Lee said, is the ongoing discussion over the powers of the village manager. Trustees agreed last month to revisit the ordinances that delineate the village manager’s duties, and some trustees have suggested significantly reducing them.
One, Trustee Pete Heinz, is in favor of returning to a commission form of government, in which each trustee has jurisdiction over a village department. Lee said there are very few towns and villages that are still governed that way.
“I told him that just doesn’t happen anymore,” Lee said.
Trustee Matt Brolley, who, along with Stan Bond, was elected to his first term on April 5, said the two-day session found “everyone (coming) to the table willing to work.” He said having an expert in the field run the training, someone who was not a member of the village staff, helped the trustees connect.
Brolley also mentioned the village manager ordinances, and said the governance training “will hopefully better prepare us for that discussion.” Brolley said the $4,000 expense was worth it, and he would vote for another training session in the future.
Trustee Andy Kaczmarek, on the other hand, said he would not go through this training again.
"It seemed to be geared more toward how to work with the village manager than how to work together," he said.
Bond’s comments were more measured. He said that it is “always useful when trustees sit down and talk about how they can better work together.”
Since the governance training was included in the Fiscal Year 2012 budget, which was approved before the new board was seated on May 1, neither of the new trustees got to vote on it. And Bond said, given the chance, he would not vote for another session.
“I would vote no,” he said. “We’ve done this now, and it’s time to move on to other important issues that need to be addressed in the community."
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