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Staff reports progress on 2023 strategic plan; PFAS monitoring shows no detections in finished water
Summary
City staff presented a status update on the town’s 2023 strategic plan—28 goals across four priority areas—with 4 goals complete, 13 in progress, 4 not started and 7 ongoing; staff also reported that UCMR 5 PFAS testing results from 2024 showed no detections in the finished drinking water.
City staff on Aug. 18 briefed the Normal Town Council on the status of the town’s 2023 strategic plan and plans for a 2026 update with the Center for Governmental Studies at Northern Illinois University. Jacob Smith, a staff member who presented the update, said the plan contains four strategic priority areas—innovative economic growth; infrastructure and core services; organizational effectiveness; and community engagement and development—and 28 goals in total. Smith reported that, to date, four goals are complete, 13 are in progress, four have not started and seven are ongoing.
Smith told the council staff created internal dashboards to track progress and is aligning council action items with the strategic priorities; he highlighted near-term items likely to return to council soon, including an economic development identity initiative, a holistic review of city fee structures, and Fire Station 2. City Manager Reese said staff will engage NIU’s Center for Governmental Studies for the 2026 update and that staff plans to continue the four priority-area framework while considering whether to narrow or revise goals.
During council Q&A, Councilmember Lorenz asked about the sustainability goal marked as complete and about PFAS monitoring. A city staff member described the town’s work on the Vision 2015 sustainability plan and related committees and implementation efforts, and a different staff member from the water side discussed federal monitoring. The water staff said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s UCMR 5 testing required sampling of finished water in June and December 2024; “both those samples ... came back no detect levels for our PFAS,” the staff member said. “So essentially, it's not currently in our water, in the finished water from the treatment plant,” the staff member added.
Smith and Reese said staff aims to publish more public-facing dashboards and to better align key performance indicators with strategic goals for clearer public accountability. Councilmembers asked that staff streamline the upcoming planning timeline, consider a smaller number of measurable goals, and provide more frequent, public-facing updates on priority items.
Smith said the town has four complete goals and multiple items nearing completion, and he reiterated staff’s plan to return this fall with a proposed process and timeline for the 2026 strategic-plan update.
