The Village of Glendale Heights Village Board on June 26 approved an intergovernmental agreement with the Northern Illinois University Center for Government Studies to update the village's strategic plan.

Village President Giovanni Giannelli said the update is meant to bring three recently elected trustees up to speed on a plan that residents helped produce and to align the plan more closely with the village budget and priorities. Trustee and public questions at the meeting focused on cost and whether the earlier, resident-driven plan would be discarded.

Giannelli said the effort will build on — not replace — the public input gathered when the original plan was developed. He told a resident who asked why the update was happening three years after the plan was produced that the new work will “enhance that” plan by bringing the new trustees’ perspectives into the roadmap linking strategy and the budget. The village confirmed it will not pursue optional add-ons that appeared in the agreement’s paperwork; the base contract figure discussed at the meeting was $22,000 with up to $13,000 in optional services that the board said it would not use.

The strategic plan update was listed as item 13 on the consent agenda and was approved as part of the board’s consent motion. The board discussed the topic again in the Committee of the Whole, where the mayor invited trustees to participate in prework sessions and a planned workshop so the board can produce a shared vision before the consultant’s process begins.

Mayor and trustees said the goal is for budget decisions to be traceable to strategic-plan priorities and for the whole board to agree on the village’s multi-year direction. The board indicated it will schedule additional internal workshops in August and October to prepare for work with the consultant.

What’s next: The village administrator will finalize the IGA with NIU and schedule trustee workshops; the consultant’s scope will be limited to the agreed base services rather than the optional additions referenced in the draft paperwork.