Villa Park trustees press for clearer public tracking as strategic plan moves to implementation

Village Manager Mike Harling told the Village of Villa Park Board of Trustees Committee of the Whole on Jan. 27 that staff is moving the village’s adopted strategic plan from drafting into implementation, with department-led initiatives, a Gantt chart for task tracking and a public-facing dashboard planned within weeks.

Harling said the update was intended “to recap what we've done, what we have to do, and what will make the plan reality rather than just a plan.” He reported that staff has developed 23 initiatives tied to the plan’s four strategic goals — financial resilience, sustainable infrastructure, community engagement and workforce development — and that the BS&A permitting software began a staged go‑live during the week of the meeting.

The trustees focused most discussion on how the village will present progress to residents. Several trustees said the current internal Gantt chart and task-level worksheets are useful for staff but do not show residents how close the village is to meeting outcome targets. “Just red green, red, and yellow is my favorite thing,” said Trustee Kumar, urging a simple stoplight-style visual so residents can see whether targets are met, partially met or not started. Trustee Cordova and Trustee Patrick echoed the request for clearer public-facing metrics that map initiatives to the key outcome indicators the board adopted last year.

Harling acknowledged the concern and said staff will deliver a public visualization — including a website presence and diagrams linking initiatives to outcomes — within a month or two. He said staff plans quarterly updates and an annual report, and that six-month data (around August) will inform the FY 2026 budget process.

Trustees and staff also discussed workforce efforts in the strategic plan. Harling said the village is preparing its third annual employee engagement survey and continuing exit interviews and “stay” interviews to improve retention and gather trends. He said one initiative target is to raise employee referrals for open positions and that staff will use focus groups to refine programs; consultant Corey Plasch was named as a resource for focus-group work.

Sustainable infrastructure and unfinished 2014 referendum projects featured in the discussion. Staff said many referendum street projects are in design, but several large projects were delayed and now face higher costs. One staff speaker described an approximate funding shortfall of about $14,000,000 to complete remaining referendum work; staff said they are repackaging projects and exploring loan and grant options to close the gap and sequence construction so that sewer and water upgrades occur before final street work.

Harling and Director Guerra described the large projects as multi‑phase, using the Washington–Yale corridor as an example: sewer separation and stormwater work must precede some street reconstructions. Trustees asked for clearer mapping of initiatives to the adopted key outcome indicators so residents can see which initiatives contribute to which outcomes and goals.

The meeting closed with a routine motion to adjourn from the Committee of the Whole. Trustee Cordova moved to adjourn; Trustee Kumar seconded. The motion carried on a voice vote.

The board plans to publish visual progress tracking online and will return with a more public-facing dashboard tying initiatives to the strategic plan’s outcome indicators and the FY 2026 budget process.