Bike-and-ped committee weighs membership, rebid for trail review and levy timing

Councilors and committee members discussed the village’s safe bicycle and pedestrian plan and next steps for trail funding and public outreach.

Committee structure and quorum: Members reviewed how many resident voting members the committee should include and how that affects quorum. The committee considered mirroring the parks committee structure for voting rules and agreed that adding public members would change quorum calculations.

Trail procurement and third‑party review: The committee noted only one bid had been received for the trail project’s third‑party review and discussed reissuing the request for qualifications. The fiscal officer cautioned that advertising for rebids typically costs $825 per ad and must run multiple times; committee members asked whether targeted outreach to prequalified vendors would suffice or whether public advertising was legally required.

Funding and ballot timing: Members discussed whether to pursue a trail levy and were advised that primary‑ballot deadlines (certification by county officers) likely could not be met for the upcoming February primary; fall ballot timing was identified as an option but councilors noted the village already plans multiple levies this year.

Community outreach: Committee members proposed resident surveys and school‑board outreach to learn how students travel and whether trail routing would affect student access policies. The committee asked the administration to provide newsletter links and a short survey to gather resident input.

Next steps: Committee plans to rebid the third‑party review if necessary, reach out to neighboring municipalities for models, consult the school board on student travel policies and prepare resident engagement materials for council consideration.