Skokie budget hearing funds ADA self‑evaluation and public dashboard to track strategic plan
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Summary
Village manager Maritas told trustees the proposed FY27 budget includes $70,000 to hire a consultant to produce an ADA self‑evaluation and transition plan and to support a public dashboard tracking the village strategic plan’s progress.
Village Manager Maritas told trustees at the Village of Skokie’s second FY27 budget hearing that the proposed budget includes a $70,000 line to pay for an Americans with Disabilities Act self‑evaluation and an accompanying transition plan.
"In the proposed budget, there is a line item for $70,000, to fund the self evaluation and the transition plan," Maritas said, adding that staff have solicited proposals and planned to recommend a consultant to the board.
The manager framed the ADA work as part of a broader effort to implement the village’s recently completed strategic plan. Staff plan to publish a public‑facing dashboard so residents can track implementation progress. Communications and engagement staff said the dashboard will be paired with other outreach tools such as the revised website section called "Building Better Skokie" and the weekly Scoop newsletter.
Patrick Degnan, communications and engagement director, described recent website work and accessibility efforts. The communications team said it reduced non‑accessible PDFs on the site by more than 80% and will add ongoing monitoring through a tool in the proposed budget (Acquia Optimize) to flag broken links, misspellings and accessibility problems.
"Building Better Skokie" will list major development projects, show where they are in the approval process and link to related meeting materials, Degnan said. Staff also plan a language‑access policy to standardize translation and interpretation across departments.
Trustees pressed staff for clarity on the geographic scope of the economic‑vitality work connected to the strategic plan; Maritas reiterated the plan covers the entire village while prioritizing downtown and other commercial corridors. The board did not take a final vote on the ADA consultant funding at the hearing; staff said they would return with a formal recommendation and contract details at a future meeting.
Next steps: staff will complete consultant selection for the ADA self‑evaluation and present a contract recommendation to the board for approval.
