Peoria Heights Chamber asks village for annual funding for business app; trustees to vote next meeting

The Peoria Heights Chamber of Commerce presented a demo of a proposed village mobile app and asked the board to consider annual funding to support app development, maintenance and business-development programs.

President Cook and Chamber representatives outlined features including interactive maps, real‑time event calendars, in‑app deals and a loyalty program intended to drive foot traffic to the village’s roughly 55 small businesses. The Chamber said the app would also host an events calendar for schools, parks and nonprofits and would include moderated editorial features to promote community happenings.

Swarm Digital Solutions’ representative Michael explained that restaurant reservations and POS integration cannot be uniformly embedded because each business uses a different system, but the app could embed or link to individual reservation systems to reduce friction. Chamber leaders said they would like to manage a moderated content and social section and hire a manager to keep data current.

Trustees asked about data ownership, geographic exclusivity, partnerships with the park district and schools, and possible funding collaborations with other taxing bodies. The chamber said collected data would be shared with the village where privacy boundaries do not prevent it and that the product is intended for Peoria Heights-only promotion. Trustees placed the item on the next meeting agenda for a vote and requested additional documentation and a hard copy proposal (which was included in trustees’ packets).

Next steps: the board will vote on the funding request at the next meeting; trustees asked for more detail on data contracts, proposed annual cost and potential partnerships.