He says officials must determine city’s needs, then prioritize
By Ed Nadolski
Editor in Chief
When asked Tuesday what’s the greatest task facing the City of Burlington in the coming year, Mayor Bob Miller didn’t hesitate.
“Prioritize,” he said.
In the past year and a half the city’s ability to set goals has been waylaid on several occasions by unforeseen challenges.
In 2014, officials learned the Burlington Community Pool is near the end of its lifespan. Then officials faced the prospect of hiring a new city administrator. And just last week, the City Council heard predictions of future financial troubles as Burlington gets pinched between state-imposed levy limits and new restrictions on the use of funds generated by retired tax incremental financing districts.
The end result has been a shockwave that has at the very least stalled progress on a number of initiatives.
Whether it’s dealing with future financial challenges, or replacement of the pool, library or City Hall, Miller said he wants to “get everyone on the same sheet of music.”
Sessions planned
He’ll have two opportunities to do that over the course of the next three months as the city convenes another session of its Citizen Budget Partners in mid August and hosts a strategic planning session for the City Council in October.
“What I would really like to come out of both of these processes with is a three- to five-year plan with goals,” he said.
That’s where the challenge of prioritizing comes in.
The desired result, Miller said, would be a plan that gives city staff a clear path to follow.
Miller said the city is in good shape when it comes to its 2016 budget – the city will be able to fund operations at current levels and maintain a reserve fund of 25 percent.
So, he said, the greatest short-term need is placing priority on the three major capital projects facing the city: the swimming pool; library and City Hall.
“I’ve always maintained I want the citizens’ input on these,” Miller said. That means any and all of the three projects would go to referendum for a public vote before the city proceeds.
However, there remains a great deal of legwork to be done before working up a referendum. Without a clear priority list, the city is stuck, Miller said.
“Coming into last year, I would have put the library and City Hall at the top,” he said. “But both are functional the way they are.
“The pool is, I think, not really functional anymore.
“The No. 1 priority is to get a decision.”
Negotiations ended
As a practical matter, the pool did shoot to the top of the list earlier this year and the City Council voted to negotiate a contract with pool consultant Burbach Aquatics.
However, the council voted to terminate negotiations with Burbach in May fearing they would be locked into a construction contract whether they ultimately decided to pursue a new pool or not.
Since then the pool has fallen back in the pot with both the library and City Hall.
Miller said there is need to plan and move forward – regardless of what decisions are made on the future of the three facilities – to prevent the city from becoming stagnant.
“If the city stops growing and moving forward, we’re going to start regressing,” he said.
Miller equated both the pool and the library to quality of life facilities that give the city a vibrancy and make it a desirable home.
He said the hallmarks of any community are its available jobs followed, in order, by available housing, quality of schools and quality of life amenities.
“It’s kind of a balancing act, but you just can’t leave it alone,” he said of the need to prioritize.
What’s next?
The City Budget Partners is a process in which the preliminary planning for the 2016 budget will be shared with a panel of citizens, who, in turn, will gain insight into the process and offer input toward the outcome.
The City Council strategic planning session will be conducted by consultants from the University of Northern Illinois.
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