City of Darien City Council met Nov. 8.
Here are the minutes provided by the council:
Present: Mayor Joseph Marchese, Alderpersons Tom Belczak, Tom Chlystek, Eric Gustafson, Joe Kenny, Ted Schauer, Mary Sullivan Lester Vaughan, Treasurer Michael Coren, Clerk Joanne Ragona, City Administrator Bryon Vana, and Director of Municipal Services Dan Gombac, Police Chief Greg Thomas
City Council Required Training and Open Meetings Act and Freedom of Information Act
Attorney Murphey presented required sexual harassment training for the Council and provided a refresher to the Open Meetings and Freedom of Information Acts
Q and A – City Attorney
Attorney Murphey will provided a Q and A session providing an opportunity for the Council to ask legal questions on any municipal topic.
City Council Survey Review
Mayor Marchese advised that staff conducted a survey of the elected officials and the results were included in the packet. The Council individually reviewed their survey and provided an overview on their comments.
Economic Development
Staff provided the meeting summary for the economic development workshop the City conducted on October 23, 2021. The City Council provided input and asked questions regarding the city’s economic development efforts. Staff reviewed historical information, showing the developments of the key parcels identified in the city’s Comprehensive Plan. Discussion focused on prioritizing development opportunities, business recruitment, and current recruitment efforts. Brian Gay, chairperson of the Economic Development Commission, and Darien senior planner Jordan Yanke attended this portion of the meeting to participate in the discussion.
Plan for Future City Events
Mayor Marchese provided an overview of city efforts create a cultural experience for its residents through its establishment of a program of events that provide for their appreciation of the fine arts. Mayor Marchese provided an overview of tentative goals that can help achieve this, including:
• develop a citizen commission similar to other city groups with a part-time staff liaison, who will coordinate the overall planning of future events, as well as acting as a conduit to the park district in the planning of city/park district, library, service groups (Lions, Woman’s Club) joint activities, and other local taxing bodies;
• special events will be scheduled at different venues within the city including the parks, the Indian Prairie Library, our local schools, Carriage Greens and our city shopping centers; events will be designed with the goal of providing outdoor and indoor entertainment experiences for our residents, and in certain instances, highlight our business community (restaurants, bars and retail establishments), as well as our local schools;
• develop a community calendar that contains the events offered by the park district, the library, local schools, the city and service groups in order to avoid overlap and to encourage groups to work together on joint activities;
• develop a Capital Improvement Program that would lead to the development of a community entertainment complex within the Darien Community Park. This complex will be a multi- purpose development that would be available to community groups, local schools, the Darien Fine Arts Committee as well as hosting city sponsored events.
IDEA (Inclusion. Diversity, Equity & Access)
Alderman Belczak requested that Darien create an IDEA commission. IDEA is a program that is built on Inclusion, Diversity, Equity & Access. The consensus was to create a local IDEA Commission and review current efforts already underway with other local taxing districts. Alderman Belczak will contact a representative from the City of Warrenville to discuss their program with the Darien city Council.
The meeting adjourned at 9:22pm.
https://www.darien.il.us/getattachment/5b4e8c38-1972-47cb-a0a9-351c1571b3fd/Darien-Goal-Setting-Session-November-8,-2021.aspx
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