Wondering what Oak Park’s Village Board of Trustees has planned for the next couple years? The board adopted a document laying out its goals and priorities for 2024-2025 during its Tuesday meeting. Here’s a glimpse of what the trustees are looking at.
Trustees stressed the desire to support a diverse, affordable and inclusive community in Oak Park. To do that, the board laid out six goals for 2024-2025: community affordability, community health and safety, racial equity, vibrant, diverse, connected neighborhoods, sustainability and resiliency, and economic vitality. Each goal has a list of associated priorities and plans to achieve those goals.
Community affordability
The priorities associated with this goal are removing economic barriers, limiting the tax levy and pursuing governmental partnerships. During the Tuesday meeting, trustee Ravi Parakkat said while he agrees with most of the board goals, he wants to entertain further discussions about the 3% tax levy and financial policy in order to address affordability for the residents of Oak Park.
The 2024 fiscal year budget, including the 3% tax levy, was unanimously approved by the village board during the Dec. 4 meeting. In 2023, the levy was zero.
Village president Vicki Scaman said the current policy of setting a levy increases accountability and transparency between the village board and the community. The 3% tax levy will stay in place until a new levy is set, if the board decides to change it, village manager Kevin Jackson said.
“What I heard in those board goal discussions is we all care about affordability,” Scaman said Tuesday night.
Another one of the board’s intentions is to conduct an equity impact analysis and make recommendations about village housing and commercial building assistance programs, according to the document.
Trustees also aim to seek opportunities to work with Oak Park taxing bodies to lessen the property tax burden.
“The consistent thing that I’ve heard from residents is that they’d like to see our governmental bodies working together better,” Scaman said.
Community health and safety
One of the priorities is to reduce crime. Among the solutions: alternative call response and a violence prevention program.
A taskforce created by the village manager created a report with recommendations on how to respond to calls from individuals suffering from a mental health crisis. The village board allocated $1.1 million in the 2024 fiscal year budget to start a pilot program for alternative response.
The document also includes a proposal to develop a “Gun Buy Back program” to promote public safety. Trustee Susan Buchanan said she disagrees with this program because she has seen that similar programs typically do not work.
“I am not in favor of our police department developing a ‘Gun Buy Back program,’” she said. “We are allowing nonprofits to have [such programs]. They have to come up with the money to pay for the weapons.”
Jackson said this initiative was included in the document based on prior board direction. Many initiatives still need to be developed and brought back to the board for consideration, he said, especially if there is a financial commitment.
Other priorities associated with this goal include providing for safe mobility and ensuring healthy work environments for village workers.
One initiative associated with safe mobility is to implement a Vision Zero plan, including recommendations for improving safety for vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists. Vision Zero is an initiative intended to eliminate traffic deaths and injuries by making improving mobility safety.
This would also be intended to align with the Climate Ready Oak Park plan, according to the document. Climate Ready Oak Park is a comprehensive plan for community members and organizations to respond to the global climate crisis.
Officials also plan to review how to improve existing village facilities, such as Village Hall and the Oak Park Police Department, plans already under discussion.
Racial equity
The priorities for racial equity include addressing historical lack of equity, supporting integration and diverse community entry points and enhancing cultural competency.
Creating a formal language access policy is one plan outlined in the document. During the Tuesday night board meeting, language translation devices were available to the village board to hear public comment from non-English speakers.
The board also intends to assess racial integration strategies through studies such as the Racial Equity Assessment and to develop a diversity, equity and inclusion education resource bank on the village website.
Vibrant, diverse, connected neighborhoods
A few of the priorities under this goal are to support sustainable advancement of affordable housing and rapid response support for unhoused residents.
The village intends to support organizations such as the Oak Park Homelessness Coalition and Housing Forward in rapid response. Potential plans include working with private landlords to allow access to vacant properties, hosting community forums and reviewing related policies.
The village hosted a community forum Dec. 18 related to affordable housing and homelessness in Oak Park, where panel members defined affordability, examined income disparities and emphasized the increasing need for affordable housing in Oak Park.
Sustainability and resiliency
One of the priorities under this goal is to implement a climate action plan. In Climate Ready Oak Park, the village’s goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 60% by 2030 and reach net-zero emissions by 2050.
The village wants to expand renewable energy, protect biodiversity and to work on implementing sustainable business practices. One plan is to adopt an energy stretch code for major building renovations. This could require electrification and electric vehicle charging access, according to the document.
Economic vitality
The village intends to update its formal economic vitality strategy, according to the document. Emily Egan, the incoming development services director, said this is one of the goals she hopes to emphasize in her new role starting Feb. 5.
Officials intend to attract small-, women- and minority-owned businesses, according to the document, as well as supporting redevelopment in priority areas in the village. Another plan is to grow the nighttime economy of Oak Park.
Other priorities and initiatives for the village board can be viewed online.