The Heart of Peoria Commission (HOPC) will be discussing its future tomorrow, and that future may be a short one.
There’s a plan on the table to decommission the HOPC, freeing the members to form their own private advocacy group if they so choose, just like many other successful not-for-profit groups (e.g., Peoria City Beautiful). The proposed plan would also appoint several of the current Heart of Peoria Commission members to other commissions, such as Planning, Zoning, Traffic, and the Zoning Board of Appeals. Some commissioners are already dual-appointed. The plan is scheduled to go before the City Council on June 5.
Since this may be the last regular Heart of Peoria Commission (HOPC) meeting ever as a city-appointed commission, I thought I’d post the meeting agenda in case anyone is interested in attending what could be an historic event:
CITY OF PEORIA
HEART OF PEORIA COMMISSION MEETING
FRIDAY, MAY 25, 2007
CITY HALL, 419 FULTON STREET, SUITE 404
8:00 AM – 10:30 AMAGENDA
All Agenda items are subject to possible action.
1. CALL TO ORDER
2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF MAY 11, 2007
3. REVIEW, DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION WITH RESPECT TO MEMORANDUM TO COUNCIL FOR JUNE 5, 2007, CONSIDERATION, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO: PAST, PRESENT AND POSSIBLE FUTURE OF THE HEART OF PEORIA COMMISSION; PENDING POTENTIAL UPSTREAM APPOINTMENTS TO VARIOUS OTHER CITY COMMISSIONS; TRANSITIONING; FUTURE ROLE(S), FORM AND ACTIVITIES OF THE HEART OF PEORIA COMMISSION AND RELATED MATTERS.
4. DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION/RECOMMENDATION TO COUNCIL RE: SEARCH FOR A NEW DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS TO GIVE DUE CONSIDERATION TO INSURE CANDIDATES ARE ATTUNED TO AND HAVE EXPERIENCE WITH CONTEXT SENSITIVE STREET DESIGN AND SUPPORT NEW URBANISTIC APPROACHES TO PUBLIC WORKS.
5. DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION, INCLUDING ESTABLISHMENT OF A TIME FRAME FOR COMPLETION, IF STILL NECESSARY OR ADVISABLE, ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF A WORK PLAN TO SUBMIT TO CITY COUNCIL FOR APPROVAL.
6. UNFINISHED BUSINESS
7. NEW BUSINESS
8. COMMENTS: Public (5 minutes per person)
9. FUTURE MEETING(S)
10. ADJOURNMENT
Inquiries: Gene Lear, 309/494-8604
Notice that the future of the HOPC isn’t the only topic on the agenda. As possibly our final act, we will likely be passing a resolution outlining what qualifications we would like to see in the candidate who will succeed Steve Van Winkle as Director of Public Works when he retires later this year.
Even though the public comment period is listed at the end, if you ask ahead of time you might be granted the privilege of the floor earlier if you want to speak specifically to one of the issues on the agenda before we take action on it.
First, I hope the commission remains as an active City-appointed and sanctioned committee. Otherwise there is no coordinated voice for new urbanism that will have the same clout as that committee. While I like the idea of individuals with this mindset being appointed to various other city committees, I don’t think that the HOP Commission should be disbanded or turned into a private non-profit group. First, private non-profit groups can conduct business behind closed doors (legally). Unlike Peoria City Beautiful (which does good things), the HOP Commission should be directly involved in developing proposals and influencing policy-makers to institute the new urbanism principles. Not something that should be done by a private group in my opinion.
Second, if you get to item 4 – I hope the HOP pushes HARD to get either a representative on the selection committee for Public Works Director or at least gets assurance from the City Manager that familiarity and commitment to new urbanism concepts regarding traffic flow will be a factor. The current PW Director appears to have no buy-in to those principles and was trained in the move it fast and move alot school of traffic engineering.