The Strategic Initiatives Committee met to re‑examine a 2020 public works organizational analysis and to outline priorities for a new Department of Public Works facility.

Rebecca, a staff member who provided the executive summary for the committee packet, said the 2020 study contains the list of report recommendations the village has been using to inform work plans. Committee members pushed to confirm which recommendations remain relevant five to eight years on.

Trustees and staff discussed core services — horticulture, forestry, waste and recycling, street maintenance and winter maintenance — and agreed those buckets remain unchanged even as some regulatory requirements evolved. Committee members asked for a current staffing list; staff said budget documents list full‑time equivalents and can be extracted if the committee wants a readable org chart.

One notable recommendation from the 2020 study — creating an engineering inspector/technician to improve in‑house project management — has not been implemented because previous recruitment did not attract qualified candidates at the approved salary. "We attempted to advertise and hire a couple of years ago…we did not get any qualified candidates," staff said.

Discussion turned to service decisions that could change facility needs. Trustees emphasized leaf collection as a major operational footprint: keeping day‑certain, curbside leaf pickup requires transfer‑station capacity and staffing, while switching to bagged collection would alter water‑quality outcomes. Staff noted that the department has modernized operations and reduced staffing for leaf work, and said bagging could improve phosphorus outcomes but might not reduce staffing as much as expected.

Trustees also raised long‑range priorities for a new yard: planning for electrification and charging infrastructure for fleet vehicles, locating sufficient acreage for vehicle storage and maintenance, and designing the site to reduce daily vehicle movements that currently add staff hours without resident benefit. Staff pointed out the Barrientos study estimates substantial staff time lost to inefficient layouts and recommended a 5.5‑acre site rather than a 4‑acre one to address circulation and parking needs.

The committee asked staff to provide two items for follow‑up: (1) an annotated status update showing where the 2020 recommendations stand, and (2) a current list of DPW services categorized by whether they are state or federal requirements, essential to public health and safety, or quality‑of‑life services. That information will inform whether the broader $150,000 organizational study the board is considering should proceed or be narrowed.

Next steps: staff will draft the requested status update and service table to structure future conversations about the new DPW yard, equipment needs, and potential tradeoffs such as outsourcing or inter‑municipal collaboration. The committee did not take formal action at this meeting.