An upcoming strategic planning retreat for the Normal Town Council will help the town focus on issues for the next several years, and will include data from focus groups facilitated by a group at Northern Illinois University.
Mayor Chris Koos said one idea that has come up periodically over the last couple of decades is back again.
"Surprisingly there's a lot of chatter that I've heard, not just second hand from the focus groups but from studies and focus groups that the Chamber has done, is a sports complex," Koos said in an interview with WGLT.
Past sports complex initiatives have failed because of finances, and/or a lack of a public-private partnership. The last such initiative was in 2019-2020. It’s unclear given the interest rate climate and rising construction costs whether this time could be different.
“We'll have that discussion, and I think if there's a decision to move forward with that, I think we're looking at baby steps to validate that what we're hearing from the broader public is [whether] we need that for our community once we start going down that road,” said Koos.
A public-private partnership, he said, makes the most sense because municipal governments cannot shoulder the entire cost of a sports complex. Koos also expressed hope that any potential project would have participation by Bloomington as well as Normal because such a complex would benefit the entire community.
Koos said other issues he thinks are important to consider at the retreat are the ongoing housing shortage and economic development.
Fire emergency response times
Koos disagrees with a claim the town should use a tighter standard for emergency response times.
Some firefighter union advocates have claimed the town should respond within 4 minutes instead of the current 4-6 minutes. The argument is that the 4–6-minute 90% of the time standard under which the town operates is more suited to rural environments, and the 4-minute standard relates to urban settings.
The town has said its average response time last year was about 4.25 minutes.
"We'd probably be the only fire department in the Midwest that would be doing that because our peer communities are using the 4–6 minute window and frankly, some of them aren't even doing that," said Koos.
Firefighters want to reopen the shuttered College Avenue fire station and add staff, saying rising call volumes and heat maps done as part of a study the union commissioned, suggest central Normal needs additional service at some times of day.
The town administration insists that's not necessary, and even if there was a problem with timely response, there are other tools to use than adding to payroll and taxes — things like roving ambulances in high demand areas, and additional technology to make dispatching more efficient.
Koos said he was pleased town data test driving of routes overlaid on predictive computer analysis of GIS data back up the town's contention the fire department will continue to meet the response time standard.
He said he hopes the presentation Monday evening will help turn the burner down on the staffing issue.
“It was a very compelling story if you believe in data-driven decisions. If you don't believe in data-driven decisions, it's probably not going to change your mind,” said Koos.
Home sales
Year-end figures from the Mid-Illinois Realtors Association showed a nearly 6% decline in home sales overall, a one-third decline in sales of new construction, and an increase in the price of the average home.
Koos said he doubts anything will change the cost/interest rate calculus in the next year because a lot of people have loans that are relatively low.
“Facing the higher interest rates we have right now is causing them to sit tight," he said. "I would put myself in that position. It's not a good time to sell your house unless you have to, or it's something you really, really want to do.”
