Joliet mayor gets his picks in planning panel controversy

Mayor Terry D’Arcy’s picks for a Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee survived two attempts to delay a vote Tuesday, marking the mayor’s first clash with the Joliet City Council.

“If you want me to be the mayor of the city, let’s work together,” D’Arcy said at one point, his voice rising as he argued against an attempt to table a vote on the committee. “If you don’t trust me, I don’t know why I’m sitting here.”

Eventually, the council voted 7-2 to approve the committee.

But what on the surface may have looked like a routine policy matter had turned into a two-day controversy, as several residents argued that ordinary residents were omitted from the committee and a few council members took up the cause.

The situation was aggravated by complaints that council members were largely excluded from the selection process.

“This was a total blindside,” council member Jan Quillman said, noting that she first learned of the committee by reading about it in The Herald-News after the city put out a news release.

Council member Suzanna Ibarra, a D’Arcy ally, criticized the mayor at a Monday workshop session for leaving most of the council out of the process but backed him during the votes Tuesday.

“My concerns were centered on the process, not on the composition of the committee,” Ibarra said Tuesday.

Council member Cesar Guerrero, however, made a motion to table a vote on the appointments, saying the committee primarily was made up of people from “the business class” and calling for members from more diverse backgrounds.

Guerrero later joined the majority in approving the committee after the motion to table a vote was defeated.

He noted that there were three more appointments to be made, and there would be other opportunities for residents to participate in subcommittees developed in the process.

Only Quillman, who also made an attempt to table the vote, and Larry Hug voted against the committee.

Just what influence the committee will have on the development of the first comprehensive plan to be created for Joliet since the 1950s isn’t quite clear.

But Community Development Director Dustin Anderson said its primary role is to get regular residents involved in the creation of the plan.

“One of the key components of a successful comprehensive plan is robust and constant communication with the community that it serves,” Anderson said.

The discussion of the committee’s role and opportunities for resident involvement in the process seemed to ease the concerns for one critic.

“Now we feel a little bit more comfortable,” activist Trista Graves Brown said. “We know what it is.”

D’Arcy, who on Monday argued that he should be given leeway to lead on what he made a major campaign issue before getting elected in 2023, also appeared to be at ease with the outcome.

“I just want to applaud the passion of the community and the passion of the people up here,” he said, referring to the council members while making concluding remarks at the end of the meeting.