North Cook News

Village of Arlington Heights Committee-of-the-Whole met Nov. 18

Here are the minutes provided by the committee:

President Hayes called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM.

BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: President Hayes; Trustees Baldino, Bertucci, Dunnington, LaBedz, Schwingbeck, and Tinaglia

BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT: Trustee Grasse and Trustee Shirley

STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT: Village Manager Randy Recklaus; Assistant Village Manager Diana Mikula

OTHERS PRESENT: Chamber members present: Executive Director John Ridler, Chair-Elect Chris Nichols, Board member Rich Kraybill, Board Member Heather Henkel

IV. New Business

A. Presentation of Chamber of Commerce Financials with Harmony Fest Featuring the Taste of Arlington Heights.

As per the Village’s agreement with the Chamber of Commerce, Executive Director John Ridler gave a presentation and overview of Harmony Fest and highlighted the successes and challenges.

• The Chamber incurred $31,708 in hard costs for the event in 2024, a 3.37% reduction from 2023

• The Chamber generated $77,450 in revenues from the event (sponsorships/tent rentals), a 1.4% increase from 2023

• The Chamber generated $45,741 in Gross Profits in 2024 from the event

• The Village incurred $90,141 in hard costs in 2024, an 8% increase over last year (generally attributable to band costs and enhanced Police Security OT expenses)

• The Village generated $7,580 in total revenues from the event (profit sharing and a partial OT reimbursement from the Chamber), a 12% increase from last year.

• The Village generated a $82,561 Loss 2024 from the event.

Trustees questioned if there is an ability to pull the number of sponsors in 2019 and what that dollar value totaled out at vs what the dollar value totaled out at with the number of sponsors for 2024. Chamber Executive Director Ridler stated that he can look that up and provide the Village Board with that information. Trustees also inquired as to a list of the names of the businesses that are taking place in the event each year so that they know which businesses are participating. Ridler stated he would put a report together and send that to the Board.

Discussion ensued regarding the value of staff time and how it was estimated. The Chamber estimates that the “value” of their staff time applied to the event was $37,455.88 in 2024. This is not a direct cost such as overtime, but rather the value of the straight time applied to the event.

The Village has no way to validate these figures and it was noted that the Chamber would have incurred these straight time costs whether the event occurred or not.

Village Manager Randy Recklaus pointed out that many members of the Village Staff from multiple departments also dedicate many hours of “straight time” to the event, but this is not tracked. If the Village tracked this time, the Village’s Loss would be much greater. For this reason, the Gross Profit/Loss figure is used to show an apples-to-apples comparison.

Both the Village and Chamber agreed that this is a very positive event to support and are looking forward to 2025.

V. Other Business - none

VI. Public Comments - none

VII. Adjournment – Trustee Baldino moved, seconded by Trustee Tinaglia to adjourn.

The meeting adjourned at 7:34 pm.

https://arlingtonheightsil.portal.civicclerk.com/event/5088/files/attachment/901