One in a series of articles on the Plainfield Village Board election.
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Bill Lamb, the lone incumbent running in the Plainfield Village Board race in April, remembers a very different town from when he was first elected as a trustee in 2007.
The 77-year-old retired manager for DuPont was first appointed to the board in 2005, a time of rapid growth in the town. But he saw the economic storm clouds gathering on the town’s horizon two years later.
Village officials had come to rely on about $4 million in development-related revenue each year, Lamb recalled, money that stopped flowing in when the Great Recession hit in 2007.
The housing market dried up, he said, and so did that money, a shock to the system that the town is still recovering from.
“We had $4 million worth of building permit revenue that suddenly disappeared, went down to $200,000,” he said. “That was a huge chunk of revenue to lose. We had to scramble.”
At one point the village only had about two months’ worth of operating cash on hand, Lamb said, when towns like Plainfield should seek to have at least six months saved.
“We had a lot of money,” he said of the salad days, when housing developers often put in infrastructure as part of any deal. “That all dried up. Developers are no longer building big enough developments to justify putting in roads like that. All of a sudden that reverted back to us.”
The board hired village manager Brian Murphy to begin fixing the problem, Lamb said, and ended up laying off 30 to 40 people, about a third of the village employees.
Lamb said his 35 years as a manager taught him what it takes to conduct such a downsizing.
It involved listening to staff, he said.
“The people who do the work are the ones in the best position to say what we can cut out, what is important,” he said. “You have to involve them. You need their acceptance of the downsizing, and you need their brains to be energized to make it work. That happened with the village.”
Lamb said Plainfield has managed such cuts while not gashing essential services, and the strategy is now bearing fruit.
Late last year, the town’s credit ratings for borrowing were upgraded, making it cheaper to issue bonds.
The town also boasts a balanced budget and a surplus, he added.
“We needed to be more fiscally responsible,” Lamb said of the economic doldrums of 2007 and 2008. “We got sloppy, to be honest.”
Today, Lamb said the village board prioritizes conservative revenue forecasts and realistic expenditures.
“We received more revenue than we forecast and spend less than we budget,” he said.
The town has not raised its taxes on residents for four years, Lamb said.
“I consider the village a business, and I’ve managed a lot of different aspects of business, which has come into play here,” the father of three and grandfather of one said.
Transportation, and relieving the glut of traffic on U.S. Route 30 and Illinois Route 59 around downtown, is the town’s biggest priority today, Lamb said.
“Plainfield is an interesting town,” he said. “It has a great history, historic downtown. We’ve got two miles of riverfront to work with. A lot of towns would drool to have what we have.”
But those busy arteries mean trucks and other traffic “slice” through the town’s center, he said.
A plan to extend 143rd Street to Interstate 55, giving semis and other traffic a faster way to the highway, will help, he said.
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But such a plan would cost the town $20 million, so officials are seeking federal dollars to shoulder the cost, Lamb said.
“It’s high priority, hopefully we can get some money to help us,” he said. “That would be the biggest game changer.”
Lamb grew up in the Chicago area, moved away for decades and returned in 1998. He said he moved to Plainfield 13 years ago to live on Whalon Lake.
“Being on the water is very relaxing,” he said. “That’s the primary reason I’m in town.”
Lamb said Plainfield is the perfect size for him to be active and make a contribution.
“If they like what I’ve been doing, allow me to continue,” he said when asked why voters should give him another term. “If not, it’s up to them.”