Oswego trustees recently got the first in a series of reviews centering on the village’s new 2026-2030 strategic plan, which covers goals for topics like bringing commuter rail service to Oswego, downtown development and Wolfs Crossing improvements.
Oswego Village Board members earlier this year adopted the new strategic plan to guide the community’s efforts over the next four years. Oswego Assistant Administrator Madeleine Upham recently presented an overview of the document to the board.
“In total, we have 168 goals,” Upham told trustees.
The village hired a consultant to guide in the process of drafting the plan. About 103 goals outlined in the plan are in progress, the assistant village administrator said.
The emphasis of her report covered Village Board goals, including increasing community connectivity. One of the goals is to decide on the feasibility of commuter rail service in the village.
“We’re working with IDOT to begin the next study,” Upham said.
Another board goal is to keep developing the downtown area, including making “the downtown more accessible and friendlier to foot traffic,” Upham said.
The South Harrison streetscape design is underway which works toward that goal, officials said.
Another goal is to increase business attraction and retention in the downtown. Members of the village’s administration and Village President Ryan Kauffman attend conferences annually to attract new businesses to Oswego, officials said.
Results are evident by the village’s sound occupancy rate, Upham said, with many of the downtown’s key vacancies filled or engaged to be filled.
Another board goal is to complete Wolfs Crossing improvements, she said.
“We want to strategize future segments of Wolfs Crossing to ensure financial needs are met. The Douglas Road roundabout is estimated to be completed in the fall of this year,” Upham said.
Another goal is to increase grant funding for efforts for Wolfs Crossing and Route 30 improvements, she said.
The transition to Lake Michigan water for the village has its own set of goals, including completion of a financing plan and construction of essential infrastructure, Upham said.
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Oswego Village Board member Rachelle Koenig was interested in knowing whether village staff can provide input on the status of the goals.
“It’s one thing for us to ask for goals to be accomplished, and another thing to have the people who actually do it every day to give us feedback on whether or not the goal makes sense,” Koenig said.
“When the board meets with departments to discuss goals, that’s a good time for them to chime in on whether they are realistic or not,” Oswego Village Administrator Dan Di Santo said.
Over the next few years, it’s likely the administration will recommend changes to the goals, he said.
Trustee Jennifer Hughes said she, too, thinks it’s important to get staff feedback as part of the process.
“It’s important to get feedback on whether we are taking on too much,” Hughes said. “We are accomplishing a lot of large projects. We want to make sure we don’t burn out our staff.”
Kauffman was supportive of getting feedback from staff during the process of meeting goals.
“We don’t want to overload staff … the feedback will be very important,” Kauffman said.
Reviews of Oswego’s strategic plan and whether its goals are being met will be presented twice a year to the board, officials said.
Linda Girardi is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.