THE JOURNAL & TOPICS NEWSPAPERS | FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2008
Airport Board Unsure Over Consultant Hire
By RICHARD MAYER
Journal Reporter
Chicago Executive Airport (CEA) staff wants to hire a consultant for strategic planning services, however some airport board members are concerned with the cost of hiring an outside "expert."
At a recent board meeting, Airport Manager Dennis Rouleau suggested hiring a consultant in the amount of $44,300 to determine what direction the airport will take in the future, based on what airport co-owners Wheeling and Prospect Heights envision.
A proposal was recently submitted by Aurora-based Sikich, one of the leading providers of professional services in the midwest serving middle-market businesses, governmental entities, and not-for-profit organizations. The company develops and assists in implementing strategic, operational, financial, technological, and management solutions.
Sikich proposed holding individual interviews with key stakeholders including members of the airport board and staff, and elected officials from Prospect Heights and Wheeling. The interviews would have provided a more comprehensive understanding of the present environment and bring common themes and expectations to the surface, according to Sikich officials.
Additionally, a short survey of area residents would have been conducted in order to gauge a general temperature about the issues they likely care about, such as growth, increased air traffic and noise.
Other facets of the Sikich's services would have included facilitating a board retreat, a major focus group, and two small focus groups between businesses and the airport board; train the airport staff and report documentation and wrap-up.
"We want to be a premier executive airport in the entire world and this planning will help us get there and help us define what that means," said Rouleau.
Rouleau said Wheeling Village Manager and airport board member Mark Rooney voiced concerns about spending that amount of money on an individual outside of the airport for strategic planning purposes.
"He (Rooney) thought that I could conduct this work in-house," said Rouleau.
The strategic planning project would have begun this month and been completed in September.
Rouleau said he will go back and look at how to reduce costs associated with the strategic planning and will present alternative suggestions to the airport board in June, Numerous attempts by the Journal to contact Rooney were unsuccessful.