OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Committee of the Whole Meeting - October 7, 2025: Special Events Program Review and Future Planning

Village Board & Commissions — Tuesday, October 7, 2025
BodyOswego, Illinois
SessionVillage Board & Commissions
DateTuesday, October 7, 2025
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 59:29

Transcript — Verbatim
0:00

Trustee Hughes.

0:01

Here.

0:01

Trustee Koenig.

0:02

Here.

0:03

Trusty McCarthy Lang.

0:05

Here.

0:05

Trusty Novi.

0:06

Here.

0:07

Trustee Torres.

0:08

Here.

0:10

All right.

0:10

First up, we will open the public forum.

0:12

If there's anyone wishing to address the board in the public, please feel free to come forward now.

0:24

Seeing nobody, we are going to close the public forum and we're going to move on to new business.

0:28

Under new business, we have uh item F1.

0:31

Jean.

0:33

Thank you, President Kaufman.

0:36

Do the presentation.

0:41

Before we get started, I'd like to acknowledge the community relations staff here tonight and thank them for their tremendous efforts this season.

0:49

Communications manager Lissette Padilla, assistant to the administrator Maddie Upham, and our newest recruit, community relations specialist Caroline Hensel.

0:59

Caroline did serve as our CR intern this summer as well.

1:03

The season would not have been as successful if it wasn't for their hard work and dedication.

1:08

So thank you.

1:10

Thank you.

1:16

And welcome, by the way.

1:23

Okay.

1:24

We're just not on.

1:28

Okay.

1:30

All right.

1:32

So 2025 was a very busy year.

1:34

Annually we have the legislative breakfast, the state of the state of the village, hometown expo, wine on the fox, summer concert series, movies under the stars, Fourth of July Fireworks, National Night Out, and Christmas Walk.

1:48

Quarterly, we have Community Coffees and Village Board of New Block.

1:52

Of course, there are other events sprinkled in, such as ribbon cuttings, groundbreaking ceremonies and street dedications, CIC initiatives, and much more.

2:00

These events not only impact the events manager, but the community relations team and other departments as well, depending on the event.

2:09

Sorry.

2:10

I don't have the computer.

2:15

Sorry, Ms.

2:16

Please.

2:21

There we go.

2:23

Thank you.

2:31

I'm sure the visual would be much more helpful to have.

2:35

So here you can just see uh it's a breakdown monthly of the events that we have.

2:40

And obviously you can see that some are a little bit busier than others, um, but by and large, we definitely keep our um community relations team busy.

2:59

This is a look at the past three years.

3:01

We've been reducing events slowly while maintaining building the special events fund.

3:06

This year we did have less ticket of ticketed events, uh, but all of two, all of the shows had two acts, unlike last year.

3:13

Only two concerts had more than one act.

3:16

We're currently trending to have a surplus this year in the special events fund, but that does not, but that does not include Christmas walk and of course finance's um the final audit of these numbers.

3:34

So this was quite an interesting year this year.

3:37

Um Wine on the Fox always does well, and it's our most profitable event.

3:41

It really carries the special event fund, uh, including paying for the village's Fourth of July fireworks.

3:48

Even with colder than normal weather, we had a good turnout, and even though we had uh lower attendance and less revenue, we still came away ahead with approximately $60,000.

3:58

The venue concert series struggled, and I will cover the attendance in the next slide.

4:03

But without the last concert of the season, which had a huge attend or had huge attendance, the venue's expenses would have exceeded revenues.

4:13

Oops, I'm sorry, without the last concert, um the venue's expenses would have exceeded revenue or exceeded expenditures by over 20,000.

4:21

So this last concert really set the pace and set the tone for the special events fund and caused the venue to be very, very close to breaking even this year, which would be the first time that's happened since the venue opened.

4:39

Movies under the stars were increased from uh two to three this year, and while attendance was approximately 200 to 300 per movie, we did have some equipment mail functions, which prompted us to rent equipment for the summer.

4:51

Uh otherwise, generally that breaks even as well.

4:54

Um staff did save costs though, uh, and anticipates being able to cover the equipment rental costs through sponsorship next year.

5:03

Again, fireworks do not generate revenue.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Community Engagement█████████████████████████████████████████████50%
Personnel Matters██████████████████20%
Parks and Recreation██████████████15%
Arts And Culture███████████12%
Procedural███3%
Summary of Proceedings

Committee of the Whole Meeting - October 7, 2025

The Oswego Village Board Committee of the Whole met on October 7, 2025, at 6:00 PM at Village Hall. The primary discussion focused on the Special Events Program update and planning for 2026, including the future of the venue concert series and staff workload. The board also considered improvements to the Village Board on Your Block program. A separate agenda item on pedestrian protection was deferred to a subsequent board meeting.

Discussion Items

Special Events Program Update and Planning Discussion

Community Relations staff presented a detailed recap of 2025 events, including the legislative breakfast, state of the village, Wine on the Fox, summer concert series, movies under the stars, Fourth of July fireworks, National Night Out, and Christmas Walk. Key financial highlights:

  • Wine on the Fox, the most profitable event, generated approximately $60,000 in surplus despite lower attendance due to cold weather.
  • The venue concert series struggled: without the final September concert (which had high attendance), the series would have exceeded expenditures by over $20,000. The series overall was close to breaking even for the first time since opening.
  • Movies under the Stars attendance ranged from 200-300 per movie; equipment malfunctions led to rental costs, expected to be covered by sponsorships in 2026.
  • Fireworks and Christmas Walk generate little to no revenue.

Staff emphasized the significant time commitment: the community relations team spends 75-100% of their time on events, leaving limited capacity for other duties such as communications, HR, and social media. The department has a pending hire for an events manager.

Four options for the venue were presented:

  1. Revert to free/low-cost community use with no staff-run events; movies under the stars could return to Village Hall.
  2. Move to three free Thursday night concerts, similar to movies under the stars, with patrons bringing food/drink and select vendors.
  3. Host one post-Labor Day event (e.g., a music festival) in partnership with community organizations; movies under the stars could remain at the venue or return to Village Hall.
  4. Explore hiring an outside entertainment firm to run the venue (staff expressed low feasibility for this option).

Board discussion included concerns about staff burnout, the purpose of the venue as a community asset, and the financial losses relative to staff time. Trustee Hughes favored Option 1, noting it would free staff for other priorities while still allowing community use. Trustee Novi preferred Option 3 (a single post-Labor Day event) but acknowledged the need to first address staffing. Trustee Torres supported Option 4 (outsourcing) but others doubted its viability. There was broad agreement to reduce fee barriers for third-party venue rentals and to allow the incoming events manager to evaluate and recommend a long-term plan.

Village Board on Your Block Integration

The board discussed combining the Village Board on Your Block program with existing high-attendance events such as Prairie Fest, National Night Out, Hometown Expo, and the senior center meeting, rather than holding separate neighborhood events that saw low turnout. This was seen as a way to increase resident interaction with trustees without additional staff burden.

Key Outcomes

  • The board reached a consensus to pursue Option 1 (revert the venue to free/low-cost community use) as an interim measure, pending the hire and recommendations of the new events manager.
  • Staff will immediately work to reduce fee barriers and promote the venue for third-party rentals.
  • The Village Board on Your Block program will be consolidated with Prairie Fest, National Night Out, Hometown Expo, and the senior center annual meeting, eliminating standalone neighborhood events.
  • The pedestrian protection discussion (agenda item F.2) was deferred to a future board meeting.
  • The meeting adjourned after the Committee of the Whole session, with a five-minute break before the regular board meeting.

Meeting Transcript

Trustee Hughes. Here. Trustee Koenig. Here. Trusty McCarthy Lang. Here. Trusty Novi. Here. Trustee Torres. Here. All right. First up, we will open the public forum. If there's anyone wishing to address the board in the public, please feel free to come forward now. Seeing nobody, we are going to close the public forum and we're going to move on to new business. Under new business, we have uh item F1. Jean. Thank you, President Kaufman. Do the presentation. Before we get started, I'd like to acknowledge the community relations staff here tonight and thank them for their tremendous efforts this season. Communications manager Lissette Padilla, assistant to the administrator Maddie Upham, and our newest recruit, community relations specialist Caroline Hensel. Caroline did serve as our CR intern this summer as well. The season would not have been as successful if it wasn't for their hard work and dedication. So thank you. Thank you. And welcome, by the way. Okay. We're just not on. Okay. All right. So 2025 was a very busy year. Annually we have the legislative breakfast, the state of the state of the village, hometown expo, wine on the fox, summer concert series, movies under the stars, Fourth of July Fireworks, National Night Out, and Christmas Walk. Quarterly, we have Community Coffees and Village Board of New Block. Of course, there are other events sprinkled in, such as ribbon cuttings, groundbreaking ceremonies and street dedications, CIC initiatives, and much more. These events not only impact the events manager, but the community relations team and other departments as well, depending on the event. Sorry. I don't have the computer. Sorry, Ms. Please. There we go. Thank you. I'm sure the visual would be much more helpful to have. So here you can just see uh it's a breakdown monthly of the events that we have. And obviously you can see that some are a little bit busier than others, um, but by and large, we definitely keep our um community relations team busy. This is a look at the past three years. We've been reducing events slowly while maintaining building the special events fund. This year we did have less ticket of ticketed events, uh, but all of two, all of the shows had two acts, unlike last year. Only two concerts had more than one act. We're currently trending to have a surplus this year in the special events fund, but that does not, but that does not include Christmas walk and of course finance's um the final audit of these numbers. So this was quite an interesting year this year. Um Wine on the Fox always does well, and it's our most profitable event.

SUMMARIZED BY OPENPUBLICA AI
TRANSCRIPT VIA PUBLIC VIDEO
openpublica.com