The Sussex Village Board committed to a “design charrette” for the Village Park Master Plan Jan. 23.
Trustee Tim Dittrich explained that the charrette is comprised of  public workshops where design professionals and community members meet to capture the vision and ideas for the park.
The board approved a three step process for the master plan.
The Bonestroo engineering firm was originally selected for the project at a cost of $25,000. However, Trustee Tim Dietrich said Bonestroo was bought out by another firm “and the project started to lose momentum.” As a result, village sought another firm to take over the project and settled on RA Smith National.
Under the RA Smith proposal the first phase would cost $3,425, the second phase would be $3,520 while the third phase would be $7,500 for a total cost of $14,025.
 Dietrich said that there is $7,550 left in the budget for the project, which can fund the first two phases of the master plan development. Dietrich said he talked with village staff, which mentioned there is a surplus from last year’s budget of around $50,000. Dietrich said the Park Board is requesting the remaining $6,475 for the project be funded  by using surplus from last year’s budget.
Trustee Jason Wegner said he wasn’t against the project but wanted more discussion about using the surplus.
Dietrich conceded that during discussion by Park Board members “everybody was uncomfortable with the fact that we were over budget and the fact that we had to change companies in mid-stream.”
Dietrich said the Park Board committed to giving RA Smith the go ahead and reviewing the project after each phase, and committing to the third phase if the village is pleased with how the first two phases were administered.  Dittrich said the third phase is twice the cost of the first two phases because it involves creating final renderings of the Village Park Master Plan.
Trustee Pat Tetzlaff said she supported using $7,000 in surplus toward the charrette design process for the Village Park Master Plan but added she would support creating a subcommittee of how village surpluses would be used in the future.
Village President Greg Goetz supported committing to the project with the understanding that the village wouldn’t commit to funding the $7,000 surplus unless it is satisfied with how the plan is proceeding.
The request was approved 5-1, with Wegner voting in dissent.
—By Thomas J. McKillen, Managing Editor