Do you feel unprepared when it comes to planning management? Have you wished there was a study guide or a cheat sheet? Look no further, the APA-IL Professional Development Committee is pleased to announce the APA-IL PlanNotes Series! Planning school gave us tools to build better communities, but planners are often faced with complex management situations that can feel overwhelming. This new APA-IL Series will help to fill the knowledge gap and assist you on your way to building better communities in Illinois.

With the recent wrap-up of the election season, you may already have questions on how to manage your newly elected officials. Don’t worry, we do too. Submit your questions or scenarios and join us on July 27th as experts Rob Kowalski, FAICP and Kimberly Porter, AICP kick-off the APA-IL PlanNotes series with an interactive 1.5-hour discussion on how to manage elected officials. During the session, experts will discuss your submitted questions/scenarios, provide helpful tips and tricks, and look to YOU, the audience, to share your insight. Depending on the number of attendees, this session may use zoom breakout rooms to help facilitate discussion. You are sure to leave this session more prepared and confident on how to resolve sticky situations and ease tensions between staff and elected officials.

Keep an eye out for other sessions in the PlanNotes Series which will cover your management needs from A-Z, such as managing a public meeting, managing an intern and even managing your boss!

Date: Tuesday, July 27, 2021

Time: 12:00-1:30 pm CST

Place: Zoom

Credits: 1.5 AICP CM Credits - for live session only

Cost: FREE!

Your questions about working with elected officials can be submitted to pd_chair@ilapa.org or via the registration form. APA-IL reserves the right to select questions. All questions will remain confidential.

Speaker Bios:

Rob Kowalski, FAICP has been the Assistant Director of the Planning and Development Department for the City of Champaign for the past 16 years. He has over 25 years of municipal planning experience in both Illinois and Kentucky. He graduated from Illinois State University with a Bachelor's Degree in Geography and has a Masters Degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is certified with the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) and in 2018 was inducted into the AICP College of Fellows.

Rob also holds an Adjunct teaching position in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His class focuses on the land development process from the perspective of both planners and developers.

In his various positions working for municipal government, Rob has been responsible for a variety of projects including drafting Comprehensive Plans for both Champaign and Urbana, Illinois; leading the master planning effort for the Bristol Place neighborhood in Champaign, and negotiating several key economic development agreements including an agreement for Costco Wholesale’s new store in Champaign.

Kimberly Porter, AICP has been the Community Development Director for the Village of Woodridge, IL since January 2018. She previously served as a Program Management Manager at the Regional Transportation Authority as well as Director of Economic & Community Development for the Village of University Park, Illinois. In University Park, she worked on various large-scale projects for the Village to include the I-57 Stuenkel Road / University Parkway interchange project and led the relocation negotiations of the Clorox Company to University Park from Georgia.

Kim’s focus areas include policy and program implementation related to land use, regional and sustainable community development, and access to transit. She has been a member of the American Planning Association (APA) for approximately 19 years and a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners for 12 years. She received a bachelor’s degree in Sociology with an emphasis in Urban Studies from North Central College in Naperville, IL, and a master’s degree in Urban Planning & Policy from the University of Illinois at Chicago.