More names added to Joliet citizens planning committee

Another round of appointments for what so far has been a controversial citizens advisory board goes to the Joliet City Council for approval Tuesday.

The Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee will assist the city as it creates its first comprehensive plan since the 1950s.

Mayor Terry D’Arcy’s first appointments created a stir, as some argued that the list lacked regular residents who grapple with the effect of increased trucking on the roads and other consequences of land development in the city.

“These 17 people are going to bring in 300 people or more,” D’Arcy said. “I think we strategically picked people who have a lot of reach.”

—  Joliet Mayor Terry D’Arcy

The next appointments again will include the names of people with some prominence and institutional connections in Joliet.

They are:

• D’Arcy, who is appointing himself to the committee

• Warren Dorris, a pastor and former City Council member replacing J.D. Ross, who has opted out of the committee

• Christopher Parker, chairman of the African American Business Association of Will County

• Juan Rico, a business agent with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 176 and chairman of the Joliet Township Democratic Party

• James Roolf, a local banker and board member at the Joliet City Center Partnership

• Boise Walker, who has been an activist opposed to increased trucking operation on the south side of the city and is involved with the East Side Neighborhood Council

Trista Graves Brown, a Joliet activist who was among those criticizing the first round of appointments, said she is generally pleased with D’Arcy’s latest list and especially with the naming of Walker to the committee.

“That’s a good representative of our younger people,” Brown said of the Walker appointment.

She said the latest round of appointments, including Parker, should add diversity to the committee.

D’Arcy said he is appointing people with “circles of influence” that will be helpful in getting a range of people involved in the comprehensive plan.

The committee size will expand to 17 with the latest appointments.

“These 17 people are going to bring in 300 people or more,” D’Arcy said. “I think we strategically picked people who have a lot of reach.”

City officials have said that one of the main purposes of the committee is to foster resident involvement in the formation of a comprehensive plan.

“These are the people who can reach out to regular folks,” D’Arcy said.