By HOI ABC
NORMAL – A consultant is being hired to draw up a master plan to build another part of Uptown Normal, and the town’s manager is getting a raise following town council action Monday night.
The council voted 5-2 to hire a Chicago-based firm to plan for Uptown South, which encompasses about eight acres south of the railroad tracks and includes the current Normal Police headquarters. It’s adjacent to a planned $24 million underpass for pedestrians and bike riders to safely cross the tracks.
The consultant Farr Associates is the same firm that helped design the underpass, a project which town leaders hope will spur growth in the area.
Council members Stan Nord and Scott Preston voted against the contract that will cost $80,000. Preston argued much of the consultant’s work has been done before.
Mayor Chris Koos disagreed.
“I will most emphatically say it is not the same work,” said the mayor.
Meantime, Nord was the only council member voting against City Manager Pam Reece receiving her annual pay raise. This year, the raise is $8,000, boosting her salary to $209,000.
“If Miss Reece needs more money, at some point she’s going to have to go to a bigger pond because our community can only afford so much money,” said Nord.
Mayor Koos responded that raising Reece’s salary is the easiest vote he makes each year.
“Miss Reece is one of the most professional, hard working, agile, intelligent people that I have worked with in my career,” Koos said.
Reece has been Normal’s city manager since 2018.
