After a contentious workshop meeting Monday, Jan. 21 that dragged late into the night, the Village Board will formally consider a contract with Town Builder Studios next week.

If the board approves the working agreement, which it appears poised to do, the Riverside-based firm would develop over the next several months a long-term business strategy for Glen Ellyn’s downtown.

The proposed contract lays out a timeline for the work, beginning with an information gathering phase and leading up to the presentation of a final report in October or November.

For its work, Town Builder Studios and the three other firms that it would collaborate with would earn a basic service fee of no more than $99,000, according to the contract.

The first three months of the process would include a town hall meeting, a dozen group meetings and a merchant survey — all of which would indicate the limitations and opportunities of Glen Ellyn, Town Builder Studios President Jim Louthen said.

A Downtown Advisory Committee comprising about a dozen village leaders, business owners and residents would steer the process.

Following the initial phase, Town Builder Studios would develop two broad concept plans, which with further surveys, meetings and analysis would be refined into a draft report and eventually into a final report.

Louthen underscored the importance of resident input throughout.

“Please know that the public involvement process happens from beginning to end,” he said. “It’s not one step of the process.”

Town Builder Studios would be aided by a market firm and a parking analysis firm, as well as an architecture firm specializing in historic preservation. The four firms would split the village’s payment, with the largest share going to Town Builder Studios.

The $99,000 service fee does not include reimbursable expenses such as travel and supplies, according to the contract. The village also would pay extra for an interactive Web site to update residents and solicit input throughout the process.

Those two additional expenses — initially estimated at $8,000 and between $7,500 and $15,000, respectively — will be renegotiated before next week, after some trustees said they were too expensive.

The Web site concept was not originally in Town Builder Studios’ application, but the village asked Louthen to include it after another firm pitched the idea.

Village trustees first publicly reviewed the contract during a workshop meeting Monday night. As expected, the meeting was not without controversy, as some trustees remained unconvinced about Town Builder Studios’ bid.

The board spent more than three hours debating — and at times verbally sparring — about the contract and the process that preceded it.

The trustees and residents who supported a bid from consultant firm Houseal Lavigne Associates, another finalist for the contract, proved to be the biggest obstacle.

Before the board even delved into the details of the contract, Trustee Pete Ladesic reiterated his concerns that he first raised late last year.

In November, before any firm interviewed with the board, trustees were told that a planning consultant who served on the team that interviewed the 17 initial candidates had competed for bids against Houseal Lavigne, among the numerous other firms he has vied with professionally in the past.

Ladesic said he found that to be a conflict of interest that “taints the entire process,” he said.

“I believe the system did not work for us,” Trustee Sara Lee said.

“Or our residents,” Ladesic added.

Village attorney Stewart Diamond said he doubted whether the perceived conflict of interest, whether or not it is an actual conflict, had a bearing on the trustees. Town Builder Studios and Houseal Lavigne, in addition to two other finalists, had a chance to pitch their bids directly to the board, he said.

“Everybody’s vote has been for one of these four finalists,” Diamond said. “I do not believe that it affects your ability to make a final decision.”

The debate over the interview process continued for more than a half hour — while the dozens of residents at the meeting variously applauded and scoffed at trustees’ remarks — before Village President Hase called for an end.

“That’s really all we’re doing, going around in circles,” she sad.

Unless most board members wanted to restart the entire interview process, the debate had been exhausted, Hase said.

“You’ve made your point, we’re ready to move on,” Trustee James Comerford said.

Louthen then took the floor to review the contract his firm had negotiated with village staff. After he finished, Ladesic immediately launched into questions about Town Builder Studios’ resume, which was cited in Louthen’s presentation.

Ladesic said that interviews he conducted with principals at two firms suggested that Louthen overstated his leadership on some past projects.

Louthen strained to address Ladesic’s charges, admitting the line of questioning was “embarrassing.”

“The challenge here is I don’t want to discredit any of my colleagues,” he said. “I have been truthful in my portfolio.”

The trustees’ review of the contract itself lasted about an hour. Aside from concerns about legalese, trustees challenged the compensation the firms would receive.

The questions about the contract almost solely came from Trustees Lee, Ladesic and Tim Armstrong, all of whom supported Houseal Lavigne’s contract bid.

They balked at the additional costs beyond the $99,000 — specifically the $8,000 in reimbursable expenses and the $7,500 to $15,000 for a Web site.

Louthen said he would be willing to negotiate some of the additional costs, and the contract will be updated before next week’s meeting.

A larger-than-normal crowd attended Monday’s meeting, leaving standing room only. And the public comments from residents indicated just how much concern there is about the downtown plan, trustees noted.

Louthen said he saw that passion as Glen Ellyn’s greatest strength heading into the process. In some towns he has worked in, residents were scarce at the town hall meetings.

“Obviously in Glen Ellyn, that’s not going to be a problem,” he said.