Village of Huntley has a positive outlook as Illinois makes strides towards normalcy

HUNTLEY – With capacity restrictions being lifted as of June 11, life can finally return as it once was before the pandemic. According to Huntley’s Deputy Village Manager Lisa Armour, the most positive impact for the village has been seeing local businesses once struggling due to the capacity limits, now thriving.

At the May 28, 2020 Village Board meeting, trustees voted to approve of an outdoor dining plan in an effort to aid local restaurants during the time in which dining in was not permitted due to Gov. JB Pritzker’s executive order.

The board has had the opportunity to terminate that plan at any point in time, however, Armour stated that the village does not anticipate that to happen, with the plan having been approved until the end of this year.

The village does not see Phase 5 of the Restore Illinois plan posing any challenges. Though one change residents can expect, is community events to return in full.

“The biggest change is being able to resume our community activities such as Concerts in the Square, [First] Fridays and July 4 Fireworks. Fortunately, the Farmers Market was conducted last summer, so it continues again this year with less restrictions,” Armour told My Huntley News via email.

Village Trustee Ronda Goldman, is also pleased with how the village has been progressing.

“Our businesses are open and thriving. I still see people wearing masks and I am glad that they are cautious. We have not had complaints to-date that I know about, but then complaints generally come to the Village staff,” Goldman said.

Executive Director for the Huntley Area Chamber of Commerce Larry Cornett, shared his delight in seeing local businesses now being able to focus their energy on returning to normal operations and hiring needs.

“They’re all looking for help. I say all, there’ll be some that aren’t, but there is an awful lot of the restaurant industry, is definitely looking for help. Manufacturing industry is looking for help. We have a lot of both of that here in Huntley and the outlying area. It’s definitely something where they, almost all of them, would take a good employee,” Cornett said.

In addition, the chamber is looking forward to hosting its Summer Expo in the Town Square on Aug. 28 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The expo will include over 100 local vendors, according to Cornett.

“It’s kind of a combination of the village and the chamber doing a very large expo. We’ll have food trucks and we’ll have entertainment which is mostly just local high school and junior high entertainment. So, a lot of local entertainment as well as we’re going to have a large petting zoo. It should be a lot of fun for all of the families to come out to and enjoy it,” he said.

The chamber occasionally meets with a group of other Huntley agencies in an effort to build a strong foundation of citizen and family focused public service and safety, to enhance the quality of life for the community, Cornett stated.

“Here in Huntley, we kind of have something special. We call it the HAART (Huntley Area Administrators Roundtable) group, and I’m just going to mention this because I think it’s a little bit unique to a city or a community, but the police, the fire department, the library district, the park district, the Chamber of Commerce, the school district [and] the village all get together at least once a month and sometimes every couple [of] weeks,” he said.

“It has been via Zoom, but now we’re back to meeting in person like we used to do and discuss what’s going on in the village, in Huntley, and try and all work together to be on the same page. There’s so many villages and cities that sometimes fight over things and battle each other. We try [to do] the opposite method, which is to try to get along and cooperate with each other and work with each other on all of the events. On anything that’s going on in Huntley, and we try to support each other in that.”

The HAART group has been around for approximately five years and prides itself with continuously having an open channel of communication for all of its member groups to ensure alignment of values and direction, while recognizing the autonomy of each agency.

As an added message, Cornett said that the chamber is always looking to add businesses to its membership list.

“We’re in the process of still trying to add to our chamber list. So, if there’s any new businesses out there or an old business out there in the Huntley area. They can even be Lake in the Hills, Algonquin, wherever. It doesn’t have to just be Huntley. We have quite a few members that are outside the Huntley area. We’d love to have them join and we’ll try to help them also, as best as we can,” Cornett said.