Between the COVID-19 pandemic and the passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, federal and state organizations have invested unprecedented funding in infrastructure and programs. However, for small, resource-constrained communities, determining which possibilities to pursue with limited personnel and time can be challenging. In states like Illinois where comprehensive planning is not required, these smaller municipalities tend to forgo long-term planning. The result is often a local government in perpetual crisis mode with available capital funds going to the most recent emergency.

In 2023, Blackhawk Hills Regional Council (BHRC), northwest Illinois’ economic development district, created the Northwest Illinois Capital Improvement Planning Program (NICIPP) from funds received through Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity’s Research in Illinois to Spur Economic Recovery grant. NICIPP was designed to help up to six units of local government in the BHRC service area create a 5-year capital improvement plan (CIP). CIPs help governments prioritize large projects and purchases over a multi-year period by evaluating benefits, costs, and other important criteria. They are also easier to create and maintain than many other long-range plans.

The NICIPP was intended to assist those communities with fewer resources. The largest municipality to participate had a population of just over 4,000 in 2020. The smallest county in the region (2020 population of 15,702) also took part. Each community appointed a staff member to be the designated CIP administrator in charge of their CIP and work directly with BHRC to create the plan. BHRC purchased and set up the software and worked side-by-side with the administrator to create the first CIP.

Many communities in the BHRC region are aware of capital projects and purchases that have the potential to improve the area but lack in-house resources to assess project costs. As part of the project, BHRC hired a consultant to develop cost estimates for CIP projects and purchases for this initial document.

Though BHRC originally considered software specifically designed for creating CIPs, it was eventually decided to create a workflow using Esri’s suite of tools through an ArcGIS Online subscription. This choice was made considering three factors: cost, control, and visualization. The BHRC anticipated that lower cost software with additional features would make communities more likely to continue to use the software. BHRC felt it was important that users have complete control over their data and not need to make requests to use their data outside of the chosen application. Finally, it was seen as important that the chosen program could crease data visualizations like public maps and dashboards.

Intake surveys were created in Survey123 so that projects could be entered and ranked. Survey123 also has a report generation function to create the final CIP document. BHRC staff also built dashboards linked to the survey data in ArcGIS Online.

Though the grant ended in June 2024, BHRC set up its communities for success going forward. Staff created two guides for the communities: one showing the CIP creation and update process, and the other detailing how to use and modify the surveys and dashboards. Additionally, surveys and dashboards were created for the next five fiscal years so communities could focus on updates.