After eight years as the Village Administrator of Mahomet, Mell Smigielski will retire from his position with the Village Friday.
At the beginning of October Smigielski will take about 30 years of experience managing small communities to Mexico Beach, Florida, a small tourist town about 20 miles north of Panama City.
Mexico Beach is home to about 1,200 residents in the winter months, but sees an influx of approximately 12,000 tourists during the spring and summer months. Arriving in October will help Smigielski assimilate to the community before the busy season begins.
While the focus of Mexico Beach is to market tourists attractions, such as the beach or locally owned restaurants, Smigielski said he will continue to use some of the same tactics he used to make the Village of Mahomet attractive to commercial and industrial businesses.
“(In the past) Making (Mahomet) more attractive has been a problem because we don’t have the economic incentives that Champaign and Urbana do, which puts us at a great disadvantage.”
With few commercial or industrial locations in Mahomet, the Village felt push back from organizations interested in the Mahomet market. Several inquired about the land to the south and east of IL 150 and Prairieview Road, but until the Village installed utilities there, businesses shied away due to development costs.
Now that IL 150 and Prairieview Road have been widened and utilities are available, Smigielski said businesses are once again attracted to the area. But he also said many business owners not only looking for a way to make money anymore. He has been in discussion with some who are also interested in the quality of life in any given community.
“You have to work with the businesses to let them know what the advantages are to being located here,” he said. “A lot of times we’ve seen more and more that it’s not just a business decision like it used to be. Now it’s a lifestyle thing. I think people are looking more and more to a place like Mahomet because we do have a slower pace here. It’s not busy all the time like it is in Champaign-Urbana. People like that slower pace.”
Smigielski said the slower pace is why many tourists are also attracted to Mexico Beach. But he also hopes to strengthen communication between the town and local residents who may rent out their home, and visit on occasion.
Smigielski felt like Mexico Beach was the perfect spot for this next stage of his career not only because his wife has always been interested in living in Florida, but because Mexico Beach is also a small town.
He enjoyed working with a small group of Village staff in Mahomet because he was able to become acquainted with everyone he worked with both in the office and out in the field.
“It’s easier to become part of a team when there’s not that many people,” he said. I tried to create a team atmosphere. I tried to bring integrity to the job.”
But with a small staff, Smigielski and others on the Village staff often feel the crunch of working in a growing community. Few staff positions required Village employees to wear many different hats.
Even outside of the office, Smigielski made sure he connected with many groups in the Mahomet community, such as the Mahomet Economic Development Commission and the Mahomet Chamber of Commerce. As an ex-officio member of the groups, Smigielski often offered both Village and State updates, helping leaders understand how issues would affect the Village.
“When you look at the federal constitution, municipalities and local government is not mentioned a bit,” he said. “So Mahomet and other municipalities get our power from the States. So whatever the State does, that affects us directly more than people would think.”
Smigielski’s children live in both St. Louis and Wisconsin. During his career, Smigielski has also served in Du Quoin, Illinois, and he spent nearly a decade managing two small towns in Wisconsin.
