City Council - Regular Meeting

Council for March 2nd. Please stand and join us in the pledge of allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Tonight, uh, Alderman, uh, Ralph Stampinado is going to join us by phone, but we need a motion and a second to approve his participation. Do I have a motion? Alderwoman Sullivan, second by Alderman Shower. Any discussion? RO discussion.

Brian, what's your current interpretation of what the rule is so I understand it going forward? Well, in in uh the alderman's case, if you have an illness and you're at home sick, that's pretty simple. You're allowed to participate. Okay. There's three three criterias, but that is one of them. Okay. All right. I have no more question. The role. Sullivan. Hi. Shower. I Belzac, I Kenny. Hi, Leansky. Hi Stampinado. Hi. We have seven eyes.

I will ask for a roll call. Belzac here. Gustoson here. Kenny here. Leansky here. Shower here. Stabinado here. Sullivan here. Seven present.

We have a quorum. It takes us to questions and comments of a general nature. This is on our agenda. to allow individuals from the audience who have an issue or concern they want to share with the council on something that's not on the agenda to come forward and present that. Does anybody from the audience like to address the council on anything that's not on our agenda? If not, we move to approval of the minutes. I'm looking for a motion to approve the fee February 17, 2026 minutes. U moved by Alderman uh Kenny, seconded by Alderman Leaganski. Again, any questions or comments regarding those minutes? None. The role. Kenny I. Legansky. Hi.

Belac. I. Sullivan. I. Gustoson. I. Stampinado. I. Shower. Hi. Seven eyes. The minutes have been approved. Receiving communications. Almond shower.

Thank you, Mayor Marquez. Uh, I got a communication from Ralph Cozy at 8413 Captain's Drive. Little beef, uh, background. Last year, he was the gentleman that reached out to me who moved from Chicago to Darian. Said he loves the city, but at the corner of Hinswood and basically uh, Friendage Road, it is completely dark out there. Well, the light has gone up. It hasn't been turned on yet, but he noticed it. He called me directly and he said, "Ted, thank you very much. I said, "I have nothing to do with it. It's all Dan Gon and he wanted to say thank you to you." So, I appreciate it. Unfortunately, we can't make Kamehameh uh move any quicker. So, no problem. Any idea when that's going to be turned on or it'll be any time now.

Cool. So, anyway, he he appreciates it. Alman shower that brings up a point uh former alderman John Kalan has pointed out to me that we have asked repeatedly for Commonwealth Edison to put a light on the pole at Oldfield Road and North Frontage Road and we've done that for the last several years and they still have not put that light on that. It is a very dark corner at Oldfield and North Fridge. Yeah. And that cuz that's that's ID do, isn't it? It's ID do right away. And you know There's a simple request standard on

chief oped is going to come is going to tell you that they have to go back to ID dots go going back to ID dot to the permitting division so it's been a very very frustrating route with them but I I have a new tactic and I think I'll uh entertain that tomorrow don't tell anybody Mary

thank you uh mayor I did receive a communication from Andrew Proctor who's on Barrymore and he um had read in the patch that uh Darien might be looking to impose a 5% uh streaming tax because that was a just a dialogue we were having. We we weren't voting on it, motioning on it or anything. Um and he said, "Please do not please do not support this measure if it is proposed." We in Illinois already pay too much in taxes. My property taxes went up by $1,000 just from moving to Durian from Downer's Grove on a house that is priced exactly the same. I don't blame this on the city, but the school districts having to raise property taxes and the state of Illinois not paying the schools and the communities what is promised. So, he just expressed his um desire for us not to support such a measure and I just let him know that that's not something we're exploring at this time.

Right, old woman. Actually, it's kind of ironic because the discussion was about abating property taxes and there was a couple things that were talked about remote examples of things but in in context of things the council was not going to do and again it was all about abating property tax. That's why I'm so grateful that Mr. Proctor reached out to me directly so that I could set the story straight because um it was misrepresented in the media as sometimes happens.

Sure does. Anybody have anything else? Dan, I would like you to cover this. I got the email. As you guys know, there was an accident at the corner of Cash Avenue and Planefield Road where a car was t-boned and went into the sign, our marquee sign. Young woman who was part in that accident wrote a lovely email to me and to Mr. Gand copied me or Dan sent it to me complimenting Jim and I don't remember Jim's last name. Jim Gleck. Yes.

Jim actually stopped and went over there and made sure she was okay and stayed with her and greatly reduced her anxiety. She said until the paramedics came and she just wanted to make sure that we knew that and that we thanked him and we said thank you. Thank you to him for what he did for her. Yeah, we definitely uh did and at the same time when we get these, you know, compliments, good or bad, uh we always put them on the board for the guys to see at public works there. So, that's really nice. And we have enough room at the public works for that. Brian, a lot of room there. Yeah. Thanks. You're in agreement. Anything else? Walls falling down.

Anyone else have a communication? Okay. Takes us to the mayor's report tonight. We have two individuals. Uh, one of whom I know pretty well, uh, Dennis Brena. When I was at Oakland Community High School, Dennis was the lawyer for Oklahoma Community High School. And as a dean of students, I got to sit there with Dennis on a lot of expulsion hearings. I hate to say that, but we did. That's when we met Dennis. And we have Lori Carneahan. Dennis is the external affairs manager for the DuPage County Health Department. and Lori is the deputy executive director of the DuPage County Health Department and tonight she's going to be doing a presentation on the crisis recovery center. So Lori, the show is all yours.

I'm also it tonight. So that's scary. Don't say that until after it's working here. Yeah.

It's all yours. All right.

Yep. Thank you so much. All right. Well, good evening everyone. Thank you so much for having me. Um, I'm really excited to come to talk to you about our crisis recovery center in Weaten and really to talk about our entire crisis continuum to make sure that you're aware that all of the residents here in Darien and throughout the county have access to all of our services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Um, so hopefully maybe you're aware that our center opened back in September, but we have outside of this center, we have been providing crisis services throughout the county for many, many years. Um, so we are the experts in the county on all things crisis intervention and really we've been working towards building this ideal behavioral health system which as you can see up here is someone to contact, someone to respond and a safe place for help. So that is really based on the national best practice guidelines that are out there. And here in DuPage County with the addition of the crisis recovery center, we now have all of those pillars of services available for every county resident. Um so as you can see the check boxes on the bottom are just really that uh indication that we have someone to call. We have um a 988 hotline which is a national hotline for um somebody to call when they're struggling with a mental health um situation or a substance use crisis. And we also have our local county hotline that has been in existence for years and years. So both of those are staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and are answered by our crisis counselors. We have the ability to talk to them over the phone, provide support and intervention, and link to ongoing resources if needed. We also have mobile crisis response teams, which we send out into the community when somebody is having a mental health crisis. So, this is our someone to respond. That's a crisis counselor and somebody with lived experience going to

where that person is struggling in crisis to hopefully resolve the situation, sit with that individual and their family member or a loved one to really try to alleviate the situation and link them to community resources. That team can also facilitate a higher level of care if needed. So if they do need an inpatient hospitalization or um a substance use inpatient stay, they can facilitate that and make sure that that person gets to where they need to go. And then our a safe place for health is our crisis recovery center. Prior to that, we had a 12 bed open and voluntary unit on our Wheaten campus. That's a little bit longer term of a stay and it was a really narrow scope. So, it was open to DuPage County residents that were struggling with just mental health concerns. Um, and we used it more for um either a step down from inpatient hospitalization or as a deflection from hospitalization where they can stay with us um recover, you know, get get the recovery services they need, see a prescriber, uh maybe meet with an individual therapist and case manager, but it was very very small. It was 12 beds and it was adults only. So, we really had identified the need for this crisis recovery center, which is up to 24 hours of care on site at our Wheaten location um to be able to really stabilize a crisis, have that safe non-clinical space to be able to go when you walk into this building. It is a beautiful building and it was really intended for people to be able to walk in and not feel like they're in that institutional setting or not need to use an emergency room unnecessarily. So, our goals really for the crisis recovery center were to provide that single point of access for people to be able to know where to go in the community if they're struggling with a

crisis um mental health or substance use crisis to really destigmatize. We all know the traditional routes of a mental health or substance use crisis. People either calling 911 because they don't know what to do or taking somebody to an emergency room. We know there's a time and place for that if there is really that acute um safety issue or a medical condition that needs that level of care, but many times that's not the case and people just need that time and space to meet with the right professionals in that right environment so they can have better outcomes. Um we also really wanted to make sure that the substance use piece was offered. Um that was a direct request from the hospitals that we've worked with um because they said a lot of people are coming into the emergency room just needing a safe place to sober and not being able to have that or needing to with start to withdraw from some of their medications but they don't need an inpatient stay but they can't stay in the ER. Um, so we worked to make sure we had that available and really overall just trying to reduce that inappropriate use of 911 and the inappropriate use of emergency rooms and then relying on our subject matter experts. We have now over 160 crisis staff um that are throughout our continuum, which means that we have the ability and now the flexibility to say, gosh, if we're really busy on site today, we can pull more staff on site. If there's more things going out in the community and we have more calls, we can send more teams out in the community. So, we're really excited to be able to have this um really, you know, um new staffing level to be able to respond at, you know, at whatever volume is happening in the community or on site or on our hotlines. So, this is really and it's small here, but it really just shows that now we have that full continuum of care here at the health department. And so, for the

for the county and for the community, we're available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. What's also on here is that we have a follow-up program. So, if you're coming in to our crisis recovery center and you're receiving that support and stabilization and linkage to ongoing services, our goal is to do that as a warm handoff. We don't just want to hand somebody a piece of paper and say, "Call and we really hope that you get the services that you need the next day." We want to be able to make sure that we're talking to that organization that we're linking them effectively and if there's a wait list that we're going to follow up with them until they can get to that level of care. Um so that's in addition to the services that we offer. So really this is just to indicate how um people are referred to the crisis recovery center and then how they exit the crisis recovery center. So really what you can see is it anybody can refer to the crisis recovery center. Um in our initial data that we have available for our the our end of the year report um self and family are a vast majority of where we're seeing these referral sources come in and that's so important because we want the community to know that we're there and so we'd love for individuals or their loved ones to be bringing them into us or to call our number and have us come out to them. Um but we're also working with schools. Our own 988 hotlines can refer. Um law enforcement and EMS can drop off. EMS is still in a um smaller scope. So we have um seven municipalities around CDH that can drop off. Um and then as of March 1st, we just added in Villa Park, Lumbard, Addison, and Glennside Fire District that'll be dropping off as well. We're expanding that slowly and being able to have that as an opportunity. If somebody is medically clear and is truly in a mental health or substance use crisis that we can handle,

they can divert be diverted from the emergency room and come directly to us. Um, hospitals are working with us to refer back and forth in many, many community providers. We don't want to be the the one providing all of the services for mental health and substance use. We really want to be that space for there's something going on at that higher level crisis intervention and then as you can see we're working to link to ongoing partners. The health department has a variety of services that we can offer but we're just a small part of the community and of the organizations that provide mental health and substance use. So it's really working with our organizations for outpatient services. Um if they need, you know, inpatient stays, we can provide that. we can provide that linkage, but our goal is really to hopefully send them home with with community resources and a plan for ongoing care. So, if you come to the um crisis recovery center, we have three specific areas. Um two for mental health. So, one area is for adults struggling with a mental health crisis and one area is for youth struggling with a mental health crisis. Each of those areas have 12 semi-private spaces where um you'll see really comfy recliners that they can be back there by themselves or with a loved one, but then there's common area spaces that they could be up and about. They have can have light snacks or light meals while they're there. And it really provides all of those professionals and all of the services to come to them in one setting while they can really have that safe and calm environment to help decompress and really work through those crisis in or the the crisis symptoms. Um and then we also do have an area specific for substance use and sobering. Um, so there are five sobering stalls, which is really it's a a bed very low to the floor that if somebody wants to come

in and just have that safe place to sober, we'll allow them to do that. So they don't have to go to an emergency room. We have EMTs on site 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to monitor vitals and make sure they don't need that higher level of care. And then we also have an area, we have six beds. That's the only place in the building that they can stay over 24 hours. And that's for withdrawal management really from alcohol um and opioids. And so that is monitored by our substance use medical director. So it's not a medical level of care. They can't have IVs. They can't need those types of things, but they can get medications that really help ease um their symptoms while they get while they go through withdrawal. Um, so really we really just wanted to make sure that everyone here was a aware of the services that we offer um and make sure to understand where to find us. So on our website um there's a lot of information that you'll see you have the printable materials but that is all on our website available to print and download as much as you can. Um we also do want to share that we do have this um our first report that just came out that is talking about our initial volumes. So, everybody has one. It's also linked on the website, but we're really excited to see the impact that we're already having. Um, so we've had over 745 assessments on site just by the end of the year. Um, so we're continuing to see that. We're seeing um referrals from all different areas. Um, we're seeing youth come on site, which is really, really big for us because that was a service that really wasn't offered onsite before we opened. Um, so, you know, and we're continuing to be out in the community just as often. Um, so we had, um, over 800 off-site assessments where that mobile crisis team was going out. We're continuing to answer our 988 and our

crisis hotline. So, as you can see, it's really that full continuum of care. Um, and we want to make sure everybody's aware of that. So, if you can't come to us, we can come to you or we can start that phone call and make sure that we have people available to help work through that crisis situation. Um, so the location is 115 North County Farm Road. If you haven't been able um to see it, it really is um a beautiful building. It's exactly what we really wanted it to be for our community. um and was really built with the client in mind, with the person that's struggling to really make sure they have what they need when they're in crisis. So, we're there when we need us. Um and then lastly, we do have um an email address specifically for the CRC. So, if there's questions or if you have an organization or a group of individuals that you feel like would be um it'd be good to educate them on the crisis recovery center and what we have to offer. We also have um a speakers bureau. We have presenters going all over the community to be able to share that information.

I was just sat in my Rotary meeting about There you go. About six weeks ago. Yes. Yes. Hopefully sharing all the same information. Sounds very familiar. Yes. Go ahead. For the children under 18, do you have to involve the parents in this process? So, they do have to be with a parent to be back in our um youth area. if they come into our triage area, we've always been we're able to assess for safety, for risk. Um, but we do need parental consent. What if they're having a problem with the parent?

So, then we usually try to work with the family um within that even if they can't be in the same areas. So, it's definitely something that um youth really it's youth and family. We need some level of participation. And if it can't be a family member, um, we'll often ask if there is a mutual adult in their lives that they're willing to have come and sit in. So really, they work through that on an individual case by case basis. But overwhelmingly, we do see even if the youth and their family are really struggling that in that type of space and environment, they're they're willing to at least sit down to have the conversation. If there's a point of abuse going on in the family and the ch child is being abused,

I wouldn't think they're going to want the parent there with them when they're going through that process. Yes. And if it's to that level, then we have all our regular protocols of call. You know, we get DCFS involved pretty immediately. If there's a risk that something's going on in the home, our counselors are all trained in that. And then DCFS would actually come and assist us on site. Okay,

Lori, before it was built, there was a lot of a lot of talk about people going to hospitals and the and the harsher that was put on hospitals to deal with these same cases. Obviously, you keep statistics you noted 700 something referrals from September to end of December. Have you do you have stats that show that the number of going to the hospital instead of coming to you is down? Um so we're working with the hospitals to stay in touch with them about their data. Um we we can ask people would you have gone to the emergency department if you didn't come here to which the answer is usually yes. Um but we we haven't we don't have yet the the data to be able to say are we are is are these services making an impact on the emergency rooms. We anticipate that they will and that we'll have all of that data. we have all of the DUP page hospitals at the table with us and a regular stakeholder work group. Um so they're anecdotally saying you know we're sending more we're seeing you know less individuals on this day or this time but overall we don't have those numbers yet.

I was I was there at the ground but I can have the luxury of being there for the opening and it is a beautiful facility and I would urge everybody go out there and take a look at it. did something as a as a former high school administrator having to deal with children who had issues like this. It would been wonderful to have a facility like this back then. We have a full-time social worker on staff with our police department. How are you working with people like that?

So really with all of our community partners, we want to make sure that people have the resources they need. So if they're coming to us for that initial crisis, if the social worker from Darien can help support that followup, we're referring there just like we're to community agencies. A lot of times people are actually referring to us from a crisis and then we work with them to say, "Okay, how do we work together?" Because again, we're not going to be the ones providing all of the ongoing services. So, a social worker here or at other organizations, we need them to be able to follow up and provide those connections as they, you know, hopefully get on their path to recovery and then they're really helping support them the rest of the way.

I realized, you know, this was about a $25 million um building, but I also realized that it's going to cost money every year to keep this facility running. How are we how are we funding the services that are so critical?

Yes. So we're doing it in many different ways. Um so one of the ways is that is if we can bill insurance for services, we are. So if somebody has Medicaid or MCO Medicaid, we we have the ability to bill for those services. Unfortunately, even commercial insurance is very limited on what we can bill. We're working and advocating at the state level to change that. So that's really on kind of those direct billable services. Um we also have grants from some of our 708 partners. Um we recently well probably a couple years ago now um we launched our DUP page health matters so our 501c3 to try to raise money to make sure um that this is really um an ongoing effort. So we know these services are so critical and unfortunately the state is very behind and insurance is very behind on what we what we can bill for and what can be done. But we're doing this because this is the right thing to do and this is the right type of care that everybody should be getting for a mental health and substance use crisis. So we're really trying to pull every lever we possibly can. Um we're always looking at state grants at federal grants. Um but it it takes a village. So, um it's definitely something it's, you know, that braided funding strategy overall.

Did you want to add anything at all? I think the only other thing, um we just um come out because they can hit they can hear you.

I think with the funding too, the the county just last week agreed that they would supply there's opioid funds from the settlement that they received. um they're guaranteeing us the interest on it, which will be between 260,000 and 300,000 at least right now every year. Plus, all the settlement money isn't in yet. They should be getting another million every year. So, we're looking forward to um that money and also talking to municipalities who have opioid money, uh cannabis tax money, um perhaps that they need a use for the opioid settlement, for instance. there's only certain things you can use it for. The crisis center is one of those things. Um, so we're talking to a lot of those partners.

I think it's a wonderful program with my background, something I think we've needed for a long time and I think it's a credit to DuPage County and to the board that they've spent the money to build this facility and offer these services. I don't think every every county has something like this. So I congratulate you on your on your facility and uh I wish you well. Thank you. Thank you.

Question for Lori. Uh you know on the municipal service end of things we deal with uh you know disasters time to time tornadoes for example uh fires uh and even hoarding unsanitary conditions. Would the CRC be part of this on a on a short term where you know I have to be the one sometime where we tell them unfortunately I can't let you back in the house. You have you know there's other agencies that they're sent to for example of where to stay for an evening especially if they don't have family. So I guess the question is does CRC handle situations like this?

Yeah. So I would say it could be. I mean, if they're really struggling because of a situation, um, then it's definitely worth a phone call to us at least to start, um, and then see what we can do. We also have a trauma and disaster team that is really in addition to all of these services that I talked about. And it is very specific for a community event, a a you know, whether it's a tornado, a fire, a completed suicide at a school, they they go out and really help to debrief and support whoever it is in need. So, it's a little bit outside of crisis intervention and is more debriefing and support, but I think that first call should always be to that crisis recovery center to say, "How can you support?" Because we have all of the staffing and all of the expertise there. Yeah, it's just another tool in the toolbox, you know, whether it's the police department, fire department, sometimes, you know, there's too many things going on with other municipalities and everyone can't accommodate that single situation and it's a stressful situation for those people, obviously.

Yep. Absolutely. Absolutely. Thank you. Anything else for either Lori or Dennis? Thank you very much for coming. Thank you. So your uh crisis counselors are they psychologists or social workers or

so combination. So it's either um bachelors or masters in counseling or social work. So we have um a lot of different staffing levels. We have crisis technicians that are there to really help monitor um the millu and kind of what's going on there. And then we do have um the uh bachelor's level and mast's level clinicians. We have licensed clinicians. And then we also have prescribers available. So if somebody needs a psychiatric evaluation or a substance use evaluation, um they have access to that. So really it runs the whole gamut. Again, thank you very much. Great so much.

Okay. And again, if you have a chance to get out there and see this facility, it really is a lovely facility and I would urge all of you to spend some time out there. All right, that takes us to the city clerk report. Joanne, no report this evening, Mayor. Thank you. City administrator Brian. Uh, no report, mayor. Thank you. Department had information questions. Any questions for Mr. Gonbeck or for uh Chief Thomas? Uh Dan has a presentation tonight. So we'll turn it over to Dan.

Thank you. Two powerpoints in the evening. Wow. All right. So uh good evening uh mayor, city council, our viewing residents, and of course our patrons here this evening. My report this evening focuses on tree management for the city's approximately 9,000 parkway trees and various public trees throughout median such as 75th Street that the city uh basically owns and m maintains. If you recall, December of last year, the council approved a proposal from Davy Resource Group or Davy Tree, the same uh same corporation to uh conduct a comprehensive tree inventory uh which is basically a database um and through this city council agenda when it was approved there's a grant with it and that grant was in the amount of uh 53,000 um this company was awarded Davy Resource Group was awarded the actual uh um contract grant uh is a was brought forth from the inflation reduction act or IRA funds and again it's also part of the US forest and Illinois department of natural resources. uh the grant will basically allow to m uh to maintain uh the optimal tree inventories along with related data and it'll be over this data should be in a in a form that will be able to be used for the next 5 years. So with that, obviously you'd like to start uh the tree inventory here uh program. So what you're going to see out here is uh what are the what is Davy Resource Group using for tools, vehicles, so on and so forth. They will have vehicles that are clearly marked and identified.

The representatives of the companies will be wearing hard hats, safety glasses, uh, and the equipment they basically use is what's referred to a built more stick, uh, a table tabletop, uh, iPad or, um, computer if you want to say, and again, the logoed vehicles. What's this data include? I'm not going to go through point. I'll go through point by point but I won't provide any further uh um definitions to them. It provides the address location, the species type, the tree size, the multi- stem tree, and again multi multi-ree stem is basically where there's a lot of stems coming from trees that are that's the nature of that particular tree. So you will see all these different stems that look like they're going all over the place, but it's actually part of a a good tree if you want to say the condition of it. Um again, there's going to be only three conditions, good, fair, poor, or deceased, which is actually four, but primary tree maintenance, the risk rating for it, the defects, any comments, and the date of inventory. on the ground. Basically what they do is uh there'll be a kickoff meeting more than likely on a weekly basis with our arborist either Paul Divine and or John Carr. Um and also I'd like to give Paul Divine brought this program forward for the city as well. So kudos uh to Paul. Um again it's based on safety of all the of all the actions that they're doing. Davy tree group here. Uh the data calibration again was all what I previously had just mentioned and communication procedures are going to be advertised through our social medias. By that I mean schedules, where

will they be? What quadrant? Uh this program itself will take approximately 9 to 10 weeks. We're also going to locate trees again through GIS methodology, the stumps if there's any stumps and planting sites. Planting sites is something that's very critical. One thing that we do find is uh from the last tree grant that we had this year, there were several residents that did not want uh parkway trees even though they are in the city right ofways. um we want to take a better look at them and be able to work with these residents and explain further what opportunities there are and what the tree canopies actually do. Again, it's agreed upon collaboration for planting sites and again we'll be recording specific data for each site whether it's a type of tree and or uh number of trees. The individual tree inspection, these are urban foresters will inspect each tree. They identify again the species, the measure, the measuring of the tree which is referred to as a diameter by heights. Um they assess the condition of the tree and the risk if there is any risk to be looked at along with the suggested maintenance. Uh the program will run Monday through Friday and there may be some Saturdays weather depending. Uh DRGL will also provide obviously the personal protective equipment. So you'll see these guys again with hard hats, glasses, everything that is within the norm of what these gentlemen will be doing. If there's any questions, residents have the opportunity to contact Daria Public

Works Municipal Services for additional information at 630538105. Also, what we may be doing, we're just uh looking at it whether or not we can set up a separate email that will refer only to actual trees um and go to a specific per person. So in case we do get bombarded with phone calls that there's not, you know, 10 individuals per se handling it. Other than that, uh this was part of a program uh that we uh were required also to do. There's more protocols that are required to fulfill this grant. This is just one of them. So if there any questions, be more than happy to entertain them. Yes. When you do the finish the data collection and you find out how many trees are poor at that point, do we make a a business decision on whether these trees are salable or what needs to be done or how's that going to work?

Exactly. Once we see all the information and based on the type, the concern and the risk that we'll basically look at it and say all right these need to there may be a certain few that will need to come down for whatever reason that's within the budget but anything on a larger scale such as ash trees that with the in with the disease and all that you know we come back to city council with the preventive maintenance or schedule it for budget next here. So, in collecting this data though, it's going to be a onetime deal because any trees that come down or get planted in the future, you can just add it to your data collection. Correct. You don't know. Yeah.

Correct. Plus, we'll have a 5-year plan through this company that will provide plant x amount of trees here. Within the next two years, these should be taken down. Uh so on and so forth. So, Dan, now do you think with within what we have now, do we have any of those cottonwoods on public property now? Actually, I would venture to say that a lot. Yeah, I would venture to say no. I know we do. We do not plant them. When we do see them in rightways, we've taken the opportunities to remove them during the ditch uh program over the, you know, course of This will tell us if there's any left. Yeah. Right. Exactly.

That's I've got an ash tree in the front of my house. It's got one heck of a lean to it. I actually had a neighbor come up to me yesterday complaining how bad the tree is leaning. It's a danger to her her son's car that parks in the driveway there. Are they going to look at that that too? Yes. And that's the tree you've been telling me for the last for the last 10 years. I know. Now her son's parking back there though. So now it becomes an issue. It will be evaluated. Okay. And you will have the opportunity to speak to the representatives as well. Good. Good. Maybe I'll have him speak to her. Okay. Anything else for Dan? Okay. Thank you, Dan.

Thank you. Thank you. All right. Any any questions for Chief Thomas. All right. Move down to the treasuries report. Mike, thank you, Mayor. Requesting council's approval of warrant number 252621 in the amount of $754,648 from the listed funds payroll for the period ended February 19th amount of $334,28156 total will be approved 1,88,88564. Motion to approve those second by Alman Kennedy. And again, questions or comments? Turn on the roll. Belzac. Hi, Kenny.

Hi, Sullivan. Hi, Gustoson. Hi, Stampinado. Hi, Leansky. Hi, Shawer. Hi. Seven eyes. The warrant has been approved. Takes us to standing committee reports. Do any of the chairs like to share any information? Alderman Sullivan.

Um, thank you, mayor. Um, the administrative finance committee of a whole that was um reviewing and um having great conversations about the fiscal year 27 budget concluded last Wednesday. So, there will be no more meetings um that were previously scheduled, which would have been um this Wednesday and the following Wednesday. Um the budget will be um presented in a public hearing to the city council on Monday, April 6th with um the vote taking place that night. Um and that evening just the regular admin finance committee will be meeting on April 6th at 6 p.m.

Thank you, Mary. Alman Belza. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. uh municipal services committee uh unanimously approved everything that's on tonight's consent agenda at our February meeting. Uh our March meeting will take place on March 23rd at 6 p.m. in council chambers. Thank you. Alderman County. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The police committee meeting the police committee will meet on Monday, March 16th, 6 p.m. Caressive Parking line in a police training room. Pending agenda items.

Thank you. We had a durian action committee meeting on Saturday. We went from about 9 almost to uh 11:00. We had representatives from a lot of our major organizations. Uh the point of discussion was the 250th anniversary celebration and how we're going to incorporate all the groups into that celebration. We had some really really nice ideas. I'll give you one for example. Um they're they are thinking of developing a mural which they would paint on plywood and they would uh actually construct the mural on the corner of 75th and Cass by Old School and uh Dean Rockin had an idea that in conjunction with that they would do a time capsule. We'd be able to put everything in a time capsule that they would bring up long after we're gone. But that's just one of the many many ideas. We had every group suggest how they could become involved in this activity. So we're we're really pleased and when we get the minutes, we'll get those out to you so you can see them. Uh that takes us to questions and comments agenda related. Do any of the aldermen of the audience have any questions regarding any of the agenda items?

If none uh we'll move to old business. There being none, we move to the consent of it. And I please like to note that item I just missed it. You just missed it. Talking about a resident's agenda should be under new business. But her time her time to talk is now is now her time to talk. Her time to talk. Agenda related number 14. Audience speaks during comments. She could have presented present but now's the time. Yeah. I can't speak at number 18 on the agenda.

That's what you're speaking on now. In preparation for that agenda, we take agenda item questions at this point in the agenda prior to the council discussing the issue. So, you'll have a chance to talk to the council before they discuss that. Come on up. And just state your name. Yeah, come on up. Say three minutes if you want.

Yeah, sorry. I was I thought I was going to speak at 18. That's why I was waiting. Uh my name is Grace Black. Um I live in Darian at 2510 Abbey Drive. Um and I guess I am going to speak about where is it KZC261. So this is the 75th Street redevelopment I believe or development. That's the property between Haroldson's and um marketplace of Darian. So, I'm the one of the residents that is along the residential property line to the south. Sergio, who's my neighbor and abuts the rest of the property to the south, uh he couldn't make it today. He was present. We uh for the first meeting which was with the planning and zoning. Um as well as Steve who's behind Harelson's so doesn't directly about the property but kind of an angle view. Uh he also came to the planning and zoning commission meeting. Um, and then in your packet, I believe you have a letter that was written on behalf of all three of us for that meeting. Um, so I'm just going to cover at a high level some of this and then some of the things that have happened since.

Um, and so and also Steve couldn't be here either today. Um, so in general, um, as stated in the letter, you know, as the residential neighbors, we fully support this development. Obviously with it being reszoned to B2 um with a couple considerations and the main ones being um that B2 zoning requires a fence be put at the residential property lines which is in our backyard which today is a wooded area as long as well as some grass. Um, and so we are asking that no fence be put in. And just to note that Haroldson's has a fence, but not at the residential property lines across six properties back there over to the west of it and two directly south of it. And then the town homes that are called Abbey Woods are to our east. So we're the last two homes. If you think of coming down Cambridge, coming down Abbey, six of those properties have either will have backyards to Heraldson's. The last two homes that are going to now be adjoining a business property are mine and Sergio's and then the town home start which obviously have marketplace of Darian behind it.

Um which also doesn't have a fence. So one of the reasons we're asking that no fence be put up is that it doesn't fit the rest of the business district there what's been put in over the years and it would also just be essentially a wall with no sides. Um, so that that's the high level and instead we said, okay, instead of a fence, let's maybe do let's reinvest that money into landscaping to replace some of the trees that are going to be taken down. Um, so I'm going to fast forward through some of this. I've already covered, excuse me, not to interrupt you, but on the public comment, there is a threem minute time limit. Yeah, that's what I'm trying to So, so I've shut that off for now. Just I wanted to make sure you're aware. I don't know if it was mentioned prior. It wasn't.

Okay. Um so then the other asked sorry should I continue?

Yeah I said another minute is fine. Sure. Okay. So then the second thing was about the refuge container which was already um discussed at prior meetings at both you know planning and zoning as well as municipal services. Um so fully supporting that. Um and then since then we've met this past Wednesday. um Hussein, which was the GC for the owner on his behalf, met with the residents as well as Alderman Gustoson in our backyards because I think we felt that it's a whole different experience when you're standing there to understand what we're talking about versus looking at satellite fuse about what this impact will be. Um so he agreed and we met on site and we followed up with an email about different options that we can maybe agree on as future neighbors. Um, and so we sent those over in an email and from what I understand as of this afternoon I got a phone call from Hussein. So I hope I'm not um that uh the owner which is also Hussein which is here um has spoke I don't want to say if this okay um has agreed to file a variance to remove the fence. Um so that was new information this afternoon. Um so thank you. Um, so then on behalf of the neighbors based on that information, our ask today of the city council is obviously move forward with this resoning and site plan with the refues as already has been talked about. Um, but I would ask since the neighbors have all agreed with the new owner, business and residential, let's not put more burden on them to have to go through this variance or ask would be if you could move forward with approving everything with no fence required. Thank you. I I'd like to ask a question and the reason I I I ask is my my my sister Joanne owned

correct that house. Yep. I think it's the house you rent. I spoke to her actually because of this property and to your brother-in-law. And um I remember she had a line of trees or something in the back. Yeah. Those are on their property now. And then the house next door had nothing back there and it was just went all the way back. It's had like looked like it had a large backyard.

Um Yeah. So behind Haroldson's is a big um there's about I don't know. I thought it was 50 ft, but I believe it might be even more from the back property line. So that's behind Steve and some other neighbors. There's at least a 50ft buffer behind Haroldson's on all sides from the residential properties and their fence is more inside. Um, so maybe that's what you're thinking of. Right behind this home, my house, which is originally your sister's home, um, they maintained about 44 ft of grass that is actually part of that property, right? Because the previous owners, Nick, I don't know what the agreement was back then. The 10 years I've lived here, uh, they did not clean up anything. So, you say you talked to my sister? I did. And your brother-in-law last year

cuz I haven't talked to him for a while. So tell him next time or after the car wash thing. I talked to him at some point in the past few years. But yeah. Okay. But um the trees are closer. So for me, the trees are about 44 ft in. So I maintain that grass. Yeah. And then behind um Sergio, the trees are more closer to his property line. All right. Well, thank you. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. So So Dan, how can this process work then going forward? Well, in a nutshell, Yeah. what you have in front of you this evening. The recommendation will be to approve as is presented.

Okay. As is presented means that the fence currently has to be installed. Should the developer owner want a variation from that fence, he will need to come through the variation process starting with the planning zoning economic development commission followed by a recommendation to the municipal services followed by a recommendation to the full city council. process approximately four to six weeks depending on the variation and the timing of the legal requirements u legal requirements

city council does not have the authority to wave this zoning condition that doesn't stop him from moving forward and tearing down the home and and correct that's what Yeah, that's what I just mentioned to move forward with the process as is presented this evening after but then we can come back to the fence issue after the fact and not not put the fence in pro the fence right now is part of the package for this evening. If he does if the owner doesn't want the fence he will be required to submit an application and we'll go through the whole process for the fence itself.

Correct. Correct. So, if it's four months from now and he's ready for his certificate of occupancy and he hasn't submitted a variation, certificate of occupancy will not be issued until that fence is installed. So, the key is to get the variation put in right away

immediately. Okay. Okay. We can discuss this point further. We're going to move item I to new business. So, we'll have more of a discussion when we get to that point. Right now, I'm going to uh read the consent agenda. I have a number of items, so bear with me. Item A is consideration of a motion authorizing the mayor to enter into a contract with Builders Paving LLC for the 2026 street program as per the following schedule of pricing ending 2026 2027 budget approval. base 1,239,44412. Alternate one patching $88,500. Alternate 2 C Junior High School 175,14721. We're told not to exceed $1,53,91.33. Item B, consideration of motion authorizing the mayor to execute an intergovernmental agreement between the city of Darian and Cass School District 63 for reimbursement of parking lot paving maintenance at 8502 Bailey Road to be completed under the city of Darian's 2026 road maintenance contract with builder's paving LLC utilizing uh contract unit pricing in an amount not to exceed 175,000 $14721. Item C, apparation of a motion to award a contract with True Green Limited Partnership for various fertilizer applications for turf areas, planting beds, weed control within rip wrap areas and tree fertilization for 75th Street in an amount not to exceed $62,67 for the 2026 landscape fertilization

services. Item D, consideration of a motion authorizing temporarily waving certain building permit fees for a period of March 3rd, 2026 to April 30th, 2026. Item E, consideration of motion authorizing the mayor to execute a 2-year intergovernmental agreement with the county of DuPage for mowing along the county roads and the rideaways. Item F, consideration of a motion accepting the expenditure of budgeted funds for the purchase of a 2026 Dodge Durango Pursuit all-wheel drive sport utility vehicle from Napleton Fleet Group in amount of $40,324. Item G, consideration of a motion to approve an ordinance amending section 3-3-7-5C of the city code to expand the number of class E liquor licenses from 5 to six. Item H, consideration of a motion to approve an ordinance approving a final plan of sub subdivision PZC 25-1 Dave Mule uh 2220 Manning Road. And item I, consideration of a motion to approve an ordinance amending title 5A, chapter 11, section 5A-11-2, off- streetet parking and loading requirements of the Darian city code PZC 202504 for commercial vehicle text amendment. Motion to approve. Alderman Shower, seconded by Alman Belzac and the RO.

Shower. Belzac. Hi Sullivan. Hi Mcansky. Hi Kenny. Hi Dustin. Hi Stampinado. Hi. Seven eyes. The presented agend has been approved. Under new business. Item A. Consideration of a motion to approve an ordinance abating certain taxes previously levied by ordinance number 0-50-25. Motion to approve. Alman shower. second by Alderwoman Sullivan and discussion. Mr. Bannon, do you want to

Yeah, just briefly the um uh annually the city council and all the other taxing districts uh within the uh residents or businesses levy taxes and they do that usually in November of the previous year and the timing of that is a little hard because at least for us we haven't gone through the budget process. So what the what we have done now the last two years city council levies enough taxes to pay for the uh police pension fund requirement. There's a study done every year uh from the actuarial it says what we should put that year into the police pension fund and uh now that the city has concluded the budget discussions uh tonight before you is to continue uh an abatement in order to maintain the property tax extension that the city received last year. So in essence, it would be no increase to the city's portion of the tax of your property tax bill. Now, everybody gets their property tax bill. If you look at it, there's a number of entities on there. The city is only one of those entities. So, our portion of the tax bill, if this abatement is approved, will ma will maintain what it was last year for those residents, assuming you had your your assessed valuation didn't go up. Some residents their value of their home might go up. So they might see a slight increase, but they would normally see that anyway. But in terms of what the city is levying, it'll be the same as the extension last year. And um at least the three-year budget that the council will see in in a few weeks shows that uh maintaining that property tax at the level with the abatement tonight would be for all three years.

And I just want to mention in layman's terms, this means your property taxes will be 17 years. And we have not raised property taxes in the city of Durham 17 years. So, you know, I don't want to I don't want residents aren't always familiar with the term abatement. And I that's why I wanted Mr. Vana to explain that, but I want to say it even clearer. There's no going there's 17 years now that there's no property tax increase in the city of Durham. Well done. We got a motion and a second. Any other discussion? Now the roll. Shower. Hi. Sullivan. I. Stampinado. Hi, Leansski. Hi, Kenny. I Gustoson. I Belzac, hi.

Seven eyes. Item B, consideration of a motion to approve the ordinance abading property tax here to for levy by ordinance 0-11-8. Motion to approve. Alderman Kennedy, second by Alderwoman Sullivan. Any discussion? This abatement is more routine. It comes before the council every year. This is a bond that was issued for water system improvements. The uh principal and interest for the bond is paid through the water revenue. So again, this is the time to abate uh those taxes and not collect those from the residents. Mission on the roll. Kenny I. Sullivan. Hi. Belzac. Hi. Shower.

Hi. Gustoson. Hi. Kenny. Hi. Leansky. I stampado I. Seven eyes. Uh item B has been approved. Item C, consideration of a motion approving the 2026 summer concert series as outlined in exhibit one and authorized the mayor to approve the required agreements. Motion to approve. Alderoman Sullivan, second by Alderman Belzac. And again discussion anything if none the role Sullivan I Belzac hi Leansky hi Gustiffson I

Stampinado I Kenny I Shower I seven I's item C has been approved. Item D, consideration of a motion to approve an ordinance reszoning property from R1 to B2 and granting site plan approval for the construction of a commercial building PCC 261 at 255 75th Street. Mr. Hos Hussein, is that qua? That's what you see. He's

okay. Uh motion to approve alman shower second by alderman balsac and now discussion. This is in my ward. I just want to thank the developer for selecting Darien. I think this is going to be at the end of the day an excellent addition to the city. So I encourage him to to to work with with Grace and the neighbors there and just work out the issue with the fence and get that taken care of. But you know the the residents there including myself cuz I'm 100 ft from this development too is that we are very very fortunate that this is the development that came in originally it was going to be a a car wash. God forbid if a car wash the problem with the car wash you have is you have 247 free um vacuums going all night long. Okay. You also could have had retail with the drive-thru. You could have had a a um a a tavern with o open with open music. So, there was a lot of things that could have been on that property that would have been a lot worse. And what's going in there right now, I think, is going to be a great ad. It's going to be, you know, it's only open till usually 5:00 in the evening, 5 days a week. No Saturday, no Sunday. I actually went they have a property over in Willoughbrook. I went over there and did a walkthrough of their property and that that was on a Sunday just kind of want to see what kind of activity was going on. There was one person there. She was getting caught up on her paperwork. But she walked me around and stuff and and through the through the building and stuff. well wellmaintained building and it I tell you we're going to be

extremely fortunate to have and I believe long-term they're looking to move out of the Willoughbrook location. So they'll have their corporate office will be here too and I believe they have one other office in Texas, one other location. So I just want to thank everybody. We just have a little tweak with the fence and we'll get this this issue worked out and then we can move forward on it. But thank you very much. I'd like to introduce the um business owners Hussein. Yes. Hussein and Tar Tariq. Tariq. Yes. Operation manager. To come forward and add anything.

Good evening. Hi. Thank you very much for you guys to approving it. Our C manufacturing design business. We've been in the business for the last 15 years. We do have office in Texas as well. Yeah. And we do have like a background commercial rather, you know, all that kind of stuff. We do have a retail store in Chicago. It's been there for last 40 years. So that's how we started our business. Well, welcome.

Yeah, Jerry. Um, my only question. Um, I mean I appreciate that you're working together with the neighbors, Dan. So now if if they agree not to put up the fence, is there any requirements on like how many trees have to put put up or do you have to put up trees? Is there any thing that in lie of the fence has to be done to make sure everybody's on the same page is all I'm throwing out. So right now the fence regardless has to stay. It will be it will be installed unless the variation comes in. Understand?

Landscaping plan. And there is a landscaping plan and the landscaping plan needs to be submitted per the points that are within the code. So x amount of uh daisies for example equals 40 points. So there's a whole total point system that he has to achieve through various species plus the area in the back is a BMP section which refers to best management practices whether they're native plantings in a bio and some type of bioail per se. Um so that all has to get submitted and that gets reviewed by uh the engineer. Uh our engineer uh Dup Page County does not have to review the anything here. Thank you.

Any other questions? The role. Shard. Hi. Belzac. Hi. Gustoson. Hi. Sullivan. Hi. Kenny. Hi. Leansky. Hi. Stampinado. Hi. Seven eyes. It's been approved. Gentlemen, welcome to the area. We look forward to welcome. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. and thank you for being open-minded about the homeowner and their needs. Appreciate appreciate all your time and effort. Thank you. Thank you. That takes us to questions, comments, and announcements of a general nature. Do anybody jerry?

Uh thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um I just want to make a comment on the um consent item I in terms of the parking. I just want to say uh give a kudos to the muna services and planning and zoning. Um I was in I was in the audience back in December when this thing first came up and the room was filled. Yeah. And a lot of people were disappointed.

Um you know there was a lot of maybe questionable press out there as well. And I really want to say thanks to Alderman Belzac and Alderman Stapanado and alderman Shower for listening to the residents too and and taking their concerns and writing this to where you know no one came tonight. So to to see where this topic was in December till now I just want to say you know good job really. So thank you. Yeah, I agree. I was at all those meetings and it was well well done. Yeah. Big thanks to Dan

really. I mean that's where again we're working with the community, working with the residents and uh again I think you guys did a great job. So thank you.

Very well done. Uh just a reminder that on uh Friday evening um March 6th at Alpine Banquetss, we will be celebrating our Darian Citizen of the Year, Deborah Uler, along with some other amazing service and volunteer club organization honores. Um the program starts at 6:00 with cocktails, dinner at 7. Uh reservations did close last week, but if you're um eager to go and you did not get your reservation in time, please reach out to city hall as soon as possible tomorrow um at 6308525000 to see if you can still get yourself some tickets. But it'll be a great night. Um it's a real um you know opportunity for us to make um a celebration out of um the amazing things that make Darian such a nice place to live which are the um residents and the people who give back. So um I want to thank um Bonnie Cusera and the citizen of the year committee. Um they work tirelessly um selecting an individual and then planning the event. there's a lot of coordination that goes into it and truly this would not be possible um without them. This is all volunteer done. Um you know we very little staff time is spent on this is this is done by a city of daring committee full of volunteers and I am very grateful for their service.

Thank you Mary. Anything else? Uh just want to remind everybody that this Sunday is the Lions Club annual pancake breakfast. That'll be uh March the 8th. It's at Eisenhower Junior High. I believe the doors open at 6:30 and till about noon. So come enjoy your pancakes and support the Lions Club.

I also want I wanted to note that as of last uh Thursday, we advertised for the Hometown Heroes program. The Hometown Heroes program provides residents an opportunity to nominate a current or former Darian resident who is serving or has served in the military. And uh to date we we have received nine applications already in less than a week. Um many many thanks to Modell Funeral Home. Crisp and Andrew Brunson are picking up the entire cost. The the banners are about 70 something dollars a piece and they're going to pick up the cost for 50 banners. We're only going to put 50 banners up because as Dan told me, we only have 70 light post and we have to put some other stuff on those other 20 light posts. So, the first 50 will be um will be the ones we'll take. But again, I want to thank Andrew and Chris for their generous donation. And Jessica has already worked on what the banners are going to look like and it's they're beautiful. Uh it's really going to be a nice nice touch. These will be up from Memorial Day until Veterans Day and it's I think it's going to be a real honor uh for people to see a family member's picture up on those on those banners. Anything else? Uh motion to adjurnn. Alman Shawer, seconded by Almanski. All in favor?

Thank you everyone.