City Council - Regular Meeting

At the completed meeting of the Daring Student Council, 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, individual, for liberty and justice for all.

Sullivan? Aye. Here. Schauer? Here. Kenney? Here. Belzac? Here. Gustafson? Here. Leganski? Here. Stampinato? Here. Seven present.

We have a quorum that brings us to questions, comments, announcements of a general nature. Do we have anybody in the audience who wants to address the City Council on any issue? If not, Move to the approval of the minutes of August 17, 2026. Looking for a motion to approve. Alderman Kennedy, seconded by Alderman Belzac. Any questions regarding those minutes? If not, I'm going to roll.

Kenny? Aye. Belzac? Aye. Sullivan? Aye. Leganski? Aye. Gustafson?

Aye.

Stompanato? Aye. Schauer? Aye. Seven ayes.

That's approved. Takes us to receiving of communications. Do any of the aldermen have a communication they want to share with the city council? Alderman Solomon.

Thank you. Deering resident Lynn Novak communicated with me and the police department about traffic and parking along Evergreen Lane, especially during drop-off and pickup for Cass Junior High. So I know the Deering Police Department has been working with staff and the principal of Cass to try to figure out, you know, traffic flow and that people shouldn't be blocking driveways and streets. So appreciate that being, you know, handled. And then also some other just continued communications in Bailey Park and also over in Carriage Greens with residents who, you know, just kind of the continued conversations about the flooding and the water. And I know Dan's team, the municipal services folks have been really inundated, but they've been getting out, trying to talk to residents, you know, help them problem solve, see if it's a potential rear yard drainage or something where we can intervene or do something in cooperation. So lots of communication going back and forth with that. So that's it.

Anyone else? I had a couple of communication over the weekend from Jeff Prince regarding the water main break. I called up, said that water pressure was down, there was a water main break. I got a call from Bonnie Cucera here tonight regarding an electric line that had dropped onto a garage. And I think a handful of us have received communications from Sylvia McIver and Brian Liedtke regarding flat cameras. That's all I have tonight. Thank you.

Anyone else? Okay, we move to the Mayor's Report. First item on our agenda is a motion to advise and consent. The appointment of Deputy Chief John Austin Jump as Darien Police Chief, effective November 14th, 2026. I'd just like to read the statement. I said, I am pleased to submit for the Darien City Council's advice and consent the appointment of Deputy Chief John Austin Jump as the next Chief of Police for the City of Darien. Following interviews with each of the two fine candidates, Deputy Chief Jump was my choice to serve as the next leader of the Darien Police Department. His experience, leadership, knowledge of the department, and commitment to the city of Darien make him exceptionally well qualified to assume the support and responsibility. Upon the advice and consent of the Darien City Council, Deputy Chief Chump will officially assume the position of Chief of Police on November 14, 2026. In that capacity, he will succeed Chief Gregory Thomas, who served as an outstanding leader of the Darien Police Department for the past 11 years. Chief Thomas' tenure has been marked by dedicated service, strong leadership, and a wavering commitment to the safety and well-being of the City of Darien and its residents. On behalf of the city, I want to extend our sincere appreciation to Chief Thomas for his 11 years of outstanding leadership and service. At the same time, I want to extend our congratulations to Deputy Chief Jump on his selection and anticipated appointment as Chief of Police. I'm confident he will continue the department's tradition of professionalism, excellence, and service to our community. Therefore, I respectfully request the City Council's advice and consent to the appointment of Deputy Chief John Austin Jump. as Durian Chief of Police, effective November 14, 2026. Motion to approve. Alderman Schauer, seconded by Alderman Kenney. Any discussion?

I've known Austin. He's a neighbor. He's a police officer. But what I'm going to share tonight is something kind of personal to Austin. The reason Austin is maybe the way he is is because he has close friends. and a confidant and a mentor who happened to pass away on Saturday. His father-in-law, Kevin O'Connell, former police officer. You can see why Austin is the way he is. He's been surrounded by great people and great family, and I'd just like if we could just take just a quick moment to just silence in honor of Kevin O'Connell here tonight.

Anyone else have a comment to make? Then let's have the roll.

Schauer? Aye. Kenny? Aye. Leganski? Aye. Belzac? Aye. Sullivan? Aye. Stampinato? Aye. Gustafson?

Aye.

Seven ayes.

Appointment has been confirmed. Congratulations. Mr. Blossom, would you like to share a few words?

Mayor, if I can before. Mayor. I would like to suggest a couple of things beforehand. Unfortunately, as Alderman Kenney has said... Chief, I'm sorry, maybe could you go up there just so it picks up a little better. As Alderman Kenney had said, Unfortunately, the soon-to-be Chief Jump's family could not be in attendance due to his wife Maggie's father, Kevin O'Connell, passing away. Kevin had a distinguished career, spending 39 years in law enforcement, the first 30 years with the Spleen Police Department, retiring as a commander. And then nine years as chief with the Attorney General's Office. I did not personally know Mr. O'Connell, but I do know from every account that I have heard, he was very proud to be the police and to serve the community. I ask that we keep Austin, Maggie, and daughters Tegan and Tinsley in our prayers. I also want to say that I do very well know Austin. Tough decision on chief. You'll have a great one in a couple of months. Washington's tremendous choice. He, along with Deputy Chief Jason Norton and soon-to-be Deputy Chief Mike Lorick, quite honestly, I think you're going to have the dream team. You're awesome. As a command staff, a lot of great supervisors, all the great supervisors, so five of them in the Darien Police Department, you are going to be set for a very, very long time. I'd ask Chief Jump if he's taking laterals because I would not mind coming back and working with him as an officer with these guys in charge.

Thank you and thank you for the support for the family. This weekend has been a tough weekend for the family, but it... It shows the dedication to service that exists in our family. And I come from a law enforcement family, so this is a calling to me. It's just not a profession. So I'm truly honored and humbled by this appointment. I want to thank Mayor Marquez, the city council, for your confidence in me. And I also want to recognize Chief Thomas for his leadership and the foundation he has built for this department. Since Chief Thomas has come in, he has brought honor and credibility to this department that we are one of the premier law enforcement agencies because of all of his efforts. I'm grateful for his guidance and proud to continue the work he has started. I also want to thank many members of our community who reached out with messages of support. Hearing from residents who truly believe in this department and its leadership was absolutely humbling to hear. Most importantly, I want to thank my family. They've supported me through the long hours, the late night calls, and the sacrifices that come with this profession. I would not be standing here tonight without their support. But tonight is not about me. It's about the community that we serve. Police Department exists because the community places trust in us. That trust is our greatest responsibility, and it's something that we must earn every day. As chief, my goal is to make sure the police department remains a department our community knows, trusts, and is proud to call its police department. That starts with our people. I will support and develop the men and women of this department, hold ourselves to the highest standards, and make sure our officers have what they need to serve this community. Because when we take care of our people, they're better prepared to take care of us. We will continue building relationships with our residents, our schools, businesses, and partner law enforcement agencies. Public safety is not something a police department does alone. It's something we build together. I'm proud of this community, proud of this department, and deeply honored to serve as chief. Thank you all.

Congratulations, Deputy Chief. Chief, I don't know what to call you. All right.

So he doesn't feel obligated to stay.

Yeah, if you have some commitments at home, you're going to be spending a lot of late nights here anyway, so if you want to leave, you can leave.

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. All right. Motion to approve the reappointment of Bonnie Cassara, Jane Moss, Carol Mailers, and Tracy Thompson-Johnson to the Durian Citizen of the Year Committee. Motion of Alderman Sullivan, sent in by Alderman Gustafson.

Discussion.

And as I said before, we've moved this up to September because we've made some changes. And the additional month or so is going to give us an opportunity to get some of those things done. We've already picked our venue. We have a lot of work done. Any discussion? If none, the roll.

Sullivan. Aye. Gustafson.

Aye.

Schauer. Aye. Belzac. Aye. Stampinato. Aye. Liganski. Aye. Kenney. Aye. Seven ayes.

I'll have you come up to be sworn in when we get John approved. Next item is a motion to approve the appointment of John Kellen to the Citizen of the Year Committee. Alderman Sullivan, seconded by Alderman Schauer. This is a new appointment. John, as you know, has been involved in our police committee, police and fire committee. He's also been a former alderman, former planning and zoning. I don't know if there's a committee you haven't served on. Now you've got this to add this one to your resume, John. But John will be an excellent addition to this committee.

Plus, he's a prior citizen. He is a citizen of the year, so.

He's a private, and he's one of the few people who can tell me, Joe, that's really a screwed up idea. I can get away with that, so. I appreciate that. In the roll.

Sullivan. Aye. Schauer. Aye. Gustafson. Aye. Leganski. Aye. Belzac. Aye. Kenney. Aye. Stampinato. Aye. Seven ayes.

The committee's been approved. Would you all like to come forward? Jane, Bonnie, Carol, and John. Tracy's not here tonight, so.

Am I in trouble again? Am I in trouble again? No, not yet.

I'm going to ask you to please raise your right hand and repeat after me. I state your name. Do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Illinois and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of CITIZEN OF THE YEAR COMMITTEE. CITIZEN OF THE YEAR COMMITTEE. ACCORDING TO THE BEST OF MY ABILITY. ACCORDING TO THE BEST OF MY ABILITY. I HAVE REAPPOINTMENT CARDS FOR THE LADIES. AND, JOHN, I NEED YOUR SIGNATURE ON THIS. YOU HAVE TO BE OFFICIALLY ON IT. OKAY. LET'S SEE. WE HAVE JANE. THAT'S ME.

Thank you for your endorsement and support this evening. The Citizen of the Year and the Community Awards Committee is planning for an event that will honor the city of Darien. The event will take place on Friday, March 5th, 2027 from 6 to 11 p.m. This year we do have a change of venue. The dinner dance will be at Ashton Place on 75th Street. As of all things right now, we had to raise our price per person to $60 per person. The cost as in the past will include a family style dinner, open bar, dancing and community commonality. Besides honoring our 2027 Citizen of the Year, we will also be recognizing outstanding members chosen by their clubs and organizations. This includes the Darien Lions, the Darien Women's Club, the Darien Rotary, Darien Garden Club, Darien Business Alliance, and Darien Youth Club. Expanding our outreach this year, we will be inviting the Darien Historical Society and the Darien VFW post number 2838 to participate in this year's event. Nominations for the Citizen of the Year will be open November 1st and will close on January 5th, 2027. This will be communicated through Direct Connect and other city publications. We will announce our nominations on Monday, January 18th, at the city council meeting, I must reiterate that the committee does not openly choose the honoree. The nominations come from the residents, friends, and club members who believe they know someone who is worthy of this award and forward their nominations to the committee. This year, besides the nomination form being made available, we will be providing samples of successful submitted nominations to show what is needed to be considered. The criteria items that to be considered should be diversity of activities, length of service, degree of involvement in the community, and impact to the city. If there's no other questions, we hope to see you all at the recognition dinner and join in honoring our, excuse me, our individual that will carry on the prestigious value of this award. Thank you, Bonnie. Does anybody have any questions? No?

We're good. And I think I should mention that all the women of Sullivan is our liaison.

Yes, and I will be in touch with her so she can relay any information as needed.

Thank you, Bonnie.

Thank you, Bonnie.

Now I'd like to ask for a motion to approve the appointment of Melody Jankowski, Leslie Sweeney, and Tracy Thompson-Johnson to the Holiday Home Decorating Committee. And I think we have Melody here. So just so you know, she's not running the committee by herself, but she's one of three people. Motion, Alderman Kenney, seconded by Alderman Belzac. Questions or comments? And again, they're going to be doing Halloween as well as Christmas holidays this year. If no questions, the roll.

McKinney. Aye. Belzac. Aye. Gustafson.

Aye.

Liganski. Aye. Schauer. Aye. Stampinato. Aye. Sullivan. Aye. Seven ayes.

Melody, would you like to come forward to get sworn in?

Please raise your right hand and repeat after me. I, state your name. I, Melody Jankowski. Do solemnly swear. Do solemnly swear. That I will support the Constitution of the United States. That I will support the Constitution of the United States. And the Constitution of the State of Illinois. And the Constitution of the State of Illinois. And that I will faithfully discharge. And I will faithfully discharge. The duties of. The duties of. Holiday Home Decorating Committee. Holiday Home Decorating Committee. ACCORDING TO THE BEST OF MY ABILITY. ACCORDING TO THE BEST OF MY ABILITY. CONGRATULATIONS.

THANK YOU.

It's really nice to be able to count on people like Melody, Jane, Bonnie, Carol, Lou, John, Tracy, Leslie. I mean, these people don't get paid anything. They go out on their own. They spend a lot of time, a lot of hours picking a citizen of the year, organizing a banquet. I ran that committee for three years, and it was like planning a wedding where you got to pick the bride. It's a lot of work, and the Holiday Home Decorating Committee is a lot of work as well. So many thanks to our volunteers. Now I'm going to turn this over to our treasurer, Mike Warren, who will do our introduction. Mr. Jason Franken, go ahead.

Thank you. Yes, I'd like to introduce Jason Franken from the firm Foster & Foster, who performs the annual Lease Pension Actuarial Report. I believe the report is in your packet, and we'll review some of the highlights, mostly highlights this year for a change instead of any lowlights. Jason, thanks for coming. All right.

Well, thanks, Mike. Again, I'm Jason Franken. I'm from Foster & Foster here to discuss the May 1st, 2026 actuarial evaluation. And if you flip to page five of the report, I'll just basically... cover this page just to give you an idea of where things are this year. The good news is that the return, the market return for the year was really strong. It was about almost 23.4% return. So that's way in excess of our 6.8% assumption. So that is obviously really good news. We do smooth investment gains and losses over a five-year period. So even though we got 23.4%, we only get to recognize 20% of it this year. Last two years, we also had gains. In 2022, we had a very large loss, so we've been recognizing that loss over the last four years. We're to the point where it's almost fully recognized at this point, so the good news is that we have you know, strong gains in the plan right now. This was the first year of the last five that our smooth return actually exceeded our assumption. Our assumption is 6.8 on a smooth basis. When you consider those gains and losses, you know, we earned about 7.4%. So a really, really strong year. On page five, you can see the funded ratio increase from In the funded ratio, it is based on that smooth asset value, so our funded ratio increased from 57.3% to 60.5%, so an increase of 3%. In the financial statements of the city, There's a separate measurement that's used. And the biggest difference between that measurement and this measurement is that in your financial statements, you're not allowed to smooth the investment gains and losses. So when you don't smooth the investment gains and losses, the funded ratio actually goes from 60.5% up to 69%. So that's... obviously significantly higher than what we're showing here. And that 60.5 will converge towards that 69% as we recognize those investment gains that are in the plan right now. From a required contribution perspective, in the middle of the page, you'll see that the contribution amount actually goes down this year by about $40,000 from $3,109,000 to $3,070,000. With the pension ramp, we would have ordinarily expected our contribution to go up by about $80,000 this year, just based on how the mechanics of the calculations work. But instead, we saw it go down by about $40,000. Relative to our expectation, the contribution is about $120,000 less than where we expected it to be. So this is the first year in quite a while that the contribution has actually gone down year over year. So that's obviously good news. Flipping to page 7, I just want to point to the asset value in the middle of the page. The actuarial value of assets, that's the smooth value that we use in our calculation. You'll see that the smooth asset value is about $42 million. The market value, the amount of all the money in the fund is almost about $47.8 million. So that difference is the unrecognized gain amount, like I said, nearly $6 million that we will be recognizing and help to continue to increase your funded ratio going forward and hopefully continue to lower your contribution requirement. On page eight. I'm not sure that I mentioned this on the prior page, but the unfunded liability of the plan, this shows the amount of your assets relative to your liabilities. And you'll see last year that the unfunded liability was about 29.3%. So you had $29.3 million less of assets than you had liabilities. This year it went down by nearly $2 million, down to 27.5. So again, a big step in the right direction relative to where we were last year and where we expected to be this year. Obviously, each year, the market, we're going to have returns that is going to be more or less than our expectation. We have a big cushion of gains. Ideally, we'll continue to add to that cushion. But, you know, who knows where we'll be from a market perspective next April 30th. So we have several months, you know, to try to keep going. improving our asset value with gains in the plan. I guess the last thing I want to mention, I know we've discussed this in the past, but the investments have shifted to the consolidated police fund that is managed by a group of trustees that have nine trustees who have been elected and appointed. So they are the ones who manage the money now. That used to be at the local level based on your local pension board. While that pension board still exists for administrative purposes, all of the investing has been shifted to a consolidated plan. Last I saw, I think they have around $15 billion of assets they're investing for all of the police funds across the state. So are there any questions that you have about the valuation? Yes, sir.

In 2016, our pension target dollars was $42.6 million. As of now, it's $69.45 million. So that's gone up about 63% in 10 years. What is our actual ceiling number that we can say we're going to hit 100% funding liability at?

So can you repeat the numbers? I had $42.6 million in 2016.

Okay, $42.6. And I had $69 million this year.

10 years. You're talking the actuarial liability? Correct. Okay. Yeah. Okay. So the actuarial liability, if you look, you know, looking on page five, you'll see that, you know, it increased from $68.6 million last year to $69.5 million this year. Yeah. So the way the liability changes each year, year over year. So when I'm standing here next year talking about your accrued liability, it's all but certainly going to be higher than it is this year. It changes by new accruals that occur in the plan. So the current... active police officers, they are going to earn a pension credit during this year. So their pension at the end of the year is going to be higher than it was at the beginning of the year. That increase is called the normal cost. And you'll see in the contribution requirements, that's about a million dollars. So we expect that your actuarial accrued liability is going to increase by those new accruals, which is about a million dollars. It's also going to increase with interest, about a with 6.8% interest. So about $70.5 million times 6.8% interest, what's that? $4 or $5 million. So your liability is going to increase with those new accruals. It's also going to increase with interest as those people, as all the employees and retirees get one year older. It's going to decrease by liabilities that are settled during the year, meaning the benefit payments that are paid to retirees, because once those benefit payments are are made, they're no longer, there's no longer liability, that liability has gone away because you've made those payments. The projected benefit payments for the year are about three and a half, $3.6 million. So that's how the liability changes. It's going to go up with a million dollars of new accruals, it's going to go up with interest, and then it's going to go down based on the benefit payments that are made from the plan. So there's not a number that it's... There's no cap to it. It's just going to change based on the demographics of the plan, how long everyone lives, what their salaries are. So that's how this number changes over time. Right now you have... 33 active employees and about 31 people who are received are actually 35 people that are receiving payment so it's about a one-for-one the people that are paying in to the plan and earning benefits versus people that are drawing from from the plan so when you're you know if it was like two to one retirees, well then your liability might start going down because you'd be settling more of the liability each year that are being earned. But at one to one, that liability's just gonna continue to go up.

So in the end, we are not gonna have a ceiling number, which is fine, I appreciate the honesty. The reality of this whole thing, and I bring this up every year, When I first got on City Council, we were funding at 63%. Right now, we're at 61.9. I keep thinking about our target for 2040 being 100%. And when I see numbers where they keep increasing it, where do we get to the point of actually getting that funding at 100%?

Well, it obviously depends on the payments. The payments right now, we're at 15 years. The payments are designed to go up, like I said, about $80,000 per year right now. So your payments are designed to get larger and larger as you get closer to 2040. So those larger payments, just like a mortgage, once you get to those out years, you start paying down your liability and more and more of the payment goes to the principal or the unfunded liability and less interest. If we got to to the point where there's five years left on our amortization, the payments are going to be a lot larger, and you're going to be covering a lot more of the unfunded liability. And so the way it's structured right now with that 2040 target, the vast majority, actually I think there's a page here that our chart, yeah, if you flip to page 12 of the report, Of the report, the table at the top of the page shows you exactly what the expected unfunded liability is. It doesn't show every year, but in 26, we're at $27.5 million. If everything goes according to plan, that unfunded liability will be $26.9 million next year. then $26.2 million the year after that. When you get to 2035, you're still at $16.9 million of unfunded liability, but based on the expectation of much larger pension payments between 2035 and 2040, you go from $16.9 million down to zero unfunded liability in six years. Is that a reasonable expectation that you're going to pay down $17 million of unfunded liability in six years? It's probably pretty far-fetched, but that's how the system is designed. More than likely, that date is going to get kicked out, and you'll have decisions to make on how you want to fund the plan. Thank you.

Any other questions, Jerry? Thank you, Mayor. I know one of the benefits of going to that state plan was to get lower expenses, administrative expenses, and it seems like it has come down. How does that compare to what we were paying previously? Have we seen a reduction in administrative expenses? Because if you're part of a bigger... Well, pool.

Yeah, yeah. No, you know, so.

Selling points, we should have seen it. Are we actually seeing that?

Yeah, I mean, I think if you go, you know, so what I'm showing in my report is administrative expenses. It's not investment-related expenses. And, you know, so to get the investment-related expenses, you would have to go and look at, you know, the reports that are put out by the Consolidated Pension Fund, right? But what I can tell you is that the expenses, you know, a lot of places were paying 50, you know, 50 to 100 basis points pre-consolidation. And after consolidation, I think, you know, they're, you know, five or 10 basis points is what's being charged. I don't have the exact number. But we've seen it. But yes, I think if you go to the reports that are put out by the investment reports that are put out by the consolidated trust or the pension fund, you would see significant savings in the investment related expenses.

What he's saying is true because you can't really see the investment expenses because they're netted against the investment return. So if the dividends and appreciation are a million dollars and they're charging us $100,000, you would see a net investment return of $900,000. You wouldn't see the million minus the hundred expenses. In the old days, you would see what he's talking about at half a percentage point, 50 basis points. On our $47 million now, you'd be looking at about $250,000, and that's how we paid them before. You did see that broken out separately. Now the administrative expenses you see are essentially for medical, physicals, and more paper-type costs like that, not investment-related costs.

And then are we still paying that previous plan or something as well? from those meetings, that one person that presents at the meetings?

Well, there's the people that used to be the investment manager for us are still, you're talking about the investment managers that we had before. They're the ones that used to get the 50 basis points. Currently, they're charging the plan $500 a month for showing and coordinating, basically managing the cash, how much cash is available from month to month to pay the benefits.

So why are we paying them if we have to pay? I mean, is that something we can do internally? Why do we need them to tell us how much money we need?

That's a decision that the pension board, I mean, I attend the pension board meetings. I'm not a member of it. That's a decision the pension board made to continue their services at $500 a month. I mean, for six grand, is that something we can just do ourselves? It's very simple, because all it is is basically a money market account. They're managing the balance, and it just stays sort of stable. I think they look at them for some input, but... I mean, to me, it sounds like it's on autopilot.

Why do we need to be paying six grand a year? That's a good question for the board. Michael, on the money market, are you saying the NAV is 1.0, it's just a straight return? I'm sorry? On the money market, it's just a straight return?

The money market that they have is approximately $300,000 that they keep just for paying the monthly benefits to the retirees. And that's earning, I think it's currently earning about 3% in the money market, not 1%.

And Mike, I missed that meeting, but did you say there was some discussion on what rate to use as well? Has that been figured out?

Well, okay, there was a question. I was going to ask this question. At the meeting, you mentioned something because in the past, what Ted's question is valid. And you bring up the point that, yeah, we're basing on these assumptions with payroll and everything. And I remember maybe about 10 years ago, life expectancies went up. So we had to adjust the calculation for increased life expectancy, which you did. Back a few years ago, there used to be a 7% rate of return assumption under the plans, and the state went with 6.8%, and then you adjusted ours down to 6.8%. So the lower percentage resulted in a higher contribution from our standpoint. One thing that concerned me, though, that came out at that meeting, Jason, and I didn't get a chance to ask that question, You mentioned something to the effect that our people are retiring earlier and next year you were anticipating using a five-year earlier retirement start date than you're currently using in here. And you mentioned that the state was not anticipating doing that right now. See, to me that bothers me a little bit because if we can just arbitrarily change some of these, it naturally can have quite an effect on on the differences in the numbers. I mean, if the state is using this, I mean, I'd like to stay in line with what pretty much everybody else is doing so we can compare our funding at 60%. How does that compare to Willowbrook or Downers Grove or anybody else? But if we're using one set of assumptions, and they're using others is where I'd get a little concerned.

And so that calculation is done by the consolidated fund. So they provide you with an actuarial evaluation that's going to have the assumptions that they've adopted and they're going to be the same for all the plants. In terms of what I said during the meeting is there was an experience study done. The data suggests that the assumptions need to change. There's just been a change in behavior since for a lot of different reasons. One, we are not recommending the mortality change because the pandemic skews those numbers. But in terms of other events that have happened since then, The police, the public safety, there's been a lot more retirements a lot earlier, and there's been a lot more terminations. It's just been difficult for police officers, and people are leaving their profession sooner than anticipated. And additionally, It's been hard to attract and retain police officers and to a certain extent firefighters, not just in the state of Illinois, but across the country. The data suggests that the assumptions that we're using need to be tweaked to better reflect what we think the actual experience is and what we expect it will continue to be. So the state has not adopted those assumptions yet, and it has nothing to do with the validity of the data. I think if you, in an honest moment, everyone would say yes, this is exactly right. The reason they have not adopted it is just a difference of opinions amongst the board and related primarily to the investment return assumptions. So not the assumptions in question, but the investment return assumption that there's been heated debate about it. And as a result of needing a supermajority, it's basically they can't get the necessary votes to change the assumptions. In terms of the actual funding of the plan, it makes sense to use those assumptions. And as your actuary, I suggest that you use those assumptions based on reality and not based on whatever is going on with the consolidated fund and the reasons why they are not adopting those assumptions. Just like the state of Illinois, the Department of Insurance, they were using the 1971 mortality table up until 10 years ago or 15 years ago just because they couldn't get agreement on changing the assumptions, even though everybody knew that the 1971 table was out of date. I suggest changing the assumptions to reflect what we think is going to happen and not keeping our head in the sand and end up in a situation like many plans were 10 to 15 years ago where they had to change take a huge hit because everybody was living longer than what the 1971 table was, which was a 40-year-old table at that point, which the life expectancy that that table was suggesting.

I don't disagree with that aspect, but the aspect I disagree with is that we're going out on our own. We're going to use these assumptions. They're going to use those assumptions. And again, we're not going to be comparable. Maybe at the state level they are, but that means that we have to do an extra step like in November or something and find out what the numbers would be under their calculations as opposed to your calculations, as opposed to us being consistent with

Well, I would say that most plans in their own actuarial reports will be using the recommended assumptions and not the assumptions that are being used by the consolidated fund.

So when you do the report next year, will you be presenting both calculations? They'll both be in the report, yes. Then we will have the opportunity to make our own decision as far as whether we go with what the state has adopted or what you're recommending.

Yeah, the state also suggests using the 90% funded approach, which you're not using.

Right, but at least we have that option.

Yeah, like both numbers will be in the report next year.

And you used to provide us with that 90% number, but you stopped that a couple years ago, too. The numbers we're presenting, guys, is 100% funding, where we are only required to be the 90%.

We've been at 100% funding for 17 straight years. Since I've been here, yeah.

Any other questions for Jason?

Thank you, sir. All right, thank you. Thank you, Jason.

This is for our City Clerk's Report. Joanne? No report this evening, Mayor. City Administrator's Report, Brian? No report, Mayor. Thank you. Department Head and Information Questions. Questions for Chief Thomas or for Mr. Gondek?

I have a statement.

Greg?

There have been a number of comments about FLOC, and... Deputy Chief Jump, after his appointment, he had a very nice speech and talk We talked about honor within the police department and trust within the community. And I think that part of that trust within the community is giving them ample information about what we do and how we do that. And relative to flock, I think we've done pretty good and we can do better. So during the pre-council meeting, it was asked about what we're doing with frequently asked questions and the transparency portal page, whatever the proper technology term is. And so our idea is to continue to update that when we get additional questions. But some of those questions that we get, and I've only gotten... Probably four emails, two in favor, two against. The against ones, for example, one had 20 questions with multiple parts to each one of those 20 questions. So that is just a lot to answer, whether we need to research it or we already know the answer. So anyway, we continue, our plan is to continue that. One of the ideas last week was the FOIAs that come in, that we would just post those answers to the FOIA on the transparency page. When additional FOIAs come in, we just refer them to the transparency page. You can have the flock contract. You can have the Darien Police policy. You can do whatever on that transparency page. So our plan is to continue to update that transparency, the frequently asked questions and the like so everybody has the same information. Many people will probably have the same idea. There's a number of people that fall on the side of not wanting them and a lot of people that fall on the side of wanting them. Regardless of where they fall, at least on the transparency page and from the police department, we're going to give all the information that we know and update as we move along.

Any questions for Rod? Sure, Dan.

Not this evening, thank you. Thank you.

All right, it takes us to the attorney's report. We have a warrant and three monthly reports.

Mike. Thank you, Mayor. I'm requesting counsel's approval of warrant number 262709 and the amount of $443,219.24 from the listed funds. Payroll for the period ended August 20th and September 3rd in the amount of $699,681.01. Total will be approved $1,142,900.25.

Motion to approve Alderman Shower, seconded by Alderman Sullivan. Any questions or comments?

Shower? Aye. Sullivan? Aye. Stampinato? Aye. Belzac? Aye. Leganski? Aye. Gustafson? Aye. Kenney? Aye. Seven ayes.

The award's been approved. We have three monthly reports. Mike's going to report on the latest one, which is July.

Yeah, we actually have May, June, and July monthly reports. The auditors have completed the audit. They will be presenting that at the next meeting. So if anyone has any questions of May or June, I'm just going to read the totals as of the July report. The general fund for the three months reports... Year-to-date revenue $6,300,835. Expenses of $4,567,496. Current balance $8,229,403. Water and water depreciation fund year-to-date revenue of $1,219,444. Expenses of $1,896,078. Current balance $2,240,830. Motor fuel tax fund year-to-date revenue $251,935. Expenses of $188,699. Current balance $904,526. And capital improvement fund year-to-date revenue of $353,699. Expenses of $1,615,537. Current balance $22,996,066. Any questions for Mike on the monthly report?

Okay, we move to standing committee reports. Any of the chair people who have reports, they can share.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The next Municipal Services Committee meeting will be held on Monday, September the 28th at 6 p.m. in Council Chambers. Thank you.

We had an Administrative Finance Committee meeting tonight with several agenda items. Treasurer Korn mentioned about our auditors being there. They are not presenting at the next city council meeting, but on October 5th, which is two meetings from now. And that is also the same night of our next admin finance meeting, October 5th at 6 p.m. in the city hall conference room.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The police committee is scheduled to meet on Monday, September 21st, 6 p.m. across the parking lot of the police training room pending agenda items.

Thank you. Questions and comments agenda related? Anybody in the audience have questions regarding anything on our agenda? If not, we move to old business. There being no old business, we move to the consent agenda. Please bear with me. Item A, motion authorizing the expenditure of budgeted funds up to $15,000 to enter into an agreement with cops and fire testing services to conduct testing to establish an eligibility list from which to hire police officers to fill anticipated openings. Item B, an ordinance authorizing the sale of personal property owned by the city of Darien. which is the police department. Item C, an ordinance approving variations from the Darien zoning ordinance to permit the construction of a walk-in cooler with a zero side yard setback on the west side of a convenience store located at 402 Plainfield Road. Item D, an ordinance amending Title IV, Building Regulations, Chapter 3, sign code to allow electronic message centers by right subject to certain development standards. And item E, an ordinance amending Title IV, Building Regulations, Darien Building Code of the Darien City Code, Building Code Update 2021, existing building codes. Motion to approve. Alderman Balzac, seconded by Alderman Sampinato. And the roll.

Belsak? Aye. Stompanato? Aye. Liganski? Aye. Gustafson? Aye. Sullivan? Aye. Kenney?

Aye.

Shower?

Aye.

Seven ayes.

The consent agenda has been approved. Texas' new business. There is no new business. Texas violated questions in the announcements about general nature. Does anyone have anything they'd like to share? If none.

Are you going to mention the silent parade? Oh, I forgot.

I've been working so hard on it.

I was going to say, you've worked so hard on it. It's amazing what you've done.

This Friday, starting at 6.30 in the evening. The City of Darien and the Darien Business Alliance will be conducting a silent parade commemorating the 25th anniversary of the 9-11 tragedy. We have 24 municipalities that will be sending us fire trucks, ambulances, and squad cars that will be in a silent parade. That means lights only on the vehicles, no sound. We will also have a float that the Lions Club will be putting together at the end, which will have boots, a jacket, a helmet, for the fire department, and then they're going to have something there representing the police department. We have mayors from several other communities coming, and today we were informed that Representative LaHa will be with us, and she'll be walking with us in the parade as well. Parade begins at 6.30 in the evening. We are going to be lining up on the stage unit on Ironwood and across, I forget what the name of the street is on the other side, town. On what side? Park. You're on the corner.

I'm on the beach on Ironwood.

What's the other side? Beach.

Oh, the other side. That's Hensbrook Avenue.

Okay. 1 through 12 will be over there, and 13 through 24 will be on Ironwood. And when we start, the group from Hensbrook is going to come around the corner, go past your house, go past Bill's house. and turn out to 71st Street, and then the other group will start right behind them, and we'll go to 71st Street to Clarendon Hills Road, and we're going to go a little further than Clarendon Hills Road so we could disperse. Sergeant Mike Lark told us he wants to close the street a little bit after that. But we'll start at 630 promptly. The police department is going to assist us in getting notices out to people whose homes are on 71st Street so they're aware. Because this is unlike the Fourth of July parade. This is happening in the evening on a day that people don't normally have off. But we ask people to come out to join us. We think it's a nice way to commemorate the 25th anniversary of 9-11. So that will be this coming Friday. And our Cub Scouts will be leading the group. And the first car in the parade will be Chief Thomas. And then during It would be a nice way of paying tribute to the thousands of people who died 25 years ago. We'll also be honoring the seven people from Darien, Connecticut, who were killed in the 9-11 tragedy. We'll have their pictures on the floor. Any questions? I have nothing else, then. Motion to adjourn. Alderman Shower. Seconded by Alderman Kennedy.

Joe, I can't believe what happened.