City Council - Regular Meeting

Evening everyone. I am calling to order the regular meeting of Elmer City Council for Tuesday, January 20th, 2026. I'd ask you all to please rise and join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance 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. [clears throat] Please call the role. Jenko here. [snorts] Hill absent. Brand here. Jensen here. Tudo here.

Baker here. Nudira here. Virgil here. Nardini here. Bust here. Herby [snorts] absent. Brennan here. Mimis here. Bellinger here. 12 present, two absent.

12 present, two absent. We have a quorum. I'm sorry for the delay in getting started. We had to add exhibit A to item 6.18 on the consent agenda, which is now there. and it's the same one that was before the committee. Moving on to item three, receipt of written communications from the public. Is there any member of the public that has a written communication that he or she would like to deliver to the council? If so, please raise your hand. Seeing none, we'll move on to public forum. Clerk Malone, has anyone signed in for public form? Yes. All right. Michael M. Curley. All

right. Mr. Curly will step or everyone else step to the back microphone. State your name. Address is optional and you have three minutes. Good evening. My name is Michael M. Curley. P resident 186 West Adam Street, Elmherst, Illinois. So, real quickly, um I I believe I'm going to be in the agenda this evening uh to be a candidate for the Veterans Commission. I want to do a quick introduction so you know who I am and the reason why I want to be here. Good evening everybody, especially the the mayor, of course, all the um uh the city council members. Um thank you very much for letting me be here. Uh first and foremost, uh I want to go ahead and reinforce that I'd love to be a part of the veterans commission. I think I can do a great job for you, but I want to do a quick introduction to make sure you know who I am. First and foremost, um I have uh I'll speak to my military service first. I spent 30 years, a little over 30 years in the military. joined the Navy in n uh in high school. I went I went ahead and enlisted. I spent a few years as listed sailor and then eventually I was received a commission as a naval officer. Uh through my training I've spent uh three tours on variety of different ships, amphibious uh warfare. Um also I worked in C [clears throat] ground surveillance. Um I can't go into that right now. Um as well as Navy recruiting command. As so far as my civilian career, I've worked in senior management positions since my retirement. I've worked in higher education. I've worked in human resources and currently I work for a nonprofit. Um, and so really, I just wanted to to to reinforce the fact that if I'm uh able to be part of this particular commission, I'm going to go ahead and serve the best I can. I'm going to support what the mayor wants to do. Of course, I'm going to support everything that the city of Elmer wants to accomplish. I want to be that bridge between the city as well as a veteran community and and do the things that we

can do to bring to the city all the great things and that we as veterans can provide to the city. Um and that's really about it. Thank you. Thank you. And Mr. Curley is uh on the consent agenda to be the chair of the veterans commission replacing longtime chair Rob Pacanio. Thank you. Have my vote. You're welcome. David Pleva. [clears throat]

Hi, I'm Dave Pleva. I live at 244 North Oaklan Avenue. Um you have a written summary for me that I support uh submitted earlier today in regards to the proposed um town homes that are going to be built there. And I expressed our concerns about the possible parking, the possible infringement on our privacies as well as the negative effects we think it may have on our property value for later resailing issues. So I would appreciate if you guys could take a look at that and if you can let me know. Thank you. Just to make sure you're aware that topic is before the zoning commission across the hall right now. Okay? Because we're not the zoning commission. They usually sit here on Tuesday. So, just want to make sure if you want to be at that meeting,

uh I don't know that they've gotten to it yet, but I think they actually started about 10 minutes ago. So, right across the hall, the top of the stairs. Does he want his written comments to We put it [snorts] on both cuz we weren't sure. It was like a nardini, we need you. Um, all right. [clears throat and cough] The aisle.

All right. Any other All right. Uh, those are the individuals who signed up to make written uh who sorry to make uh public comment. Is there anyone who would like to take part in public comment that didn't have an opportunity to sign up before the meeting started? If so, please raise your hand. Seeing none, we'll close public forum and move on to the next item, which is announcements. Are there any announcements from the dis? All right. We'll move on to the consent agenda. Uh, city man, uh, clerk Malone, please read the consent agenda or whoever is reading it.

Item 6.1, minutes of the regular meeting of the Elmherst City Council on January 5th, 2026. Item 6.2, accounts payable, January 20th, 2026. 2,417,36.82. Item 6.3, appointment and reappointment to the Veterans Commission. [clears throat] Michael Curley, chair, Bill Shanklin, reappointment, and alderman Karen Shenko, exeicio. Item 6.4, appointment to the commission on youth, Derek Bergen. Item 6.5, referral, additional new sidewalks request with dedicated TIFF funding source for Northeast Elmherst. Item 6.6, referral Aldramatic referral requests. Item 6.7 referral city of Elmherst storm water project prioritization review. Item 6.8 report incentive and renovation grant request 128 North Addison Avenue Spark Scent Collective. Item 6.9 report amendment to the redevelopment agreement with Island Construction Inc. 240 West Lake. Item 6.10 10 report DMMC 2026 legislative action program item 6.11 report 2026 municipal utility fund rates item 6.12 report St. Patrick's Day parade 2026 item 6.13 report 2026 computer management maintenance software assistance Lucidity item 6.14 report 2026 sanitary sewer and manhole rehabilitation project 6 2615 item 6.15 report 2026 sanitary sewer cleaning and [clears throat] televising project 2612 item 6.16 report contract Contract amendment number three to the

construction agreement for the water reclamation facility WRF bundle number five improvements project item 6.17 report engineering services agreement 2026 sanitary sewer and manhole rehabilitation construction engineering services item 6.18 report motor fuel tax program general maintenance appropriations 2022 to 2024 item 6.19 report rental of chiller for Elmherst Police Department. Item 6.20, Ordinance 012026, an ordinance approving and authorizing the execution of an agreement for the residential solid waste collection and disposal services by and between Allied Waste Services of North America LLC in the city of Elmharst.

All right. Thank you. Is there any item on the consent agenda that any alderman would like to remove either for further discussion or to vote against? Alderman Virgil. Uh 6.20. Sorry. 6.20. 6.20. Alman Tuto. 6.11. [clears throat] 611. All right. We can have a [snorts] motion to pass the consent agenda minus items 6.11 and 6.20. Alman Virgil with a motion. Alderman Nudair with a second. Uh, call the role, please. [snorts] Hi. Hill absent. Bram. Hi. Jensen. Hi. Paludo. Hi. Baker. Hi.

Nera. Hi. Virgil. Hi. Nardini. I Bastto. Hi. Herby. Absent. Brennan. I Mimis. Hi. Bellinger. I 12 eyes, two absent. 12 eyes, two absent. The consent agenda minus 6.11 and 6.20 passes. Click, please read the report for 6.11.

Report 2026, municipal utility fund rates. It is therefore the recommendation of the finance council affairs and administrative services committee [snorts] that the city council direct the city attorney to prepare an amendment to the municipal code of ordinances addressing the changes proposed above effective for the usage build on or after March 1st 2026. Thank you. I have a motion to pass 6.11. Alman Tudo with a motion. Alman Nudere with a second. Alman Tudo.

Thank you Mr. Mayor. Um I apologize. is I meant to put this for our committee report onto reports and recommendations. So that's why I'm pulling it. I thought that uh our um annual review of our municipal utility fund rates was important to talk about for the council and for the members of our community. Um I'm happy to report this year um that we have a um small modest increase in our utility fund rates. Um, I want to remind everyone that the um municipal utility fund um collects and accounts for all of the um costs and expenses to run our water um and sewer system in the city of Elmharst. And being an enterprise fund, it collects monies from the users um to operate this utility. um it does not collect taxes rather it's based on fees. Um there are a number of components to the overall um utility bill that funds this uh system and the first item is the um DUP page water commission rate. that is the amount of money that we pay on a volumetric um perspective for water from the DWC. Um it's been the policy of the city of Elmherst that we don't make money um on that. We make no profit on that. We simply pass that rate on to the users directly and um the DWC increased its rate uh in May of 2025. We did not pass that on um because we we weren't in cycle for for a rate review then. So we are now passing that rate increase on to um the residents of Elmherst. Uh so that

will be now $5.80 per 1,000 gallons. Um that's about 3 and a half% uh increase. The second component um is just our volutric water and sewer rates. There are no increases planned on that item. The next item is the uh capital investment recovery charge, which is a flat fee that users pay on their uh bimonthly bill to uh recover monies to pay for long-term debt for the system. Um we're happy to report that because of a uh receipt of funds uh $400,000 from Illinois American Water um for their uh their share of the system costs that we were able to offset the necessary increase in the circ charge for this year. So there is no circ charge increase this year recommended. Uh the final component is a new fee. Um this is something that does deserve a little bit of intent attention for the members of the public. Uh the Illinois and the federal EPA um have new measures in place uh to remove additional phosphorus from the wastewater stream that goes into in our case into Salt Creek. uh additional extra phosphorus in wastewater streams can lead to uh issues downstream. Um in our case the Gulf of Mexico um and all of the the folks that that feed into that contribute to that and so that is the reason for those regulations. Um we have to meet new uh phosphorus removal levels by 2033 I believe is the current year. Um and in order to do that um significant capital needs to be invested in our uh water

treatment plant in order to remove those additional solids. Um phosphorus comes out of the water stream ultimately as a solid precipitates out and needs to be removed. Um and that takes a lot more toll on the capital equipment at the plant. Um, in order to pay for those costs to begin to remove the additional phosphorus, we are implementing a new fee to all users. Um, it will be $10, uh, on a by monthly basis, uh, for a 1-in meter, which most residential properties have a 1-in meter. Um so with all of those increases and non-increases put together, um the average residential uh water bill for 12,000 uh gallons per billing cycle will see approximately a $12 increase on a um bimonthly basis. That's about 3 and a half%. Um it's reasonable. Uh we like to keep water rates as low as possible as everyone um uh understands um but we do also have to invest in our system and um and and significantly the phosphorus fee is new and I wanted to take the opportunity to explain that. The last piece that I will mention is uh the last time that we discussed water rates um there were a number uh all I think uh council members were concerned about the affordability for our seniors. some of those seniors that are on fixed incomes. And at that time, we uh as a council decided to pass along a CIRC rate freeze for seniors that have um already qualified for a property tax exemption. So, there's approximately 500 households in Elmherst that qualify for that. Um the in this

recommendation, the committee also intends to recommend that we do not pass along the phosphorus fee um to those 500 households as well to try to help um with the affordability for those folks. Um that's the summary of the report. If anyone has any questions, I'd be happy to address them. Thank you. Thank you, Chair Tudo. Discussion. All right. Thank you for the report. Clerk Malone, call the role. Shenko. [clears throat] Hill absent. Bram I. Jensen. Hi. Beludo. Hi. Baker. Hi. Nudira. Hi. Virgil. Hi.

Nardini. I Bast. I absent. Brennan. I Bellinger. I 12 eyes. Zero nays, two absent. 12 eyes. Zero nays, two absent. 6.11 passes. On to 6.20. Clerk. Moment. Please read the ordinance. An ordinance approving and authorizing the execution [clears throat] of an agreement for residential solid waste collection and disposal services by and between Allied Waste Services of North America LLC in the city of Elmherst.

Have a motion to approve 6.2. Alderman Bastto. Second, Alderman Bram. Alderman Bastto. Thank you, mayor. This is an ordinance approving and authorizing the execution of an agreement between Republic and the city um as they were chosen um for the solid waste collection um for the next 5 years at our last meeting. Um I was not given a heads up that this was being pulled, so I don't have more information prepared. I'll turn it over to the alderman who pulled it. Very good. Virgil.

Yeah. Uh thank you, [clears throat] Mayor. Uh I'm supportive of this item, but I I pulled it because I wanted to mention there's a small provision within the ordinance um that I think is uh useful to mention. Um in previous years for spring cleanup, uh the different zones that we have uh that have their Saturday cleanup, you know, usually goes uh the the Wednesday, whoever has Wednesday pickup uh gets picked up first, the first Saturday for spring cleanup and then Thursday and then Friday. uh in this ordinance uh that will begin to rotate which one gets picked up first. So um you know this time of year when this is done uh when it starts is in April and the weather can be quite volatile can be cold. So rotating this I think is going to be helpful for residents. You know it's not always going to be the same uh zone that uh you know get kind of get stuck with that first pickup. Um and the reason I wanted to mention this is for a couple of reasons. Um, one, uh, this was based on resident feedback. Uh, and two, um, I think it's also useful for folks to understand that they'll need to check their schedule each year to understand which day they're going to be on. So, with that, I'll turn it back.

Thank you. Any other discussion? Shenko. I absent Bram I Johnson. Hi, Paludo. Hi, Baker. Hi, [clears throat] Nudira. Hi Virgil. Hi Nardini. I b I absent Brennan I Vimis I Ellinger I 12 eyes zero nays two absent 12 eyes's zero nays two absence 6.2 2 passes.

Moving on to item seven, reports and recommendations of appointed elected officials. Mayor 11. Um, want to note that the history museum exhibit uh is the new exhibit is opening January 23rd. [clears throat] Anatomy of Healthc Care in DuPage County's medical uh system. Um, and in conjunction the day after the opening, there'll be a blood drive on January 24th. um appointments are open. You have to register on the history museum website. I also want to note that um as we move down the path to our new police station, there's a visioning open house on Monday next January 26th from 5 to 7 in this room. Uh, and this will give the public an opportunity to weigh in uh on the exterior design of the police station. So, all are welcome to that. City manager,

nothing to add tonight, mayor. Thank you. All right. Um, Alderman Brennan, do you have a report?

I do. Thank you, mayor. [clears throat] So, uh, we are now in January. Um and uh last summer, late summer, we uh we all voted on a short-term rental ordinance in in the city. And uh the primary objective there uh I mean w without the ordinance that we we passed um you know really the Elmherst Police Department could only rely upon uh chronic nuisance type of ordinance language and it just didn't have enough you know teeth in it to to get specific to short-term rentals. So, the good news is it's up and operational. Um, as of January 1st, um, up until January 1st, anyone who wanted to be a short-term rental o host in the community had to go through uh sub uh, getting a a license and going through that that procedure. Part of the process is for them to also go through city inspections so we can make sure that what they're advertising for their rental is is actually safe and they're not, you know, putting in, you know, six beds in in a basement bedroom that's really not a bedroom. Um, so the good news is we we have, you know, 14 operators who have, you know, submitted or applied for city licenses. uh they're in the process. Uh some are complete, but the the inspection, you know, process is is somewhat lengthy. We have to send, you know, staff out there, uh code enforcement to to actually go and carry out that process. So, that's good news. That the unfortunate piece was a lot of those applications came in

towards the latter part of December when because the deadline was December 31st. So, we'll get caught up with those 14. And good progress has been made there. Uh so so city code enfor uh enforcement um now that it's in January um they're they're now looking at uh those properties that are being listed as short-term rentals and [clears throat] you know reaching out to those owners and um you know saying that they're not in compliance with our ordinance. and and three tickets have been issued thus far. Um, so I think again the the the whole notion here was to create a common sense framework for for Elmherst Police and and code enforcement um to to leverage to make sure that the quality and and what's going on in the community was was at the quality level that we would expect. So, we see that in the works and it is, uh, is absolutely working. Um, additionally, uh, code enforcement also estimates that approximately six prior short-term renters, um, have chosen to cease rental and no longer advertise. So, read into that whatever you want to. uh potentially they they felt they didn't want to go through the process or potentially, you know, what they're renting uh renting would would not comply w with uh the safety parameters that that they would had to come uh under. So all in all ve very effective and I just have one last uh use case. Um I'm not going to you know mention the specific um you know

address or street but but there was a violation in in December actually. So even though uh e even though there was sort of a a window where you had a window to get your your application in. Um, we had an ordinance in place that that had uh us carry through and deal with this situation. So, there was a short-term renter renter um 13person party, you know, cars parked all over the place. Uh, Elmherst police responded, you know, for the parking violations there, I think, you know, parking in front of driveways andor fire hydrants, etc. So those were pretty straightforward. So if there were any violations there, you know, those cars got tickets. Um and uh so so the the you know, the long and short of it that this property owner used the third party property manager to run the the Airbnb for him. Uh the police cited the short-term renter property owner um with violating our short-term rental occupancy ordinance. Um the owner pled liable and paid the fee uh for for this and has subsequently submitted his application to to get licensed. Um, and you know, as part of this, we also reached out to Airbnb uh to to make sure that they were aware of this violation for this particular host. Um, [sighs] yeah. So, so I, you know, to summarize, we we have an ordinance in place. Elmherst Police uh and code enforcement

are able to leverage uh this in a very effective way. Um and we'll we'll continue to see how this shapes up, but so far from my perspective, this is doing exactly what we'd hoped it would do for our community. So, thank you. I thought you're going to finish. We know who you are and we will find you. [laughter]

Um, it's a good public announcement so that those who aren't in compliance know that our ordinance is in effect now. Any questions on that report? All right, that brings us to the end of the reports. Any other reports to be delivered? We'll move on to other business. Is there any other business to be brought before the council this evening? Seeing none, may have a motion to adjurnn. Alderman Bram with a motion. Alderman Bellinger with a second. All in favor say I. I. All say nay. We're ajourned. Stay warm.