City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening everyone. I'd like to call the regular meeting of the Elmer City Council for Monday, April 7, 2025 to order. And I would ask if you would all please rise and join me for the pledge of allegiance. back 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. Thank you. Clerk Tamer, please call the role. Cahill here. Tuluto here. Park here. Nuda here. Bastido here. Nardini here. Brennan here. Herby here. Bellinger here. Brimis here. Hill absent. Shenko here. Jensen here. Graham here. 13 present, one absent. 13 present, one absent. We have a quorum. We're going on to item 3.1 on the agenda and probably then on to 3.2. Oh my gosh. What's going on? I know it's okay. I feel like I should call this uh Immaculate Conception Day, but we won't do all that at once. Uh we have two proclamations and they're both very exciting. The first one involves the anniversary of the Immaculate Conception Grade School. Uh, Father Tom, Father Jeremy, or whoever else you're going to bring, come on up here. Line up here for the presentation of the proclamation.

Um, here you go. I know you got a new knee, so I don't want to Just kidding. [Music] All right, welcome everyone. I had uh the great pleasure, I think Alderman Tuluda was there as well and uh to attend the 125th anniversary celebration at IC. I got to say I was most impressed by what I saw in the classrooms. learned a few things. Guinea pigs and hamsters do not make good pets. Um um but I was very impressed by what I saw. I was very uh happy to be involved and so I wanted to present this proclamation which I would like to read. Whereas Immaculate Conception Great School has been rooted in the Catholic faith and its mission in increasing an educational environment of love, faith and justice celebrates 125 years of growing in the light of Christ. And whereas Immaculate Conception Grade School began in 1900 with one classroom, two nuns of the Sisters of St. Agnes, and 40 students, it flourishes today with devoted staff members, community support, and strong enrollment. And whereas Immaculate Conception Grade School currently serves over 550 students in maximizing their potential through a strong academic program blended with the teachings of the Catholic faith. And whereas Immaculate Conception Grade School prepares its students for future achievement in high school, college, and beyond through instilling Catholic values and self-discipline. And whereas Immaculate Conception Grade School has grown substantially in its 125 years through expanding its preschool offerings,

enhancing its curriculum, and engaging in improvement and renovation projects projects. Its unwavering commitment to academic excellence, faith, family, and service have stayed constant since its humble beginnings. And whereas Immaculate Conception Grade School will continue its tradition of educating and supported supporting its students so that they embody Catholic values for another 125 years and more. Now, therefore, I, Scott M. 11, mayor of the city of Elmerst, on behalf of the city council and the Elmer's community, do hereby proclaim April 7, 2025 is Immaculate Conception Grade School Day. [Applause] Thank you very much, mayor, and thank you, city council, for giving us this proclamation and showing your support for our school and for our history, our present, our past, and our future. We're very blessed because we say we are our C. And that of course means we are also Elmherst that 125 years ago those that went before us had the wisdom to start a school quality maker conception and throughout the years we've seen our school flourish because of the commitment of so many people staff teachers administration but of course of the Elmer's community. We're very grateful the many ways that support has come to us through the years. And we know because of the willingness and generosity of people like yourselves here, our mayor, city council, police department, fire department, and others, we continue to

have the experience of learning for our students in which we say that IC is their home. Elmer is their home. We tell them once you're a night, you're always a night because we form a family. a family at IC but also in Elmer's family as well. So I have the honor on behalf of all of us here expressing our most sincere gratitude for your support, for your recognition, our thanks and certainly know that we're grateful, we're prayerful and know always that certainly you're always welcome to be with us. We look forward to many more years ahead of continuing to serve the Elers's community such that as the students who are here today and all the graduates through the years that many many more might come through our doors and become part of this family of immaculate conception. God bless you all and thank you. All right, we're going to do a shift change. So, we're going to let you guys file out. And you got You only get one. You only got one. Yeah. You guys got to share. All right. Watch your step. Come on through here. Nice to see you. Well, continuing the theme, um, we have the IC wrestling team, the varsity wrestling team. And if you want to come up, I got the right sport. Yeah. All right.

Bring them up here. Yeah, you Why don't we do it up here? Then we'll call Brian. You guys are in class AA here with all these. Come on up, fellas. Top row. Yeah, uses. Okay. Well, um we we have a lot of championships to celebrate here in Elmer and not not a few from IC. So, um, we're very proud to have you back again. Uh, Coach Elkaser, who I haven't met, come on over here. All right. I have a proclamation for this event, which is also exciting. Whereas participation in and support of sports and athletic achievement is an important part of IC Catholic Prep's education in developing leadership skills in the creation of a tradition of excellence. And whereas IC Kathlet Catholic Prep is home to the Knights varsity wrestling team led led by head coach Danny Elkaser. And where's the sportsmanship, determination, and talent of the 2025 varsity wrestling team led to a 46-7 win over Washington to become the 2025 IHSA 2A dual team state champions. And whereas nine IC Catholic Prep wrestlers finish as IH IHSA class 2 state individual medalists and three IC Catholic Prep wrestlers. Um I don't know

why these guys get named individually, but Brody Kelly, Devin Casey, and Max Cumby finished as champions in the individual state finals tournament in their respective weight classes. And whereas the Knights varsity wrestling team success is just one example of the many valuable organizations for Elmherst youth that continues to be a source of pride for the city and represents the city in a fashion that is meaningful, healthy, and worthy of acknowledgement. Now therefore, I, Scott M. 11 mayor of the city of Elmer with great pride congratulate the 2025 IC Catholic Prep Knights wrestling team on their tremendous achievements this season and do hereby proclaim April 7th, 2025 also as IC Catholic Prep State Wrestling Champions Day. I'm going to let you introduce your other coaches, Coach Tom and Jerry. No. Uh, and some of the people you may want to introduce are all of them for the wrestling team. All right. I'd just like to thank our assistant coaching staff. Coach Randy Spalding right here to my right. Uh, Coach Corey Stanley right there. here. If you raise your hand, you can see Coach Stanley, coach Tony Norton next to Stanley, and then our administration, uh, athletic director Rick Burtonshaw, our president Bob Cronin. Uh, we couldn't do anything without the support of our administration and staff. Uh, we're extremely grateful for the opportunity to be recognized, uh, by the city of Elmherst, and we're proud of uh, proud of these wrestlers for the hard work, dedication, determination that they put in uh, every day to their craft. And, uh, it shows out on the mat. They're state champions. Um, thank you guys again for recognizing us. We're going to

continue to try to uh represent Elmherst in the best way possible. Thank you. You're you're a little bigger team, but we our tradition is if the coaches and wrestlers, if you'll come through the city council, they'd each like to say congratulations, shake a hand. We'll wear out their hands, but if you'll come around this way first. Back line first. All right. Back line first. Coaches, you can come too. Yeah. Come right around here. A lot of hands. We shake it out every day. This is good exercise. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Would you tell them that's what we're going to do? Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. We're going to line up and do a big group picture with everyone. Okay. So, line backup wrestling team, we're going to get you in the picture. We'll do one big group picture. Congratulations. Congrats. Congratulations. Pleasat. So, wrestlers, line back up the way you were. Congratulations. And the rest of the people. Congratulations to you. Congratulations. Hi father. Congratulations. Hi father. Father. Great job. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Yeah. All right. Do you guys want to fall in here?

Thank you guys for being here. Come on in there. Me in here. I want to block. All right, one last round of applause for both the counselors. Congratulations. Thank you so much. Thank you. [Applause] Yeah. I think he had a two-way chair. stay. Right. We're going to resume the council meeting. You're welcome to stay, of course, but if not, uh, please you can file out at this time. I go back and I need I don't use these but I haven't received my contacts. I'm just going to double check to make sure. That is Chris.

Let me just double check. There you go. All right, we'll move on with the agenda. We're on to uh 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 present to the council? If so, please raise your hand. Seeing none, we'll move on to public forum. Clerk Tamer, has anyone signed in for public forum this evening? No, mayor. All right. Is there anyone in the audience that would like to make public comment but did not have the opportunity to sign in before the meeting started? If so, please raise your hand. Right. Seeing none, we'll move on to announcements. Uh are there any announcements from the dis? Okay. Uh consent agenda. Clerk Tamer, please read the consent agenda. Okay. 7.1 minutes of the regular meeting of the Elmer City Council on March 3rd, 2025. 7.2 minutes of the regular meeting of the Elmer City Council on March 17th, 2025. 7.3 accounts payable April 7 2025 $869,130.94 7.4 Appointment of Kit Recorder to the Elmer Senior Citizen Commission 7.5 Appointment of Shaheen Rolf to the City of Elmerst and Elmherst University Commission 7.6 6 report case number 25 ZBA3 Rothside yard setback variation 256 Eastadilia 7.7 report case 24 PO8 Honda conditional use pylon and PUD 300 West Grand 7.8 Eight report case 25 PO1 conditional use to amend PUD with site development allowances map

amendment plat of consolidation 1100 South York Street 7.9 report petition for annexation and annexation agreement 0 south 551 Kendall Avenue 061330515 then 05561 Kendall Avenue pin 06133056 then 05 571 Kendall Avenue pin 06133057.10 10 report tiff business incentives 7.11 report Ryu page 7.12 report phase 3 temporary use permit 7.13 report 2025 water main replacement bids 7.14 report provision of custodial services 7.15 report fuel island improvements balancing change order 7.16 report three Ford Maverick AWD all-wheel drive hybrids uh see item 10.2 2 7.17 an ordinance granting a conditional use permit for a plan unit development with a site development allowance for the construction of an administrative administration office addition on the property commonly known as 779 and 851 South York Street Elmherst Illinois Visitation Catholic Church 7.18 an ordinance to add section 44.97 entitled right to right turn only intersections enumerated to article six entitled special stops of chapter 44 entitled motor vehicles and traffic of the Elmherst Municipal Code 7.19 an ordinance approving and authorizing the execution of a non-exclusive loose license agreement buying between Elmherst walk-in assistant network inc and the city of Elmherst du page and Cook counties Illinois 7.20 20. An ordinance authorizing the city of Elmer's to wave bidding and purchase one 2025 Ford F350 and one 2025 Ford F550 for the city street division and

authorizing the disposal and tradein of one 2013 Ford F-450, one 2004 Ford F250 and one 2015 Ford F250. 7.21. A resolution to approve the allocation of the 2025 motor fuel tax dollars to the general maintenance section for the purpose of maintaining streets and highways. 7.22, a resolution authorizing the issuance of a notice of award and authorizing the execution of the contract for the Elma Avenue reconstruction and Elm Park resurfacing project 24-23 for the city of Elmerst, Illinois. 7.23, 23, a resolution approving and authorizing the purchase and planting of Parkway trees for the 2025 tree purchase and planting program in the city of Elmerst, Illinois. 7.24, a resolution authorizing DuPage County Gasoline and diesel procurement joint purchase. 7.25 A resolution authorizing the issuance of a notice of award and authorizing the execution of a contract for the 2025 asphalt rejuvenating program. 7.26, 26, a resolution authorizing the issuance of award and authorizing the execution of a contract for the 2025 crack sealing and seal coating program. 7.27, a resolution authorizing the issuance of award and authorizing the execution of the contract for the 2025 concrete pavement patching project for the city of Elmherst, Illinois. 7.28, 28, a resolution authorizing the issuance of a notice of award and authorizing the execution of the contract of a contract for the 2025 pavement striping program. 7.29, a resolution approving and authorizing the execution of a professional construction engineering services agreement between the city of Elmerst, Illinois, and Baxter and Woodman, Inc. for the 2025 sanitary sewer and manhole rehabilitation project. 730 a resolution approving and authorizing the execution of a professional engineering services agreement between the city of Elmherst,

Illinois and Baxter and Woodman, Inc. for the NPDES permit special conditions compliance assistance for the PFAS and industrial user surveys and reports. 7.31, a resolution to approve and adopt the sidewalk master plan. And 7.32, a resolution approving and authorizing the execution of a reimbursement agreement between Truth Cemeteries, Inc. and the city of Elmherst, Illinois. Thank you, Clerk Tamer. Is there any item on the consent agenda that any alderman would like to remove either to vote against or for further discussion? Alman Bram 7.10 710 Alman Tudo 7.31 731 Anyone else? 710 and 731. All right. May I have a motion to approve the consent agenda minus items 710 and 7.31 Bast with a motion. Alderman Cahill with a second. Clerk Tamer call the role. Cahill I. Toledo. Hi, Park. Hi, Nuda. Hi, Estito. Hi, Nardini. I Brennan, I Bellinger. I Hill absent. Shenko, I Jensen, I Bram, I. 13 eyes, zero nays, one absent. 13 eyes, zero nays, one absent. The consent agenda minus items 7.10 and 7.31 passes. Clerk Cameron, would you read the report for 710? Therefore, the development planning and zoning committee recommends that the city council approve the TIFF business incentive programs for TIFF 4 TIFFs and the downtown TIFF as presented and authorized the city attorney to prepare the necessary documents. Signed, chair, Alderman Chris Jensen, Vice Chair Alderman Jennifer Veris, and Alderman Fifth Ward, Tina Park. Right. Can I have a motion to approve 710? Alderman Jensen

with a motion. Alderman Vamus with a second. Alderman Jensen. Thank you, mayor. This report is a result of a referral from Alderman Bram and Shenko to review the tiff business incentive programs offered by the city. I'd like to thank them for the ref their referral as it led to a comprehensive review of our current policy by the Elmer's economic development commission over several meetings with alderman vermis providing updates of the progress they're making to the DPC uh DPZ committee. The EDC came up with numerous recommendations in addition to feedback on the items specifically mentioned in the referral. Subsequent subsequently the DPC committee took their recommendations and feedback and with some modifications drafted and passed a report on the agenda tonight. The changes are listed in detail in detail in the report and many of the ideas from the referral are represented there. We believe that rearranging and simplifying the facade and retail grants, the latter becoming the marketing grant, adding more eligible projects, including some related to renewable energy, sustainability, and storm water management, while streamlining the application process will enhance the program and help spur investment in our community. We ask for your support. Thank you. Thank Jensen, Alman Ram, thank you. Uh, first I want to start out and thank the commission for reviewing this. Um I don't know if that was prior to the committee or dur in the middle of the process. Um because I know that they met I believe six times in total to discuss the referral. Um thanks to the committee as well meeting uh I think it was two or three times to discuss this referral. Um let me start this by saying that I'm in support and I will be voting for uh the recommendation report from the DPN committee. But with that said, I do have uh various questions as well as comments on what I have seen in regards to the review. I start by s by asking uh the committee if they can expand upon um

some of the rationale or some of the discussion. I did look at the meeting minutes from two meetings ago. Um but since the committee needs to meet again to approve the latest discussion, I have not been able to see those. Um so my questions are in regards to the first and foremost is the murals um or public art. Is that a new addition? How come that was decided to be added in in regards to this um referral? So that that was uh added that was one of the ideas that came up with um the EDC suggested adding that and they asked us to put a dollar value on that. The reason being, you know, having public art and murals around town kind of enhances the vibe of the community. Jensen, you might want to pull the microphone. There you go. Thank you. Um, enhances the, you know, look and feel of the community in the neighborhood and makes it more inviting to consumers to come in and use our businesses and patronize our businesses. Thank you, Mag. Um, thanks. So, in regards to the murals, um I did see some of the request for review from the referral uh was about re rehabilitating historic properties, adding rooftop decks. I didn't see the commission review any of that. The meeting minutes that I saw from all the commission meetings really, well, not really just spoke about doing a consolidation application process. I didn't see much other than comments of signed grants and as you stated, Alderman Jensen, comments of the murals and adding a dollar value to that on some of these other topics that were in the referral. Could one of you please or Mr. Mayor, may I ask the committee to expand upon were some of these others topics discussed like rehabilitating or advocating allocating monies for rehabilitating historic properties,

rooftop decks, etc. Um, Alderman Vereamus, I think I think I missed your Sure. Thank you, Mayor. Um, well, I'd like to start by saying that as Alderman Brahm had mentioned that this discussion took place over several several meetings at economic development commission that is post posted to board docs. So, if anybody wanted to weigh in um they certainly could have done so at any point in the process. I myself kept giving updates to DPZ on what the status was at least 10 or so times. So happy to answer the questions sitting here now. Um and to your point or to your question to answer it, we I know that the commission did look at rooftop decks, historical properties um and what we have in the tiff budget. it wouldn't move the needle on those projects. Um, and I know that they did comparison staff looked at different communities and they modeled a lot of this after what Lombard has done and the success that Lumbard has had there. So basically the cost to add a rooftop deck would far exceed the max of $240,000. All right. Did you want to add anything, Alman Jensen, or we Yeah. with the historical preservation stuff. Um, that committee or that commission is being reinvigorated and we're gonna I know that they're looking at meeting more frequently and looking at some of these issues. So, um, I think some of those things might come up there as well. In fact, that is that was something we discussed. All right, that's on this I think we're back to Alderman Bram. Thank you. Yeah, thank you for the summary. I've just haven't seen at least in my later recommends is uh something going to the

uh commission. Um and as Alderman Veris stated um was what differed in the meeting minutes at least from the commission. I did not see anything mentioned about the historical uh properties rehabilitation aspect of it. Um I don't recall if I saw anything about the rooftops other than the committee discussion. So, I appreciate that insight. I wasn't aware that this was moved to the commission. Um, like I said earlier tonight, I didn't know if the committee discussed it and then it was moved to the commission or it went straight to the commission. Uh, my expectation was it it was going to DPNZ and staying in DPNZ. So late in the game when I did hear that it was at the commission is when I did look up the meeting minutes to try to play catch-up on what the discussion was, but that was pretty much not too many weeks ago. Um, so I appreciate the answers to the the questions. Uh, my last question is in regards to increasing the dollars for signs. I did speak to Alderman Jensen earlier. Alderman Jensen, I'm having a problem talking tonight. um earlier tonight. Um and I do understand the thought process behind it from at least the committee's perspective of trying to uh reduce if not totally eliminate um um legal nonconforming signs in town by increasing the dollar amount. Um, but if we really had a concern about legal non-conforming signs, we as a policymaking body could pretty much change the policy and and uh do it that way versus allocating additional dollars. I personally will speak to the side of part of the referral was asking to remove the signed grant because myself and Alderman Shenko not to speak for her. She could speak if she likes um but felt that it really doesn't do anything in regards to property value. It doesn't increase the property value.

It doesn't do anything for the business community as a whole. Obviously, it helps the business potentially. Uh but I thought that the other request and part of this referral uh was more important than allocating D dollars for the sign grant. Thank you, Matt. I would counter I would counter that the uh sign grant does improve the surrounding area of the business by you know improving the appearance and functionality of the signage on the buildings and rather than having an old dilapidated sign if you can get a new conforming sign in there probably looks a little bit better. That's a personal opinion. All right. Um just I was going to say something similar. All right. Yeah. I just want to add, we can't just tell people to take out their legally non-conforming signs. They're legally non-conforming legally. So, so we'd have to pay them to do that. Um, anyway, we can remove them. Did you have additional uh discussion? All right. Anyone else on this topic? All right. So, we have a motion to approve uh 7.10. Call the role. CO. I. Tudo. I. Park. I. Nuda. I Nardini. Hi Brennan. Hi Herby. I Bellinger. I Hill absent. Shenko. Hi Jensen. Hi. Bram. Hi. 13 eyes, zero nays, one absent. 13 eyes, zero naz, one absent. 710 passes. 7:31. Clerk Tamer, please read the resolution. A resolution to approve and adopt the sidewalk master plan. All right. Um, who did this come out of? Over there. All right. I have a motion to approve uh resolution

7.31. Alman Brennan with a motion. Alderman Nardini with a second. Alderman Brennan. Thank you, Mayor. So, this is a resolution uh that's tied to a report that we approved a few weeks back uh regarding the sidewalk master plan. I'll yield the floor to the alderman with the question. All right, Alderman Tuluo, did you want to comment? Just pull the report to vote no in accordance with my uh no vote on the report. Thank you. All right. Anyone else? Clerk Tamer up here. Okay. Kill I. Toudo. Nay. Park. I'm sorry. I missed what the This is being voting on the sidewalk master plan. Oh. Yes. I just did that for drama. Yeah. Attic. Yes. Yeah. Nuda. I Nardini. Hi. Brennan. Hi. Herby. I Bellinger. I Vere. I Hill. Absent. Chenko. I Jensen. Hi. Bram. I. 12 eyes. One nay. One absent. 12 eyes. One nay. One absent. 7.31 passes. On to item eight, committee reports. Clerk Tamer, please read the report. It is therefore the recommendation of the public affairs and safety committee that the city council authorize the architectural design and engineering of the police station project in accordance with the recommendations outlined here within and authorize the city attorney to prepare the necessary city council documents. Sign Alderman Michael Brennan, chair, alderman Jacob Hill, vice chair, and alderman Guido Nardini. All right. May I have a motion to bring 8.1 for approval? Uh, Alderman Brennan with a motion. Alderman Nardini with a second. Alderman Brennan. Thank you, Mayor. Uh, thank goodness the city clerk

didn't read the whole report because it is six pages in in length. Uh, so I'm going to take a little more time than normal uh this evening. There's a lot of content uh in the report that I want to make sure that I I highlight and give it its due uh course here. So, you know, the journey for the police station report has been a very long one. Uh it started back in 2017 2018 with a space need uh an analysis uh report generated by FGM architects. The final report identified several million dollars of needed repairs and a space deficiency of roughly 23,000 square feet at our current facility. In a joint meeting between public works and building committee and public affairs and safety committee, three potential options were considered back in 2018. Option one was to renovate and build an addition onto the current facility. uh $22 million at that point in time. Option two was to construct a new facility, approximately $29 million in cost. Option three was to repair the the current facility and not address the space and designs deficiencies of the the current uh station. That was about 42.2 million at that time. In 2018, the public affairs and safety committee explored these uh three options, including the exploration of potential site location changes for the new facility. Details can be found in in the report on on what was done there. Um after much deliberation, the committee recommended a new facility at the current location of 125 East First Street.

Then the pandemic hit, bringing stoppage to the entire process. And in 2013, uh the city asked FGM AR uh architects to take a look at the estimates, update them, and bring it back to PAS. So, we still had the three options. Renovate and build uh the current facility. It was $22 million in in 2018. It grew to $40 million. Option two, construct a new facility, $29 million back in 2018, it grew to 48 million. Repair the current facility and not address the design deficiencies was 4.2 and that grew to 10 million. So part of the process is at committee is to ask the hard questions and I appreciate, you know, Alderman Nardini, you know, really wanting to better understand and and vet these numbers. So we uh set out and got a second opinion uh you know on FGM's estimates. We engaged a local architect. It's one of the nice things about Elmherst. We have a lot of talented people and this architect volunteered his time to sit down with city staff as well as FGM to understand the assumptions and the estimates. through this process. The local architect's conclusions were that the the estimates that we had to build a a new uh police station he felt were were accurate and in line with the assumptions and the estimate to to renovate and expand actually might be a few million dollars low due to the unknowns that always occur during renovating a big project like that.

So over the past 12 months, the police station options have gone through much deliberation at committee. Eventually, we arrived at the same conclusion as the 2018 PNS committee. Uh however, we're not comfortable with moving a recommendation forward until we understood how the city might pay for the import this important capital investment. we turned to the finance committee and asked that they explore options to fund the new police station uh at its current location. So, the finance committee reviewed uh several potential bond structures, arriving at a recommendation to begin with a $3.5 million bond issue uh issuance uh to to fund the architectural design and engineering and then issue the balance of the bonds when construction began. This was very attractive when it came back to committee because any project of this size uh the likelihood of getting grants uh whether state or federal the likelihood goes up if you have a shovel ready project. So, so uh all three of us at committee uh like this recommendation. Upon c uh council approval to this report, uh architectural design engineering is targeted to begin in 2025 with construction starting in two uh 2026. Also, by limiting the the bond issuance to a smaller amount, you know, it's possible the city might get more favorable interest rates in the future. uh for the larger bond issuance. The committee also recommended the finance committee also recommend the bond repayment schedule be structured so that the principal payment amounts uh

increase as other city debt decreases, better aligning the repayment schedule with future available revenues and reducing the amount of new funding the city must obtain. The finance committee then discussed the sale of city owned property to fund a portion of the debt payment. The committee reviewed the list of city uh real estate assets and focus on 180 west uh uh park uh office building. This property is targeted as a temporary location to uh host the police station administrative functions during construction as it will save the city cost from purchasing or renting other commercial properties for temporary use. Uh we we also found out with with new police stations have gone up in the area that was a significant amount of incremental dollars that other communities had to spend and us leveraging a city asset is very advantageous. The finance uh committee agreed and recommended that the the property be sold after the station is complete and the proceeds from the sale to be used. And this is all recommendation by the way. uh be used for the the new police station. The FINA finance committee came to a consensus of which revenue stream should fund the balance of the debt service payments. The comm committee recommended increasing the hotel uh rate tax by 1 percentage point to 5%. Providing an estimated $17,000 annually. uh noting the proposed rate of 5% is comparable to other municipalities in the area. The finance committee also recommend the balance of the the uh required funding to be paid by property

taxes. Public safety is one of the core services provided by the city and all residents and businesses benefit. So, the way that that breaks down and the way that was modeled, um, uh, an average, uh, annual property tax, uh, for a $500,000 median Elmherst home will be approximately 50 $53 a year over the next 21 years. said another way, the average taxpayer will pay aboutund $1,113 over the next 21 years at an aggregate uh to help fund an improved fully functional police station for Elmherst, which meets the needs of modern policing. Technology is really drive drove uh you know what is done in our community and how we keep it safe. So, so it's very important that that we have a facility that will help us support and and you know grow and keep up with the times. It should be noted these amounts are based upon current projections, current interest rates. The actual repayment schedules will be finalized when the city issues the general obligation bonds. So, all that was necessary for us to really sit down and continue our deliberations. So, so I I really appreciate the work that was done by the finance committee. As we sat down and continued our deliberation, we we requested background information uh on the city's property taxes. City staff presented the 2023 tax levy rankings of DuPage County communities that include that were inclusive, excuse me, of uh fire

department and districts. Just so we're comparing apples to apples and noted that Elmharst has the third lowest property tax rate among DUP page communities. So, for that same $500,000 house in Elmherst, uh that house pays $711 to the city of Elmherst. This compares the communities on the high end of the the rankings for that same $500,000 house uh where they were paying over $2,000 to to the m municipality. I'm happy to say this highlights the city's commitment uh to keep to keeping property taxes as low as possible for its property owners. And some might be saying, "Wow, you know, it seems like our taxes are way higher than that. There are a whole lot of things that go into the that the your tax bill, the school, the that library, the um the park district uh in the city. the city constitutes about 7% of everyone's uh tax bill. So the you what was also interesting I found pretty fascinating uh was that the city does levy levy property taxes for its public safety pensions. Uh this is by law we have to do this. So, so we we do see those increases in our our tax bill, but over since 2009, we've been able to keep our levy relatively flat because even though we're increasing what we're contributing to, you know, uh the pensions, uh we have been able to expand the tax base. So, I think it's pretty impressive that the city of Elmherst has

been able to to keep the tax levy relatively flat over so many years. And it just demonstrates how uh how thriving and and some really good works being done in the city. I'm almost done. All right. So, so the committee considered timing of the project as well, both for the construction and financing. The committee cited the delay due to the pandemic was only in uh that only increased construction costs and further postponement would similarly increase costs. So, so we came to the conclusion that e even though it's never a good time to do a project of this size, if we waited, uh the estimates from FGM is every year that we wait, we'd be looking at 5% growth on the overall cost due to inflation and other factors. This report recommends that the city p uh proceed with a request for proposal or request for qualifications to to obtain the service uh firm to to complete you know the architectural design and engineering phase of this project. Um future there that's just one step. So so there are a number of steps that that will require this council's approval. the issuance of the the bonds, selection of the firm, you know, for the architectural and design uh work, selection of the construction firm and authorized to proceed with construction, modification to the hotel motel uh tax and future property tax levies uh and the sale eventually of 180 West Park post construction. As you can see, this has been a long

journey, but I'm super excited with the committee's recommendation to move forward with the best police station option to construct a new facility. Uh before wrapping up here, I do want to thank, you know, uh Vice Chair Hill, Alderman Nardini. Uh this was a heavy lift. We did a lot of work. I'm very proud of the work that we did. I also want to thank the finance committee uh and director Coyle uh for the the work that you did. Without that information, we would not have been able to get a report out of our committee. So, thank you for that. I'd like to thank Chief Mlan and everybody that contributed to the report. Uh but, uh the the knowledge of Chief's uh that he has with respect to his operation uh was just invaluable. I I definitely understand a lot more with respect to to police operations and um you know I I really appreciate your partnership there chief and I also want to recognize mayor you know your leadership uh around educating the general public the business community uh with respect to the current challenges that we face with our our current police department and likely plans to remediate. So, that's details in the report. And if mayor, if I could, I'm going to share some some personal perspective here. I've always been in support of a new police station. Um, doing something material that that increases the operational efficiency of our our wonderful police department. Uh, I've come to the conclusion by answering one this conclusion by answering one simple question. Is the current police, you know, department sufficient to carry out Elmherst Police Department operations

into the future? The answer is no. So, we have to do something here. This was definitely validated as I attended on February 20th, an open house that was uh hosted by the mayor and the chief at and 50 people showed up, you know, for touring the police department. I chief almost ran out of uh you know, tour guides, but we got everybody through the tour. Th 30 people remained for a Q&A with and a presentation and Q&A with the chief chief and the mayor. And what I thought was very fascinating that and I know that some of the people in in the crowd were probably like this police department's 35 years old. How on earth do why on earth do we have to replace this? So I know there are some some dissenters that took two three hours out of their night to come and take the tour and I stuck around as well. Like uh Jim, you were there. Alderman Nadera. Um I'm trying to think who else was there. I I think that may have been it. But um I thought it was quite fascinating when we got to the Q&A. I was waiting. Oh boy. I hope the chief and mayor are ready for some hard questions. There wasn't a single person in this 30 person group that stuck around that brought up the question of well I still don't see why we need a new police station. That was pretty telling to me. The questions that that we got um were were more around the bidding process, some of the next qu uh steps, whether or not more police would be, you

know, more administrators would be needed for the new department, uh maintenance questions. So, I thought that was very telling that that you know these 30 people that stuck around for this part of the process. Uh that they they really didn't desent on the idea of building a new um police station. Um this has been on the agenda for numerous committees since 2017. So, this has been out there for a while. And it's unfortunate that during this time horizon, the project's gone from 29 million to 48 million to complete. There's nothing we can do about the past. However, we do have the ability to impact today and tomorrow. I'm confident in the work and recommendation from this committee. It has been a privilege to present this to you tonight and I ask my fellow alderman for your support. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Alman Brennan. Discussion. Alderman Ardini. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, briefly, uh, I want to thank, uh, my chair, Mike Brennan, for the leadership throughout the whole process, but in particular, for this right now, in general, to the public, I suppose discussion and deliberation happens at committee. It is very rare that that amount of explanation takes place in full uh, council. And uh I am imagining if somebody is reading a report or if somebody is watching this on YouTube, you just got a very patient and deliberate uh deliberate explanation uh in full counsel about why this is needed. The reason I asked to be acknowledged is almost not worth mentioning, but just for the sake of uh of uh accuracy, the local expert that

uh my chair Mike Brennan mentioned, Rob Martinelli, is not an architect. He's uh senior vice president of construction. It the uh for the sake of accuracy, I wanted to make sure that those were different. Uh although for his purpose of being a second opinion um it's immaterial. Thank you. Alderman Nardini. All right. I guess this is one of those things we've talked about. Um I will say well let's call the vote first and then I'll say Cahill I. Toudo I Park I Nuda I Basto I Nardini I Brennan I Bellinger I Bereimis I Hill absent Shenko I Jensen I Bram I 13 I's zero nays one absent 13 I's zero nays one absent the report passes um I would like to say that I I was I can't remember was chair or vice chair on PAS when this whole thing started. Um and the chief the then chief came in and talked about what we needed and we started looking at it. Um this is one of the most thoroughly vetted reports that I think I've seen um on the council. It sort of parallels the the flooding kinds of things we undertook where we looked carefully before we started spending money. Um, I wanted to assure the public that we wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't something we had investigated so carefully. I'm fully convinced that the police station, not the police department, the police station is in

very bad shape. Um, and I would be very proud that we're taking steps to move forward. Um, we've I want to thank uh Chairman Brennan for the very thorough analysis, uh, Chairman Tudo for and your committee for a lot of creative and very detailed analysis. Um, this shows the quality of the work that our council does when we have a very serious issue like this. Um, Director Coyle, I know you were back there providing, well, you weren't back there, but you were behind the committee providing a lot of careful analysis. Chief Mlan, I don't know how many I saw the the list of the number of clubs and groups that you were going to visit. Um, you uh informed the public very well about what the need was. You didn't, you know, throw any kind of fit that you had to have it. You just went out and explained why it was good, not for the for the department. If it's good for the department, it's good for the city. We always say public safety is our number one concern and I'm quite confident this is a very important component of that. So I thank everyone for your hard work. I'm sorry this got a little politicized. This is the right thing to do. Um people ask um you know do are we having a referendum. Uh we are the elected officials. We don't we're a home rule community. We don't need a referendum. We need people to do their homework and due diligence to make sure that they are properly representing the con constituents who put us up here on the dis and I think we've done that. So, thank you all very much. Um, let's do something like ordinances 10.1 clerk tamer. Oh, reports and recommend. Well, that's me. What? I'm such a humble guy. All right. Well, a few things. Um, if you know a young adult interested in a career or interested in firefighting,

they should join the Elmharst Fire Department Junior Fire Academy Day. It's a unique learning experience that's designed for young adults interested in becoming firefighters. The day will include hands-on activities and demonstrations providing an opportunity to experience real life scenarios and gain a better understanding of the fire profession. Uh so uh this is for young adults between the ages of 14 and 20. It'll be on April 26 between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. at the fire training tower located at 910 North Addison Avenue. Uh space is limited as they say in the commercials. Registration required. So if you visit our website, you can register. Um, registration will close on April 23rd for the April 26 Academy. Um, also join us for the senior community conversation to discover valuable resources and connect with local organizations, explore services for Elmer seniors. This free event will be held on Friday, May 2nd between 10:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. at the uh Keith Recreation Center, former Redeemer Center. uh encourage you to uh put the word out on that. Um I want to congratulate all those who were elected or reelected. Um particularly the hard-fought battle by alderman Bastto Jensen and Brennan. I know you guys were really sweating it. All you needed was an opponent. Um, we will be saying goodbye to uh certain aldermen at our next council meeting and we will be swearing in the reelected and the newly elected alderman on May 5th. So, um, stand by for that. Uh, that is all I have. City manager. Thank you, mayor. A couple items. A reminder that this Saturday will be the first day of

the annual spring cleanup. Uh, that does not include yard waste, uh, but includes almost everything else in your house. but check the city website for the list of acceptable items. So this Saturday, April 12th, it'll be for residents who have a Wednesday collection day. Then Saturday, April 26th, for residents who have a Thursday collection day and May 3rd for residents who have a Friday collection day. Uh the other item that I have is related to the Illinois tollway work. They will be uh removing a bridge that crosses over the Prairie Path and Vallet. And that date has moved a little bit, but they are going to be closing Vallet and Electric Avenue. It's estimated on Wednesday, April 16th, and that'll be for 7 days, uh that that'll be closed. We've been working with the towway and their contractor to make sure that's properly signed. It's been done before, uh but to really expedite that work, they need to close the road. Thank you, mayor. Thank you, city manager. Um any other reports or recommendations from the dis? All right. Now 10.1 clerk tamber please read the ordinance. An ordinance approving and authorizing the execution of a non-exclusive license agreement ving between phase 3 brewing company LLC in the city of Elmherst Du Page and Cook Counties Illinois. See item 7.12. All right. Uh may I have a motion to approve 10.1? Alderman Brennan with a motion. Alderman Nardini with a second. Alderman Brandon. Thank you, Mayor. So, in the report that uh we approved under the consent agenda, uh phase three is uh having a function uh starting April 9th. Uh one of the downsides of a a fifth Monday uh is that we saw this at uh the last um uh meeting that we had in March, but then we had a fifth Monday, which brought us to tonight. So given that

this is going to start on my 31st wedding anniversary, by the way, I feel shameless right now, but uh none nonetheless, it's going to come up here um on the 9th and therefore in the report we did request an approved suspension of the rules. So that's what we're voting on. The first wedding anniversary is paper and the 31st is beer. So that should work out. Okay. Perfect. All right. Uh any other discussion on ordinance 10.1? Kirk tamer. Cahillo. Hi. Toudo. Hi. Park. Hi. Nuda. Hi. Bastido. Hi. Nardini. I Brennan. I Bellinger. I Varmas. I Hill. Absent. Shenko. I Jensen. Hi. Bram. I. 13. I zero naz one absent. 13 I zero. One absent. Ordinance 10.1 passes. Clerk please read ordinance 10.2. An ordinance authorizing the city of Elmherst to wave bidding and purchase of three 2025 Ford Maverick all-wheel drive hybrid vehicles for the city's fire department and community development department and authorizing the disposal and sale of auction by auction of three vehicles consisting of one 2012 Toyota Prius one Prius, one 2013 Dodge Caravan, and one 2007 Ford Crown Victoria. See item 7.16. All right. You have a motion to bring approve 10.2. Alderman Bastto. Second, Alderman Cahill. Alderman Bastto. Thank you, Mayor. Um, I was absent this meeting. I was on spring break with my family. So, I'm going to turn it over to Vice Chair Cahill who ran this meeting. Alman Cahill. Great. Thank you. like Alderman Brenon, I prepared a small remark, so it's going to take me a little bit, but so um here before you tonight is the um uh for the 7.16 on the consent

agenda. Uh we are asking for you to uh to um wave the um the need to come back again because of the same thing. The reason is we had an extra week in between. uh these vehicles are very hard to find. Um and so we're at at risk of potentially losing the opportunity to purchase them. So that we are asking us to wave that so that we can send Janice or suspend the rule. Sorry, so that we can move forward and to uh hopefully purchase these vehicles. Thank you. Alderman Cahill. Any discussion? Tamer. Cahill. I Toledo. I park. I Nuda. I DTO. I Nardini. I Brennan. I Bellinger. I Vere. I Hill absent. Shenko. I Jensen. I Ram. I 13 I zero naz one absent. 13 I zero n one absent. 10.2 passes. Item 11. Other business. Is there any other business to be brought before the council this evening? Seeing none, may I have a motion to Oh, yes. Alderman Irby. Uh, can I make a couple announcements, Mayor Vince? Well, we passed announcements, but we're going to make a special dispensation. Go right ahead. All right. Thank you. Uh, the York Township annual meeting is tomorrow. Um, starts at 6:00, well, 7:00. Um, last time I was there was standing room only around 6:30. Uh so that's a a pretty important event that'll be at the uh York Township Center, 1502 South Myers Road. Second event is um held by one of our prestigious past council members. Uh Mart representative Marty Dorder will be housing or u having her first um public event with the regional transportation uh authority April 15th at 700 p.m. at

her Westmont office. That does it. All right, we'll go on to that last item adjournment to with the motion with the second. All in favor say I. I. Any oppose say nay. Thank you. We're adjourned.