City Council - Regular Meeting

to order the regular meeting of the Elmhurst City Council for Monday, August 17, 2026. And at this time, I'll ask if you would all please rise and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

clerk tamer please call the roll shanko here hill here graham here jensen here toludo here baker here newdera here virgil 14 present zero absent we have a quorum uh we ran about 12 minutes late here tonight we were in executive session discussing a couple of the

important documents uh topics so thank you for your patience moving on to item three on our agenda is the receipt of written communications from the public we have a couple posted does anyone have a written communication that he or she would like to deliver ms puzzella if you'd like to present it to the clerk thank you anyone else yes all right we'll move on to uh item four public forum clerk tamer has anyone signed in for public forum yes um

I'm sorry about the last name here. Jane Villa-Gracia?

right thank you so public comment will be from the rear microphone when you begin please state your name address is optional just helps us get back to you if staff wants to follow up you have three minutes to allow for the other people who want to speak and for the time that we have in the meeting I also want to tell people sometimes you'll make a comment or a statement we're here to listen to you you have our undivided attention We do not engage in debate during public comment, but what you say is important to us. With that, sir, if you would please approach the microphone and state your name.

All right, thank you. Gene Veligracia. I'm here to discuss point 6.27 within your agenda regarding flock cameras. I would ask you to reconsider the approval of the proposal to sign the flock agreement. The reasons being for that are due to It is, it infringes on citizens rights to privacy along with statistically it does not actually reduce crime and also repeated instances of misuse of the technology. And I'd like to point out initially most recently there is evidence of a county law enforcement in Texas who have used the flock information to track a person who has possibly gotten an abortion and there's evidence to show that data from within the Aurora community was used for their search and I personally like I know I am a user of Elmhurst Hospital I know my health conditions are nowhere near like WORTHY OF TRACKING FOR THAT PURPOSE OR ANYTHING LIKE IT BUT AS OF RIGHT NOW THERE ARE CURRENTLY FOUR CAMERAS OUTSIDE OF ELMHURST AND I WOULD HATE TO THINK THAT SOMEONE WHO SEEKS HEALTH CARE WITHIN THIS COMMUNITY COULD POSSIBLY HAVE IT USED AGAINST THEM JUST FOR SIMPLY USING THE FACILITIES HERE AND ALSO THESE CAMERAS ALONG WITH THEIR TRACKING THEY'RE NOT ALWAYS ACCURATE. CAPTURE LICENSES INCORRECTLY, SO VERY WELL SOMEONE COULD INCORRECTLY BE TRACKED FOR ANY OTHER PARTICULAR REASON WHEN QUERIED. AND IT'S NOT JUST LICENSE PLATES BECAUSE EVEN THE CONTRACT ITSELF that you've posted on your website mentions specifically a footprint that it tracks, so it tracks unique items such as proper stitches or damage to the car, so it's not strictly license plates. They're gathering other data about things that fall into the camera's view. And so essentially, yeah in closing i once again ask that you do not approve uh the contract the proposal by flock and if you have any existing contracts with them or any other vendors to allow them to lapse as well all right thank you thank you sir michael curly there we go

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, city council, and guests. My name is Mike Curley. I'm the current chairman of the Elmhurst Veterans Commission. It's been about six months since you were kind enough to let me take over the chairmanship. And I wanted to thank you for your support. I wanted to quickly give you an update on the activities of our commission. The mission, of course, includes community engagement, the growth of the commission, as well as education. So I'm going to go ahead and start with the community engagement. we as an organization presented scholarships at york high school for the spring just before graduation to a senior of course we've taken ownership and managed the memorial day parade as well as a ceremony also i was interviewed on june 6th of the d-days anniversary by the Elmhurst cycling classic on behalf of the Elmhurst Veterans Commission you all should know that we are very very few and far between in the Chicagoland area so they were extremely impressed that the city of Elmhurst does have a commission we're also working with school district 205 with the memorial for the fallen commission growth this evening hopefully you'll be voting on three nominees for the Veterans Commission Mr. Mark Mallon, United States Army, retired. Mr. Ted Ferguson, who is in the audience this evening, United States Navy, retired. Mr. Ty Clark, United States Navy, retired. He's also in the audience this evening. All three gentlemen are veterans of the global war on terror, post 9-11. Each has served in a forward deployment. All three are energetic. They're ready to serve. here to engage in education and interact with our community i hope you find them fitted fitting to be confirmed this evening finally education we have scheduled a community event on tuesday 9 23 26 at the york theater will be showing 10 good men a 90-minute documentary about service and sacrifice of 10 airmen flying in b-17s over europe in world war ii this is the only showing in the state of illinois here in elmhurst the director will be in attendance he's flying in from georgia so he can accept questions and answers i just want to reiterate this is an amazing collaboration with the city of elmhurst 250 committee classic cinemas who are offering us and giving us the opportunity to show this at the york tj3 the producer director as well as a commission hopefully you all can attend and enjoy thank you very much

Mr. Curley, and that's two showings, 1 and 7? Yes, sir.

So we've gone ahead and secured two showings. There's going to be one at 1 o'clock in the afternoon. We're in hopes that some of the senior citizens that live in the area will be able to take the opportunity to attend that 1 o'clock showing. as well as uh the evening will be at seven o'clock um so two if things are really really exciting and we do have a lot of interest there's also talk of having a third showing um maybe a little bit later on in the afternoon so we're all about bringing people together and understanding and learning and brought to us to the whole community by the elmer's veterans commission thank you sir thank you mark drysik

Mark Drish, 877 South Hawthorne Avenue in Elmhurst here. In addition to the comments I'm going to read, I also submitted a written communication that you have regarding the ordinance Z-0926. The City Council's quick approval of the Arco Murray PUD request on July 20th left me disappointed in our city's governance. residents issues concerns and public submissions were presented but never completely answered at all three stages of the process the traffic study conclusion was contrary to actual experience and reality no noise study was done to determine a more accurate assessment of the noise impact no emission study was done to determine a more accurate assessment of the emissions impact The soil remediation plan was never available for public review. The developer never provided property appraisals to prove their proposal does not diminish property values. And it is the developer's responsibility, not the residents, to do that. We have a business zone with unique features, an elementary school, forest preserved nature area, Salt Creek Waterway, public nature trail, public park, and two residential areas, all deserving of more time, more effort on the part of the city to determine whether this project would be a benefit or a detriment. But no one pursued answers, always stopping short, satisfied with statements of intentions, assumptions, and assurances, never getting to definitive answers. Then the text of the ordinance came out, a sanitized version of the events reads like a public relations release replete with CYA answers. Cover your ass. It reads as though the process had been thorough and conclusive. The developer was cooperative, sensitive to the residents issues and concerns and the appearance that all the issues had been resolved. well they haven't been resolved because the city didn't require the necessary studies at some point answers will come when it's too late to matter the city has failed the residents of the seventh ward thank you sir elise dunn

GOOD EVENING UH I'M A RESIDENT OF ACTUALLY LOMBARD ILLINOIS WOULD YOU JUST STATE YOUR NAME TO BEGIN PLEASE ELISE MY NAME IS ELISE DUNE AND I'M A RESIDENT OF LOMBARD AT 150 EAST BRARY AND I AM ALSO SPEAKING ON THE FLOCK AGENDA PROPOSAL UH GENERALLY TO JUST REMIND THE CITY COUNCIL OF HOW THEIR DECISIONS CAN AFFECT the greater county in the smaller community surrounding your city we do we are active members of the village board attendance meetings so we are able to engage with our village board in that way when we want to be active citizens we are business owners in this the village of lombard But we also have active day jobs that take us into Elmhurst to utilize Elmhurst's city services, to utilize Elmhurst's retail businesses, and to pass through Elmhurst as a means to travel to our further destinations. and uh decisions so we we don't have a choice of what goes on and what data of ours is accessed as we utilize elmhurst as a greater county and a smaller community we are able to hold accountable our own village board members but we do not have not only ourselves as residents of lombard utilizing elmhurst city services but also any other non-elmhurst resident utilizing any of the roads or county roads or city services as the gentleman earlier mentioned the hospital would be able to form a system of recourse or accountability towards any of these services that affect our lives without our consent so i just ask that the city council consider their position not only and their obligations to their own elect village their own citizens As duly elected officials to represent your own citizens, I would also just ask that you consider the greater citizens of those who surround you and utilize your city services as this is a great city and continues to be a great city that we want to utilize.

Thank you.

Lori Bezal.

Hello, I'm Lori Bazell. We are very connected as communities with our roads and also the river that we have of Salt Creek that also connects to other communities. So I'm glad that you guys are here tonight. But moving on, I am also here to talk about Riverside. And I am disappointed, but it is what it is. So I do want to make sure that we're looking at what happens next, which are the conditions and the ordinance. and um there are a lot of things that happen every there's things that happen before demolition they must be satisfied before excavation before construction or before occupancy and then also requires some monitoring of the project itself UM I WANT TO KNOW HOW THE CITY WILL TRACK THESE CONDITIONS AND HOW WILL THE RESIDENTS KNOW WHEN THERE'S NEW INFORMATION TODAY I TOOK IT UPON MYSELF TO CALL THE CASE MANAGER AT IEPA THAT IS FOLLOWING THE 933 SOUTH RIVERSIDE PROJECT AND I WAS JUST CURIOUS WHERE IT WAS AT. I WANTED TO KNOW IF EITHER THE CITY OR ALLIANCE WAS PRESENTED WITH THE REPORT. AND WHAT I FOUND IS HE CHECKED HIS EMAIL RIGHT THEN AND THERE, AND HE'S LIKE, OH, I JUST GOT AN EMAIL BACK WITH A REPORT THAT I'LL NEED TO REVIEW NOW. AND I'M LIKE, OH. OK, I'll just call you. I'll call you back at five. And then he was like, no, no, no, no. I have like nine more reports that I have to get to before I get to this one. So his job is to go through that report. And if he has any questions, then he'll send it back. And so it's kind of give and take. He has 90 days to do that. So what that means is as of today, we know he got it. He has until my birthday around November 17th. SO THAT WOULD BE A NICE PRESENT FOR ME, HOPEFULLY I'LL GET IT DONE SOONER. SO BACK TO THIS NOTE. SO THAT'S JUST ONE EXAMPLE OF, LIKE, HOW, I MEAN, I CALLED THE GUY, SO I GOT INFORMATION. WE CAN SUBMIT FOIAS TO GET INFORMATION, BUT THAT'S, LIKE, NOT EFFICIENT, AND NOBODY WANTS TO DO THAT. How would a resident know a report has been submitted in this case that IEPA had or hasn't responded or if the project had reached one of the milestones of this ordinance? So I kind of feel like it did reach a certain step. I found that out. Could there instead a FOIA, which isn't efficient or timely for residents or staff, instead be one place where the status of these conditions is maintained and residents can view when new compliance information has been received? Like who tracks each condition? What establishes that it has been fulfilled? Which conditions require continuing and monitoring? And how will residents know when there is something new to review? APPROVAL SHOULDN'T BE THE POINT AT WHICH PUBLIC VISIBILITY INTO THIS PROJECT ENDS IF THESE CONDITIONS ARE IMPORTANT ENOUGH TO BE PART OF THE ORDINANCE THERE SHOULD BE A PRACTICAL WAY FOR RESIDENTS TO FOLLOW WHETHER AND WHEN THOSE ARE BEING SATISFIED THANKS THANK YOU MAX AND I DON'T KNOW THE LAST TIME IT MIGHT SAY WATERS

Hi, sorry, my handwriting is terrible, which is why I'm reading from my computer. Can't read my own. Yeah, my name is Max Watkins, sorry. I'm also here to speak against the agenda item, I think it was our 27035 regarding the flock cameras, as well as to just kind of encourage the city to end any relationship with this company whatsoever. It's shocking to me that any municipality in the state would want to do business with this company. So even if you ignore the implications and participating in the normalization of automated mass surveillance, this company in particular has a history of lack of transparency, security issues, misinformation, and dishonesty. Even if you intend to only use the ALPR feature of these cameras, by design, they do not only record individual license plate data despite what the company will tell you. It's been reported that their cameras do and can track individual people. There have been a number of documented incidents of law enforcement offices using this technology to stalk people like former romantic partners. As has been mentioned before, data from... Flock cameras in Aurora were used in a wide-ranging search by a Texas sheriff looking for a woman who got an out-of-state abortion. Not only is this blatantly antithetical to the Illinois sanctuary state policies, but the company itself also lied about it when asked. Both the sheriff and Flock claimed it was for a welfare check. Unsealed affidavits later revealed that it was for a formal death investigation from a self-managed abortion. And their security is so good that all this video and data that they collect, it's so tight that a YouTuber by the name of Ben Jordan was able to read an entire video script in front of one and then able to extract the footage from the camera himself with a shockingly basic set of tools and knowledge. They sometimes claim that they have read accuracy rates of up to 99%. Independent audits have found this to be a lie. The Los Angeles Police Department Inspector General's audit recorded a false positive rate of over 30%, which is one of the main reasons that the city elected to let its contract with the company lapse. They had been caught lying about their product's capabilities to city councils, including multiple documented cases where they denied the ability of their system to build patterns of individual movements over time, which is a capability that can be clearly gleaned from the product documentation. There was a case just this April up in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where this played out in real time. The city council voted to approve a contract. Then members of the community and reporters showed that the company had basically... Presented this exact lie to the City Council so they reconvened later in the same day To not approve that contract to walk it back In this state, they apparently also feel free to share their data with whomever they feel like. Last year, in August of 2025, an Illinois Secretary of State audit found flock to be in violation of state law by allowing US Customs and Border Protection unauthorized access to local surveillance data.

In response, other towns in the area, such as- Excuse me, you're at three minutes, if you would bring your, okay, thank you.

They both terminated their flock contracts. There's no evidence that they're gonna behave better. Please do not give them any more taxpayer money, thanks.

Thank you, sir.

Kaylee, I think the last name is Stewart.

Hello, everyone. My name is Callie Stewart. So I am new to Elmhurst. And one of the big things that made my family and I want to move here was community. I love this community. And I also understand, though, as part of living here, I do have to pay a hefty amount of taxes. which I'm happy to do, as I've understood my taxes have gone towards things that would benefit everybody, such as the adaptive playground, which is awesome, improving the library, which is five stars for a reason. However, when I heard that installing these flock cameras, 22 of them, would cause an increase of $75,000 of taxpayer money, that immediately set me off. $75,000 is more than my yearly salary as a DuPage County worker. That's unacceptable. furthermore to my point i keep hearing that the flock cameras have which scan license plates are supposed to be accurate but as i've heard oh i'm sorry i also mentioned i am here to speak on the flock camera ordinance here geez um that would be ordinance 627-035 these block cameras which we were told are accurate are very much not. It's very questionable what you're getting. And these cameras are supposed to help our police officers? No, especially given the margin of error we had too. And there's also a specific article from the Washington Post which cited 50 officers were misusing the cameras to spy on ex-romantic partners. And I know I understand, oh, the state of Illinois won't let that happen, but why would we even entertain that possibility to let it get to the state? So I want my taxpayer dollars going to resources that will help build and nurture the Elmhurst community, not surveil my neighbors every move. Thank you.

Thank you.

Matthew Nowak.

I'M ALSO SPEAKING ON ITEM 6.27, THE FLOT CAMERA I'M ALSO SPEAKING ON ITEM 6.27, THE FLOT CAMERA ORDINANCE. ORDINANCE. MANY PEOPLE HAVE DISCUSSED A MANY PEOPLE HAVE DISCUSSED A NUMBER OF SIGNIFICANT ISSUES WITH NUMBER OF SIGNIFICANT ISSUES WITH THE INTRODUCTION OF SURVEILLANCE THE INTRODUCTION OF SURVEILLANCE DEVICES INTO OUR COMMUNITY. But I will state my own position on this. Put simply, it is an intrusion into our privacy as citizens. It's an unwarranted surveillance of the good people of Elmhurst, purely on the basis of suspicion and fear. It expands the unwarranted surveillance powers that governments from the federal government on down to the local government seem to expand for themselves. IT IS AN ENORMOUS EXPENSE. AS WE NOTED, IT IS $75,000 FOR AS WE NOTED, IT IS $75,000 FOR THE CITY'S BUDGET. THE CITY'S BUDGET. WHICH IS NOT SOMETHING I WANT A WHICH IS NOT SOMETHING I WANT A SINGLE CENT OF MY TAXPAYER SINGLE CENT OF MY TAXPAYER DOLLARS GOING TOWARDS. It's very clear that there is a rampant potential for abuse, not only by outside bad actors who want to access this information, but also by the people who claim to be using it for good. If you don't think these cameras will be abused, and if you don't think Elmhurst is going to end up in the news as yet another town with yet another police officer doing something like this, I would encourage all of you to start installing my security cameras in your private homes. Don't worry, I'm only going to use them for emergencies. I'm not going to surveil on you or do anything like that. I will close my remarks by saying this. I very, very much hope that you will vote against this and that you will annul the contract with this company. If you don't, I will make it my personal goal to be the pebble in your shoe, the blister on your ass, and try and get you unseated and as many voters in the Elmhurst area as possible about your decision to violate our privacy. Thank you.

Andrea Boki.

Good evening City Council members. Thank you for your time this evening.

You start with your name please.

My name is Andrea Boki. I'm from the third board, a neighbor of Chris Jensen's actually, and I'm also here to speak on. 627 035 the flock cameras. Chief McLean says that our data will stay local and only gets used responsibly. I'd like you to actually look at what's actually happened. Well, we've already gone over Texas and North Carolina. We haven't gone over what's happened here in Illinois in McHenry County. Prosecutors say police chief use flock data hundreds of times to track personal.

People he knew.

Not criminals. Evanston pulled out of their flock cameras. There are a lot of us out here who can't make it tonight because. We're working people with children who don't have babysitters nearby. That's why there's not as many of us as there should be. Please take the time and think about this because I will also be a pebble in the shoe and I will find all the other area moms and we will unseat people. Thank you. Edward Ferguson.

Edward Ferguson. Next. Jackie. That's it. That's it. All right. Oh, OK. uh edward ted i got it all right all right um that is the end of the list of people who signed up to make public comment is there anyone in the audience who did not know or get to sign up who would like to make a public comment if so please raise your hand all right seeing none we will close public comment thank you all we'll move on to our Item five, announcements. Are there any announcements from the dais? Alderman Virgil.

Yeah, I just wanted to announce that on September 17th at 7 p.m. We're gonna have a ward 5 town hall meeting It'll be in this room It'll be a chance for residents to come here about some of the Latest happenings things going on in the city as well as a chance to ask questions of their city officials I hope everybody from Ward 5 can make it. Thanks.

Thank you. Anyone else?

All right Clerk tamer

Okay, just want to announce that the consolidated election of 2027 is approaching. It'll be held on April 6, 2027, and it will include one open seat in each of the city's seven wards for a total of seven seats available for the election. Candidate packets will be available for pickup at City Hall beginning Tuesday, August 25th. They can be picked up during regular business hours, 8.30 a.m. to 5.00, p.m. petition circulation can begin on Tuesday August 25th as well more information is on the city website but filing begins on Monday November 16th at 8 30 a.m. at City Hall as well

Thank you, Clerk Tamer. Alderman Ardini.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. On September 13th, a Sunday at Elmhurst Barrens Park is hosting the Chicago Survivors A Walk Toward Healing. It's an event in its fourth year designed to advocate for survivors of gun violence. They're raising money. You can... donate to a team, join a team, or just walk on your own. And right now the Field Elementary School families are top dog in fundraising. I submit they're a bunch of punks and we should out-seat them and raise more money. Too often we're always told about gun violence. Now's not the time to talk about it. Now's not the time to talk about it. There is an event specifically on the 13th of September where you can march, find community, and talk about something that we address every day in the united states you can find out more information at chicagosurvivors.org or givebutter.com a walk toward healing which is their sort of sign up site thanks all right i think that's it all right very good uh we'll move on to item six the consent agenda uh we haven't met for a bit so we have 33 items to read through so uh clerk tamer if you would uh take a deep breath and proceed

6.1, minutes of the regular meeting of the Elmer City Council on July 20, 2026. 6.2, accounts payable August 17, 2026, $3,880,934.53. 6.3, mayoral appointments. 6.4, referral, evaluation of relief, hardship special, Exception parking options, 6.5 report case 26, ZVA 02, Elmhurst Park District, DuPage County variation, Prairie Path East of Spring Road. 6.5 report case 26, P11, Elmhurst Park District, Crestview Park, conditional use permit 245 East Crestview. 6.7 report 2025, audited annual comprehensive financial report. 6.8, report Jackson School PTA fundraiser request. 6.9, report 2026 sidewalk replacement program construction contract renewal. 6.10, report underpass stormwater pump control panel. 6.11, report ITP funding application Church Road side path. 6.12, report 2026 fire hydrant materials purchase. 6.13, report purchase of two Ford F350 4x4 pickup. 6.14, report salt shed overhead door replacement. 6.15, an ordinance granting a conditional use permit for a preliminary plan unit development for the construction of an industrial building at the property commonly known as 933 South Riverside Drive, Elmhurst, Illinois. 6.16, an ordinance granting a conditional use permit to operate a parking lot in excess of maximum parking space requirement, granting a conditional use permit for a planned unit development with site development allowances for the construction of a police station and associated improvements and approving a plan of subdivision for the property commonly known as 125 East First Street, Elmhurst, Illinois. 6.17, an ordinance to add park zones and special speed limit while passing park zones by amending Article 4, entitled Speed Restrictions of Chapter 44, entitled Motor, Vehicle, and Traffic of the Elmer's Municipal Code. 6.18, an ordinance authorized in the execution of a community solar anchor subscription agreement by and between Solis Power Technologies, LLC, and the City of Elmer's, DuPage, and Cook Counties, Illinois, for certain city-owned properties. 6.19, an ordinance waiving bid and authorizing the issuance of a notice of award, purchase order for the purchase of three Genesis Hydraulic extrication tools for the city of Elmer's fire department six point twenty an ordinance approving and authorizing the execution of a non-exclusive license agreement by in between Elmer's Park District and the city of Elmer's DuPage and Cook County's Illinois six point twenty one an ordinance approving the execution of a non-exclusive license agreement by in between Elmer's University and the city of Elmer's DuPage and Cook County's Illinois 6.22, an ordinance to approve and authorize the execution of a master pole attachment agreement license supplement for use of certain city infrastructure and rights of way by and between Chicago SMSA Limited, Partnership, DBA, Verizon, Wireless, and the City of Elmhurst, Illinois. 6.23, an ordinance to approve and authorize the execution of a non-exclusive license agreement by and between the Knights of Columbus and the City of Elmhurst, DuPage, and Cook Counties, Illinois. 6.24. An ordinance to vacate the easement of the property commonly known as 625 Fay Avenue in the City of Elmhurst, Illinois. 6.25, an ordinance to vacate the easement on the property commonly known as 624 and 630 West Belden Avenue in the City of Elmhurst, Illinois. 6.26, an ordinance to waive bid and authorize the purchase of one 2027 Ford F-350 for the Water Reclamation Facility Division and one 2027 Ford F-550 for the electrical division, authorizing the disposal and trade-in of one 2014 Ford F-250 4x41, 2015 Ford F-550. 6.27, an ordinance waiving bid and accepting the proposal from Flock Group Inc. for the lease and maintenance of 22 automated license plate readers. 6.28, a resolution to approve and adopt a black party policy. 6.29, a resolution to approve and authorize the execution of a professional design engineering services agreement by and between Clark Deeds, Inc. and the City of Elmhurst for the 2027 water main improvements project. 6.30, a resolution authorizing the purchase of one Altec aerial truck for the City of Elmhurst forestry division. 6.31, a resolution rejecting all bids for the 2026 Madison Street water main replacement project in the city of Elmhurst, Illinois. 6.32, a resolution authorizing the execution of change order number one for the 2026 water main improvements project. And 6.33, a resolution approving an agreement between the city of Elmhurst and the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 150, Public Employee Division 2026 through 2030.

Very good, thank you, Clerk Tamer. Is there any item on the consent agenda that any member of the council would like to remove for either further discussion or to vote against? Alderman Irby.

6.15. 6.15. Anything else?

All right, I'll ask for a motion to approve the consent agenda minus item 6.15. Alderman Brennan with the motion. Thank you. Alderman Hill with the second. Call the roll on the consent agenda, please. No, I got the wrong agenda.

Aye. Hill?

Aye.

Graham?

Aye.

Jensen? Aye. Toledo? Aye. Baker? Aye. Newdara?

Aye.

Virgil?

Aye.

Nardini?

Aye.

Bastido? Aye. Irby?

Aye.

Brennan?

Aye.

Vareemus? Aye. Bellinger? Aye. 14 ayes, 0 nays.

14 ayes, 0 nays. The consent agenda minus 615 passes. On to 6.15. Clerk Tammer, please read the ordinance.

An ordinance granting a conditional use permit for a preliminary plan unit development for the construction of an industrial building at the property commonly known as 933 South Riverside Drive, Elmhurst, Illinois.

i may have a motion to approve 615 alderman jensen with a motion alderman vareemus with a second alderman jensen this is simply the ordinance to the report we passed that last meeting and discussed extensively over multiple cpc public hearings and deliberation sessions in front of our committee um so i defer to the alderman that pulled it all right any discussion alderman erby uh thank you mayor

We've come to the last vote on the warehouse. And I wanted to ask, go through some of the points of the ordinance tonight. But before I do that, I'd like to be able to ask with the mayor's approval to ask the city attorney to establish the legal effect of a vote to approve the ordinance, including that approval causes the city council to adopt the required findings contained in it, meaning the items that are in the ordinance as findings, if there's any problem that anyone on council has with a single finding, is it okay for them to vote yes? That would be my question to city attorney.

I can answer it if you want. So if I understand the question correctly, Alderman, if anyone, why don't you repeat the problem with the findings one more time?

So if you've read through all the ordinance tonight, that establishes the final findings that will be codified. So if there's any problem with one of those findings, the 10 findings required under PUD, is it OK for someone on council

to still vote yes when they have a problem with one of the findings that they don't think it's that finding has been established for them personally it would come to the point of whether or not you think that carries the day for the ordinance as a whole if that one finding is i guess so problematic for any particular alderman that would render the ordinance invalid in their mind or you couldn't sustain the general findings, all the other findings, then you might have to vote no. But I would think you would look at the ordinance as a whole and all the findings in totality.

All right. Thank you, City Attorney. I believe the ordinance, as I've read it, says that if any one of the 10 findings are not found, we are bound by the ordinance not to approve. don't know that i could concur with that finding if i mean if you gave me a finding in there that you're referring to we could talk about that i guess all right well i'm going to go ahead and dig into the findings uh thank you for your response um so when we read through the ordinance tonight there are some of the findings in here that have i think materially changed from the the record one of them was THAT THE TRUCK TRAFFIC WILL NOT BE DETRIMENTAL AND THAT WE HAVE GOOD TRUCK TRAFFIC IN THIS AREA AND IT'S WELL KNOWN YES JUST TO MAKE SURE WE'RE LITERALLY ON THE SAME PAGE WHERE IN THE FINDINGS ARE YOU SEEING THIS THIS IS FINDING NUMBER ONE TALKING ABOUT TRUCK TRAFFIC THE TRAFFIC IS MY CLOCK RUNNING yeah but i'll deduct this bonus time so what page are you on um i don't have it in front of me um is your reference part of the ordinance it's number one of the of the findings all right so it looks like it's on page three i can get this pages are not numbered i remember correctly

I don't know.

I'm seeing them numbered on my... Well, there is the PDF page 4, I think. The commission recognizes that noise emanates from trucks. Is that the one you're talking about?

It talks about the ability of the bulb in this area, the sub-area 8 plan or the north corridor, riverside corridor, has great access for trucks.

for the conditional use.

Well, let's see. I'm just searching. The one that talks about $5,000 per day, is that the... I want to call the council's attention to...

There are findings for the conditional use. There are findings for the preliminary planned unit development.

Do you know which one you're referring to? It's the first finding. There's 10 findings. They talk about traffic. But the property tax is, it's the 10 findings under the PUD. Under the PUD.

Oh, under the PUD.

Right, and we have 10 findings that we have to find as truthful, and the applicant has exceeded their burden of proof for those findings. Otherwise, we can't approve the case. That's what the code says. We've already discussed that, and we have a difference of opinion. I'll pull it up.

Yeah, I mean, I think if we're going to talk with the council about what the finding is, I'm not able to. Is there anyone else?

I can't find it.

Are you looking at the report or the ordinance?

The ordinance. Tonight's what's on the board, Docs.

No. I don't see what he's talking about.

I guess I'll need to download it.

Is it about the noise of it? Is that the one?

I'm on page 5 of 11, Mayor, where we have the bullet points. Is it the one at the top about the proximity to the school?

Will not be injurious. Is it this one?

Mayor?

Yes. Here it is right here.

Alderman Toledo.

In the PUD application, at least in the application from the applicant, council members can see the standards of review starting on page two. It's the first item in the zoning and planning case file.

well we're talking about the ordinance tonight though so i want to see where in the ordinance there's a finding that is i don't know if that can if the conditions are listed out in the ordinance well the findings are but so are you looking at the bottom of page four under the top of page five is it that the condition use will not be injurious to the use and enjoyment of the property

The conditions are on page nine. Is that what we're up to?

So this starts on page three.

It starts on page three.

All right. The first bullet.

And so these are the findings. Wouldn't you agree?

Yes. Section two is the findings. So now tell me which one you were talking about.

So there's one about truck traffic.

Which one is that? Alderman Ardini, hang in there.

I apologize, Mayor.

Are you on page four? The commission recognized that noise emanates from trucks, but the similar emission noise, is that it?

Yes, we're on the ordinance.

Alderman Ardini, stand by, please.

One more.

right so we're eight minutes into your time but of a five minute limit but we haven't even identified what the finding is so in the interest of the council's time if you don't know you want to go to a different issue uh sure mayor thank you the one about appraisal of the property taxes

And again, I don't have it up in front of me, if you can find it. At the bottom of four. It says, the proposed warehouse is being constructed in an area that is already established with industrial and commercial uses, including the public works facility. It was noted when the public works facility was constructed, there were similar concerns of impacts to property values, semicolon. However, the property values- All right, so that's the bullet- See that one?

That's the bullet in the bottom of page four.

Right, so those property values discussing the public works of 1997 through 2000, when it was built, are not a part of the hearing. They are not in the transcripts. These are Commissioner Burns' deliberations after the case was closed. HE MADE A BRIEF MENTION, I LOOKED IT UP IN THE RECORD, AND THAT STATEMENT ABOUT THE PROPERTY VALUES HAVE APPRECIATED THE SAME FOR PROPERTY VALUES ON THE OTHER SIDE, WHICH MEANS ACROSS THE CREEK, I BELIEVE.

JUST SO WE'RE CLEAR, THESE ARE THE FINDINGS OF THE COMMISSION, RIGHT?

WHICH ARE NOT, I'M SAYING THAT DID NOT HAPPEN.

OKAY. Unless I'm mistaken, those are verbatim the findings of the commission. Are you saying they were mistranscribed? Characterized.

How's that?

No, were they mistranscribed, or is this the word for what the commission reported?

Yeah, this is not in the commission report, that last sentence in that paragraph.

um all right i can't verify that uh and i don't didn't have any advance notice and uh and chair jensen if you know anything about it um all right it's legal counsel is telling me that we would take them word for word that which would be my understanding, they're the commission's findings. We can't, we as a council cannot add to the commission's findings. It's the commission's findings.

I'm attesting right now that that last sentence is not in the record.

It may not be in the record testimony, but it was in the comments made, as you said, Alderman, by one of the plan commission members, and the commission chose to include that in their final findings of the report made to the council.

Right, and I've got that verbatim, what he did say in the record. AND SEE IF YOU CAN CONSTRUE THAT THE PROPERTY VALUES, IT SAYS CLEARLY THAT THE PROPERTY VALUES WERE NOT GIVEN, THERE WERE NO APPRAISALS DONE BY EITHER PARTY. SO HOW DO WE COME TO THE FACT THAT THERE'S DIFFERENT PROPERTY VALUES 20 YEARS AGO THAT'S NOT A PART OF THIS CASE WRITTEN INTO THE RECORD OF THIS ORDINANCE TONIGHT?

all disputing what you're saying about I wouldn't begin to say or argue or what with what you're saying in connection with those values that that's your opinion and and the Planning Commission may have had a different opinion all I'm really suggesting is that at the end when the Planning Commission made its report it included all of this all all of that that is in the report this this ordinance is verbatim the report the final report provided to the city council it's not more it's not less and those statements made if they were made by you have the transcript you read it if they were made by uh commissioner burns the plan commission chose to include that in their report and made that recommendation that's that's all that the the council can go on they can make a decision based upon the comments you're making and that may carry the day but i'm saying suggesting to you that what the plan commission had in its report is verbatim in this ordinance did you have something to add to this particular

IF WE'RE COMPARING WHAT IS IN THE ORDINANCE AND WHAT WAS IN THE ZONING AND PLANNING REPORT THAT GOT SENT TO DPZ, IT'S VERBATIM.

ALL RIGHT. I'M GOING TO, YEAH, UNLESS TO GET THROUGH THIS. We're going to assume it's verbatim because you're not pointing out where it's not. So we're pretty deep into this. So tell me where we're going on this.

All right. Well, let's just jump out of the ordinance then because we're not getting anywhere. The conditions. So in front of you tonight, we have the conditions that have been proposed as replacements for the existing nine conditions. some of those conditions don't have enough description or detail to be manageable enforceable or have an impact and so that's what's in front of you tonight um you say are you talking about a document that right here yeah that's it potential amendments right here all right so to run this like we need to run it um

I'm not sure if you're making comments generally to the report. Are you moving an amendment?

I was going to move amendment, but I couldn't get anyone today to motion with me to try to make these amendments better. But that's what these are. Right. So I think at this point, I'll just retire my time. All right. Alderman Jensen.

In the transcripts on the 28th, and thank you to Alderman Virgil for finding it so quickly, I'll quote from the transcript of the deliberations. I believe this is Kevin Byrne. I did go back and look at the application for the public works facility from 1999. At that point, people were concerned about property value impacts from the project. I use the MLS to target the areas, and it's like the rates of appreciation are the same whether you're across the creek, east of Spring Road, or other parts of Elmhurst. So I think that it is there. It's in the report.

Well, and I appreciate that, but we don't have to go back to the evidence.

If it's in their report to us and we cut it and paste it in our ordinance, we are verbatim taking their finding. All right. Additional discussion. And thank you. Additional discussion on the ordinance. All right. Seeing none, Clerk Tamer, call the roll. This is on 615.

Schanko? Aye. Hill?

Aye.

Graham?

Aye.

Jensen?

Aye.

Toledo?

Aye.

Baker? Aye. Newdara?

Aye.

Virgil?

Aye.

Nardini? Aye. Bastido? Aye. Irby?

No.

Brennan?

Aye.

Berrimas? Aye. Bellinger?

Aye.

13 ayes, 1 nay.

13-I-1A-615 passes. Thank you. Item seven, reports and recommendations of elected board officials. Mayor Levin, I have three. Labor Day Monday, we will not meet on the 7th. We will meet on Tuesday the 8th. Then the following weekend is Rock the Block, September 11th and 12th. Very big event for Elmer, so I hope he'll come out for that. Also, the Elmhurst Heritage Foundation Craft Beer Fest is the 19th from 2 to 6. Tickets are on sale now. And as I do every year, I ask my fellow council members to consider volunteering to be a celebrity beer porter. And I think if you are willing to do so, wanting to do so, it's a lot of fun. Contact Kathy Jordan, I believe, who is going to run this. Those are my announcements. City Manager.

Thank you, Mayor. Just two events coming up this weekend from the Explore Elmhurst website. The community bicycle ride hosted by the Elmhurst Bicycle Club will be on this Friday, August 21st at 6.30 p.m. AND THEN AN AFTERNOON WITH ABIGAIL ADAMS AT CITY HALL, AUGUST 22ND AT 1 P.M. THAT IS PRESENTED BY OUR ELMHURST HISTORY MUSEUM. THANK YOU, MAYOR.

ALL RIGHT. ALL RIGHT. SO ARE THERE ANY OTHER REPORTS? the mayoral referral report is posted that was item 7-2 so we're going to go on to item 7.4 which is uh the initial presentation of the 2027 five-year capital expenditure budget city manager johnson thank you mayor we're going to take just one second for the screens to come down as we do have a powerpoint presentation for the council tonight director Coyle are we good to go and we all have our budget capital the beginning of our budget books is in front of you

All right, well, thank you for that brief pause. It's that time of year again, budget season. It always sneaks up on us. Tonight, we wanna present the five-year capital expenditure budget for 2027 to 2031. Tonight, I will highlight the projects and procedures, and at the end of the presentation, we will go through the next steps for the overall budget process. Lastly, I'd like to thank Director Coyle for preparing this presentation tonight. The objective of the five-year CAB is to identify and create a comprehensive plan for long range major capital expenditures for the city. Capital expenditures are defined as $25,000 or more. They must result in the acquisition or construction of a fixed asset. And that asset must be intended to be held or used for 10 years or greater. Because of the number of capital expenditures, the city identifies these by classification and priority. For classification, they are ranked from one to six, with each classification helping to define the expenditure. For priority, they are ranked A through D in terms of need, with A being essential and D being optional. Each year, city staff analyzes the projects within the CAB. Projects are reviewed by priority and expense, and they're moved within the five-year plan to try and balance the overall annual expenses. Some projects may move up or down depending on need or financial implications within the five-year plan. The next slide shows CAB expenditures broken down by cost centers. You can see on the pie chart that the largest expenditure by fund is the Municipal Utility Fund, or the MUF, and the General Fund. Of note, under the General Fund, the largest expenditure is for Public Works Street Maintenance. The next slide shows CAB revenues broken down by source once again. You can see that the largest revenue source is the MUF funds and the GO bonds. The MUF revenue is funded by water and sewer rates. It's also worth pointing out that the GO bonds and IEPA loans are very common in municipal governments, which are revenue sources that help pay for capital improvements. Lastly, the city also applies for grants to offset the cost of capital projects. This five-year CAB includes $44.2 million in grants over the next five years. As we get into the highlights of this proposed five-year CAB, the 2027 CAB has decreased from 309 million to roughly 249 million. That's mainly due to the police station moving into construction late this year over the next couple months. Other highlights of the cab include several street resurfacing, which is mill and overlay, and reconstruction projects, and several large-scale stormwater projects, including the planned Spring and Eggleston project and the North Grawe Woods project. The next slide highlights the street and alley program portion of the five-year CAB. As you can see, city staff has proposed to spread out these expenses over the next five years. Again, trying to balance the annual expenditures the best we can. And those expenditures range from 7.1 million to 8.6 million. These expenses are a mix of resurfacing, which again is mill and overlay, reconstruction, and alley rehab. Looking at the street program a little closer, some of the highlights of the proposed 27 expenses include Northwest Elmhurst Street reconstruction, Cayuga Avenue reconstruction, and Butterfield and York intersection improvements. Additionally, on this slide, you will see other notable future street projects, including South York Street from Prairie Path to Jackson, Valette Street from Poplar to Spring, and Spring from Valette to Butterfield. These are all planned mill and overlay projects. Of note, the CAB continues the reduction of street resurfacing that was made in 26, our current year, and this was a $1.4 million reduction that was funded by the general fund, and that equates to about 1.7 miles less per year than we had originally planned.

Hold on. Do you have questions as we go? We can do that, or do you want to?

We can ask them as we go.

All right, so Alderman Hilden, Alderman Nardy.

I don't mind holding until the end, but it would be ways back there.

How much more do you need?

Five or six slides. why don't we go through if that's okay and then all right thanks thank you mayor so again we did reduce the the paving program by about 1.4 million and that is planned to go forward in the future it is important to know that reducing the mill and overlay which those expenses were planned for we can look at reconstructions and stp projects like the palmer drive project that we're doing currently When we look at total mileage every year, we do combine mill and overlay, reconstruction, and STP projects, and ultimately our goal would be somewhere around seven and a half miles per year. That would get us to a 20-year paving cycle.

You may want to tell the non-public works people what a mill and overlay is.

A mill and overlay is a grinding of the roadway to a certain depth. Usually it's about three to three and a half inches. And then overlay is another layering of pavement, new pavement on top of that. That's a typical pavement maintenance practice.

We all knew that, of course.

Of course.

Moving on to bike and pedestrian programs within the cab. Some of the highlights of the proposed expenses include new sidewalk installation. That's per the city's new sidewalk master plan in the total amount of 2.3 million over the next five years. And on the bike side of improvements, excuse me, 1.7 million is planned over the next five years. And that includes things like the new shared use path along Church Street and Northwest Elmhurst that is slated for 2030. As we noted earlier in one of the pie chart slides, stormwater projects comprise a good portion of the five-year cab. I think it's about 10% roughly. Stormwater projects include both pumping station improvements and individual neighborhood projects to help manage stormwater. You can see on this table that the largest expense will be the rehabilitation of our stormwater pump stations, which are aging, and they are a vital part of our stormwater network, getting water out to their ultimate downstream exit, if you will. Moving along to the MUF, or Municipal Utility Fund projects, we have water, sewer, and water reclamation facility, which is our treatment plant. The largest of these proposed expenses is on the water side, where we anticipate $25 million in water main replacement over the next five years, and that's to keep ahead of our aging water main infrastructure. And then bundle six, which is the next big improvement at the WRF, will help remove phosphorus as required by federal and state mandates. The dates for phosphorus compliance are likely 2038, but we are waiting on the updated permit to be issued. That date has changed a little bit over time. Another project we want to highlight is our public works garage expansion, what we're calling phase three. That's in the five-year cab. These improvements for this project are estimated to be 10.4 million and include construction of a new open storage yard, new storage in the form of a building expansion, and necessary stormwater detention onsite to manage the improvements. It should be noted that only design is currently funded by the Capital Improvement Fund, and the rest of the project will rely on future GO bonds and revenue source to be identified later. Other facility projects highlighted in the CAB include carpet replacement at City Hall, which we've been doing in phases to try to spread out that expense, and then ADA improvements again here at City Hall. There's a roof replacement scheduled for Fire Station 1 in the amount of $300,000. And then in the amount just under $200,000, we have electrical HVAC masonry improvements at the Ed Center of the Elmhurst History Museum. Our next slide shows tax increment financing. So as we look at TIF, those expenses include things like the Metro Station Project in the downtown TIF. That project is anticipated to be $47.4 million, of which 35.1 is funded by grants currently. Both the North York TIF and the Church and Lake Street TIF do not have projects planned at this point in the five-year CAB. However, staff has begun the process to evaluate utility needs and other infrastructure needs in those TIFs. So we are ready as funds are available. So getting to the last couple of slides here, as we focus on debt, there's roughly 42 million that will be funded by future debt. There'll be geo bonds in the amount of 12.2 for the Metro station and $10 million for the public works garage expansion. Those are both anticipated as future debt. Additionally, IEP loans in the amount of 20 million are expected for bundle six project at the water reclamation facility. So on our last slide here, we want to highlight the next steps for both the council and the public. We anticipate that the Public Works and Building Committee will review the CAB in greater detail as they typically do on an annual basis. City staff will convert the capital project requests into the two-year operating budget. We anticipate that the Finance Committee will review both revenues and continue their general fund review efforts that they've been doing for the last couple months. The city budget team will meet with individual departments and go through their requests related to their operating budgets. And then the operating budget will be finalized and distributed in October. Please note that inside the binder at the dais here that the council members were provided a calendar and that helps to lay out the remaining dates for the budget process. Thank you very much and I'd be happy to answer any questions.

All right, Alderman Hill, I think you were first.

thank you mayor um and perhaps this was done before i just noticed it and it's probably a makes sense answer but and the priority page on the on page 18 of the cab there's priorities a through d but there's also is it hardware and vehicle and equipment replacement always broken out as non-priority items that's at the bottom of that expenditures by priority on page 18.

Director Coyle, would you mind fielding that question?

So we typically just list IT and vehicles separately because there are many different items that make up one category. So we don't specifically go through and categorize each vehicle or each IT item into a priority. But we do take into account which ones we move up or move back, especially for vehicles, to replace those priority items first.

So, and I could have confirmed this, but I haven't yet. If I turn to one of the IT improvements in the cap, it'll still have a priority item.

Yes, for the major ones for IT. For the vehicles, we don't list that in the vehicle cab. In the very back, there's a list of all the vehicles. We don't list out priorities for each of the vehicles. That's not something we've typically done.

Thank you. I could have just turned the page, but I didn't do that. So thank you.

I think Alderman Nardini was next. I was trying to get attention for Alderman Hill. I don't have anything. All right, Alderman Virgil.

Yeah, I have a couple questions. In there for the metro station, it notes the cost of about $47 million, which I think is the number we've been working with for the last couple of years or so. I know in years prior to that, the cost had increased quite significantly. Do we need to go back, or is there any thought of potentially going back and reevaluating the cost of that to make sure that number is still accurate?

i'll try to answer that and then director coyle if uh you'd like to add any additional commentary that'd be great um so yes you are correct that we've updated that that estimated project cost several times over the last few years um four more i believe the number that's presented here in the cab is our best estimate at this point just to be clear we this number that's in here is not that old i don't think is it we've been increasing emmer was 42 at one point so it's been

But it's been, if I remember correctly, it's been 47-ish for a while, for at least maybe a couple of years, I think.

I think it's been at this level for about two years. So I know it was last year. I'm not sure about the year before. I think as far as pricing for the metro station, the next step in the process is really for the project to go out to bid and then see what those bids come back.

okay and then i have one other question um so is the question maybe more process but uh on the stormwater projects um there were a number of things and uh a lot of those have come from that list of a dozen or so um that have been kind of out there for a while um You know, we know there's been recent issues at Olive and Sunnyside and just kind of wondering, you know, we don't have this one, that Olive and Sunnyside project on the KEB, you know, for that five-year time horizon. What would be the process to look at that?

i believe the document you're referring to is the uh stormwater um planning document they had about 12 projects if i remember right it was uh colored red um yeah the top seven projects i think were were either funded or going to be funded in uh the future cab and i think two of them are in this five-year cab projects 8 through 12 do not have any funding identified at this point So they would require additional discussion at the committee and council level and funding source identified.

Thanks. Alderman Hill. Thank you. One other thing I was reminded of, and I think we had discussed this with staff a little bit, but something that was a little unclear to me when I looked through the cab is some of these items have been in front of committees and discussed. I mean, not approved, obviously, or in various stages of initial discussion. Some of these are coming from staff as items that they prioritized, and I thought it would be helpful, and again, maybe this is for next year, if it's too late for this year, but I thought it would be helpful to have some sort of Notation on that. And perhaps there is a way they're notated, but I'm looking in the project description and justification. I don't think there's anything specifically that says it's already been before a committee and discussed versus originating from staff. And that would just give me a little bit of clarity on what's been discussed by council or committee members already and again that could be something for the future but i'm just thinking about this because it was left over from discussion i think we had had with staff last year looking at the cap um maybe you would like to respond to that or christine

So the only piece of information we do have on each sheet is whether it's a new item. So that means it's a project that is new to the KeB or will be new in the five years. So it may not be, it may have been on the KeB last year, but it still starts at some point during the KeB. some of them say continuing that means it's a continuing project from a previous year so that would be something that would would let alderman know or city council know that we had discussed that project and the other kind of type is carryover and so that's often where either we need to re-budget for a project so a good example would be the roof or fire station one That was when we had included in the CAB last year, but because it was not able to be completed this year because it had some additional things that needed to be looked into and some additional funding needed, it is carried over into the next year. So those are the different types, but it doesn't specifically speak to what you're saying of staff versus council.

If I respond, so for example, on CAB 51 bike and pedestrian plan improvements, I mean, that is a, vehicle a bicycle set in motion quite some time ago that we're simply working our way through this plan and I think I'm aware of that having been on council a while but I just think for clarity's sake if there is some way going forward we could say that's a that's not something we're likely not to continue funding because how we can indicate that is you know especially people just looking at it for the first time this is something that's a multi-year plan in effect and versus something that's brand new and has not been discussed, but maybe might be listed as priority A. I would find that a useful distinction going forward when I look at these, because some of them, again, I know this about the bike and pedestrian plan, but there, I think, are other examples like that on the CAB where, you know, they have been already discussed thoroughly and approved in committee and by council, but, you know, they're still on here. It may just be me. That's just a comment. Thank you.

Alderman Toludo.

um i would just uh respond to the comment and say that um with all due respect oliver hill when you used the words you used the words that director coyle suggested were under project type continuing right and new i think you know from you know 90 of these projects are probably already based on the information shared categorized in that way thank you

All right, well, we can keep an eye out as we go forward. I see that one says it was approved in 2021, but there are other ones that may not be as obvious. And for, if you don't know where you're looking, if you look at the upper right-hand corner, it'll say continuing or new, but I understand it doesn't say if it was approved by the council in 2021, et cetera. Did you want to add? All right, additional questions or discussion? Alderman Bram? Thank you.

Two questions, one of which is Keb 45 for First Street Landscaping. I mean, we're starting, right, the new police station end of this year. For demolition at least and this obviously is and it says for Alderman Hills benefit continuing So it's nothing new. It's been in the budget for a while now Is there a reason why we're budgeting for something that for that area? Unless it's on the opposite side of the street, but that area we're essentially renovating and almost starting from scratch and

Yes.

Go ahead.

This cab is for landscaping of areas that are between the roadway. In the example you stated, First Street and the railroad tracks, the police station project will not impact this area.

Okay. Thank you. The only other question at this time, at least, is on 52, the new sidewalk installation. I know we have both policies in play, right? We have the master sidewalk policy as well as the shared policy by property owner. Looking back at last year's budget, I think it was a difference of $20,000 or somewhere thereabouts. That was budgeted for 468 for 2027. And in 2027 this year, 483. It's So are we budgeting enough to do both the shared policy and the new sidewalk policy? Because quite frankly, the new sidewalk policy would probably take up more dollars than the $483,000 that's currently budgeted for the next handful of years.

I know we're going to get into this one probably at the Public Works and Building Committee, but I think Director Coyle might be able to answer this question.

So we are proposing to fund in the current year, Keb, what it includes is the sidewalk master plan. We discussed it as staff and are proposing to handle the SSA requests. If one comes in, then we would evaluate if we have funding to do it that year, if not to budget for it the year after. We wanted to prioritize the sidewalk master plan and then handle those requests for the SSA sidewalks because they they are more infrequent now we can address those if they're budgeted dollars or can then appropriate them in the next year as that moves through the process it would take time to design that to design those projects if that ssa was to come through so there would be a timing perspective anyway that would allow us to budget for those then in the year that it would be constructed director quill we had um

applied for and I directed or requested that there be some grant, our request for capital improvement. Some of them came back specifically for sidewalks. Is that in this budget?

Those are all for 2026. 26, okay. Yes, there may be some carryovers that we do as part of the carryover process at the end of the budget, but all of those are budgeted in 26. Very good.

Follow up? Yes, Alderman Bram. So with that said, then if something with the SSA policy comes to fruition the following budget year, say something happens in 2027, 2028, budget item would increase then to make those adjustments for the additional funds needed?

Correct, yes.

Okay, and we feel confident that $483,000 is going to cover any part of the sidewalk master plan and keep it per our plan?

It will certainly start the effort, and prices will fluctuate as they do from year to year, but I think that's staff's best guess at this juncture, that that dollar amount will help us get started on that plan. Thank you.

Alderman Toludo.

Yeah, since the funding source for that is other, is any of that coming out of the general fund? Any of that? It shouldn't be, right? No, the side note master plan would be capital.

All right, additional questions, comments? All right, so we're going to be, City Manager Johnson laid out the schedule and who's going to be looking at this. So this is our first peek into and step into our budgeting process. Take a look at the calendar that's tucked into the inside front cover.

and uh we will proceed along that route that is is there any other business to be brought before the council this evening alderman bram thank you and i was hoping to talk about it on the previous agenda item and the pending items list as listed on our agenda um i just want to voice what i voiced last time that this came up on our agenda is that the list that is currently posted is not accurate it is missing items there's items that haven't been discussed for a year if not more than a year if we're if we continue to post per our ordinance at least our pending items list i i am requesting for a second or third time that it it is an accurate list so the public knows what is out there and what the city council will be discussing in the near term i know this is just a request but just by a quick look a few minutes ago there's at least one if not multiple items missing from the pending items list and like i said some of the items on the pending items list is are pretty stale give me uh so i think what i do is let me ask the chairs

to review this and see if, and Alderman Bram, please feel free to, if you see them, and I don't obviously, but if you see them, let us know, but I will ask the chairs to look into the ones that are under their individual subcategories, and I will look with staff to look at the ones that are above the committee level, and we'll see if we can catch up. I understand your concern. Thank you. Alderman Hill.

thank you um based on some of the comments i've heard as well as the media i i think there might be some value and may this is a question question directed at acting city manager johnson but um and with respect to flock cameras i think the police chief gave a pretty eloquent uh description of how the city uses that and i wonder if we could benefit by having communications, put together something on flock cameras, the nature of how we use them, and our thoughts behind the process, maybe to have something concise for the public?

I think, Chief, didn't you already have something prepared on that?

So we actually have a really nice page on the Elmhurst Police website dedicated to explaining our license plate reader program. So if you go to elmhurstpolicedepartment.org, click on the safety and prevention tab, you'll see the automated license plate reader program. So anybody that wants to know more about the program in Elmhurst, more about how they work, what they do and what they don't do, it's all listed there. So click on safety and prevention and then click on automated license plate readers.

I think that your point is good in that there was a lot of information, and I met with the chief this morning to talk about that, among other things. I know PAS went into great detail, and a lot of the concerns are really not accurate. We're not going to debate with the public, but I think by directing to that webpage, they'll see that, for instance, we keep data 30 days instead of 90, which is what the state allows. There's a lot of other protections we have, The cost sort of was inaccurately quoted. We on the council know that there's no comparison between Motorola and Flock in terms of price, but I think that page will answer a lot of information for people.

Chief, could we get that link again? I've got it. Okay.

Alderman Virgil.

But I think to Alderman Hill's point, I think it might be useful to put it in some of this communication about this. Maybe it just links to this, but in some of the normal city communications.

Let me see, because I don't know where we're going to be able to do that. The front porch is coming out shortly, but I think it may already be packaged. I saw a version on my desk, so... We can talk to the communications director and see if we can put a feature on the front page. All right. Others? All right. Seeing that we're through our other business, I'll ask for a motion to adjourn. Alderman Virgil with a motion. Alderman Toludo with a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed say nay. Thank you for your time. We are adjourned.

Good night, guys.