Village Board - Regular Meeting

coaching. It's just like it's already six o'clock. Good evening everybody. Welcome to the Mantino Village board meeting for Monday, April the 20th of 2026. Would you please rise for 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. And tonight, Reverend Rick Sulk is here to do the invocation. He's from the Urban Prairie Community Church.

Thanks, Mayor. Let's pray. God, we're grateful for what's been a beautiful day. We're grateful for what spring represents. And we gather here tonight grateful for our community. We're thankful for the ways that you have blessed us here in this wonderful town that we've been able to work in and raise families and and meet so many great friends across the years. We're seeking you tonight not only for the wisdom and the leadership here that we need in this community, but our world needs you right now. We need you for national leadership to have great wisdom that you would grant them what's going on on the international stage as well. And God, as we bring it back to our community, I look around this room and I see men and women who serve for little or no remuneration and give a lot of volunteer time and talent to this town. We ask that tonight, whatever your will is, you told your people to pray for your kingdom to come and your will to be done. And we do that tonight. We pray for your will to be done in Mantino. We ask that you would give these people who serve here great discernment, knowledge from you. Your word is clear that you said when your people ask you for wisdom, you would grant it. And I pray that you would grant wisdom here. That we make decisions that are for the best of this community and that there could be a spirit of unity here. that the end goal that we share for the best Mantino that we could possibly have would be blessed and guided by you. In Jesus name, we're grateful. Amen.

Amen. Thank you, Rick.

Roll call, please. Mary, yes. Budro here. Juan here. Rocket here. Zimman here. Here. Reading of the agenda. Is there anything on the agenda that needs to be taken off? How about um reading of the minutes? Any changes, corrections, or I will take a motion for approval. I'll make that motion. Motion by Barry. Second. Second by Von. Barry. Yes. Von. Yes. Udro. Abstain. GKI.

Yes. The moment abstain. Thank you. Public participation. Our first speaker tonight is Ann Gates.

Good evening. Good to see all of you. Welcome back CJ and welcome back Annette. Good to see you. Um there's been a lot of information being flooded into the internet concerning data centers uh nationwide not only for here and when I was doing a lot of the um research I like to do there is one thing I did want to bring back up with the uh in relation to go and being in stage two for production when I talked about them off gasing after the initial charge into the battery pack um for the battery cell what is off gas at that point is carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, hydrofluoric acid and hydrofluoric cyanide. So those are the toxins that would be released at that point before the batteries are then charged to 30% for storage. I would really like to know how they're going to filter that, how it's going to be kept from going into the atmosphere. I think that's something that that we really do need to follow up and know about. I'm also concerned with the legislation and some of the things that um Pritskar is putting forth and there was just a judge uh a vote taken Tuesday for the at county that he would like to have the main code and zoning be done statewide under his purview stripping the towns the villages of the your ability to mandate what can be built and what can't be built in our towns and in our villages. And if you read the document, it's pretty scary to think that all of you guys that work so hard at this aren't going to have a say any longer. So, I really encourage you

to look at that. Uh his end goal is of course to have data centers. I revisited Stringer Media again. That's Stringer Media. He's been researching this in Illinois for over 10 years. There's many documentaries he's done with the uh 10 towns in Illinois that have been through a really rough time. Some of them literally burned to the ground. Found out that half of the property was purchased by Amazon. The other the other part of the property was purchased by an undisclosed nonDA again um entity. And because it's Amazon, they're one of the biggest uh people that uses um AI and uses the data center. Uh a lot of people are talking about the sound and the different things that come from the data center. Few are talking about something that's called infround. Infrasound is a wave phenomenon of the same physical nature as sound but with a frequency below the range of human hearing approximately below 20 hertz to 30 hertz.

That's time. Okay. Could I have just a few seconds? Yes. Okay. Just a few.

Tangibly affects health. If you have a child or an adult that's on the spectrum, they are greatly disturbed by this frequency inter interference. It also if you have a pacemaker, if you have a defibrillator in your heart, the frequency can also interfere with that which causes cardiac issues. People that have tonitis and other issues, migraines are also in danger and cancer patients. So please weigh heavily the broader spectrum of what can take place let alone the water draw that they would bring on top of what goan is already drawing from us and water is not replaceable. Thank you for your time.

Thank you an

our next speaker is Sandy Chis. Hello. So, apparently we we all have ESP because last October 6, 2025, I spoke at a village board meeting and called some of you out for your financial irresponsibility. I told you then that you were overspending frivolously and would attempt to blame Mayor Lammore when it all crumbled around you. And just as a side note, we were talking who decides to count permits because I I believe I remember hearing that Goan got something like $400,000 of permits waved, the fees waved. And I do others get that, too? I mean, I don't I don't know. That would be interesting to look at to see because that would make a dent in the in the deficit. But now you underestimate the people of this village and believe you can fool them again. While we're not happy that there is no tax rebate this year, we know it is not the fault of the newer trustees or Mayor Lammore. We know that you nuent puppets voted to spend for very expensive bathrooms and a $500 $500,000 fishing pond. These things and now you'll attempt to counter it by pointing to the Gian attorney's fees. Those fees have only been incurred because the past mayor and some of you engaged in questionable and potentially illegal decisions that brought this toxic time bomb to our communist company into our village. In closing, you need to stop underestimating the people of this village. They're not stupid. They know that the reason we are in financial straits is because of the NEN puppets and not Mayor Lammore and the newer trustees. Thank you.

The next speaker is Francine Fatima. Good evening. What I'm going to say tonight is a little more um ad liib than written. It's really rather distressing to read the local paper to find that Mantino is to end tax rebate. Hi. I didn't see anything even on this agenda tonight that tells us that the tax rebate, which is in hundreds of dollars or something close to that we get. And it's been a pleasure to get that from our village tax for property. I just don't know what what gives here. I'm really rather upset that I find it in the newspaper rather than here.

Although earlier or I should say later tonight there may well be um some explanation regarding the tax rebate. I'm not a gimme person. You know, we lived in Chicago and there was a lot of that going on. We left Chicago. I don't want to leave here. Not at all. It's just this is just what's the truth. I'd like to know what the real truth is because it's very wearing on those of us who are retired, those younger people who are working trying to make a living for their children. It's distressing. It's not a joke. This goan is a serious communist company and it should not be brushed aside. This is serious. They took us and plan to do some thing that's not so good with us, I think. Thank you.

Thank you, Francine. Our next speaker is actually a group of ladies from the Mantino Historical Society. Anna Kaminsky, Donna Nelson, and Gail Dodge. Good evening. Um we have a new program. The three of us represent the Mantino Historical Society. The program is um historical markers for any home or business building that is over aundred years old. Now, that has to be located in the village of Mantino, Mantino Township, or Rockville Township. And we gave everybody a sample of the application. Um, we do have some more applications. We didn't know if we can leave them here and have them also placed maybe in the village hall on one of the counters, but we will have them.

Yes, we can.

Okay. We will have them at the historical society. So, anyone interested, if you qualify, you can fill the application out, get it to us. We do have a way um through the assessor's office to verify um if you are eligible. We will then contact you and the home owner or business building owner will have to pay the $85 to get um the marker um put on their home. Anything else? Our hope is that someday we will have enough homes with these markers that we can make a master list and put that at village hall and or give it to chamber or whatever so that people can come into town and stop and pick it up and say, "Oh my gosh, I want to go around and see all these old historical facilities and homes." So, uh, thank you very much for being open to assisting us.

And this is not a fundraiser. We're just charging people the cost of the plaque. It's just we're putting it out there and we think it would be a nice addition to the town. And if you want to see a sample, we already have one hanging on the Skinner House, which is the museum here on Third Street. So, uh, if you want to see a sample of it, it's very nice. So, thank you very much. Thank you, ladies. Our next speaker is Bill Barnes.

Thank you very much. So, um, I came in earlier, right at the, uh, I guess the right time or the wrong time at the finance meeting to hear Mr. Budro say we're $800,000 in deficit and what can we do? Cut staff. That just affirms what I'm going to mention, which is you have no plan. You have no plan as to how to get out of it and where the future of Mantino is going. Is there a comprehensive plan to bring in new businesses? You have an administrator slashcode enforcement director making what 150 plus. There's no plan. There's no ideas. You're looking for committees. And then Mr. um Guski says, "Oh, well, let's maybe economic alliance will help us out. Econom economic alliance has not brought business into Kanki County. All you have to do is drive through Kanka Ki and look at who's growing as Bradley. And what are they doing? They're not using the economic alliance. they have ideas on their own. That's his job. Or put somebody in. I think or the attorney said last time, you know, you need a planner. You need a city planner. You need economic development person, what have you. You're working with the same staff. You know, when when a baseball team is losing, the first thing they do is bring in a new manager. That's you, mayor. And your heart is in the right place. And I know you've got an uphill battle, you know, because you've got it's a you you've inherited a ship that's in mutiny and it has no map and it has no rudder. You guys are every every month is talking about, oh, let's talk about the, you know, the virtual meeting for a trustee, you know, because of her illness. And I respect that. You know, my dad went through cancer, that type of thing. I mean, it's sad, but you know, you keep talking about the same thing over and over again. You think these people want to come here and

about the same thing every every board meeting every month? They'd rather be at home with their families. No, I don't think they would. I beg to differ, Bill. What's that? I said I beg to differ, but Well, okay. And I and I I guess I'll challenge you on the whole Bradley thing because I my my question to you would be sure um how much has Bradley bonded out to build that baseball facility? Well, all I know is have you looked at the development want us to bond out that much money? This really isn't the time for discussion. I'd like to get 30 seconds back as they say reclaiming my time.

Um, so you have no plan. And mayor, you could make a change. You could ch you could change your administration. I think you still inherited the same. You still have the same administration staff and office staff. You could make that change. It's your it's in your control. If you want a clean clean house, clean house. But something needs to be done because, you know, taxpayers, I mean, you're being disingenuous to taxpayers by being $800,000 and and you're saying, "Oh, well, maybe we can have a committee and get volunteers." No, that's his job. So, I mean, make a change because people voted for a change. So, thanks. Thank you.

Our last speaker tonight is David Bergdoll. Welcome back, Annette. Interesting evening so far. We've had presentation tonight by two fine retired teachers from the historical society who, if you recall, their spouses were long, longtime members of this board. And not a single one of you bothered to acknowledge that. I find that disappointing. That said, you got an ordinance tonight about substance use disorder facilities. It went to planning commission last week or two weeks ago, whatever. Um, my experience in this county is that since COVID, substance and mental health facilities in this county have gone way downhill. Anything you can do to approve and help those businesses in this county would be greatly appreciated. For better or worse, I deal with people in needs of those services on almost a daily basis. And finally, we had a lot of discussion about convention visitors bureau and finance tonight and you got economic alliance on the agenda later on in the meeting. I don't fully agree with Mr. Barnes, but I have some history as well. What's your opportunity cost versus the increased expenses convention and visitors bureau? Is it worth it losing that grant in exchange for more specific Mantino advertising? I don't have an answer to that question. I don't know. But

those are the kinds of things you got to look at. This isn't 40 years ago when everything they were doing was a pretty looking flyer and going out getting mailed out and putting on shelves and places. I mean, doing things on the internet now cuts the costs considerably. I don't know if you can cut the costs enough to make not being in the conventions and visitors bureau worthwhile. Finally, economic alliance. A lot of people sitting in your crowd don't particularly like the economic alliance. You don't understand the history of the economic alliance. Don't understand why it was created 20 years ago. doesn't make a lot of sense. Used to be the realtors ran all of the funding programs and the development programs in this county. And if you didn't like what Mr. Nent was doing, you'd really be questioning what it was back in the days 25 years ago. Not saying economic science is the greatest or the worst, but it is a sub it is a entity that exists for a specific reason. was created to keep Mike Vanmill from doing all of the work without any of the municipalities adding in. So, thank you.

Thank you, David.

All right, reports of village officials. I'm going to start by just giving you a little bit of information. I received an email this week from Stephanie Casten. She's from human resources and it's about envision unlimited which has been here and presented their ideas for a group home. They are coming to Cananka Key to Mantino and to Burbanet and there's going to be a career fair for those of you who are interested in looking for a new job. It's April the 24th and 25th from 9 till 3 on Friday the 24th and from 10 to 3 on Saturday the 25th at the Best Western Plus which is at 62 Ken Hayes Drive in Bourbanet. So the jobs that they are going to be um you'll be applying for are direct support professionals, QIPDS or QIDPS, I'm sorry, which are qualified intellectual disabilities professionals, registered nurse trainers and maintenance staff. So if you need any more information on that, come up and see me after the meeting. Um I've received information on disaster loans. So if you know somebody who was affected by the recent tornado in the Cana Key and Aroma Park area and it hit went through Bradley and possibly you had damage here, there are loans available and so I have some flyers here about that. I have some information on how much the loans would be. Um right now you can go to Cani County to the disaster loan outreach center which is located in the village of Roma Park at their village hall. They are going to be there until the 25th of April every day. And I have the hours listed on a paper here for you to look at. Also, the Cana Key Train Depot, they're also going to be um giving applications for loans. And also at the Bradley Economic Development at Northfield Square Mall.

So, I have all the times that here on a paper, and the loans are so reasonably um available for people who lost their homes or lost all the contents of their homes. You can get a $100,000 loan for the contents of your house or a $500,000 loan for your entire house. And the interest rate starts at 2.85%. And goes up to about four or 5%. And that money is available to you, and you don't have to make any payments for a whole year. So, if you know anybody who who's related to you or friends or anybody who needs this information, I have some flyers here. You can come and take one home with you and share the good news. Okay. Recently, I have been to several meetings. Um Mike and I went to a meeting at the Jerome Combmes Detention Center and it was a mayor of the meetings and there were a few trustees that came with the mayors and they gave they gave us information about the tornado. We saw a video. Becky Powell, who is the EMS director of Kanki County, spoke. She was highly praised by the Cani County Sheriff, Mike Downey, and also by the the uh Can County board president, and his name is What is it again?

Matthew Matt Hildebrandt. Yeah. You want to tell them about the tour of the jail?

Yes. We went on a tour of the prison and it was very interesting. We walked all through the entire building and when it came to the maximum security, I kind of stopped for a minute, but I thought, "No, if they're inviting us in, I guess it must be safe." So, we got to witness and see a lot of the prisoners. And there were, I think he said, 398 prisoners there on that day. And it is interesting how they live. And the ones that are controlled and don't, you know, cause problems get to have some technology. So, we saw some of them sitting on their bunk beds with their iPads and their telephones, and everybody was just so quiet. They couldn't see us, but we could see them. They have like two-way mirrors on the windows. There's no bars in that facility, by the way. It's a very well-made structure, but it has thick glass windows.

Is there anything else you want to tell them about that, Mike? Um the the one thing that Sheriff Downey was um Cany Ki County jails lost $30 million of state funding because of our governor and because of the ICE. They used to house ICE uh inmates there and because of the no bail rules, but it's affected them $30 million off their budget this year. So, it it's very interesting.

We found out they get excellent medical care there. They even have a dentist that comes in twice a week and uh Mike Downey told us they probably get better care than most of us who were on the tour. One thing that caught my eye was we went into the laundry and every time you move anywhere in the prison, there are locked doors and there's somebody up in a room somewhere who has to unlock those doors and they never let you go right in. You go into a cubicle, the door locks behind you, and then they have to open the other door to let you in. We went into the laundry, and they there had been some prisoners in there doing the laundry, and they had them all leave before we came in. But there was a sign on the wall that caught my eye. And I saw this big steel table with the orange suits folded up, you know, and stacked up on the table. The sign on the wall said, "Suicide suits are not to be washed with the regular orange suits." And I asked Mike Downey, "What what does that mean? What's a suicide suit?" And he went into the other room to get me to get one. He says, "I want to show it to you." And he came out with this quilted. It looked like an apron on the front and the back and then it fastened on the sides. It was made out of a thick quilted material, much thicker than the orange suits that most of the the prisoners wear. And it's so they can't use those to to commit suicide, to hang themselves. I know that's dark, but I I just it was shocking to me to see that. But they it's a very very nicely arranged place. Our meeting was in the command center where they were working during the whole tornado working, you know, getting the trucks and the vehicles and everybody had to be in the right place at the right time. And Becky Powell really did a great job. They just kept singing her praises. So our our county did a really good job.

And one thing just to piggyback on that is Jim and Chief Swford, they couldn't speak thank us enough for all that you guys did for them during that time and how the whole county came together. It it was unbelievable. He said the amount of support that they received from local villages and outside villages, it's good to see that they were very grateful.

Um I also went to a burbanet finance meeting last Wednesday. Um Jeff Kee invited me to come and it was interesting how they run their meetings and it was interesting you know even how they do their paperwork. It's a little bit different than what we do but the basic facts of the meeting were the same. They were talking about their budget, too, and they had some of the same exact issues that we do right now. Everybody's looking for more money and trying to be frugal. So, that was nice. I think it's always good to go see how other towns handle their meetings. I also want to announce that May it's Mantino's turn to host the mayor's association meeting. So, they asked me several months ago if I was interested if I could do that and I said, "Sure." So that's going to be held in the middle of May at the Mantino Sportsman's Club and we've invited all the mayors in Cane County and their spouse or a guest and we'll have our meeting out there and just a small dinner, you know, nothing fancy. Believe me, I'm staying within the budget. Um, one more thing, I went to a meeting Thursday. Um, this was one of the stakeholder engagement workshops and I think Jim, haven't you been to one of those? uh for the uh local roads.

Yeah. Can area kaki area transportation study and the can county regional planning commission. So I went to the final meeting and I found out that we are eligible for a grant and I was sitting with the the fire chief Rick Peterson and we talked about this and I think we're going to come and see you Al. If we have an intersection in Mantino that's a problem where there's a lot of issues like a lot of accidents or people speeding, they will apply and get us this grant and they'll bring in anything we need to do a study and if that includes one of those traffic trailers, they'll bring one of those in and after the study is done, they'll come up with a solution for us and they'll let us keep the equipment. So, look for me to be calling you soon. We'll talk about that. Um, the only other thing I have is that Kelly Copelan called me today and he owns Copeland's building down the street and he does have an interested buyer. So, he just wonders if everything is going to be allowed if if it opens as the same thing. And I I said I was sure that the the board would agree to that if if it reopens as a bar. So, um, they will be contacting us and we'll go from there. So, hopefully we're going to have somebody new in Main Street soon. That's all I have. Village administrators report.

You got new business. Mayor, you have to do the budget public hearing. Oh, okay. Oh, I said I do. I have new business. I'm sorry. The budget public hearing consideration regarding a motion to approve liquor, amusement, video gaming, tobacco, and hotel licenses for fiscal year 26 and 27 as submitted by the village clerk. And this big stack right here are all the licenses we have in Mantino. And I don't know the exact number. Do you, Chris? No, but we have to do the budget public hearing first. This is something different. Okay. Go ahead. No, it you have to do it. All right.

Well, I'm opening the budget public hearing regarding the motion. Is anybody going to speak or explain what this is all about? Open the public. We'll open the public hearing for the budget. year.

Mike, did you have anything?

Um, so we we had discussions on our budget today. Um, and we're looking to pass our budget with uh for the 2027 year with the changes that we did discuss throughout this the year. Um, one thing is is that the property tax rebate, there still will be discussions on that. Contrary to what was read in the newspaper, um, that says right on here that Mantino is going to get a tax rebate. That's something I didn't know. I don't think a lot of people knew, Chris. So, we're it's going to be a work in progress, but the the budget that we have now, we're going to work on our best to to shave the money as best we can to help the residents out as much as we can. Can

we get an explanation on that on what happened? Why that was in the paper like that? Chris, can you explain to us why that was reported in the paper? Well, we asked officials if it was in the budget, budget, and it is not. Let's just go to the next next thing. Okay.

We discussed this at the earlier finance committee meeting and came up with some ideas of ways to shave it and um be a work in progress. This is a preliminary budget or I guess it's our like a template. It's a template is what we're using, but there's always amendments to budgets throughout the year. So, so I I would like to make a motion to approve it as it is with Yeah, you can just close. We'll close the public hearing the ordinance. Okay. Okay. Appreciate that, Joel. All right. Do you want to do that now or at the end of the meeting? Okay. Village administrators report. Uh, no. You're going to want to do your consideration for the license.

Can do these. All right. Consideration regarding a motion to approve liquor, amusement, video gaming, tobacco, and hotel licenses for a fiscal year 26 to 27 as submitted by the village clerk. Can I get a motion? And I can say I went down and went through every application for gaming and liquor. So, my review of those liquor licenses, the only one that is not an existing is we've got a special um liquor license for May 30th, if I'm not mistaken. Is that correct? Other than that, it's everything that's it's just renewal of the existing businesses that are in town. Correct.

Correct. And one question since we're on this, is there a a license for the vape shop that's on the gas station at 45 and 9,000? That's part of their normal business. So they don't need an additional license, but they do have a tobacco license. Yes. All the gas stations do. So they're able to sell the half of that facility or quarter. That's all vape products. It's owned by the same. There's no limit on it. It's owned by the same company. It's so So it's it's I two companies, right? It's not two companies. It's the same company, which we did we did some research on it. Yeah. They're operating under one uh ownership. Because I I asked the same question, Mike. I was

Yeah. Quite interesting. Chris and I went over there and just looked at the cases of that stuff that's in there. That's That's why That's why we had a motion before and an ordinance to license them. Is there a motion? I'll make a motion. Motion by Barry. I'll second. Seconded by Budro. Barry. Yes. Budro. Yes. Yes. Yes, yes. Zimbleman, yes. Motion carries. All right. Village administrators report.

I have nothing this evening. Okay. Committee reports. Finance Trustee Barry.

Okay. Old business on the agenda. None. New business on the agenda. Payment of the bills including tiff number $30 $134,540.13 bills authorized and paid between board cycle $0 finance committee report we just had our finance committee meeting our next meeting scheduled for May 18th 2026. So, I just want to go back to this because I think a lot of people are are in in this room tonight because of what was written in this newspaper. And I reached out to Chris Breach on Friday. Chris, you remember when I called you? Yes. And what did you tell me you were going to be able to do?

I was going to submit that it might still be included. Okay. Okay. Well, it's supposed to be included. So, when I have no control over what the editor So, all I'm asking for is is going forward is you and I were at breakfast yesterday, right? And the people behind us, what were they talking about at the table? And this has never been approved. Never. So, all I'm saying is is that you caused a lot of extra headaches for people in this room because of what you wrote on this thing. Is it in the budget? Is it in the budget? We amended the budget last year. Last year budget have to be voted on tonight.

Budget is ongoing thing and you can make amended to it. Chris, all I'm asking for is that you know when you report something that you report it the correct way. This has not been decided 100%. That's what I Okay, that's all I have. Thank you. Planning and zoning Trusty Budril.

Uh thank you, mayor. Uh, nothing old or new on the agenda. Um, our next planning and zoning committee meeting will be Wednesday, May 13th at 7:00 a.m. in the village boardroom. Um, our next planning commission meeting will be Tuesday, May 12th at 6 p.m. uh in the village uh boardroom. I will say from the last uh planning commission meeting, uh we had a really good discussion um kind of on where we want to go. As someone commented tonight, a committee is a committee and what are we doing? That's how we get through things. That's that's that's a way to get plans. And I think we we have a good idea. I mean, I've been talking with Mike a lot. I've been talking a lot of people a lot of like how do we do this going forward with the planning commission with this this is a good pathway forward to kind of we're just trying to do it the right way. I don't want to pay for an economic developer if we can do it ourselves. I'm trying to save money in the budget and that's how we can save money in the budget with that too and lean on the resources we have uh with that. I think going forward our our hope is that we have a meeting every month through this planning commission to kind of use that as kind of a footstep and here's updates, here's what we're doing, that kind of way uh to kind of do that um as we're going forward. So, we look forward again having this strong planning and uh commission meeting to kind of use that as kind of our our footstep forward with that kind of stuff.

So, thank you, mayor. Thank you. Public safety and health trustee van. Okay. Old business and new business, I have none this evening. We have a public safety committee report by officer a little singa again. Who was officer? What was your name again? Officer Elzinga. Sorry, spell it. Uh, E L Z I N G A GA. Thank you, sir. Thank you.

Good. Good evening. As the weather warms up and more people are outside walking, running, biking, we want to address a common concern we hear from residents is that uh vehicles blocking sidewalks. When cars are parked across sidewalks, it forces pedestrians, including kids on bikes and families and strollers into the street to go around them. Not only is this a against village ordinance, but more importantly and creates an unnecessary safety risk. We're asking that residents uh please be mindful when parking in your driveways and make sure that the sidewalks remain clear and accessible to people walking through them. Keeping those paths open helps us protect our kids and ensures everyone can enjoy uh being outside. This spring, our department will be placing a greater focus on this issue uh through not only education but enforcement when necessary. We appreciate everyone's cooperation in helping our community safe and walkable. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. All right. Our next public safety and health committee meeting is uh May 18th at 5:00 pm. Thank you. Public works and utilities trustee Crackett who's not here. Can you do that, Joel?

Sure. Uh he has no action items on the agenda this evening. His next public works committee meeting is scheduled for the 28th at 7 a.m. right here at the village boardroom. Um move on to property and Rex. Um, the only item I have under new business is economic alliance. Angela Mor. Uh, if she's here, Angela, come on up if you can take the take the podium. We um last meeting we talked about and Mike brought up about um having economic developers and we've talked about some of that this evening um at our finance committee meeting. I know the ne last um planning and zoning meeting the conversation got brought up and so I thought it was appropriate that Angela come and talk a little bit about what you can do to help us and maybe we could ask some questions, give some guidance because your job is to bring business to the community or to the county but um we have to kind of tell you what we want in order for you to do that. So hopefully having this communication and this conversation will uh allow us to work together at a cost of zero dollars to the village. So Angela, you just kind of tell us a little bit about what you do and and uh what you need from us.

I appreciate the opportunity to share what we do. Our mission as the economic alliance of Cani County. So we serve the entire county. We're the economic development organization for our area. Some villages and cities do have their own economic development director. Um we still do what we do. We um our main goal is to grow the economic base of our area. So what we um work to do is help our business that are here stay here not leave grow here attract new business here. We work with our utility partners. We work with our educational partners KCC the career center the schools. Um we work with all the community organizations because when we all work together we're all working for the same greater good of making our community better. So our organization is a public private partnership. So we have a board of directors. Currently our um board chairman is Jeff Bennett with Macaui Bennett Real Estate. Our vice chairman is Theotus Pace. And then our board is made up of um members from all sorts of different um aspects of the community. We have a few county board members on there. We have the healthcare industry. We have manufacturing industry. We have the utilities. We have the construction and building trades. We have finance partners. Um health care. We have um different aspects of our community because this is how we get information and this is how we can help work together to help the businesses that are here and then also to bring some businesses to the area. Um a little bit about what an economic development organization does. Support the existing businesses. Like I said, um, help them stay here, want to stay here. Everybody's always looking for the next

place to go, a cheaper place to go, a more cost-effective place to go. So, we work with them in the state of Illinois and our federal government and lawmakers to incentivize them to stay here if they're looking to expand. How can they do that? How can they do that easily um without jumping through too many hoops? Um, we want to attract new investment here. And I'll get into the process of what that looks like. Um, from a larger perspective, commercial, industrial, and residential. We have a need for housing in all of our community. And it's not something that just Kiki County is facing. That's something that there are communities across the country that are facing. Um, we are trying to create more local workforce, but then also improve our workforce. um connecting our employers with the community college and with Alvette so they can implement programs to train the workforce that our employers need here. So we are a key part in that and then also connecting resources, different incentives and different organizations. Um one of our local employers was having a problem because the bus stop didn't stop in front of their street and air or in front of their business and and their employees had to walk a couple blocks and that it wasn't a safe road to walk. So, we helped get them a new bus stop right in front of their business so their employees could get in and out of their um building safely. So, things like that we can work on and we can do. Um we have a lot of different partnerships. We're working with community stakeholders and investors and local leaders. We're working with state, local, and federal lawmakers. We work with the state of Illinois closely and their economic development organization. They're traveling around the globe to find companies to come here. and we help help with them with that. Um, utilities is a big factor in site selection right now. No, one of the number one things that companies are looking for when they're coming here, the first question they ask, do they have the power? Do

they have the gas? Do they have the water, the wastewater capabilities? So, we help connect them with our utility partners and figure out what they're looking for. Like I said, we work closely with Alvette, with KCC, with the career center, and then also with our workforce board for training new employees coming to the area and community or other community organizations. A little bit about the site selection process. It is not an easy and it is not a quick one. Um, typically a site selection for a larger company can take one to three years. you know, they're not just driving by and saying, "Hey, that that um parcel of land looks great. I'm going to buy it and we're going to move in tomorrow." We all wish it happened that quickly. Um what happens is a company will find a site selector or a developer or a business and they'll look at all their needs and their needs are lengthy. They might need to be um have a certain size land or a certain size building. They're looking at um different utility infrastructure. Like I said, they might need to use rail for their products or need to be close to a highway. Um, they want to look at what workforce we have available, what training opportunities are there available for that. And then also what suppliers they're going to have around here um to be able to fit their needs. That site selector will go ahead and send, you know, their information, this company's information to all of the economic development organizations in the state. And the list of requirements is lengthy. If we have a site, whether that's Greenfield or an existing building that we know is on the market, we will go ahead and and see what requirements we have that check all the boxes. You know, they they if they're looking for some somewhere with rail, they're not going to consider a piece of land or a building that doesn't have that. Businesses know what they're looking for and what they need to be successful. So our job is to make sure

we have all these pieces that they're looking for. Um we connect the dots. We work with closely with the utility partners. They want a timeline on what it's going to take to um create, you know, put put in the infrastructure they're going to need. We submit all of that and probably 95% of the time we hear nothing. We hear nothing back. But it's kind of like playing the lottery. like if you don't play, if you don't submit a property or a site, then then you'll never get it. You won't be considered. Um so if we are shortlisted, then the company will come back and and at this point we don't know the company name. We'll know minimal information. Is it um a food manufacturer? We'll know that maybe they are in the um you know uh you know uh steel industry. Um, but they give it a project name and that's where they leave it. They don't want to know because a lot of times that's not good for a business to let let people know that you might be relocating or expanding somewhere else. If we make that short list, we'll do different site visits, virtual visits. Um, they want to know more about our community and and they are reading up on anything and everything they can. They want to talk to other local businesses around here. Is that a good climate for us to move into, to relocate into? Um, and then they'll eventually make the decision. Like I said, this process can take, you know, a couple years. We've worked on several projects and and been shortlisted multiple times and then they decide to go to another state or another location. And that's just part of it. Um, I will say it's been busy in the site selection process. Um, last year and then through the first quarter of this year, we've submitted properties for 34 different projects. That means we met the requirements that they were looking for and submitted those those properties. 57 properties we've

submitted. I would say we've been shortlisted probably five of five pro different projects. Um a few of those projects we've made it to the third third round. Um and then you know we're just kind of in a waiting game now. So like I said there's a lot of different things these companies are looking for. they have an idea of what they need and what they want to be successful. If we have the space or the building available, then we're happy to submit that um and see if they want to look further at our community. So, I just wanted to share a little bit about how that site selection works. Um we're not calling Trader Joe and saying, "Hey, come on down." My my kids would love if I just called Portillos and said, "Hey, come to Cani County. Come to Mantino. Come to Bourbanet." you know, like everybody wants like that cake shake. Um, Portzilla's doesn't work that way. I think, you know, and and some of you guys can talk more about this, but like Juel OSCO was looking at relocating here several years ago and and Juel knows the population that they need to be successful in a certain community and we didn't get there. So, they decided not to come here. I mean, these companies have done a lot of research, so they know what they're looking for. So, of those 57 submitted properties, any of them in Mantino or do you know how many are out of the Mantino area?

I would say some of our key sites are in the Mantino area. Um, with the Mantino address in the Diversite area, that's where we have some significant available land. I know that's not the village of Mantino, but I will say those property taxes go to the fire department. They go to the school district, they go to the township, they go to the public library, they go to the different s resources that are affecting Mantino taxpayers. So, um there are some significant larger properties. That seems to be what a lot of these site selections is are coming to. They are looking for larger properties or significant amount of land. Um rail is really important to some of these companies. Um they also want to be closely located to businesses that are already kind of making the same type of product. We have a lot of food manufacturers here. So it it feels like you know companies are you know we know they know this area is vetted you know is a good place for food manufacturing centrally located close to the highway that sort of thing. So that seems to attract a lot of food manufacturers as well. So we have a lot of property south east of town that actually butt up to the rail spur that we own.

Do we have anything that's ever I mean I know that there's been interest in the past active that we can talk about.

Um not that I am aware of right now. Part of the issue is also just because it's green field space doesn't mean that those property owners are ready to market or sell their land. So we're not going to go and say, "Hey, you know, Chris, your neighbors land is available for sale." If your neighbor isn't actively saying, "Hey, my land is for sale." um you know, if there's properties or or locations that yes, we know that they want to sell that they're working maybe with a broker or a realtor um or a developer to try to actively market their property, then absolutely we would submit that. So, what can we do as a village board to position Mantino to be a place where to to help you submit more properties here?

I would say if there's available larger parcels of land, 20 acres or more, um, and and we know or you know that that land owner would be interested in entertaining an offer. I mean, everything's available for the right price, right? Um, businesses that are working with developers or brokers want it easy. They don't want to have to chase down 50 different land owners who might have, you know, different ideas of what their their sale price is. So, if there's, you know, a few land owners that want to get together and say, "Hey, hey, we have 200 acres combined and we'll agree to the terms and and we'll be on the same page about that. That makes things easier." We're happy to submit and we want to submit as many sites as we can that meet the requirements for each project. Um, that that I think is what we need to know. Is that land actually or or building actually available? um you know, not cold calling a a random uh land owner and saying, "Hey, do you want to sell you know that that might happen few and far between, but that's not how a lot of the businesses and developers are looking to to secure land. So,

and typically that's handled more on the real side. They they present that to you, not as much anyone from the village going and looking for property. Correct.

Yeah. And and we work closely with realtors. You know, if I if I get a project in and it says, you know, they're looking for maybe 50,000 square feet of office space, they need a certain ceiling height, they need a certain number of doors, um, you know, we'll check in with our realtors. Hey, do you have anything? Are you aware of anything? No, but you know, this other realtor does. I think this is going on the market soon. You know, so we're all working together and communicating together. That's one of the key things of of having our board of directors so diverse is that I can call and say, "Hey, Dr. Boyd at KCC, what training programs do you have available for renewable energy? What training programs is Alvette working on for engineering?" Because we have a company looking and they're going to looking to our area and they're going to need, you know, 100 engineers. Um, you know what? What about health care? We have different healthc care companies looking to relocate to our area. Um so we're working closely with the realtors. You know it if a site is listed, we're happy to include it in any of this of the projects that might come up that it would fit the requirements.

With any of our current development that's in town, have we had any interest of any other suppliers or manufacturers to piggy back off of what we have on the west side of town? Has anybody reached out to say we'd like to be part of this or be in the area because of the great growth that's going on there? Yes, I would say we probably entertain two to three phone calls a week in regards to being closely located to certain companies. And then how has that gone because they own all the land around there? Correct.

Well, they're not necessarily looking at a at at a specific site. They know that they need to be, you know, for a lot of these companies, it's not a a problem if they're a couple miles away or a couple miles up the road. They want to be in proximity. They know they're going to have, you know, whether they're next door or two miles down the road, they're going to have to trans, you know, transport whatever if they're working with them. Um, you know, we've taken different potential clients through some of our local companies because they want to see how is it working there. They want to talk to the people that are operating these different facilities that are already existing here. How's it working? How's it going? Are you having a hard time finding workforce? What worked for you? Are you having a hard time working with the village? Are you getting the streets in that you need? Is ID dot working? What about the interchange? Is that working? So, we have a lot of potential companies calling and saying,"Hey, can you put me in touch with this person at this company that's already existing because I want to work with them? How do we get to work with them?"

And then once they do that, who who's in charge of uh like if they're looking for tax incentives or tax breaks, who's in charge of talking to them about that or when does the village become part of that? The village can become part of it at any point. You know, we are only here to supply them information. A lot of times the state, you know, we submit, the state will work with them. If it's a large development, the state takes over, but we're in conversations. Um, you know, like I said, my question is is somebody if somebody was to come in with a larger facility, how much control does a local village have on the agreement that's done, our the tax abatement agreements or so on and so forth? Because I'm sure a lot of these larger companies are looking for that kind of stuff.

They are. And a lot of the land here um in some of these areas that they're looking at is it falls in the enterprise zone. So some of those incentives are already an automatic if there doesn't have to be if there doesn't have to be a zoning change or you know I mean obviously there will be permitting that might have to happen but if there doesn't have to be a zoning change then the enterprise zone benefits would fall into that.

But there's only certain benefits though that come off the enterprise zone. Correct. Um there's sales tax um there's sales tax incentives there's property tax abatement over the course of six of five years. Um so the company would coming in would pay full sales tax or property taxes at the sixth year mark. So the first year let's say they're building on a green field site you know which is a site with of with nothing and they put a building up. The first year that they're in operation they wouldn't pay property tax. The second year they would pay 20%. the third year they would pay 40% and so forth until the last year then they'll pay 100% you know for the time that they're here. What's great about the enterprise zone is that com that locations that don't offer incentives the companies are not considering. That's just the fact of the matter. So at the beginning, yeah, you're not getting property tax for for the full property tax, you know, until year five or year six, but then they're here for for good. What we're seeing is that companies, you know, it's a business. They're trying to make money and they're trying to, you know, build or relocate somewhere where they know they're going to be successful. They want a town that wants to invest in them because they are investing in the town. They're bringing jobs. They're bringing people here that will live in the community, that will eat in the restaurants, that will stay in the hotels. They're bringing people here. So, they're investing in the town, but they also want to see the town investing in them. So I guess my my main question is is that if a large company comes in, they they approach us and say they come to the economic lines and say, "Hey, we want we think this facility is great. It's in the village of Mantino." When does the state step in? And then what control does the villager or how is that presented to that company that comes in? So that for example, we say you say it's a 5-year property tax rebate. Okay. Or

fiveyear enterprise zone rebate. When does it that the community is able to speak or or the the village is able to speak on the remaining tax abatement or what they're doing there and and so on and so forth and impacts to the local community

as as whenever the company wants to meet with local officials and oftentimes they you know will say like hey can we come and meet with them or we're taking a a tour of a certain site that we're considering. Um can the can the mayor come or can the trustee come? You know can the village administrator come? can planning and zoning come what are the you know the pro the the steps that we need to do to take care of that nobody wants to go somewhere they're not wanted right um you can talk a little bit more to to as far as the

Mike to answer your question like if it's designated as an enterprise zone like the building permit fees and the in the sales tax for building materials we don't get a say in it it's already that's what that enterprise zone is designed to make that area attractive But what about the 5year tax in property tax rebates? That's when we start getting involved.

Yeah. So, anything that's already included in that enterprise zone is something that was done years ago. We don't have a say in it. If they want something over and above that, that's when typically they would schedule a meeting with village officials to discuss future or potential more incentives that they might want or uh just to see what the process is. So, uh, usually it's the company that would reach out to us, but that's pretty far down the road because, as she said, normally they don't even know who they're dealing with for quite a while. So, when they finally commit to, hey, we think this is the area we want to be in. That's usually when we would be approached.

And the enterprise zone, um, we have a map on our website or you can go on the Kinki County website. We have two enterprise zones in the community. That map has already been established and I I think it's like a 30-year enterprise zone. Um, so you can go on there and look at a property. Is it in the enterprise zone and then what what um the map that's on your enterprise zone is different than what our enterprise zone is, Chris?

No, you can see the same map on I'm just offering different places to see it on the county website. So it's it's still our enterprise zone where the permit fees are waved and and the sales tax is waved for that. The property tax is not waved. It's it's actually a county enterprise zone, but it it incorporates part of our community as well as others, but it's not our enterprise zone. It's actually done at the county level. Okay. And it's sales tax on materials they purchase to build the building or not not the real estate tax, not the property tax.

But just to interject like some misinterpreted comments in the past when Chris said that sometimes our inner fighting and things that we do sways businesses away. kind of to his point, what he was referring to was businesses want to they want to go someplace where it's easy to do business and they would look at how we react to one another and that's part of it, right? So, if we want to attract a new business into our town that's going to help with our financial budget stuff, that is really what Chris was getting at. He wasn't meaning to slam us individually but saying that hey people are looking people are paying attention to how we act and what we say.

So sorry. Go ahead. And then furthermore like with with what the government governor is doing now is you know with this control of taking over so on so forth. Have you seen any of that handled with other businesses that are coming into the area where he's starting to control the way things are done? we see different incentive package that maybe other communities are are that businesses in other communities are receiving. Um you know I what the state does is is not at our level you know locally. So you know a lot of times we don't even know what the state package is until it's all said and done and and the announcement is being made.

I appreciate it. Thank you. and Trusty Barry, the zoning issue that the one speaker spoke about earlier, it has nothing to do with businesses and industrial land. It's it has to do with residential. So, what the governor is trying to do is to Sure. It's concerning and we do not we do not want it to go, don't get me wrong, but it was it's they want to get rid of minimum lots so they can build. Exactly. I think my concern was on that question is just to make sure that if any business is coming into town that it's it's beneficial to the residents. Sure.

It's done correctly. Um because we've learned by example when things have gone that we want to help our residents. And that's my my that's my biggest thing to you would be is that if somebody approaches us that it's beneficial to our residents and the people that live in our town so that we're able to substain a and we don't have a huge impact on our on our public safety and our services and that the business is going to stand up to their full agreement on a lot of things.

Sure. No, I understand that. And I I think what's you know what's important to note too is that you know a lot of times like I said we never know the a lot about the business. It's a struggle to even get the exact utility requirements but they want all the information from the utilities. We're like well we can't provide that if you're not you know telling us what what your capacity is going to be or what you're going to what your full needs are. Um, so you know, a lot of times it's it's down the line because we're dealing with the state of Illinois who might not know what who the business is because they're dealing with the broker or the developer um with that client. So, a lot of these large companies work through different channels intentionally because they want to be able to look without know, you know, maybe their employees knowing that they might relocate somewhere. Um,

thank you.

You're welcome. After, uh, last year we had a significant year as far as investment into our area. Um, we keep track of, uh, money that is going into businesses who are renovating, new construction, um, rehab, having old places, that sort of thing. Um, we were at $2.2 billion last year of capital investment. That's pretty significant um, over the course of the last five years. And then I included um this quarter we're at 5.9 billion. That is a lot of investment coming into Cane County. Um one thing to remember too, I grew up in Burbanet. Um live in Burbanet. And you know when when I'm driving with my kids, they're like, "Oh, are we in Bradley? Are we in Burbanet?" You know, "Where are we?" You know, we we know the lines if if you've lived here long enough. Um most people coming to the community don't know. They don't know if they're having lunch in Bradley versus Bourbanet versus Kinki. Most of the time they don't care. They don't care. They just want to come here. If they're going to go to PJ's Ice Cream, they're going to go to PJ's Ice Cream. They know it's in Mantino, but what I'm saying is that $5.9 billion of investment is significant for our county. And whether that is in Cana Key, Mantino, Bradley, Burbanet, Herser, Pembrook, Hopkins Park, that is money coming into our area and that is investment in our area. And when we're growing, that's better for our entire community. Our large um our largest investment in the past few years um was at CSL Bearing. That announcement came at the beginning of March, actually the day before the tornadoes came. Um, $1.5 billion investment. So, this has been the largest investment in the state of Illinois in the last few years. Their

plans are to bring in 300 new employees. And what this does is takes their entire manufacturing process of um collecting plasma through filling and packaging. It brings it to the United States. This deal we have worked on with CSL and with the state of Illinois for two years. Um this has been a labor of love. We were between another state in this um selection. Um they were considering building in another state and chose Cane County to continue their investment here. This is an example of working together long-term to secure business and bring um bring new employees here, bring more investment to our area. So, I just wanted to share that was a big win for our community and happy about that. Is there a way for us to I don't know if the economic alliance can help us with this, but when I see 300 new jobs going to CSL,

I I see opportunity for rooftops to be built in and housing to happen here because some of the businesses that we talk about that we want and and I use Portillos as the example because that seems to be the hot buzz word every time that you look on Facebook, whatever. whatever. But um it's going to take rooftops to get built. So for your economic development, you kind of want to see rooftops built as well. How can we partner in to make sure that we get a lion share of those rooftops? H do you do you do anything with with that aspect of it? Is it just industry?

No, we've um so we completed a housing study twice now. Um the last one we did was last year. Um, and what that did was brought in a firm to recognize the need for for rooftops and the need for different types of housing in our area. Well, this is something that maybe we all know. Um, but outside, you know, outside of our community, um, they like experts to tell you. Um, so we completed the housing study and what it really told us is that we can support significant number of homes in our area. Um, and all different types of homes. We want gated communities, town homes, apartments, single family, duplexes. You know, we need more variety of types of housing to to go with these employees that are coming in. Not everybody wants a four-bedroom, two-b house on a lot. You know, some people want, you know, a condo where they can just go to the gym down, you know, downstairs and go to the coffee shop downstairs, things like that. So, this housing study, we've sent it to multiple larger scale developers in our area. Um, if you know homebuilders or developers, I'm happy to give you a copy. I'm happy to have meetings. Um, and that's what we're doing. We're trying to get word out. We're trying to make um our communities um very accessible and easy for for residential to come in. Um, I will say the parks here are fantastic. That's a big draw. We're seeing a lot of people wanting to move here because of the quality of life aspect. You know, the walkability is really important. Clean areas, safe communities, um that's really important. Schools is really important. Um, as far as bringing more development and residential development, um, you know, if if there's anything the village can do as far as as getting, you know, sites ready, um, whether it's improving the roads or the sidewalks,

um, curbs, that sort of thing for new new, uh, houses and where development can go, that would probably go a long way as well. Um, I'd like to show this just because it showcases how diverse our com community is. Kinki County, we are heavy in manufacturing, but we are also strong in healthcare, um, in government, in retail trade. This really helped us during COVID. The communities that were super strong in only one industry, um, may have struggled more. We were really able to kind of thrive in that time. So, I just like that visual so you can see how diverse Kink County is. That's important to to note. Um, this is kind of a fun slide because you might not realize how many cool things are made in our area. Um, we talk about food manufacturing, but we also have um, uh, you know, different plastics. We have cans that are made at Crown Cork. I think it's three billion cans a year made there. Um, new course steel, arctic snow. you see their yellow um snow plows everywhere you might go. Um a lot of these companies you might not necessarily see their product on the shelf, but they produce products that go into a lot of different things. Um you know, Plaqueman down the street, I think I have seven of their different flavors of mustard in my fridge at home. Um, Delonte, they at at the Delonte facility in Cana Key, they're cutting up the watermelon that you can purchase at at the grocery store in a clamshell that's already cut up for you. Um, Silva, um, they they do a lot of freeze drying, kind of like Van Dunan. So, if you have a box pasta salad at home, if you have cereal with dried fruit in it or freeze-dried fruit in it, they've probably been made there also. So, we have a lot of great things going on in our community and this is a big attraction for large employers that are are considering relocating here.

Um, I want to show you this about our available uh workforce. So, we might not have an immediate workforce in our area of, you know, a couple million people, but within a 45 minute drive, we're at 2.8 million people that can get here. Um, that is significant when a company is looking to relocate here. you know, it's nothing to take a 45minute drive to and from work. You're making the reverse commute. If you're coming from the north, it's an easy drive up and down the highway. Um, within 30 minutes, we have almost 900,000 people that are able to work here. We have a lot of people coming in for work, but we also have a lot of people going out for work. Um, so we have about 35,000 people that are living and working in Kaki County. Um, this is just other data that we collect. These are all all this data is information that companies look at when they're moving to an area. What does your unemployment rate look like? We generally run higher than the state and national average. This is not a great number or showcase for us. However, I will say that some of our um larger we've had a a hard hits this past year with a few larger employers leaving and losing about 900 jobs. Um so that's where this number comes in um right now. So we're continually working to lower that. We have an a meeting with the IDES next week to better understand why our number looks like that and what what we can do to kind of meet the demographic that is not working right now. Um this is just a look at unemployment over the past I think I did 25 years here. Um you know we've spiked at different points. Obviously that higher spike at uh all the way to the right is um during COVID. Um it is seasonal around here due to farms and construction. Um that's just kind of the nature of our community. Um we are high right now, but earlier this summer we were below the state and national average at, you know, just about 4%. So

we kind of fluctuate with that. Um cost of living is always super interesting. So we're at 86.9% right now. That was the annual average for 2025. What this means is that if it cost you $100 um to to live in a certain community at the national average, it would cost you $86.90 to live here. We are very economical cost um uh place to live. Your dollar goes further here. That's why so many people are attracted to Kiki County. Your groceries are less, your healthcare is less, your transportation is less than the average town in America. This is a big selling point for when someone is looking to locate relocate here. Um they can get employees to come here and and do pretty well um living in their living situation because they're not paying um as much as they might be paying if they're living in a community potentially up north. Um on the next slide you'll see you know Joliet it's about 91%. Chicago Neighborville area it's 117%. It's much more expensive to live up that way. Um it's the most expensive to live in New York. So where you're paying $86, you know, on a hundred here, they're paying 280 38%. So um that's expensive. Um there's a few places in uh you know, down south that are lower, but not so much lower than us. So that is a big selling point for getting people and attracting people to our area. Um, this slide is fun because the housing market remains remains hot and that's why we need more housing. Um, you know, we have currently 328 um listings in the county on the market right now. Average price is 280,000. Granted, there's some houses significantly higher and lower than that. Um, but this goes to show you that, you know, houses are

moving in Kiki County. Um that is just some of the data that we collect that companies when they're looking to locate here are looking at they look at all those different factors and when we're sitting down with them or we're doing a virtual presentation with them to see you know why should they move to Kiki County why should they expand here why do they want to bring their first manufacturing site you know to to our area in the Midwest these are all factors that we we pitch to them and our office accumulates all those I'm happy to share share any of that data with you. We update it very regularly. I can pull um different wage data, um different industry data, you know, whatever you're looking for um you know, typically we can we can secure for you. So, those are just some of the things that our office does. Um we produce um a market profile each year, which is a great marketing tool for our area. I left some out on front um for everybody. And then also we partner with um Shaw Local and the Daily Journal for the Thrive magazine. Um these are great marketing tools for our area. If you're going out of town, leave them where you might be going. The hotels like to have them um because we have a lot of people coming in and out of our area. I think the biggest thing about economic development and and something for you all to take away is that if we don't tell our story, then nobody's going to tell it. And we have a lot of great things going on here. And that's the way we're going to attract people is by telling about the great things that are going on. Um we have great momentum moving forward and you know we want to continue that and it's easy to continue it when we when we tell our story. So I'm always available my uh contact information Hannah Swell is my director of marketing business attraction. Um like I said we're happy to share any of the data with you if you want to sit down for more in-depth talk about anything. We're happy to do that also.

Great. Thank you. Anyone have any questions or Very much. Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity. Thank you. All right. Um other than that, our next park and rec committee meeting is May 13th, 2026 right here at the village hall at 7 a.m. And that's all I have. No. Thank you. General get to do general government today.

Trustee Zimbleman is back. No, no old business or new business on the agenda. The next general government meeting is Tuesday, April 28th at 7 a.m. in the village boardroom. Thank you. All right. Under new business, consideration regarding a motion to approve anou agreement between the village of Mantino and the Cana Key County Sheriff's Department for IT services. Chris.

Yeah. So, a couple years ago, we uh reached out to the county um Chief Swinford had worked with Josh quite a when he was over at the sheriff's department and kind of recommended him. Uh so, we switched over to him. Uh the sheriff's department was gracious enough to lend him out to us and it's been a great program for us. Saved us tens of thousands of dollars by having him. He's Johnny on the spot. Does a great job. Takes care of us very well and I believe he's done such a great job that actually Bourbon is doing the same thing. So, uh we're thrilled that we're able to continue this program with them. Can I have a motion to approve? I'll make a motion. I'll second. Motion by Barry, second by Budro.

Barry, yes. Budro, yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Motion passes. Consideration regarding a motion to approve liquor. Oh, it's already done. Okay. On to C. Consideration regarding a motion to approve a master services agreement with HR Green for engineering services. So moved. There's a motion on the floor. Is there I'll second it. Motion by GKY, second by Budro. Can I ask a quick question just to clarify? Maybe this this is just if we decide to use them for projects, the price range. Correct. This isn't like locking us into

Correct. This is just an agreement that lays out what the fees that he charges based on the services that they provide. is not committing us to using them exclusively, just says if we use them, here's what we'll what they're going to charge us. Do we have any comparisons uh for any other company? Uh we've not done that in the last couple years. We've been happy with their services and um Yeah. Don't you think maybe we should do that? Yeah, that's up to the board if they want to do that. I would think it'd be a good idea. Well, we're not lock locked into anything. This just just says this is what the rates are. If there's a project we want to go to, then this is what their fees will be. Correct. Okay.

There's a motion on the floor and a second. Roll call. Gi. Yes. Yes. No. And guess sorry. Zimbleman. Yes. Barry. Sorry. like. Yes. Do we have enough votes? Yep. Okay. Motion passes. Resolution 2513, a resolution for maintenance under the Illinois Highway Code. Is there an explanation on that, Chris?

This is the uh one of the final documents for the MFT program for this year. Um, this is something that has to be approved by the board and then turned into the state so that we can use the MFT funds for the road improvements we're looking at doing in the village for this summer. Can I have a motion, please? I'll make a motion. Motion by Barry. I'll second. Second by Zimbleman. Barry, yes. Zimbleman, yes. Yes. Von, yes. Yes.

Motion carries. All right. Ordinance 2542, an ordinance to reallocate amounts within funds between departments and utilize additional amounts from budget fund balances for the FYE April 30th, 2026 budget.

What was that for, Chris? So each year at the end of the fiscal year, we look at the exact amounts of money that came in and went out and we adjust what was the original budget document to show those actual amounts so that it uh shows exactly what what we spent and and what we brought in. So these are just a good example of that again was the property tax rebate that was not in the budget last year. The board voted to do it. So we have to amend the budget. Sure. To show that that money was spent. I'll make the motion. Motion by Barry. I'll second. Second by Budro. Barry. Yes. Woodro. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Zman. Yes. Motion carries. Ordinance 2543. An ordinance approving a budget for the fiscal year beginning May the 1st, 2026 through April 30th, 2027. Can I have working budget? I will um I'll uh motion that motion by Barry, second by Bodil. Roll call. Barry, yes. Yes. Von, yes. Yesi. Yes. The woman,

yes. Motion carries. Ordinance 2544, an ordinance amending the Mantino zoning ordinance by providing for the sighting of substance use disorder facilities. Chris, do you want to explain what this is? Yeah, this was brought to the planning commission uh by a physician who wants to operate a substance use disorder facility. Um, our current ordinance did not allow for overnight stays in that zoning. Um, so this creates the definitions of those facilities and allows for an overnight uh facility to operate in the C2 zoning with a special use permit granted by the board. Any other questions?

So to be clear, Chris, if they decide that they want to move somewhere else at C2 without special use permit, they cannot do that. Correct. Correct. Okay. And this is the building that used to be Hillman Hospital. That is Irakcoy. What was the name of it? Mental health, I think. Yeah. Yep. I have a motion. I'll make the motion. Second by Barry. Second by Vaughn, I think. Roll call. It's Barry. Yes. Von, yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Motion carries. Ordinance 2545, an ordinance amending title three, business regulations, chapter nine, liquor of the village of Mantino Municipal Code. Chris, you want to explain that? Yeah. So, once again, we've been approached by the Midtown Liquors uh business. Um they're looking to be granted a pore license which allows them to serve alcohol on the premises, which also then would allow for gaming. So, they want to bring in uh the ability to serve alcohol and have gaming machines in the facility. Any discussion on that? If not, I'd like a motion.

Nobody wants to make a motion to approve. Motion fails. And and just to be clear with that is we all sat and we listened to what that gentleman had to say about that facility. And my personal opinion on is you have a liquor store that wants to serve wine that wants to have gaming machines all in the same location and somehow serve food

and somehow serve food. And my thing about it is that you know where I've been on with bringing in new businesses in town and with gaming licenses and with liquor licenses. This was this particular location is literally 75 ft away from a bar that has slot machines in it. Three bars. Three bars. Three location. Three locations. And then the poor license was going to be for inside, but then he was going to have some outside stuff, but he wasn't real sure about the outside stuff. There's a lot of questions about that. So that's why I voted where the way I voted. I did, too.

All right. The final motion is a consideration regarding a motion to approve payment of the bills in the amount of $134,540.13. I'll make the motion. I'll second it again. Motion by Barry. Second by Budro. Eric, yes. Yes. Yes. Eski, yes. Zoom, yes. Motion passes. Thank you. All right. Comments tonight. Annette, how would you like to be the first one?

I just like to thank the community, um, all my friends and family for all the support that I've gotten the past few months and, uh, continued prayers are are appreciated. Thank you, Joel.

Thank you. Um, I have two items tonight. Um the first one kind of goes back to public comment and last meeting it was brought up that we were making decisions based upon the uh healthc care benefits given to our employees and deductibles. and one of the commenters was insinuating that it was because of nepotism was the reason for it that was brought up. So I guess I'm going to personally address that because I think out of everyone sitting in this boardroom, I'm the only one who has a family member currently working for the village. My wife obviously works there. Um, and the fact of the matter is that decision was made for a cost savings for our village. It's doing what's right for our employees, doing what's right for our village and our residents. And to address that, I just want to be very clear, Chris, since I'm the only one who has a family member who works here and it's the accusation was that it was for nepotism. What benefits does my family get from the health care insurance?

So your wife declined the health care benefits. So actually we say because we're our split is 7525 with employees and obviously she declined the insurance. So

So the village pays nothing for my insurance pays nothing for our deductible and is actually saving the village money. So I just want to be clear that our decisions and our votes are not for nepotism. It's what's right for our community. Now, on to the next thing, um, which is not going to be as confrontational hopefully. Um, this is on a personal matter and this is extended to everyone who's in the room, everyone who is in town. Um, this Saturday, this weekend could be a very special day for my family and actually for our town. Uh, I think my son's got a very good shot at making it to the NFL and being drafted this Saturday. So, we are having a uh a pizza party, if you will. We're not calling it a draft party. We're celebration of his career where everyone's invited. Friend, foe, whatever the case may be, come and uh help us celebrate a successful career and maybe being the first in our town, at least to the knowledge I have, to make it that level. So, um, please come and and join us. It'll be 11:00 at Sammy's next door. Um, 11 till whenever it ends. So, we'll have pizza and hopefully everyone will get along and everything will be great. And, uh, appreciate it. That's all I have.

Thank you, Joe. Best wishes to your son, Peggy. I have nothing. No comments. CJ.

Um, similar to Annette, I missed the last meeting. Um, uh, we had a family emergency uh, a couple Saturdays ago. Um, out of the blue, my dad, longtime resident, uh, had a stroke. Uh, someone that's very healthy. Uh, been around luckily a couple weeks out now. He's on on the mend. Obviously, it's a long road to recovery, but he is doing much better or I would not be here with that. So, I appreciated all the prayers and support we got from this community, from this board uh for that, too. So, I just wanted to acknowledge that uh with that kind of stuff. Uh just some quick comments here. Uh I think it needs to be said too for because a lot of people listen to these or watch these usually in the hundreds. Uh just to know when the speakers are coming up to the podium for public speaking, we cannot ask them cuz I've asked this before legally if they are residents of Mantino or if they live in the village limits. We cannot deny them uh or any of that kind of stuff. So I know of one that speaks constantly who does not live in Mantino, cannot vote in our elections, any of that kind of stuff like that. Um I just want to reiterate that we represent the residents of Mantino. That's who I care about. That's who I listen to. So, if you're from Burbanet or Bradley and you want to come here and complain about our town, you have the right to, but just know that I'm not listening to that because I don't represent you. I represent the people of Mantino who elected us to kind of be here. Uh, with that, um, obviously we we talked a lot about the budget. We are doing our best with that, too. Uh, was it another comment from a person saying, "What are we doing?" All that kind of stuff. You think frivolous spending is improving our parks? That's fine. I think frivolous spending is spending on a forensic audit. I don't think it's going to have anything. I think frivolous spending is spending almost $400,000 on a lawsuit that we have to fight that the concerned citizens could just sue goan, but they're choosing to sue us, too. So, you say frivolous, at least my frivolous spending you can go use. Your frivolous

spending is just money we have to throw away that impacts our budget deficit that you guys love to complain about. And I just think it needs to be said uh with that stuff. Um so, again, as we said, we are working on that. We are trying new things. We are doing this kind of business hopefully committee to kind of bring those towns. We're working with the alliance. We're not just sitting on our hands and knees and crying and saying what's going to come to us. We are being proactive. Um and we're working our way. Again, me and Mike, I feel like have a good kind of working relationship, but we're trying to do what's best as new elected officials to do maybe more than what the last administration has done or what any administration does as we look towards the future. Um, what's that? Um, and finally, as this forensic audit is hopefully coming out soon, I just want to reiterate a forensic audit is looking for if there was fraud, if there was illegal spending, and if anyone stole money. Anything else that forensic audit says is great, but we could have spent a lot less money to do that. So, if there's no fraud, no illegal spending, and no one stole money, I'm going to see that honestly as a waste of our time and a waste of $180,000. 168

$168,000 that we probably could have spent $30,000 to find out that kind of stuff. But that's just my opinion and that's all I have. Thank you, Mike. Congratulations, Joel. Like I said on the phone, congratulations. It's good to see you back. But congratulations. Your son

worked it worked his way and and that's very impressive. and me being in the football for all those years, it's it'll be cool to say, "Hey, I knew somebody that was part of an organization that made it to the NFL because for 15 years I've said no one's going to make it to the NFL, so just get those thoughts and dreams out of your head." Well, so it's cool to see that. I think we're moving forward in the right direction. I think there's a lot of good conversations going on. I think this week we had a pretty interesting week. Um, and we're moving forward. And like I said, that budget is a working budget. So it can be amended. It can be changed at any time. Just cuz we approved it tonight, it still could be amended and changed at any time. And all I ask going forward is is that we have enough stress under ourselves. And and and added stress does not help. That could be easily easily not happening. So I appreciate it.

Thank you, Mike. I just want to thank everybody who cares enough to come to the meetings or watch them on TV because you do care about our community. So, thank you for that and thank you to all the trustees and welcome back Annette. That's all. Can I have a motion to adjurnn, please? Second. Motion by Barry, second by all in favor? I I