Village Board - Regular Meeting

Good evening. Welcome to the Mantino Village Board meeting for Monday, May the 4th of 2026. I'd like to call the meeting to order. Would you please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance? I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. And now, Pastor Don Leer will lead us invocations.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we come before you tonight and just say thank you for uh your protection so far on this town, Lord, and what you've uh allowed us to be here tonight. Thank you for your presence here, Lord. We lift up uh even Annette that trustee Annette that she uh would continue to be healed, Lord, and that you would uh guide and direct doctors and give her the strength and that she needs Lord during this time. Pray that you would give us all the wisdom we need. uh each trustee that they would uh hear you and and and act upon it. Father, this the issues that before us are bigger than any one of us and so we we need your presence. We ask too that you would give protection to each one of us as we uh go through in this town between meetings and that um we would just know that you care for us Lord and that you know our name that you say and that you would protect Mantino and help it to grow and to prosper uh for your will Lord in Jesus name. Amen.

Amen. Thank you. [snorts] Roll call please. Barry. Yes. Budro here. Bon present. Crockett here. Gi here. Zimbleman. [snorts] I'm here. Reading of the agenda. Is there anything on the agenda that needs to be changed? Okay. The minutes. Are there any changes, corrections, or can I have a motion for approval? Make that motion. Motion by Budro. I'll second. Seconded by Barry. Barry.

Yes. Budro. Yes. W. Yes. Rocket. Abstain. Yes. Gi. Yes.

Motion carries. Public participation. Our first speaker tonight is Annne Gates. Good evening. Um, I've been coming to the meetings for over two years and no, I don't live in Mantino, but my right of freedom of speech is not confined to a geographical location. Being a part of a watch group in Illinois for over 10 years, we have watched as Pritsker progressively has sought to ruin our state. when he made the NDA with the former mayor and his leftovers. I started coming due to the fact that your decision to say yes to go has and will directly impact my home and property. When the Morris fire took place, EPA evacuated 16 square miles for four days around the 200 by 300 foot building that housed the lithium batteries and the solar panels. It burned for eight weeks. They had apparatus on site. Comparatively the size of goan the evacuation would be far more extensive taking in the surroundings town. Your choice put your town in danger as well as my home. SB25 the clean reliable grid affordability act will not only bring a rate increase for electric. It will allow battery storage facilities to be built 150 ft away from homes. Senator Mccclure revealed taking away local control of code enforcement. Goan is run largely by robots. So there will not be thousands of jobs or growth, just control of our tax dollars. The Build Act limits parking areas where you can build, where

you cannot build, who's going to live there, facing out single family homes, where duplexes, quads, apartments, condo buildings with granny pads in the backyard. Not my words, JBs. Mayor Baldererman of New Lennox has an excellent podcast on this. I encourage you to listen to it. There is another battery fired less than two weeks ago in Morris. 25 agencies responded. Several thousand glucose monitors with ion lithium batteries were the issue. Responding were Cole City fire, Dwight fire, Braceville fire, Manuka fire, Shanahan fire, Garden Fire, Maison Fire, Grundy County EMA, Morris police, Braaywood fire, Senica fire and ambulance, Marseilles fire, Ottawa fire, Sandwich fire, and Planefield fire. There was a media blackout and the firefighter friend of mine told me it took them 72 hours to get some measure of control. No video coverage, no news coverage, total blackout. Why do you think that is? That is why I'll keep coming. That's why I am sharing and I'm always praying for God's protection for our safety and our property values. I was really surprised when the young woman

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when the young woman from the economic alliance came and she said the unspoken part out loud. We don't ask. We don't respond. We get the list of their needs, not the town, not the people, and we meet that need. They're not vetted. They're not investigated. They don't ask questions. We don't know what's coming. That's how we ended up with that monstrosity that's going to devalue our town and other towns around us. It is time for people to stand up and do the right thing. I don't care if you say you put your name to something you didn't know what it was. What kind of leadership is that? Why would you put your name to a document that you didn't know what what it was going to do to our county? And it's not just Mantino. It's Bradley. It's Bourbanet. It's Kinka Key. It's our county. It's Pone.

We need to be real people. Thank you for your time here. [applause] The next speaker is Sandy Chis.

Good evening. Some of you have supported Goan, have made fun of us, smirked at us, ignored us, called us xenophobes, racists, and paranoid for being against Goan and their loyalty to the Communist Party of China. Many of of us have received hate mail, been followed or stalked, had locks cut on our property, had strangers enter our yards. So why do we keep speaking out other against goan other than the obnoxious toxic hazard and environmental threat? Here's why. On February 3rd, 2026 in Las Vegas, police searched a home suspected to be a Chinese bolab. The property manager was arrested for disposing of and discharging hazardous waste. In that home, they found 2,000 samples, including blood, bodily tissue, etc. along with medical grade lab equipment in a home. Some materials were labeled with path pathogens including HIV, deni fever, and malaria. The owner of the home was known as David Haye. He was a com a Chinese national also involved in a 2023 biolab case in his warehouse in Reed, [clears throat] California. And that warehouse lab was found thousands of mice designed to carry CO 19. Mr. He is in federal custody for that lab and he is known to have ties to the CCP. Think about that. The CCP has a 2 million square foot warehouse here along with three homes nearby. Then there's the mysterious Chinese seeds that have been mailed to US homes with the potential to ruin our crops. They're sent anonymously. Since January 1, 2026, 126 deliveries of these seeds have been reported in Texas. These seeds could

contain an invasive species, pest, or pathogen [clears throat] that could devastate Texas farms, ranches, and natural resources. The packages are generally clear envelopes full of seeds and unidentifiable other than maybe a Chinese label. This mailing campaign also occurred across the US in 2020. Hopefully, this campaign continues to be intercepted and stopped. These examples should remind you that the CCP is our enemy. They shouldn't have been allowed to gain a foothold here. We should have and could have had a John Deere factory. Why didn't we? [applause] The next speaker is Diane Sauerbeer. Good evening. I've been very busy lately, so I'm wondering if I missed something. Did we somehow build a sealed dome over Mantino? You know, the kind that would protect neighboring towns and the people that live there from the air pollution and other toxins when and not if there's an incident at Gan. If not, is that why some may not want to spare some time and may not welcome comments made by someone living outside our village? Open discussion should not depend on where someone lives. Freedom of speech may not exist in the communist owned area that's being referred to as Gan Illinois, but we are in Mantino, Illinois for now, still protected by the First Amendment that guarantees freedom of speech in America and the right to share our perspectives.

Just as a side note, being a senior citizen does not mean that we're all lacking awareness or understanding. With age often comes experience, perspective, and hardearned wisdom. A little mutual respect could go a long way. Finally, I'd like to thank Ann and the others who consistently put in the time and the energy to research these issues and share their findings thoughtfully and respectfully. Thank you. Thank you. [applause] The next speaker is Roy Hajes. [clears throat]

Thank you, Mayor. [snorts and clears throat] I would like to address a couple of items from the last board meeting. First off, when trustee gets said that there is no nepotism down at the village hall and that his wife because she doesn't collect a medical benefit that it's not nepotism. I'm sorry, Trustee Gatsky, that's nepotism. That's your wife. Secondly, Tim Nent's wife works for the village hall. That's nepotism. That Martin's wife works for the village hall. That's nepotism. The [clears throat] And then lastly, but not least, your village manager Chris Lorac is related to Nent. That's nepotism. The next item I'd like to address is when Mr. Bouro said that he wasn't going to be receptive or open listening to people from outskirts of town. Well, these people are going to be affected if anything happens out at Gan, which I pray and hope it doesn't, but if something should happen out there, they're going to be affected by it just like we are, especially with the way the wind may blow. So, they have a darn right to be concerned. And I'm happy they're here giving us any input and knowledge we we can get. Thank you very much for allowing me to speak, mayor.

Thank you. [applause] The next speaker is Bob Foresight. [clears throat] I'd also like like to address the previous meeting and I I think it'd be really nice if our local reporter would apologize to everybody for writing false a false story

and then laughing back and forth with Chris Lorac. the uh the comment that CJ Budro made about uh people out of town. Well, CJ, this this affects everybody. It even goes into Indiana. Affects a lot of people. And then you talk about the lawsuit with the money. You know, no one's very happy about the money at all. [snorts] So, why don't you make a motion that everyone on all the boards that voted yes be responsible for the lawsuit? I think it's a great idea. You had the you had the nerve to sit here and listen to Angela my last week who doesn't live in town. She's part of the economic alliance group. And do you know do you really know what that group is? They're a bunch of self-appointed people that are making the making all the rules for us. Our former mayor and president of the economic alliance brought this to our town. Our trustees sat at a board meeting for two for we had two days at the elementary school and they sat and laughed at us sitting on the sidelines while we spoke. You have people here that come here that don't live in town that speak and are very knowledgeable. And as for an educator, you should have learned to to listen just like you want your students to listen. So the past administration screwed us over. Guys did a great job for us by welcoming and in goan that you knew nobody wanted in the first place. And then we sit here and listen about we listen to all of this. Then we listen about the budget. We don't have enough

money. How did that all happen? I mean, you guys were in charge and now we don't have any money. I just find it just really odd how all of this just falls into play.

Thank you. [applause] The next speaker is Francine Fatima. Good evening. Um, I don't even know what number of meetings I've attended, but it's just in the last two and a half years, two and a half years. But my heart's in the right place and for that I'm thankful and I do think that this village is worth any fight we have to give to it because Gan is a communist c company situated in China but very evidently here for any of our um chamber events. We have goan so very helpful as one of the sponsors. And I'm just appalled at how wonderful this country is to allow all the enemies to be here safe, secure, not a problem in the world except for us. And I guess that's most of what I wanted

to say that I'm thankful that we have in this community, a good mayor and residents who speak their mind and not controlled. And so all I can say is keep up the good work people and those in office I especially I'm talking about. Thank you. The last speaker tonight is Jim Price.

I've misspelled it or I mispronounced it. Yes, Jim Pace. I'm sorry. It looks like an R. My apologies. [clears throat] [snorts]

Good evening, [clears throat] Mayor Village board. Thank you for the opportunity. First, I want to say we lose sight of the big picture with Goan. I spent years on emergency management in Cook County, Rich Township, Richton Park, and Mon. I went on two fires, battery plant fires. I was in Morris. I was in Rockton. We didn't just put out the fire and go home because you can't put it out. It's got to burn itself out. How do I know this? My first lithium battery that I had in my own house was in a power tool. We just just moved into Mon. And my wife heard a pop. She went to the garage and here's a lithium battery smoking and sparking. Small little lithium battery. I fought like crazy to put it out. There was only one way to put it up. Bury it. And I did. That being said, think about all the batteries that we have in our homes [clears throat] today. Think about our electric vehicles. Okay? Yes, this is about a Chinese company, but we've been led down this road and consequently, we've got to deal with what's going on. Okay, I'm not saying don't buy power tools that are battery operated. Uh, what I am trying to say is let's be responsible. Let's be responsible to this town. Now, I'm going to go off on a tangent a little bit. One thing that

emergency management taught me when we go out to a fire on an electric vehicle, okay, now keep in mind it's an electric vehicle. There's somebody inside there. The first thing we got to do is walk around it three times to determine what type of electric vehicle it is. Then now we still can't get the person out. You got to chalk the wheels because you don't know if it's running or not. By that time, the fire department gets out there. It takes 8,000 gallons of water to cool the batteries. I didn't say put the fire up. cool the batteries. And once that fire is out, that vehicle has to be towed separately on a flatbed. It can't be sling towed. It's got to be on a flatbed. And wherever it goes, it has to be segregated away from other cars because it can start up on fire again within 7 days. Just a little food for thought, folks. This is a beautiful community. I moved here a little over a year ago and I had called one of the trustees.

Go ahead and take 30 seconds. And he turned around and told me, "Yeah, one of the reasons you moved here was Goan." No, I moved here because I believe in this community. I believe in freedom of speech and I believe that this town stands up for what's right. Go Mantino. Thank you. [applause]

Okay, before we begin the reports of village officials, I'd like to introduce our guests who are filming our meeting tonight. Their names are Dennis, just their first names is what I learned, and Seur, I'm sorry if I butchered that. Okay. They flew in from Washington DC and they are correspondents for NOS Dutch TV and they were interested in coming to our meeting because they heard about us and wanted to learn more about the people here. So, thank you gentlemen for coming. We appreciate that. [applause] The first thing on my agenda tonight is a presentation by DJ Jakala and I'm going to introduce her and she'll come to the microphone. She is a public affairs lead. She's on a disaster recovery team and she also works for the Small Business Administration. DJ, welcome.

Good evening, mayor, trustees, city officials. Um, as the mayor said, my name is DJ Jaca and I am part of an arm of the Small Business Administration that many people aren't aware of unfortunately until we're here and that is disaster recovery and resiliency. And the reason we are here um I'm sure in this room March um 10th even though I'm hearing fortunately for your village was not as impactful as it was in other parts of the county. Um March 10th there was a tornado and severe storm and as a result there is a agency declaration that is allowing us to provide disaster loans to as our name indicates obviously businesses and private nonprofits. But the AR um piece of it that a lot of people aren't aware is the majority of our disaster loans actually go to homeowners and renters as well as private nonprofits. And I'm here tonight to ensure that individuals are aware that we have um these loans. They're lowinterest loans. They aren't rent money. Um but the reason SBA created this line is um obviously homeowners and renters, but businesses and faith-based organizations and private nonprofits are the heart of a community. and we want to provide an option in recovery that whether it is the small loan or they're looking at other methods is something that allows this um a community to recover from a disaster like the March 10th tornado. So, what I wanted to share tonight is if you have business owners, friends, and family in other parts of Cani County or the contiguous counties that you heard, I don't know what and I, this literally is a quote. We happened to walk in on a business owner last week um in the city of Cana. And he's like, I literally didn't know what I was going to do until you guys just like showed up. It just was random. We hit him at that time in his business. and we just want to make

sure we're not leaving any stone not unturned in terms of people knowing this is an option through Saturday the 9th. We've um been here an extra two weeks. There are what are called disaster loan outreach centers. One is at the Northfield Square Mall. Um you go in by the um Japanese steakhouse and hang a right. I heard it used to be a hair salon. There's around the corner. It's a room. Um we have an outreach center there. Um in the city of Kanka Ki it's in the train depot. Um, and then in Aroma Park, it's right in the village hall, right on the main main street. So, we want to make sure people know that that opportunity for good old-fashioned face-to-face interaction with individuals because whether you're a business owner or homeowner or a renter, your situation is going to be unique. So, we do offer this opportunity to meet face-toface with someone who can help walk you through the steps of applying. Obviously, calling our um 800 number or going online and initiating an application um through um creating a portal online is always an option, but I do like to emphasize that talking face to face with someone can provide you that support you need as you're trying to figure out what to do next. Um when I mention homeowners and renters, I probably should um indicate for homeowners, it's actually two categories. it's physical damages up to $500,000 to actually repair or replace your damaged home. Um, for both homeowners and renters, additionally, they can apply for up to $100,000 for the loss of their physical items that were either in the home or the property that they were renting. And that also includes, which is kind of significant in this particular situation, replacement of their primary vehicle. Um I understand quite a few in quite a few areas vehicles were pretty severely damaged. So that aspect of the loan I've been trying to emphasize as well those physical damage loans and again we obviously are the Small Business

Administration and for business owners um the physical damage um deadline to apply for that is June 8th. So that's coming up um relatively quick. I don't know who let it become May already. Um and then longer for businesses, there's also something called economic injury. Um some people are familiar with it as actually the acronym which is idle. Um and economic injury is when you've lost capital as a result of a disaster. So um that deadline is much further. This for this particular declaration, it goes clear into January 11th of 2027. Um, and the reason being is a lot of businesses aren't aware that they've lost capital or been impacted that way after disaster until several months down the road. So, we allow a longer period of time for that. Um, I did bring and leave at the table. We have um flyers that are specific to economic injury, the business and nonprofits and homeowners and renters. And the mayor was kind enough to have available flyers as well that are um giving the times and days of the remaining times at our operation centers. We didn't even rehearse that. We just kind of ended up [gasps] printing different ones. And the one that um I can emphasize the one that looks the most boring, the black and white two-sider one actually summarizes everything, including um the loan rates because I often get asked that question and I even refer to it because they go out three digits after the decimals. So, I do not trust my memory to ever say that one correctly. Um, with that I will just say since I'm not under public comment, if the mayor um is willing, I can answer a question or two if if anyone has one.

What municipalities are covered under this currently in Kiki County?

Oh, great question. Since Kiki County is the primary county in this declaration, they are all covered by everything I just outlined. the contiguous counties. So that would be Will, Grundy, Livingston, Ford and Ericoy, those are um only eligible for the economic injury, but everyone in um Cane County where regardless of the municipality is eligible if they're if the damage that they're looking to get support for was specifically for the March 10th piece. In fact, we have a separate out of interest, we have another declaration they have it has to be separate because it's in Indiana because the storm moves. So, I have a colleague we're kind of bookending. He's um covering counties in Indiana for the exact same storm just in across a state line. So, we're doing the best we can to support everyone who was impacted by that storm.

What counties in Indiana? Oh, I know you were going to ask that. Um Jasper and his Powell. Newton. Thank you. Why did I think Powell? Newton. Jasper and Newton are the primary and then so ironically we do um cross state lines for contiguous so we arm wrestled and decided to keep the state line. So um at this point the um um ironically the um counties that fall under his contiguous are my primary. So it you know it just works out well in terms of what I provide provided here tonight for Illinois. Um let's see what else. I think that was all you asked right? Yep.

Okay. Anybody else? [clears throat] And I left some flyers by where the agendas are in case anyone's interested. And there's a lot of flyers up here at my desk, too. So, after [clears throat] the meeting, anybody who's interested, come on up. Help yourself. Thank you for the time this evening. Thank you so much, DJ. [applause] All right, moving on to appointments. Tonight, I would like the board to consider a motion to appoint Andy Lee to the planning commission board to fill the vacancy created by Emily Fischer Gentry's resignation. I'll make that motion. Motion by GKY. Seconded by Barry. Gi. Yes. Barry, yes. Budro,

yes. Van, yes. Crockett, yes. Congratulations, Andy Lee, and welcome to the planning. [applause] That's all I have except for a consideration regarding a motion to authorize a donation of $1500 to the Mantino Historical Society. I believe this is something that we do yearly. I'll make that motion. Motion by Barry. Second. Second by Vaughn. Barry. Yes. Van. Yes. Budro. Yes. Yes. Gi. Yes. Motion carries. Thank you. Village administrators report.

Yeah, tonight I did want to talk a little bit about grass violations. It's that time of year. Um the ordinance states anything over 8 in is considered a violation. Uh right now I'm working on about 15 different violations that we have in town. Uh the first step is that we have to give them a five-day notice. So we do give them time to get it mowed. Uh typically that's a a notice that's put on the door. Uh but we do have some uh foreclosures in town and that definitely takes a lot more time. Uh it seems like the banks kind of pass these around. Um you start with one bank and then you find out that it's been the loans been passed on to another one. So uh we do have three foreclosures in town that are all in violation. Again, we're working as hard as we can to get the banks to u bring in uh they all have companies that come in and take care of the property. So, sometimes they're posted on the door and we have numbers we can go to. Most of the time there's nothing on there. We have to try and figure it out on our own. So, uh it is a little lengthy of a process obviously dealing with federal loan organizations. They've got hundreds of thousands of these properties across the United States. So, it takes a little while to get them to comply. Uh but I just want to make everybody aware that we're working on them. Um unfortunately we do have limited funds for the village to go in and mow them. Uh we have to farm that out. We pay a company to do that. Then we put a lean on the property. But uh we just we can't do that every week uh for all the properties that we have that are in violation. So, uh, typically vacant lots that are not taken care of, uh, we might mow those once or twice a year is is the most we can do. So, it's just too expensive to to maintain those on a regular basis.

Thank you. Any questions? That's all I have. Thank you. Under committee reports, finance trustee Barry. Thank you, mayor. Old business on the agenda, none. New business on the agenda. Um there's an invoice that we have to pay for green forensic auditing for the for the audit. Um there was a miscommunication before. This isn't to fully pay for the audit. It's to pay it up to 80%. Um they did come to Antino a week ago, presented a draft, they had some questions. They're going to go back review the questions and then we should have the final report in a couple weeks.

Yes. But this would keep bring them up to date with 20% still outstanding um on that bill. And I'd like to see this bill. I know it's not on here. Uh how much is that bill? The the bill is $38,640. So that's one bill I'd like to add on here because it shows no bills. That would get them paid up to what percentage of completion? 80%. That was $38,650.

Yeah. before the last bill that uh the last one was 20 they haven't got a payment since January and they sent a bill for 21,840 and there was some miscommunication they thought that was the final payment. Um so after the 21,000 plus the invoice they just sent now uh would be 38,640 and then the remainder balance would be due upon final completion of the audit. Chris, was there part of on their contract, was there a payment schedule that was included in on that? There was. I I don't I'm not sure what it was, but yeah, there was a uh a request for progress payments as the as they went through the process.

And I think at one of our last meetings, we mistakenly thought that that was the last bill and we talked about not paying the last bill until the audit was complete, but it wasn't the last bill. And I don't know that that it was a mistake. I I mean we now have a copy of a draft drafted report from them, but at that point in time up to that point in time, we hadn't gotten anything from them. So, I mean, I I wanted to see some progress. We've had some progress now. We've got a copy of a draft of a report, but

And that's not the final report, but that is a draft of what they have. Yes. So, hopefully in two weeks, I'm hoping in two weeks, it'll be totally ready to present to the public and we'll let everybody know. Well, I noticed that there are no bills on the uh agenda this this evening to uh to be paid. I don't think I've ever been in a meeting where we didn't pay bills. Is there a reason why, Chris? Is there a reason why? Yes, I can answer.

There you go, Sean. I was called into a meeting with the mayor on the 22nd of April and we had a phone call with the forensic auditor and I was told along with uh trustee Vaughn that the forensic audit documentation needed to be my priority. So there have not been any bills that have been paid. Any other questions? So we'll just put that at the end when we vote. All right, Mike, go ahead. Um, the next finance committee meeting will be um May 18th, 2026 [clears throat] at 5:00 PM in the village boardroom. That's all I have.

Thank you. Planning and zoning trustee Budro. Uh, thank you, Mayor. Uh, no old or new business. I'd like to thank Andy lead the planning commission meeting. Uh, the next one uh is canceled. I need to make sure I talk to uh someone at the village because again, I want that to be a monthly meeting. Now, why won't

I don't know. Uh I want that to be a monthly meeting where we can start having discussions for kind of our business plan we want to do. So, we just want to make sure that's the case. So, next one I think should be in June and then we'll just keep that rotating onward uh with that. Uh so, I'll make sure I'll get that uh figured out. And then our next planning and zoning committee meeting actually changing from when it's listed. It's going to be Wednesday uh May 20th at 7 a.m. in the village boardroom. And that's all I have. Thank you. So, we are going to have that meeting canceled. It's not going to come back. The planning commission meeting is canceled. Thank you. Public safety and health trustee von.

Okay. Old business on agenda none. New business. I have nothing. Public safety committee report is going to be given by officer Jeremy Spangler. So close. Joshua, I don't I always call you Jeremy. I don't know. You look like a Jeremy. I don't know. It's not a problem. It's not a problem. Good evening, everybody. Madam Mayor, how are you? Good evening,

residents. Howdy. Howdy. Um, so tonight, uh, I'm going to hit on something that's, uh, pretty important lately now that the weather's starting to ramp up and then obviously sense of storm. So, I'm going to get into solicitors. [clears throat] It's it's one of those things everybody deals with. Uh, we deal with it a lot in the village. So, I just want to kind of take a moment to explain what they can and can't do and what residents can do to protect themselves against them or just knowing the rules. All right. So, first off, anyone going door to door Manino to sell products, service or distribute commercial flyers is required to have a village of Mantino solicitor or peddler permit. All right. So to receive the permit, app clips must complete the official application, provide identification, undergo fingerprinting, background process, um and obviously they have to pass all that, but um only after that process is complete can they receive a village issued badge. All right? Which at that point, if they're going to be out and about uh soliciting or trying to sell a service or a product, that has to be worn on the outermost part of their clothing. It can't be tucked in a shirt. You have to be able to see it as they're approaching your house, on the street, however it may be. Um, and Slicer is only operated through specific hours. Monday through Saturday, it's 9:00 to 9, 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p p.m. All right. Sunday, it's noon to 9 here in the village of Mantino. Um, there's also places where it's strictly prohibited. Uh, any homes or business that has a sign posted, no solicitors, um, no peddlers, anything like that, they cannot be approached. All right. Uh doesn't mean they will not do it. They'll probably still do it. Uh but in addition, all four of the 55 and older communities here in Mantino, so that includes Maple Valley, Maple Crest, Maple Ridge, and uh Oakidge. Um they're completely off limits. All right? Doesn't mean they're going to stay out

of them, but just so you anybody here is aware, that is that is a no-go. All right? [clears throat] If a resident if you ask a solicitor to leave, all right, they must do so immediately and peacefully. All right, if they don't, obviously call us. We'll take care of it. Um, now something that's important for the residents to understand something about Illinois law. Okay, municipalities in Illinois are very limited. All right, we're very limited in how much we can restrict door-to-door activity. We can't stop it completely, but we can try to help out as much as we can. Courts have ruled that door-to-d dooror solicitation is a form of you nailed it freedom of speech. Okay. [clears throat] So that means the village cannot be cannot ban it officially 100% outright. Um or we can prevent specific companies from going doortodoor. Um what we can do and what Mantino does is we regulate the time, the place and the manner. All right, which requires the permits, background checks, enforcement, the identification rules, and all this is to protect our residents. So, ask to see their village issued. [clears throat] I'm sorry. If they come to your door and you're un unsure whether they're legitimate, here's here's pretty easy steps. All right. Number one, if you can't see that that badge that should be on the outermost part of their clothing, ask to see it. If they refuse, don't have one, or something feels off, just don't engage them any further. All right. All right. There's nothing saying you can't shut the door in somebody's face, whatever it may be. All right. Contact us immediately. We'll verify whether they're approved. If necessary, we'll respond. All right. Second, uh violations can result in the permit denial, revocation, fines, and being barred from future permits by the village. Um your awareness helps keep the community safe, ensure that only properly vetted individuals are allowed to solicit here in Mantino. So, I appreciate your time. Don't hesitate to

call us if you have questions on anything of this matter. Um, anything else? Als putting them on Facebook, the Facebook page. Um, that's something we do internally. So, we take pictures of them when we

when we uh get their information for the background check uh and their application. We take pictures of them and we post that on Facebook. So, you can compare if you have Facebook uh compare who's at your door to who got a permit. uh so they can't switch the permits or if they don't have a permit at all obviously their face is not going to be there. So just a by you know secondary way of checking to make sure they're legitimate. If in doubt call us. Too often we get people who say I don't want to bother you. I know you guys have better things to do. This that is the most important thing for us to do. If you're concerned somebody's at our front door call us and let us check them out. The other thing um you see a lot too real quick is companies like your Pavlovs, roofing companies, one person will come and get a permit from us and then they'll come out with a group and they'll have like a driver. They'll drop one off in this neighborhood, one off in this neighborhood and they try to bend the rule and say, "Oh yeah, we we do have a permit." You know, every person, anybody who's going to be going door to door, it doesn't go by the company. It's personalized. It has their picture, has their information. So that way you all know.

Thank you. I think that's it. Thank you. All right. Josh, yes. Did you want to say something about Officer Tobeck? Oh, sure. Here. Sure. Sure. [clears throat and cough] Josh, would you like I can hit it off the cuff. All right. [laughter]

It's not a problem. It's not a problem. Uh, so as I don't know, may maybe some of you know, maybe some of you don't. I will be starting the school year back in 2026. This upcoming school year, I'm going to be taking the position of SRO. Um, I'll mainly be obviously at the Mantino High School. However, I will oversee operations and things at the middle school and the elementary school. Um, it's an honor to be able to step into it. It's a it's a new path. Uh, it's definitely nothing I've done before. So, I'm grateful for the trust that's placed in me for this for sure. Um, before anything else, definitely [snorts] want to recognize Officer Aaron Tobec. All right. He's been in the schools for the past eight years. eight years. So, he's done, I don't know, quite an amazing job. And the impact he's had is definitely going to be missed. And I got some big shoes to fill. But mama gave me big feet. So, you know, I'm going to uh I'm going to take it and and run with it. And I'm going to do everything I can to be the best. And hopefully it's kind of just the smoothest transition ever. Um you know, SRO, a lot of people, if you don't know, it's it's school resource officer is what it stands for. It's more than security. It's it's a connection. All right. It's about being someone the students can approach. They can, you know, somebody who just listens. Um I've been I've been shadowing there for about once once a week for the past couple months. And I mean, there's some days that these kids just come in and they just, lack of a better word, word vomit for 10 15 minutes. Then they're like, "All right, I'm all good." And they just walk out and they're just like, "I don't really know what happened, but hey, you know what? It helped them." So, um, that's kind of what we're there for, you know, and it's and it's not just inside the classroom. You want to build these bonds and these relationships that we can hit on the outside, too. So,, you know, hopefully hopefully shaping them, becoming a role model, you know, showing them the right way to go. And if they need help with something, regardless of what it is, whether it's a math assignment or whatever, I I know how to Google, I got YouTube, you know, I we'll handle it. So, um, the program though,

it's it's really just it's an exceptional bond between the village of Mantino Police Department and and [clears throat] the Mantino School District. I mean, it really just melds great. They they're on each other's side. They're on each other's team. I I haven't seen anything or heard of anything where there's ever been an issue. If something needs to be done or something need is needed, um, it's it's taken care of and it's handled. So, um, that's it. We're It's create the best environment we can for the young minds and brains of, uh, this beautiful town. So, um, yeah, that's it. Anything else? Good. Thank [applause] you. You got another one? No more? No.

Thank you, officer. Well, thank you. Okay. Okay, my next public safety and health committee meeting is on May 18th at 5:00 pm in the village boardroom. That's all I have. Mayor, thank you. Public works and utilities. Trustee Crackett.

Uh, thank you. We don't have anything on the agenda for this evening. [clears throat] Uh, we do have a public works committee meeting scheduled for Tuesday, May the 26th, 7 a.m. here in the village boardroom. Uh, Jim, you got any updates? Anything uh happening over at public works? Yeah, we got a lot going on. Uh you see over at the square the pavilion, we got [snorts] the walls up working on the trusses and finishing the roof. Uh heritage got the concrete pad poured for the uh soccer shed. Uh we're getting pickle ball nets and volleyball nets, tennis court nets, all those up. Uh we got some of the windcreens up over at the as well. Uh be working on getting the jumping pillow open open up hopefully this week and then the fountain and the splash pad opened up for Memorial Day weekend. Uh a lot of chipper piles out there. We've had a couple decent storms. No, no tornado, but a lot of high winds and uh backto-back weekends there. So, a lot of cleaning up. As Chris mentioned before, the grass is growing, so we are in full mowing and landscape mode right now.

Very good. All right. Thank you, Jim. Uh that's all I have for this evening. Thank you. Properties and recreation. Trusty Guski.

Thank you. Um I don't have anything on the agenda this evening. However, a couple things to discuss. First being during our last committee meeting, we talked about the um parkway trees up and down Main Street. Um no secret that the blight has been killing them. I asked everyone to take a look at them. There's a little bit of a sense of urgency. Um Jim provided everyone two estimates. I think those are the only two that that you got in. Um we're not prepared to to actually vote on them today because we didn't have the estimates in in time to get them on the agenda. First of all, um second of all, a couple questions. Um looking at the one that's proposed by Scenic and and Vital, they both have maples on there. And since these are parkway trees surrounded by concrete, Jim, I one of the concerns I have and Mike maybe you can give us some of since this is in your wheelhouse a little bit, but maple trees are generally shallow root trees where they push up and heave sidewalk and the concrete that's around them is not cheap if we had to replace that. So Mike, that would maple Maple's probably not a good I've had success.

[clears throat]

I believe. I had trees and turn on your mic. The cost would be a lot less. So, I just think that we got to look at this again and we got to do a full evaluation cuz just walking out there today, there's a lot more trees out there,

right? And these were just the ones that looked I mean, we're obviously trying to keep our budget in check, but we all agreed that main streets are number one priority of keeping it looking good and this was a block that looked bad. Um Jim, do you think we could maybe get the ask scenic if they could give us an estimate taking out the maples and putting in the lilacs similar to like what Vital has and this way we have two to compare and if we can get a little bit more info and we could talk about at my committee meeting that'll give us two weeks we still have

another thing too to be honest with you Jim if you could get somebody to take them out and plant them I'll I'll bring the trees So, uh, just get a price for labor, just place for labor.

Um, my one suggestion that I've that I can bring and only because I've spoke to people a lot smarter with the the that are involved in the arborist world there is, uh, and I think Scenic just sent us just the one tree just to get us a price. I think they're going able to match any tree, but to go with three different types of trees, either each block or however we want to do it, but we don't want to go with a uh like a a monoculture of I saw that on vitals as well, which I I like that. But if we can maybe get both companies to give us comparable bids, you know, this way it's yep,

trees may be different or if Mike can get the trees, whatever. But I I do I would like to see us move forward with it or have a plan and if we miss this, maybe it's even planning them in the fall. But come, you know, next thing we know, lights will be wanting to go on trees for Christmas. And we get more compliments about the way our main street looks during Christmas than anything else. I' I'd hate to lose that. So they they don't have to uh this digging. There's no electrical work. Correct. Because that was something that Mike and I talked about. This is for them to hand dig them out. Is that Yeah, they definitely have to hand dig or vac truck. I think that's what the public works crew crew did about 20 some odd years ago.

But we wouldn't we wouldn't be expecting to see any electrical work as a result of it. If they did, it would be I would say there's a possibility of a a broken conduit or something. That's always a possibility when even when you're digging around there, you know, these again they're saying those those roots are all-encompassing in those areas. any of the concrete messed up around those? Uh, I don't think the concrete's nothing's cracked. No, not yet.

And you know, the mayor and I talked about this earlier. It's easy to say, well, we could have and she had two articles about the pear trees are pretty much being banned throughout the the state. Those trees are 20 years old. It's hard to believe, but you know, hindsight's always 2020. And the one thing about not having the single planting, I'd like to see us have three different ones just this way. we lose some in the future. So, can we get that on my next committee meeting and then we can maybe take action on next board meeting if whether we want to move forward or how we want to proceed, we can talk about that at that time. Um, next thing is uh for the uh chief um good job on replacement of the SRO. I I couldn't think of a better fit. It's almost like, you know, twins going in there. Um, but question I have for you. I know every time that we have a police officer that we've got to replace and, you know, we got big shoes to fill with our SRO, which I think you you've got that under control, but now we're going to have big shoes to fill on the beat. Um, takes a while. We don't just hire a police officer and they're ready the next day. Are we going to be looking at posting a job for that or

Yeah, we already have. Okay. It's been advertised. um and they've got till maybe June 1st to get applications in. We're looking for new hires as well as lateral entry. So, if we would get a lateral entry, that would obviously speed things up considerably. Otherwise, new hire Yes. takes months to get them to the academy and field training. We usually get a we're pretty fortunate. We usually get a pretty good list of applicants. Good. Good. Um, and last thing I have is my meetings changed next week from the 13th to 20th to coincide with CJ's and that was due to conflict in my schedule. So, thank you everyone for being understanding with that. That's all I have. Do you want to do Annette Zimbleman's general?

Annette does not have anything on the agenda other than her next committee meeting is on the 26th at 7 a.m. here at the village boardroom. That's all she has. Thank you. I have no other old business, but under new business, we have a consideration regarding a motion to approve the installation of a sidewalk in the alleyway located in between 192 South Locust and 155 East Baker Street. Jim, could you explain a little bit about that?

Yeah, it's about a 30-foot stretch of sidewalk and village uh alleyway. It was uh it's deemed alleyway, but never had an alley continue through it. Over on Baker Street, uh the house to the east just sold, they installed their sidewalk. There's a sidewalk over on 192 South Locust. So, we would just be connecting that. So, that neighborhood has a continuous line of sidewalk going to Route 50. Do you know what the cost is going to be? Um thousand hours or less in material and then labor public works. Any other questions about that?

That is our property, correct? This isn't like a I know we were talking with many video were worried about we're opening up a can of Warren, but this is just it's our property we're doing. It's not only parkway, but it's also an alleyway there, too. So, a motion that we move forward with it. Motion by GKY. Second. Second by Budril. Gyro, yes. Barry, yes. Vaughn, yes. Rocket, yes.

Motion carries. All right. We have resolution 2601, a resolution of the village of Mantino, Canake County, Illinois, requesting a permit be issued by the state of Illinois Department of Transportation for the construction of a sidewalk along Illinois Route 50 at our about 395 North Locust Street. Chris, what how did you explain that to me? Yeah. So, this is the where Riverside is putting in their parking lot. Um, we always require sidewalks whenever a lot gets improved. I'm not sure why this the state is making us do this, but it's going on their property, but I think because it's in our jurisdiction, we have to uh give approval of this. This is not something that we're going to be expensed for. The the contractor who's putting in the parking lot is the one that will be putting this sidewalk in. They'll be paying for Riverside will be paying for it. So, it's not a village expense. We just have to give them permission through this resolution to do it.

Are there any other questions? I'll make motion that we approve it. Motion by GKI. I'll second. Second by Crackett. Barry. Yes. Budro. Yes. Bon. Yes.

Crockett. No. Crockett. Yes. All right. I vote yes as well. I vote yes. Sorry, [laughter] Joel. All right. Motion carries. Okay. We do have a consideration now regarding a motion to pay approvement of bill of a bill in the amount of $38,640 which will bring the auditor's payments up to 80% paid off. Yes. I'll make that motion. Motion by Barry. Second by Van. Barry. Yes. Vaughn, yes. Budro, yes. Rocket, yes. Jessie, yes.

Motion carries. Thank you. Any comments tonight? Todd, you want to go first?

Uh, yes. Um, so I just want to respond to an earlier comment during public participation. I know this has been uh discussed in the past as well, and it's just it to me it's a false narrative when we say the village does not have any money. Um, that's simply not true. The village does have money. In fact, I'm looking at our latest report here. Uh, in our general fund, we have almost $6 million. Uh, I know when Mayor Nent left, I believe we had between 8 and $9 million um in our uh in our fund balance. Uh we are just trying to be good stewards of the money that we do have. And obviously we want to provide as many amenities and services as possible, but we don't have 25 or $30 million uh like we did uh in the past because we've got a new police station, we've got a new public works building, we've got beautiful parks, we've got good equipment for our uh departments. So it's not a matter of us not having money. It's a matter of us having to look at how we're going to continue to provide services and maintain a fund balance. One thing that we should be proud of as a as a board and a community is that we don't have any debt. And I I can say there's probably not very many villages of our size in the area that has no debt. Um so that's something that we should be uh proud of and something again we are stewards of this money. uh we just have to do a good job of it moving forward. But to say that the village has no money, I'm sure the mayor doesn't want to be known as the mayor of the village with no money. I don't want to be a trustee of a village with no money. Uh so that's just simply not true. That's my comment.

Thank you, Joel.

Uh couple comments. First one, I'd like to thank everyone for coming out uh last weekend helping us celebrate with my son kicking off his NFL career. uh mayor and Peggy were there and uh the rest of the board. It was it was very nice. It was great to see a town come out and be supportive. And I know some people have even come up to me today and said at least I'm not wearing green and gold, but uh it was pretty cool to hear go uh over at Sammy. So hopefully we'll hear some more of that. Um couple other things. Um this is a comment and I was going to bring up the same thing that you said that we do have money. um and where the money's gone. Well, we've had given sizable amounts in tax rebates and garbage, etc., plus all the amenities, but I'm not going to keep beating that up. But, um, Miss Chis made a comment about the John Deere factory. And I guess I'm going to first go on the record and say that there was never brought to the village ever John Deere wanting to come to Mantino. And if John Deere wants to come to Mantino, we have plenty of property zoned industrial. And I'm sure this board would be more than willing to entertain bringing John Deere's home here if they want to come here. No one's ever told them no. We won't tell them no. Um so if you know something or know someone that we don't know, by all means tell them to get in front of the board and we'll be glad to move forward with it. and that'll be part of our first thing our plan commission members can help us with. So, um that hopefully puts that to rest. Um the other thing Mr. Hajes talking about nepatism again this is misinterpreting and not listening to things that we say in the meeting. I didn't say that that hiring of my wife isn't nepotism or that's not construed

as nepotism. And I said that people had alluded to the fact that we made decisions beca because of nepotism. That's the first and foremost. Second of all, um I had zero to do with my wife being hired or not being hired by the village. Okay? I didn't sit on on the interview and I have not sat in on the interview for any of the people who are hired inside Village Hall. Um the the last thing about that is Chris Lorac. I'm going to directly ask you, are you related to the mayor in any way, shape, or form?

I've never been made aware of that. I've never been invited to any family function. So, I'm pretty sure I'm not related. In fact, I'm 100% sure I'm not related to the Nent. They're confusing something that happened with a a a previous former village employee, but I am not related to the Nent in any way. No. Okay. And and again, that goes to Sheila Martin. Sheila, you're not related to me or to Todd or to anyone on the board, are you? I am not related to any of the board members or to Chris Loroth or to the former mayor.

So again, let's let's stick to the facts when we're going to make comments about things because it just muddies the waters and we're trying to work together and there's no nepotism there. My wife worked there. That is facts. She is related to me, but I don't supervise her. don't have anything to do with her job or her appointment. So, um, that being said, I will let I will conclude my comments and that's all I have. Thank you. Thank you, Mike. You have Peggy, go first. Peggy, you want to go?

Uh, I just want to say Andy, welcome aboard and I think you'll do a good job. Um, and I just want to say to all the citizens that are out there, we have planting season is coming up and there's going to be a lot of farm equipment and uh, big machinery on the roads and everybody please be aware and watch your speed and we just don't want any accidents in the community or around. And uh I just think that's all I have to say. Thank you, CJ.

Uh first off, uh Daniel Gerber reached out to me more from the high school perspective, but I'm going to share it here, too. Uh obviously, Memorial Day is coming up uh May 25th. Uh the Legion is going to have their museum open. If you did not know, they actually have a museum uh up top, which is really cool. Uh and he wanted me to remind everybody that this year they has had it open. This year now they're offering free hot dogs, too. So, uh, come check it out. Uh, it's a cool piece of history that we have so many, uh, veterans that live in Mantino. Uh, they have a great celebration, uh, on May 25th on all the cemeteries and I think it's at noon is at, uh, Legion Park, I believe, for Veterans Park. Uh, was that, unfortunately, I will be in North Carolina with my dad. Uh, but I will be celebrating Memorial Day there. Uh, also, spring sports are in full swing. Actually, they're almost nearing the end. Softball, baseball, off to good starts. girls soccer is a good starts. I'm going to bug Mike here for a second. Girl soccer, beat Mac for the first time in five years. So, that's a shout out from Mantino. We love to see that. Uh if you have not if you've been living in Iraq, our track and field programs are amazing. They have broken six uh school records. 4x1 men's, the 100 meters men's, the 200 meters men's, the girl high jump by a freshman, discus by a sophomore girl, and the 300 hurdles by uh a sophomore girl. So, we are we have a very dominant track program right now, and that is something to see. Uh and I'm really excited about uh for the future uh with that. Also, obviously, I'm really happy that Josh is coming in. He's got the personality. It's going to fit our high school, I think, great. Uh seniors are done Friday, so be aware you're going to see a lot more 18-year-olds out and about, I think. Uh and their graduation is uh the 17th. Um and then obviously a lot of comments have been directed at me. I am glad people are coming to talk. I just wanted to make aware because a lot of people had asked me questions who are residents, who are

not and I just wanted to make aware that I knew that some residents were not. Not denying anyone's right to vote or and speak. It's great. I love it. or we would be pretty quiet here in the comments. So, we like having people here obviously to speak their minds. That's a great place to let it know. One other thing I wanted to address. Um, and I was going to try to do this in executive session, but it doesn't really apply. And I know we're all about transparency, and this is just I'll keep it as broad as possible. Um, as village officials, trustees, mayors, clerks, um, we are leaders of our town. Um, and especially when speaking with employees of the town, we just have to be aware being professional. Um, obviously we know things can get tough. We all live in those work environments. We all have employees maybe we don't like. Uh, but uh, especially in our position, we just have to be aware of what is said. Even if we didn't say it to their face, does not matter. Things can be said. We just got to be aware and just be as calm as possible um and make sure uh that we're just aware of our verbiage because um again we are the leaders of our town so we want to be making sure we're the best representation of our town. That's all I have. Thank you.

Thank you Mike.

Um I just want to couple things. Uh two Thursdays ago Joel and I had a meeting with Goan in the in the village hall and I believe you and I were 100% on the same page with it. The meeting got a little bit loud. It had to get loud. They got our point across on where we stand with them with the way things have been going on over there, so on and so forth. I have complete and utter trust into our fire department. Um, Chief Peterson and uh Mr. Perkins, they're on the same page as us. Um, we pretty much told Go, there's a line drawn in the sand. You're going to do it our way or you're not going to do it. It's real simple. So, we're waiting to hear back on a couple things from them, but I I I truly believe that we we got rid of the people that were kind of the yesmen and we got to the bottom of it. And I think that going forward they understand where we stand and we don't really care what they're going to try and pull just so everybody um we have monthly meetings with them and we will stay on top of all this stuff because that's what we're supposed to do. And um you know, I do want to say with Joel and I, we were two bigger, louder people. I think it it was appropriate. Um but other than that, the main thing is is that I just want everybody to know that we have to not only take care of our residents, but the residents outside of our towns and what goes on in our town because what happened in our or is going on in our town, a lot of people got questions about it. I go to baseball games, I hear people, what's going on over here? What's going on over here? So, I mean it just because you're not a resident of this town, you should be well aware of what's going on in your locations. Um, secondly, I I back what Todd says about the money. Yes, we do have money, but if we keep spending the way we've been spending, we're not going to have any money. So, all we're trying to do is just narrow it down and say, "Hey, is this really a truly a need right now, or

is it a want?" Um, but I think over the last month and a half, you and I have worked pretty good together. I mean, we we might butt heads, but at the end of the day, we had the same same basic thing when we left that meeting um on there. And other than that, congratulations to your son. And like I told CJ, it was the first time I've been to a track meet probably since high school. And it was a cool event. Just watching those the I mean, it was unbelievable like the speed and everything else. It was it was it was a great event. Um but that's all I have. Thank you.

Thank you. I just want to mention Jim Croswell again because he came to see me today and he I shared some pictures with him that we had at the village hall, some old pictures of Mantino dating back to as early as 1914. He's going to put a big mural mural on the wall in his um Ford dealership. So look for that to happen and you'll want to stop in there sometime to see it when it gets finished. And he also offered the use of his electronic sign. So CJ, when we break records like that, let Darcy know and she will email Jim Croswell and he will put those facts on his elect. You can reach out to the school board, let them know. They're they're going to be probably better contacts than me with that. Okay. Do that stuff.

But that that's just something I wanted to let everybody know that there's going to be not only from the village sign, but from Cwell Ford. They're they're willing to do that. They want to pinpoint the highlights of Mantino, any events that we think are important. So nice. I I really appreciated m Mr. Croswell offering that. So that's all I have. I just want to thank the public and Andy Lee. Thank you so much for being willing to come on board. We're very happy to have you on the planning commission. Thank you everybody. I need a motion to close the meeting. Motion by Barry. Second. Second by GKY. All in favor? I I