Village Board - Regular Meeting

But you can't go to the other island.

You have to fly. You have to fly. Yeah, they take a lot of 20-minute flights there. Yeah, 15, 20-minute flights. Good evening and welcome to the mantino village board meeting for Monday, July 6th of 2026. And before I call the meeting to order, I would like to politely and respectfully

sit in the audience tonight because you are not officially our attorney right now you did not remove me properly to I'm gonna ask chief Swinford to please ask please to have him removed from that table and have him sit in the audience I don't think I have the legal authority as the mayor of this town I am requesting that you remove him from the table

Well, you guys are both our attorneys, so would you recommend your police chief remove one of you from the table?

I am the chair, and I am asking you to have him sit with the audience. Please do that now.

I can't do something I don't think I have the legal authority to do.

I'm giving you the legal authority to do it.

Mayor, with all due respect.

Out of order.

I don't think I can remove him any more than I can remove him.

Mayor, I think you're putting the police chief in an unfair position. I'm sorry, but you are out of order.

I have made an appointment, and my appointment still stands, and my appointment is sitting next to me.

And as a board, we elected to keep Mr. Kankar.

Well, you did that illegally. Chief, as the chief, you're the only person in here from the police force. I'm asking you to please escort him away from the table.

As I said, I don't think I have the legal authority to do that.

think we should just move on with the meeting no we're not going to move on i'm going to ask mr kankar respectfully one more time to please move to the audience chair the right thing i'm waiting please do it i'm not going to move mayor until the if the board tells me that they want me to move out i'll be happy i supersede the board we're not asking for a vote i'm politely requesting that you move Mayor I asked the question maybe out of order The meeting hasn't been called to order may be out of order but nobody back there is ever out of order It's what I want to know I am the chairman of the meeting and I am requesting very respectfully that you move I'm respectfully saying no We'll deal with this later with chief Swinford because I am not happy that he has not been removed from that table I If everyone would please stand, we'll do 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 Kevin Werner is here from the risen Savior Lutheran Church to do the invocation.

Let us pray. Heavenly Father, Lord of life, we praise you. We thank you for all your good gifts. We especially thank you for our faith in Jesus. We pray that you would continue to be able to provide Manteno as a great place to live in which we enjoy all the services and all the the benefits that we do we we praise you for these elected leaders and those who have served we we pray that your spirit of love and kindness and forgiveness would would run throughout them and that you above all would be honored in all that they do and say even as they serve us are these citizens we pray this all in jesus name amen thank you

roll call please roll call barry yes boudreaux here vaughn here crackett here geske here zimbalman here first i would like to introduce brian miller who is our acting village attorney tonight he's from the vaselli law firm reading of the agenda is there anything on the agenda that you would like to change Trustees. All right, reading of the minutes. We have two separate minutes to vote on and one of them was from a regular meeting and one was from executive session. So are there any changes, corrections or approval to those minutes? Seeing none, I'll ask for a motion.

I'll make the motion.

Motion by Barry.

I'll second.

Second by Boudreau. All in favor?

Aye. Aye.

Public participation. Tonight's first speaker is Sandy Chiz. And please keep your comments to three minutes, everybody.

Hello, everyone. Initially, I have to say that, Mr. Kankar, I think that the ARDC will be very interested in this, just so you know. So I was going to suggest that Mayor Lamoure and Trustee Vaughn and Trustee Berry stop voting on any and all contested issues and abstain. I know that they wouldn't, though, because they really love this town. But that way, the four of you, and you know who you are, could pass all of your ridiculous spending and not be able to point fingers at them when it all goes bad. But then I realized that you four have already voted to spend money like it was endless. And it's already your fault for all the wasteful spending other than the forensic audit, which I will always believe was necessary. By the way, when will it be posted? Just curious. In its entirety for our review, it's way overdue. if it's being held up because of account numbers you realize that every check you write the numbers around there and the routing numbers and then if it's because of signatures i received a foyer response today that had a village board member signature on it so what else could you be trying to hide anyway what's the point of all of this wasteful spending what's the objective what plan do you have if you'd won as mayor trustee getsky You've known of our villages financial situation yet you spent about 22 million dollars from the sellout to in 8 years. Over and above the 5 million in taxes you collect each year that was as of 2017. But really what every game that the giant lights over Main Street, yes, pretty useless. What about the $390,000 spent on the police station that was next door when the new police station building was purchased less than nine months after that for 1.9 million? What exactly is the point of all this spending? What have we gained? Now you're talking about a parking lot that will bring in businesses. I mean, do you really think a parking lot is gonna make that much difference, really? You keep harping about a plan. What was the plan five years ago? What was in place five years ago? And what happened to it? Because obviously, whatever happened and whatever the plan was, it didn't work.

Thank you. The next speaker, I'm having a hard time reading your name. Do you know who signed in second? It looks like a G or an H. Is it George? All right, George.

You're up.

So I watched the public works meeting and I overheard Mr. Crockett say maybe we should look at putting a parking lot down there on Oaken Division to promote new businesses to this town. I'm not really sure how a parking lot right there is going to promote anything to this town, but the only thing it's going to do is to give that new owner of that building down there more parking for his business. And needless should I say, who owns that building? You put the... put it together, figure it out. But to spend $600,000 on a parking lot when we're saying we don't have no money? I mean, the guy in the pink shirt's over there telling us we need to cut back on spending, and we just keep spending money. We can't give the tax refund anymore, but we're going to spend $600,000 on a parking lot? And we're gonna have H&R Green put a price together? Why wasn't this turned over to the planning board? Don't we have a planning board in this village? It's like you completely bypassed and did what you wanted to do and you didn't go to the planning commission, you know? And I just don't get it. You know, and the same with the lawyer. You know, she's the mayor. She wanted a new lawyer. That's her call, okay? So she got a new lawyer. I can understand you're worried about the CCM, suing the village maybe he could take care of that but he doesn't have to take care of it here we can take care of it outside somewhere else but i i just don't get what's going on in this in this village here it just doesn't make any sense to me but uh to spend six hundred thousand dollars on a parking lot we do not need a parking lot for six hundred thousand dollars maybe when we had ten twenty million dollars in the budget we could afford it but at this point we can't afford to spend six hundred thousand dollars on the parking lot Really, thank you. Thank you.

Our next speaker is Diane Sowerbier.

Good evening. I'm feeling very sad as I think about our last village meeting held on June 15th. I think about the village and what is the impression of people that don't live here. To me, it is far more than benches along Main Street or our walk paths. It's far more than the landscape. I think about the people. Are they kind, considerate, honest, respectful? Yes, for the most part. That's what makes Manteno a place where I want to live. At the last meeting there was controversy, but there's always controversy and exchange of ideas. That keeps a community on its toes and grows toward a brighter future. What disturbed me was what I believe was outrageous behavior by one of our trustees. To stand up and shout at our mayor and resort to name calling should never be tolerated. how were you raised do you realize that as an elected official you should be setting a better more professional example when is it okay to bully someone by yelling at them this is not the first time that this has happened i truly feel that you have embarrassed our village i think you owe our mayor a public apology I think that you owe everyone that sat here that day and witnessed this behavior an apology. I think that you owe the citizens of Manteno an apology. And there is no better time than now to man up and own what is, in my opinion, your bad behavior. Apologize.

Thank you. Our next speaker is Anne Gates.

It's good to see you, Mayor. My goal is not to get hung up on personalities, past, et cetera, all the gaslighting that's been going on, or use an issue as a smoke screen to divert attention away from something we should be paying attention to. And for all intents, that's what it looks like, what's been happening here for a while. Keep trying to divert and get people off on tangents looking at personalities and pasts and all kinds of, my friend's word, crappalanch, to keep our eyes off the real issue here, which is Goshen. All of this is rooted in Goshen. And I think we need to stay focused on Goshen and what's going on. So let's go back to why it's such a horrible decision. It creates real danger to us, to our homes, the environment, our workforce. I was very thankful for the gentleman from Monee that worked in hazmat situations with the fire department, specialized in hazmat. And he came and he shared the truth concerning the three ion lithium battery fires that he dealt with and was on site. He also spoke about how they would walk around when they get called to an EV fire in a car, how they walk around the car and look at it. Do you know why? Did you think to ask? Ask the chief. I'm sure he'll tell you there are multiple manufacturers that manufacture an EV car. And from year to year, the model can change. So the firefighters have to walk around the vehicle to determine what model, what make, what year, because that determines where the battery is at. That determines how they approach the fire.

Am I correct, Chief? Do you know anything about that? I can't speak to what the firemen do.

Okay. So the purpose is to determine all of that information so they can mitigate it to the best of their ability. However, Molecularly, an ion lithium battery cannot be extinguished. The International Fire Chiefs Association has put out multiple podcasts concerning this, not only in our nation, but globally, that they are trying to find something that will help them mitigate. But the fact remains, at this point, there isn't anything. So we have to be aware of this. I was speaking with a gentleman yesterday that works at Goshen. We were discussing the danger that was present. And I told him, and he's like, well, we need batteries. And I'm like, yes, we need batteries. But we need batteries that are federally regulated by our nation. Goshen, from the signage on the fence, is an international trade settlement. That's time. Thank you. Which makes a big difference.

Thank you.

To be continued.

Our next speaker is Bill Barnes.

All right, well, I'm gonna piss some people off, but oh well. First thing I wanna talk about is the word respect. At the last official board meeting, and I've known him for a long time, I respect him as a person, but Todd, you were way out of line when you called the mayor a dictator. Far from the truth, very disrespectful, and frankly, I was surprised. I know you, you're a great guy, you have a good business, but I was just surprised. And not only that, but the board, well, the four of you anyway, did exactly what you accused the mayor of doing, which is being a dictator. When you overruled her executive order to dismiss Mr. Kankar, seems like a great guy as well, but it was her choice to appoint a new law firm, and you disregarded it. That's dictatorship. So how is that any different than what you were accusing the mayor of? Then we have Mr. Gueske, who I remember and I've told people, I remember when you were at a meeting and you told the mayor directly, I don't think you know what you're doing. To do that in public, if you disagree with her or anyone, say it behind doors, but all you're doing is soiling, as Mrs. Nugent said, soiling the reputation of whatever Mr. Nugent has built up in the rest of the community. I mean, what business would want to come here, really? It's just nonstop arguing back and forth. First of all, side note, I would like to know, I've never been to a board meeting, Kankakee or whatever, that I've seen the reporter sitting next to the administrator. They're usually sitting in the audience. So I wouldn't know why he has special privilege, and he just sits there and smirks. My seat's taken. You can sit in the audience like all the other reporters do. You see any available seats?

Yeah.

Anyway, well, that tells you a lot right there.

What difference does it make where I sit?

It's optics, right? You're sitting next to the administrator.

Like you said, you were going to piss people off, so go ahead.

Yeah, well, good. Hopefully I pissed you off. sorry side note can I reclaim some time so this does nothing for the business again who would want to come here with all the stuff that goes on I mean usually this is like I don't know this is I think University Park I heard we had a shouting match so nobody wants to come here and I want to talk about One of the guys sitting behind me that always like tends to smirk and never been to a board meeting before that I've seen over the past couple of years. But then when the forensic audit comes out and his wife is in the hot seat, he's at every board meeting and that he, you know, he just spews crap about you, the mayor, which isn't true. So, yeah, really, you do look it up. So it seems to me like you're in panic mode. That's time. Thank you. Thank you, Bill. All right. Thanks.

Our next speaker is Emily Herman.

I come here today as a friend and a neighbor. I'm not working. I'll let y'all in on a huge secret. However, I feel like it should be more well known. A majority of members from my generation don't categorize ourselves into a political party. I feel like we tend to look at how politicians, at any level, serve the community and treat those around them, especially those different than them or who think differently from them, instead of labels. Most of us don't belong to a political party and consider ourselves in a neutral spot. None of our values align 100% to a party. We almost hold politicians to a role model standard. Can we look up to you? Can we set realistic goals for ourselves for our future based on the public actions, public actions, sorry, of those who have leadership roles that form our environment. I've spent time getting to know almost each member of the board, and if not in person, we're friends online. We have volunteered together at some capacity, sat in the same church building, et cetera. I feel as if, if y'all were just neighbors and not board members, you would be friends with one another, get coffee together, golf together. Some of y'all are so similar, I'm genuinely surprised at the lack of collaboration. I could easily go around the table and name three strengths each of you all possess. I like all of you, and I think each of you provide something valuable to our community. ICU is human first, most importantly, neighbors, not just your job title here. So I ask, remember why you started? Remember why you ran? Are you a Republican or Democrat first, or a member of Manteno? A neighbor to others, a friend to those around you, someone who demands positive change to benefit the community? Would you be proud of how you present yourselves publicly here if your children were in the crowd, your parents who raised you to hold the values you have, and if you're a believer, if Jesus was in the crowd? Would you make them proud with your words and actions? I think we need a fresh start with one another, not only for the future of Manteno, but for the present. We're all neighbors, we all have the same goals. Disagreements can happen in a healthy way, but not how they've been happening here. Thank you.

Our next speaker is Elsie Schiller. Am I pronouncing that correctly?

Oh, okay, hi.

Hello, I'm attorney L. Schilling. I have a law practice here in Kankakee County with an office in in the PNC building right down the road from the courthouse. And I came here tonight to introduce myself. I'd like to introduce my client friend. And this is Lauren Stauffenberg. And Lauren is planning to purchase the building down the street, Copeland's. I just want to attest to the fact that I've known her about three years. Her and I are on several committees together. She is putting forth, she is laying her whole business acumen on the line to be here in your community. I hope you will warmly receive her when the time comes and give her a chance and give, I don't know if you have any experience with the Copelands beforehand, but you're in for a brand new experience. a brand new venue. It's kind of a wine, classical music kind of place. We're grateful for an opportunity to come here, and do you want to add anything? I'm doing okay? All right, great. You know, as a lawyer, we seldom hear that, and so I'm so happy. I'm so happy I'm getting a thumbs up. So if you would, I hope you'll consider everything and welcome her into the community. She has a nice family and I appreciate the time. Thank you.

Thank you. Lauren, your name is on the list. Did you want to speak?

No, I'm okay. Actually, we thought we were signing in for the meeting. Okay.

All right. Thank you very much. Thank you to all the speakers. all right next up is the reports of the village officials and i'm going to begin with something i have a statement i would like to make bear with me as mayor i take the responsibility of leadership seriously and i make every effort to attend all official meetings of the village board i did not attend the meeting last week on Thursday night because it was a fake and imaginary meeting conducted outside the requirements of village ordinance and Illinois law. The purported special meeting was not lawfully convened and any action purportedly taken at that meeting is invalid. More importantly, even if every notice requirement had been followed perfectly, it would still not change the outcome here. Trustees do not possess the legal authority to overthrow the office of the mayor through an attempted political coup by simply making things up as they go along. They cannot invent powers not granted to them under village ordinance or Illinois law, or create a shadow government or parallel executive authority, appoint unauthorized leadership, or seize powers reserved to the duly elected mayor. Further, Chapter 9 of the Manteno Village Code expressly provides that the office of village attorney is appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the Board of Trustees. Illinois law likewise expressly vests that appointment authority in the mayor or the village president. That's from Section 65 ILCS 5-3.1-30-5 of the Illinois Municipal Code, which provides, and I quote, the mayor or president, as the case may be, by and with the advice and consent of the city council or the board of trustees, may appoint an attorney or a corporation counsel. Additionally, 65 ILCS confirms the mayor's authority with respect to appointed officers under the municipal code. The law is clear. Individual trustees acting outside lawful procedure do not possess the authority to create a shadow government by attempting to independently retain legal counsel, conduct unauthorized meetings, negotiate with outside companies, or during their attempted hostile takeover of the mayor's office, appoint a pretend mayor. not a lawfully designated mayor pro tem to preside over a fake and imaginary meeting conducted in violation of village ordinance in Illinois law. To the extent anyone claims a prior attorney was somehow reinstated, that position is unsupported because I, as mayor, never appointed Joe Kankar to serve as village attorney. Thank you. Does the village administrator have a report tonight? I do not. Okay, moving on to committee reports. Finance, Trustee Berry.

Thank you, ma'am. All business on the agenda, none. New business on the agenda, payment of the bills, including TIF, number three, $225.40. Bills are $206,081.21. Bills authorized and paid between board cycle, $5,429. The next finance committee meeting will be Monday, July 20th, 2026 at 5 p.m. Thank you. Thank you. Planning and zoning, Trustee Woodrow.

Thank you, Mayor. I have nothing old or new on the agenda. Our next Planning and Zoning Committee meeting is this Wednesday at 7 a.m. We got some things on the agenda that's already posted, looking at some long-term financial planning and some other good things. So if you cannot attend, it is on YouTube. Then our next Planning Commission meeting is Tuesday, July 14th at 6 p.m. The only item on that agenda is old business of Village Gross. I'm excited to hear what these new Planning Commission members have for some ideas to kind of boost our town up. Thank you.

Public Safety and Health, Trustee Vaughn.

Thank you, Mary. I have no old business, no new business. The Public Safety Committee report is going to be given by Officer Joshua Spangler. That's my girl.

on the Illinois proposed e-bike. Sorry.

or may or may not be legal to operate on public streets.

Stay off sidewalks where prohibited. Wear your helmets. Obviously, safety is a big thing. And operate them just responsibly. I mean, don't think you're invincible. And parents, like I said before, It would be prohibited for operating on sidewalks, a lot of bike lanes, bike paths, and roads with speed limits up to 35 miles per hour.

All right?

In our village, we don't really have anything of the speed caliber until you get over the bridge or over the overpass, but generally speaking, that's gonna change a lot of things as far as going onto the actual roadway, Division Street, things of that nature. And as the state moves forward, I'm sorry, moves toward,

say i don't know we will figure it out okay thank you all right thank you okay my next public safety meeting is on july 20th at 5 p.m in the village boardroom and that is all i have thank you public works and utilities trustee crackett uh thank you uh i don't have anything on the agenda as far as an action item

This evening we do have a Public Works Committee meeting scheduled for Tuesday the 28th at 7 a.m. in the Village Boardroom. Jim, anything that you'd like to discuss? Any ongoing projects, upcoming projects, MFT updates?

Yeah, MFT would be the number one. The signs were all dropped off last week. They're looking to start this week. All over town, 5th Street, Walnut. Doe Court, Third Street. Those are some of the big ones, but hitting a lot of spots. So just keep your eyes peeled for signs and watch out for road traffic and construction.

How are we doing with the shed out at... Heritage.

Yeah, we got the trusses up last week. We're going to continue with the roof and keep plugging away on it, get the signing done.

And how about the pavilion, percentage-wise, about where are we at with that?

Yeah, we're still waiting for ComEd connection. We have a temporary power. connected to some of the power we have over in the square now, waiting for power and then our HVAC for heat and air conditioning. We're waiting for that connection. We're going to get some grading done for the stone, get ready for turf.

Gotcha. Thank you very much for that. I did want to comment before we move on in regards to the parking lot that was brought up during public comment. Yes, I did ask for that to be placed on the public works agenda committee meeting. Here's my reasoning why. In an effort to be both supportive of our existing businesses and in an effort to try to attract new businesses, think there is a need for additional parking especially at the south end of Oak Street I'm sure many of you have driven past the billiards on a certain night I don't know what night that is I think it might be a Thursday night they completely overtake tire tracks parking lot because they have no parking The physical therapists at the end of Oak Street when they're busy they have no parking And when premier fitness is during their peak times they have no parking as well now we have a young lady that came here this evening talking about a new revamping Copeland's and I would venture to say that parking is a crucial part of her business success and If we were to say you have no parking, I'm not so sure she would come here to start a business. So I think it's very crucial that we provide that parking as a village to attract these businesses and show our existing businesses that we're there to support them. There was four trustees at the committee meeting this past week. Myself, Trustee Vaughn, Trustee Guske, and Trustee Zimbelman. None of us agreed on exactly how much we were going to spend on this parking lot, but we all did agree that it is a good idea. We potentially talked about do we need to do the whole parking lot or could we do half of the parking lot now and half of the parking lot later to be cost effective and look at it from a feasible standpoint. We all agreed that yes, that is a good idea. So I hope that gives some light on why I brought up the idea of the parking lot, why I think it's important. But again, I'm one member of this board. we'll all get to vote on it and whether it passes or doesn't pass um i do think that it it is a good good uh benefit to the village in many many ways so hopefully that's it explains that part of it that's all i have for this evening

i would like to add that i was late for the meeting that morning so i missed the entire discussion on that parking lot but i know it's in a neighborhood with mostly houses and one business that already has its own parking lot right there and i also want to mention that trustee barry was not there because he can never come to a 7 a.m meeting because he has to go to work every day And C.J. Boudreaux was not there. I watched it, though, so I got the gist. But you weren't here. You weren't here to discuss it.

That's okay, because I can email him with questions like I do. You can email us with questions, too, if you need to.

All right, moving on to properties and recreation. Trustee Geske.

Thank you. First item I'd like to get on record in clarification that... We do not recognize this attorney as our village attorney. I've made comments on this before and the majority of the board has voted on this on several occasions. So I just want to have the record reflect that we have advised and have no intentions of considering bills for future payment because we are not considering him our attorney. Secondly, I want the record also to reflect that before this meeting took place before I was called to order that Marilyn Moore had indicated that she will address issues with our chief following this meeting I want that to be on the record because I interpret that to be a threat because he would not remove from his seat indicating that he did not feel he had the legal authority to do so. So please make sure our minutes reflect that so it's properly recorded. Third thing I have is to address some of the comments that Mr. Reichert who left and some others regarding us with the plan commission. no one is withholding any information with plan commission plan commission's duties are to deal with zoning and variances they're not to ask their advice as far as how we should run this town so we are definitely including in the plan commission members on the things that are appropriate for them Other than that, I have no action items on this evening's agenda. Our next park and rec committee meeting will be on July 8th at 7 a.m. That's all I have. Thank you. General Government, Trustee Zimbelman.

I have no old business or new business on the agenda. The next general government committee meeting is Tuesday, July 28th at 7 a.m. in the village boardroom. And I would just like to say there were some comments on respect. Respect goes both ways. That's all I have.

all right nothing else under old business under new business we have an ordinance 2606 an ordinance zoning the property commonly known as 411 west division street mantino illinois as c2 commercial and granting a special use permit for the operation of a substance use disorder facility inpatient thereon can i have a motion i'll make the motion motion by barry seconded by fun Any discussion?

No. I think when we had the Planning Zone Commission, there was a good turnout of people. It was a real good discussion. I think Dr. Sharma answered a lot of the residents' concerns, and I'm excited for him to come here.

And Dr. Sharma is here tonight. Any other trustees have any comments or questions? All right, a motion's on the floor.

Okay. Barry? Yes. Vaughn? Yes. Boudreaux? Yes. Crockett? Yes. Geske? Yes. Zimbelman?

Yes. Motion carries. Thank you. Ordinance 2608, an ordinance amending Title III, Business Regulations, Chapter 9, Liquor, Section 3-9-14, limitation of the Village of Manteno Municipal Code. Chris, do you want to explain what that is before I ask for a motion?

So anytime there's a request for a new liquor license, we have a limited number of liquor licenses. They don't just hang in the balance. If somebody ends up going out of business, that's automatically rescinded and the totals go down. So when there is someone approaches us and they want to get a liquor license, it's up to the board to increase that number in our ordinance to allow them to have a liquor license.

So how many licenses do we have right now?

I don't know off the top of my head. There's probably about 15, I would say.

And is every single one, I mean, do we have any extras that we haven't given out recently?

No, we don't have extras. So that's what this does is this creates a new liquor license. So we don't have extras. So this will create new liquor licenses? This will create a new liquor license, yes. All right. Can I have a motion?

Chris, what about the gaming license? We're going to give them a gaming license as well, correct?

Well, that's up to the board. So they're asking for a Class A license. And again, that's up to the board to decide if they give a class a, then yes, they're allowed gaming.

So are they asking for a class a two?

Uh, yeah, but I, I, you know, we kind of discussed whether or not that she was really looking for gaming. And again, that's a board decision.

don't think that that's her intention but the board can discuss that i feel i feel like i don't mind asking you do you would you like gaming right now too or we're indifferent so we haven't decided one way or the other if we wanted to have gaming yet um we just want to have the option in case we do decide i feel like for a matter of consistency we've had other people before us that wanted to open up and we told them to we'd give them the liquor license and if they're viable to come back and we'd give

further consideration for the gaming I I'd like for us to be consistent usually I think we actually have my committee meeting someone coming we usually have six months just to prove your viable business without gaming and then once you do that we would be open for that if that's okay with you that's been the majority of the board is what we've kind of asked so I I would push back a little bit we've been open for almost three years without gaming so the

So it would be preferable to get a Class A liquor license. Correct.

We only want wine and beer. We don't want to do any hard liquor. That's not what we do over at our current location. That's not what we want to carry over here.

You've been open for three years, you said?

October of this year will be three. No gaming.

No gaming.

We need a motion, please. Anyone? I'll make it. Vaughn?

I'll second.

seconded by barry okay any more discussion we can have more discussions you can yes i think the the other people who presented to us they their argument would say that they were in business and had viable entities elsewhere as well again i i'm not trying to hurt her business and it sounds like she's not even sure she wants it she wants the option six months is not a long time and just so this way we are abortive consistency that we don't pick and choose who we enforce rules with i would like to see it with no gaming for the first six months and i want to say this though the business that she's taking over had a liquor license and had gaming so what's the problem right but that business did fail so obviously gaming didn't prove that it was a success or a need either well it was there for years

But you know what I mean, it failed. Her business has had no gaming and has succeeded. So I don't feel like it's an unreasonable request to ask for six more months. Believe me, the guy that's coming in, I believe he's from True Links, we asked for six months, he gave us six months. I'm gonna be a yes vote on that. So it's not like we're gonna deny you. We just wanna be consistent because then, as we've had in the past, we have four business come knocking on the door and be like, we want gaming right now. It's that kind of thing. So I think it's more of just a preventative practice.

There's a motion on the floor.

Now is this motion for everything or just, I'm open to giving the liquor license.

For the class A license.

Class A with gaming or class A without gaming? Class A.

With gaming.

There would have to be an amendment. Can you speak for that please?

All we're looking for is just a pass to we're able to give her a liquor license, correct?

Correct. There's no amendment on the floor. I'm sorry. The ordinance is not just amending only the liquor licenses. It's not considering the gambling license. So there's nothing before the body to actually consider gambling.

Ready for a vote?

Yes.

Vaughn?

Yes.

Berry? Yes. Boudreaux? Yes. Lockett? Yes. Geske? Yes. Zimbleman.

Yes. Motion carries. All right, the following consideration I think needs to be removed because the chair rules that this motion is out of order. It does not comply with Village of Manteno ordinances and Illinois state law.

In what way? You can appeal the ruling of the chair.

You're out of order, Mr. Kanko.

I'll appeal the ruling of the chair. With it or not, her order is well taken.

I will ask Mr. Miller to speak, please, on this.

In regards to the appointment of the attorney, is that for us?

I'm sorry. I was using the microphone. I apologize. Under the village of ordinances, the office of a village attorney is created in 1-9-2. The office of village attorney is hereby created and established. The village attorney shall be appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the board of trustees. The office of village attorney may be filled with an individual lawyer or a law firm. So as the village attorney is the appointment of the mayor, she is not appointed, Mr. Cancar, as the village attorney.

There is an appeal. Is there a second?

I would appeal as well.

There's a second.

He's not the chair of this meeting. You're out of order. Completely out of order.

I think there's something there that you... Mr. Banker, you are out of order.

I can repeat the appeal again. I need that seconded.

That's out of order. I'd like to appeal the chair's decision.

I would second it.

it's your decision not his one more time this is my decision this is not your decision mr kankar you are out of order thank you mayor he does not there will be no vote on this no you can vote you can already vote

The next consideration for the motion to approve.

I'll make a motion to approve the Lewis F. Kankars LTD's assignment and continuous retention order with respect to certain legal matters and to authorize the village administrator to execute the same.

The chair rules that this motion is out of order as it doesn't comply with the village of Manteno ordinances and the Illinois state law.

Now you can vote. Boudreaux. Yes. Geske? Yes. Berry? Staying. Staying. Vaughn? No. Crockett?

Yes. Zimbelman?

Yes. I am vetoing this, just... You can veto it next meeting, ma'am. All right, the next one. I also am taking this one off the agenda because I need a motion. Does that somebody want to make a motion to approve a PSA agreement with HR green?

Chris, can you explain this for us?

Yeah. So this first one is to have HR green continue to do any civil, uh, changes that happen out at the Goshen property. Um, they do all the reviews on anything civil that's happening out there. Uh, when they invoice us, we turn around and send that invoice over to Goshen and they reimburse us. So this doesn't cost us anything, but uh, we do need to have the, you know, someone at this point, HR green, uh, review those plans and make sure that whatever they're doing out there in terms of civil changes, um, that it meets all our codes and ordinances. But if we don't do this, then they can do whatever they want. I don't think that's a good idea.

Is this working directly with Gosha? This is just making sure Gosha... Yeah, they submit the plans to us.

There's no pending motion on the floor.

I'll make this motion, then. I will second it.

Out of order.

I'll make this motion again.

I'll second it.

You're still out of order. How about for a third time?

I will make this motion again.

I'll second.

I just want to discuss it.

You are in violation of the Open Meetings Act.

What? In what way? Can you explain that, please?

In terms of state statute and village ordinances, procurement over the amount of $25,000 should be going out to competitive bidding. So because these projects weren't competitively bid, it's in violation of state law and village ordinances. So hence why the mayor's ruling it out of order.

They're not an expenditure? It's a professional services, and you have a relationship with HR. So it is legal?

Mr. Kankauer, you're out of order.

He's our village attorney mayor. He is not. He is because we can debate this all night long. Okay, the next question.

Consideration regarding a motion to approve a PSA agreement with H.R.

Green for Oak Street parking.

Pursuant to the village code of ordinances, Robert's rule of order, rule 19 says the president shall decide all questions of order and in all cases not covered by these rules where they are not applicable, the board shall be governed by parliamentary laws laid down in the current edition of Robert's rules of order.

Can I object? You can appeal. You can appeal. You can appeal her ruling.

I'll appeal her ruling. Second? You need a second?

Second.

Is the mayor's motion... There's a motion.

Is there a motion on the floor?

They're appealing your decision, Mayor. There was a second, I believe. There was a second.

If you didn't call for it, you can ask for an appeal again. Is the Mayor's point of order well taken?

I would like to appeal the Mayor's decision.

I'll second. And that's not the proper motion.

You can appeal the point of order. Is the mayor's point of order well taken?

Is the motion of the out of order by the mayor, I'd like to appeal that decision.

So is there a second?

I'll second.

You can vote on that. It would be a negative to overrule the mayor. Take the roll call.

Hold on. Boudreaux? No. Yes, key, no. We were we vote on appeal voting on the appeal.

So the question is is that the was the mayor's motion, I'm sorry point of order out of order you're appealing that.

No.

Crockett? No. Zimbelman?

No.

Now you guys can go for the vote on the motion. I have to motion it again. I'm sorry.

Mr. Kankar, you're completely out of line.

Okay. Thank you, sir. I'm going to guess the court will decide this anyway. I'd like to make a motion to approve, I mean, someone discussed it, but a motion to approve the PSA agreement with HR Green for amendment number one. Okay, we're good. Can we discuss it more? Again, so if we don't go with this, then they can do whatever they want and we have no one to review for them.

yeah this establishes a procedure for them to turn in to make sure we have some procedure to make sure if they do a new design new plan we can check all right HR green has been doing this since they took over the plant yes or anything that's currently being done out there correct correct so did the motion pass

Wait a minute, which one?

I have a motion.

Yeah, I'll second it.

Thank you.

Trustee, are you calling the question for the vote?

Yes.

Yes.

Would you read back what you're voting on, please? Explain that.

Explain that again. The appeal of the chair was successful. So now you're actually going back to the initial matter, which is the approval of item D. Woodrow?

Yes. Gowski? Yes. Berry? No. Vaughn? No. Crockett? Yes. Zimbelman?

Yes.

Motion carries. And I'm probably gonna veto that too.

Why not? Shocker.

All right, consideration motion to approve a PSA agreement for the Oak Street parking lot. on Adams Street to Division Design Engineering.

I'll make that motion.

I'll second. Question, is this to approve the parking lot or just to create the plans if we want to? Just to look at the plans. Just to look at the plans.

What is the cost of those plans? Do we have any cost on that? Did we get that?

Chris, we discussed that a little earlier.

Can you explain that? Yeah, I don't have the PSA in front of me, but there would be an amount in that PSA to do the design for the parking lot as well as the bid process.

So it's $56,800.

So that would be the total to do the engineering and to do the bid process as well.

And this is looking at the full or just the half? This is the half. This is the half. $58,000 just to look at.

Well, how did this get dreamed up? How did you dream this up? I mean, for the parking lot.

My mind just works all day long. Again.

You know, we have a nice parking lot across the tracks there, you know, but I think it's being taken up by some vehicles that are always parked there. So maybe if we took those out of there, and put them at the person's building where they should be, I think we'd have a lot of extra spaces available there. And we wouldn't have to spend $600,000 of the taxpayers' money. This is ridiculous. We talked about here. When we were at a meeting, we talked about saving the taxpayers' money. I remember when Mr. Geske talked to the... the port-a-potty gentleman that puts all the... Yes, Mr. Lee. And did you not tell him to pull all those port-a-potties out of the parks because it was going to save the taxpayers money? Yes. And then we go ahead and we put a $300,000... Well... over there how are we saving the citizens money how and then we're gonna you know talk about putting a parking lot and we don't need that but at this point you know what and you bring this stuff up and you expect us we don't even have the information on this we're not voting on the park i know that

I have a question. We're just doing the poll.

I know that, but you know what? I just think it's crazy that we keep bringing up all this different stuff.

I just want to have just a conversation here, not an argument. Sure. I'm not arguing with you. I'm just bringing up my concerns of this. Right. What I'm having a hard time understanding is the fact that we discussed this at the Public Works Committee meeting this past week. and my question to everybody here at that meeting was what are your thoughts and when we discussed looking at doing half of the parking lot your exact words were i think that's a great idea so then i then we put it on the agenda not at this time not at this time it is a good idea maybe down the road and stuff when we get situated with our money situation then i think we could bring it up at this point i don't think we should guys okay well so we're not going to support our local businesses we are supporting our local business please i'm talking to peggy the chair we're not going to support our local businesses nor are we going to try to help new businesses come here with how is the chair recognizes mike because we're going to bring our new business mike barry couldn't even be at this meeting i'd like to hear what he has to say i have a question

at that meeting you discussed about mr tortrick who wanted to do a development out there i didn't talk about that okay well it was discussed and then we said that mr torstrick should be responsible for all the repairs on cyprus if you wanted to put a new development he had talked about putting in homes over there and a subdivision and everything else and we said to him that he should be responsible for the improvements on the road so my question to you is

why don't we invest at $600,000 to help mr. torture count to bring in 13 to 15 homes in that subdivision that'll bring more property tax in the first of all we're not investing $600,000 and according to what trustee Zimbalman said at the meeting was that mr. torkstra backed out because of the current state of this board he talked about you could take nothing way you could take it any way you want time the reason why is is he had the discussion that's what the man said so that's the way I'm going to take it it came straight from his mouth

tire tracks asked for anything I know you said they parked there but if they like said we're not gonna let them at all I mean that's fifty six thousand dollars is a big just to spend just for a plan to I again I someone called out I'm the guy that's been ringing the bell we're spending too much money I I just don't know if this is the best use of our money right now to build a parking lot you know the business that just came in

The business just came in. That's just my concern.

That's my only concern. Vote with your heart. When businesses need the support of a village to thrive, that's what the trustees are here to do, to help the business survive and thrive. Again, we have a lady here. Wants to open a business and I think if we were to tell her you're gonna have very limited parking She would not be happy with that and her business would not thrive without without the parking Our public parking that we have right now Correct at that at that end of Oak Street. There is very limited parking very limited parking We don't have to do this Right? And I said this at the meeting this past week. We don't have to put the parking lot in, but if we're going to be business friendly and help try to spur new businesses to come here, we have to start looking at the reasons why.

We also discussed, it was good for events as well, Oktoberfest, community events for more parking, because there's never enough parking during, and we host quite a few events.

Well, it seems like through Oktoberfest, they park in the grass over there anyway.

They park all over the place, and sometimes they park where they shouldn't park. And again, we're not voting on whether to spend the money to put the parking lot in. We're doing the initial investigation. And if we can, as a board, at least look at doing some of these things, then what, I mean, again, we have people that want us to do things, not sit here and argue over petty things, meeting after meeting after meeting. We have to start moving forward.

just want to say six hundred thousand dollars is a lot of money right now there's no number didn't the element say 300 000. we have no clue because the engineer has to draw it up so we could plot a number we could say let's say we don't want to do it right now but let's say we want to do it two years from now would this plan still be or obviously they're gonna have to reprice it but how viable is it like how long would this plan be viable for

Well, I can tell you right now, based on what I know in the construction industry, nothing gets cheaper. So a $500,000, a $200,000, a $50,000 parking lot now is not going to be cheaper two years from now. Again, we don't have to do it, but when businesses come here and say we're not going to come to Manteno for various reasons, this could be one of them. You don't even want to put in a parking lot for us. Well, CJ I can mention that this is just as this is just a good faith effort to show I'm not saying like that maybe possibly not needed I was just I never heard of anybody saying there was anything wrong with our parking are we gonna wait until there's problems are we gonna try to divert those problems there's a motion on the floor roll call

Crockett? Yes. Geske? Yes. Berry? No. Boudreaux? No. Vaughn? No. Zimbelman?

Yes.

Chair Mayer?

No. All right, our final consideration tonight is regarding a motion to approve payment of the bills in the amount of $206,081.21, including TIF number three, for $225.40. I'll make that motion. Motion by Berry.

Second.

Second by Boudreaux.

Berry? Yes. Boudreaux? Yes. Vaughn? Yes. Crockett? Yes. Geske? Yes. Zimbleman?

Yes.

Motion also carries. Thank you. Comments tonight. Who would like to go first?

Peggy? I just want to say we had a great time. last week with all the parties we had and all the bands. The bands were great. I think the citizens enjoyed it. It was good. Ashley, you did a good job.

Thank you.

And I think I really enjoyed the little dog party that we had out at Legacy. That was a riot. Thank you. That was really good. So thank you.

Thank you, Mayor. Just a couple things. Same thing. Fourth of July event seemed to go great. Obviously, it was really hot outside, but it still went well. I was at the market and the Thursday night, and the guy did sound like Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley, so that was very impressive. uh with it uh something i didn't notice i don't know if this was during the event but i saw it posted in some photos i just want to remind citizens and i guess everyone here our paths are not allowing golf carts so if you ever see a golf cart on our pass please call the cops they are not allowed no one's allowed to have a golf cart ever so we do not want to ruin our past that way i know my parents just got a golf cart in town and they would probably love to use that but that's not what they're for so please please please do not drive on the path was checking out the parks and i'm the one that was going through the park on a golf cart because make sure we don't do that because i don't care for a trustee mayor anyone no one should be allowed to be on the golf you got to walk it's handicapped accessible if you need a wheelchair that's gonna that's gonna hurt the path it is it really is we can't we cannot be doing that at all with that kind of stuff um on there so just make sure we don't allow golf carts on that's not what it's for if we don't even allow bikes on it we definitely don't want to allow uh golf carts on it either uh what's that one other thing i mean i've been called the communist but now i've been called that i'm part of a coup um it's very interesting as someone that teaches history um in this town When it comes to a coup by the mayor, We just celebrated the Fourth of July. I would say King George probably called our founding fathers a coup when they tried to overthrow that kind of stuff. I find it funny that when our mayor says she has ultimate authority, if you look at our bylaws, it is with consent and approval of the village body. If she disagrees with that, then she must disagree with our Constitution, which also allows the House of Representatives and the Senate to override the president. We have no dictators in this country. We have no dictators in Illinois. We have no dictators in the town of Manteno. If you feel, and if the town feels that we are overzealous, if we are coup-like, There's an election every two years. You can vote us out whenever you want. That's what I love about this country. If we want to vote people out, we can vote people out. I just find it very comical that we were called a coup. I also find it comical that our mayor continues to read off her phone or read off payment. It seems like something is written for her and not written by her. And I would like to hear from the mayor's voice, because I've known the mayor for 10 years. She's known my family for 60 years, and she's calling now one of her best friend's grandsons a coup, someone on that committee. It's just as surprising. And the last thing, and I pass this out to all the trustees and our clerk about this supposed illegal meeting, is the paperwork showing that our mayor called the meeting on June 25th, but she cited June 23rd. So if it wasn't an illegal meeting, it wasn't called by anyone here, we just showed up. Because the mayor asked us to show up, and that's why we showed up.

That paperwork was never turned in to the clerk, and it had to be approved by our clerk. We didn't have a clerk. He was the one to announce the meeting.

That's fine, but it was posted, and we were doing it on your behalf. We sat through it.

That was not posted. I showed that to Dawn at the Village Hall, and she said, oh. You signed it, though, Mayor. Let me tell you what happened. I brought that paper in because Dawn told me we had to follow the protocol. And so with the help of the attorney, I followed the protocol and I signed my agenda and I took it to Dawn and she said, oh, I already have an agenda. I said, you have an agenda? She said, yeah, Joel gave me one. And I looked at it and I saw what he had at the bottom of it. and he says, this is not gonna fly. He doesn't get to put this on here.

Actually, in our laws, it says that if two trustees ask to put something on, we can hold a meeting. That's in our bylaws.

I have to approve it has to happen. You do not have to approve.

Two trustees can call it. Again, there's this... We need to read our bylaws, is what I would ask, is to read the bylaws and know the rules.

But I would encourage all trustees, if you're going to file or have a meeting, and two trustees can call a meeting to file the established procedures.

Oh, I wasn't calling the meeting. I thought the meeting was called, and that's why we have the agenda item on.

And that's what's disputed at this moment. There are provisions in the Code of Ordinances for trustees to call meetings, but There's procedures and steps that have to be followed. I would encourage everyone, all trustees, to follow those procedures. Right.

And at the time, I had thought that our, thank God he's back, our clerk had resigned, because he does a great job with that. So we were kind of in lieu with that stuff. But it's just as surprising. And you knew it was an illegal meeting. But you didn't inform any of us either. You could have let us know. None of us would have showed up then. But you decided not to let us know so that we would sit here and you wanted to probably, I'm going to guess, embarrass ourselves. That's why. You say you're transparent. And I asked Mike when he sat down, hey, where's the mayor? He said, she's had a headache. You didn't have a headache. You knew it was a legal meeting, but you didn't want to inform us. I email everyone always. I am super transparent. I just, I don't know, man. And we've had so many people that stop me and so many people that talk. Oh my God, the town's going downhill. It is. And we need to all step up. I loved your comment. We are all neighbors. We have to act like neighbors. And I'm willing to have a fresh start. If we all need to go out, or I guess we can't go out, maybe sit all two by two and have coffee and drinks, that's fine. But we need a reset because our town is crumbling. Go look at the square. I think it's a great representative. The square right now, where the Village of Manitino, there is cracks all through it. We are forming those cracks.

we have to mend those credits that is our job as a village board and that's all i have to say thank you cj uh in complete transparency with the residents i want to read a letter that was sent to me by the mantino fire department it says this letter is to inform the village of the status of the fire brigade for goshen Since the beginning of this process and through the decisions to approve the tax abatement, the fire district's main goal has been and continues to be to ensure the safety of our community, fire personnel, and Goshen employees. The fire district has said and continues to reiterate that Goshen cannot cause an operational or financial impact on the fire district. fire district has made numerous attempts to provide a comparable plan to assist goshen with meeting the requirements of putting in place the required fire brigade in accordance with the codes laws regulations and ordinances applicable to the hazards that exist at that facility these negotiations have been ongoing for several months with no comparable solution that will avoid an operational or financial impact on the fire district while assuring the safety of our community fire personnel and goshen's employees In the email from Goshen the chief Peterson on June 17th responding to the final proposal from the fire district Goshen stated it could not agree to the terms of this proposal and intended to move forward with putting its. Putting in place its own internal fire brigade to meet the village requirements. The fire district once again cannot accept this proposal because it would cause a financial impact. including a deficit resulting in increased staffing levels that would be required by assisting goshen in meeting the requirements of a fire brigade it would also create an operational impact on the district these issues could cause the district to seek other sources of income such as raising the cost of services to our district residents or increasing tax revenue the fire district is obligated to all district residents to provide the highest level of service while remaining financially responsible to its residents. To that end, the fire district will continue to work with the village and Goshen to ensure that the community fire personnel and Goshen employees remain safe. At this time, its fire district The fire district's recommendation that Goshen establish its own fire brigade that meets all codes laws regulations and ordinances required by the hazard classification for this facility This should be done immediately and would require Goshen's fire brigade to be on site and operational at all times The fire district will continue to work with the village and Goshen. However, these measures need to be enforced immediately and because of the hazards that the facility currently exists and we must assure that our community, fire personnel and Goshen employees remain safe.

Mike, when was that letter dated? Oh, there's no date on it. No date on it? No. When did you get that? Last week. Thanks for sharing. I mean, you and I have been meeting with them.

Well, I did call Chris, and I reached out to Chris, and I asked Chris, and he said that you had reached out to Mohammed at Goshen, and we're working on an MOE between the village and Goshen. So I wasn't in those meetings, and I just find it strikingly funny that we're sitting here now, July 7th, and we've been talking about this from January. goshen has enough money to give to everyone else and their brother but they're not keeping our residents safe so i'll wait till you're done so that's where i stand all this divide and everything else here yeah there's a lot of divide but i think at the end of the day i don't really give my main concern is i ran for this board to be transparent and for the safety of our residents And this is not making me feel any safe. And I don't think it's making anyone in this room any safer. Goshen's going to play by their rules. They're not going to play by our rules. So it's time for us to make serious, serious discussions. I know we have a fire brigade ordinance in place, but this needs to stop today. Thank you.

Todd, do you have anything tonight?

Just a couple things here Emily, I'm sorry is your last name Harmon or Harmon? Herman, I'm sorry Your comments man. They were right on target. I Wholeheartedly agree with what you said. I wish I had a copy of what you said You're absolutely right we is as board members and people sitting here in the crowd if we were to you know just sitting around the table talking I'm sure the vast majority of us would get along very very well this country affords us the opportunity to disagree on topics right that's that's that's our right and that's okay I've said it many many times we don't have to agree on We can agree to disagree, but it's how we go about this whole thing, right? And going back to what Mr. Barnes said, I think he's absolutely right. What businesses would wanna come to this town based on what is going on right now? We just tried to get a simple agreement established to see what it would cost to put in a parking lot for businesses, and we couldn't even get that done, right? And yes, it was gonna cost money. But you know what? Sometimes you have to spend the money to be able to bring these improvements to town. And there's not one person, I think, sitting in this crowd right now that would say, this is a shitty-looking town. It's a beautiful town, and it's beautiful because we spent the money, the time, and the effort to make it what it is. And we can't stop that progress, and that's what's happening here. We're stopping the progress because of these petty battles that we go through every week. And please, let me just ask one thing of the board. If we discuss something at a committee meeting and we talk about bringing it to the board to vote on, let's not even do that if we're not in agreement. Why expend the effort to even discuss it at a board meeting if we're not in agreement at a committee meeting? That's why I specifically asked this past week, what do you all think? three of us were not present to discuss that okay well if you weren't you could have called you could have called me you could have called any of the other board members but the four board members that were here did say that's a great idea okay if you don't think it's a great idea let's not even let's not even bring it to the board to vote on because it's a waste of time for everybody in this room Okay, if we need to have more discussion on it, let's discuss it further. But let's not bring it to the point where we have to vote on it, right? If we're not in agreement.

Who brought it for the vote?

I asked at the committee meeting, Peggy, again, what does everybody think? You, me, Joel, and Annette all agreed that's a wonderful idea. So I asked Chris to put it on the agenda so that we could vote on it. And it wasn't, again, I don't want to go down that path. I'm just trying to make a point. I'm just trying to make a point. And hey, if we didn't vote for it, that's fine. But again, we got to get going in the right direction. And Mayor, I think you're a wonderful person, believe it or not, right? I honestly just don't think you're a good leader, okay? And that's why we're in the position that we're in.

Well, you know what? She became the mayor by the people's voice. You're right. And so they thought she was a good mayor.

You're right. And I think the right thing at that point when she was elected would have come to the people that maybe disagreed with her and said, hey, we're not going to agree on everything, but we can try to work together. And that hasn't happened yet. Okay? And I think that's a sign of a great leader to be able to get people to unite when they disagree. We are trying to work with you.

We are giving you our opinions and you just go over us.

Peggy, that's not true. Yes, it is. I have voted on many of the mayor's appointments in favor of them, right? Okay? I haven't voted in favor of everything. And again, I think the mayor is a wonderful person. I just disagree with her leadership. And I think if we had the leadership, that leader would figure out a way to take all of this nonsense and figure out the right path to get this village moving in the right direction.

Well, I think the voters thought she was a good leader, so that's why she's sitting in that position, and Mr. Geske is not. Okay.

Well, that's fine. That's fine. I hope we could figure this out.

Is that it?

That is it, Mayor.

Joel?

Okay, just to piggyback off what Mike said a little bit about the Goshen stuff. Mike, you and I have been working with the fire department and Goshen for far too long, and I agree with you. The road, the buck stops right here, right now, and the... The reason why we haven't had a meeting is because of the whole attorney stuff that's been going on this past week. This way the general public is well aware of what has transpired. The last offer for, let me back up, B&F Technical had asked for six firefighters per shift on duty to constitute the fire brigade. And that follows in line with OSHA rules of two in, two out, supervisor and a lookout guy. So, Goshen has not complied with that up to this time. And we are both in agreement that that's not adequate enough. They did, we've told them numerous times that them and the fire department, we were trying to get them to do the memorandum of understanding of what can work following all of our ordinances and everything, because shame on all of us for that not being in writing, but it wasn't put in writing. shame on the fire department shame on the village board whoever you want to yell at and scream at for it 100 right you and i have been trying to fix that the last offer that goshen had just in response to the fire department's letter they offered to pay 31 million dollars to the fire department and staff it with 10 fire brigade members now That sounded like a really attractive deal to me from a business person standpoint, but that was before I knew about the OSHA standard guidelines of two in, two out, supervisor and a lookout person. So we've learned a little bit about it, and since the fire department in Goshen can't seem to get to an understanding, now that our attorney situation is somewhat resolved or it's probably going to be not resolved for a while but um i'm i've asked for a meeting to be scheduled and once we got the exact time i was going to notify you to participate because you and i have been in this from the start to give them timelines of when they have to have what completed by and what is expected and so um i will talk to you after this meeting as to where we're at with it but nothing has changed on my part on that and i don't think from my conversations with every other trustee anything's changed on their parts but first step is we have to give them notice exactly in writing what needs to be done when where And I'm sorry, the fire department has not been very cooperative in those meetings. You and I have attended how many of them? A lot. And we're told, we sit down, we joked, you and I have joked about it. We sit down at the meeting, we've got a water and mints, and it goes around the table. Where we stand, oh, everything's good. You and I are told from the fire department that everything is good and progressing. We're told by Goshen everything's good. And... then later on we come to find out from letters like you had that things aren't what they told us so um i'll talk to you after the meeting hopefully we have a time scheduled sometime this week is my intentions of it i just think between you and i or between the board i i think that

Goshen wants to donate benches. They want to do this. They want to do that. That's all great. But at the end of the day, it's like you guys are determined from what the main key is.

That's all a point. You and I are in agreement with it, and I think every trustee, every elected official here is in that standpoint that enough's enough but before we can go and do anything we have to give them in writing what's expected by when with reasonable time frames so um but again you and i can talk about that afterwards um as far as the attorney goes again i'm gonna reinstate i'm not trying to take away the mayor's powers for for appointing of an attorney but it is with the consent of the board um and as far as the meeting as cj said had a copy of the letter we all have it the mayor called it because there's one of two ways in my opinion or not in my opinion of what our statute says if the mayor relieved our village attorney she has to properly report to us no sooner than five days no later than or No sooner than five days, no later than 10 days. She didn't properly report to us and that's what this meeting was for her to properly report. So Joe's automatically reinstated there. Or if this meeting was accurate and appropriate, the board as a majority overturned it. So that's why it's not Joel being a dictator. That's why Joel has the opinion that Joe can car is our village attorney. It's based upon our ordinances and what procedures need to be followed. So in that office, the emergency appointment that the mayor wanted to make is only if there's a vacant position.

joe what it wasn't a vacant position until after she properly reported to us so that's all i have joe welcome back thanks joe's not back and by the way the email i sent to joe dismissing him in the morning of that day the morning of the meeting stated the reasons why i was discharging him and you all got a copy of that email

but remember the ordinance says no sooner than five days no later than 10. so if you dismissed him that morning that doesn't serve as proper notification to us annette do you have anything

Ashley would you like to update us on the events in our wonderful village okay all right so last week we had our 250th birthday for america and uh it was a hot one for sure but i want to say a special shout out to crosswell ford because they were the sponsors for both of those music events so thank you to both of them for being there for both of those evenings Looking forward, though, we actually have cruise nights tomorrow. It's in downtown Manteno from 6 to 9 p.m. And then Saturday morning, start your day with yoga in the square from 8 to 9. Also on Saturday is our free shred event. So it is back on the schedule. It will be this Saturday. It's done by ProShred. PRO SHRED, EXCUSE ME. THEY WILL BE ON SITE FROM 9 A.M. TO 11 A.M. RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET IN THE PARKING LOT. BRING YOUR PERSONAL DOCUMENTS FOR FREE, SECURE, ON-SITE SHREDDING. YOU CAN LEAVE YOUR STAPLES AND YOUR PAPER CLIPS IN, AND THEY WILL SHRED ON SITE. SO THAT'S FROM, AGAIN, THAT'S THIS SATURDAY FROM 9 A.M. TO 11 A.M. BRING YOUR PERSONAL DOCUMENTS. Next week, though, is gonna be busy. We got July 15th. Join us for the Manteno Market from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Also, the Manteno Chamber will be hosting as seniors at the Market. That's gonna be from 4 to 6 underneath our new pavilion. We have Ace Hardware coming. They will be doing safe tips and tricks for our seniors on landscaping. They also have a couple of senior programs that they would like to share with you. And Chick-fil-A, who is also gonna be donating up to 30 meal vouchers, they will also be at the market. So if you're a senior, please come stop by the pavilion, say hi to Ace and a couple other chamber members, and then, of course, go get a free meal. And then on Friday, July 17th, before the Rocking on the Square, the Manteno Chamber influencers will be hosting their back-to-school bash. This is from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. And I hate saying that we're back to school, but yes, we are back to school soon. So we actually have a bunch of chamber members that will be providing over 200 school supply items per booth. So that's until supplies last. So please come and enjoy that. Rockin' on the Square happens right afterwards, starting at 6 p.m. So stay and enjoy some food and festivities. With Dirty Pop, they will be performing from 6 to 10 p.m. And that is it for me. Thanks, everyone.

all right i would just like to thank some of the people who were sponsors for all the events we held this last week aqua illinois gave us 500 bottles of water which we iced down and had them in chests for all the events we had because it was so ungodly hot croswell ford paid for the bands lamora realty furnished all kinds of decorations for the slow roll bike ride and it brought so many people together in town There were so many friends and neighbors who had a wonderful time, and that's what makes Manteno so special. And I want to say, even in the heat, that we had 40 dogs with their owners that come out to the park, and it was a wonderful event in spite of the wind. In fact, the breeze kind of cooled everything down. So Manteno is an incredible place. It's a wonderful village. Yes, we're dealing with a lot of issues, but we're going to get through it. And I think if we continue to try to work together, things might get better, and we're going to look towards the future. So thank you for all of you who attend our meetings faithfully, and thank you to all of our listeners on TV. So thank you, everybody. Oh, and special thanks to a couple of people here. Don Lesher, who was at almost every event we hosted, from the slow roll bike ride to the puppy party to the bands and the markets, terry hart and sarah allen who took care of the the puppy party and mary lamore who was in charge of the slow roll bike ride and uh gina lamore may i have a motion to adjourn motion by budro second by barry woodrow yes barry vaughn yes crockett yes yes zimbalman yes