City Council - Special Meeting

Special city council meeting. Mie, please call the role. Alderwoman Bainy here. Alderman Glab here. Alderman Dhorty here. Alderwoman Bassie here. Alderman Davis absent. Alderman Cook here. Alderwoman Miller present. Mayor Jet here. Please stand for the pledge. 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.

All right, at this time I open up for public comment for items that are not on the agenda this evening. Is there any public comment? All right, see none. Moving on to special use permits. Uh we're going to separate both of the special use permits here for 5A and 5B. Uh, at this time looking for a motion to approve a special use permit to Lighthouse Wines at Veterans Park, 3400 Pearl Street each Thursday beginning May 14th, 2026 through September 3rd, 2026 from 5:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. plus any other dates the event may be rescheduled. Looking for a motion to approve,

I'll make the motion to approve the motion the as presented for Lighthouse Wines. Can somebody move the agenda up? Oh, I'm sorry. Thank you, Monty. I'll make a motion to approve a special use permit to Lighthouse Wines at Veterans Park. Thank you. Second, alder Bassie. I'll second that. Thank you. Discussion on this item. Alone Benny.

Um, so I kind of have an issue with this one because this business doesn't even have open hours. I guess I have a issue that they even have a liquor license. you can't visit this business during any normal hours. Um, had I realized this, I actually kind of regret not having pulled this from the renewal process when we re recently renewed liquor licenses. Um, I also saw zero evidence that they've even been accepted into the Pearl Street market with their application and I know there's a process for that happening as well. So, I'm a no on this one and really think we need to look into why they have a liquor a class A liquor license when they don't have any hours of operation. I've checked their website. I've looked at multiple other sites as well. Um, some of the online wine tourist sites have them listed as no hours, no public um, tastings. So, I don't see why they even have a liquor license to be able to give them a special use permit. All right.

All done, Bassie. Okay. I confirm that uh Lighthouse Wines is a vendor only permit. So, I am voting yes. Any other questions, comments? All right. Any public comment regarding this item? Monty, please call the RO. Alderwoman Miller, yes. Alderwoman Bassie, yes. Alderwoman Bainy, no. Alderman Glab, yes. Alderman Dhy, yes. Alderman Cook, yes.

Thank you, council. Next item on the agenda is 5B. A motion to approve a special use permit to three Queens at Veterans Park, 3,400 Pearl Street, each Thursday beginning May 14th, 2026 through September 3rd, 2026 from 5:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. plus any other dates the event may be rescheduled. Looking for a motion to approve. Alman Dhy. Yeah, I'll make the motion to approve the special use permit for three queens at Veterans Park as presented. Thank you. Second, Aldwin Bainy. I'll second that motion. Thank you. Discussion on this item. Alone Bassie.

Um the three queens permit is to allow open container at Veterans Park. The default for every downtown event cannot be allowing open container because it does defer some residents from participating. Specifically for Veterans Park, the playground equipment is a popular attraction for children and families, and I am not comfortable with allowing open container in the same park if permitted and included the permits granted last week for Miller Point Park. There will be open container allowed every Thursday and Saturday, as well as 11 Fridays and two Saturdays during the season. I understand this was permitted in previous years, but this was not done without the requested approval for city council and I will be voting no.

Thank you. Any other discussion by city council? Any public comment? Monty, please call the role. Alderman Dhy, yes. Alderwoman Bainy, yes. Alderman Glab, yes. Alderwoman Bassie, no. Alderman Cook, yes. Alderwoman Miller, yes. Thank you, councel. Next item on the agenda is a motion to approve annual appointments of boards, commissions, and other offices. I'm looking for a motion to approve. DHY, I'll make a motion to approve the annual appointments to boards, commissions, and other offices as presented. Thank you. Not on that, right? Uh, let's hang tight. Can

you bring that list up, Monty, quick? I can. Sorry. There you go. First page of it. Second. Alder Aldwin Miller. I'll second the motion. Thank you. Discussion by city council. See none. Any public comment? Monty, please call the role. Alderman Dhy. Yes. Alderwoman Miller. Yes. Alderman Cook. Yes. Alderwoman Bassie. Yes. Alderman Glab. Yes. Alderwoman Bainy. Yes.

Thank you, council. Next item on the agenda is uh item seven is a motion to acknowledge the ownership interest and alder person Miller in the property commonly known as 1506 North Richmond Road and two adjacent vacant lots pin numbers 09-26-42-40 and 09-26-42-14 and also 09-26-42-015. uh located within the city's proposed Richmond Road TIFF district plan area. I'm looking for a motion to approve. Aldo Baney. I'll make the motion to acknowledge the ownership interest of Alder person Miller in the property commonly described um in the agenda.

Thank you. Second. Alder ambassy. I'll second that.

Discussion by city council. Aldo ambassing. I would like to thank Alderwoman Miller for disclosing and removing herself from all discussion until her property ownership with the proposed Richmond Road TIFF is resolved. Um, strictly following procedure and not requesting her parcels be removed from the TIFF shows her respect for the conflict of interest laws. As I stated last month, parcel removals do not eliminate the conflict of interest. It just excuses them. So again, thank you, Alderwoman Miller.

Any other comment by city council? Alman Cook, go ahead. Does this include anybody who owns any property in the tiff? I mean, uh, the elected Yeah. No, I'm I'm answering it. It's the It's the uh member of a corporate authority that's for the elected board, employees and consultants of the municipality. Okay.

Yeah. Those three groups are the ones that need to disclose and so forth. I was uh leaning toward Oldman Bainy if she you know or she's already in the TIFF program. Correct. She she disclosed and we removed property. Oh, okay. I I did not have clarification. So, if you're corporate board and and you own property outside the tip, then of course you can participate. If you own it inside the tiff, you have to make a decision that we discussed before either removing it or disclosing it, not participating or quitting. Okay. And a couple meetings ago, we removed it. Correct. Right. Okay. I'm just

No, that's fine. No offense. All right. Uh, any public comment? Monty, please call the role. Alderwoman Bainy, yes. Alderwoman Bassie, yes. Alderman Glab, yes. Alderman Dhy, yes. Alderman Cook, yes. Alderwoman Miller abstain.

Thank you. Next item on the agenda is discussion regarding proposed tax increment financing districts. Uh at this time uh Doug, do you want to go ahead and present the item? And then also when we discuss these tiffs, we're going to have to separate them in different areas because Alderwoman Miller cannot participate in the discussion for the Richmond Road one. So I would ask that we separate at least the other two by themselves. Uh, but North Richmond Road has to be by itself. That didn't make any sense. North Richmond Road has to be it by itself. The other two can be discussion together. So, I would ask that we just keep those uh in that order. Does that make sense? Just so that way she could participate with the other two.

Can you do that, Doug, in your presentation? Let me restate it. Can you start with the Richmond Road TIFF area and the discussion limited to that that TIFF and then we'll do the other two right after that? Yeah. I mean, I was just going to talk I was just going to talk generally about what we've been doing. Yeah, that doesn't work. Can you break it up or can't you? I can break it up. Yeah, that would help because then uh al older person Miller will not participate in the Richmond road tiff discussion, but she will participate in the other two, the main street and downtown.

Okay. My comments are generally to both. I mean, I I don't know how to split them up. I we've been working with Tesca on each of these t districts together. I mean, I can I can say each one separately if that's what you want. I can do my best to to just one in my do my best. Which one? Why don't we do this? Why don't we start with the two first? That way you can get your general comments out. Limit any specific discussion to Main Street and downtown, not Richmond Road North. All right. So, get the general discussion out. Okay.

That apply to all three. But then when you get to Richmond Road map area, then focus just on that. Don't go to the other two yet. we'll stop and take a hard break and then when it gets to Richmond Road then we'll you know we'll announce maybe that she won't participate in that. Okay. Can you do something like that? Sure. Yeah, I could do that. Okay.

So, generally um staff the tiff review committee's been working with Tesca and Pete Iuzu from Tesa Associates on the uh the two proposed redevelopment areas. uh one being the the Richmond Road and one being the Route 120 Main Street areas. Um the eligibility studies were completed showed both areas were um met the uh criteria as conservation areas. Um the redevelopment plans were then begun after that and the reddraft redevelopment plans are almost completed. Um they're still in draft form. Um that's why we thought this would be a good time to bring it to council. Um we did discuss uh potential redevelopment areas in each of the proposed tiff project areas, which sites that we thought would be um suitable or most likely to be redeveloped first. um as well as um you know other properties that have been looked at by developers in the past that that might come up for redevelopment. Um and um the uh tonight uh Pete's going to go over the some of the specifics about each of each of these districts and then he's going to also go over the uh the next steps in the process. Um, one of the districts requires a housing study um, which will need to be done and then um, after the redevelopment plans are done, we'll have to have all the meetings uh, public meeting for the housing study as well as a public hearing um, for the uh, each project area and there also have to be an ad anh committee meeting put together as well. So that's all the comments I have and if anybody has any questions I'll be happy to answer them. Awesome. Thank you.

Floor's yours, sir.

All right. Thank you. Um, so yeah, D, uh, Doug pretty much summed it up. I've got a couple slides I'm going to go through, uh, just to kind of give you, uh, an idea of where we are in the process. Like Doug said, um, I'm pretty much uh, done with the two drafts for the Richmond Road area and the Route 120 area. Uh, the Richmond Road area, that one's done. I'm just making some revisions from staff. Uh the route 120 area is 90% complete. I'm trying to finalize that. But there a couple of things that we wanted to just bring to the board, get your input on uh before I finalize uh those drafts. Um so let's talk about the route 120 first.

Okay. Let's talk about the route if you can 120 first. Yeah. So there's two proposed new tiff districts. One's uh along uh west along Route 20 uh from the existing downtown TIFF. Uh and the other one is Richmond Road going north from the existing downtown TIFF. So, we'll try to just stick with the 120. Um but just in general, I I threw a couple of slides in there just for the sake of having them in there on what is TIFF and how it works. We kind of went over this stuff before. I don't think we need to uh go over that again. Um so, we'll skip this Richmond Road. Um so for the the West Illinois route 120 tiff boundary um I rewrote the eligibility report um because actually it was uh quite relevant to the discussion that you just had. We tweaked the boundary slightly uh because there were evidently a couple of parcels that were owned uh by one of the aldermen. I'm not sure who it was. It was just a couple of small parcels. Uh so we just tweaked it to remove those parcels to remove any potential conflict of interest. Uh as you guys just discussed um you can have uh property within the tiff but then that kind of excludes you uh from voting on the tiff and from uh future discussions voting on um uh potential incentives and whatnot. Um, that's a conflict if you own property within the tiff because it could benefit your property. So, it's good that you guys caught that. I adjusted the map. I rewrote the eligibility report to remove those parcels. Um, it was just a small little area. I think it was just two little parcels. It did not affect Here we go. West Round 20 summary. So, it did not affect the eligibility of the area.

It's still basically the exact same as it was before. Uh removing those two parcels didn't really change anything. Uh again, I reviewed for the route 120 tiff. We reviewed because there was that large chunk of undeveloped land that we added last time. Um so I did my eligibility based on the developed land and I did separate eligibility just based on the vacant land to make sure they both qualified, which they did. And that's all summarized in the eligibility report and summarized in these tables. But just uh to make a long story short, the area still qualifies. Um as far as the redevelopment plan goes, there are a number of up until now we were the last time I came and presented to you, we had completed the eligibility report just to make sure the area qualified. Uh now the redevelopment plan is kind of the meat of the actual plan which is there's a number of uh required elements per the TIFF act that the redevelopment plan has to have in in it. Um and I'm just going to go through those really quickly and there's a couple of these that we I just wanted to get uh a little bit of input from you guys if we could. Um so essentially we want to have the objectives of the TIF what you're trying to accomplish by establishing the TIF. Uh, we want estimated and eligible project cost, which is what I'm going to get back to because that's one of my big questions. Uh, and required public improvements. That's the other one. Uh, conformance with your comprehensive plan. So, just to be clear, nothing in my TIFF redevelopment plan uh is going to be at odds with your existing comprehensive plan or any of your existing planning uh uh documents that you might have. Uh, so I'm referring to that. I'm pulling quotes out. There's a future land use map in both of the tiff plans which is essentially just coming right out of your comprehensive plan. So everything

in in the tiff plan is going to be consistent with your comprehensive plan. Um so there will be an existing and future land use map. Uh the impact on taxing districts uh commitment to fair employment. They just added that requirement into the tiff act. Uh statement on the but four test. the legal requirement, but for the TIFF, um redevelopment would not occur in the area. Uh and an eligibility analysis and the housing impact study as Doug just mentioned. Um the TIFF is kind of basically three main components. The redevelopment plan, the eligibility report to make sure that the area qualifies, and then the third piece is the housing study, and uh there are certain thresholds that require that. And particularly the Illinois the route 120 tiff definitely requires the housing study. So I'll get into that in a second. Um, so general tax increment financing goals are, you know, eradicating blighting conditions or instituting conservation areas. Both of these, uh, tiffs that we're talking about qualified as conservation areas. Um, so I know the word blight tends to freak people out. Um, but that's kind of the standard that we we use in TIFF. Uh it's really a it's not really there's a specific definition in the TIFF act for what blight means. So uh it's not as harsh as the general dictionary term might imply. Um but these are conservation areas. So it's a lesser standard than blight. And what we're trying to do is prevent the area from becoming a blighted area is kind of the goal of the tip. Um removing and alleviating adverse conditions by encouraging private investment in the area. uh improving existing public utilities and just enhancing the overall business environment of the city. Um eligible project costs. This is kind of the the spot where I'm at in the process right now where I'm uh projecting out potential tenth increment

for uh the the the potential 23 years of the tiff. Um so that's kind of more of an art than a science. It's very difficult to uh project what's going to happen redevelopment wise over the course of 23 years. Uh so there's a couple of ways I go about doing that and I'll get to that in a second. Um but the big thing to remember with eligible project costs, the TIFF Act is super specific about what you're allowed to spend the money on. um primarily uh infrastructure improvements um demolition of uh of uh dilapidated structures, rehabilitation of existing structures. Um the big thing to keep in mind is just the the main cut off line is you really can't use tiff money to incentivize new construction. Um, typically the the goal of the TIFF is to rehab deteriorated structures, but we're not the intent of the TIFF is usually not to just give money to developers to build a new building on vacant land. That's not really the intent of TIFF. So, that's kind of the big cut off of what you're allowed to spend money on and what you're not allowed to spend money on. Um, required public improvements. I've been working with uh village staff to get an idea and this is one of the areas where I could use uh any input I can get as I'm trying to project out the potential increment uh and develop a budget for the area. I want to make sure that if there are any um upcoming future infrastructure improvements in the area that I'm aware of those and that I factor those into the budget and we make sure that uh uh that is accounted for and there's enough uh allocated in the budget to cover anything that you're planning on spending the money on. Um, so that's one of the big things that I can use any input on is if there are any if you're aware of any future

infrastructure improvements that are necessary in that area. I just want to make sure that I address those in the tip plan. Uh, again, as I said, uh, the plan will conform with your uh, vision 2050 comprehensive plan. So, I got a copy of that. I've been reading it, pulling a bunch of quotes and and uh, references out to make sure that everything in the TIFF plan is consistent. Uh there is a section on impact on the taxing districts. This is a big piece. We will be required to hold a joint review board with all the affected taxing districts. Uh and this is the piece that they're going to uh be particularly uh interested in. Uh so I'm going through that. Uh, one of the big things to keep in mind here is there are special formulas in the TIFF act uh to reimburse uh specifically school districts uh and library districts. If the TIF incentivizes projects that generate new students to the school district, there's a formula uh that will reimburse the school district uh for any additional expenses that the TIF uh incurs on the school district. Um, also the the city is required you'll have they'll have an annual joint review board every year if you adopt the tiffs. So all the taxing districts will be uh aware you'll file a report with the state comprollers's office. I'm sure you're aware you have the existing tiff districts how this works. Um, but you'll file an annual report. Those go out to the taxing districts. You hold an annual joint review board every year so they're aware of all the money that's coming in and how you're spending it. Um so eligible tiff expenses. So this is the part where I am um trying to project out the potential increment uh for both of these tiff areas. I'll stick to the um to the Illinois route 20. So

basically here's a map that I'm been working with staff to uh to come up with the green areas. It's probably hard for you to see on the screen, but hopefully you guys all got a copy of this presentation. Uh the green areas, that's just the vacant land. We're not anticipating any development to go on there other than uh some access improvements uh for the for the open space. Uh but the kind of orange areas, uh particularly on the west end, basically I'm looking for any opportunities to generate increment in the area. So, um, vacant properties, um, undeveloped sites, uh, anywhere where future development could occur. I'm going to I am, uh, basically estim trying to figure out what could go there in the future. So, I've been working with staff on any information they have on anything that potentially might be coming down the pike. Uh, and then just trying to identify sites where where new development, redevelopments could happen. Um, and that's kind of how I project out the budget for for the TIFF. Uh, the thing to keep in mind here is, um, if I identify a site on this map, that doesn't necessarily mean anything's going to happen on that site. Um, all developments within the TIFF are property owner driven. um you know, so a property owner would have to come to you with something to um we're not there's nothing in the tiff plan that's saying we're coming to take any particular piece of property. Uh or if I if I identify a site, that doesn't necessarily mean something is going to happen there. I'm just trying to identify sites where potential redevelopment could occur. Uh so I don't want to freak anybody out if I identified a site that you know anyone's coming to take your property or any uh these are just kind of potential future redevelopment sites. Uh so this is kind of the other the other area where I was looking to get

some input on if um uh you know if you guys are aware if I'm missing any sites or anywhere where uh you're aware of anything that might be coming down the pike. I want to make sure that I'm aware of those so I can document those in my plan. Uh and then as Doug mentioned there, especially for the route 120 tiff, a housing impact study is going to be required. Uh basically, a housing study is required if the tiff is going to displace 10 or more residents. Uh or if there's just a total of 75 or more residential units within the tiff area, you have to do a housing study. Uh so I'm not suggesting that there definitely will be the displacement of any residents but we there are there are more than 75 residential units in that area. Um so that meets the threshold. So we have to do the housing study. Uh in the housing study, basically what I do is I look at rental rates and I look at home prices within the uh the tiff area and then I kind of just do a radius around so that if any future redevelopment site involved relocating any residents that there is somewhere within the immediate area in the same price range where those residents could go. uh we don't want um the tiff to displace somebody basically out of town and there's nowhere else within their price range where they can go. Again, nothing in my tiff plan is suggesting anybody's going to be displaced. Uh but because we hit that threshold and I don't know what's going to happen over the next 23 years, you know, if 15 years from now some project comes in, um there's a plan that could address that situation. Um, so that's kind of the summary of the route 21. Again, that plan's it's about 90% done. I'm just trying to develop this budget. So, I just want to make

sure I wrap my head I have a good handle on um any potential sources of increment. So, any sites where future development might occur. uh and any infrastructure improvements or city um expenses that you want to fund through the tiff that I that I cover all that in my tiff plan. All right. Um any questions regarding uh 120 west or main street by the city council bassy?

Okay. I guess this is a question for all of us. Um, this proposed TIFF includes many multinational corporations such as McDonald's, Burger King, KFC, Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks, and AutoZone. Many of these chains are on parcels also owned by the multinational corporation. So for us, what is our plan in this area? So, we're not just increasing the property value of multinational corporations, for instance. Is the goal to rehabilitate current buildings or new construction? I think we need to have a plan before we go any further. Doug, I mean

I mean I mean

so I'll jump back just just based on our current tiff. It can be a mix of both. Like if there's an opportunity to redevelop a building and leave that structure in place, then that's what you want to do. But it's about increasing that property value and utilizing that tiff. Maybe it's a maybe we have to bring public in infrastructure to that existing building to make it more viable for redevelopment. It also could be taking that property, knocking down that existing building, and then redeveloping it with a new parcel or a new uh business. And so, in any TIF, there's always going to be that mix of both. It's not you're not targeting one or the other. You're targeting redevelopment as a whole and utilizing TIFF as the tool to do so.

I could give you one example. We have currently in the redevelopment sites 40 uh 416 I believe West Elm is the gas station and the property next to its vacant piece of land that's currently on the market and that's that would be totally torn down the gas station and the property next to it vacant. So that would be a redevelopment and that's that would be uh considered that's in within this area.

To to take that one step further just an example of what's been done currently. A great example of an existing building reuse was the old EB Brown distribution building that transformed into the Verllo Mattress Factory and some viable businesses, but it took an existing building u essentially just repurposed that versus a brand new from the ground up construction like the Riverwalk uh Place Town Homes or Riverplace building.

Yes, I I would agree with all of that. I think TIFF is primarily utilized for rehabilitation of existing structures. Um but it is a mixture. Um you know any opportunity that you get to actually um do a new development like like Doug is saying particularly that gas station site is a prime example for TIFF uh because that would involve demoing a building and then typically within with a gas station there's going to be underground tanks. There's going to be potential environmental issues. Those are extraordinary costs that would tend to prohibit somebody from wanting to take on that challenge. If you can utilize tiff to offset some of those costs to get you back to a baseline so that that site is more competitive with other sites, that would be an ideal use of tiff. Um, and just to hit on one of the other things you you're mentioning, um, uh, international corporations owning buildings and properties in the tiff. Uh just to be clear, uh you know, once the TIFF is established, um you know, any any potential future incentive that you would give through the TIF, those still you still review those on a case-by case basis. Establishing the TIF doesn't necessarily require you to give anyone any incentive. Um, you know, so if there were specific uh parcels or properties or corporations that you didn't want that, you know, like if you don't feel McDonald's needs the incentive, you don't have to give McDonald's the incentive. Um, you know, if there's some reason why, you know, like if there's an extraordinary cost where it made sense to give McDonald's money, you can. I don't want to pick on McDonald's. Um but uh yeah, all the all anything would be reviewed on a case-by case basis. Just because you gave somebody an incentive doesn't necessarily mean you have to give somebody else an incentive,

which is what we do now, right? I understand.

So why are we including the McDonald's, the Burger King, the AutoZone, um the Dunkin Donuts? Is this strictly for continuity in the tiff? Yeah, one of the one of the big issues is, you know, we tried to get the corridor and we tried to include all the potential sites that would benefit most from TIFF. Um, but yeah, everything has to be contiguous. So, um, you know, you can cut a hole in it, but you can't like separate it. So, you can't like stop here and then pick up over here. Um, so yes, some parcels are included just to make sure we keep everything down the line. What can I just add? One of the other reasons I I think to take into consideration is a lot of those restaurants have lifespans and um I don't think some of those restaurants are going to be here in 23 years. So I think some of them may be redeveloped. That's another reason I would just point out.

Go ahead. I'm just going to say uh in 23 years we don't know if this building will be secure. I mean there's a lot of uncertainty of the future, you know. Um I was going to ask though basically we're going through this uh as far as setting up a tip. We really have no uh that I know of um any um any projects that we're looking to move forward with at this time. Uh if I recall uh when we first talked about the tiff and everything else when the gentleman was here, we talked about continuing on to set up the tiffs so that they're ready for development when you know we we have the ability to help out developers in this area and hopefully draw for development. Uh but really our our chip isn't really going to get started until we have projects on board that are going to start. Correct.

Well, not necessarily. No, because the whole point I mean by the time the tiff get let's say you want to hold off and then you get a developer, they'll go to the next town if there's already a tip in in place. By the time you know if we have a tiff and we're going to wait six months, you know. No, that's why we're creating this tip now, right? so that it's ready for when developers, but we'd start once the clock starts, you know, once we start that clock, it goes for 23 years. So, our goal and we we talk to developers all the time and there's nothing in place. Ross,

yeah, I would say that it's an incentive for the you know, the earlier they get in here, the more incentive they can ask for, right? And that's all on on city council shoulders to to give them that. But they're not they don't want to come in here at the 15 or 20 year mark when there's only three years left on a tip. So soon as it's established, we'll probably be have a lot a lot of people knocking on our door hopefully. Well, and that's that's what we're doing it for, right? Correct. Um, so basically what we're doing is we're setting it up hoping to draw development. Oh, this will draw good. Y and that's what we're hoping for. That's correct.

Correct. No, I get that. Uh, but do we have some kind of an idea of what we want? And I thought that's what we were going to have a meeting to discuss. What do we want along Richmond Road? What do we want along 120 as far as development? I mean, nobody's going to take and build big boxes, you know, in let's face it, uh, targets here now, uh, in Johnsburg and, uh, I don't know of any other big boxes that are going to come to, you know, in an area like this.

I mean, we just got Burlington. I mean, you know, and I think the areas we're talking about, um, the two areas, West and then downtown Maine, I would agree there's, you know, besides maybe the Angelos's, uh, property, that big property there, that could be potentially a larger boxes, but I don't think that those two specifically are are not going to be big boxes. Um, but there's a lot of buildings that need to be demolished. Um, a lot of property owners that are looking to sell. um that would be potential developments that would go right away or maybe they don't want to sell because there's going to be a tiff in place where they'll keep it and actually invest into their own property, but we don't know what's going to go into each location because it's it's not owned by us. It's different if we own the like downtown Green Street or whatever. Um but we can't, you know, dictate what goes there until it comes to us and then at that point we approve it or not. But that's what Doug's job is is to get get these developers to come in rather than going to Johnsburg or wherever else to to bring them into the city of Mckenry. I mean, you know, I mean,

and that's and so we just can't say, "Okay, we're gonna we want residential there. We we want mixed use." It's very difficult to do that until there's a developer that comes to us and and even goes I mean, you know, there's developers that come and they oh, it's in the TIFF and then until they do a TIFF study to see what they'll even what the increment would even be. I mean, there's a process in place. It's, you know, it's a long process. So, Ross, go ahead. So, basically, we're uh held to the standards of what the developers decide they want to do or they don't want to do. I mean, it's not like we have a vision of a certain area of what we would like to see built there. And we have a comp plan. You have a zoning district and you have

Well, I know, but I mean certain specific projects that we'd like to see is what I'm getting at. not just a zoning and and whatnot, but actual this is what we'd like to see there type thing and then go after the developers. But evidently that's not really what we're going Can I just quickly you have that? I mean that's in your comprehensive plan. It's that's a fairly recent comprehensive plan.

Um that's where I pulled that information from uh directly out of your comprehensive plan. So, you've looked at the area, you've created a future land use map of what you want to see on the corridor. Uh, and and I pulled it directly from that. And I even made it a little more vague where um, you know, I tend to just call a lot of stuff mixed use um, to give you guys the most flexibility because like you said, I you know, 10 years from now, I don't know what somebody's going to want to do on their property. So, I don't want to tie your hands and say this site is going to be commercial or this site is going to be an apartment building. Um, so it's all consistent with your current comp plan that you've went through the planning process to determine what you want to see on that corridor. Um, and uh, so that's where I'm coming up with it.

Well, again, if you if you read our comp plan on page two, it does say it's a guide. It's not not not in concrete. So, um, yeah. any future anybody that's coming to you is going to have to is going to have to comply with your current zoning ordinance. They're going to have to follow all your current zoning regulations if they want to change. I understand how development works. Yeah. All that stuff still applies.

Thank you. Uh but basically what we're here tonight for is is to talk about the tip and again uh to get behind a tip. I want to see some kind of an idea of where we're going as far as potential developments. I was here when we created the first tent. Okay. And then all of a sudden everything was out of control as far as oh well this one wants this, this one wants that. And some people got sold on it and some people didn't. And you know if I'm going to be if I'm going to get behind the tips, I want to make sure that what I'm getting behind is what I want to see in the future of Mckenry. Absolutely.

You know what I'm saying? Um, you know, passing uh a tip is just the beginning. Absolutely.

You know, it's the first step is all it is. And again, like I say, I I want to make sure that if if you've got my vote to continue on with this, that what we're going to use it for is going to be for, you know, what I feel is is the need. in, you know, when we first created the first uh comprehensive plan, we were going to have oh reimburse them for this. We were even going to reimburse uh the payroll uh of our our employees that were tied into the uh tiff developments and none of that ever happened, you know. Um, another question I've got is is okay, we're talking about taking some of the Green Street area out of the original tip and then creating them into a new tip.

I'll hit I'll hit that one for the next Yeah, that's the next discussion. Oh, that's true. Okay. Uh, we'll get to that then later. Um, that's if we don't do nothing. I mean, I think we all agree that Route 120 West and downtown Main Street will even get worse. We can't we can't wait on this. And if you sit here and say it's that we're gonna sit here and wait on I think that's the wrong move for the city. I think we all agree on that. No. But I mean 120 West although Bbassity was pushing for development. You know that I mean that's that's what we need and we're never going to get that with the parcel sizes. Um we'll just never develop.

What I don't want to see is I don't want to see us uh looking at 120 for redevelopment. I don't want to see, you know, areas like that. And then all of a sudden, we've got developers that want to come in and they want to put apartment complexes in there or they want to put town houses in. They don't want to do the commercial strips that we need over there or whatever. And and that's my concern. I want you have every you have all the control to, you know, say no. Say no. That's I mean, when it comes to We do. Sure. Well, everyone should be on the same page. I mean, we've been if I'm going to vote for it,

I want to make sure that that isn't going to happen. And that's why I I'd like to see, you know, a little bit more as far as uh our visions of of exactly what we're going to see down there uh or what the council would like to see down there completely rather than just creating the tip and seeing who's going to bite. So, I mean, that's what the comp plan is. I mean, we paid Yeah. 300,000. Page two. I mean, it's all zoned commercial right now. I mean it's I understand you know and the market's going to dictate what what happens you know what happens today is not what's going to be happening in 20 years and we see that with the residential development now you know with the apartments and the single family homes like so we we have no idea where we're going to be in 20 years but

in my opinion to establish something now and to you know take a look at the current market uh and what was presented to us and then allow the council to do their job and majority rules Yeah, I I would just say one more thing. The the you know, the tiff plan is not establishing what's going to go anywhere. It's it's it's setting up a a a financial tool that you can use to to incentivize and recruit the types of businesses that you want. But there's nothing in the tiff plan that's saying this type of use is going here or this is going there. We're just setting up the financial mechanism. That's what the tiff that's all the tiff's doing.

I know. But I've seen in the past where councils have been so uh hungry for development that they'll almost accept anything and I don't want to see that. Yeah. Well, that's that's out of my hands. That's up to you guys. Any other questions by council? Aldo Miller.

Um thank you. I support uh the creation of the TIFFs as we've already experienced. When redevelopment comes to us, it's expensive. taking what we have and recreating it is often more expensive than creating from nothing. So developers, redevelopers are always asking the question, is it available? Is there a tiff district? Are there incentives available? So, this is putting the horse in front of the cart in my eyes that we need to be able to answer that yes, subject to city council review and approval, but it clearly is right in line with our comprehensive plan. We know this is highway commercial. We expect that there's going to be a commercial component in the redevelopment of some of those homes, an aggregation of some of the lots to create larger parcels. You know, in a perfect world, when we sat in comprehensive planning, we said, wouldn't it be lovely if we had first floor commercial on everything and support the residential need with apartments above, but who knows what the market's going to bring because that's very expensive to create. So, absolutely, the comp plan was step one. Creating the tiff districts based on the comp plan was step two. That's where we're at. And I totally support particularly West 120 because that's our most diverse area when you drive down the highway of Duck Duck Goose and I'd really like to see a lot of redevelopment there. Thank you,

Al Bannon. Go ahead. Um, I agree with Alderwoman Miller um with most of what she said, so I won't repeat that. But I think that Main Street is in such desperate need of redevelopment um with no easy solutions being seen. And I think it's really important that area is just going to continue to um go downhill. And I think it's really important that we find some developers um past this tiff district in the west side of town and that main street corridor really really need some attention. And I think this is probably our best option for making that happen. So I'm in support as well. Okay. Any other questions, comments regarding these this tiff area? Okay. Discussion.

Okay. So the Richmond Road one. So pretty much all those sections that I went over for the for the route 120 tiff. It's it's they're essentially very similar plans. And this one for Monty's record, this is the one that older person Miller will stay out of from a discussion standpoint. That's correct.

Okay. Yeah. So, all the all the required components of the redevelopment plan, they're there the same. So, the plans will be very similar but tailored for each area because we got to hit all the steps that the TIFFAC requires. Uh so, all that stuff, goals and objectives, costs, all that stuff, that'll be in both plans. Uh the big thing I wanted to touch on here um was the the boundary changed a lot more on this one than the Illinois route route 120 tiff. Um so if I could pull up the map here. So originally um this tiff proposed area kind of started at where your downtown tiff uh ends. So it kind of just went north from there. Um, and we have adjusted the boundary. We wanted to kind of go south and include the the school building, the vacant school building, uh, to the south and to get that into this new tiff. Um, so that's where we were at last time I was here. Um, and then as I was going through my analysis, uh, the issue that came up was to to include that school building that's at the south end there. Um, that's not a problem. You can do that. You can pull parcels out of the existing tiff and as long as you do it properly, you can remove those and put them into the new tiff. Uh but what happened was because that's kind of the edge of the existing down we basically cut your existing downtown tiff in half. Uh and as we just discussed a minute ago, everything kind of has to be contiguous. Um so that would have left your downtown tiff split in half with this new tiff going down the middle and you can't do that. Um, so what we had to do was include basically everything that was to the west uh and just pull all that out and put it into this new tiff in order

to get that school building in. That was the only way to do it. The the only other option was to just remove the rest of those parcels and just drop them out of the tiff. That's the other option that you can do. Uh, but after discussion with staff, we we went down, we included the school, and then everything that was to the west there, we just moved all that into the new tiff. So, I had to redo the eligibility to make sure all that stuff still qualifies. Um, because clearly at the time it's in a TIFF, so it qualified at some point, but I had to confirm that uh it all still qualifies. Um, so I reid the re the eligibility report to make sure and the area still qualified. Um, so I just updated everything. Um, so that's the main change to the to the Richmond Road one is it just goes farther south to include that school and some additional parcels that are in the existing downtown tiff. So what you'll have to do if this gets to the point where you are going to approve this tiff um is as long as you time it right, you just have to pass an ordinance to remove those parcels from the existing tiff before you approve the new tiff. So you can't have a parcel that's in two different tiffs at the same time. Um, so as long as you do that properly in the right order, I could work with your attorney. I'm sure you're you're aware of how to do that.

I didn't realize we were going to leave the existing tiff in place. Um, services a different area downtown Green Street. Yeah, we'll keep that to So, we're going to leave basically going to leave half of it in place and take we're going to leave the east half in place and the west half we're going to drop out and put into this tiff. I mean, you could dissolve the whole thing. and put it all in here. Why would you leave six years on any tiff? If you're going to have a new one, why not just throw eliminate the existing and bring it all into a new tiff and have 23 years?

Yeah, we could do that. Um, we had a meeting with staff and you know, from the conversations that we had, the main thing that they wanted to do was to get that school building in. I get it. the school building aside. Why would you keep any area in a six-year tiff? When Well, when you say six years, we extended it. So, we 2037 is what we have the existing tiff. Remember, we extended it. So, and what are we calling that 11 years? Yeah. Why would you leave any tiff area in 11 years if you can get it into 23 years? Well, I think the other part of this I think my understanding and you probably know this better than me, but once you've extended it, um I think there's some question on if we can retif

No, they're they've they're trying to create that barrier. Um they the last few years years to work with for a guy who wants to develop. Wouldn't a guy rather have 23 years? I'm sure. Has this been okay? Well, what's the legality? I mean, the legality is is you've got you've got properties that uh have been in a tip for well over 20 years. Now, you're you're taking half of the the tip out of there and creating a new tip. Now, you can't extend a tip more than what is it 11 years after the first 20.

But you could take half of it out and create a new tip. I think we need to research that whether we can do that or not. You absolutely can do it. Uh like I said, there there the issue I ran.

There have been proposals to to write into the TIFF Act to prevent that, but it's certainly legal right now. Um yeah, that's it's a decision for you guys if you want to just dissolve the whole thing and throw it all into here. From my perspective, it comes down to a um uh you know, you got to work with your with your taxing districts. Um you know, it's h how how far do you want to push the issue? Uh I think we only have to do this now. This is not why we're here. talking about the

but I think I think David to some extent I think we need to to research that to make sure that we can do what he's talking about just to be on okay just to be on the safe side and then if we can then you're right then we should just do away with the old tip and create it all into one tip I I'm just saying you know I mean if that's what we could do then that's what we can do but let's let's check the legalities of it out to make sure that we are solid that you know being able to do it. No, let's I could I mean if if the state said 20 years and you could have an 11-year extension, I can't see where they could tell you that you could get rid of the tip and then create a whole new one.

You know that I you understand? I just think to some extent we just want to make sure that legally we can do that for running in the negative and then it does make sense to to do away with the old one in the hole. You got to find it's a perfectly reasonable question. Um I can assure you that it's totally legal, but you I can find I can find you the references to to should get off this. Yeah, we'll do that.

Yep. That's a decision up to you from what I'm trying to do is I'm trying to balance when we want to create a boundary that accomplishes what the city wants to accomplish while having the least amount of impact on the taxing districts as possible. Um, so that's kind of where we settled on, but I I'll take your direction and we can adjust it as necessary. We also have that property uh that goes along the uh the lagoon all the way up to 120 that it dead ends at the the school and then that's it and then we just forget about that that small short section uh up to 120 which would be on the west side of the lagoon.

We have easement there is where ID's going where they're using the detention We're talking the properties along that between second amendment and the and the lagoon. Yeah, ID owns that. Yeah, ID own that. It should be included. Okay, because it isn't right now. I mean, it's not showing it. It is. It was before. I think it includes it should include all that. If you look at it here, it doesn't doesn't show that course. These drawings are so large, you know. Okay. Yeah, it's all there. It's right there. All right.

Okay. So, that was the first big thing was we changed the boundary to essentially do that. Um and then the other thing again, the redevelopment sites. These are a lot clearer. Um the the redevelopment sites were a lot more obvious uh in this one. um some ve very large vacant uh commercial sites that we're looking to uh address with TIFF. Um so I've got those identified here. So if you think I missed anything here, I'm I'm I'm all ears. But I think these were pretty obvious and I think we got these pretty much nailed. Um and yeah, I think that's that's really it. So, um, yeah, if you're aware of any, uh, future projects that are coming down the pike that I'm not aware of, I'd be, uh, welcome to hear those, any future infrastructure projects, uh, that we want to fund through the TIFF, I'd be happy to hear those. I can finalize my reports, uh, within probably the next week. Um, the process then would go uh, once we have drafts that everybody is comfortable with, I'll have drafts to staff. Uh again, I'm already working with staff to amend the Richmond Road one. Uh I'm just about done with the Route 21. I just have to finish developing that budget. We'll get staff we'll get uh draft reports to staff. I'll make any changes that they want. Um if we want to change the boundary on that, you know, let me know sooner rather than later. I'll talk to Doug um if we want to add the rest of that downtown. Once we have drafts that you guys are comfortable with and you want to proceed, um there's a couple of steps that we'll have to take, uh we have to hold a joint review board again with the taxing districts. So, we'll send the drafts out to all the affecting taxing districts. We'll have a meeting. We'll get all their comments. We have to hold a public hearing uh with all the

affected property owners. Uh there's a bunch of notices we have to send out and then particularly for the route 20 tiff since the housing study is definitely going to be required for that one. Anytime there's a housing study we have to hold an extra public hearing. Um so there will be have to be two public hearings for that one. Um we can kind of schedule those on the same night and kind of piggyback everything. The joint we could hold the joint review boards back toback on the same day. We could hold the public hearings back to back on the same day. So we can save you guys expenses on that. There will be a ton of notices we'll have to send out. Um but but that's kind of the process. Joint review board, public meeting, public hearing. Um then it would come to you guys for a final vote. Um if you guys approve them, then you just file them with the county and you're off and running. And then just maintain them like you do your regular TIFFs, hold your annual joint review board, do your annual reports, uh and get some development going.

Perfect. How do Benny? I have a question about um splitting up that downtown TIF because our current TIFF is in the red. What's the financial impact about of moving some of those taxpaying bodies into another TIFF knowing that we have a plan for paying back the existing tiff? Now, is there an impact to that? Yeah. Well, we have to take a good look on if you have any existing agreements on any of those properties. Uh so, we have to look at that. uh cuz that could affect whether you can take it out and move it to the other tiff. If there's a already an agreement set to the existing tiff, that could cause issues. Um but as far as what do you mean by your tiff is in the red?

Well, Caroline, I got to jump in on this because I brought it up, but we pay out of the general fund and then reimburse the tiff, right? When we go negative in the tiff or Oh, okay. No. No. So, that's the question then. our tiff for spending I mean it's predicted for next fiscal year we're doing a um a large project and it's going to go in the negative but no we all of it runs through there but it will be in the negative okay you scared me a little bit tiff was in there

uh well one of the things uh that we made sure when we started this process was that everything is contiguous um so that your existing downtown tiff the new going west on 120 and going north on Richmond Road, all of them are connecting. So you can theoretically, you know, transfer money between the TIFF districts for eligible projects. Oh, okay.

So if you So if there's a project, if you have money in the downtown TIF and there's a project in the new TIF that you want to fund, uh as long as it's eligible costs for for something that's okay to spend TIFF money on, you can move money back and forth. You got to document all that stuff meticulously in your reports. Um, but that's why we make sure everything is contiguous. Okay. Excellent. I'm sure Caroline's all over it. How doing Bassie? I want to make sure I I understood that last statement correctly. Let's say we have three TIFFs. Are you saying we can move money between one TIFF to another TIFF? Is that what I just heard? Yes.

I did not know that. Okay. Um, It has to it has to be for for uh for TIFF eligible project. Um you have to document that in your annual report. Um but as long as it's in a TIFF and the TIFFs are adjacent and contiguous. Y you can port they call it porting money between the different tiff districts. Right. Be contiguous.

Okay. Uh all right. I actually do have a couple of questions here. Um, we'll start with my question on the Richmond Road TIFF. Um, in the past three years, um, Treehouse, Play Cafe, Chick-fil-A, a new Panera, and a soontobe open Burlington, and Yummy Bowl have all opened on Richmond Road. Um, the TIFF, but for requirement means redevelopment could only occur without public assistance provided by the TIFF. If this development is already occurring without a tiff, why do we need a tiff? And that question is for you.

Well, uh, you've got some very large vacant spaces that have been vacant for quite a while that are, uh, costly to demo. And I mean, the Kmart site, let's say, the old Kmart site, that is that needs incentives. I mean, there's several properties like that. Um the Yeah. Mckenry Plaza. I mean, look at the building itself. I mean, it needs it needs

Well, wouldn't it be better then just to do isolated incentives versus basically when I look at this, it's almost the entire town, um commercial town, we're putting in a tiff. So, wouldn't it be more fiscally responsible to do isolated? It's all got to be continuous. I understand that but just isolated incentives

you can say no that makes it isolated he can't he has to establish a plan by which the geography justifies the tiff if you just do isolated parables it may not be contiguous it may not be justified that's why he drew the boundary the way the boundary is drawn yeah we went through a number of uh boundary revisions to to come up with an area that clearly qualified. Um, so that was one of our concerns was was making sure we had an area that qualified. Already, you want to comment? Okay.

Yeah, it's it's your funding source. The tiff is generating the funds to give those incentives. If we don't have a funding source now, we're always scrambling where are we going to get the money for the treehouse. If it's not in a tiff, it's not generating the extra funds. The incremental improvements of the facilities are what generating the funds that we now can offer to the developers. Otherwise, it's all coming from the general fund. Correct. Which is what we which is don't want, right? The only thing we have is a sales tax rebate or property tax rebatement.

Okay. Then I also have one more question and this is a general question. Um the downtown tiff is spending at a deficit and requires additional funds from the city. What happens if the city has three tiffs and all are spending at a deficit? Every dollar the tiff spends beyond the generated tiff fund dollar is dollars not spent for the city as a whole. Um and this is for all of us to discuss. I'm not directing this at you. Um I think this warrants some discussion um because this is a real possibility. So I'm looking for everyone's thoughts and Carolyn's what happens if we've got three tiffs and they're all at a deficit at the exact same time. Do we have a game plan? Have we thought about anything on that?

Don't promise more incentive than the tip generates. Go ahead, Bob. No,

I just was going to say that's when those redevelopment agreements come before you. Depends what they're asking. And a lot of times the only time we're going to give something out, and this has been our history as well, is as that we've paid out as the TIFF is realized. And so we're not going to write checks that we can't cash. Um, now obviously we've done projects up to this point um that we we have our TIFF uh that's in the negative right now, but we know projections as it's if we had another didn't have another dime or another redevelopment project at all at the end, we would probably be 10 million plus in the positive. Um, and so obviously there's projections that go into that as well. And it it is a a tiff is a little bit of a long-term game where you you want the tiff the length of the tiff is the advantage of the tiff. That's where you gain that increment to be able to do projects. You you need that 23 years to be able to take vacant land or land that's not usable and now generate increment. Um that's why they they'll ask for a lot but we're only going to pay it out as it's realized typically.

I think what she's asking maybe to you is who takes the risk? who assume if you're going to have a redevelopment agreement says we'll pay you when we receive it and the developer wants to use that as a financing tool well that's not going to satisfy their needs or a bank if if it does if it goes south if we don't generate that tiff revenue so who's running the ultimate risk of

well there's two there's two ways you can run it typically what we recommend is what we call a pay as you go tiff um where you would enter into a redevelopment agreement with the developer. Um, you would agree on these are my eligible costs that the city's willing to reimburse for up to X maximum amount, say a million dollars. We'll pay for this and this and this up to a million dollars. I, as the developer, I'm this is just an example. I am not a developer. Uh but I as the developer would pay those upfront costs and then as the the tiff ex revenue comes in

and then he all the risk is on me on I don't do what I say I'm going to do and you don't get the increment then I don't get anything reimbured. So the risk is all on me. The other way originally when TIFF was created um municipalities would bond out. They would take they would take my projection they would borrow $30 million. They would do all these improvements, hope the development would come. That's super risky. I would not recommend you do that. But that's the other way to do it. But typically, it's pay as you go, all the risks on the developer. If they don't do what they say they're going to do, if the increment doesn't come that they projected, then they just don't get reimbursed. David, didn't we have a provision in in the agreement with our last developer in the downtown that was just that?

They would all read like that. They That's the way that that one read, too. Yeah, that's what I thought. Yeah, that's a standard redevelopment agreement. Well, isn't it safe to say that if we do have two new tiffs, um, they're not going to be generating money for a couple of years, clearly, and I think that's the way they're designed. So, we will be in the red for a number of years. So, I think now we're looking at again, like I said, the potential for three separate tiffs all being in the red. Why would you be in the red? Yeah, that that's not the right term to use. Red means you have a debt on the books that you have to pay. Okay, that's not the way the redevelopment agreements will work.

So, it's the developer that's just not going to get paid. That's exactly what you just said. Well, and the reason we're in the red for our current TIFF is for projects that we've done as the city. We incur the cost. We're incurring those costs. So, we just have to be if we have three of them, we're going to have to be careful about projects that we're doing and make sure that we have enough time in the tiff to bring in that fund to pay basically pay ourselves back for the projects that we've completed, which we discuss every time a project comes forward, right?

And as director Hopson mentioned too, the end goal at the end is you're at zero. You know, at some point you might be high, some points you might be low. By the end of the tiff, you're at a zero. That's the goal and you've attain you're you're on track for that. That's what Carolyn tracks. Hold on. Go ahead. Yeah, I was going to say when we create the tip the first year automatically we will start generating because of inflation on the AV. So you know even without any projects we will already start creating some income in 10. Yeah, it's nominal though. That's the whole point of the four,

right? As far as going negative, basically we've been going negative because of the fact that uh what we're waiting for reimbursement on the the taxes that are property taxes that are collected. Correct. Isn't that basically how how we're going negative most of the time? We're doing large projects waiting for reimbursement. Correct. Yes. We did the Riverwalk and and with knowing that we were going to have redevelopment around the Riverwalk to pay for it, which was like a year and a half that we would come back and you know, so

you know, one of the things that that concerns me more than anything else is is we're talking property tax dollars to our residents on tips. It's not direct, but it's an indirect tax, property tax, because everybody's will escalate slightly because of it. And I'd like to kind of figure out approximately how much that we're we're looking at. And what I'd like to see is is uh possibly a breakdown of what all the EAVs for the school districts, all the taxing bodies that are affected and especially the the city's EAV. And then what are the EAVs of the properties that we're talking about along the tip when we finally decide on a on boundaries because I'd like to see what the percentages come in and and and what is the cost to our residents in the city. I mean uh and and we're not going to get right down to the dime but I mean give an approximation so that we have kind of an idea of how much that is affecting each individual property owner. when you take all this property outside of uh the

I've got I've got all the the pins in the proposed tiffs EAVs that those are all there's a table big table in the plan but until we get the exact boundary we'll talk to know but we also know need to know what the EAV for each entity is because I mean it's not a simple easy task to figure out what the the actual cost to our our residents are here in the city. Yes, we we can probably easily figure out what the city's uh EAV is and what what what we're taking out and what we appropriate. Yeah, I've got that and I'm sure that will come up at the joint review board where the

but then you know there are other taxing bodies that are much larger than us and whatnot. And like I say, so it it's it's going to affect more than just the one property line uh for the city of Mckenry on on a tax bill on the residents of the city of Mckenry. It's also going to affect the tax line on every entity that we pay into. And like I say, I just kind of like to get a ballpark figure of what it's going to cost our our residents as far as uh property taxes because it is going to affect the property taxes. Not not significantly, maybe. And maybe it will. I you know, I don't see it going up a couple hundred dollars, but it is going to go. I'd just like to have some kind of an idea exactly how much we're talking.

Yeah, I've got some of that info I can certainly provide. Thank you. Any other questions, comments? All right. All right. We'll meet internally uh and discuss uh some of the topics that got brought up and then uh staff is obviously in touch with you on a regular basis. So, we'll we'll be in touch in the next uh the next phase here. Yeah. And I can like I said, I can have once I get a couple of these questions finalized, I can have the final draft done, you know, within a matter of days. We'll work on that. move on. Excellent. Thanks for your time. Thank you for your time. Appreciate it, sir. Mayor. Yeah.

One other thing too is is uh we're talking about the meetings with uh this the other taxing bodies and everything else and I think uh if we're going to have those meetings, I'd like to feel that the council would be involved in it and that we actually have it either at a special meeting with the council or uh well that's the public hearing. So the hearing would they would all be attending and I talked to all of them. They would all be attending. They're all gonna be there. Okay. So like I say, I just want to make sure that if we are going to meet with them that uh the council is made aware of yeah discuss and the the majority that we talked to are in support of it anyway, but I've requested that they attend the hearing. Okay.

Because I think it' be good for them to be here. Can I just real quick? Um yeah, the journey review boards are a public meeting, but uh just to be clear, you know, typically a municipality will have representatives there. You're all more than welcome to come, but it's a different notice requirement. If all the city council shows up, so if you're all going to show up, please let me know because that's it's a different level of Yep. Uh if you're going to have a quorum, I we need to know that for for notice purposes. That's all. All right. Thank you for that. Any other questions, comments? All right. Thank you for your time. Appreciate it. Thanks everybody.

Uh at this time, I would ask that the public uh please step out of the room uh moment momentarily to have an executive session to discuss the appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance, or dismissal of a specific employee 5CS120-2C1. At this time, I am looking for a motion to enter executive session. Alden Gl second. Alderman Dhy. Yeah, I'll second. Thank you. Uh, sure. If you can come up to the podium,

please state your name and address for public record. I'm Beatric Walter. I'm a former resident of Mckenry and I'm here on behalf of several residents and family members who still reside within city limits.

Okay. Um, I did hear a couple of times, what is the city council's vision for routes 120 and 31 in Mckenry? I didn't hear any definite plan um from many of you. Um, which I think is really important to have before this tiff is approved. Um, are there any plans for addressing the current traffic concerns along Route 31 and 120? Um, especially the bottlenecks and the unsafe intersections at Ramble Road in 120 and Veterans Parkway and Route 31. Um, and then with all this talk, um, it didn't sound to me like there were going to be any earmarked TIFF funds or even, um, you know, a top dollar amount per parcel or whatever. So my question is, why not hold a referendum just for a general city improvement plan along routes 120 and route 31 instead of going um through a tiff funding source? Um and then has anybody really weighed the cost to um our youth? 23 years is a long time um for them to go without having their own home, which we don't seem to be building enough starter homes in this city. Um and that brings me to the LAR development that's proposed for 599 homes over by Curran

Road in Bull Valley. Um, I would like to see ranch homes on like quarter acre lots or something um instead of a what's currently proposed. And that's about all I have for now. I'm new to this type of um subject matter with city matters, but the TIFF funding sounds too expensive and too vague to me right now um for council to approve it. Thank you for your time. So, if if you don't ma'am, if you don't mind, can you give your contact information to Monty? And Monty will set up a meeting and

I filled it out. I gave him my phone number so he can Can we set something up and you can come into city hall and we'll explain the whole process. Explain because you you're talking about LAR and that's not part of the tip either, but I would love to have you come in and explain. Still has an effect on the traffic which is part of and I'll explain that like Veterans Parkway for instance. You're talking about Veterans Parkway, the light at Veterans Parkway safety. That's I do. So, we're working correct and I understand that. But I keep hearing the city planners blame ID do that there is no safe pedestrian um light for back of a lack of a better word. We have letters right here from and 120

from several people to try to get a light at ID do. I have them right here and I have another probably 40 that are getting that would be great and I know we need money for that. So, why wouldn't that come on? It's paid for. We We have the money in the account. Oh, that's great to hear. Okay. Yeah. So, that's what I'm saying. So, why don't we set up a meeting? If you don't mind, I'd love to meet with you. You can contact me on the phone. My phone number's there. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Have a good night.

Hi, I'm Mary Mahadei. I am a resident of Mckenry just down the street here on Young Street. Um here kind of as um a resident and a taxpayer and as the Mckenry Township Assessor, you probably all know that as well. Um so um um I have a part of the the tax process and um that's putting value on these properties. Uh they're all going up if you didn't notice. Most of them are going up even if we don't do anything because we get a township factor. And uh just to give you a little heads up, uh for 2026, values are going to go up. Assessments in Mckenry Township are going to go up again 7.24%. Even if I do nothing, but I'm doing a lot of things. So, um it just concerns me to have three TIFFs in the in the district. Um, I will tell you I came in here con with a lot of questions about tiffs and and I'm leaving with more because of all the things you guys have talked about. You know, can you move a tiff, take one tiff and move it into another and can you move things out? But at the end of the day, um my concern as a taxpayer and as an an assessor is that um property taxes and and these tiffs, the money that's coming out of the tiff into into out of the proper properties in the tiff districts into the tiff bucket basically is money that's not helping reduce taxes across the city. Um, I may have done the math wrong, but you probably might know this already, but we were we got the numbers from the city, the county clerk on the the tiff, the current tiff, and it looks like that'll generate about a million841,84,000 into the tiff district. Right, Bill? Am I close? Close. Okay. math is I do math a lot, but I'm not always sure I had the

right number there. So, that's a lot of money. A million dollars into the tax bucket for the city of Mckenry residents. Uh that that they're going to be respons they're that's not going to help reduce taxes. So, that's what I look at because you all also probably know tax bills are out. So, my my day was very busy explaining why taxes go up. Um, so we have the tiffs, which you know, like I said, takes money out and I understand the the need to do some red re redevelopment and uh, you know, improving areas. That's great, but those values continue to go up and as the other speaker said, uh, 23 years is a long time and we've now added another 12 to the the one that on Green Street, which has done a lot of great stuff, but another another 12 years where it was added. So, um, and those values have gone up significantly and that's why there is a million dollars coming into the tiff fund from from that from that tiff district. Um, but the other part of the equation that um I just want to throw out there and that's comes from my end. I see we get the um equalized value. You know, thank you. you know, I put the value on everything and then um when it's all decided, then all of the exemptions come off and I can tell you we get more and more exemptions every year. homeowner, senior, senior freeze, uh disabled person, disabled veterans. We in just in Mckenry Township wasn't which isn't just Mck the city of Mckenry, but in Mckenry Township alone, we increased um 55 100% no taxes for disabled the 100% disabled veterans. It's 55 more homes in Mckenry Township. It's over 300 371 homes in Mckenry Township alone that pay no property

taxes. So everything we do to take tax dollars out of helping the the to pay for the services we have is put back on. We get a higher tax rate. It's all math. You all probably know the the formula. The levy divided by the the EAV minus the exemptions which continue to go up. And we have an older population. Um the senior freeze exemption was raised to a $75,000 income limit. It's going it's that's for 2026. That's going to give a whole lot more people a a freeze on their assessment. So it's just something to think about. I mean you're putting all these tiffs out there that um development is good. I understand the what you're trying to do. I just think it's a lot. you you as Alderwoman Bassie said it's basically the whole downtown area in a tiff and those are our highest valued properties uh Chick-fil-A it it's on but only for 4 months it's it's currently assessed for 2025 at a little over a million it's going to be a million660 for 2026 if I do nothing to that and that's before the the factor so those some of those commercial properties are going to put some significant money into take that out of helping lower tax bills. That's how I see it. Maybe I'm wrong, but um it's just a lot. I think um the public doesn't understand. I'm glad there's going to be some public hearings. Um they're not an easy thing to explain or understand. uh thank you for you know having these discussions but anyway just my input it's going to and because probably because I hear every day how the taxes are a problem and they're they're continuing to go up. I can say there's more exemptions. I can say

there's a tiff and some of that money is not going to go help you lower your your taxes but um it's a concern. Affordability is a concern and property taxes are a big part. So, it's part of every day of my life I hear about that and so um just throwing that in there. So, thank you for listening. Thanks. All right. So, going uh motion is on the floor for executive session to discuss the appointment employment compensation discipline performance or dismissal of specific employees 5CS120-2C1. Uh, we are