Village Board - Regular Meeting

Good evening everyone and thank you for coming to the meeting tonight. This is the regular board meeting of the Mantino Village. It's Monday, April the 6th of 2026. Can we please rise and 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. Reverend Jack McCormack is going to do the invocation.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we are thankful tonight that we can be here. We're thankful for the village that we live in and all that you've provided. And yesterday, we celebrated the resurrection of Jesus. we celebrated the hope that we have in our world. And father, you've uh you've shown us your love by what Jesus did for us on the cross. And you've given us hope because of the resurrection. Now, Father, we pray that we will uh be the people you've called us to be. That we will show our love towards one another the way you showed your love to us. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Roll call, please. Barry, yes.

Budro Bond, yes. Rocket here. Zimbleman. Mayor Lammore here. Have a quorum. Thank you. Reading of the agenda. Is there anything that needs to be changed? All right. Um, reading of the minutes. Are there changes, corrections, or can I have a motion for approval? I'll make that motion. Motion by Barry. Second. Second by Vaughn. All in favor?

I. Public participation. Our first speaker tonight is Sandy Chis. Hello. Well, I see quite a few people are missing, but anyway, I'm I'm going to talk about the uh the remote attendance ordinance, and I repeat that I am against passing the remote attendance ordinance at this time. I think the first issue is to create and pass an attendance ordinance. While we have heard this is not the Annette Zimbleman ordinance, we must use her as the example of the need for an attended ordinance. She is ill and for that I am very sorry. But she has not attended a village board meeting since December 15, 2025. Now I know that all of you have other jobs and responsibilities. So think about that. if you missed at least six meetings or three months of stuff, and I don't know if she's been able to attend the other meetings or not, but if you missed more than six meetings uh in a three-month period, and you were working for a boss, you'd be out on your butt and you know it. So, someone who has missed that much work, I if I have if I did it, I would have been I can't I would have been out of the job. But um so since she's been out of work for that long and and and there's no attendance ordinance,

I don't think we need to be talking about an individual trustee. We we it can be general, but Okay. We can't we can't necessarily we shouldn't be picking on someone because if they have issues, it's not fair.

That's fine. So I did expect her to be here because of the vote, but now with all of what's going on, I it wouldn't have made a difference anyway. Um, so I would believe that we would need to get a an attendance ordinance long before we do anything else uh about any kind of remote anything because it's just not it's just not appropriate at this time, I don't believe. So, I hope that common sense prevails and that you will not vote on it, although it doesn't appear that you will anyway. Uh, and I hope that there is a a attendance ordinance created before anything else. Thank you.

Thank you. The next speaker is Emily Herman.

Hello, Mantino. I'm up here for two reasons today. First one being it's AYA cancer week. What is an AYA? AYA stands for adolescence and young adults ages 15 through 39. I was diagnosed with leukemia at 22. I'm still fighting at 24. This is the awkward age where sometimes I'm still treated like a pediatric patient yet expected to make serious decisions regarding my health and life. AAS require different physical and mental care that than pediatrics and experienced adults. There is often less awareness and funding for our age group. We belong to the age group that thinks this couldn't happen to us. I'm in perfect health. What do you mean I have cancer? I just got married. I just graduated. I just had a baby. I am just starting my life now. It's on hold because I have cancer. It's isolating. But thankfully, we have our own online community and organizations specifically serving our age group. I've yet to meet someone my age at the local clinic. That's why this week is so important. Reason number two, um, at the last meeting, after trying to raise awareness for making the world a little more accessible for our community members facing any health challenge, I left the room feeling misunderstood. A kind police officer stopped me on the way out and presented me with a challenge coin. Um, I was in AFJC in high school. I appreciate challenge coins. I know the importance behind them. I have one from my friend for my scripture knowledge, one from my dad for my first college visit to the Air Force Academy, and a few from attending a GEROTC summer camp. This is the first one I feel I have truly earned. It is easy to set goals for the future, but takes the most work to create new ones when the original ones can no longer be achieved. She also provided me some good big sister advice that I really needed at the time. I didn't have

the words at the moment to share how much this meant to me. The officer apologized that it was pink for breast cancer, not the color for my cancer, but that is more than okay because the in the cute and acute logo, there are three colors with their own meaning for our mission. Orange for leukemia awareness, periwinkle for AYA awareness, and pink representing turning our bad situations into something beautiful. Thank you, Mantino Police. And finally, a huge thank you to the members of the community who reached out after to share their stories with cancer and to those who donated to my envelope project. A man from our community dropped off over 2,000 stamps. This kind gesture is way more than a year's worth of postage for our group. I learned to never doubt myself for doing the right thing and working hard. Thank you, Mantino. Thank you, Emily. Our next speaker is Bob Foresight. just listened to the last finance meeting and it seems like for the last 20 years we spent foolishly and we with disregard for anything else. I just find it hard to believe that we're in the budget we're in this crunch that we're in right now because people just didn't think years ago because we had endless money. the uh I I also find it kind of odd that the uh deductibles on the insurance are paid for by the village, especially when the insurance is paid for for free. The deductibles, like everybody else, we all pay our deductibles. We all pay our co-pays. And I just and I think that goes back to I heard the comment 15 years ago we've been doing this. Well, we've been doing this for 15 years because of the nepotism that's been created in the village. The

friends and family that we've employed, the husbands, the wives we've employed, and they've all been friends and family. So, everybody benefits from this at some point except for the taxpayer. But I just can't believe what I hear for the but I've I've heard this now that we how much more for that tin roof. How much for those benches? We're trying to conserve money but yet we constantly spend foolishly. At some points you can't keep doing it. I almost think that some of the previous board members would write checks with a zero balance in their account and think everything's fine. And I just don't understand why we keep wanting to do it. The change has been voted for, but yet we can't change on the old regime. To want to understand that people need to hold back just cuz we've been spending all that money before. And we're in the predicament right now. So much money's been spent. So much money's been spent to maintain all this stuff and we're still doing it. We can't keep up. We can't keep up with the maintenance. Actually, I don't think there was any real planning back then besides let's spend as much as we can. So, I really think the budget needs to be looked at and I think everybody needs to take take a crunch in here. And if it's making the employees pay their deductibles to save back, I mean, that's just part of the game. We all we all take we all but we all step back and live in our budget.

Thank you. The next speaker is David Bergdoll.

Good evening. Very interesting discussion tonight in your finance meeting. And um Mr. Barry, this community did at one point have a manager of community development whose primary job was to deal with planning, zoning, new businesses, and new development. I know that very well because that was my job when I worked full-time for the village from 2001 to 2003. The village decided to go with a full-time village administrator and eliminate the planners position. So that is why you now have an administrator rather than having a manager of community development. Now we're talking about bringing new business to town and Mr. Gaskki raised the very likely question of people have pitchforks whether you do something or you don't. They want incentives or they don't want incentives. Tax freezes are good. Tax freezes are bad. TIFF is awesome. TIFF is horrible. Enterprise zone. Oh my god, that's horrible. Most of what's in this town industrially right now came because of the enterprise zone. 25, 35, 40 years ago. There's a lot of questions out there. I look at this and I look at what the Bears are going through with their stadium and it just makes me bust up because I'm like, if you wanted to build a The Bears wanted to build a new battery plant, Pritzkar had given them $600,000 $600 million without asking. They want to build a stadium and a $5 billion complex around it. Oh, no. We can't give you any money. The logic of the state government sometimes fails us. You had a question about data centers.

Are we in favor? Are we against? There are lots of questions about that. And you this is not the only municipality facing that question. I might suggest that someone discuss this with Dell Skimmerhorn at the county and see if the county planning commission might be able to put together a forum where they bring in some experts or people from communities that have been dealing with data centers coming and talk about what the concerns are. I know they do that because I've attended couple dozen of those types of forums put on by the county for the municipalities. It's part of what the planning commission is supposed to do. Finally, you're talking about the comprehensive plan being 20 years old. There are grants to redo comprehensive plans. The county does very little unless the county gets a grant for it. Given the fact that Andy Wheeler, our former county board chairman, had the opinion that Goan ruined the county comprehensive plan. That's time.

And a letter begging for grant money from the state. I'm sure it's got a much better effect upon us than it did upon the county. Thank you. Thank you, Dave. Next speaker is Anne Gates.

Good evening. Um interesting when uh when I was a teacher I had to write scope and sequence every week for what I was going to teach. Scope long long view sequence how I was going to get there sequentially with what I taught. I find it really hard to believe that a big um conglomeration like Goan doesn't have a plan such as that in place nor knows what's coming into their yard and opens the boxes as they come and then kind of puts them together. It um looks like a very shoddy put together outfit that there is no scope other than we want to take over and there's no sequence of events. This is how we're going to somehow make your community better, which it's not. Um, moving. Um, one thing that that interested me that I looked into, uh, David Wheeler talked about going into the second phase where they're going to manufacture the cells. I don't know if you've taken the time to look at what goes into manufacturing the cells. If you haven't, I encourage you to. I spent a lot of time doing that. It's a three-part process. The first part is, of course, constructing the cell itself. Second part is the injection of the electrolyte selenium and the electrochemistry activation. When they do the electrochemistry activation for the cells, that's the initial charge that the cell gets before it off gases in a contained uh area and then it is allowed to expand. They off gas the toxins and then they are charged to a 35% I think it is capability before

they're stored. Before they're stored, they're put through a chamber to be cleaned from any of the uh residue of the toxins. I would really like to know what they're going to do with the toxins that they're going to off gas before they store them because I watched an inount two in country videos today from China and they made mention that that is the most dangerous part of the cell manufacturing. So I would really like some answer on that. And as far as um the data centers done a lot on that too. Residents in eastern Oregon were just paid damages for public health threats by Amos Amazon in the amount amount of $20.5 million as a class action suit. If you want to um look at what a data center does, there's a gentleman by the name of Ben Jordan. He's been looking at this for 10 years. He's traveled the nation collecting data and um has really a lot of good information and please take advantage of looking at that and I highly recommend I I can't demand but I highly recommend that that gets put as a referendum on the next ballot that we are not hoodwinkedked and sidewacked like we were with goan and as far as the budget I'm sorry I told you it wouldn't go But with the budget, you keep talking about all the lawyers fees, the fee for the for the lawsuit. Well, guess what? We would be having those fees if you all hadn't signed on to something you said you didn't know what it was. So, I'm sorry. I don't really feel a lot of empathy about that. It's a worthwhile cause to get them out of our area in possibly two locations.

Thank you. Thank you. reports of the village officials. I have nothing to report tonight. I don't have any presentations or proclamations. So, I'm going to turn this over to the village administrator. Thank you. Uh we're happy to introduce our newest team member, our marketing and community relations director, Ashley Peterson. Uh she was chosen from 20 applicants uh and started her first job, her first day of work today. So, we're thrilled that you'll be here and we know she'll do a great job for the village and the chamber. So, welcome Ashley Peterson. Thank you. That's all I have.

Okay. Committee reports, finance, trustee Barry. Thank you, Mayor. Uh, old business on the agenda, none. New business on the agenda, payment of the bills of $184,8548 includes tiff number three, $187.50. bills authorized and paid between board cycle $55,638.77. Um some of our larger bills were the final payment for the forensic audit um the final payment for the work on Lehey and also the U attorney's fees. Uh our next finance committee meeting is going to be Monday, April 20th, 5:00 pm at the village boardroom.

That's all I have. I could do CJ's Yeah. Yeah, go ahead.

Uh on his agenda, old business on agenda, none. New business on the agenda, none. Planning and zoning committee uh the next planning and zoning committee meeting will be uh this Wednesday, April 8th, 7 a.m. at the village boardroom. The next planning and zoning commission meeting. Um they have a few things on the agenda is uh Tuesday, uh April 14th, 600 p.m. here in the village hall. I wanted to let the public know that CJ's not here tonight. He did contact all the trustees and he had a family emergency. So, he's going to be gone for a couple weeks. Okay. Um, public safety and health trust von.

Okay. Old business on agenda none. New business on agenda none. Public safety committee report is going to be given by Sergeant Steve Skellyy this evening.

Uh, good evening. Um, I was asked to speak about the tornado situation. the warnings in town. Um, as everyone is aware, Keny County recently experienced a significant tornado and it serves as an important reminder for all of us to be prepared. Here in Mantino, we do have two community shelters available during severe weather, the Catholic Church and the Nazarene Church. We encourage residents to be familiar with their locations and have a plan to get there if needed. I also want to clarify how our tornado warning sirens work. These sirens are designed to alert people who are outdoors to seek shelter immediately. They are not intended to be heard inside your home. So, it's important that residents also have additional ways to receive warnings such as weather apps, Noah radios, or local alerts. Finally, every household should have a plan. If you have a basement, that is the safest place to go. If you do not, identify a safe interior room on the lowest level of your home away from windows, such as a bathroom or closet. It's also a good idea to have a backup plan, whether that's going to a neighbor's home, a family member's home, or one of our local shelters. Preparation and awareness can make all the difference in keeping our community safe. Thank you.

I have one question. A resident asked me about when the tornado siren goes off, she likes to leave her her home immediately. She lives in a mobile home and she went to the Nazarene church and it wasn't unlocked yet. Whose job is it to unlock the church? Well, the thing about those is they're not village or supported. They are uh strictly communitybased by the churches. Um we have a pretty good relationship with them. Uh lately I've been trying to call and make sure somebody's going to be there. Our officers do have a key to the building to each building, but St. Joseph recently changed their locks, so we don't have that one yet. So our officers are supposed to go and check when the bad weather occurs.

Okay. Um, but also as a note, and it this is something that's also not really well known, is our sirens work on a county based system. So during that tornado event where there's actually a tornado and it was in the south part of the county, it activates for the entire county, which is a little tricky because you hear the sirens and you think you need to go to the basement. That's where having the radio and the news on to know exactly where the path is because you may not need to go to the basement, but they alert for the entire county all at once no matter where the tornado is going to strike. Thank you. Okay. Thank you, Sergeant Skully. Uh the next public safety and health committee meeting is uh Monday the 20th at 5:00 p.m. That's all I have. Mayor

Joel, are you going to give all three reports for your side of the room? I thought maybe Peggy could do Todd's and I'll do Annette's or it doesn't matter. There's not a lot on the I can do Todd's. Go ahead. All right. Todd on old business, none. New business, nothing. Public works committee meeting report will be on Tuesday the 28th at 7 a.m. Thank you. Yes. Properties and recreation trustee Guski.

Thank you. Uh we have no old or new business on the agenda. Our next committee meeting scheduled for this Wednesday at 7 a.m. Uh the agenda's already been posted. I think we're going to go over some of the findings that we've had on the parks and and conditions. Um so that's all I have on that. Under general government, Trusty Zimmerman does not have anything on the agenda either under old or new. Next committee meeting scheduled for April 28th at 7 a.m.

Thank you. All right. Going into new business, consideration regarding a motion to approve the annual health, dental, and vision insurance renewal with HomeStar Insurance for a cost of $670,47. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Moved by GKY, seconded by Barry. Any discussion? Chris, before can you explain I know some people weren't here just about the savings on the insurance this year, the savings amount that we're saving from last year.

Okay. Yeah. So, uh we're actually projected to save between 25 and $30,000 uh because of the higher deductibles. And even though we do reimburse the deductibles and have done that for 13 or 14 years, um the amount of money that we saved on the premiums by having those higher deductibles and agreeing to reimburse employees for those has mo way outweighed what we paid in deductibles. So it's been a cost savings to the village by doing that. Well, once again, that's just the employees that have insurance that work for us. If the if the spouse has their own insurance and they're on that plan, they don't get reimbursed.

Correct. And and the village does not pay 100%. The employees pay 25% of the premiums and they pay for their own spouses and children. All right. There's a motion on the floor and a second. Yes. Barry. Yes. W. Yes. More. Yes. Yes. 4. Motion passes. All right. consideration regarding a motion to approve a master services agreement with H&R Green for engineering services. I have a question about that. What is does he have a contract for that Chris or how does that work? Because I didn't see anything in the packet or like I mean

Yeah. So this this agreement is just basically lays out that if we use him for any of the services then the the hourly fees for each of the different types of uh work that they do is laid out in that master services agreement. So, this is uh it's not a contract that bounds us to use him. It just says if we do use HR Green, those are the fees we would pay for their services. And does he have it on this year's contract like I believe he had last year, like when he sent out the thing for the motor fuel tax, it says not to exceed a certain amount of money.

So, MFT, that's a different uh agreement. Uh MFT, what he's paid for that is the same that all engineers get paid in the state of Illinois. It's designated by the state. they get a percentage of the overall project cost. Um, and that's statewide. They they can't charge whatever they want for those services. Okay. But I mean, like on his annual contract, like if say for example, we we want him to go and take a look at something, is there normally like a can we give him a budget number on that or is it just how does that work? Yeah, we whatever we hire him for the the whatever the time is, he would give us an invoice for that amount of time based on those hourly rates that he has in that master services agreement. And he also does the followup after the projects are completed.

Yeah. And that's usually different. So for a project um he he usually gives us a quote for that. So this is just everyday services like um if we have somebody that wants to put a fence in a drainage area, we have to have him calculate what the overland flow would be or um if Jim needs them to go look at a sewer that might be failing. So these are just hourly rates for uh anything that's not an actual project. projects. He usually bids what that will cost us. But at the end of the day, like for example, like I know that there's a retainer fee and there's some other things included in that. It it's his job per the contract is normal. Like for a project, say for example, it's the sewer project on Ley. Yes.

They're putting seed and they're putting blanket. Does he go back and check that to make sure that the seed is growing and it's up to our standards? And if it's not, then he's the one that contacts the contractor. Yeah, their field guy would go out and do that. And then yeah, they they're the ones that the invoices get turned into the engineer and then they check to make sure everything's been done according to what the specs were and then he tells us what we should be paying and when we should release all the funds. Okay. But if there's an issue, he's the one that would go back to the contractor then said there's an issue. Correct. Okay. We still need a motion. I'll make a motion. Motion by Barry. Second. Second by GKY. Barry, yes.

Yes, yes. Von, no. One more. Does it Do I have to vote because it won't pass? It's not going to pass anyway. Motion does not pass. All right. Um, ordinance 2540, an ordinance amending title three, business regulations, chapter 9, liquor, sections 3914, limitation of the village of Mantino Municipal Code. Chris, what does this mean?

So, this is to create a new class A liquor license. Um, we had the gentleman who's a a consultant that came in for the liquor store in town and they're looking for a poor license and gaming so that they can start operating uh basically be able to serve serve alcohol in the liquor store and then also have gaming machines in there. So, we have to create a new license if the board is amanable to that. Are there any is there any more discussion by Well, my question is is that did the owner of the pub I mean the the location come in here and discuss this or he had a consultant come in? He he had previously this time he had a consulting company that came in and requested it.

Yeah. And I did watch the interview on there. I mean I wasn't real impressed with what the gentleman had to say about I think this is his business. He goes around to different places and advocates to get liquor licenses and gaming licenses for different venues. And didn't he also talk about having a food service in the liquor store? Yeah, they talked about serving pizza. I don't know where they're going to do that. Is there a motion to approve? Seeing no motion, fails. Fails.

Okay. Moving on to ordinance 25-41, an ordinance amending title one administrative chapter 6 board of trustees of the village of Mantino municipal code by adding section 10 on remote attendance. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Any discussion? I would like to say something about second. Oh, I'm sorry. A second. Is there a second? I get questions on this. There's no second. Fails for like a second. Motion fails. Failed like a second.

All right. Moving on to resolution 25-10. A resolution of the village of Mantino receiving and placing on file the preliminary budget for the fiscal year period of May the 1st of 2026 through April the 30th of 2027. I'll make a motion. Motion by by Barry. Is there a second? Second. Second. Second by GKI. Roll call. Yep. Mary. Yes. Gi. Yes. Von. Yes.

Yes. Motion passes. Motion passes. Thank you. All right. Resolution 25-11, a resolution abolishing the capital projects fund and transferring the balances therein to the general fund. Can I have a motion? Chris, can you discuss a little bit more about this?

Yeah. So we uh implemented this capital projects fund when we were doing the p the police department and the park and uh public works just as a way to separately keep track of those projects uh by having the the money in a different fund. All the money for that fund came out of general fund. Um and since we're pretty much done with all the big projects, we're just getting rid of it and there's about $35,000 roughly left in that account. So, we're just going to transfer that back into the uh general fund just so we can eliminate that extra fund. Can I have a motion to approve? I'll make a motion. Motion by Barry. Second. Second by Vaughn. Roll call. Barry. Yes. Von.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Passes. All right. Resolution 25-12. A resolution approving an intergovernmental agreement by and between the county of Kanka, the city of Canki, the village of Burbanet, the village of Mantino, and Kanki County Convention and Visitors Bureau Incorporated for the promotion of tourism in Kiki County, Illinois. Can I have a motion, please? So moved. Motion by GI. Second. Is there a second?

There is no second. Failed. Motion fails. All right. The final consideration regarding a motion to approve payment of the bills in the amount of $184,8548 including tiff number three $187.50. I'll make that motion. Motion by Barry. Second by Vaughn. Barry. Yes. Can we have discussion before we vote on this? Yes.

Um, I would like to exclude the payment of $21,840 to the forensic auditors. Um, and simply because they've received substantial payment already and we have not gotten reports. It seems to be we're approaching upon a year and I was one of the people who voted in favor of this audit, but they've told us time and time again it'll be end of this week. They've told the mayor they it was a month ago that we'd have the stuff at the end of the month. Then here we are. It's it it just keeps going and going and now all of a sudden they need more documents which that's fine. But when they came here at the one meeting, I asked, "What other documents do you need in order to complete the audit? We want to make sure you have everything." And they now have finally gotten the um list of what they want. So, I believe our our village officials will get those documents to them. Um but this would be just like paying a contractor if we had someone building something for us. Why would we pay them all the money? They've already got, I believe, 70% of the money um that that they're entitled to. We've paid them $115,780 to date. Why give them another $21,000 just to tell us we'll have it in a week? We'll have it in a week. Well, I don't think that's fair. If when they get their reports to us, then we'll pay them.

Did they not ask our treasurer for specific things? Yeah. And they every every time they've asked for something, we produced it within days. So, yeah, this is a new list that just came in. And the reason it's taking so long, a day or two later, the reason it's taken so long is because they keep finding more accounts. It's over 40 accounts now. And I know they're closing in. They want to tie this up. And the date that we're projecting, it's not written in stone yet, is the end of this month on the 28th.

Right. and and that being the case, I'm fine with paying them at the end of the month when they have the report, but I I wouldn't pay if we were having someone resurface the road out in front, I wouldn't pay them all the fees without getting the work done. So, I understand that. I I think I mean, I'm not I'm not saying let's not pay him. I'm saying I don't want to pay him right now because it's been it's been almost a year, right? We we all want the results of it. Well, yeah. So, and it's taken a long time because there is a lot of things. No, you're you're right. I I just That isn't the full balance, though, right? I'm trying to find the bill in here. No, we I think we owe him another

Well, we probably owe them what? Another 50 a total of $50,000. Roughly $53,000. But I mean, they would they would have 80% or more of the money. We wouldn't do that with anyone else. Why would we do that here? I think we all agree on this and I think we can pay them as soon as the audit is finished and they give their report. I think it's fair. So, can we pull that from dollar amount, sir? It's $21,840 to be excluded from the payment of the bills. Just for the record, all are you in agreement of that? Is everyone in agreement? I think so. Yes. All right. So, we have a motion to pay the bills minus the 21,000

minus $21,840. I'm just trying to find that thing. Yeah, I make the motion or I second. Who made the motion? Barry and Von. Okay. Barry, yes. Von, yes. Yes. Yes. Motion carries. All right. That's it for all the ordinances and the resolutions and so it's time for comments. Who wants to go first? Peggy,

I don't have anything to really say. I mean, as far as the audit and that it takes time for that, there's a lot of uh information. Uh there's a lot of things I think that are going to be brought out. Okay. and we just have to wait and see, you know, what they're what's what they're finding, you know. So, and that that takes time. There's a lot of paperwork, a lot of stuff that's involved in a forensic audit. It's just not your typical your typical audit. It's it's going really deep and um you know whatever they find good, bad or indifferent, the people are going to see. You know, if it's if it's good, fine. If it isn't, you know, I mean, that's what we were put in office for is to see how everything's been running. And we're just going to have to wait and see. more Joel.

Um,

couple things. Um, tonight we didn't get a second on on a couple of items to vote on and um, I'd like to just touch base a little bit about the Ki County Visitors Bureau agreement. Um, I think we'll probably see that come back to the board again um for for another conversation just because keep in mind that our our contribution to that is $80,000. But with that, we get another $100,000 grant. So by us not participating, we're not taking advantage of that $100,000 grant. We're limiting ourselves to $80,000 versus having $180,000 to promote to Cani County which we are part of. So we have $80,000 that we could use towards promoting Mantino tourism which is good but having $180,000 is a whole lot better. You can do some more things with it. So

and and just to be clear is I don't have a problem with that. I have a problem with the three-year agreement. Yeah. Okay. And and again, maybe that's something that we can put and that wasn't just to be clear, I asked I mean, I did ask Chris about it when it was on the agenda, and he did send it uh sent me the email on there, but that's the issue I have is a three-year agreement. I don't have a problem signing a one-year agreement, but three years I think with the percentages of increases on there. That's that's my concern. And I I think that we can put it on next committee meeting. We can't do it for the parks and but Chris, can you put it on the next committee where we can get it on our notice and we can hash that out to revisit it because I think it is for the best interest

if it was a one-year agreement. I got I mean I understand that but I mean and I'd be fine with doing a yeartoyear. I don't know. I mean I think that's the best

whatever we need to do with that. Um going to the other one that that didn't uh get a second um for the remote participation and I know that there are some people who are against it. Tonight's a prime example of a time that CJ and I asked if if I had his permission to share this and he said we did. um this would have been a perfect opportunity for him to be able to interject and participate as a trustee and carry out the duties that he was elected to do and was um brought away because of a family emergency and just to address this the situation because people um I've gotten emails about how dare I be cold-hearted to expect people in time of need to do village business. CJ said this would have helped him keep his mind off of what he's going through would have been an opportunity for him to have some moments of normaly during this time frame. So that being said, CJ's is is one. Um I I'm not familiar with what's going on with Todd, why he's not here. Annette, I know that was brought up um in her non participating in meetings. Um, I guess I could tell everyone that it's not by choice. And and Miss Chis, I will say that when you put it into a situation like you did that, um, if I if this was a job that um, you'd be canned. Well, the Americans with Disability Act would allow for reasonable accommodations. And I don't think anyone in the right mind would say that remote participation's not making an accommodation for someone who's got a disability. um and can't participate. It allows them to carry out their duties. So again, we will have discussions about it. I know

the last time that we talked about it, um we removed it off the agenda voluntarily because there were we wanted to set up guard rails. I think we all said that there were guard rails to be set up and I had asked everyone what things you wanted addressed to please send an email to Chris so this way he could do the research and we could bring it back at a committee meeting. So again, I'm going to ask the board members, the mayor. If there's things that we don't like about it, please send an email to Chris so this way we can address those things because I think they're, you know, hey, CJ never thought in a million years that he would be the one that would be benefiting from a remote ordinance if we had it today, but he would have. And it could be me next week. It could be Mike. We're

well, we need to put in there how many meetings is it? Are they are we going to be able to miss? I mean, is it

15 of them or five, four, whatever. I think that those sort of things we need to get in writing to Chris that this way he can work with Joe and see what we can legally do because I I would contend that if someone's not here because they have a permitted excuse, but they're still participating. They're still being active in decision- making and not just coming in to a vote, but they're educating themselves. What's the problem with it? There really shouldn't be one. But again, I'm just tossing that out there as as food for for conversations. And if us as elected officials wish to move forward with it, I would ask that you send something to Chris because I'm confident that we'll be seeing it again and talking more about it. So, um, other than that, um, that's all I have for this evening.

Thank you, Joel. Mike,

just to piggyback on that, Joel, I mean, my whole thing about it is is that, and I think I've said this from day one, is that CJ sent out an email yesterday to the board, what was going on. He called me today with what was going on to make sure that I got the email with the same email you received. That's being transparent, saying, "Hey, man. I I got something that's going on. I I can't be here for remote attendance on a case like that. I I can understand that when when remote attendance has been presented and it's like there's no reason rhyme or reason why you're not here. That's where I kind of take effect of of it is if it was if the way that he approached it 100%. Would I be in agreement with it the way that he approached it tonight? You got something you're going on. I mean this isn't life's more your family is more important at the end of the day. He from from the minute that he was transparent, same thing. And and I will be honest with you, we had conversations back and forth about discussions on the stuff. We did talk last week before he went on spring break about some things in that situation or that case since how he was transparent from from the get-go on and saying, "I'm not going to be here." Understandable. I think my my biggest hookup is when no one knows what's going on. I don't know. So I'll state myself. I don't know what's going on. then it just looks kind of odd of the fact of if something's somebody's going through something somebody's whatever it is that's their business. It's not my business. That's where I think with the remote if there's parameters put into place and we we had discussed CJ and I I know we've talked back and forth about a couple things and I'm open to that. I just feel like the way that he presented it today 100% I'd be behind that because he was transparent from day one on it. And again, I think that those sort of things, Mike, send an email what you want in so this way we could tailor it. I know after hearing the last time there were there were amendments made to require 24-hour reasonable

accommodations or reasonable notice given to and and honestly I think that that notice should for a matter of transparency amongst us, village administrator, mayor and all elected officials. So this way we all know. Sure. Right. Um but again, that's that's fine. Um but I know that there's if we have issues that we can make this work. Let's do it. Give him what your reservations are so this way we can go through and talk about it. But I I want to see our village work. I want to see good elected officials participate.

Sure. No. And and like I said as as on a case by case bas not case by case but if there was some parameters put into it I think I would be more in agreement with um and I will I'll email Chris going back forward. Um I think the secondary thing is is is there was a question about the the um for the HR green or no I'm sorry the class A liquor license. I mean, I don't drink and I was in that liquor store over the weekend. And that was probably the second time in 20 years, 15 years that I've been in that liquor store. He's got a lot going on in that liquor store. A lot of things, a lot of drinks, a lot of stuff. I don't see where you're going to be able to put a a sip bar and that kind of things into that location. That's why I I didn't second it. as well.

It's it it's my whole thing about it is is when a business comes here and it's the owner of the business come up and stands up and says that I have a lot more I guess not compassion but I'm going to listen to him a lot more than some sales guy trying to come and sell me something. Um other than that I mean I I think we're moving along. I'm excited to see the audit the end of the month. Um, I think it's going to, you know, shine some lights on some things, good things, bad things. I I don't know. But I'm interested to see that. And like I said, going forward with this budget, I just think we all have to be conscious with how we're spending money. I mean, it we don't have a golden egg at the end of the day. And I don't see a golden egg down the path. And if I did, I'd be the first person to tell you. And if there is somebody that comes and approaches us, it will be transparent. Especially for me, I mean, I guarantee you that. Not going to hide any punches on this. Um, you know, there's a lot of good things going on in the town, but we also have to be concerned about the future. And I don't want to be sitting up here in two years talking about getting a bond to pay our bills because that's not fair to anybody. It's not fair to the residents and it's it's just not the way I'm going to do things. So, other than that, I appreciate everything. Hope everybody had a good Easter. Thank you.

Thank you.

My only comments are we don't want to take away any of the activities that we have in town. We don't want to take away the October Fest. We want Mantino to continue to thrive and we want people to continue to come to our our village and have a great time here, but we're just watching the budget and we're trying to be careful and use your money in the most practical ways. So hopefully we won't have to trim too much off. Um, as far as the remote meetings, I I have three things that I really think are important about it. Personal illness or disability would qualify. Employment purposes or village business, if you're if I'm away or somebody's away on village business and they can't be here, that would qualify. And a family emergency, but not birthday parties, not vacations, not things that you you should have you should have your priorities here. and when you ran to be a trustee or to be a village official, your priority is to come to the meetings. So, we will get all those things sent in to Chris Lorac and we'll get a better plan with guidelines and we'll see what happens. I wish everybody a happy belated Easter and I hope you have a wonderful spring and thank you for being here tonight. Meeting is adjourned with a motion.

Second. All in favor? I I made it.