Village Board - Regular Meeting

Let's [clears throat] Good evening everybody. Welcome to the Mantino Village board meeting for February the 17th. Can you please rise for the pledge of allegiance?

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. And while you're still standing, I'd like to introduce our village chaplain, Don Leer, Reverend Don Leer, to do the invocation.

Thank you, Mayor. Let's pray. Father, we come before you tonight and just realize that you are with us and that you go before us. And we ask that you would do that here. That you would give a peace that does surpass all understanding. That you'd bring hearts together, Lord. And that you would protect our our village. That you would work in it to to make it a place that uh that you desire. We pray for those that are first responders, Lord, and and ask that your protection be upon them. Give them wisdom and comfort. Watch over their families. We ask too for this meeting tonight, Lord, that you would guide the heartest and that you would uh show us you're you're that you're with us and that you're protecting us. Give us what we need tonight in Jesus name. Amen.

Amen. Thank you. [snorts] Roll call, please. Barry, yes. Budro here. Von here. Crockett. GKI symbolman here. Uh the reading of the agenda. Are there any additions or deletions? Seeing none, um the reading of the minutes and I think we have a couple minutes here tonight to approve. Is that right? Correct. All right. Should we do the ones for January 20th 1st? We have You can do them all together if you want. Okay. We're going to do them all together then.

Unless somebody wants them separate. Does anybody want to change that? No. All right. Can I have a a motion? A motion. I'll second. Do we have to roll? You can do an all in favor, but you All in favor? I

Thank you. [snorts] Public participation. We have just several I think three people tonight. And the first one is Emily Herman. Hello. I'm so happy to be back up here to raise awareness for adolescent young adult cancers again following my little setback in November. I'm here to share some exciting news that wouldn't have been possible without the continued support and encouragement of the village board and members of the community, a few of whom are sitting with me tonight. I didn't know when moving here almost three years ago how much this town prioritizes nurturing community projects, small businesses, and opportunities for citizens to support one another. This is very much needed in today's world and sadly rare. Emphasizing service and volunteerism is especially encouraging to my generation and younger, giving us a good foundation on how to care for one another and open our eyes to issues going on in today's world that don't get talked about enough. Here comes my exciting news. Ever since starting my project, Cute and Acute in 2024, I've created well over 100 care packages and envelopes, walked and ran over 200 miles during chemo for leukemia awareness, and reached over 3.5 million people online to raise awareness for various issues that affect the adolescent and young adult cancer community. It is about time that I take it to the next step and make it an official 501c3. A cancer organization called Nick's Wish out of Rockford, Illinois has granted my wish of making this possible. I look forward to continuing to work within the community to raise awareness, provide encouragement to fellow fighters, and attempt to make this town a little more accessible for those navigating a health crisis. There are some issues that need addressing in the future, such as the problem we are seeing more and

more of with citizens disrespecting laws surrounding handicapped parking spaces, continuing to keep medical fundraising events easy to apply for, and raising awareness to control harmful chemical pollution from factories in this town. I've learned a lot from the community participation portion of these meetings and have made note of these issues as they affect who I advocate for along with myself going through cancer. Once again, thank you for the continued encouragement not only for my project but all of the others in this town too. Continuing these positive steps will keep allowing us to move in the right direction on how we care for our neighbors.

Thank you very much. [applause] Emily, we're very proud of all the things you've accomplished and all the things you've done for Mantino. So, keep it up. Thank you. Our next speaker is Ann Gates.

Good evening. Um, [clears throat] I watched the last I watch all the board meetings multiple times because there's so much going on. You can't hear everything when you're here. So I watched his last one several times. I found it interesting. It was when Mr. Patinsky spoke a few weeks ago, he focused on Goan being a green field business. I watched the meeting several times and I find it odd that we should be taking the word of a lawyer that's on Gan's payroll since he left CPHAS after Donald Trump's first term was over. I came across a Senate committee hearing with Senator Smith from September of 2025 and they were questioning a gentleman President Trump wants to uh appoint and restructure civates and they also were talking to Averil Haynes and he testified on the counter intelligence committee that China poses a threat to our homeland and that transactions that should have been submitted to CPHAS were bypassed due to do not ex do due non um the D the uh NDA non-disclosure agreements and that those will be the first ones that will be looked into they reserve the right to change their minds as Mr. Katinsky pointed out three months ago as 60 Minut 60 60 Minutes did an entire segment on intel agencies and military from China that are preparing to defeat the you the US through land purchase to hold the data center so solar fields and pose a range of threats to our nation. David F

of national security said the CCP's preference is to be close to government, nuclear, and military facilities, which they are here, three nuclear and four military. They have found that the CCP solar panels have data collection capabilities as well as a kill switch that can be controlled remotely to sabotage our electric grid by how much power they will be able to pull. which would result in government, military, and nuclear power resources becoming compromised. Senator Rickettts found that the front end of the non-disclosure agreements made it also possible for CCP China to purchase through LLC and multiple shill companies. A shill company is a company in name only, but they really have no stature of any kind. They don't do anything other than front for illegal and illicit ventures from everything from manufacturing to industrial facilities. Quoted Mr. Heisinga from Michigan.

Go ahead for another minute.

Okay. Thank you. Through the American Land Protection Act will require foreign entities to disclose purchase of land that will be flagged immediately and cover the gaps that the former administration allowed to take place. This information along with the other plaintiffs signing on to our lawsuit is indeed good news. President Trump is doing what he can to keep our company safe from the CCP infringement. But truth like cream will rise to the top which means that when we see everything coming into go and particularly the the um shipping containers that are coming in and being stored over there. It was not long ago in the Russia Ukraine war that a shipping container was used filled with small drones to launch a successful strike that dismantled an entire military compound. After the last meeting, I was followed again again with the high beams and the blinding light. I'm thankful for the cloud that we can upload images to that can't be erased or tampered with. And I also um have talked with an other authority that has broader um range of purview oversight and I spoke to them as well. Senator Smith quoted and said, "Silence is complicity. We were stripped of our voice, but it's not going to happen again. We the people are standing up and we are speaking out and we'll continue to come and we'll continue to bring forth information that we come across to share it with you, to share it with the watching public. It is important that we know and are aware. It's no surprise with the heat that's coming that go is

looking at the refrigerated facility across town because their batteries do have to be maintained at a certain level of cold to prevent them from going. It doesn't prevent but it helps to contain if they go into nuclear runoff. So, I'm hoping that as we continue to bring forth information and to share the truth that the truth is going to win the day for the people of Mantino because we love this town. We love this county and we really want to see it prosper in the right ways without doing harm and danger. Um, and I do have one suggestion for Goan. the next time they want to make a great big huge donation, instead of giving our um LEOs a car to drive in, drive around in, I think it would be a really good idea if they would supply all of our officers as well as our sheriffs with uh turnout gear, PPE and SCBA, so that when they are the ones that are called upon to do traffic control, help with evacuation, and anything else as a result of what potentially could happen over there. They will be safe. They'll have some protection. That would be money well spent.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. [applause] Our next speaker is David Bergd Doll.

Good evening. For the first time, rather than coming to your committee meeting earlier, I actually watched the video That was pretty good, very efficient for people who can't make it to the board. But having listened to that meeting, from my perspective, I think the people in this community are missing the 800 lb gorilla. And no, it's not Gan. 25 years ago was the first time I saw plans for County Highway 9 to be expanded. The interchange plans have been on the books for 20 years, updated several times. You discussed it in the committee meeting. And people are wondering why there's no new businesses coming to town. Because County Highway 9, from my perspective, is the 800 pound gorilla. If I want to build a new restaurant on Route 50, knowing that two years from now, given our difficulty in following the existing comprehensive plan, that 20 new restaurants could go up between the interchange and 45. Why would I invest $2 million in a new building and business knowing that I'm going to get killed two years from now when all of this new development occurs? your discussion missed something that I think some of the residents raised, which is it's been 5 years since they updated the plans for the overpass itself. And I've come to most of the meetings. I've never heard one update on what's

going on with County Highway 9. Where is it at? What's the schedule? nothing. If you're looking for new businesses to come to town, you need to look at what are new businesses scared of. What they're scared of is spending a bunch of money in a business and suddenly 50 new businesses going up and killing them. As soon as County Highway 9's finished, heaven knows nobody's going to build their restaurant or their gas station or their store on County Highway right now because why would you want to deal with all the construction? It's ruining them. Why would you spend two million, $3 million on a new building for it to be shut down during construction? That would be dumb. But I see that's the 800 pound gorilla. I've read numerous things from people who think that our comprehensive plan is 20 years old. It's outdated. It needs to be updated. I've suggested before. I'll suggest again. Maybe it's time to spend a little money on updating the comprehensive plan. if not the whole comprehensive plan looking at what was planned 20 years ago for County Highway 9 because like I said, nobody's going to spend big bucks on a new business in the older part of town knowing all of that is going to come in the next two or three years. Thank you.

Thank you, David, Dave. [applause] All right, reports from village officials. Um, my report is just going to tell you what's been happening as your mayor, what I've done recently. And I was invited to go to Heritage Woods. I did that with um, Jacob Knox and Peggy Vaughn. We had a great time out there. We entertained, I think, 31 of the residents, and there are 90 residents at Heritage Woods by I asked. I think they're at capacity right now. But it was a very pleasant visit. We left them all with each of them with a box of cookies, and I think that probably sealed the deal. like they want to see us again.

But it was nice. A lot of those people that live out there are from Mantino and I did know six of them out of 31. So it was very pleasant. I also attended a breakfast meeting recently with Don Leer who did the invocation tonight. Don is our village chaplain and um Harbor House had a special breakfast. They wanted all the ministers in Kanki County to come and they had a room full. I think there were probably 80 people there. And that project is really a go because they've reached the $4,500,000 level they needed to reach to start the project. They're building a brand new building. So, it's going to be very helpful to Can County because um domestic abuse is one of the largest problems we have in our county and I'm sure that travels everywhere across the country. It's a serious issue and people need a place to go. So, now that's going to happen. There's going to be 12 more apartments built in this new model that they designed and it will be very put to very good use. I also want to announce that a young man named Jacob Smith who happens to be here tonight contacted me and he has done a lot for the community to bring up awareness of suicide prevention. And he is an outstanding young man. and he's been walking 30 miles and I think Emily walked with him this last year in spite of whatever treatments you're getting. You are an amazing girl. But they did walk 30 miles and we welcomed them when they made it back to to Main Street with a police escort and it was quite exciting. Jacob Jake Smith would like to um put some of his money that he's going to make this year towards a monument. And Jake, I don't know if you want to talk about it. Can you say a few words? just come to the microphone please.

[cough] [clears throat]

Uh so yeah, um I was wanting to put together a suicide memorial um like fountain with a plaque at Memorial Park just to remember those who have fallen um who we've lost and just kind of why we do the mission. Uh we do the mission to bring awareness but also to remember our wise uh because I've I've been there and I've tried before and obviously my purpose wasn't fulfilled and so my purpose is to honor those who we have lost uh and not just those struggling but who we've lost. Well, we'd like you to come to a committee meeting in the future and talk more about this and help maybe we can help you with some of your ideas. So, thank you very much. [applause]

Village Administrators report. Thank you. I have nothing this evening. Okay. Committee reports finance with Trustee Barry. [clears throat] Thank you, mayor. Uh, old business on the agenda, none. New business on the agenda. Payment of the bills in the total $471,24548 includes tiff number $30. Bills authorized and paid between board cycle uh $0. The next finance committee meeting will be uh Monday, March 16th uh at 5:00 p.m. in the village boardroom. That's all I have. Thank you. Planning and zoning trustee Woodruff.

Thank you, Mayor. Uh, I have no old or new business on the agenda. Um, our next planning commission meeting is going to be Tuesday, March 10th at 6 PM in the village boardroom. And our next planning and zoning committee meeting is tomorrow morning at 7 a.m. in the village boardroom. Uh, again, the big thing as we've been talking about for the last couple meetings here is uh again talking about ideas of growth. um how do we do that proactively uh with moderate growth to continue to keep our town how we like it but kind of again moving forward um in that direction. So if you have any ideas or want to attend um it's tomorrow morning at 7 a.m. or you can obviously watch it online uh too. Thank you mayor. Thank you. Public safety and health with trust von

old business on agenda none. New business none. Uh, the public safety committee report is going to be given by officer Jeremy Jeremy Marzek. All right. [laughter] Can you spell it, please? Can you spell your last name, please? M as in Mary. R A Z as in zebra. E K. Sorry about that. It's all good. No one ever gets it right.

Hi, good evening. I'm Officer Morazzi. I've been with Mantino PD for the past year and a half and I'm just going to give you an update on what's been going on. So, uh, one of the most common complaints Mantino Police Department receives from residents is speeding and stop sign violations in neighborhoods. Last year, we respond to those concerns by conducting several targeted traffic enforcement details in problem areas. While enforcement is sometimes necessary, our goal is always compliance over citations. That's why we recently purchased and deployed a speed trailer, a speed radar trailer. It serves as a visible reminder to drivers of their speed and has proven to be an effective tool in slowing traffic without relay relying solely on tickets. If a resident would like the radar trailer deployed on their block or in their neighborhood, they can contact the police department and we'll work to schedule it when available. And as always, we encourage residents to reach out to the police department with any concerns or issues. We're here to help and to keep our community safe. So, if anyone has any concerns, stop by the PD, tell us what street you're on and what intersection, and we'll try and get out there. So, thank you. That's all.

Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Um, the next public safety and health committee meeting will be March 16th at 5:00 pm in the village boardroom. Thank you. Yep. All right. Next is public works and utilities. And since Trustee Crockett is not here, which one of you? Mr. Crockett. Okay. Um, old business on agenda, none. New business, he has nothing. Public work committee meeting report. Um, I don't have a report on that this evening. Uh, his next meeting is uh, February 24th at 7 a.m. U, sorry to interrupt you.

Oh, yeah. Go ahead, Jim. Do you want to give an update on what's going on with the square so people see what's going with the turf and Yeah, the uh turf contractor started today rolling back the uh the section where the pavilion is going to be going. Uh so they're going to get that removed and we met up with the contractor last week uh about the center area there for a little bit of the redesign and the uh uh the change order over there. So, getting that hashed out. Okay. Thank you. Was that it, Peggy? Yep. It's Thank you. Uh, properties and recreation trustee Gesky had to leave. So, CJ, you want to take that?

Yep. Uh, old and new business, none. Uh, his next properties recreation committee meeting is also tomorrow morning. Um, at 7 a.m. I think he has on the agenda talking about the turf. Um, and I think talking about again heritage park equipment and some other things too, uh, was that that'll also be tied in. That's all he had. Okay. Okay. Thank you. And general government, Trusty Zimbleman is not with us. Mike, uh, she doesn't have any new or old business. Uh, and her next meeting will be uh, Tuesday, February 24th, 2026, 7 o'clock. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. Uh there's no no more old business. Under new business, we have a consideration uh which is a motion to approve a lease agreement between the village of Mantino and the Mantino Youth Soccer League. Could I have a motion to approve? I'll make the second. Mike, you make the motion to approve. Second by Von. Barry. Yes. Von, yes. And Budro, yes. Mayor,

yes. Yes, I vote yes. Uh consideration regarding a motion to approve the payment of the bills in the amount of $471,24548 including tiff number three at $0. Can I get a motion? Mike, I'll second. Second by CJ Woodro. Barry, yes. Yes. Yes. Mayor, yes. Both motions carried. All right, comments. Mike, do you want to begin? Let Peggy begin. Peggy, you want to begin?

You know what? I can. [laughter and clears throat] Um, Sergeant Skellyy, we talked about um on the square with the um with our um park rangers.

Park rangers. And uh I'm going to read what we had at our meeting and then you can reiterate a little bit for me, please. Several years ago, as the square on second on Park became increasingly popular with children and families, the Mantino Police Department implemented a park ranger program to help maintain safety and order in the park. The program uses part-time park rangers who monitor park activities, encourage rule compliance, and address minor issues before they become larger problems. Rangers primarily work during times when school is not in session, which is when park use is at its highest. Over the years, this program has significantly reduced issues at the park and has limited the need for our officers to respond, allowing them to remain available for higher priority calls for service. It has been an effective and proactive way to keep the park safe and enjoyable for everyone. At this time, I'll turn it over to Sergeant Skellyy.

Yeah, like you said, the main function uh came in after we were handling just call after call over there for routinely minor things, some bigger things. So, we employ the park rangers to handle the minor things. They do not do any kind of enforcement. They don't write ordinances or obviously make arrests, but they just keep people from running too fast or throwing balls or or dispatching small arguments and then they are encouraged or they're told to call us immediately if there's any kind of issue. So, they really just take the light work off of us, which was probably 90% of what we're doing. We're getting called. They do work during a 12 hour and two six hour shifts. So, 10 to 10 during summer hours. Um, last year we had four that rotated through their schedules. Good group of people. We're hoping to get them back this year. We don't know back or not, but that's what we had last year. They've done a fantastic job and they're just out there also just being good ambassadors for the village. They're just very nice people, friendly. They talk to people and just clients, but also just friendly faces over there, good directions, and just people to talk to.

Yeah, we appreciate them. I go over there and talk to them every once in a while. And I just want to say with the springtime warm weather coming up, um please everybody just be um conscious of your surroundings and that and if you see the children out and about, please be careful in that. And um if you see something, say something. If there's any problems that you know we can curb in that, I'd like to see that taken care of. So thank you. Thank you, Peggy. CJ.

Yep. Um, again, uh, obviously this lease agreement, uh, is a yearly thing. Obviously, MYSA is a great organization. Uh, they've done great. I know we're even building a soccer shed for them out there, uh, West, so it's great to do that. Uh, for the bills, just a little bit more, just kind of break that down for you. Uh, 158,000 was for that pavilion we're putting in. Uh, 61,000 was for the garbage fees that we pay. We bought a new mower. Uh, 45,000 was for the storm sewer project, one of them that we're doing. And then 71,000 was the sales tax rebate we had to pay. with that. Uh just some updates around town. Uh our girls uh basketball team won yesterday, so they're playing Thursday at Senica at 6 o'clock for the regional championship against uh Wilmington. Uh so hopefully we can go out to that. And then we had a sophomore, Lucas Hutman, make it to state from Mantino for wrestling. So he's competing uh Thursday down in Champagne um in some rounds there. So that's again great. And boys regional starts um next week and then we'll be into uh spring sports with that. Uh, and then really quick, I always hear a lot about it and I didn't hear anything uh with it. I know their case came up I think last week. Any updates on the case um for our case on Gan uh that or is there any updates to share or no?

Uh no, we're just we're kind of in a holding pattern due to at the request of the plaintiff's attorney and we talked last week after the the court session. So we're just kind of keeping the status quo for the time being. Okay. Just wanted to get clarification. Thank you. That's all I have. Mayor. Thank you, Mike.

Uh, a couple things. I know that there's a lot of concerns about Goan and I just want everyone to know that Chris and myself have been attending monthly meetings with Goan. So, the questions that I see or the questions that people are concerned about, we do ask those questions and it's pretty stern meetings. I mean, Chris will tell you, I mean, I'm pretty blunt in there. Um, so I just think that we're doing the best we can. we are a aware of what's going on in the situations and and and I have your back on on and how you guys feel. So, I just want that to be clarified. Uh the second thing is is earlier tonight we discussed our budget for this year. So, we're going to try and work some stuff out there. Um but we are kind of in a pattern where we need to generate more revenue. So, it's there might be some cuts. I I don't know, but we're going to work on the best we can. If anybody has any suggestions or ideas, you know, please. We're we're open ears, um, you know, reach out to us and we'll go from there. Thank you.

Thank you, Mike. The only comment I have is I don't know how many of you have uh youngsters or grandchildren who are playing soccer, but I've been told there are 900 children in that league.

So, that's pretty amazing. Mantino offers some wonderful sports programs for the kids, whether it's soccer, football, basketball, volleyball, golf. And I I want to thank all the people who are involved that make that happen because it doesn't happen by itself. You've got some really strong leaders in this town, people who take charge and people who volunteer to coach and to work with your children and maybe your neighbors children. So, we have a lot to be grateful for. And I want to say thank you to all the people that continue to come to our meetings or are watching us on television right now because you care about me and Tino and we all appreciate that. We do too. That's why we're here. So, thank you very much and I will accept a motion to ajourn. Make motion.

I'll second. Motion by Pawn and seconded by Budrrell. All in favor? I. Thank you everybody.