Village Board - Regular Meeting

Good evening, everybody. Thank you for joining us tonight, and welcome to our Manteno Village Board meeting for Monday, June the 1st, and we are beginning at 6 p.m. Would everyone 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 tonight, Reverend Dan Horton is here. He is the chaplain from the Manteno American Legion Post.

Good evening, all. Let us pray. Eternal God, fount of wisdom, we ask you to bless the representatives we have elected. Grant that through their discussions and decisions, we may solve our problems effectively. Enhance the well-being of our nation and community. and achieve together a fairer and more united society. We pray this in your precious and loving name. Amen.

Thank you.

Roll call, please. Berry?

Yes.

Boudreaux?

Here.

Vaughn? Here. Crockett?

Here.

Jeske? Here. Zimbelman? Here.

Reading of the agenda. Are there any additions or deletions that need to be made from the agenda? Seeing none, how about the minutes? Do we have changes, corrections, or a motion to approve?

I have a couple changes just to clarify. Under attendees, our village treasurer's name is Sheila, S-H-E-I-L-A, not S-H-I-E-L-A. And then under 12, the forensic audit report, my last name spelled wrong. Should be B-O-U-D-R-E-A-U. after the word vote in that sentence i like to add the word on so it makes grammatical sense um and then the adjournment was four two not six oh the adjournment was what time adjournment it was 555 i don't think it was 555 but it was four to two not six zero okay all right anything else we need a motion to approve i'll make that motion with the amendments motion by budro I'll second with the amendment.

Second by crack it. Woodrow.

Yes.

Crack it.

Yes.

Barry.

Yes.

Vaughn. Yes. Yes.

Yes.

Zimbalman. Yes.

Now, Mr. Kankar, do we need to do this twice because there was two meetings on here? The minutes.

I had to take those off because they weren't right.

Okay. All right. We'll move on. All right, public participation. Our first speaker tonight is Pat Martin. And I will remind everyone, please try to keep it brief tonight because we have a lot of speakers. So stay under three minutes if at all possible.

Good evening. A couple responses from last meeting. I was with Midland Bank and Homestar Bank for 33 years prior to Sheila being hired by the village. Homestar was number one lender and number one depositor in the county at that time. We had relationships with almost all the municipalities, school districts, county, and city of Kankakee. I asked the auditors after the meeting why they did not look into who actually handled the transactions for the banks. The response was they didn't have time. Ten months. I'll give you this hopefully in three minutes. Homestar Bank. Asset liability committee set rates and terms. CFO and finance committee handled all transactions, pledging, securitizing, not the president. Midland Bank has a treasury department with an assigned manager who handles village accounts, not the president. President Iroquois federal, the chief operating officer, CFO and accounting department had all bids pledging. and securitization, not the market president. In 42 years in banking, 35 with Homestar, I've been through numerous state exams, FDIC exams, OCC exams, annual internal and external audits, accounting audits, compliance exams, CRA, and Reg O examinations, which review executive officer transaction and potential conflicts, none reported. The Village of Manteno goes through annual audits as well. It has reports reviewed by the state. and then published. Nothing reported. Auditors reported a million dollars missing from the treasurer. To find out they had all the information on the investments, didn't know the difference between a tax ID number and an account number. Pretty concerning. 25 million deposit was a big discussion with Homestar. Fully securitized by CDARS. All funds were secured. It was the highest rate offered, including outside of the county. Good for the village. Auditors never checked the rate environment. Mentioned the treasurer just followed the husband writing checks. Homestar and Midland were the same. There was no following as the same accounts. The money that was invested at Iroquois Federal was because Iroquois Federal, when I got there, wanted to expand their municipal deposits. They put up a very attractive money market rate, and not only did Mantino invest, two other villages and the county treasurer. Highest rate offered in the county. Again, no check by the auditors. The auditors seem to have no time in my opinion for pretty important questions if you're being when accusing people the potential wrongdoing They had ten months did not have time for many board questions or follow-up as they were in a rush to leave But spent 45 plus minutes outside of the meeting afterwards talking to Annette Rondi and Didi Lamore very concerning in my opinion In my opinion, this was very directed, targeted, and biased audit. In my experience with examiners and auditors, we were not allowed to schedule lunches, send texts, emails, unless directed by the auditors or questions concerning the audit. They are to act independently. I think you'll find this audit was handled very differently. Again, very concerning. The truth will prevail. That's time. Turns out, it seems like the only conflict with the treasurer was when we remodeled our kitchens. Thank you very much.

Our next speaker is Dolly Carson.

Good evening, everyone. I'd like to address CJ. CJ, the last couple meetings you said on multiple occasions you don't know who Dolly Carson is, so I'd like to take this opportunity to introduce myself. I'm Dolly Carson, a 20-year resident of Manteno, and in the 20 years that I've been here, I've done a lot of volunteering on boards, events, committees, and I know the rest of the board. I've crossed paths with all of you guys multiple times, so I just want to let you know that. And then when the mayor had reached out to me and said, asked me if i would consider a seat on the planning and commissioning board she knows it's not a position i would take lightly it's not a role i would take lightly so i told her i would really have to think about it so after careful reflection i thought i think this is a good fit for my skills i think it's a good fit and a good opportunity for me to continue giving back to the community that i love and the residents that i've grown to really enjoy and become friends with So I thank her and I thank all of you for the opportunity, and I just look forward to working with you in the future. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Our next speaker is Sandy Chiz.

You all know me. I don't have to introduce myself. Okay, so the audit was reported. It's all over. I have no comment as to that. It's up to the appropriate authorities to consider what they're going to go through. But the behavior at the special meeting was interesting though, am I right? I mean, some of it was rather defensive. But anyway, at that meeting, Trustee Crockett said that past meetings were public. Anyone could have come to them and spoken.

Very true.

Trustee Goetzke has also said that same thing, quite a few meetings. And these comments seem to suggest that because we didn't participate in the meetings, we were at fault for the board's bad decisions or that we didn't care about what decisions were made. The irony is that now we show up and express our opinions and we are ignored most of the time. It's as if we never speak at all. Our opinions aren't considered in most of the votes and many expensive projects passed even over our objections. I often wonder why we fight so hard, but I really do know why, because we love this town. And otherwise, I'm appalled at how Mayor Lamoure and Trustee Vaughn are treated by some of the male trustees. They are interrupted, cut off from speaking, talked town to, and treated in a condescending manner. This has happened at many different meetings. Such behaviors are rude, unacceptable, and without basis. The mayor and trustee Vaughn have treated all of you with the utmost respect at these meetings and it should be reciprocated. That's it. Thank you.

Our next speaker is Angelina Geer.

Hi everyone. My name's Angelina Gere and I serve as the Executive Director for Visit Kankakee County. First off, I just want to say thank you to the Village Board and the staff and residents for your time and thoughtful consideration through this process. But tonight I would like to talk about partnership. Tourism is often misunderstood as advertising or social media, but in reality, it's economic development. It's attracting visitors who will fill our hotels, dine in our restaurants, shop in local stores, attend events, and support the businesses that make communities like Mantino vibrant. Over the years, Mantino has been a valued partner in that work. The success that we've achieved as a region didn't happen because one community worked alone. It happened because communities came together, pooled resources, shared expertise, and invested in something bigger than any single municipal boundary. Visitors don't experience Kankakee County as one town at a time. They may stay in one community, eat in another, attend events throughout the region, and create economic impact along the way. That is why regional tourism works. The proposed agreement is about more than just funding. It's about maintaining momentum and ensuring that the relationships, data, marketing resources, grant opportunities, and partnerships that we have all built together continue working for the benefit of everyone involved. Manteno has a seat at that table. Manteno has a voice in shaping the future of tourism in this region. And Manteno strengthens the success of this entire destination. My hope tonight is that we continue moving forward as partners, building on what we've already accomplished together, and investing in a future that benefits residents, businesses, and visitors alike. Thank you all so much.

Thank you, Angelina. Our next speaker is Diane Sauerbier.

Good evening. It's not very often that I find myself agreeing with the things that some of the trustees say. Today, however, I have to agree with Trustee Crockett and Trustee Getzke when they said that we need to change some of our policies and procedures based on the things that we have learned in the recent audit. Today is June 1st. It's a new month and a perfect time to turn the page on old ways. It's a perfect time to begin to put friendships aside, put politics aside, and rethink what is best and puts Mantino first while our mayor and the board make these changes. It's a perfect time for those that have been, in my opinion, negligent in their responsibilities to resign or be replaced. So many things have been brought to light, and I don't think that the average citizen and taxpayer here in Manteno will endorse the good old boys' business as usual. Let's get rid of the garbage. Please, let our village go back to be a place where we can proudly call home. Thank you.

Thank you. Our next speaker is Bill Barnes.

Good evening. Well, I was going to go to the Bourbonnais talk about, or the meeting about data centers, which could threaten negatively this area, just like the Goshen plant. But when I saw the agenda for tonight, and it was like deja vu all over again, because here we are talking about consideration for a contract for the village administrator, which I know got passed up last year, rightfully so. So, you know, I'm I'm just kind of wondering, and I'm actually surprised, not really, I think it's interesting that about 80% of the meetings he doesn't have any report, but tonight he's got a full report, or a big agenda. So they find that curious. One of the other things also on the agenda for Under 10, Resolution 2603, as the young lady just talked about, Kankakee County Visitors Bureau, what is the cost that it would take for Manteno to be involved in that per year? Mayor, do you know?

It's about $80,000. Eight? Eighty.

So $80,000 collectively with Kankakee, Kankakee County, and there's an eight page brochure, I think in the brochure, and I realize it's not just about the brochure, it's also social media, but you have a person that runs the chamber making maybe not even that, but it really is her responsibility to get visitors here, not the Kankakee County Visitors Bureau. I used to serve on the committee years ago on the Visitors Bureau. They had a lot of money stockpiled and said, oh, they can only advertise out of a certain area. How many people actually look at a billboard and say, oh, I think I'm going to Kankakee County? Again, that's why you have somebody with the Kankakee Chamber. So $80,000. But going back to, well, tying into that, I guess, is I find it interesting that Mr. LaRock is on the board at the Kankakee County Visitors Bureau. And so I find that interesting. So it sounds like kind of the same, you know, Nugent friends, that type of thing. So just kind of put that in your hats. Think about it. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Our next speaker is Emily Herman.

I just wanted to bring it to the board's attention that there is interest to make the overpass over 57 a little bit more accessible, connecting the east side of town with the west side of town businesses. This came to my attention doing Jake's walk This is my third time participating Second time going over that overpass and a lot of the team members on the walking team have discussed that that is one of the scariest Things to do during the walk, but nonetheless we love it and we still come back every year so whether that is with sidewalks or fences and separating us from the cars and then on the other side, that bridge, that is of interest. It connects service projects like Jake's, like mine, and I use walking to cope. I'm pretty sure we all kind of know that the sidewalks here aren't the greatest either. um even walking with a stroller sometimes i have to walk in the street which is not very great and makes me anxious and has kind of kept me from getting back at physical activity there's also a kankakee running club and then also eight participants in the chicago marathon from the city of mantino so you guys have a lot of runners and walkers who could benefit from this it could connect businesses it connects me with the businesses that I use across that bridge, as well as the residents on that side with Main Street and all the businesses over here. And if this is of interest of the board, I can provide plenty of pictures of examples of local towns that have a bridge over overpasses for safety and signatures. If you guys want signatures of people who are interested or a full head count, it's quite a bit. I know in meetings past there's been discussion of adding, sorry there's a fly, of adding Mantino's name to the bridge to appeal to people who might want to visit Mantino, but I think we should be focused on connecting citizens who are on each side with each other first. Thank you.

And there are plans to redo that bridge at I-57, but that's gonna happen when, Joel, do you know the dates?

That has started back when we first got on the board 20 years ago. That was the very first item that we addressed, and there's been some drawings. It's kind of in the state's funding right now. That's why the county road's being widened in preparations for that, and it does include a pedestrian overpass. I live on the west side of town, My kids have all grown and won't be able to take advantage of it, but it's a big thing for us and something we've been looking forward to. I think ground was supposed to move starting next year, but I don't know if that has changed.

We know it's coming, we just don't know exactly when. But thank you very much for all your comments. All right, our next speaker is Francine Fatima.

Hello, good evening. I'm not giving my speech tonight because everything's failed me, hearing aids, whatever. So there'll be another time for you to listen. But I would like to say, really, this is a wonderful place to live. And I think now with the children playing outdoors and all, it's even livelier and lovelier. So that's really my take today. And I hope that you all enjoy this summer. Thank you.

Thank you, Francine. Our next speakers are John and Nancy Kaufman.

Hi, everyone. I'm Nancy Kaufman.

John Kaufman.

Thank you for having us here tonight, Mayor, Village Trustees, community members. We're here to promote and share with you all that this coming Saturday at the Sportsman's Club, we will have our Ride for Life event. We are a team of the Relay for Life of Kankakee County. We've been doing this for 25 years. This is our 25th year anniversary. We have raised over a million dollars for the ACS and this year is our final ride. So we are just here to promote and to let everybody know that we appreciate the support. We will be starting at the Mantuno Sportsman's Club. Registration starts at 9 a.m. and the first bike out leaves at 11.30. The beautiful thing about our event is that you do not have to have a motorcycle. Even though it says ride, It could be anybody. Everybody is welcome, and we want to make sure that we put that out there. We do have limos reserved that people are coming to attend the event. One thing that we ask is that you all pray for good weather, because an outdoor event like that will certainly appreciate and welcome the good weather. You want to talk a little bit about the ride? How many miles?

Yeah, so every year we do a route. We do different routes depending on The stops in the scenery and where we've been before we would like to mix it up to make more interesting for the riders versus going to the same stops every year This year it's about I think it's a hundred and eight point six miles So we're going all the way out to Verona and I think the first stop is going to be in solid so a big distance in between the two and we got a few stops in between Getting back to what Nancy was talking about. This is a not just a motorcycle event, but it is a community event as well. We do have an auction that you participate in. And thank you for your support and help, CJ. And so that means we have about 50 different baskets at this point in time. And the baskets can range in value of anywhere between $100 to $500 to almost $1,000. It's a good opportunity for those because a lot of motorcycles can't carry a lot of this stuff on the you know on the back of their bike So it's a good opportunity for the local community to come out and support the event as well Proceeds go to the American Cancer Society

Even though we're promoting this as our last ride, we know that the fight for cancer and the importance of that will not end. But we just want you to know that we appreciate the support. We appreciate the community support. We will, like we said, start at the Sportsman's Club and we will be traveling down Main Street and then taking a left right up here on Division Street. And for all of those that have been participating with us in the past, it is quite a scene to see that many motorcycles go down the street. and or cars, you name it. We appreciate everybody that participates and the support that the town has given us over the 25 years. We're a team of family and friends. We do not do this by ourselves. We have a committee that we've had over the 25 years. People come and go, ebb and flow. And for those individuals that are out there, we just appreciate everybody that's ever helped us out over the 25 years.

Does anybody have any questions? Does the ride leave the Sportsman's Club at 1130? So we should be on Main Street for 1130?

1130 is when it leaves the Sportsman's Club. The registration starts at 9 a.m. It is $20 per ticket per person that gets you part of the meal. And then, of course, come back for the auction, which starts at 6 p.m. And that's when we also draw for our winners for the raffle.

it seems like every year there's more and more people on main street. So I just want to make sure the timing gets out there.

And the weather is a big part of it. So, so put on your, uh, your, your hat to pray for good weather. We've had rain outs before that it's rain or shine. It doesn't matter. Um, so again, that's what we got.

Thanks so much. I just want to personally thank you for all the, I can't even imagine the hours that you guys have put into this over the years. And I know, uh, Ever since I've been on the board, you've come here every year, and thank you for all of the hard work that I can't even imagine. Again, the amount of time that you guys put into it, and it's hard to believe that this is going to be the last one. Hopefully, maybe somebody else will pick it up and continue it on, because obviously it's for just a phenomenal cause. I know volunteering and doing all that stuff, sometimes you don't get the accolades, but thank you very, very much for all of your hard work.

Well, we appreciate that and we have actually been the top team not to pat ourselves on the back. And again, it's not two of us. It's a whole committee that does this. but we just happen to be the speakers for the evening. But we have been the top team of the Relay for Life in Kankakee County for the ACS for many, many, many years. And it's hard work, but it's worth every single solitary minute of it. So again, appreciate your time, and you guys all have a good evening.

I want to say that most families in Manteno have been affected in some way by cancer, either loved ones or family members. But we want to thank you. We all appreciate what you do. Thank you so much for all those years.

Well, thank you.

Our next speaker is Greg Olajars. I think I butchered that.

I do have some family stuff to get to, but I wanted to make sure I came today. So I'm just gonna read straight from my notes just to make sure I don't miss anything. I've been thinking about what to say since our last conversation on that Wednesday, Mr. Getsky. And the more I thought, or sorry, yeah, that's right. And the more I thought about it, the less upset or frustrated I was with you guys for delaying the auto release. I'm not one to pay attention or participate much in government things, but something keeps telling me to continue attending these meetings and participate more. I moved to Mantena with the hope or plan of living my whole life in this great town. I think God allowed you guys to delay it that Monday for a reason. It was really nice to see so many citizens come out that Wednesday to hear the audit get released. I wish more came on a regular basis, but life gets busy. I'm not able to attend as many as I would like either. So I'd just like to continue a little bit of our last conversation. I do agree with you, Geske. We know things were added between the draft and the final copy. I guess I just don't understand what was different about the presentation in the public's eyes between that Monday and when it got released on Wednesday. And to me, delaying it did seem and look like a game. I know you guys didn't agree with when I call it that. I could see you guys get frustrated, so I get it. It's possible all four of you had pure intentions, but I am just saying what it looked like to the citizens that were present. In my opinion, the public heard the same speech from the auditing company, and probably the same questions from the board. There were some questionable parts, but I for one am glad more issues weren't found. That would have been a real mess for our town, an even bigger mess than what we are currently dealing with. But this town is full of good people. The people are what makes Manteno great, not the expensive landscaping, parks, or trees, or lights in downtown. Sometimes I wonder the true reasons why the town wasted so much money in the past. It's always nice to have new things, but the people of this town have to live within their means. After hearing how much was blown in the past, I think it's time for the village to do the same. I hope this board can take suggestions from the auditing team and work together to keep this town core to its roots. Small, peaceful, and safe for its citizens. We don't always have to get bigger just to get better.

Thank you, Greg. Our final speaker tonight is Anne Gates.

Good evening.

I hadn't planned on being here tonight because I wanted to go to the Bourbonnais meeting about data centers, but I couldn't get in because all the rooms were filled beyond capacity. The hallways were filled. Everything was filled. And people just, you couldn't hear anything. Nothing was going on. So I was like, okay, cool. Then I'll come to Bantino. But I'm really glad I did, because I have talked with a couple of people, and I did put it out on Facebook. When I spoke after the meeting, I talked about Goshen being closed in Germany. That was incorrect information. So I want to stand here and correct myself. Germany has not closed Goshen. They are still operating. Volkswagen, who is their major supporter, 35 percent plus for revenue for them in the billions, is taking a hard crash in finances due to the loss in the disinterested EVs. And they are looking at the potential of withdrawing their subsidies to Goshen, which then would close Goshen in Germany, and another EV battery company has already closed. in Germany. So I just wanted to correct myself and do it publicly because I misspoke publicly. I watch all of the meetings and I watch them multiple times because it's hard to catch everything that's being spoken here. So it's really important to go back and not only listen to what is spoken, but watch the responses of people. Because people's response to what is shared at this podium speaks volumes. So I just want to encourage you to kind of rein in the levels of disrespect. We're constantly told don't be combative, don't stir up trouble, yada, yada, yada. But by and large, it's not just citizens that are upset. You guys get upset too, rightfully so, but I think everybody has to use some restraint in the way they conduct themselves so that we put forth a better face for Mantino. So I'm hoping to encourage you all in doing that. And I was particularly kind of surprised when I watched the meeting the other morning. A lot of people spoke up for Chris LaRock to have his contract signed. But I've yet to hear Chris stand up and say, I love this town. I've worked here for this many years. This is what I've produced. This is what I've accomplished. This is my record. All the interviews I ever went on for a job, I could never take my mom or my best friend or another co-worker that knew me outside of the workplace to put in a good word for me. So I encourage that he would have that time to do that. And let him stand for himself and see what the record has to say. Thank you.

All right, reports of village officials. I'm going to begin by making a statement and then I have two vetoes that I'm going to present tonight. So please be patient with me. Dear members of the Village Board of Trustees, as the Chief Executive Officer of the Village of Manteno, I am issuing this formal statement to establish my executive position regarding the appointment status, contractual terms, and compensation of village administrative officers, specifically village administrator Chris LaRock. Please be advised that I will not execute any contracts or agreements amending the terms, appointment status, or compensation levels for Mr. LaRock or any similarly situated administrative officials. My position is based on the following. Number one, statutory mayoral appointment power. Pursuant to Illinois State Law 65 ILCS 5-3.1-30-5 and Manteno Village Code Section 1-5-5, the authority to appoint municipal officers resides solely with the mayor, subject to the advice and consent of the board. As I have not made any such appointments, the current administrative officers are serving strictly as holdover officers until successors are officially chosen and qualified. Number two, clarity of executive authority. Executing contract amendments or adjusting compensation would create a misleading public appearance of an official executive appointment or endorsement. To maintain transparency and accurately represent the legal status of these positions, the residents of mantino i will not sign agreements that suggest a formal appointment has occurred number three supervisory duties and audit scrutiny under mantino village code 1-5-6 the mayor is mandated to supervise the conduct of appointed officers Given outstanding questions raised in the municipal audit regarding financial decisions made by current holdover staff, it is fiscally irresponsible to extend terms or increase compensation while these practices remain under administrative review. Number four, notice regarding separation of powers. The separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches is a fundamental principle of Illinois municipal law. Any action taken by the Board of Trustees to bypass mayoral appointment authority or unilaterally alter contracts for holdover officers will be viewed as an unlawful attempt after the established form of government and a usurpation of executive power. The Village of Manteno must operate under the rule of law and maintain strict fiscal discipline. I remain committed to these principles and will not execute any contracts that compromise executive accountability. Respectfully, Annette Lamore, Mayor of the Village of Manteno. Now I have two vetoes. Dear Honorable Village Board of Trustees, pursuant to the authority vested in me by Illinois law and the ordinances of the Village of Manteno, I hereby veto the board's approval of the motion establishing the remote attendance policy for public meetings. Number one, commitment to public engagement and in-person governance. Local government is most transparent and accountable when conducted in person. Our residents consistently attend meetings physically to voice concerns and observe governance. Adopting a lax remote attendance policy fails to meet the standard of civic commitment demonstrated by our community. To preserve public trust, elected officials must lead by example through their physical presence. Number two, technical dependencies and operational risks. Expanding remote participation introduces a heavy reliance on technology prone to failure. Technical disruptions such as audio lag or hardware malfunctions threaten to interrupt public business, compromise the official record, and hinder the public statutory right to witness the deliberations of their representatives. Number three, preservation of meeting integrity and focus. Legislative deliberation requires a structured environment and the undivided attention of all participants. Physical presence ensures that all trustees remain fully engaged, attentive to public comment, and free from the domestic or professional distractions that can occur in a remote setting. Number four, remote participation as an exception. While communication technology is useful, In extraordinary circumstances, remote attendance must remain a rare exception. Standardizing electronic attendance dilutes the collaborative dynamic of the board. The proposed policy is too lenient and fails to maintain the necessary boundary between emergency accommodation and routine convenience. Number five, conclusion. For the reasons stated above, I veto the approval of the motion establishing the remote attendance policy. The Village of Manteno must continue to ensure that our public meetings remain grounded, in person, fully focused, and connected to the community. This veto message was delivered in a timely manner and must be processed in accordance with state law. Respectfully submitted, Annette Lamore, Mayor of Manteno. Dear Honorable Village Board of Trustees, pursuant to the authority vested in me by Illinois law and the ordinances of the Village of Manteno, I hereby veto the Board's approval of the motion authorizing the tree removal contract. This decision is based on the following considerations. Number one, financial responsibility. The Village is obligated to manage public funds with prudence. This expenditure has not been properly vetted against current budget constraints or competing municipal infrastructure needs. To safeguard the village's financial health, we must avoid overextended contract commitments. Number two, principles of good government. Sound municipal governance requires transparency, competitive bidding, and thorough administrative review. Rushing the execution of this contract without a comprehensive evaluation undermines the public trust. Number three, environmental and capital assessment. A major tree removal initiative requires strategic planning and clear criteria. The village must ensure that any such contract aligns with long-term forestry goals and verified safety liabilities through a formalized public-facing assessment plan. Number four, cost-effective alternatives. Before committing significant public funds to an outside contractor, the village should explore alternative approaches such as utilizing internal public work resources or seeking phased contract options to reduce costs. For these reasons, I veto the authorization of the tree removal contract. The Village of Mantino must ensure that public expenditures remain fiscally sound and transparent. Respectfully submitted, Annette Lamore, Mayor of the Village of Mantino. I have one more thing. I am just going to read the bullet heads of what the auditors left us with. I'm not gonna go into a lengthy conversation about this, and we're not gonna take questions tonight. Number one was cash management. Another one was investment policy. One was bonding. He talked about the Illinois Investment Act. Ethics and conflicts of interest. There was a lot under that title. Procurement and bidding. golf course so there were many things that were looked at and there are people in high places who are still looking at our audit and when i have more information from them i will certainly share it with the trustees and the board so moving on tonight we are appointing i am appointing stephen orth to be our village clerk to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of alan pickerel I need a motion to appoint Steve Orth. So moved. Motion by Geske.

Second. After we vote, could he introduce himself to the public?

Sure. First, I'm going to swear him in.

Oh, we got to vote.

Oh, we got to vote, yes. There is a motion and a second on the floor. Yes.

Geske?

Yes.

Berry?

Yes.

Boudreaux? Yes. Vaughn? Yes. Crockett? Yes. Zimbelman? Yes.

All right. Having been elected to the office of village clerk for the village of Manteno.

Having been elected to the office of village clerk for the village of Manteno.

In the county of Kankakee. In the county of Kankakee. In the state of Illinois. In the state of Illinois. Do solemnly swear. Do solemnly swear. That I will support the Constitution of the United States of America. That I will support the Constitution of the United States of America. And the Constitution of the state of Illinois. In the constitution of the state of Illinois. And that I will faithfully discharge the duties.

And that I will faithfully discharge the duties. Of village clerk to the best of my ability. Of village clerk to the best of my abilities.

Thank you.

All right, the next thing up is?

Mayor, do you want to let him? No, you want to speak?

Yes, please do. I'm sorry, my apologies.

Just a quick introduction. Thank you. Appreciate the opportunity to be your new village clerk. My name is Steven Orth, and I've been a resident of Manteno now for just a little bit over six years after I married my wonderful spouse, Denise Bertrand, here. Formerly, I was a member of the Orland Park community. That's where I spent most of my adult life, raising my couple children before my first wife passed away. And I luckily found and married Denise here and moved to Manteno. I have a very long career as a federal regulator of nuclear power plants in the Midwest, both as an inspector as well as many different attributes of supervision of that facility, of the facility's oversight. So I retired recently, a few years ago, hired back as a hard annuitant for a part-time position for a few years, but I hope to bring my talents to the village and see what I can do to Better use my talents to help everyone here. Thank you.

Thank you very much. All right. The next thing on this agenda is a consideration regarding a motion to appoint Chris Pilbeam to the planning commission board.

I'll make the motion.

Second. Chris, do you want to say anything before they vote on this? Is Chris here? Okay, there is a motion on the floor.

Berry? Yes. Vaughn? Yes. Boudreaux? Yes. Crockett?

No.

Geske?

No.

Zimbalman? No. Yes.

Motion carries. Thank you. All right, consideration regarding a motion to appoint Dolly Carson to the Planning Commission Board.

I'll make that motion.

Motion by Berry, second by Vaughn.

Berry?

Yes.

Vaughn? Yes. Boudreaux?

Abstain.

Crockett?

Abstain.

Geske?

No.

Zimbelman? No.

Yes. Congratulations. All right, proclamations, none. Requests, I did have one request, and Jim Hanley, I'm gonna share it with you. Somebody told me that the locks of love, the lights aren't working, and they asked me if I would bring that up and let you know.

Thank you.

Under old business, oh, announcements. I do have one announcement. The grade school contacted me a month or two ago and wanted to know if they could have a mayor for the day as a prize for their, what's it called, Ashley?

It's for their raise craze.

Raise craze. I don't quite understand what that is. Can you explain what that is?

It's a fundraiser that the elementary schools put on for their students and every little kindness project that they get goes towards their classroom and then they can put it towards a prize. So the student will be arriving tomorrow to be with you for an hour.

So we're going to have a little ceremony over at the village hall and then we're going to do a ribbon cutting.

We are. We're going to do it at 10 o'clock or 1010. So if anybody wants to come be part of the picture, I think it'll be a fun time.

Yeah, so any of the trustees are available and you'd like to join us, Annette, if you're available or anybody else in town. Yeah, come on over. All right. Under new business, I do not want to even consider any of these motions. I think I've already explained why. So let's move on to the village administrator's report.

I don't think we can do that. I think we've got to still do them. Legally, can we still do them? I'll make a motion to approve crystal rocks contract.

I'll second. Yes. Yes. Barry no on no rocket.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes. I'll make a motion to approve Ellen Swinford of their chief of police. I second it. Yes.

Barry.

Yes.

Vaughn? Yes. Crockett?

Yes.

Geske?

Yes.

Zimbleman? Yes.

I'll make a motion to approve Jim Hanley's contract.

I'll second. Crockett?

Yes.

Zimbleman? Yes. Berry?

Abstain.

Boudreaux?

Yes.

Vaughn? No. Geske?

Yes.

All right, moving on to the village administrators report and Crystal Rock is not here this evening. We're going to pass on to committee reports. Finance, Trustee Berry.

Thank you. Old business on the agenda, none. New business on the agenda, payment of the bills on $112,506.98. Bills authorized and paid between board cycle. $3,110.01. Next finance committee meeting will be Tuesday, June 15th, 2026 at 5 p.m. in the Village Boardroom.

Thank you. Planning and Zoning, Trustee Boudreaux.

We're not, uh, no older new business. Uh, we, there is no planning zoning committee tonight. Obviously we have two new members of the board. Um, we do have a planning commission meeting next Tuesday at 6 0 PM. We do have items on the agenda. I'm pretty sure they're all related around the new mental health going in. Um, and my next planning is only committee meeting will be Wednesday, June 10th at 7 0 AM in the village boardroom. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Public Safety and Health, Trustee Yvonne. Okay. Old business on agenda, none. New business, I have nothing this evening. We have Public Safety Committee report is going to be given by Sergeant Dan Lengel. Thank you, Dan.

Hi there. I'm Sergeant Dan Lengel with the Manteno Police Department. Good evening, Mayor, board members. Tonight I'd like to briefly discuss the village's park ranger program, Square on Second. This program was created to help maintain a safe, enjoyable, family-friendly environment for everybody who goes to our park. Our park rangers are civilian park monitors who provide visible presence and oversee activities throughout the park, with particular attention given to the bounce pillow, which is one of our most popular attractions. Their role is to help keep peace, safety, and order by addressing issues before they become larger than they should be. This can include resolving disputes, addressing inappropriate behavior, monitoring safety concerns, and contacting the police when necessary. While their primary concern and focus is the Bounce a Pillow area, park rangers can monitor activity anywhere throughout the square and second. and serve as a resource for park visitors. Uh, Rangers can be easily identified by their bright yellow shirts and their park ranger hats. Um, if residents experience a problem or have concern while visiting the park, they're encouraged to talk to the park rangers on duty. Um, if police assistance is needed, uh, the ranger can contact them directly. Uh, of course, residents can also contact the Manteano police department, uh, 815-933-3324 at any time. goal of this program is simple it's to help ensure that all families can safely enjoy want to maintain those most popular community gathering places thank you thank you dan okay my next meeting is june 15th at 5 p.m at the village board um chief do you have anything to see

No, you know, with school being out, we're going to see a lot more kids during the day. So just keep an eye out for them. A lot of bikes out, a lot of, you know, e-bikes and stuff. So we're going to provide some training coming up for parents and kids for their e-bikes. So look out for that. But other than that, I think we're doing pretty well.

Okay, good. Thank you. That's all I have, Mayor. Thank you. Public Works and Utilities, Trustee Crackett.

Uh, thank you. I do not have anything on the agenda this evening. Our next public works committee meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, June the sixth or I'm sorry, June the second, which is tomorrow morning at 7 00 AM. Uh, Jim Hanley, you were not here at our last meeting, so we didn't have any updates. Do we have any current updates on projects and so forth?

Yeah. Uh, the pavilion at the square coming along, uh, plumbers should be in here later on this week. Um, The roof's done, we're working on the inside and trying to work our way out, pouring some sidewalks and everything else to complete the project. As soon as we're done, the turf company will come back and do their thing and put all the turf back to where we were. Over at the shed that we're building for the soccer program at heritage a little on hold till we wrap up the pavilion They got the walls up, but the trusses roof and siding all got delivered We're just doing a lot of landscape cleanup right now chipper under underway catching up on mowing seems like a little bit of a dry spell so It's working out. We have a meeting next week with MFT looking to start that there soon after I

How about the storm sewer projects? Are those completed, still in progress?

Yeah, both have been completed. There was some hydro seeding and some patching that took place. It might be a little great over at Heritage behind Jeffrey, but yeah, both of those projects completed.

Very good.

Can you talk a little bit about the merry-go-round, the square? Because I know that... You're planning to move it, and I've been watching the kids, and everybody loves it so much. I don't really see the benefit of moving it.

Yeah, the board agreed to move it. That was your guys' plan. The plan was to remove the sidewalk going east and west, that fence, and then relocate the merry-go-round to the southeast corner.

Does anybody else have any opinions on that?

Yeah, I think we need to... Think about that a little bit. I've been over there quite a bit myself watching the kids on the merry-go-round and they're having a ball. They're having a blast. And you had said to me that you think it was best that we take it out because there's something wrong. What I think is wrong with it and the bearings or something need to be either they're flat or they need to be greased or something. I think it would maybe operate a little bit better because that was one of the main reasons that you wanted to move that or get rid of it. I think, in my opinion, I don't know what everyone else thinks of this, but I think the kids have a blast over there with that. They're using it. That's one of the most used piece of equipment that I have experienced watching them. And I think it's going to be a big mistake if we take that out of there. And I also think, It's gonna be a big mistake if we take that fence and sidewalk out because I have been watching and I've been watching it very close. I just think it's gonna be a mess. If we take that out of there, it's gonna, I think it's gonna take away of the atmosphere over there. And we've already put the building up there. If your reasoning is because of the kids, you want them to play, I don't know, football there or what but i think it's going to take away the effect of that park you guys can you know go over there and walk around and watch the kids and you know see how they're enjoying it and yeah maybe walk over there tonight and look we're not we're not removing the mirror we're relocating relocating we're just relocating it'll still be i was under the impression you're totally taken out no no no no we're just moving when i was there last night it looked like

young teenagers on it i don't know if the young teenagers are going to go why would we move it a kiddie so that we can have more a big complaint i hear again i'm in the schools i hear from the kids is they want more space to play and that would give them more space to play football and that i mean i i don't know i i felt like i was going to touch with that that was always the complaint i heard when i was talking to kids over there it's like i want to run but they're contained, this will give them a larger space to play.

We do have other parks with a lot of space to rent.

Correct. Legacy is one of them. I think it's just a simple thing.

I think there's enough room over there to throw a football and take that down.

When we walked this before and approved the plan, you, I, and we had Jacob Carlisle.

As I have been watching the children playing over there, I've changed my mind. That's a bad idea to move that. I think it's in a perfect spot where it should be.

I guess I feel like we've approved a plan. If we want to make a change to it, we could put it up for vote or whatever, but I feel like our... We put together a plan, we went through the work to do it, and I think that our plan looks good.

As of right now, it is approved. If we want to discuss it further, ask to have it put on a committee meeting.

I would ask everybody to revisit this. Let's do the committee meeting at 6 o'clock at night so Mike can attend it.

It's on your agenda then.

Okay, I'll put it on my agenda. Dawn, please do that.

It never hurts to revisit things. All right. We just left off with Trustee Crackett, correct?

That's correct, yes. Jim, were you done? Yes, sir. Okay, thank you. That's all I have for this evening.

Thank you. Properties and Recreation, Trustee Geske.

The only item I have on tonight's agenda is on June 10th is our next committee meeting here at 7 a.m.

Thank you. General Government, Trustee Zimbelman.

I have nothing on the agenda. We do meet tomorrow at 7 a.m. in the village boardroom for the general government meeting. Ashley, would you like to fill us in on the events?

Sure. Thank you. Good evening, Mayor, Trustee, and residents. As part of my work with both Manteno Chamber and the village, I wanted to start by sharing a few upcoming community events. Tomorrow night is Cruise Night. It returns on Main Street from 6 to 9 p.m. It is family-friendly, and it is also pet-friendly. On Wednesday, we'll also host Armantino Market. That's going to be on Second Street in the Square from 4 to 8 p.m. It will be featuring local vendors, food, and community connections. Then on Thursday, we'll kick off Movies in the Park. This will be our first one of the season. This will be over at Legacy Park. Activities will begin at 6 p.m. with Zootopia II starting at dusk. The Manteno Wildcats will be offering concessions, and we have several sponsors. They will be on-site handing out goodie bags and information, so please come join us. I also wanted to briefly speak about Visit Kankakee County. As someone who works in marketing for both the Village and the Chamber, I've had the opportunity to work closely with the Visit Kankakee County over the years. What I value most about the partnership is access to resource, expertise, and promotional opportunities that help communities like Manteno reach audiences we couldn't reach effectively on our own. When we have events to promote, they help amplify them. When we want visitors to discover Manteno, they help tell our story. They have consistently been responsive, supportive, and an extension of our team. Every time we host an event, our goal is to bring people into Mantineau to support our restaurants, our shops, our local nonprofits, and our local businesses. Visit Kankakee County helps share that story throughout our region. From my perspective, they have been a valuable partner in supporting our businesses, our events, and our community. I appreciate the work they continue to do on the behalf of Kankakee County and Mantineau. Thank you.

Thanks, Ashley.

All right. Under new business, consideration regarding a motion to approve installation of three park benches along village paths at a cost of $2,500 per bench. Is there a motion?

I'll make that motion.

I'll second. Motion by Geske, seconded by Boudreaux. Discussion please.

So this is actually way back when October 8th is when we talked about this and I think we pushed it off I believe I think mayor you have to put this off until the forensic audit was done for the clarification A man came in from town that walks the pass. I was hoping we could have some benches again There are some long structures without any brakes we have a lot of people that are on those paths and I believe our placement would be between These and Eddie Reed Park, along that retention pond, there would be one behind Eddie Reed Park, and then we were gonna have one out along Eagle's Landing's path, I believe was the three spots we had decided. I'm kinda highlighting the benches that are out there. I believe that's the three that we decided to choose.

Why are they so expensive?

Because we're, well, the park equipment is not cheap to start with, but we're also pouring concrete underneath each of the benches so this way when our people go to mow the lawn along the paths, it's a little bit better for them. They're not stopping to have to weed whack around them and allow weeds to grow up.

You know what I looked at on this, and I've been looking at the prices of some of these, through some other dealers other than, what is that, the toy company or something you buy from? But anyway, the ones that I looked at, and I'll show you, CJ, these are all commercial benches right here. $7.99, what is that, $95, $99? $7.95. All right, for that. The weights on stuff to show how well-made they are and stuff, There's 600 pounds can hold these benches for that price. Now there's a bunch of other ones, and if you care to look at that, you can see the rest of the prices on there. and 799, 399, and those are six footers, okay? And they're all bolted down into the concrete. When I was looking at yours, Jim, on there, I happened to notice the shipping. Now this is for one, $399 for shipping for one. So is that gonna be 1200 for all three of them? So we're gonna add that into it. So I think what I added up was around $7,500 for three benches. Is that correct?

2,500 a bench.

Okay.

That's including the concrete and the benches. That's the entire cost, correct, Jim?

Could I just ask a question? Why are we putting one on Eagle's Landing when the erosion on that path is so bad that if you put a bench over there, somebody falls off the bench into the pond? I'm just wondering why, if we have $2,500 to spend, then we need to have $2,500 of dirt added to that pond. because that's a waste of money. I lived there, I walked that path, and that path's getting worse and worse and worse and worse. I just hate to see some person or some lady, elderly person sitting on the bench, some kid comes by a scooter, she pops up. Jimmy and you drive past it all the time. You know that that erosion is bad at that pond. It's terrible. Before we go spend $2,500 on a bench for that area over there, I would really like to see that not be spent for 2,500 bucks.

You know, another question I have is public works ever fabricated a bench or made a bench. I mean, does our met our employees over there know how to weld?

Yeah. Uh, I don't think we would make about a bench. That's something usually by, uh, all right.

So we've got other prices here that,

I just got a price from the benches matching what we did on Main Street.

Did we spend that kind of money on Main Street?

Did we spend that kind of money on Main Street? Yes, there's benches on Main Street. That was the direction I had was just to go with current benches.

Jim, if we were to put the bench over there on Eagle's Landing, would it be on the lake side of the path or the opposite side?

We could determine where we want to go with that. There is a pipeline in that area, so we cannot build over the top of the pipeline. So there's, it kind of goes back and forth with that path. So as long as we're not building on that pipeline. So again, that could be something that's determined what you guys want to do.

Got a motion. A second.

Yes. Yes.

Yes.

Very low on. No. Crockett?

No.

Zimbelman? Yes.

Fails? Okay, it fails. No. All right, motion fails. Resolution 2603, a resolution approving an intergovernmental agreement by and between the County of Kankakee, the City of Kankakee, Village of Bourbonnais, Village of Manteno, and Kankakee County Convention and Visitors Bureau Incorporated for the promotion of tourism in Kankakee County, Illinois. Do I have a motion?

I'll make that motion. I'll second. I have a question.

Motion by Annette, seconded by CJ.

I think $80,000 of money for this convention bureau on a three-year contract is crazy because I've never seen on any of the presentations, how this 100% affects Manitino. And my understanding is, as I understand that they get $150,000 grant for four towns, that's $32,500 at $80,000 of money that we spend could help offset some of the costs for the marketing and the advertising we do within our own village events. Like when we have concerts in the park and it costs us $19,000 for concerts in the park and we raise $1,100 for all those events. that could also help promote tourism within our community itself, not Kankakee County because the biggest tourism thing in Kankakee County is Bradley, which is, has nothing to do with this organization. And secondly, when the lady made a presentation the other day, she said that any business in Manitino could join it for $99 a year and get the same things that we're getting for $80,000 a year. So that's where my question is. The money's getting being used for another person to get another staffer in there. I just think that $80,000 we've never tried to do the marketing or the advertisement of Manteano within Manteano and I don't see the a signing a three year contract and we've never tried anything else within our village to promote within our village.

Well, Mike, do I understand you correctly that you don't think we have that money in the budget?

Well, I'd rather use $80,000 instead of doing some marketing to use it for our village events and to make our village events better.

So in other words, we do have it in the budget or don't have it in the budget.

And it will, you're restricted in how you can use hotel tax money.

We can use it only that money is only promote tourism within our town. Right, right, right.

I'm saying you couldn't use it to not, you know, I'm not saying that.

Well, we heard Ashley, you know, uh, speak to this as well. And who in our village would be able to do the same job as effectively if Ashley is saying that we, you know, we don't have that person, who would that be?

Well, at that point with $80,000, I think we'd be able to take a look at that and see what we can do with a hiring another person and help promote tourism within Manitino. I mean, I think that Bradley's left it and done pretty successful with what they've done.

Well, I don't think that we would personally, the village would be able to hire somebody and support the events that you're talking about. I understand your concern about the cost, but if that's the thinking, then why do we pay money to have a village attorney? Why don't we just pretend that we could do that in house?

Todd, we've never, that's a completely discussion of a village attorney.

I'm talking about the time to be changing this.

I view Ashley as our Kinky County person. The KBC is the outside. Again, of course we know about the events. That's what Ashley's for. She's pushing in the county. This person's trying to bring people in from outside of Kinky County like Champaign, like Chicago.

We're not qualified in-house to do what they do. Ashley's speaking to that herself. I think she's absolutely right. We don't have the knowledge or the staff to do that.

I don't feel comfortable with a three-year contract. That's the number one thing. Because in a year from now, there's going to be a new administration. Maybe the administration wants to go a different way with it. I think locking into a three-year contract to have some partnership or everything, a one-year contract, if that's the way they want to go, but three-year contract, that locks us in for three years.

Mike, you would vote for it with a one-year contract?

if it was a one year contract and we see the results for Manitino, not for all Kankakee County and I see the results for Manitino, the town of Manitino and that would be a different story. We have businesses that we presented last thing and I understand that the businesses are no longer with us, but I want to see the true benefit of the $80,000 that we're spending on this and I don't think that's asking a lot. Where is the benefit to it?

I think, I think too. Um, Mike, I, think that there's some point that we need to give direction as to how we want them to operate and what we want them to do part of um joining this is we we do have a seat at the table and i know that mr barnes made it sound like um chris has some sinister motive for being on the board but that's because the mayor appointed him to serve on that board i think that we either need to have someone else be appointed to the board or give chris direction of what we expect out of the visitors bureau if we move forward so um well my thing is too is that and we do get a sec yeah i think the contract did say we get a second we get a second we get two seats at the table for the board correct of which one must be an elected official, am I correct?

So the proposed agreement asks for two board members from each municipality, and we ask that only one be an elected official, if that's what you choose. Right now, Chris is the only non-elected official serving on our board who was appointed by Mayor Lamoure. And also, Trustee Berry, I would like to talk about this $80,000. Last year, the Village of Manteno brought in $86,000 in hotel tax revenue, and that is what is funding this organization, and that is a direct result of the work that our organization has done. Without what we do, That hotel tax money will dwindle year over year until it doesn't exist anymore The bottom line is visit Kankakee County brings visitors to mantino and that's where that funding comes from just to clear that up Okay.

Well just to clear it up to us. Is that? The $19,000 that we spent on our Rocking on the Square main concerts last year, do you know how much money that was brought into that event through sponsorships or anything? I think it was $1,100. And my question is, the two hotels that we have here, the Howard Johnson and the other hotel, if you drive past that hotel, the one especially on County Line Road, I mean on the frontage road, 80% of the trucks that you see in their work trucks. Those are people that are working in the area. It's a long-term stay hotel. Absolutely. So I like to see the numbers of people that aren't working the pipeline or working the solar farm or working at the ComEd plant or working out of town. How many of those people went to the Visit Kankakee County website to pick that hotel?

So I absolutely do have that data and analytics, not right off the top of my head here, though, but I have shared that with Ashley, and I can absolutely share that with you again. I have sent many presentations over the last six months detailing all of this for you, and I'd be happy to share it again anytime.

And what is the salaries of the Kankakee Convention Bureau?

Currently, I am the only employee at the Kankakee County Convention and Visitors Bureau. I'm the executive director, and I make $80,000 a year. Okay.

Can I ask a question? Does the $80,000 come out of the hotel tax?

Correct. The law in the state of Illinois states that any hotel tax revenue has to be spent on tourism-related expenses only. So as much as it would be great to throw that in your general fund and play for pensions or roads or anything like that, it is earmarked by the state of Illinois by law to be used for tourism attraction only. So that's all you would legally be allowed to use that money for.

And I think I pretty well stated that.

Mm-hmm.

that would, what the money would be used for. And it just seems like your biggest person that has tourism or bringing people to the area is Bradley, and Bradley's not involved into it. And as you clearly said, at the last meeting, any business could sign up for that for $99 a year.

So I did actually send that information over after that meeting. That $99 a year only gets you a listing on our website. That is it. No social media promotion. You do not get put in our visitor's guide. We do not add you to any of our itineraries or trails. We don't talk about you on the radio. We don't broadcast you on any of our advertisements. It's literally $100 a year to have a posting on our website. That's all.

And why is it a three-year contract and not a one-year contract?

So advertising and tourism takes time. Creating social media campaigns takes time. Applying for grant funding and matching those grant funds takes time. A one-year agreement does not make sense because we would not have any time to strategically plan for the future of Manteno. The thing with this agreement is that we all have equal voices. This is not just an agreement between the Village of Manteno and the Kankakee County Convention and Visitors Bureau. This is agreement between you and the county, you and the city, you and the village of Bourbonnais. This is a regional partnership where we all work together and pool our resources to make a better impact in our communities because tourism is economic development. And if we work together, we can draw more people into our region to support our businesses.

So I guess my question would be is that if we're drawing so much support for our businesses, why are our businesses closing?

You would have to ask the business owners on that one. That's not anything that we have control over.

I'm not a fan of the three-year contract. I'm just going to be frank with you.

All right, there is a motion on the floor.

I'd be happy to extend a 10-year contract. Thank you.

Zimbleman? Yes. Boudreaux?

Yes.

Berry?

No.

Vaughn? No. Crockett?

Yes.

Geske?

yes motion passes all right ordinance number 26-03 an ordinance establishing a tax reimbursement account for the 2025 tax year and authorizing distributions to owners of taxable homestead property within the village of mantino kankakee county illinois i'll make the motion second i have a question

is this for full reimbursement half reimbursement i mean we are in a 1.6 million dollar deficit and we just gave 80 000 this would be 1.3 million dollars okay what what what i what i asked for last at the last meeting was with the taxes is that

And I know you sent an email to Chris about the when the tax rebate had started and also when The garbage had started and the garbage broke down to twenty seven dollars and fifteen cents per house Which comes from ice per month which comes to an average of three hundred twenty dollars a year our tax rebate was established in 2022 2023 this would be the fourth year of it right correct for you know, this would be the fifth year good and My thing about it is less than a year ago, we all sat and talked and discussed about the property tax rebate for last year. in this upcoming year my thing was is that i would like to see us be able to give a 50 tax rebate to the residents of this town because as well as everybody else knows that the cost is going up our taxes are rising there's a lot of people that are on fixed incomes there's a lot of people that depend on that money some people might not depend on that money but some people do and i just think that at the end of the day is that this year is a 50% tax rebate and then going into next year if nothing's changed and the residents we're gonna make the residents well aware that listen guys if nothing changes in our town we're not going to be able to proceed with this further but I just feel like 50% of that is six hundred thousand six hundred fifty thousand dollars and that's where I just feel like we need to show that the residents that are getting strong-armed on everything that goes on in the state, and it's not our fault, but in our town, I mean, we have not generated any more tax revenue. We're not gonna generate any more tax revenue until we bring new businesses into town. We're at a 30-year property tax freeze with our largest business in town, and the residents have not seen any type of anything off of that business. We have three housing starts, We don't see an influx of jobs. We don't see an influx of union people living in this town. We don't see any of this, and the residents are the ones that are left to deal with this, just like our fire department and the things that are there. I just feel like 50% tax rebate is, yes, it's $600,000, but at the end of the day, at least the residents are getting something back in return until we could figure out as a board as to bring in businesses to help support going forward the tax return and if we don't bring in anything and there's stagnant well at least we said listen this is the last year that we're going to be able to provide this to the homeowners because of everything that's going on in our town yes our town is beautiful but i just feel like 50 tax rebate is not not asking A lot.

So just to put some numbers to this so that the whole community can understand. So from the four years we've been giving the property tax rebate, that's $5 million and 71,000. For the eight years we've been giving garbage back to everyone in town, that's $4.7 million. So almost $10 million we've given back to the town. What's that? That's a good chunk of money back to the town. I mean, you look at any community, I think most communities, I think most of Manteno realized we weren't gonna do this forever. I mean, I've been saying this for an entire year. So I feel like most of the community is aware that this is a possibility that this would go away. I've had residents come up to me and say, we don't want the town to go bankrupt.

Well, then we need to watch the spending.

Correct. This would add another $600,000 into the deficit, which brings it to $2.3 million. We've already said at the board, or some of the board have said that they want to pay for next year's garbage. That would be another $770,000 with that. We have to be fiscally responsible. Right. That should have happened a long time ago. We have. We've improved the town. No, it hasn't. Let's go.

Please, order.

George. We have improved the town. We have given $10 million back to our residents. We've improved the town through parks. George, please. through parks and residents, I feel like the town would be understandable to this. If we wanna do this, the only reason, the only way to me that I would vote yes on this is if we say we're not gonna do anything next year because that would be about the cost of the garbage next year. But I would rather do the garbage next year even though it's gonna add to the deficit because it impacts everybody. Where this I feel like is up and down. But again, that's just my opinion. I just want us to be as fiscally responsible as possible so that we don't be the first administration to run out of money. I don't want to do that.

I appreciate that and kind of to speak to that. And it's not that it's a secret of my opinion with this tax rebate because I've said several times that I'm not in favor of it. We have talked about it almost this entire year that there's a good chance that this tax rebate would not be available. And when the tax rebate went into play, it wasn't a promise that this tax rebate would be infinite, right? We basically funded that tax rebate off of the interest we were making on the millions of dollars that we had that we gave back. We did improvements. We included assets on our books. Going back to your meeting, Mike, back on April the 3rd, your finance meeting, it was discussed at that time, we've got a deficit in the budget right now, $1,639,000. $925. I mean, I would love to be able to say, yes, let's give the tax rebate back. I mean, I'd get a tax rebate myself, right? I live here, of course. My concern is where does that money come from? We haven't increased revenues. We haven't figured out any additional sources of revenue. So again, trying to be fiscally responsible where if somebody could show me where that money would come from, I'd be all in favor of doing that. But as of, as we sit here right now, I'm looking at the numbers and read $1,639 or $39,925. Where is that money coming from? How can we, how can we give away another 600,000 on top of that? Again, it's not a secret my thoughts on this. I'm not in favor of it because we don't have it. It's no different than running your own household. If you don't have the money, you can't buy it. At least that's what you're told.

Todd, answer me this question. How did we get in this position?

How did we get to this position? How were we able to give the tax rebates?

How did we get in this response? that we are in this position that we are right now is because we had Main Street, we took out sidewalks three different times on Main Street. You know what? I just feel that it has been irresponsible of this past board You didn't watch the money. You didn't watch anything.

You watched it fly away. We watched it in improvements and assets in our community. Right.

You did things that have to be maintained.

Please address the chairman.

It's not a secret that I'm not in favor of it unless we can find the money.

Mayor, if I may, what's your thoughts on this?

I think I have faith that there will be some money in our account next year and that we will be able to give something. I'm hoping that we can give partial payment.

How do we make these decisions on faith and not facts?

I'm going to be honest with you, Todd. If we're going to make decisions on fakes and not facts, We gave a 30-year tax break to a company that's done actually nothing. It has done not one positive thing to our town. Not one positive thing.

Mike, I think that would depend on what you think is positive and what's not positive.

Well, it's reality, Todd. I don't live in fantasy land.

I live in reality. And the reality is we don't have the extra $600,000 to give away right now. As much as I'd like to, Mike, and I know you would, we all would as a board.

We have $600,000 and a bridge that we don't know when it's going to be built. We don't know when that bridge is going to be built. We have no idea.

All right. There's a motion on the floor. I think we need to take a vote. Barry?

Yes.

Vaughn?

No. Boudreaux?

No.

Crockett? No. Geske?

No.

Zimbalman? No.

All right. It fails. All right. Our final consideration tonight is a motion to approve the payment of the bills in the amount of $112,506 and 98 cents, including Tiff number three at $0.

I'll make that motion.

Motion by Barry.

I'll second.

Second by Crockett.

Barry?

Yes.

Crockett?

Yes.

Boudreaux?

Yes.

Vaughn? Yes. Geske? Yes.

Yes.

Zimbleman? Yes.

Motion carries. All right, comments. Annette, would you like to start tonight?

No, I have nothing tonight. Thanks.

Joel?

A couple things. First one is a quick question. During our last Finance Committee meeting, we talked about our accounts. Sheila, have we started? The auditor during last meeting exposed all of the Village accounts. and account numbers. We talked about the need to change it over. Have we started transitioning and closing accounts and opening new accounts to protect the village money?

The forensic auditor published an unredacted report that was then made public with our bank account numbers. Since then, we've had to contact all of our financial institutions to ask them to close our accounts and reissue new account numbers.

Okay, so we've started that process.

We have started that process.

Okay, that was my question to make sure that our funds are protected, so thank you.

Todd?

Oh, I had a couple more quick comments, if you don't mind. Sure. I'd like to take a moment and thank Alan Pickerel for his service, although it was short. Anytime someone volunteers for public service, I think that they take on a task that sometimes is thankless. So I'd like to thank him for his time that he spent with us and welcome Steve to the board. And then the next thing I had was just a quick comment regarding things that Ms. Chisholm and Ms. Gates had said during public comment. understand that I have never blamed the public for any decisions that we've made. And to your point, I guess both of you have indicated that to some degree we don't listen to comments made. We do listen to the comments made. We don't always necessarily agree with the comments made though. So understand the difference between listening and disagreeing. I hear every comment and to Ms. Gates' indication there, sometimes we're frustrated We keep hearing the same comments time after time after time about decisions that were made almost three, four years ago now. Those sometimes do go by the wayside. We're moving forward, not looking backwards. Thank you. That's all.

Thank you. Todd?

I just want to clarify a couple of things in regards to how I voted on a couple of items this evening. The first item was a motion to appoint Chris Philbeam. I voted no on that. I've never met Chris, quite honestly. I don't know if Chris is a man or a woman. He's a man. Okay. I've never met them, so I'm not going to vote on somebody that I don't know. And I would think if they were serious about the position, they would have been here this evening. Um, I abstained, uh, for voting on Dolly Carson, uh, Dolly and I have known each other for many years. She was nice enough to help me when I was running the MIB program. She was a great volunteer. And because of our, um, I'll call it friendship, personal relationship. I thought there was just too close of a tie there for me to vote one way or the other on that. The KVCC, I voted in favor of that. It's a pass-through tax. I think they will do a much better job than we have the ability to do in-house right now. Maybe that'll change at some point in the future, but I think they're doing a fine job right now. The last comment is one of the public participants had mentioned that the male trustees are condescending to the female trustees. I can tell you personally, I look at, uh, the mayor and Peggy is, is equals. Um, I don't look at them any different. Um, I trust, uh, I, I value their opinion. Um, so I'm going to treat them just like I treat the rest of the board. I'm not going to treat them any differently just because they're female. Um, so I don't think I'm being condescending when I put them at the same level as myself. So that's it.

thank you peggy i have nothing more to say this evening thank you cj uh just as we already said school's out so be prepared for a lot more kids to be out and about um i just want to shout out that uh feast park this weekend was so packed and it was packed like late to the night probably to the maybe a grin of the of the police but it was awesome to see so many kids and adults out and about The Harley-Davidson event on Saturday was done very well, and that kind of maybe helped draw attention to that stuff, which was great. NYBSL seems to be going great. I walked through there. Love seeing kids doing well and all that kind of stuff. And then finally, just some shout-outs as sports season ends. Briggs Kan from Manteno plays fifth at State this weekend in the 400. He ran it in 49.01. I will tell you just as a joke, I decided, I teach him, so I said, let me just go run a 400. I can't beat him. I think he doubled my time, or I doubled his time. So I won't challenge him any time. Sophia Most got fourth in state in discus. Clark Goranson got fifth in both the 800 and 1600. Olivia McElroy got eighth in the high jump. All of them are coming back next year. So it's very exciting for our track program. Our boys' baseball team won a regional title at home on Saturday, which is awesome. And they will play Wilmington Wednesday at Hersher at 4.30 p.m. And then, as Ashley said, just to repeat, we got cruise night tomorrow night on the Main Street. We got the market on Wednesday. And then we got Ride for Life on Saturday. So a lot of good events going on in town. Oh, and Movies in the Park. Zootopia 2 is a great movie. Big fan of my fiance.

CJ, don't feel bad. I don't think I could beat him if I was driving my car around there. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you. Mike?

I just want to say that it's been interesting to see how the opposition to the Illinois Build Act has built up and it stopped it. That was because people didn't want stuff to happen in their town. They didn't allow our governor to get his way this time. And I think that's huge. And that's why we have senators and representatives, if there's issues or problems with the bills that he's trying to pass, it's huge. I did chuckle when they dropped off a 3,500 page budget to those representatives and they had eight hours to review it, which is kind of funny to me, but it is what it is. And other than that, I appreciate everything and I look forward to working with you, Steven. And that's all I have.

I just want to reach out and say thank you to Alan Pickerel. We're so sorry that he had to step down, but he did it for personal reasons, and he will be missed. And welcome to Stephen Orth. Thank you so much for accepting this position.

And that's all I have for tonight, and I will accept a motion to adjourn. So moved.

So moved by Joel Geske.

I'll second.

Second by Crockett. All in favor? Aye.

Thank you.