Village Board of Trustees - Regular Meeting

Good evening, everybody. I'd like to call this meeting to order. This is the Village of Arlingtonites Village Board meeting for May 18, 2026. And if you could all please rise and join us in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic Thank you, everybody. Maggie, could you please call the roll?

Trustee Bertucci?

Here.

Trustee Zick?

Here.

Trustee Schwingbeck?

Here.

Trustee Santa Maria? Here. Trustee Manganiello?

Here.

Trustee Dunnington? Here. Trustee Gilbert?

Here.

Trustee LeBeds? Here. President Tenaglia?

Here. Thank you, Maggie. So we have a few items on our agenda today. The first one is an approval of minutes, and that is for a meeting on 5-4-26. Are there any questions or comments on that set of minutes from anyone on the board? Is there anyone that needs to recuse themselves or pass? I'll pass. Pass, registered for Trustee Schwingbeck. Anyone else? Any questions from anyone in the audience based on the minutes for 5-4-26? Seeing none, is there a motion to approve?

I'll move approval of the minutes of 5-4-2026. Second.

Motion made by Trustee LaBette, second by Trustee Dunnington. Any further discussion? If not, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. All right, then we'll move on to the accounts payable. And for that, I will call on Trustee Bertucci.

Thank you, Mayor. I will move approval of the warrant register for the check date May 15th, 2026 in the amount of $2,527,434.72. Second. Okay, motion made by Trustee Bertucci, seconded by Trustee Schwingbeck. Any further discussion from anyone on the board?

Anything from anyone in the audience? Seeing none, this is a roll call vote.

Trustee Bertucci?

Yes.

Trustee Schwingback?

Yes.

Trustee Manganiello?

Aye.

Trustee Dunnington? Yes. Trustee Gilbert?

Yes.

Trustee LeBetz? Yes. Trustee Zik?

Yes.

Trustee Santa Maria? Yes. President Tenaglia?

Yes. Thank you, Maggie. All right. I guess now we're on to the fun part of the meeting. There's a room full of some fabulous athletes that we're here to celebrate, some coaches, some family members. Is there someone, like one of the coaches, that plans to come up and address the board? The way I understand it, this is a group of basketball players that have achieved something that Hersey has not done in many, many years. So Trustee Gilbert brought it to our attention and said, you know what, this is worth honoring. And when I took office, I thought to myself, let's try and recognize some young people in town here as often as we can, and what better way to do it than with the Hersey basketball team. So please, introduce yourself.

Thank you very much for having us today. My name is Bob Wodlowski. I'm the varsity basketball coach of Hersey High School. We appreciate you guys inviting us to come on out to the Village Board Meeting of Arlington Heights. We are here to recognize these athletes. We're very fortunate to have a lot of them make it tonight, even though the seniors are graduating next week. So thank you for the flexibility on the dates. We can get as many kids we have here. Hershey basketball was 22-8 this year, Thanksgiving champions, regional champions. And as you stated, these young men, a great group of student athletes, were the sectional champions this year, the first time in 30 years at Hershey High School. Athletes here, we have many athletes here. Athletes on the team, Logan Luxem, Ethan Greese, Charlie Pomas, Zell Walton, Lincoln Burke, Mikey DeVito, Kyle Irwin, Will Beck, Colin Fahey, Kyle Parker-Peterson, Jake Narwat, Griff McNeil, Eli Leyva, Jack Ballas, Tristan Trotter, and Coach Yano. Again, thank you very much for having us. We appreciate this honor from the village of Arlington Heights. Thank you very much.

You know what? Stay there. I'm going to come down. We're going to get these young men to come up. Say hello.

Come up here, sir.

Come on up. Guys, why don't we do it this way. Come up first. Are there other coaches here with you? Coach Yantle's here too. Bring all the coaches up here. Come on up. Congratulations, first of all. Wonderful. Thank you very much, appreciate it. And what I'd like you to do, take this and announce their names one at a time so they get properly recognized. Okay. Coaches, come on up. The other coaches.

This is Coach Yantle. We have Ethan Gries. Jack Ballas. Tristan Trotter. Eli Leyva. Kyle Irwin. Logan Luxem. Zell Walton. Lincoln Burke. Griff McNeil. Will Beck. Colin Fahey. and Charlie Pomus. Logan and Charlie are our captains. Landslide, a word?

I mean, I have nothing planned, but I think something that just showed me a lot from this group is we didn't start the best. We had a bunch of adversity. We obviously practice hard every day and we're mad at each other a bunch, but I feel like we've overcome that and obviously did a great job as a team this year.

Like Logan said, we have nothing planned, but I just want to thank our coaches for the season. We couldn't have done it without them. And then obviously these great teammates over here. We couldn't have done it without them. We want to thank you guys for having us. And yeah, thank you.

All right. Well, I think we want to take a couple pictures together, if you don't mind. Are there parents in the audience anybody's parents raise your hand if you are I think congratulations goes to you too because this doesn't happen without the moms and dads so way to go moms and dads I'm sure you guys Thank you for being here. It's been wonderful to see you all. Best of luck, whatever. Are some of you juniors or sophomores? Who's a senior? Raise your hand if you're a senior. Well, whatever you do next year, wherever you're going, best of luck to all of you. I hope you do really well. Keep it going. Thank you. Thank you, guys. Yeah, you guys can all check out Probably have some better things to do with your time tonight at least more fun anyway Okay, so we'll go on in our agenda and recognitions and communications. Trustee LeBetz had a comment she wanted to make. So go ahead.

Thank you, Mayor Tenaglia. I actually have, I'll say, three comments. The first one is just a reminder that Monday is Memorial Day, and so we have the parade, and it culminates at Memorial Parade. Park at Fremont and Chestnut with tremendous and very inspirational recognition for our veterans and especially recognitions for those Arlington Heights residents who lost their lives in combat. So please remember that. I'd also mention that a Blue Star Memorial was dedicated yesterday by the Arlington Heights sign between Evergreen, it's Clock Tower Park it's called, and it's between Evergreen and Arlington Heights Road. Mayor Tenaglia and I and Trustee Manganiello were all there and that was also very moving and inspirational. So make a point to stop by there. So now I'm going to get to the stuff that's maybe a little less happy, if you will. And that is the issue of alfresco and the e-bikes and e-scooters and other e-forms of transportation. First of all, I just want to remind people that you're not supposed to be riding e-bikes, even bicycles, unicycles, not motorcycles, but scooters of any kind in the alfresco zone unless, of course, you have a mobility kind of mechanism like a wheelchair, a motorized wheelchair or something like that, or you're a toddler in a stroller. I'm seeing too much of that. I had an incident happen recently where there was a group of about three tweens, they were not really even old enough to be riding any of these, were riding around and around in the alfresco zone, and as my family and I were trying to exit by Shakuh, where the Jersey barriers are, they tried to make me step aside for them, even though if they'd given me a chance to go five more steps, I would have been out of their way. And I asked them, they would be patient. A few choice words were said under one of the person's breath. I then saw the same group of kids riding up Vail, one of them on a motorized bike, popping a wheelie, on Vail by the library. And if you're familiar with that area, people turn south from Euclid onto Vail. And they are not going to be expecting some kid on a motorized bike popping a wheelie in the middle of the road. So I'd like to remind people. of the dangers that these things can create. I understand that it helps people get around, but they also need to do it in a correct manner. And we do have an ordinance on the books, which does have some restrictions. I'd like to just remind people about that. And writing recklessly is one of those things that is banned. I know the state is working on possibly making some statewide regulations for these types of vehicles, and I'll call them vehicles because they're motorized, but it's really important. I don't want for us to have another incident like we had when we talked about this ordinance back in September where a young man riding an e-biker scooter, I'm not sure which, was killed in Arlington Heights. We don't need that. or someone getting injured. So it's really important. So reiterate two things, know, wield, walk your bikes, whatever kind of bike, scooter, whatever they are, in alfresco, and then operate them correctly if you have them and also young you know people under a certain age aren't even supposed to be writing some of those things according to our ordinance excuse me our ordinance police can't be everywhere to you know remind kids that they are writing recklessly so it's up really to parents and and others to make sure that we're safe, they're safe, and we'll all be a lot happier. Thanks.

Thanks, Trustee LeBetz. Well said. It is really, they're children, they're young people, and they feel like sometimes they have more courage than their body allows them to maintain. And so we as parents, all the parents who are listening at home and here tonight, it's our job to keep them safe, keep them educated so that our police chiefs and our fire chiefs and all the emergency paramedics don't have to deal with another disaster. Once is too many, so well said. Thank you for bringing it up.

Thank you.

Anybody else? Trustee Schwingbeck.

Mayor, if I could, I just want to add one more thing to piggyback on Memorial Day. So along the parade route, we've got Scout Troop 32 from Arlington Heights, along with some residents and community leaders that are going to be handing out all along the parade route an Arlington Remember sign. On the back of that sign are all the fallen heroes from Arlington Heights that have given their life going all the way back to the Civil War to present time. It's really important with those signs at the beginning of the parade when the veterans come by, hold those signs up really high and show your support for our veterans. That's the purpose that the committee printed those signs in the first place. So we're handing them out prior to the parade. If we see blankets on the ground, we're going to be laying those signs on the ground for people that come a little bit later to hold up when the veterans come by. So thank you.

Thank you, Trustee Schwingbeck. Appreciate that. Anyone else? Okay, then we'll move on to citizens to be heard. And I do have a small stack of cards, citizens to be heard. These are for topics and items that are not on the agenda. And I have one, two, three, four cards. If I have someone misplaced for a different agenda item, I apologize, raise your hand and correct me. The first one is Fred. Fred, vote. Come on up, Fred.

Good evening, Mayor and trustees. I'm Fred Vogt. I'm a member of the Arlington Heights Senior Citizens Commission. I'm here tonight to publicize and try to get the word out regarding our annual Kenneth Hood Senior Service Volunteer Award. Do you know someone that volunteers their time to help older adults? Do you know someone that goes above and beyond to support seniors? Do you know someone who quietly makes a difference but never seeks any recognition? We would like to hear from people that know seniors or people that are in the business volunteering to help seniors. They don't have to be at the Arlington Heights Senior Center. They could be at community churches. that have senior programs, that could be at some of our senior living facilities within the village. They don't have to be a senior to be nominated. We have high school students that volunteer some of their time at the senior center for programs. We want to hear from those that have someone that they think could be considered for this It's, as I said, an annual award. We take nominations. Through early June, as a commission, we review the nominations, select the person that we feel is the most outstanding in providing services to our senior community. And on July 31st, which was Kenneth Hood's birthday, we make the public announcement. And then later on in August, September, typically bring that person or persons here for recognition by the Mayor and the Board of Trustees. If there are questions in this regard, please contact Tracy Colagrosi, who is the Senior Center Coordinator. There are forms that we have Only takes a few minutes for someone to fill that out and we would appreciate that greatly So this is just my kind of public relations Announcement to share with all of you and to anyone that watches the meetings.

Thank you. Great. Thank you Fred Thank you for all you do at the senior commission and our senior center fabulous Programs over there. I know we were blessed to have it. We're blessed to have you. Thank you.

I

Next on the list here is Devin Gray.

Hi, Mr. Mayor. Hello, trustees. Thank you for the time today. My name is Devin Gray. I am a resident here in town. I'm also a small business owner here in town. I'm really grateful. I've been up here a few times to talk about short-term rentals, and I'm very grateful to say that five of the trustees on the other side of this board have already sat down, had conversations with me, got one or two others scheduled, and we're moving in the right direction. I'm very grateful that you have all taken the moments out of your time and your schedule to talk to me about this item. This item is near and dear to my heart. It's part of my family's livelihood. It's extremely important to us. I have the time to do some research on this, and I know that you guys have a lot of topics that you need to do research on, so I thought I'd provide some extra research on this topic here today. There's three examples I want to talk through. The first one is our neighbor down Route 14 here in Evanston. Several years ago, Evanston had a ban in place for short-term rentals, and there was actually a property at 2500 North Ashland that they had routine issues with. It was listed on Craigslist, and part of the description said, we have enough coolers here for all of your beverages. Pretty obviously listed as a party home. was an issue for the neighbors. They actually got a petition signed by 127 neighbors around this home. The problem is it was already banned. Short-term rentals were already banned there in Evanston, but Evanston lacked the teeth to follow through and actually secure that ban. So they got into the habit of sending police to that home every single day, knocking on the door and asking the tenants why they were there. But the tenants were well-coached that, hey, just tell them when they get there that you're family members. There's not a whole lot they could do. This went on for years. There were protracted legal battles. And finally, Evanston recently approved some regulations, very smart regulations. For example, they have an annual inspection. They require floor plans to be posted with the village and they require an evacuation route to be posted. So there's safety in mind here. They only allow property managers who live within three miles of Evanston. So they prevent that concern that private equity is going to buy up the neighborhood. And they cap it at one unit per 100 long-term rentals there in town. Again, making sure that the character of their neighborhood remains unchanged. Pretty small number. For us here in Arlington Heights, we have a stock of about 8,500 long-term apartments. So that would mean maybe 85 short-term rentals. Village staff has shared we probably have 20 to 30 active here today. So that's what happened in Evanston. I'm going to move quickly. Glen Ellen. Glen Ellen is currently in the midst of a legal battle. This has been updated as recently as last week, where a judge ruled that their short-term rental ban, which was done the same way as ours, based on a noise ordinance, was unconstitutional in all likelihood, based on the first, fifth, and 14th Amendment. That ban has been struck. Now, my encouragement, my ask, Mr. Mayor, is to please ask that the village staff here look into what costs our village could be facing if we are going to go down the same legal path. And again, I would just encourage you to please instruct the village staff to look into those costs. Contact both Glen Ellyn and Barrington Hills. We're there four years into their Wortham versus Barrington Hills case from 2022. Figure out what costs we may be looking at as a villager. Thank you. Okay. Thank you, Devin.

I think staff heard loud and clear, so we can certainly do some digging, do some more research. Next is David Corney. Did I say that right?

Pretty good.

Close? Pretty good, close. Mr. Mayor, Board, thank you for the opportunity to talk. I'm concerned that the village hasn't sought more input from residents about the Bears potential move. And I understand there's not a lot of information to go off of up to date, but we're coming to a head in the next couple weeks probably. Bears are meeting with the NFL tomorrow and they'll probably have a decision from there. But I get asked for input from you guys about things like Hintz Road reconstruction. What are your thoughts on that? District 214 asked about, you know, they got a lot of building renovations, 800 million. They sent out a questionnaire, multiple options with that. They're looking at a referendum in November, potentially. This is, I think we can all agree, this is gonna be a decision that changes Arlington Heights one way or another. more than any other decision in our history. And I don't feel like the residents have had a voice saying, we keep saying public forums are coming up, public forum. The time is now to get those scheduled. We gotta get moving, because after they make a decision or whatever happens soon, there's gonna be a lot of pressure to move quickly. And we also have the shape of a mega legislation, a mega projects legislation to talk about too. So there isn't nothing to talk about. It's got to go through the Senate, as you guys know. It's going to get amended. But as of now, anyone who's reviewed it says this is a huge property tax shift, a massive one, a massive tax break. And Arlington Heights residents should have a say in that. We should have a say on if we're willing to take on that risk. We need to at least be talking about it. Frankly, should have already had a sediment poll done by an Ipsos or YouGov or Gallup. You should know if residents support tax payer funding for the stadium. Our village should have had that input already. We should put this on the referendum. This is a major billion-dollar decision that's going to affect all of us, and you guys, too, because you all live here. We're behind, in my opinion. I don't think you've given enough input to us in formal. We need scientific data, not pep rallies run by, you know, pro-business groups. We need more, because this is going to happen really quick, and it needs to start now from the perspective of getting the public involved more. So... Does anyone here oppose to a referendum in November pushing for that, supporting that?

I think what we're going to do is we're not going to answer that question because it's not on the agenda here for tonight. I understand what you're saying.

Are you opposed to the concept, Mr. Mayor?

I have very, very specific thoughts about referendums. And so I'm not going to really voice that here tonight. But I will tell you that I stand exactly where you stand. I'm concerned. I want to make sure this is done right. I just ran through almost a year-long campaign, and one of the big topics was this. So I get it, and I absolutely understand. I may understand more than most by virtue of what I do every day in my regular life. So my commitment to this community has been and remains, this will be done really, really well, really, really carefully, really, really transparent, really, really thoughtful. or it won't happen. It's going to be carefully scrutinized and carefully planned. And it hasn't started all those details just yet because the bears have had some difficulties with deciding where they're going to actually build. So we might know more in the next week and a half to two weeks. And at that point, it may be a a heroic movement forward or it may be something that has to be thought more about but it it would be silly to do anything more than wait right now and see pardon me see what springfield comes up with in the next two weeks but then we need to start talking right We have been talking for four years.

Well, I know you're talking. I mean, is everyone here involved in that intensively or is it just the two of you?

No, no. Everybody up here knows exactly where we stand.

Well, it doesn't seem like the mayors of the other towns are happy with their position in the conversation. which was in the papers.

Well, I, I'm not going to go into a further dialogue with you over this tonight, but I can promise you that they will be made straight. Those, those other mayors and I have communications and we will make sure that they get a seat at the table. No doubt about it.

Okay. Well, we'll be back in two weeks.

You bet. Next is Norbert Norbert Petrowski.

Good evening, Mayor and Village Board. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to speak tonight. You've heard from me before, and it's similar to what was just said. The front page of the Daily Herald today is Arlington Heights. Neighboring communities want in on Bears Talks. And it's a large article. It's the front lead article. And a week ago, I sent a letter to the editor, to the Daily Herald, and they published it a week ago today on May 11th. And it's very similar to this kind of a thing. So maybe it just jogged their memory or something. But anyway, they... they're concerned about, I won't go through everything, it'll take too long, traffic studies, and the three mayors, you know, Palatine, Rolling Meadows, and Schaumburg, infrastructure, $850 million, who's going to pay for that? And the mayor of Palatine says, I'm not paying $1 for this kind of a stuff or any kind of a debt financing to pay for the bearers. They do it on their own. The mayor of Schaumburg says, look at that intersection at Route 53 and out, Interstate 90. It's a disaster. What happens when we get traffic from that stadium? And Anyway, it goes on and on with that. I talked about a lot of that stuff before. And the only thing is, I don't think there's been transparency in this village for what happens here. I started this talking and looking into this in December. And the study they have is two years old. It's not sufficient. And it's all rah, rah, rah, bear fever. What's the negatives? 80%, 90% of the large stadiums in the United States have been built in the last 30 years or so. They're dissatisfied. They got screwed on the taxes. That's what happened. So anyway, this is coming up to the Senate, the Illinois Senate, by the end of this month. And there may be a resolution to this, this pilot program. I don't think that's going to fly. It's not enough money to pay for all the schools that they would get otherwise if that site was developed into a private development, you know, alternate uses. So anyway, we'll see what happens in two weeks, and that may kill the whole thing. But thanks for your opportunity to allow me to speak.

Thanks, Norbert. Is there any one that I omitted or ignored that would wish to be heard here during Citizens to be Heard? I think I've got the cards organized right, but I may have, I see one hand. Come on up and introduce yourself.

Okay. I don't know if I'm on your list or not, but my name's Brian Krause, and again, I just want to thank everyone for giving me the opportunity to come up here and speak to you tonight.

Sure.

I back up to Centennial Park. I've lived there for over 30 years. 30 years.

Is this going to be about Centennial Park?

The flooding issues.

Randy? We're going to be talking about Centennial Park in a few minutes.

So I should hold off and fill it? Did you fill out a card, too, or no?

No.

Okay. It's okay. You don't have to. Okay. But that's an item that's on the agenda, Centennial Park, so I'll remember.

I know it's on the agenda. I just didn't know if my piece was on the agenda.

Well, Centennial Park.

We'll address it. We'll address it. Got it. Thank you.

We'll give you an opportunity to be fair. Yeah. Anyone else on something that's not on the agenda? I see another hand. Go ahead and introduce yourself, please.

Well, yeah, this is a good, a nice time to talk about this. My wife has, is in the hospice stage of ALS. And if you're familiar with it, it's a progressive molar neuron condition. We had the opportunity to have the fire department help us get up the steps a couple of times, and it really worked out well. What I didn't want to do was abuse the system because the fire department, probably the chief know what a great crew they had. They were more than happy to help us get up the seven or eight steps up to the up to the condo. And now we have to get them going down the steps as well. So we just don't want to abuse the system. But I was asking, I guess it was the ADA lady at Arlington Heights, is there a policy in place that we could use some of the services when we have to and not abuse it? if you get one of them.

Yeah, no, I understand what you're saying. And what I can do is I can ask our village manager if there's a response that I can get for you here, okay? I appreciate your comments. Thank you.

Randy, is there a... Just a big thank for the chief and his crew. I would... More than helpful.

Yeah, they're the best in the business, no doubt about it.

They sure are. Thank you.

Go ahead, Randy.

I was going to say, I'll give you my business card, and if you want to give me a call or an email tomorrow, I'll get you in contact with the right folks from our Health and Human Services Department that can probably answer your questions better than anyone here can. Okay.

Thank you.

Okay. Anyone else? Seeing none, we'll move on to the next item on the agenda, and that is the consent agenda. And this is a vote with items A through E on our agenda here. It will be one vote for all items unless anyone on the village board here wishes to remove an item for discussion. Is there anyone here on the board that wants to remove an item on the agenda? Is there anyone on the board that wants to vote no or pass on any item on the agenda? Seeing none, is there someone in the audience that would ask one of the commissioners to remove an item from this consent agenda? I see a hand raised, and I think I saw a comment for Mr. Moon. Do you want to come up and speak your wish here?

Thank you, President Tenaglia. I'd ask that the board remove consent agenda item E, which is the contract, what's it say here? Awarding a contract for 2026 MFT street construction.

Okay. Is there someone on the board who's willing to do that for this resident?

Yes, Mr. Mayor, I'd be happy to remove that item.

Okay, so we will remove item E to be discussed separately. And we will reconsider this consent agenda as items A through D only at this point. Is there any discussion on any items? No one else in the audience that needs to have anything removed, correct? Okay. So I'm looking for a motion. Trustee Schwingbeck?

I would move that we approve consent agenda items A through D. Second.

Motion made by Trustee Schwingbeck, seconded by Trustee LeBetz to approve items A through D only. Any further discussion? If not, roll call vote, please.

Trustee Schwengbeck? Yes. Trustee LeBetz? Yes. Trustee Zick?

Yes.

Trustee Manganiello?

Aye.

Trustee Gilbert? Yes. Trustee Santa Maria? Yes. Trustee Bertucci? Yes. Trustee Dunnington? Yes. President Tenaglia?

Yes. Okay, so that motion carries for those four items. And I think we'll take up item E right now, unless there's someone who has reason we shouldn't. We'll take up item E. Trustee Manganiello honored this request. I think what we should do is call up Mr. Mones again, and maybe he can speak his concern with why he wanted this removed.

Thank you once again, President Tenaglia. We'd ask for this to be removed, but in my opinion, this project is very welcome. I think it's an excellent project and should move forward. But as a bicyclist and a member of the Safe Streets Alliance, we routinely examine these types of projects from a bicyclist and from a pedestrian's point of view. The concern with this one is that bicycles are sharing a lane that is also designed for vehicle parking, and that can be extremely hazardous, especially to the bicyclist. For example, on the south side of Davis and Sigwald, right out here, East of Belmont, there is a combined bicycle parking lane eastbound to roughly Cleveland Avenue. I would never attempt to squeeze past a parked vehicle to stay within those lane lines for the fear of being doored. Now maybe you, for those who don't know what doored means, it's when you're riding past a car and they flip the door open unexpectedly. It's not fun and it hurts a lot. As a result, the combined bicycle parking configuration forces the bicyclist then to swerve into the traffic to avoid the potential of being doored. So finally, I would ask that the board please amend this 2026 MFT street construction contract to include physical barriers of separation between the vehicle parking part and the bicycle lane usage. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Moons. There is another resident that had submitted a card to speak on this exact topic, and it's Rob Rodecki. Rob, want to come on up?

Thank you, Mayor and the Board and Bill for removing this to discuss. So I second Mr. Moon's comments here in that we welcome overall this, you know, some bike infrastructure and pedestrian infrastructure being added to it. However, we do think that the shared bike parking and parking lanes are insufficient. We requested it be removed, and that the standard should, moving forward for this one and in general, should be that bike lanes are separated from parking, whether it be bike lane, parking, curb, or more ideally, parking, bike lane, curb, and as Mr. Moon suggested, separated with plastic bollards or something similar to that. There is a general trend and rising interest in our community in biking and active transportation, both among adults and families with children. Communities like Evanston, Niles, and Oak Park have been installing protected lanes, and locally, as I mentioned, there is a growing interest. We had our Arlington Heights community bike ride just last week. It was very well attended, included by many family members. And I know that many of them, talking to them, do not feel safe on a general day riding around on the streets with their children. I myself have two kids. I love biking to school to and from them, from Westgate. My little one wants to bike on the street like a lot of the other people do, but I feel somewhat unsafe doing that with him. So we do try to do it in a safe way with him, but having protected lanes like on Dwyer where we ride would be very helpful. We in the Safe Streets Alliance have also started doing a community slow ride monthly. We had our first one last month and had 17 people attend, a mixture of kids and adults, mostly family members. And then we have our next one coming up this Friday and are expecting it to be even larger. So let's recognize that many of our residents like to have the choice to get around using active transport, including families, and give them safe routes to do so. We know walkability generally is seen as a desirable thing for home values and communities, and for studies, bikeability generally follows the same trends. So it's not just good for protecting the safety of our residents, it's good for the perception of our community. Thank you.

Thank you, Robert. Manager Raklos, on this particular item, I GUESS THE QUESTION THAT I WOULD LIKE TO ASK IS THE BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN COMMISSION, WERE THEY INVOLVED IN THIS DESIGN OR IN THIS CONCEPT AT ALL? I DO KNOW THIS PROJECT HAS BEEN BID.

with the specs that are in there. And so to revisit it, it would have to be rebid, probably would compromise the timing for it to be done this year. And I know this is MFT money, so I'm not sure what would happen to our allotment of MFT money for this year. But I'll let Mr. Papernian comment on that.

Yeah, absolutely. About four years ago, the Bike and Pet Committee had asked to try the Chevron or shared parking stall. That was done as a temporary basis, knowing that this would be reconstructed in the future. We inspected the area, studied to make sure that they're witnessing the traffic counts looking for parking, seeing which side made sense, or if parking would be a problem, if it was significantly used in parking, you typically wouldn't want a shared lane. We identified that the White Oak did not have a significant amount of parking used. The committee agreed. We did the temporary striping. So like I said, several years ago, I could be off, it might be six, I'm getting older, it could be 10.

I apologize for that.

But it was several years ago in conjunction with the Bike and Pet Committee. Then it was pushed and moved forward with the design of the reconstruction of White Oak, which is the reconstruction of the road this year. We did look, as requested by the board, to look in for enhanced services and additional bike and pedestrian mobility. The decision was between Wilkie and Weber to add a separate shared path because there was right-of-way allowed there. So the plan currently is the shared path, as the residents had mentioned, and then transverse to a separated shared multi-use path where appropriate, where we had right-of-way. Okay, that's the plan moving forward and the bike and pedestrian committee was aware. Okay, very good. Thank you.

Are there questions from the board? Anyone else on the board for this particular item? Is there anyone prepared to make a motion on this?

May I ask Director Paperniak a question? Can you help me understand where those right-of-ways allow the separation rather than the shared parking? Do you have that at your fingertips?

With, I do not. I do not. I was not involved in that time. I heard the discussion. I asked if we were able to do it throughout. They felt zigzagging. There was more property on the north because of the bike path, because of the golf course, but they said they lost it further west, so they said where they had an obvious location to do a multi-shared path, and during recon was Weber Drive to Wilkie was the appropriate location. That's where we were having a separate shared, and then we're continuing the temp project that committee thought was successful with the shared bike and parking lanes. And that's been a plan we've been using for several years now. We have not been given direction for separated bicycle paths.

Thank you.

Just as a quick follow-up, are there other examples in town that this exists in this exact fashion?

There are on Dryden. There's several others I don't have on top of my list, but we've been trying.

This would not be the first.

This would not be the first. We've been doing it in conjunction with the bike. Every year or two, we add another one according to the bike plan, which is being recommended to be redone this year, so something we'll absolutely be able to talk about and make adjustments as necessary. It just was not on our radar.

Got it. Okay. Anyone else on the board? Trustee Santa Maria.

Thank you. Is it fair to say then if we didn't approve this in the way that it is, the MFT funds would go away? We couldn't use it for this project or what would that look like?

We don't have funds for this project outside of MFT. If we didn't do it this year, we would, since we didn't award the contract, I don't believe we'd have to cancel it. The funding, we would not have an opportunity to build it this year. I need the entire season. The funding would just go back into our balance to be reused at another time.

Thank you.

Trustee Donington?

My question was similar. It was just that are we able to make any changes to the contract without jeopardizing the grant?

This is not a grant. It's more refuel tax. So it's general revenue funds that we use. I'm sorry, more refuel tax funds that we use. Changes, just there's costs involved. I don't think I could get any changes this year redesigned, reviewed, brought through IDOT, and built this year. That would not happen.

If I could, I mean, you know, we have obviously the entire town, the road system is deteriorating at all times. And so we always try to take bites out of it every year to kind of fight that fight and, you know, keep renewing it as it deteriorates. And so I think, correct me if I'm wrong, Mr. Perniak, if we didn't spend this money this year, the amount of roads we would redo this year would be reduced by that amount. Correct. And then it would cost that much more to redo that same road next year because costs go up. And that would be another set of roads that could have been done next year that are going to be deferred another year and so on and so forth.

Correct. Anyone else? Okay. Trustee Zik.

Yeah, thank you, Mayor. So I think the comments that were made by the two gentlemen have to do more with safety, not with not doing the roads. So I think it is important. We do have to do the roads, and we have to keep updating them and improving the infrastructure. And I understand we've already got roads that are designed like this, as you had mentioned. Is this something, though... So I think we... I'm guessing we're going to go through with it and get this going, but... The bike plan that you're talking about needs to be looked at. Is this something that we can look at at that point? Is it something that we're going to look at at that point? Because I understand, you know, Mr. Moon's talked about being doored, and I haven't had it happen to me, but I've actually seen it happen in Chicago. And it's a scary situation. So we do want to make sure that there is safety out there with these bike paths. I want to have more bike paths. I want to be able to ride all along the village. But We do have to get the roads done too, so we do have to get that taken care of, but I think we do need to make this a priority. How are we going to do this? How are we going to make sure that people are not going to get injured as they're riding?

The next bike and pedestrian, the application to do another plan. Chris, if you could speak into the mic. I'm sorry, there's another opportunity to create the bike and pedestrian plan and just update it. We've approached CMAP looking for a grant assistance and then they reach out and use consultants and we pay a partial fund to that. So that's already been done. We could come back to the board with when that happens. Every time we have a significant FAU route, a reconstruction like Hintz Road, we have public opinion out now. That will then come back to the board. Windsor Road on a final design will come back to the board. So most of the non-annual maintenance programs come back to the board just as an update. What the residents have stated, what our design is, and we bring a preliminary plan forward. So there's many opportunities for the board to change any of our future designs or give staff direction to include separated parks, separated lanes. I just think that we should have an opportunity to review it, potentially talk to residents about it. I haven't heard it in my many years being here. A little bit on and off, it just hasn't been a consistent request.

Okay, thank you.

Okay, still looking for a motion here. Anyone ready to make a motion on this?

I would move approval of consent agenda item E, resolution awarding a contract for 2026 MFT Street Construction.

Motion made by Trustee LeBeds. Second. Second by Trustee Schwingbeck. Any last minute discussion? Anyone from the audience? Seeing none, this is a roll call vote again.

Trustee LaBadze? Yes. Trustee Schwengbeck?

Yes.

Trustee Gilbert? Yes. Trustee Bertucci? Yes. Trustee Manganiello?

Aye.

Trustee Dunnington? Yes. Trustee Santa Maria? Yes. Trustee Zick? Yes. President Tenaglia?

Yes. Okay, thank you everyone for that discussion. I'm sure that our Public Works Department will take all this into consideration and our Bicycle and Pedestrian Committee will stay active and diligent on these so that we can learn and get better as we go. Manager Reckless, you had a comment you wanted to make?

Just on new business, I did want to point out that item C remained on the agenda in error. It was an error that I made. It is not in its final form, and so I would ask that the board, there's no action that needs to be taken to do anything differently, but that the board just not take action or discuss it this evening.

Okay, so Manager Reklaus has asked that we remove new business item C for the reasons he stated, so unless there's some reason on the board that we don't want to honor that.

And we don't even have to remove it. If the board wills, you can just skip over it. Just skip over it, okay.

Is there anyone in the audience that came here today specifically for this? Seeing none, okay. So when we get to that, we'll skip it for all purposes here. moving on to new business then which is section 10 we have two appointments to make now and this is for commissions that this board authorizes for residents and business owners in the community to get involved like we just talked about the bicycle and pedestrian Commission we have An economic alliance. We have zoning board of appeals. There's a number of things like that. And the first one is for the economic alliance. And I'll call up Crystal. Well, no, let me do it this way.

Who made the motion? I did. Call Trustee Bertucci. Mayor, I'll move to concur in the mayor's appointment of Crystal King to the Arlington Economic Alliance with a term ending April 30th, 2029. Second. Second.

Okay, motion made by Trustee Bertucci, seconded by Trustee Santamaria. Is there any further discussion for Crystal? Seeing none. We have to vote now. Right? Yes. I got that right. I'm getting my orders confused here. So no further discussion. So is this a roll call vote or a voice vote?

You can do either one there. All right, we'll do just a voice vote.

All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? None? Motion carries. Okay, Crystal, where are you? There she is. Come on up, Crystal. This is the hardest part. You're right there. I'm going to ask you to raise your right hand and repeat after me and try not to screw this up.

I hope not.

Aye, Crystal King.

Aye, Crystal King.

Having been appointed to the Arlington Economic Alliance.

Having been appointed to the Arlington Heights Economic. Speak right into that microphone there.

You're so soft. In the village of Arlington Heights.

In the village of Arlington Heights.

In the county of Cook.

In the county of Cook.

Do solemnly swear and affirm.

Do solemnly swear and confirm.

That I will support the Constitution of the United States.

Support the Constitution of the United States.

And the Constitution of the State of Illinois.

And the Constitution of Illinois.

And that I will faithfully discharge the duties.

I will faithfully discharge the duties.

Of the office according to the best of my ability.

The office of the best of my abilities.

Congratulations, I know you will. Let's have an applause for Kirsten. So if you take this over to Maggie and sign it in front of her, you'll be official.

There's your official badge. Congratulations.

And while she's doing that, we'll do the same thing. Who made the motion for item B? I did. All right. Trustee Gilbert, go right ahead.

I move to concur on the Mayor's appointment of Rick Kobernick to the Zoning Board of Appeals effective June 9th, 2026, ending April 30th, 2031. Second.

Motion made by Trustee Gilbert, seconded by Trustee Zik. Any further discussion? Anyone in the audience? Seeing none, all those in favor say aye. Aye. None opposed? Motion carries. Okay, Rick, you're up. You get the same drill. Ira Kobernick. Ira Kobernick. Having been appointed to the Zoning Board of Appeals. Having been appointed to the Zoning Board of Appeals. In the Village of Arlington Heights. In the Village of Arlington Heights. In the County of Cook. In the County of Cook. Do solemnly swear and affirm. Do solemnly swear and affirm. That I will support the Constitution of the United States. That I will support the Constitution of the United States. And the Constitution of the State of Illinois. And the Constitution of the State of Illinois. And that I will faithfully discharge the duties. And I will faithfully discharge the duties. Of the office according to the best of my ability. Of the office according to the best of my abilities. Congratulations, I know you will. And if you could do this, take this over by Maggie and sign that in front of her and here's your badge of honor as well. Congratulations, welcome aboard. All right.

Mayor, is it possible to potentially move the Centennial Park to our next item agenda? Just because I think we have a lot of people here and just trying to be cognizant of their time.

You are welcome to make that motion.

I would move that our next order of business be item E on the new business. Second.

Okay, motion made by Trustee Gilbert, seconded by Trustee Schwingbeck to move item E up to where item C would have been. And we'll take that up now. Do we have a... Any questions or comments around that? Anyone from the audience? If not, all those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye. Aye. None opposed? Okay, so we're going to take up item E now, and I think that Manager Reklaus had a comment or two that he wanted to make before we get started on that. So let's start there, Manager Reklaus.

Thank you, Mayor. I did want to point out a couple of things for the benefit of the folks in the audience, for those who may be watching at home. It's often very confusing. where one local government's authority begins and another one ends. And so I wanted to make a couple of points. The purpose of this discussion this evening is not to comment on any and all uses that one may have within this park facility and how it's operated. The operation of the park, any noise issues, lighting issues, hours of operation, et cetera, are operational issues and are the purview of the Arlington Heights Park District, not the village. The village does not have any special oversight over the park district or its operations. They are completely separate entities. The Arlington Park District has its own elected board and any issues related to the park and the operation of the park should be directed to them at one of their meetings. The matter before the village board this evening is fairly limited. It's simply the amendment of the comp plan, a PUD, and some variations. So why are these approvals even necessary? The park has been a legal non-conforming use in a residential district for many years, but given that they're upgrading the park, That triggers a requirement that they update their zoning category to make it correct. That is all we're really looking at tonight. I want to specifically comment on a couple of resident issues that we've received recently. It should be noted that the Park District is not altering their lighting as part of this proposal. It's not something that's been proposed. It's not something that's contemplated. Nor... Has the park been found to contribute to area backyard flooding? Nor does the village staff believe that any of the proposed improvements would add to backyard flooding in the area? Staff does not believe that it would be appropriate to discuss such items this evening because our scope of discussion is fairly limited. Any flooding issues that folks are experiencing should be directed to the village's public works and engineering department. We do have a backyard flooding program where we look at such things, and that's the appropriate place for that to be reviewed. And again, any operational matters that should be pushed to the park district. Simply because a project is rezoned doesn't mean that the village has special authority to revisit any and all aspects of the operation of that property. Again, so we would just direct residents to push their complaints to the appropriate folks, just so we're not confusing folks on what this meeting is and isn't about tonight. All right.

Well said, Manager Recklaus. So do you know offhand when the park board meets? When are their monthly meeting nights?

I think there's some folks in the back that probably can speak to that. If you want to just say it, John, I can repeat it on the mic. Next meeting is May 26th, Tuesday evening, 6.30 at the administrative center on Arlen Heights Road there.

I know they love to have neighborhood engagement. just like we do. It's important that everybody understands that they are two different bodies, and I really appreciate you bringing that up tonight. Well, we'll certainly listen to anyone who has concerns about things, but let's keep it focused on what we have in front of us here tonight. I do have one, two, three, four blue cards on this particular item right off the bat, and if anyone else needed to speak, that's fine. But let's start off with the petitioner. Come on up, introduce yourself, and share with a little greater detail why you're here tonight, similar to what Manager Raklaus just did.

Thank you, Mayor. Good afternoon, trustees. John Kramer with the Arlington Heights Park District Director of Parks and Planning. If I may, can I just go right into the presentation?

Go right into it, yep.

Tonight, I have with me two of my colleagues, Jeff Geldmeier, our civil engineer from Erickson, and Monica Gashore-Moroney from RVI, as well as Carrie Fullerton, the executive director, is with me this evening as well. Just a little bit about the presentation, brief agenda, gonna go through existing conditions, a little bit about community input, a little bit about the improvements, and then go through into questions. The existing conditions of the site, again, this is largely a refresh of the existing amenities that are at the playground. So largely, you can see where the scope of work resides. It's largely the ball fields, the existing dock out into the area. Those are largely most of the bulk of the work that's going on, with the exception of some concrete flat work, refreshing of certain amenities as part of it that I'll get into a little bit more in depth. As far as the community input goes, the district did have an open house, one virtual and one in-house where we did have residents come out. This is part of the HUSLAT grant presentation or process that we do for the park improvements. That's part of the IDNR grant process. We do have a public input as well as not only having public board meetings that has public input as part of that. So we did have a petition as well that went out that had 439 respondents. A little bit about the grant and timing and schedule should the project be approved. The IDNR is a time bound grant. So we now have, once we are awarded the grant, we do have an end date on that. So we are working with the end date of 3-31 of 2027. The grant award bound is $600,000. based on this evening's decision and successful outcome, we would look to have a start of the project in June of this year and a completion in early to mid fall based on that. So a very aggressive timeline from a construction perspective. But again, it is largely a refresh. Site plan. Sorry, it's a little small on your screen. Again, most of the improvements reside around, as I said, the playground replacement, some ball field improvements, and then that existing dock gets removed and replaced. Little enlargement as far as the playground goes. Playgrounds largely go in the exact area where the current playground resides. It's really a refresh to that existing playground. We'd like to replace our playgrounds within approximately 20 years. This one has succeeded its useful life, both from the replacement of parts and just the longevity of playgrounds. So we're looking to replace that as part of the project. The site plan more on the baseball field, again, is the replacement of the backstop. We did meet with HYAA, one of our affiliates that uses that site quite often. They expressed an interest in us replacing the baseball backstop in order to prevent errant balls coming onto the softball field. So, we are raising that height of that baseball backstop. We are doing concrete site work improvements to the players' benches. the egress area, making ADA accommodations for each of those. And then ultimately, the players' benches on the softball side as well, too. The new path L, as you see there, is actually a comment that came out of our public meeting. We wanted to put in more of a loop path for the park, so L references a new path that will go in as part of it that links up to make the flow through the park a little bit more streamlined. Shelter on item E and K, the shelter is existing currently in the same location. We are making that a little bit more robust so that it is larger than what currently exists. That's really a programmatic element for our tennis group. They asked that we increase the size of that, so that's what predicated that change. And then the boardwalk, as I illustrated before, if any of you have been out there recently, you know the boardwalk's in terrible disrepair. The existing conditions are not fit for it to continued use, so we decided to have a little more spartan boardwalk, something that's a little shorter. Also has fishing piers as part of it, as part of the proposed, and some interpretive signage, as well as natural area enhancements to that existing area. Just some design charrettes, renderings of some of the playground amenities. This is the approved playground design that went through public input and surveys. Frog climber, dragonfly seesaw, all a bit of nature theme, but whimsical play elements. Again, the netting backstop, shelters, pretty standard detail as far as those go. Fitness equipment. Drinking fountain in the boardwalk. We did include the photometric plan. This is a photometric plan that was originally for when the lights were most recently done. Again, this is just something that we included as part of the plan commission had requested we provide. That's just for the baseball field lighting, as I alluded to. Variants requested, again, a variance on the traffic study, waiving that, the fence height for the backstop, and then obviously, as Manager Recklaus indicated, the light pole variance. That concludes my report, Mayor.

Okay, thank you. Appreciate it. Is there a report from staff?

Yes, there is. Thank you. PROJECT SUMMARY. PROJECT SUMMARY. PROJECT SUMMARY. PROJECT SUMMARY. PROJECT SUMMARY. PROJECT SUMMARY. PROJECT SUMMARY. PROJECT SUMMARY. PROJECT SUMMARY. PROJECT SUMMARY. The property consists of two parcels. The main park is located at 1301 East Burr Oak Drive. There is also a small separate parcel that was acquired by the park district after the initial rezoning of the park to a public lands district in 1978. That's at 1408 East Eaton Drive. That's the small stub on the southwest portion of the park. THE PROPERTY IS 21.4 ACRES, CURRENTLY ZONED AS A PL PUBLIC LAND DISTRICT, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THAT SMALL PROPERTY AT EAST EATON DRIVE, WHICH IS ZONED R3, ONE FAMILY DWELLING DISTRICT. THE PRIMARY PARK AREA IS DESIGNATED AS A PARKS LAND IN THE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN FUTURE LAND USE MAP, WHILE 1408 EAST EATON DRIVE IS DESIGNATED AS APPROPRIATE FOR SINGLE FAMILY DETACHED USES, AND THAT'S PART OF THE APPLICATION TONIGHT. So the petitioner is requesting the following seven zoning actions before the village board tonight. Amendment to the comprehensive plan to redesignate 1408 East Eaton Drive from a single family detached designation. to a parks designation, a rezoning of that same property from R31 family dwelling district to PL public land district, a plan unit development for park improvements on property within the PL public land district, which is a requirement of our code, and a special use permit for facilities owned and operated by the Arlington Heights Park District within the PL public land district. There are three variations. The first is a variation from Chapter 28, Section 6.12-13 to waive the requirement for a petition for a PUD to include a traffic study and parking analysis. The second is a variation from Chapter 28, Section 6.133B to allow a fence height of 40 feet where the baseball field backstop fence height is limited to a maximum of 6 feet currently. and a variation from Chapter 28, Section 10.2-12.3c to permit the existing sports lighting at 49.5 feet, where the maximum currently allowed in the code is 40 feet. The last action was updated since the original Planning Commission request of 70 feet to reflect the accurate height of the existing poles, which was requested by the Planning Commission. The variance request brings this condition into conformance by covering the existing conditions of the park with a variation tied to the PUD approval. This slide shows the extent of the proposed scope of work, which was already detailed by the Park District. This next slide showed some of the existing conditions. You can see this is the existing canopy, the boardwalk, which is referenced on the bottom left, some of the fencing at the backstop, and on the top right is that small property that needs to be rezoned, which is an existing pedestrian access to the park. THE PARK DISTRICT IS SEEKING TO REZONE AND CHANGE THE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN DESIGNATION FOR THE PARCEL AT 1408 EAST EATON DRIVE TO CONFORM WITH THE REST OF CENTENNIAL PARK. YOU CAN SEE IN THE LOCUS MAP IN THE TOP LEFT THAT'S THAT SMALL STUB AT THE SOUTHWEST PORTION OF THE PARK THAT CONNECTS TO EATON. This next slide shows the rezoning. It's currently an R3 single family district, and they're asking to have it rezoned to the PL district. The Planning Commission approved both of these actions at their meeting. The first variation request is from Chapter 28 to waive the requirement for a petition for a PUD to include a traffic study and parking analysis. The Planning Commission concurred with the petitioner that the site traffic will not be impacted by the proposed upgrades to the park. The Planning Commission voted to approve a recommendation to approve this variation. It should be noted that the Planning Commission recommended a condition of approval to install five required parking lot shade trees as shown on the slide. The two site-specific variances requested are from Chapter 28 to allow, the first one is to allow fence height of 40 feet for the baseball field backstop where the fence height is currently limited to a maximum of six feet. You can see here the blue shows where that backstop is and the fence detail is on the right. These proposed 40-foot backstops are standard for new baseball facilities and were previously approved at Rec Park. So you'll see these in many of the facilities in the village. The existing light poles and fixtures are not changing with this application and are shown on yellow on this slide. The petitioner is requesting a variance to bring the site to conformance by addressing the existing improvements with a variation tied to the PUD, as mentioned earlier. As has been mentioned, the Planning Commission requested the petitioner provide the exact height of those existing poles. They also asked that they submit a photometric plan, which they did as well. These are the trees that I mentioned earlier. A little out of order. The only requirement I'll say with the photometric plan, nothing is a requirement to this site and what they're proposing. The only requirement that we have for a photometric plan is for off-street parking. So in this instance, if they were building a new parking lot, they would have to show that they meet our standards for off-street parking. So there is no requirement for the lighting that they currently have or would install at the park. That's the photometric plan. The special use permit request and the request to conform with the requirement for all land in the PL district to be developed with an approved PUD were both recommended for approval by the Planning Commission. In summary, the Planning Commission recommended approval of the amendment to the comprehensive plan, the rezoning, plan unit development, and the special use permit. In addition, they recommended approval of all three variations, and you'll see here there's a note about the 49.5, which the Park District provided as requested as a follow-up. These were the four conditions that were recommended by the Planning Commission as well. As mentioned earlier, while they did recommend a condition for approval for the photometric plan, that is not a requirement that's currently in our code. The Park District did provide that to do their due diligence and be responsive to the Planning Commission, but since it's not an off-street parking facility, there is no actual regulation in terms of the lighting that we would enforce. The motion in front of the village board is to direct staff and the village attorney to prepare final documents granting the zoning relief for consideration at a future board meeting for PC26-002 subject to the recommended condition. All is set forth in the agenda for tonight's board meeting. With the exception of number four.

Right.

Is that it? Thank you, Mr. Lacoste. All right. I had just two really quick questions. The backstop height that is in question, there's one there now, right? Do we know how tall that one is that's there?

I'm going to guess and say 26 feet, but I think Monica knows off the top of her head by the look of it.

I'm Monica Gossameroni with RVI Planning, and we believe the existing backstop to be about 30 feet in height.

Okay, very good. And then the other question, just for clarity, how did we have 70 feet as the initial proposed light standards, but they're really only 49.5?

We knew for certain that the light poles at rec park were 70 feet. So no, not knowing when we originally went through, we said it can't be higher than 70.

I see. Okay. So it was just a rough guess. That's all it was. But the reality is they're 49 and a half feet tall.

That's the tallest one. There's a few that are shorter.

Okay. All right. Okay. Just a little housekeeping from my brain. Thank you. Questions from the board.

Thank you. Thank you, John, for the presentation and Michael. I have a question about the 1408 East Eaton Drive. I'm just curious. It's got an address, but it doesn't look, just trying to eyeball it on the maps, it doesn't look like it would be wide enough for a house. So I'm just trying to understand that piece of property. I don't know who knows more about it and how it happened to become a walkway. Was land dedicated or something?

We're not certain of the purchase property, the purchase history of the property. We know that it was purchased by the Park District after the initial rezoning of the park property. But as it stands, it is owned by the Park District. Whether that was a portion of property that was sold at some point, we're not certain. But the effort that the Park District has brought forward in the petition that we are considering tonight is to bring that into conformance with the rest of the park.

Okay, well I understand wanting to rezone it to be public land, I mean that's appropriate, but I was just curious how this came to be. So thanks for what there is, what knowledge there is. And I also thank you for clarifying that I'M NOT SURE WHAT THE VARIANCE IS. IS THE LIGHT POLE HEIGHT? THE LIGHT POLE HEIGHT? BECAUSE I READ THROUGH ALL THE BECAUSE I READ THROUGH ALL THE PLANNED COMMISSION MINUTES AND PLANNED COMMISSION MINUTES AND OTHER MATERIAL AND I GOT A OTHER MATERIAL AND I GOT A LITTLE CONFUSED SO WE'RE JUST LITTLE CONFUSED SO WE'RE JUST TRYING TO BRING IT IN, GET THE TRYING TO BRING IT IN, GET THE VARIANCE TO CONFORM TO WHAT IT VARIANCE TO CONFORM TO WHAT IT IS, THE TALLEST OF THE LIGHT IS, THE TALLEST OF THE LIGHT POLES. POLES. CORRECT. CORRECT. THOSE ARE MY ONLY THOSE ARE MY ONLY QUESTIONS, THANK YOU.

QUESTIONS, THANK YOU.

You mentioned in the presentation the light poles themselves will remain the same. Is the lighting going to be upgraded, improved, changed in any way, or it's exactly the same lighting we've got there now?

No, we'll be making no changes to the lights. Thank you.

Anyone on this side? Trustee Schwinger?

I'd be happy to put a motion on the floor.

Well, please do.

I would move to direct staff and the village attorney to prepare final documents granting the zoning relief for consideration to future board meeting for PC number 26-002, subject to the recommended conditions. All is set forth in the agenda for tonight's board meeting. Second.

Okay, motion made by Trustee Schwengbeck, seconded by Trustee Gilbert. Further discussion? FROM ANYONE ON THE BOARD. IF NOT, I DO HAVE A HANDFUL OF CARDS HERE. THANK YOU. IF YOU GUYS CAN TAKE A SEAT.

THANK YOU, MAYOR. PRESERVE COMMENT TILL AFTER THE PUBLIC.

OKAY, VERY GOOD. I'LL CALL ON YOU, OR YOU CAN REMIND ME. WE'LL FIGURE IT OUT. I HAVE FOUR, AND THE FIRST ONE IS LORI TAYLOR. LORI? LORI, YOU'RE UP. YOU GOT THE STAGE.

Hi, my name is Lori Taylor, and I'm the president of the Northgate Civic Association, which this wonderful park is part of. Robin, to answer your question, let's call that single-family attached thing what it is. It's a sidewalk. That subdivision was built by Richard J. Brown in 1987, 1988, which I'm one of the houses on Windsor Drive. And they built that with the intent of an easement to allow the kids to go, who live on Eaton, to walk there to go to Riley School. Otherwise, the kids would have to go all the way down almost to Hintz Road, cut over to Windsor, and then cut back up, or start going through people's backyards. So there's your answer. Thank you. And from what I understand, This park was built in the 70s, and the ordinances were all over the place. That's all I can say. So when I met with John Kramer and everybody, we talked about the lights, because the first thing we saw was 70-foot lights, poles being asked for. 70-foot lights, once they're illuminated, can be seen up to two miles away. So, got together with John, and he said, no, no, no, there's no change to the existing light's height. But my husband decided to go out and measure the lights, and he found that there was some variation. So, the park district, you know, did the measurements again, and found that I guess at least one of the lights is 49.5 feet. Northgate Civic Association, the Park District has said they're not going to do anything with the lights. We're okay with that. That one light or however many lights that are taller than the ordinance, let them stand. The only thing that we ask for is if the park district can check on the shields, because those lights, if you go out to a park, you'll see when the lights are on, they have these shields on them, and the shields bend, and some of the people say that the lights may shine in their house or something like that. So maybe take a look at the shields. But other than that, the only other thing I have to say is, hold on, of course my phone decides to do this. Northgate Civic Association is in agreement with the Park District's request. The only thing that we ask for is that the language is correct in the variations listed in the recommendations. However, it did not get changed in the recommendation itself. So, somewhere in that document of 60 pages, there's a recommendation and it's pointing out to 70 feet yet. that could be found, if that could be changed to the agreed upon 49 and a half feet, that would be wonderful.

Very good.

So, and if you want any more history, we'll hold a history class someday.

Thank you, Lori. All right, good catch. I'm sure that they'll fix that document to make it. I don't think that they had any intention of it being 70 feet, so we'll keep it at 49 and a half. Next, I have Kyle, Kyle Wilhelm. Is Kyle here?

All right. Mayor, trustees, thank you for letting me speak. My name is Kyle Wall. I'm a resident here. I'm here to speak in support of the continued investment for Centennial Park, but also encourage the village and with the park district here to think bigger and broader about athletic facility renovations across the Arlington Heights. While I think Centennial Park matters, and I think all of the stuff that we shared here is incredible, as an active member in the Arlington Heights Youth Athletic Association, our facilities around need some work as well. we go to neighboring communities and we see batting cages and lights and turf and all those different things and as I walk past the fire chief here and your son is playing professional and he played locally here and I would say that when he was a part of our Cardinals baseball program we had how many teams eight And I know Ed is gonna share how many people are participating in all of our youth athletics here. There is a ton of kids that are doing a lot of different things and our facilities are strapped. And as we go to Buffalo Grove, our parents are amazed at what Buffalo Grove has. that we are, you know, I like to play home games because I don't like to travel a whole lot, but our parents are sometimes jealous that we don't get to go to some of these other facilities where they have all of these nice amenities. And when we have the amount of people that are participating in our program, I would just encourage us to uh, keep thinking about bigger things. We have worked with the park district on little things that we can do. Um, but unfortunately it's going to be something that the, that we all need to have buy in to, to make all of our parks, um, much better to be competitive.

Thank you. Thank you. Um, you know, the good news is you've got a wonderful park district and a number of them are here tonight. Um, I think I'm going to just go ahead and say it. Um, I went through that system about the same time that Chief Harris's family went through the system, and our boys played together, and we need additional fields. We need additional lights. We need additional amenities in our program. And I know that we have at least two, maybe more, three board members here that have kids in the programs now. So if the park board is here, some of them are, bring it on. That's the way I look at it. Let's get this town up to par with the other communities around, and I think it'll be wonderful. So keep up the great work is all I guess I'm getting at. Ed? Ed? Boy, I'm not even sure how to say this. Baez? Ed Baez. Okay.

Good evening, and thank you for your time and attention today. My name's Ed Baez. I'm president of the Arlington Heights Youth Athletic Association. I just wanted to come out and support Centennial Park Project. It's a vital park to our operations. Everything I wanted to say, you pretty much just said. I'm sorry. Which is fantastic. But for those that may not know, I know we have a lot of AHYA parents and families in the audience and in seats up here. With HYA, it's a volunteer-run organization, fully volunteer-run. We serve more than 3,500 athletes currently. That's about how many kids will be going through our programs this year, and that's through six different sports. So, as an affiliate of the Park District, we appreciate all of their support, and everything The updates that we've been making through the parks have been vital to our operations and to the youth of Arlington Heights. And we just hope that, like everything Kyle said, everything Mr. Mayor said, we can continue to think bigger, think better, and help Arlington Heights continue to be leaders in youth athletics. So thank you very much. Thank you.

And the last card I have is Scott Faber.

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, trustees. Scott Faber, been a resident of Arlington Heights for the last 18 years. I'm also involved in the HYA program, but on the girls' side with KR Fast Rich Travel Softball. So the fields that are being improved behind the baseball field, we use quite frequently. And supporting this variance is vital to us because we're the ones being shelled with the balls coming from the baseball field. Not to mention the holes in that fence as well. The lighting variance, we're appreciative of granting that variance. Our field use is at capacity throughout the community starting in two weeks when all of our high school players are coming back to playing on our local teams. having those lights and having field access for those high school players is vital. A lot of those players have jobs throughout the summer and can't be practicing, can't be playing throughout the day. So having access through lights and great facilities like Centennial is greatly appreciated. And coming up last, after everyone said all these great things is a little difficult, but pretty much everything was covered. I appreciate your support, thank you.

Thank you. I think it's just easy to say park district is great. So thank you guys for all that you do. Um, I have no other blue cards on this topic. Um, is there anyone in the audience? I see one hand, come on up, introduce yourself.

Good evening, Mayor and fellow trustees. I am Catherine Mazzoni. I am a resident that lives basically right outside the ball fields in question at Centennial Park. So you've kind of asked for this meeting to be focused on the issues at hand tonight, which are both the variants and the special use permits. that have been requested. I assume you all hopefully have read my 57-page document I sent in to you. It's called Exhibit I, where I think I lay out a pretty strong opposition to these requests. My son played sports, loved the Arlington Heights, sports leagues, we were avid users to them. My question to you is really predicated on this particular location of these fields and their current use. The very fact that the Park District has to petition for these variances to be approved tells me one thing, most likely, these lights were erected without village approval all those decades ago, which kind of begs the question whether these are appropriate in the current setting, which is in the middle of a residential neighborhood. There's multiple things that it's incumbent on the Park District as the petitioner to prove, There's four criteria for a variance request that they have to meet and they have to prove these difficulties or a particular hardship that they have. And to be honest with you, I don't think they adequately prove any of those assertions. And I laid it out pretty meaningfully and the information I sent to you. And likewise with the special use permit, there's three criteria that have to be met for that. And some of the things they talk about is, is it in harmony with the spirit intent of chapter 28 of the municipal code? You know, a lot of these principles, both the zoning and nuisance principles, exist to protect people's reasonable expectations of what their residential neighborhood is going to look at. And I would argue that the lighting that's very intrusive in the houses near the park, the noise that is created is keeping us from experiencing the very quality of life we should have living in a peaceful residential neighborhood. you know, when you look at Centennial 2, which is the lighted field in question, it is only 162 feet from the nearest house. Mellis, do you know how close those houses are? Millisfield, they are literally over 1,096 feet. So, let's think about that. 162 feet versus 1,096 feet. I think we would all agree that that's quite a bit different.

Can I interrupt you for just one second? I failed to mention too that we try to keep these presentations at three minutes or less, and we're already past that. If you could please try and wrap up. I do have a couple comments I want to make based on yours, but go ahead.

Yeah, but here's the thing, and I kind of beg you for a little indulgence because we let the village attorney and the village manager And John Kramer from the Park District kind of systematically go through all of these points that they see as positive contributions from the town and to only allow three minutes for a concerned residents to present an opposing viewpoint. you know, kind of eliminates the process of, you know, a fair government that is listening to their residents and concerned about what is going on in their neighborhood. And I think that's kind of a travesty personally.

Well, I know you wrote a very articulate letter. I read every word. Did you?

And what did you think of it?

And I appreciate your effort and your time on that. But I think as what Manager Reklaus mentioned is your, I don't want to say your issue or your complaint, your position needs to be taken up at the park board meeting. That's why we made that comment early on.

And I get that, and that's why I'm going at the heart of the variance and special use criteria, which I totally understand are the only issues before you tonight, but I am thinking this is an important venue because there is a history here of no good faith effort by the Park District to listen to the concerns. Those flooding issues, I know you don't want to hear about them tonight. I'm not one of the houses even affected, but those issues have been known by this Park District since the early 1990s. Okay, it's not a new issue. It didn't just happen three years ago, and they have not addressed it.

How about the- Sir, we're not doing that.

How about the fact that I spoke eloquently- That's okay, we understand, but we're not doing that. With the same information at the April 8th Planning Commission meeting. Not only did those commissioners not read presentation they basically rubber stamp the approval to move this along to you where it also isn't being addressed or even thought about which only tells me so I'm gonna do a very coherent succinct argument no I understand you're not listening to it at all

No, no, that's not fair to say. I think what I'd like you to hear from us up here, I think I can speak pretty confidently for all nine of us, that there's a gentleman sitting over here at this table. His name is Mr. Paperniak. He runs our public works department.

Okay.

And the village manager is Randy Recklaus. He will give you his card when you leave the podium there. Anything in this community that has to do with flooding in backyards or flooded anywhere all starts and ends. Believe me, it starts and ends in our public works department. So... I want you to take advantage of that. You've spent a lot of time and energy on this particular item, and I appreciate it. I want you to understand we're hearing you. But it's not the venue tonight to go through this.

And I'm not talking about the flooding. I was just using it as an example that has been previously.

But your other item that you're concerned with is the lighting.

No. No.

No? What did I get wrong?

I was going to bring up the fact that the park district is contending that this is very standard, it was done in Recreation Park, but Recreation Park Like Mellis is nowhere, no way similar to the situation at Centennial Park where it is embedded in the middle of a subdivision. Totally two different animals.

Well, I don't know if I'd agree with you on that 100%.

Have you been out to Centennial Park?

I just told you, I told everyone here, my children went through all the programs. I've been here all my life.

Do you really think Centennial Park and its confined area is similar to Mellis?

I don't think it's a bad neighbor. Let's put it that way. I don't think Centennial Park's a bad neighbor for the neighborhood, honestly. There may be some improvements that could be made, and I'm going to give you this one last thing, and I'm going to ask you to please be finished. Would you agree that if the Park District had more lighted fields, more lighted fields in different places, then maybe it wouldn't be as... over-aggressive with the scheduling at Centennial Park, because I know that was another big point in your letter. So maybe what we could do, as I kind of hinted at earlier, is encourage the development of these programs elsewhere in the community so that they're not all focused in one and make it uncomfortable for just a small portion. And then we have to stop, because we can't spend all night on this subject, okay? I don't know if it's your husband, but there's someone else who wants to speak as well, and I'm gonna give him the same opportunity as I did for you. And I'm gonna ask that you please take Randy's card and follow up on it.

I will. Thank you. I won't be finished, and I really feel like you should have given me additional time.

We would be here all night if we did that for everybody. I'm sorry. Sir, come on up.

Three minutes.

Three minutes.

I practiced this. It's three minutes.

All right, go for it.

Can I hand out some pictures?

You can hand it to our clerk and she'll hand it out.

You got it, because I paid 30 bucks to have these things.

Then we better look at them.

These illustrate the flooding in the back of my house. Okay. Which is two doors down.

We have to come over to the microphone, please. Otherwise, we won't have you on a record.

Sorry, sorry. The name is Brian Krause. Oh, so you're not husband.

I'm sorry. We got letters from both, is it Mazzoni? Is that how you say it? Yes. No, there was a letter from your husband. I read it.

So Brian Krause, I'm at 1414 Eaton, which is two doors down from your single family detached home. whatever you want to call that. The walkway, the sidewalk. Yeah, it is a sidewalk. The only thing that I would highlight in that is you don't want motorized vehicles going down that sidewalk. And what we're seeing now in the park, because I do back up to the park, is these e-bikes zipping up and down around the baseball fields, going into the tennis courts, and they're becoming a nuisance. And there's like three or four of them that are doing their bidding and nobody can tell them what to do. So that's just something that I'm gonna highlight. All right. You know, I was asked to log in a concern regarding the flooding. So today I logged in a concern of 2442 to make sure that it's documented and it's on file. But as you can see, this is my backyard. Yep. And I don't know if any of you would live through something like this, but every spring, it's not this bad, this was about three years ago, but this is the water, and you can see it. If you take a look, can I borrow your picture? If you take a look across the top, you can see the pooling and the water coming back down and coming into, actually, Mr. Zabrin's yard, we call it Lake Zabrin, and Lake Krause. Kiddingly, the kids would literally play around in the pools of the water. What I'm asking is that over the last, say, 30 years that I've lived there, there's been an incredible amount of change. You look at the trees that we've planted. You look at the fences that we've put up. You look at the sheds that have gone up. It's changed the flow of water in the park. It has.

It happens.

It happens. As you know, you're an architect. So all of this hasn't had an effect on pooling water to the park. And what I'm asking, I'm pleading for it, is a study to take a look at the flow of water and how it goes through the park and into our backyards. Because there are some septic receptacles that are in people's backyards. I mean, you might not know that, but if you do take a walk, you can see that. There is one septic area over by the Mazzoni's backyard that you can't even get water into because the cement for that sidewalk has been replaced a couple of times, and it's actually higher than the septic.

Are you using proper terminology when you say septic? No, I'm not. That should be well. You mean like a catch base? Storm drill. Storm catch base. Yes. There you go. Septic is sewage.

Okay, sorry. So what's happened is as they've replaced the cement for the sidewalks, it's elevated it, And now the water can't get down and in there.

Gotcha.

So it's just causing a lot of pain. And you got the residents. Each of us, and I'm looking at the audience, each of us have done what we've had to do to keep the water out. I've had a truckload of dirt put in my backyard to regrade my backyard. I've got a next door neighbor that has done what he's had to do with regrading. He's basically installed stone underneath grass. He's done what he's needed to do to keep the water out. That's not really our responsibility to do. We can help when asked, but we need some help. And that's all I have to say.

Okay, I appreciate you trying to be brief, and I know it's hard sometimes to get it all in. I'll say to you exactly what I just said to the other resident. These two gentlemen are the gentlemen where the conversation starts, and then it goes on and it ends back there as well. So take Randy's card. Get done what you need to get done with any reconnaissance. I would absolutely recommend visiting with the Park District. These folks are great people. They will do everything they can to help you. And if for some reason it goes nowhere, it comes back here.

Okay, like I said, I've been here for 30 years. I've got emails going back 20 years to different people talking about this issue. As they've said, it's been around. The flooding has been around, and nobody wants to address it. Everybody's kicking the can down the street.

Well, there's nine of us here now that have heard you.

Okay.

And I would hope that you'll come back and share with us what you've learned.

I'll come back and share the success story.

That's what I want to hear. Thank you. All right. Is there anyone else in the audience? I see a hand. Come on up. And since I didn't say it before, I'll say it again. There's a little clock up there for three minutes. Thank you.

I'm just right. I wanted to come here tonight to talk about the park and the lighting situation, but you've kind of explained it. I really want to point a clarification. My objection is the photovoltaic. plan i think it's very inadequate it was done remotely um no one actually was there we did it by data points and how strong lights were i back up to the park left center field of the lighted ball field um lights in our windows i'd be glad to show you pictures later if you really want to see what it looks like i saw the pictures yeah well these are like actually in my kitchen the light streaming in. So the point of clarification I want is, is this something that I should be bringing to you, my points on the validity of that summary? It wasn't even a study. It wasn't a report. illumination summary.

It's called a photometric plan. Right. And it's done by a leadologist who actually takes into consideration the wattage of the bulbs, the fixtures, and the distances and so on. If you disagree with it, because you had a little handheld meter in your hand, right? Was that yours? It wasn't mine. Okay.

But my contention is I don't think that that was wrong. but it's not telling you the story. It's not telling you about the angles of the lights, the height of the poles, the environment, the shielding that's not there, the type of bulbs that they use, the halide bulbs. They're 1500 watt bulbs, old school, they're not using LEDs, which would have, everybody knows about the LED Kelvin temperatures, 3000 to 6000. I have no idea what the current lights are as far as the brightness and the angles of the lights. The original study in 2009 of the voltaic plan, which this was just a rehash of that, they did have a angle plan. That was 17 years ago. Has anybody ever maintained those angles? Anybody checked them? You know, there's gravity. You're not wrong.

You're not wrong. But let me let me do this because I don't want to spend. We've been on this almost an hour.

Point of clarification. Should I be talking to you?

No.

Should I be talking to the park district? Park district. At what point? At what point? Will you have a say in any of this, or is it strictly a park district that says yes or no on some of these requests?

You see these nine people up here? These are elected village board members. At the park board meeting that you will go to, There are five elected park board members. They are residents just like you and I. And they care about their community. And if you have a legitimate concern, they will listen. And then it's up to you to explain to them that you want action done on this. I would argue, if these were brand new light poles being asked to be put in here, More comments would come from this board about the temperature of the bulbs or the shields on the bulbs, but these are existing conditions that they are, that it is incumbent upon them to maintain and to do a good job for their community. Go there, speak with them, share your concern.

Okay. Again, so if they disregard some of my concerns, is that it? Or is it something that they propose?

I was going to say that the village board, even if the entire village board agree with you, lacks the authority to compel the park district to do anything on this matter that they are not inclined to do. They are the final authority on that. The Village Board does not have any additional authority on existing lights at a park facility.

Even if they're not meeting certain standards or ordinances or dark sky rules?

If they were to change it beyond what was already approved and in place, that would be an issue. If they were to request to change it to something that was non-compliant, that would be an issue. But in terms of the actual... They report to the people the same way that the village board reports to the people. They are in our own elected body that are to be responsive to the citizenry the same way that these folks are. And so, you know, ultimately, they had the final say-so on that. And, you know, that's where we would direct you to go.

All right, I appreciate that answer, and thank you for listening and understanding where we're coming from. The lights have been shining in our windows for years, and I'll take it to the Park District and go from there.

I would have to believe they will listen.

I won't go there. Okay. Thank you very much.

Good luck to you. Is there anyone else in the audience that wanted to be recognized here? Okay. Anyone on the board where we have, um, I have a comment. There's a motion and a second, if I'm not mistaken here, but go ahead, comment.

So I just wanted to take the opportunity to thank the park district board. Cause you guys are here and the executive director. It's not often that we get you here, and so I'm very happy to have you here and want to tell you what a great job you guys do and reiterate how important what the mayor said and some of our citizens had said. The park district is important. The facilities are important. I personally want to see more lights out there for these kids. It's a big deal for people in our community. There are a lot of times, you know, families have to try to get to their kids' games. And in addition to, and I'm talking about, you know, baseball season, in addition to the schedules of their work and the elements, we're fighting time. It's tough to start a baseball game after 5.15 because it gets dark at 7.15. And sometimes kids have to get to a game a half hour before. It's very difficult when you have two working parents to get their kids to these games when they're supposed to be there to warm up and then to be able to watch them. There's times in the summer when the games are too hot to be played at the 5.15 hour. And it would be great to push to a 7.30 or an 8 o'clock start time because it would be a safer time for the kids to play. In addition to that, we are only able to get in one game at a time at these fields. Whereas if we had lighted fields, we could do, per se, a 5.30 to 7.30, 7.30 to 9.30 game time with a hard cut. I've traveled the country and been to hundreds of facilities where they live in harmony. with the communities that they're in. And we can be that, we can have that. Okay, the technology exists. I'm not saying that everything is perfect here, but I'm saying that going forward, we need more of this. The kids deserve better, the families deserve better, and we can do that. And I know that we can do it in a way that will make the residents happy. And we will sit up here as the nine, and I don't care how long we have to work with the Park District to do it, but we can make it work. I'm confident in that. So I applaud you guys for doing this. Anytime you guys have anything, and if I'm, you can just say, I'm perpetually putting in the suggestion box at every one of these meetings that you have for the parks that I would like to see lights at a baseball field. It is of paramount importance. It will bring us, it will catch us up to our neighboring communities who already have this. So again, thank you for the work that you've done, and I look forward to seeing a lot more of this.

Thank you, Trustee Gilbert. And I would add, not just baseball.

Not just baseball.

I have a daughter who played through the whole softball program, went off to play at Iowa State, and I miss it. I miss not going to those games. So bring it on. You know, there were boards in the past that maybe were not as interested, let's say. Our boards I'm talking about for lighted fields. I get the feeling this board might be a little more sympathetic to that. It's time. So you guys are great at what you do. Just don't be afraid to keep going with it. Anyone else? Trustee Bertucci.

Mayor, I'm going to refocus the conversation because my question actually is about the designation of this pathway, let's call it. So my question is to staff. Randy, this designation and the proposed designation says parks, and while I love our park district and trust that they will always do what's right, I just heard a piece of information today, historic information from Laurie, Mrs. Taylor, that talked about it originally being there for the kids that go to Riley School. So who owns that property, and is there a way that we make sure that it's always available, not only for the parks, but to make it convenient for the kids that don't have to walk two and a half blocks, I believe it would be, to get to the school?

I mean, it's owned by the Ireland Heights Park District, and so it's designated as park space, and it's been operating as park space all these years. It's an open space that anyone can traverse.

So when the subdivision was originally done, was the park district the owner of it?

That we don't know. Okay. All we know is now it's owned by the Park District, operated by the Park District, maintained by the Park District, and it's open.

So when did the Park District gain ownership of it?

We don't know.

okay okay so i mean i'm just i i it's just historic and i know the people at the park district will always do the right thing but but i wouldn't um i would just challenge them to put something in their records or their archives to um designate that that and i i believe that lori is right because i i almost half remember something like that lori And so to make sure that not only for the convenience of the park, but also for the convenience of the school Otherwise, I'm more than in favor of it mayor wonderful John is there any?

Come on up real quick. Did you have any? Inkling that this would ever get changed from a walkway

No, from our perspective, obviously, there's some history with the school being there. So I'm sure that is why that existing sidewalk easement resides. But again, we intend to keep it as that. You know, park districts, we cannot sell land. So in essence, it would be as part of this park for the eternity that we own it. So unless we gave it to the village or the school district, that would be it.

Okay, very good. Thank you. Okay, further comments, questions, discussion? If not, there is a motion from Trustee Schwingbeck and seconded by Trustee Gilbert. And I think we have to do a roll call vote on this.

Trustee Schwengbeck?

Yes.

Trustee Gilbert? Yes. Trustee Manganiello? Aye. Trustee Dunnington? Yes. Trustee LeBeds? Yes. Trustee Zick? Yes. Trustee Santa Maria? Yes. Trustee Bertucci? Yes. President Tenaglia?

Yes. All right. That's unanimous. Congratulations.

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, trustees. And Mayor, we'll aim to have those ordinances available perhaps as soon as your next meeting, but if not, then by the 15th of June. All right. Very good.

Thank you, Mr. Passman. All right, we have two more items to go through. The next one on the agenda is item D, and that is an ordinance concerning the imposition of lift assist fees. And for that, I'll call on...

manager reclouse to start this dialogue yes thank you mayor uh... you know staff is always trying to find ways to optimize staff time to be available to do the most possible good for the most number of people in the community uh... this ordinance while it refers to fees i really want to clarify uh... it's one of the few times that we're going to be having an ordinance related to fees where our hope is it generates no revenue for the village. The hope is that it's going to modify behavior so that our firefighters can spend their time on what they're trained to do, which is responding to emergencies within the community. So with that, I'm gonna turn things over to our fire chief, Chief Harris.

Thank you, Manager Raklos. Good evening, Mayor and members of the board. I really had a 45-minute presentation prepared for you, but since it's 9.26, I'm gonna cut it to seven or eight minutes, if that's okay. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you tonight regarding an issue that has increasing impact on the fire department's emergency medical resources, recurring lift assist requests. Tonight, I'd like to provide a background on what lift assist calls are, the operational challenges they create, data showing the increasing demand for these services, recent changes in Illinois law, a proposed ordinance structure for the village, and our planned implementation of this ordinance. The overall goal is not to penalize residents in need, rather it is to ensure emergency resources remain available for true emergencies while encouraging appropriate long-term care solutions where reoccurring assistance is necessary. Sorry about that. To begin, I want to emphasize the fire department fully understands that residents may occasionally require lift assistance. This commonly occurs after a hospital discharge, surgery, or rehabilitation, temporary illness or injury, or unexpected mobility issues. In many of these situations, our personnel are not only helping someone back up safely, but also evaluating their overall condition and safety within their home. Sorry, I lost my spot. These interactions can actually be beneficial because they allow paramedics to assess the resident's wellbeing, identify potential fall hazards within the home, and the paramedics can complete a referral to Health and Human Services where Lindsay Dosey and Hannah Kane can get involved. I want you to know during the entire discussion about this, Health and Human Services has been involved with us from day one in putting this ordinance together and working to make sure we're doing the best thing for our citizens. And we help prevent future injuries. The concern we are addressing tonight is not the occasional need. The concern is the growing number of reoccurring non-emergency lift assist calls that are consuming emergency response resources on a routine basis. Lift assist, we are primarily seeing two categories for reoccurring lift assist. The first involves individual residents where the fire department is routinely called for non-emergency assistance. In some cases, these calls occur multiple times per week or even daily. The second involves nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and senior care providers that rely heavily on the fire department personnel to provide services that are often expected as part of the care they advertise for the residents and families. Again, our goal is not to deny assistance. Recurring lift assist calls have direct operational impact on our emergency services. Every time an ambulance and crew are tied up on a non-emergency lift assist, those resources are temporarily unavailable for cardiac emergencies, strokes, serious injuries, structure fires, vehicle accidents, or other life-threatening incidents. These recurring requests can delay response times to critical emergencies throughout the village, require mutual aid ambulance to come into the village, and reduce our operational efficiency. When non-emergency lift assists become routine and predictable, they begin impacting our ability to provide timely emergency medical care. The data we have collected clearly shows a growing trend. In 2024, just 19 addresses accounted for nearly half of all lift assist responses in our community. That indicates a very concentrated demand coming from a relatively small number of locations. In 2025, responses to assisted living and nursing facilities exceeded the prior year. Overall lift assist volume increased by more than 6%. In the first quarter of 2026, one resident alone required a non-emergency lift cyst for 25 consecutive days from the fire department in February. Another resident called us 30 times over a couple month period to help her up in her wheelchair. At our current pace in 2026, lift assist activity is already running approximately 7% ahead of last year. These statistics demonstrate that this is no longer an occasional issue, rather a reoccurring demand on emergency services. Recognizing that this is an issue is recurring throughout Illinois, the state recently passed Illinois House Bill 2336. This legislation became effective January 1st of this year. The law allows fire departments to build nursing homes and assist living facilities for reoccurring lift assist responses beginning with the seventh annual occurrence. The legislation was passed specifically because fire departments across the state were experiencing significant increases in these calls. Many neighboring communities are now developing local policies and ordinance based on this law while adapting them to fit their own operational needs. Our proposed ordinance follows that same philosophy. We are taking guidance from state law while developing a program tailored specifically to the needs of our village and fire department. As part of this process, we reviewed how surrounding fire departments are addressing reoccurring lift assist requests. What we found is that many departments have already implemented fee structures for excessive non-emergency lift assist calls. While the exact fees vary from community to community, the overall approach is very similar. Allow occasional assistance without penalty, provide warnings or notices or letters when calls become excessive, and implement cost recovery measures for reoccurring non-emergency use. This demonstrates that the approach being proposed to you tonight is consistent with regional practices and broader industry trends. The proposed ordinance would establish separate fee structures for one, individual private residences, and two, nursing homes and assisted living facilities. The intent is to balance compassion with accountability. For residents living independently, the goal is to encourage families and caregivers to establish sustainable support systems when reoccurring assistance becomes necessary. For care facilities, the goal is to ensure that facilities providing mobility or assisted living services maintain adequate staffing and support their residents rather than relying on fire department emergency resources. This ordinance is not intended to be a revenue source. It is intended to be an avenue change behavior like Village Manager Reklaus mentioned earlier. This ensures flexibility, fairness, and compassion will remain part of this process. Implementation of this program would involve several important components. First, we plan to conduct community education and outreach to ensure residents understand three things. Why this issue is being addressed, what resources may be available to them, and how they can avoid reoccurring emergency responses. Second, we will work directly with nursing homes, senior care facilities to communicate expectations and discuss operational concerns. Third, we will coordinate closely with Village Health and Human Services staff to help identify residents who may need additional support services from the Village. Before any billing occurs, residents would receive a first notice letter. That notice is intended to provide time and opportunity for residents and family to arrange for several things. A visit from Health and Human Services Nurse Lindsay Dosey and potentially social worker Hannah Kane. In-home care, mobility assistance, medical equipment, or other supportive services. Finally, all billing decisions will remain subject to review by me on a case-by-case basis. In closing, this proposal is about In closing, this proposal about responsible management of emergency resources while continuing to support residents with dignity and compassion. The fire department and health and human services remain committed to helping our residents in need. I cannot emphasize enough, this ordinance is not intended to create a new revenue source for the village or the fire department. The primary objective is to curb a growing pattern of reoccurring non-emergency lift assist usage that is impacting our emergency response readiness. The goal is behavioral change, encouraging individuals, families, and care facilities to establish appropriate long-term support systems so fire department emergency resources remain available for the other emergencies that are true emergencies. This ordinance would provide a reasonable and balanced framework, consistency with state law and regional practices, improve protection of emergency response capabilities, and opportunities for residents to connect with the appropriate long-term support services. The Fire Department recommends moving forward with their proposed lift assist ordinance and implementation plan. The recommended motion would be to approve the lift assist ordinance as presented. I thank you for your time and consideration tonight, and I'd be happy to answer any questions at this time.

Well, thank you, Chief Harris. I think that was really well put together. Let's reiterate one or two things. Number one, you did this not in a vacuum. You did this with assistance and guidance from our Health and Human Services Department, right?

We've had many, many meetings with Mila and Lindsay.

Two or 10?

Four that I can think of off the top of my head.

And they agree with us.

Yes. And I will tell you, it was Health and Human Services with the one resident that had called us 25 days in a row. It was their assistance that helped us get over the hurdle and get that individual the help that they need. Right.

And you made that clear. What happens in those occasions when you run into something like this, you can introduce that to our department and have them help them out.

Yep. And that's what will be included in the first letter we send to them, all that contact information. And also, after the paramedics are there, they will fill out a referral form. in their image trend report, that's the report we have to do after we have any patient contact, that report goes straight to Lindsey and she will be notified when she gets to work the next morning.

And then the other half of this, maybe not half, but the other piece of this puzzle has to do with facilities. How have your conversations with some of the larger facilities in town gone in regard to this? Do they accept this responsibility?

So I have so far met with Luther Village and the Luther Home. I'm meeting with the Moorings next week and I believe Church Creek the following week. Luther Village and the Luther Home could not have been more receptive to the guidance and the education that we provided when I sat down with the directors of both facilities.

knock on wood so far my my meetings have gone very very well and this has been very well very well received and to some some degree they didn't realize that it was happening sure you can imagine well i think this is really well put together and really important to keep our paramedics available for the needs that they really need to go out and take care of and that there's other ways to get these issues solved so um thank you for putting us together are there any questions from anyone on the board trustee schwingbeck

Thank you, Mayor. Chief, thank you. I'm in support of this. Just a few thoughts and a couple of questions, because we've talked a lot over the years since I've been on the board with a number of calls that you make during the course of a year, and it keeps going up and up, and we've added another ambulance, and I've asked questions over the years of how many of those calls are actually at the nursing home and assisted living places. So we know that makes up a large part. When I looked at the data you provided, I guess a thought that I have, and I want to just go over this with you and get your thoughts. When you broke it up between private residents, which in a lot of cases, you've got family members living in a home where maybe they don't have the support staff around, maybe kids live out of town, versus nursing homes where there are professional people on site. And people are paying good money, in a lot of cases to be in those nursing homes and assisted living sites. So my only comment is when you're looking at the private sector, zero to three, there's no fee. And then you go up into that four to six where you start charging somebody in a private residence, and yet in the nursing home, the first six calls are nothing. I mean, they have staff there that are supposed to assist in those cases, Instead, they're calling 911, and it's emergency medical. These are not emergency calls. I would think that we ought to keep the nursing homes who have professional people on staff either closer to where the private residents are because those are the folks that we're typically getting a lot of calls from.

All we did was follow the House bill there, but as talking with Attorney Passman, We're home rule. We can change that to zero to three just like we did. We just followed the House bill that was passed. I'm open to any suggestions you have, and as Attorney Passman said, we can really do what we want to do with that. So I threw it out there following what was passed in the state, but I'm willing to take any recommendations.

Yeah, I mean, I would just think that keeping consistency, then there's not going to be as many questions from your staff, but... Like I said, those homes, the nursing homes and assisted living, as we've talked in the past, they have people there. They don't want to do it for one reason. They want you guys to come in so their staff doesn't potentially get injured. Yeah, they want to pass the liability. Right. But they have people there who are maybe in a private home There is nobody they can call.

And I think, you know, I want to make it very clear. We're not trying to... Spread the word, don't call 911. That's not the issue here. And the other thing you, on the one slide where I said we want to keep compassion as part of this, I think all of us have had a loved one that was in the hospital and they got kicked out because of Medicare, wouldn't pay any longer or something. And sometimes these people get home at 4 o'clock on a Friday.

Right.

And they need beds and they need lift chairs and stuff. They're not going to get that over a weekend. So that's where I said, I'm going to be reviewing all these cases. The compassion is still going to be there. And I've talked to, you know, the chiefs in the surrounding towns and. This really is just a tool for the few people that are going to push us. It's really not going to be, from what I understand, a big problem.

I understand that, and compassion certainly comes into play, but when you look at 12,000 EMT calls a year, and if I remember right, a good 3,500 or so come from a small percentage of nursing home and assisted living. I just think we ought to maybe drop that down a little bit and compare it with private residents because those seem to be the folks that are calling you.

Chief, can I ask to verify the question here that maybe I didn't get? When you have six a facility are those the address six or six different people in that facility so the one thing that you know everybody asks me about Luther village you have Luther village and then you have Luther home okay Luther village well no no I get you're going down a different road I'm but let's say the Lutheran home The Lutheran Home, which is a nursing facility and several different levels of skilled care, separate from Luther Village, which is a private residential community. Correct. If there's an address of something on Oakton that is the Lutheran Home, are you giving in this proposal six non-charge visits to that address or six to every single resident in that Lutheran Home?

No.

The Lutheran Home is 800 West Oakton, and they have MyRehab. They have Heartstone. It's all one address.

There's several hundred people in there.

Yeah, so 800 West Oakton, and you get six free passes. Okay. And on the seventh one, they will start receiving a bill.

So that difference there is at a house at 1246 North Walnut, where I grew up, it's just that family that's there. They've got three... yes compt yeah assists right the lutheran home at oakton is going to get six for the whole two or three hundred people that are there or whatever how many people live there correct does that make sense did i get that right yes okay does that clarify what you're thinking or do we still want to learn i understood that so do you think we should still lower it down to three I mean, I'm okay either way. I'm just asking you if you...

I think so, because they've got professionals there that should be able to accomplish this.

Yeah. No, I don't disagree with that. Okay. Did you have more? I interrupted you. I didn't mean to do that. I'm sorry. I just wanted to get clarity on that.

Yeah, no, that was it, and I'm in full support of this, and I'm looking at this in an agreement that this is not a money-making. It's to maybe change the behavior in those locations. so that you're available to really tackle the emergency situations and you're not on a call helping somebody when all of a sudden another call comes in and it's a real emergency. Thank you.

Okay, anyone else? Trustee Santorini.

I would just like to make a motion.

You go right ahead. Can you put the motion back up, Randy?

the motion itself.

Nope, there it is.

Thank you. Motion to approve the lift assist ordinance as drafted. Second.

Okay, so motion is made by Trustee Santamaria, seconded by Trustee Manganiello.

Further discussion, further questions, anyone? Yes. Did you? Yes. Go ahead. So a couple of things. And just to help you out, I did some research, too. And the Illinois Municipal League has got a bunch of good information about the coordinates. the law that was passed by the state to allow this to happen and model ordinances, so on and so forth. And one of the things that was the reason why they had recommend, was because you could have at that address, you could have a hundred, you know, versus one family. So while I too would agree that, hey, you guys got people there. But are you trying to be fair to the people or to, you know what I'm saying? So if you're looking for a per-population approach, You know, I'd almost go with the, because I'm hoping that there was some thought process in that model ordinance, and from what I was reading in other sources, it seemed like that's the direction it was going. Hart, I don't know if you had a chance to look at some of those, maybe you used part of that model ordinance. Yeah, I did trust you, Bertucci.

Not only did we review the IML materials, but As Chief Harris alluded earlier, as a Home Rule community, Arlington Heights not only has the authority, but has had the authority, and in fact, our firm has worked with other of our home room municipal clients to implement similar type of fees well before the new state law was passed. So we relied on the state law, on some of the models that we've seen, some other organizations, as well as some experience we have with other communities to draft what then the chief directed he believed would be appropriate for Arlington Heights.

Yeah. Yeah. So I, okay. Now I am understanding what you're saying is, but with home rule week, we didn't have to wait for this January 1st. We could have done this prior.

No. And I mean, and a lot of communities and I know chief Harris done this region, a lot, a lot of this issue obviously bubbled up to the point where Springfield took notice and took action. Um, There were many communities that were experiencing this issue before this was adopted. Many have taken the opportunity with this new attention being given to adopt something now for the first time. So very few communities, in my experience and my knowledge, had anything like this before the new law. But now we're seeing this spread, home rule and not home rule alike.

Yeah. So anyways, long story short is I'm obviously very in support of this. I would almost say as written, but that we have the ability to change that at some point. And when you meet with them, you just say, hey, listen, this is the way we're writing it, but... I got news for you. You start, you know, abusing that and taking it to the six, you know, all the time or whatever, that we're going to change it down to three or whatever.

Right. I certainly can do that.

Okay.

Anyone else on this side? None. Over here. Trustee LeBed's.

Thank you. Thank you, Chief. I'm definitely in support of this and have been since I first read about it. I know how important it is to have your EMT available for those of us who really need it. But my question has to do with the individual residences. So when Health and Human Services gets notified that there's – somebody that seems to have a particular issue. And you kind of talked about this, but I just want to get a little bit more clarification. Are there resources they can, that individual or the family members of that individual can reach out to to provide the kind of assistance they actually need, which really isn't emergency care, but it helps them to I guess really remain in their home and kind of get around it to do what they need to do.

I think that's what our referral to health and human services does. I think Lindsay and Hannah do an outstanding job. Um, I keep going back to the gentleman that we went to 25 straight days. It was them who provided him an enormous amount of material and resources and walked him through. They were there four times, I believe. Um, and spoke to him on the phone that got him the resources that finally got us to not have to go there for the 26th day in a row. So Hannah and Lindsey have all that material to provide to them.

If I could, Trustee LeBeds, I mean, I think it's, Lindsay and Hannah will look at this on a case-by-case basis. In some cases, it may be as simple as the person needs some medical equipment to help them get in and out of bed or to maneuver the bathroom more correctly. And we've got resources available through the Senior Center to connect folks there. It could be that they need, if they can afford it, an in-home health aide to help with some difficult moments during their day. And, you know, everything up to and including, there are individuals that are perhaps living alone that maybe shouldn't be. And they can engage with the family and talk about this experience and kind of force this issue and kind of talk about how this maybe isn't a sustainable way of continuing. And so getting them involved, I mean, this is what they do. And it's a great partnership between Fire and Health and Human Services on that.

I appreciate the information, and I know that they do a good job, and they're really very important to us, just as you are.

Thank you. They do a great job.

Yeah, thanks.

Anyone else? Trustee Zick.

Thank you, Mayor. Yeah, Chief Harris, thank you for putting this together, actually. This is actually a very caring proposal, because while it's doing good by the taxpayers because it's allowing you to do the job that you need to do, and so we're taking care of this, but we're also hopefully shining a light on those individuals that really need the help, like that gentleman with the 25. I'm glad to hear that we did the right thing. We were able to get him to a better place. Because when you first said that, I really jumped out of my skin. I wanted that person to be in the right place. The question that I have, and I know this is really going one of these exceptions throughout the rule, but you had made a comment that you're going to be reviewing every single one of these that come up once they get over the thresholds. Is that correct?

No, I'm going to be reviewing these from the first call that we go to. Um, we have a setup in our report, um, that, uh, each day it'll send any lift assist that we went to us. And then we'll be reviewing it, sending out a letter to them, um, getting Hannah and, and, uh, and, um, and Lindsey involved. So we're not waiting until the third one. After the first one, after the paramedics get back and they can let us know what they may have seen that they need in assistance, then we'll go from there.

Okay. Okay, that's good. That's really good here. Because what I kept thinking was, again, this is a real exception on the rule, but private residents, let's suppose you have an individual who needed help three times in a row, and now somebody else within that same residence You know, not because of the issue that was causing the other one has the same problem. Are those the type of things that you're going to review and kind of see like, OK, is this the right thing to do?

Right. This is going to be a discussion between myself and Health and Human Services that are going to follow up there before a bill, a fee, I guess, would ever be sent to somebody. We're not just looking to send these out. You know, I will talk with Lindsay and, you know, she'll say. you know, it took them four days to get the lift and it took them, you know, five days. So if we had to go there for five days, we're not going to send them a fee when it was over the weekend that this was all taking place. You know, that's why I'm saying the compassion has to play a role in this if somebody has no choice in the matter.

Got it.

Okay. Thank you. Anyone else? I do have one blue card from an audience member on this item. Vincent Kane, are you still here? I think Vincent is no longer, he was the gentleman that got up and spoke already. Okay, fair enough. Then I think, is there anyone in the audience that wanna rest the board on this item? I see none. Last discussion here, and we had a motion, Trustee Santamaria, seconded by Trustee Manganiello. This is a roll call vote again.

Trustee Santa Maria? Yes. Trustee Manganiello? Aye. Trustee Schwengbeck?

Yes.

Trustee Bertucci? Yes. Trustee Zick?

Yes.

Trustee Dunnington? Yes. Trustee LeBeds? Yes. Trustee Gilbert? Yes. President Tenaglia?

Yes. Okay, again, unanimous concurrence. Chief, good luck. I know this adds a little bit of work on your part here, but I think in the end it's going to be the right move all the way through. So thanks for coming here and presenting tonight. All right, last item. Oh, geez, it's too late. I don't think we can start this one, right? Diana would want to shoot me. I'm teasing, of course. Manager Reckless, why don't you set us up on this?

Real quick, this was an item that was a board-generated idea last fall, and it was put in the 2026-27 business plan, and our deputy village manager, Ms. McCullough, and her team have done a fair amount of research on this, and so she's going to be our closer tonight and present this item for discussion. Great.

Okay, thank you to the Village Board. I understand it's just about 10 p.m.

I was teasing.

So I'm gonna try to keep this quick. I do have a lot of slides, so I'm going to move through them pretty quickly because I can always revert back if you need me to. So tonight we're gonna be talking about the possible creation of a downtown social district program. And so staff was asked to explore this type of a program to see what it could potentially look like in our downtown area. So the goal was to review other communities, how they operate, and discuss whether this is something that the village would like to explore further. So when you look at the purpose of the presentation, I'll talk about various aspects of this program, the research that was conducted, We'll review some operational enforcement and budget considerations in addition to discussing a potential pilot program and the next steps. So what is a social district? So a social district is an open consumption area that would allow patrons to consume alcoholic beverages from participating and licensed establishments. And they would need to consume these beverages in a designated zone. So we currently have our alfresco zone set up. It's prime for this type of a concept, and this is what we're going to be discussing further. So, why would we discuss this? This allows patrons to purchase alcoholic beverages from participating businesses. They have to keep it in a designated public area. It's not intended to create open container areas that are unrestricted. It supports downtown activity during alfresco season. It enhances walkability, dining, and entertainment experiences. And many communities use these districts to encourage visitors to spend just a little bit more time in our downtown before and after dining, shopping, and attending events. So it's really intended to complement what we currently offer with our alfresco environment. Research that was conducted, I focused on a few communities in Illinois. There aren't many that I could find that have this type of a district, but I looked at Cary, Crystal Lake, Rockford, Joliet, recently started talking about this. I focused on Michigan, looking specifically at St. Joseph and Saugatuck. And a fun fact, Michigan leads the United States with these types of programs with over 144 municipalities establishing these outdoor dining areas. And so they really pioneered this back in 2020. And so there's a lot of programs that exist throughout the United States. They are intended to support local businesses, increase pedestrian traffic, encourage outdoor dining, shopping, and enhance tourism and downtown vibrancy. So Cary Social District Program, many of the features are the same with the municipalities that I highlighted, that I mentioned. So specifically with Cary, they have a two drink limit per transaction. Boundary signages are important. No glass containers are permitted. And they're seasonal. So this one for Cary is open March through December. And this is specifically what Cary has for their downtown district in terms of hours of operation. You can see the signage that is in place. So what's clear here with Cary is that they have very visible signage and clear boundaries to help with enforcement public understanding. Crystal Lake and Rockford programs. Crystal Lake has a DORA program which is called a dining outdoor refreshment area. So you'll see this throughout the United States as well that some have a DORA while some have a social district. These are the seasonal refreshment areas. Crystal Lake requires wristbands and then you know consumption is limited to marked boundaries. Rockford They allow their businesses to decide if they're gonna opt in or not. Same thing, branded cups are required. And businesses can choose whether outdoor beverages are allowed inside their establishments. Michigan really has a great, robust programs. They're really the catalyst, I would say, in the United States. And they have these districts extensively as part of a downtown placemaking effort. So that's really an approach to planning, designing, and managing public spaces that are used to create environments to have a meaningful and socially engaging spaces that the community is encouraged to gather and really just hang out and enjoy the outdoors. So they are definitely viewed as economic development tools, creating a downtown vibrant area. And so these communities that I did speak with in Michigan did say that they reported increased pedestrian activity longer and people just hang out and have a tendency to come in and out of their shops and establishments. Also, it's naturally conducive for supporting festivals and community events. So this is just a quick example. You'll see on the left side is downtown district boundary for the city of Rockford, and the right side you'll see St. Joseph, Michigan. Here you'll see St. Joseph provides you boundary signage examples. So these are things that they have on light poles, street poles, as well as on the pedestrian walkways. So this is when you're entering and when you're leaving. So in terms of operational impacts, if the village were to move forward with a social district, there would be operational impacts across multiple departments. Administration would likely oversee the program coordination, business participation, and policy implementation. Police department would play a key role in enforcement, crowd management, and event coordination. And then public works would likely see increased needs related to signage, refuse, collection, cleaning, and maintenance support. For police department considerations, I wanted to give them their own slide. I did speak with Chief Pecora about this. And public safety would be one of the most important components of any social district program. We discussed several common concerns identified by other communities, including underage drinking and keeping alcohol within district boundaries. Another key issue is making sure that the public clearly understands where alcohol consumption is allowed and where it is prohibited. And the police department currently supports Alfresco in two ways. So during Sounds of Summer concerts, they are present on Thursday evenings from 6.30 to 9. There's three individuals from the police department that are working the events. And then on Friday and Saturdays during Alfresco season, they're there on Friday and Saturday evenings from 6 to 9. So, additional some public works considerations. The impact would likely include cleaning, trash removal, maintenance during needs. We might have additional. The village would also likely need signage, branded cups, traditional trash receptacles, and other district materials. Depending on the final structure, there may also be staffing and administrative costs associated with the program. and that at this time we don't have final cost estimates, but they would be a part of any future evaluation. Potential operational framework. So, this is where I could see where we could clearly define a social district boundaries. We already have that in place through our alfresco zone. It's been in place for a few years now. So, if the board was interested in moving forward, we think that we could implement a structured and limited program, rather than an all day and all year round operation. It could be limited to Thursday night only during concerts, or you could add a Friday and you can add a Saturday during al fresco. Participation would be voluntary for the businesses that have a liquor license. And then alcohol would only be permitted in non-glass containers. and only within the boundaries. So what we've seen is there's something called district cups, and these are plastic or compostable cups that these businesses that participate in other communities do pay for. And the drink sticker is usually developed by the municipality, and then sometimes there's a downtown business district that takes over for marketing and branding purposes. But the district sticker is very important. It does include the establishment name and date. So when you go to the establishment and you are not finished with your drink, but let's say you want to keep walking around the area, they put it in a to-go social district cup. They have their name and then the date of service. So this is a proposed VH downtown social district boundary. It's exactly what our alfresco zone is. These are some examples of branded cups and stickers. So you can see on the right is Rockford. And then the middle picture shows the regulations of what they look for if businesses want to participate. And then on the left it shows you that there's some establishments there in St. Joe, Michigan with their district cups. These are business signage examples that businesses do put up, meaning you are welcome to come in with a beverage, you cannot come in with a beverage, or beverages are sold here. Typical patron rules, these, you know, alcohols, you can only get it from participating business, no glass, no BYOB, it's limited to the public areas, and they have to comply with all state and local laws, so you cannot leave the premises with alcohol. And then these types of rules help create consistency and make enforcement easier for staff and police. So pilot program options. So many communities started with a temporary or seasonal type of a pilot program before moving to a permanent program. And a lot of them have moved to a permanent program. But if we decided to do a pilot approach, We could test operations on a limited basis and evaluate impacts. It would provide the opportunity to gather feedback from businesses, residents, and visitors. And then staff believes we could do a pilot program during this year's alfresco season, and that it would provide a valuable operational information before any long-term decisions are made. Potential benefits, we talked about really this is everything that I gathered and I spoke to many different communities. They all highlighted increased downtown visitation, greater traffic and dwell time, support for residents, bars, retailers, and so forth. And they just said all of them had a stronger downtown identity and vibrancy. All of the communities really love and appreciate the program. potential concerns to evaluate is we believe that these are some of the concerns that can be managed, but they are important considerations. So we may need additional enforcement with associated costs, maintenance cleaning impacts, public perception. A start and stop of a social district can be confusing for patrons. So when I did speak to my colleagues and other people within these communities, they already believe that alfresco permits this. And so we have seen that there are some people that may walk around already in the pedestrian zone with a drink. So they believe that's already permitted. We may have a risk of like litter, disorderly conduct, impact on non-participating businesses, we would want to take a look at that. And then the startup costs for this type of a program. So for final takeaways, I do believe that the social district would support the village's strategic goal, which is number eight, support and enhance the village's efforts related to arts, entertainment, and community identity. Social districts are increasingly used as placemaking and economic development tools. It's a natural complement to Alfresco and Sounds of Summer events, and it really provides a regulated environment to encourage longer downtown visits and support local businesses. So, for, let me see here. So, for, we talked about some of these. Oops, sorry. Recommended next steps. So, you know, if the board is interested in wishing to proceed, staff recommends the following actions. So, I have six items here. Explore a pilot program during the 2026 Alfresco season. conduct outreach to liquor license holders, and I think we have 15 liquor license holders in our downtown, but 13 would be eligible based upon the classification that they have, coordinate with police and public works and engineering departments, develop cost estimates, prepare draft social district boundaries, operational structure, permit or process and an ordinance, and then recommending returning back to this board with formal policy and implementation options. So, um, staff is looking for direction from the board as to whether there is a consensus to create a social district pilot program during the alfresco season, this year's alfresco season. And if the village board recommendation is made, if a recommendation is made, staff will move forward with, um, implementation actions, including preparation of an ordinance for a board consideration at a future board meeting. I'll turn it over back to you. Thank you, Diane.

Very nicely put together. I think what I want to do is hand off this to the President Pro Temp, Trustee Schwingbeck, because I believe it was his consideration that his visits to Michigan that kind of inspired this conversation. So the floor is yours.

Thank you, Mayor. Yeah, I didn't know St. Joe had this going on. I'm going to have to go visit it. No, this is something that... I've been talking about what, Diana, maybe three years we've been going over this. I certainly, talking to some of my fellow board members, I certainly have heard pros and cons. If you, maybe you can put up that one slide that you showed right at the end of, had some, There was one where you listed right there You know I can tell you for example in in st. Joseph it's a much smaller town and On that map that you put up where there was that one area way off to the right That's the only dining area in In st. Joe way off to the to the right there Were restaurants actually put tables out so in the large section They they really don't have an outdoor dining district like we do so patrons can visit restaurants while they're waiting for their table. There are three, I believe, wine tasting rooms. So they can go in there, they can walk out with one of the cups, they can walk around the town, frequent some of the other businesses. St. Joe, unlike Arlington Heights with 78,000 people, St. Joe only has about 7500 But because it doesn't have outdoor dining on the weekends You would think that it was an alfresco type atmosphere because of how crowded the downtown area is with tourists and and I've been up to Saugatuck as well and seen what goes on there. So I My vision for this whole thing was we already have the alfresco zone, and those are people that are sitting down, eating dinner. I respectfully like the idea of really limiting the hours from that five to nine. And I don't envision this as being another harmony fest. Or in the past a taste of Arlington. I really see this as People are waiting for their tables They're down enjoying the sounds of summer They want to put up some chairs in a blanket and go into one of our establishments and and take some drinks over there and listen to music, but I don't see this as being tens of thousands of people that are in the intersection there like we see in Harmony Fest. I just don't, looking at St. Joe, at what goes on there, they have the established social district, they don't have barricades set up like we have at the four entry and exit points, they just have a sticker right on the ground. It lasts a lot longer up there than our alfresco zone. You can go up there in January and February and walk around with a drink. So I think we can control it a lot more by having it in the alfresco zone. They also don't have a police presence, and I certainly understand Our board may be wanting that, but I don't see up there people walking out of that social district with their drinks, the stickers on the ground, they're walking around town with a cocktail or a glass of wine or they go in and they get a like a frozen drink at the wine bar. And they walk around town, and when they're done, they drop the cup in the trash, and they either walk home or get in their car. But up there, there isn't an enormous police presence monitoring this. in all the years they've been doing it, I've never seen it get out of control. So I do understand where we're looking maybe for that as a possibility. And that's why in talking with staff, I thought it would be a good idea to do it on Sounds of Summer Night when they're already there and then trying it on a Friday and a Saturday within a very tight window. And once people are done at 9 o'clock, the establishments can just stop serving them in those cups. So we can do it, you know, as a trial in a, in a very tight window rather than just opening it up like some of these towns do all day. So it's been very successful. Um, I can tell you that in Saugatuck and St. Joe people love it. Um, and they, they can walk into stores and shop and, and walk around town or sit in the park. And as you pointed out, it's certainly helping the business establishments, not only the establishments that serve alcohol, but the other ones as well. People do linger a lot longer and visit the shops. I mean, I'm obviously very in favor of this because I've been talking and working on this for quite some time. So I think it's a great enhancement for our alfresco zone.

Okay, agree 100%. Today, what we're looking for, could you put up the last slide, the very final slide? So you're looking for our board to determine if you staff should follow through with preparing a pilot social district for the 2026 alfresco season and kind of determine is it going to be on certain nights or certain hours and so on but that's all stuff that will eventually get sorted out

Yeah, I mean, I think essentially what we're looking for is, number one, should we keep going or is this an off-ramp? You know, and if the intent is to do a pilot program for the 2026 season, any, you know, we're not asking for the board to sort out every at all issue. Right, that's what I'm trying to avoid right now. But generally, should we keep going in any, you know, major concerns or things that we didn't bring up that we should, Oh yeah, we should also consider this staff, you know, that that's what we're looking for. And then we'll either keep going or we'll stop.

All right. Okay, so if we can just focus our dialogue. For starters, the first issue is should staff continue on to potentially make this happen? And then what are some issues or concerns or questions that any of us have that we would want them to consider? That I think is what our focus should be here for the next several minutes. Trustee Zik, go ahead.

Okay. Mayor? You know, overall, it's an intriguing idea, and I would like to see us put something together to figure out what the next steps are going to be or what this would look like. The concerns I would have, and, you know, you've got some of them up here, some of these recommendations, next steps, you know, cost estimates, definitely, you know, what is that going to be? Then I kept thinking about revenue sources, too. Are there, because you had one slide in there where they were showing $1 per cup or something like that. You know, are there any potential revenue? Because obviously we don't want to put any more taxes on. I know we have, I believe we have an alfresco tax. I suppose you could talk, we could think about increasing that a little bit, but I'd rather not. Are there any other type of revenue sources? You know, something like with those cups. Talking to businesses, obviously. There's a couple businesses that I think down there that might not actually like that because they want to keep them captured within their particular area. So definitely wanting to know what the overall thought is there. Enforcement. That's probably the biggest thing that I'm concerned about. You know, it seemed like hours ago, Trustee LeBetz made a comment about some of the things that go on down there. Right now, you know, I was just down in El Fresco last night eating dinner, and I saw a couple groups of kids come through, you know, riding their bikes right through it, even though there's signs. We were sitting right by a sign that said no bikes, and these kids just came right through. So that's a concern. And I think about it with the hours also. Let's say we do it five to nine, okay? I think that was what was in the slide, or five to 10. Well then, at 10 o'clock or nine o'clock, it's done, and now we have to enforce that and we have to clean up that. What is that going to look like? I'd be interested from the police chief, what is that going to look like? How are we going to handle all that type? Those are overall the questions that I have, but I would be in favor of wanting to see a proposal to see what this whole thing looks like.

Excellent. Anybody else down here? Trustee Megan Arrow.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Mayor. I do have a lot of concerns. I won't repeat. I agree with the number of points that Trustee Zik made. Excuse me. For me, there's a couple of things that are bottom line to consider supporting it. One is absolutely no plastic. We can't have it violating our sustainability imperative to bring something like this out but I need evidence that the tax revenues generated by this kind of a program would exceed the costs because otherwise it's hitting the property tax levy and it's kind of that simple for me to want to go further and even explore the the other concerns that I do have but I THIS WOULD NEED TO PAY FOR ITSELF.

OKAY. FAIR. TRUSTEE GILBERT.

YEAH, I THINK THIS IS A GREAT IDEA. YOU GUYS HAVE HAD ON A LOT OF GOOD STUFF. I WOULD BE IN FAVOR OF GOING FORWARD WITH THIS. I WOULD LIKE TO SEE IT, BECAUSE IT IS A PILOT PROGRAM, NOT BOGGED DOWN WITH TOO MUCH REGULATION AND ALL THESE THINGS FOR IMPLEMENTATION. I'm fine with it being the entire time Alfresco is open. I don't necessarily know that we need separate cups that are tagged with labels and things like that. I think a lot of times people are serving plastic cups if you're sitting on an Alfresco patio as it is. So I don't see why somebody couldn't just get up and walk out with that very cup. I don't think we need to make a new cup per se on this. But again, I think that's up to each individual restaurant how they do it.

you know some of those outlay costs at the beginning might just bog it down to see if it's actually going to fly but i think it's a great idea um so i'd love to see you guys go forward with this and bring something to the board thank you thank you for all the work that was done um diana and trustee schwingbeck i really appreciate it we've had several conversations about this and he's not going to be surprised at what i'm about to say but i'm going to be the curmudgeon here and say i am not interested We can't even control how people walk or maneuver, I'll put it, through our little alfresco zone that I don't want to add something else to it that we have to watch out for. We have to watch out for underage drinking, that we have to deal with additional trash or whatever. I am not convinced that... It won't stop people from bringing stuff in. Sounds of Summer, I'm not naive. I know people bring stuff in, and I would say they put it in their little adult sippy cups, which are basically the insulated tumblers you can't see through, and they just take them out of their bag. And I don't see how this would stop anything like that from happening. I... I think that the idea, I appreciate the idea of being able to wander through and so forth, but we don't really have a lot of shops in this zone. I mean, where are people going to walk into another restaurant? I'm just kind of racking my brain to see what shops we've got within this area. Not too many. There's a hair salon. There's a few things like that. I don't see that. And there isn't a lot of place for, if the idea is to have people to sit, there isn't a lot of place to sit. You know, there aren't a lot of benches. Yeah, you can sit around the fountain and so forth. So I just, I guess as I have previously said to Trustee Schwingbeck, I'm not feeling this. So that's where I stand on this.

You are not a curmudgeon.

Oh, yes, I am. I always wanted to grow up to be a curmudgeon, and I'm not there.

We'll go this direction. Trustee Bertucci.

Well, as much as all the respect in the world that I have for Trustee LaBette, I'm going to go the other way. I'm very much in favor of it. I visit, probably for the last 11 years, I visit multiple times a summer Saga Talks. AND I FOUND THEIR PROGRAM, AND TOM AND I HAVE TALKED ABOUT THIS OFTEN, WHEN TOM CALLED ME, IT WAS, YEP, YEP, I'VE SEEN IT, I GET IT, I AGREE, WE SHOULD HAVE IT HERE. BUT WHAT I SEE THERE IS I DON'T SEE TOO MUCH OF A CONCERN ABOUT CLEANUP. I THINK MAYBE THEY from what I, because I did, once Tom put this in motion, the last couple summers, I've been asking questions and I was introduced to their police chief and they said, you know, we put some extra garbage dispenser, you know, out. They said, but we're not, you know, for the most part, people are respectful. They said a lot of times they, you know, they're getting the bartenders to say, hey, don't be an idiot and throw, you know, make sure you get this in the garbage or whatever. So, So from what I understand and from the people I'm talking to in Saugatuck at least, cleanup's not an issue. The police said that they're not overly concerned. They're not having additional calls, that type of thing. It's more about the stickers. You can do cups if you want, But if you want, you could just say they're responsible to get their own plastic cups. And then it's all about the stickers, from what I understand, too. So that's what. The only other thing I would say, if you put hours on it, I guess you would put hours on when they can stop serving it. Somebody, the last serve at 9, well, that person might be finishing their drink at 10. And that just has to be understandable. BUT I'M SEEING THAT THERE PROBABLY, FROM WHAT I AM UNDERSTANDING, THERE IS A LITTLE BIT MORE COMPLIANCE AT THE ADULT LEVEL VERSUS, AND I AGREE 100%. I MEAN, RANDY, WE GOT TO TALK THIS TO NICK. THE KIDS ARE GOING THROUGH LIKE CRAZY. IT'S ALMOST GETTING WORSE THIS YEAR ALREADY. AND SO I WOULD AGREE WITH THAT, BUT I'M ALSO NOT SEEING AN ISSUE WITH THE SOCIAL DISTRICT FROM THE STANDPOINT OF ADULTS. AND WHILE WE DON'T HAVE AS MUCH SHOPPING AS LIKE A SAGA TALK, We do have our ice cream and our yogurt place and this new fruit place. And I've been with my grandkids, and I'm not done with my last cocktail at dinner. And they're like, Grandpa, can we go get ice cream? Can we go get ice cream? so well this would be a case where rather than say let me finish my drink i can say let me go get a good to go and then you know my daughter can take them or and maybe they'll allow it and you know in the ice cream place when you're ordering but um you know you do have the yogurt joint and i shouldn't say but the yogurt What's it called?

Berio.

Berio, thank you. So I got to give them a shout out too. Berio and the ice cream. Wins. Kill Wins, thank you. Thank you.

A place that I can't pronounce, but I know Wendy knows how to pronounce it. The acai bowls.

There you go. There you go. So I do see how it could be used to go into some of these other places and certainly appreciating Harmony Park with or without the sounds of summer. I mean, I do know like my, again, my granddaughters love to go sit and go by the fountain. And again, this could be a situation where whether it's me, their mom, their dad, or whoever, or grandma or whatever can say, instead of saying, let me finish my drink and the kid's getting more impatient, you can kind of take a walk type of thing. So anyways, long story short, I am in favor of it. I've seen it in action and I would be in favor of a pilot. Absolutely.

Thanks, Trustee Ward. Trustee Dunnington.

Thank you, Mayor. I also am in support of trying this as a pilot program this summer. I think it's a fun idea and a great idea for placemaking. A couple of items that I think we should address is With our issue with enforcement, I wonder if we could use monitors at the entrances rather than actual police officers, if that could be an option so that police officers are... doing other functions instead of just bike enforcement or e-bike or this. Second, I've also spent a good deal of time in Michigan and have seen this work in other towns, and it does seem like we would need a place to kind of sit, to kind of be with your drink, so I'm wondering if it is an option for there to be benches like at the intersection while we have this. I don't know if that works with garbage, I think some benches would be a good idea. And then I also wonder how it would work with businesses that are really close but not in the alfresco zone. Like, I'm thinking of, like, Pacero. Could you take a drink from there and walk to the zone? Like, would that be allowed? Or if it's just strictly you have to be in the zone? So I think that's an issue to address because I think there's several places that are really, really close to the zone that you could easily walk one block and take your drink into that zone. I think that wristbands could really help with concerns about underage drinking so that if you got your cup and you got wristband, that it would be easy to identify that someone is 21. they have to wear that wristband in the zone. And the last thing is, I also am really concerned about plastic cups, and we've been talking so much about sustainability, so I hate to see us add plastic cups. And I know that compostable cups are also not a very good option, because you can't put compostable stuff in recycled stuff, because that ruins the recycled stuff. So you're not supposed to mix them. So I did read about a company called Bold Reuse. And so they actually are at the United Club at Soldier Field. And so it's a reusable cup program. And so they actually provide cups, fans return them, and then they collect and wash them, and then they deliver them back out. So I think it would be interesting to see if They do sporting events and they also do events. So I wonder, since they are in the Chicago area, if we could look into some kind of a reuse program rather than creating a bunch of new plastic. Thanks.

Thank you. Trustee Santamaria?

I ALSO AGREE THAT I THINK THIS WOULD BE A GREAT IDEA. I THINK MY TWO CONCERNS OR NOT EVEN REALLY CONCERNS BUT MORE INFORMATION GATHERING THAT I WOULD LIKE ARE EXACTLY WHAT TRUSTEE MAGINERO SAID ABOUT THE CUPS AND ALSO ENSURING THAT IT DOESN'T ADD ANY ADDITIONAL FEES TO OUR TAXPAYERS.

All right. My thoughts are pretty brief. I would suggest that we move forward with this. I think it would be a wonderful idea to have it happen in some manner, some fashion, some way, some boundary. A lot of really good comments and questions from the board here tonight. All really great perspectives. I think if we get through police and... monitoring maybe there's some way that volunteers from the restaurants employees whoever could help at exit points should we consider the economic alliance or the environmental commission to weigh in with perspectives on this the point on plastic cups i have to agree uh the The last thing I want to see is overflowed garbage cans with plastic cups that aren't helping our environment at all. So I would ask, what kind of cups and do we need to have cups or are there just stickers that can go on other types of drink holders? Are they wristbands instead? Or maybe does a customer just buy a cup, a reusable cup that is a, it's for sale at any of the participating restaurants and, you know, Places where you buy something for $5 or $10 and you use it the whole season. And you just get a different sticker on it or wristband or something to go with it so it doesn't end up in the garbage. But before you leave that zone, you show whomever is manning that area that it is empty. Just my thoughts.

Yes, it sounds like there's a pretty strong consensus to move forward with those comments. The one thing I was going to say is that I think I would suggest that if the board is interested in doing a pilot program in 2026, going to other commissions may eat up some additional time, because then you've got to sort that out. The other thing is, is some of the things that could potentially be permanent features, if this were to continue past the pilot program, like logoed COPs or a more, you know, logoed program, may not be possible in the first year as a pilot program. And so, you know, again, we'll work on it and come up with ideas. I'm just kind of planting some seeds that if we want to get this going this year, The end of the summer is gonna be here before we know it and so we may have to There may be some differences between what we do in the pilot year and what we do on a permanent basis I think that's reasonable and that's fair.

I just my points are just a long range thinking Anything else from the board go ahead trustee.

I was just gonna I Agree Randy You know, if we would have, when we started Alfresco, if we would have engaged all these other groups and overthought it, we wouldn't have been ready for June 1st when the moratorium was lifted where we could do outdoor dining. So, personally, I think this is a great idea and there were some great comments brought up, but I would agree that if we want to get this kick-started and see how it goes, We can always tweak it later and add, but I know like in St. Joe, there's no expense to the town because the businesses are providing the cups and the stickers. So it's not, it wouldn't be us purchasing it. If they want to participate in the program, it's an expense that they have. I understand the thought about having some police monitoring. That can add some costs.

Maybe the businesses volunteer up some helpers to do that.

I just think if we want to try this and get it going, we've got to get it going quick. Otherwise, we're going to miss the whole season.

I think you heard from all of us well enough that except for the curmudgeon that, that you should probably do a little more research on this and try to come up with a, a first year pilot program that we can all sink our teeth into and get our arms around. And then knowing that it's just the first year pilot program, there'll be other ways that we can either improve it or make it better or expand it, whatever. Am I speaking correctly for everybody? Okay, is that what you need? Do you need a motion?

I don't think we need one. I think you guys were very clear.

Yes, I have the direction. Thank you.

All right. Well, that's that. I have nothing else on the agenda other than anybody else, if there's any announcements. We've talked a little bit about the fact that Memorial Day weekend is coming up. And for anyone who's still listening at home, it is an important event that goes on on Monday. There are other things going on all weekend long that – HAVE TO DO WITH MEMORIAL DAY HAVE TO DO WITH MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND, BUT MONDAY IS THE WEEKEND, BUT MONDAY IS THE WEEKEND, BUT MONDAY IS THE PARADE. PARADE. PARADE. I THINK IT KICKS OFF AT 930. I THINK IT KICKS OFF AT 930.

I THINK IT KICKS OFF AT 930. IS THAT CORRECT? IS THAT CORRECT? IS THAT CORRECT?

I BELIEVE NINE.

I BELIEVE NINE.

I BELIEVE NINE.

IS IT NINE? IS IT NINE? IS IT NINE? NOT NINE. NOT NINE.

NOT NINE. ABOUT 930. ABOUT 930. ABOUT 930. 930, SORRY. 930, SORRY. 930, SORRY.

WHERE'S GREG PADIVANI WHEN YOU WHERE'S GREG PADIVANI WHEN YOU WHERE'S GREG PA

And then afterwards, there's a ceremony at Memorial, what is it there? Step off. Step off is 9.30.

9.30, and it'll be its usual route. And then we'll have the ceremony at Memorial Park. And it's great for everyone to attend and show their support, like Trustee Schwingbeck mentioned earlier about remembering. I think that's it. Do we have a motion to adjourn?

No. We would, staff would respectfully request to have a brief closed session per 5 ILCS 120 slash 2 C11 litigation when an action against affecting or on behalf of the village has been filed and is pending before a court or administrative tribunal or when the board finds that an action is probable or imminent.

Is there such a motion?

So moved. Second.

Motion made by Trustee Manganiello, seconded by Trustee LeBeds. All those in favor say aye.

Aye. Roll call. Mayor, you need a roll call vote.

You know, I knew I was going to screw that up. Roll call vote, please, Maggie.

Trustee Manganiello. Aye. Trustee LeBeds. Aye. Trustee Bertucci.

Yes. Aye.

Trustee Zik.

Yes.

Trustee Schwingback? Yes. Trustee Santa Maria? Yes. Trustee Dennington? Yes. Trustee Gilbert? Yes. President Tenaglia?

Yes. Okay, we are not adjourned. We are moving into closed session and we will not report out.