Village Board of Trustees - Regular Meeting

Everyone, welcome. We have a nice crowd here tonight. I appreciate it. Video of this meeting is streamed on YouTube and can be found through The Villages Facebook page and on its website. We, are glad to see everyone out on what's now, I guess, referred to as Super Bowl Monday. I hope everyone had a nice weekend.

Yes.

I personally was very busy. My oldest got married on Saturday, so that was very exciting. Yeah. Everything went well. Thank you. But before that, I'll go backwards. Before that, I attended the West Central Municipal Conference legislative breakfast, and I was joined by Tim O'Brien, trustee Tim O'Brien and trustee Peg Peterson. We heard from state senator Durbin as well as the state reps and state senators. We also heard from several congressmen including Chewy Garcia and and Raja. One of the interesting things that congressman Raja I'll I'll I'll just call it Raja like the commercial.

Said was that he is trying real hard to get federal funding for lead service line replacement. And he definitely understands and is working hard to make sure that Washington understands the real need that there is in the Midwest, especially in Illinois for lead service funding, for lead service line replacements. So I thought that was real welcoming news. We in LaGrange have a lot of lead service lines, and we are going to need both federal and state assistance in that regard. So we appreciate all those efforts.

And then on Friday, I participated along with trustee Gal and trustee Peterson at the Construction Industry Service Corporation, Breakfast. That's a an organization that's made up between, large contractors in Illinois as well as the unions that supply the workforce. And they have a breakfast once a year and annually present awards. And LaGrange received a trophy, which I have here, and says, Cisco, which stands for the Construction Industry Service Corporation, honors the village of LaGrange as the twenty twenty five public body of the year in recognition and appreciation of your dedication and service to the union construction industry. So we appreciate the recommend recognition of LaGrange.

That'll be up to, village manager Knight to find the appropriate place, in Village Wall to store the trophy, but that was great, and that

was on

Friday. So with that, I'd like to call the meeting to order and ask clerk Saladino to call the roll.

Trustee Augustine?

Here.

Trustee Gill?

Here.

Trustee McGee? Here. Trustee O'Brien? Here. Trustee Peterson? Here.

Trustee Thompson? Absent. President Kukuler? Here. And trustee Thompson is out due to a medical condition, and we are, expecting and hoping for a speedy recovery.

Clerk Saladino, I'd like you to invite the audience to stand and lead us in the pledge. Please stand. Next up on the agenda is the president's report. A couple of things that we are going to be having on our event on our agenda, and I'll touch briefly on them. Tonight's agenda under current business is a welcoming community ordinance that will be considered.

The ordinance was drafted in response to hearing from individuals concerned with the activities of federal immigration officers. The ordinance provides that various village structures, buildings, parking lots, parks, and open spaces may not be used for activities associated with civil immigration enforcement operations.

And again, we'll talk about that more in detail. Also on tonight's agenda is

a zoning code item. It's related to previously existing legal nonconforming accessory structure that's located it's a resident located at 300 South LaGrange Road. The applicant has applied for variation from the zoning code to reconstruct the detached garage with an accessory dwelling unit, which collapsed in April 2025. The applicant is proposing to construct the coach house in the same location as the previous structure. Also, I wanna recognize, La Grange Restaurant Week.

All of us are looking forward to La Grange Restaurant Week, which takes place February 28 through March 8. The signature culinary event is calling for you to bring your appetite to La Grange as popular restaurants will offer value based menus that reflect La Grange's rich culinary diversity. Please take the opportunity to experience hot spots that serve Italian, Japanese, Chinese, barbecue, and contemporary American cuisines. It's a popular time for dining in La Grange, and it's never too early to reserve a table at a participating restaurant to make sure you have a spot. I always recommend that you try someplace new as well as going to your old favorites.

So we're hoping to see you out in dining in LaGrange. And with that, I would ask manager Knight for a manager's report.

Thank you, president Kukuler, and good evening, everyone. Looking forward to next week, village offices will be closed in an observance of President's Day on Monday, February 16. There are several online services that will remain available that day, and we encourage individuals to explore them through the village's website. Village offices will reopen on Tuesday, February 17. As we were to wrap up The Village's audit by the end of the month, we are looking ahead to The Village's budgeting process.

Over the last several weeks, staff has been working on refining the proposed operating and capital budget for the village's upcoming fiscal year that begins May 1 and concludes 04/30/2027. Staff has taken a hard look at budget numbers and has worked to control costs wherever possible to ensure that resources are directed to areas where they are most impactful and best serve La Grange. Consideration of the proposed budget will begin with a capital improvement budget, which will be presented for consideration during the upcoming February 23 village board meeting. Presentation will include projects planned for the upcoming fiscal year, which includes significant flood mitigation projects in addition to investments in preserving and improving the village's roadway, sewer, and water infrastructure, tree canopy, and village facilities. Staff is looking forward to presenting the proposed budget and engaging in discussions to ensure that the budget is the best possible reflection of the priorities of the village board and the LaGrange community.

Public is invited and encouraged to attend. President Kukuler, that concludes my report.

Thank you, manager Knight. With that, I'd like to request clerk Celadino read the items on the consent agenda followed by those under current business.

Matters on the consent agenda will be considered by a single motion and vote because they already have been considered fully by the board at a previous meeting or have been determined to be of a routine nature. Any member of the board of trustees may request that an item be moved from the consent agenda to current business for separate consideration. Item a, a resolution approving closed session minutes determining the need to keep minutes of certain closed meetings of the village board confidential and authorizing the destruction of verbatim recordings of certain closed meetings of the village board. Item b, minutes of the Village of LaGrange Board of Trustees regular meeting 01/26/2026. Item c, 02/09/2026 consolidated voucher.

Current business. This agenda item includes consideration of matters being presented to the board of trustees for action. Item a, an ordinance amending the code of ordinances of the village of La Grange regarding the use of village property civil immigration enforcement operations. Item b, an ordinance approving variations from the La Grange zoning code for nonconforming structures at 300 South La Grange Road.

Thank you, clerk Saladino. The next item on tonight's agenda is public comments regarding agenda items. This would include the welcoming ordinance, and again, on the the things that are on both the consent and the regular business. So please come to the microphone, state your name, your address. We are limiting comments to three minutes. And I would ask that if you're planning to speak, we have two or three people lined up just so we don't have the break of who's next. Please start.

Thank

you. Good evening, everyone. I'm Jim Longino. I'm a resident at 109 North Kensington La Grange. I wanna thank you all for being here tonight, and I wanted to, first thank you for realizing the seriousness of the situation at hand and making this welcoming ordinance in the village a high priority. This ordinance, as I am for it, is a good first attempt. I feel it would need some additional guarantees for public safety and for the protection of constitutional rights. We have seen the abuses from ICE and CPB. We have seen the actions of ICE toward even off duty Minneapolis Police subjected to their abuses. We have seen the outright ignoring of court orders.

We see the lethal and anti constitutional federal enforcement of our immigration laws, which are generally misdemeanors. This the unaccount the unaccountability is what should frighten everyone. We know where this leads by history and in other nations where our secret police has no boundaries. We see that this is an agency that is attacking and terrorizing the city, specifically those who did not vote for this current federal government. So the question is, will the village and the police protect the rights of everyone?

There are no judicial warrants. They are claiming that warrants aren't needed. That is not how we as Americans or as police operate. As a resident here, it concerns me that not only can anyone be targeted and their rights abused, but the even little five year old boys can be detained. Detained.

And now just after Renee Goode and Alex Preti were murdered, we had the president's own deputy chief of staff saying that anyone who rightfully documenting these abuses are domestic terrorists. That should frighten everybody. Think about that. To be labeled as a domestic terrorist for exercising displeasure through our first amendment rights to address government grievances and film for the record these actions as we witness these abuses and killings with no accountability by masked so called agents. I could see it all type I could cite all types of statistics within this federal agency of abuses by ICE and CPB for the past twenty years.

Now we have confirmed reports that these same people are being given more money, more weapons, and more ability to abuse the people through our tax dollars. Recruiting people with documented white nationalist sayings or song titles, reducing trainings to forty seven days. Forty seven days. This isn't how we protect the people from criminals. That's encouraging criminals or ill suited people to become the secret police force.

If our police force saw a citizen masked attacking another citizen, the police would rightly intercede. We have agents now dressed with no real identifiable identities stopping citizens alike and literally abusing them. I know our police force is well trained and professional. I also know that the type of behavior would not be condoned by our force and our village if one of our own were to engage in that. So I request that we make sure that all parties are given their constitutional and due processes and that if police are called out or are witnessing themselves these abuses when so called federal agents are in town who are illegally detaining people or worse physically assaulting people, that we will be protected.

I also know I don't want I also know that we don't want to believe that this is happening, but it is. And many have been warning that this could would be the direction should this federal administration make good on its threats of retribution and eliminating voting for only one viewpoint. Again, I applaud the village in taking this stand and request we increase the protections for all of us because we either all stand up for our democracy and what and what our community believes in, treating people humanely and within the law, or we will fail.

Thank you, mister Longin.

Thank you.

Patrick Volker. I live in the Grange Park. If you aren't aware, this is some of the recent news about what it means to collaborate with ICE. This is a reporting from a detainee in San Diego. He says, my wife and I have been at Ote Mesa Detention Center since 04/15/2025. It's a handwritten note wrapped around a lotion bottle that was thrown over the fence. It continues and says, it's cold here all the time, and the food is poor. For two hundred eighty days, we haven't eaten a single piece of fruit or anything fresh. We are all in one big room with no doors or windows. We can't see any grass or trees.

We are all constantly sick. This is another report from a whistleblower, a guard in an ICE detention center in Baltimore. I worked there for several months, and it was probably day one, day two that I saw the abuse, he says. I saw people laying in feces, people throwing up, people laying in urine. ICE director, current ICE director Todd Lyons, says he wants deportations to, quote, run like Amazon Prime but for human beings. They've spent over $500,000,000 buying warehouses to transform them into these detention centers, and they brag about that. It's not a secret. We can choose to be honest about what's happening and take the steps to stop it, or we can choose to remain ignorant and allow it to get worse. Please do not vote to collaborate with these people.

Thank you.

Hello. My name is Dulce Maria Rodriguez.

And I'm Taylor Hoffenberg, I live in La Grange. Yeah.

I live in 113 South La Grange Road. And today, we came here together along with many of our friends who also helped us come together and write this letter for you guys. We wrote, dear village of La Grange and trustees and president, we are all sophomores at Lions Township High School. We each have different religion, ethnicity, and cultural background. Yet we all came we all are united with the message we came to share with you tonight.

Several of our neighboring communities passed the welcoming ordinance over the past few years, and hearing that the board is still debating this issue motivated us to speak up. We attend a school that does a great job at promoting diversity and inclusion, meaning we value everyone regardless of culture, religion, or immigration status, which is why it is difficult for us to understand why it has even taken our village so long to mirror this. This leads us to reflect, is La Grange an unwelcoming town? The thought of even having to go through the precautions of a welcoming community and being cautious about the way that we talk, look, or act scares us. The thought of a welcoming community even needing to be debated is concerning.

As a group, we frequently are in Downtown LaGrange to eat or spend time together. It has always felt safe and an open place where everyone from different backgrounds can come together and create a lively environment. This is what makes LaGrange LaGrange. We want you to think about how being viewed as a not welcoming town may not only affect businesses, but will also have a traumatic effect on the younger generation and families. Whether it's an indirect attack or not, is LaGrange implying that our community welcomes masked unidentifiable federal agents who are intent upon capturing illegal aliens and suppressing opponent to this terror?

Is LaGrange okay with ripping people out of their cars, taking and or even killing them? The effect that ICE is having on our community and our country impacts our community from ICE agents storming our houses and those of people like us in Minneapolis, going through severe events caused by ICE. Where does LaGrange stand on this type of conduct? Where does our village welcome diversity, or do we welcome the terror of ICE agents? If we don't take these these severe occurrences seriously, then it will become our reality. It's only a matter of time until effects may take place.

Take an account that 31.6% of La Grange residents are not US citizens, And everyone in some way, shape, form contributed to building a strong community we have the opportunity to be a part of. Now think about all these immigrants who keep many of our amazing businesses up and running, which keeps the area so lively. The strength of our homes, neighborhood, and community comes from the people who come together as one, regardless of who they are or who they once were. John F Kennedy once said that everywhere immigrants have enriched and strengthened the fabric of American life. This implies that immigrants make a huge contribution to The US.

This is a defying moment in America. Who are we? Who is the Grange? The Grange we know and grow up grew up in embraces and celebrates diversity. At the end of the day, are we all connected to someone strong enough to immigrate for a better life. No one should feel threatened or endangered in the place they came to seek shelter in. As future doctors, attorneys, engineers, teachers, and many more future job holders, we will not stand for a community that belittles someone based on their heritage. So please do the right thing and reflect the will and values of your residents, us, and pass the welcoming ordinance. Thank you.

Thank you, ladies.

Wow. Thank you, young people. That was wonderful. I'm Becky Lorenzen. I live at 103 East Cossack and

Harold Gibson, 103 East Cossack.

Marion Hunter Wilson, 950 South 8th Avenue.

Yeah. So we're all members of the community diversity group, and we came up with a statement that we'd like to read in support of the the ordinance and also in support of immigrants and refugees. Despite much progress, we continue to witness the degradation of compassion and civility throughout our region and the country. The community diversity group of La Grange area believes that everyone deserves dignity, respect, and opportunity. And our hearts go out to law abiding immigrants, refugees, and their families being impacted by current immigration enforcement organizations.

We condemn the severe human rights violation and detention conditions which are described as inhumane and torturous. We advocate for appropriate training and due process and commend the village of LaGrange for their commitment to treating all persons regardless of their citizens citizenship status or country of origin with respect and dignity. We also elevate the village's consideration of prohibiting the use of village property for civil immigration enforcement operations. The community diversity group of LaGrange area denounces hate and violence and rejects all forms of discrimination, racism, and prejudice. Since 1992, CDG has been advocating for diversity, equity, and inclusion in government, civic, and cultural life so that everyone in our community is represented and heard.

CDG encourages engagement and open civil discourse to strengthen our community, and we invite you to join us. Please visit our website, communitydiversity.org to get involved. Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi. My name is Chris Moravic. I live at 42 North Ashland in La Grange. I'm here this is a very emotional topic for everybody in this room. I come from a house. I have children. The reason I'm here today is because my children were asking about this and I felt like there was a need for me to go out and set a good example and come in here. I agree with what the children have said tonight that people should be welcoming. We I try to have a inclusive family presence. We do things.

I have I I try to treat people how I'd like to be treated. I guess the reason I'm concerned about this ordinance modification is because the people in this room are expecting for ICE come into town, that our police department's gonna be able to go over there and enforce kicking them out of town and following the rules of this ordinance, which are is putting our law enforcement in a very bad position. Because as I'm understanding, there really isn't any the the ordinance that we're setting today is giving false hope and false expectations to the people in this room because our law enforcement isn't gonna go over isn't gonna be able to go over there and tell a federal ICE agent that they need to leave. That puts his that puts the chief's staff in a very bad position on the street. And when you have residents that think we have an ordinance, ICE can't be in our town, we need to stop them, we need to do this.

Unfortunately, the rules of the law in Illinois and our land doesn't allow for us to be able to tell the ICE agents to leave our community. They supersede us. And so I think it puts law enforcement at a real disadvantage because people are gonna be calling expecting them to be able to do something. Everybody in this room wants change. But this ordinance gives everybody some false hope in terms of what we can really do as a town to keep ice out of our town. So I just want you to take that into consideration so that we are we all understand what we can what we really can do with this ordinance and what we can't. Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Good evening. My name is Sandra, 725 9th Avenue. I am a behavioral health therapist, a mother of three, and a wife of a police officer and marine corps combat veteran. ICE in communities cause fear, chaos, and will allow us to become targets of oppression and abuse of our civil rights. They are dismantling our constitution.

If we allow ICE in our village, we will have the blood on our hands of those murdered and when they murder our neighbors. These are not immigration enforcement operations. This is called ethnic cleansing. They are currently building large facilities to hold thousands of people that are being detained. From the Museum of Jewish Heritage, a living memorial of the holocaust.

The Nazi regime sought to cause the deaths of Jews and other concentration camp prisoners by keeping them in over crowded housing and unclean living areas while withholding proper medical care. That is happening now. Let's work together to keep ICE out of our community. Thank you.

Thank you.

Hello. I'm Jonathan Platt. I'm actually a resident of Brookfield 3649 Madison. I'm here tonight. I first must say I have no legal training, but I've been a volunteer for some months with Indivisible and have reviewed a very many number of of no ice ordinance that have passed.

So, I want to commend you all on how fast you've started working on this and getting it going. But what I'd like to address is that I see some aspects of other ICE ordinances that are missing in tonight's representation that you've had up on your website. So, in the interest of time, I'm only going to name just a couple brief ones as an indicator and then I'll send an email so that you could, you know, have it as time permits. The first one I want to bring up is that the other ICE ordinances that I've looked at go, a big part of that is going farther than the Trust Act, which only specifies a police non compliance with immigration enforcement under the current ICE, you know, And, their ordinances also cover all village staff and in the case of Batavia also specify private contractors. That that their ordinance specifies that no village employee is to participate in either gathering or or sharing information on immigrant status.

So, this provides protection not only for our immigrants, but also protection for village staff in terms of being able to stand an ordinance to insist that they will not cooperate with ICE on this. The second issue is that, I'll bring up real quickly, is that the Villa Park ordinance specifies a channel for village residents to provide a report on ICE non compliance with village ordinance. Again, there's, you know, a significant jurisdictional issues as the gentleman before me said. And the specifications in in these ordinances specify when police and village staff can intervene and when they can't. But in all situations can provide reports.

So, I'm sorry, not used to public speaking like this. But the the communications provisions in the Villa Park ordinance specify how witnesses or residents can report ICE activity and do so, with anonymity so that they cannot be targeted for, what we've seen in terms of ICE going after people, as kind of a revenge type of thing. So I'm I'm in no position to to advise you on how best to to to look at these. But I would would say that if you choose to go ahead and pass this ordinance tonight, And and as it stands, I again, I I think there's some strong aspects about it and and and I understand the need to, you know, get something going. If if it passes tonight, what I'd I'd urge you to do is maybe take a look at adding some of these other issues as an addendum.

A number of villages such as

Thank you, Jonathan. Pined. Thank you.

Oh, yeah. I'm very sorry. I'll pass this on to the clerk.

Thank you.

Yeah. Thank you very

appreciate that.

Thank you.

Good evening. My name is doctor Pilvi Enola. I am a resident at 1046 South Madison in La Grange. I wanna thank you, the board, for taking this issue up as it is of utmost importance for our community. I do wanna echo what mister Platt was saying that while we are limited in what we can do as a village, while the federal government can supersede like the gentleman before said, in some instances, we cannot toss ice out of our village.

There are so many more things that we can do than what this ordinance says. For example, forbid, staff to inquire village staff to inquire or provide immigration status. And I do encourage the board to take these considerations as mister Platt outlined, and either either, amend if to the tonight's ordinance is passed or, in another way, consider, consider these additional protections for our community. Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening. I'm Mike Waters, 11 West Elm Avenue. First, I wanna thank you for moving so quickly on the ordinance before you tonight. We hope you'll adopt it. It is a great step and an important step.

I echo some of the things the previous speaker said about some additional measures we'd like to see added to the ordinance once it's on the books. I also ask that the village share information with residents through its website, through its newsletter about immigration protections. This could be know your rights information for not only for immigrants who live in La Grange but who work in La Grange and their employers. The kinds of things that could be helpful to employers if confronted by a nice raid of their business. Also, we'd like to see the village share information about family preparedness plans, things that immigrant families should do to be ready in case there is an one of their members is is detained.

There has been immigration enforcement in La Grange. We know this and it seems reasonable to expect that there will be in the future. And finally, ask you to support community actions that are meant to support residents. Things like know your rights seminars, distribution know your rights information. Not necessarily to do that yourself but to share information with residents about community organizations that that are undertaking these measures to protect immigrants who live and work in LaGrange and their employers. Thank you.

Thank you.

Jonathan Robinson, resident of LaGrange. Basically, I'm very much in support of what's happening. I'm happy that the compliments were compliments to do. Thank you for taking this up. Thank you for taking it up so quickly.

The two things I'm gonna request is that when you deliberate that, you know, take the time to explain why it was these four provisions and why only these four provisions. Please let us know why none of the rest made this track or why they don't deserve to be where they're at. The other thing just to echo what I've been hearing is I'd like you to actually direct the village to look at policies for communication on immigration. And I'd like to see if nothing else a quick policy that that has on the village website, if nothing else, a link to some of these organizations. But some level of communication, they've all asked for it.

It's a very simple thing to add, and it's a very nice thing that could come up at the next meeting is a request the staff create a policy of how to communicate better with this. Any communication, anything. We're not against what ICE is doing. We're against how they are doing it, and we are trying to make a statement that how they are doing it is inappropriate. And every little way we can help, every little way we can say as a community, as a group, as the public, that how they're doing it is wrong is worth the effort, worth the time, and what it should be. Thank you.

Thank you.

John Pluto, resident of La Grange. First thing I wanna do is I wanna congratulate all you people that came to the last meeting and got this whole thing started. You did it. You did a great job. So and I wanna thank the board for proceeding and getting it done quickly. And I'm happy that this has all worked out and hopefully it's gonna get approved tonight and we can all go home better people.

Thank you. Moving on to the consent agenda. Can I have a motion to approve the consent agenda and a second?

I move for approval of the consent agenda as presented.

Second.

Thank you, trustee Gale and trustee Peterson. Any discussion on the consent agenda?

Thank you, president Kukler. As previously stated, I recuse myself from voting on any items related to a Bridge Village prosecutor.

Thank you. Seeing other comments, I would ask for a roll call vote.

Trustee McGee.

Aye.

Trustee O'Brien.

Aye.

Trustee Augustine.

Aye.

Trustee Peterson.

Aye.

Trustee Gail.

Aye. And that passes unanimously. Next up is current business. We're starting with six a, which is the welcoming ordinance and an ordinance amending the code of ordinances of the village of La Grange, regarding the use of the village property for civil immigration enforcement operations. During the 01/26/2026 village board meeting, our last meeting, the request to adopt the welcoming community ordinance was discussed.

Based on the direction provided by the village board at the meeting, a proposed ordinance has been drafted for consideration. The proposed ordinance provides that the village structures, buildings, parking lots, parks, or open spaces may not be used for the purpose of conducting civil immigration enforcement operations such as staging, detention, or processing. In addition, these areas may not be served as an operation base or any other related purpose or function. The proposed ordinance is similar to the majority of the welcoming community ordinances adopted by municipalities found within the region. Our specific ordinance was drafted with the assistance of the village manager, the village attorney, and the police chief.

And I appreciate their efforts in proposing or drafting an ordinance for consideration of the board that at this time best fits the priorities of LaGrange. So with that, I would ask for a motion and a second.

I move for approval of the welcoming ordinance as presented.

A second. A

A lot of seconds there. I'll I'll go with trustee Gal and trustee McGee as the second. Even though I think that may have been the last one. But with with that, I would open it up to trustee comments. Trustee Gale.

Thank you, mister president. I just wanted to say I wanted to thank everybody for coming out. I want to say I've heard from a lot of residents not just here in person but also through communication and it seems there's overwhelming community support for this ordinance. So supportive of it and I'm gonna I hope that the rest of my trustees or my fellow trustees are supportive as well. Thank you.

Thank you, trustee Gale. Any other trustee comments? Seeing none, I would ask.

I have some comments.

Oh, I'm sorry. Couple

things. And and counsel Ben and I, we spoke about this. And and it has been it's been asked of us tonight. Can you explain some of the things that are already happening within the village that aren't reflected in this ordinance so that there that the public is aware that some of these things are already being done as I understand it? And also explain, whoever would like to take this one, a little bit about why we might not proactively communicate some of the Know Your Rights messaging as also has been asked of us.

Sure. So a couple of things. So number one is in Illinois municipality were bound by the Trust Act, which from law enforcement standpoint is very strict rules about what municipality law enforcement agencies can and can't do. And so from a law enforcement perspective, we aren't allowed to inquire and collect information regarding a person's immigration status. We're not allowed to use that information and coordinate with ICE or the other federal agencies.

We are not allowed to try to use that information and coordinate in terms of if somebody is detained and turning them over to ICE. And so there's a very strict regime as it pertains to law enforcement. As it pertains to other departments in the village, one of the things is that we do not as a village collect, inquire or ask information about somebody's status with the exception of one thing and one thing only. So in our practices be under federal and state law, when we employ somebody, we make a job offer. We are required as all employers do in this country to make sure that the person can legally be employed working for the village.

But other than that, it

is

not information that we collect, ask for, nor is it information that would ever utilize to deny services to anybody. So the other thing, and this came up in some of the correspondence that I saw that came into the village. Just for clarity, is we are also bound by state law in terms of we are liable for violating people's Illinois constitutional rights as well as their federal constitutional rights. And so if the village acted in a manner in terms of immigration enforcement that was depriving somebody of those rights, we face liability. So there are a lot of protections built in.

But the one thing that this ordinance does is very clearly is we state that for village property, other than public rights away, and I think that's an important distinction. Because we hold the public rights away in trust for the public, for the people. We aren't allowed to deny access and that includes to the federal government on our streets. But for other types of village property, it very it says, which we are allowed to set its purpose. That it is not intended and cannot be used for the activities that have been discussed.

So from our parking garage to the lawn of Village Hall. And as a property owner, we can set its purpose. And so that's why that provision is the one that is in the ordinance. It is also the one that provision is most common amongst Illinois municipalities that have adopted these ordinances. It's the thing that we can single most control, and that is in our purview to do.

Well, would suggest that whether it's tonight or in the near future, consider amending it to having us as a village the ability to proactively message and communicate and share information as it comes up. We have an informed community out here who could be helpful. I don't think it's a lot of work for the village to do. So I'd like to I'd us to consider that. Thank

you, Trustee Hoystein. Seeing no other comments, would ask for roll call vote.

Trustee Peterson.

Aye.

Trustee O'Brien. Aye. Trustee Augustine. Aye. Trustee McGee.

Aye.

Trustee Yale.

Aye. Aye.

And that passes unanimously. Thank you.

Lloyd. Aye.

Next up, under b, or an ordinance approving variations from the La Grange zoning code for nonconforming structure at 300 South La Grange Road. And I'd ask trustee Peterson to introduce this.

Tom and Jenny Hoxtra, the applicants, owners of the property at 300 South LaGrange Road, the subject property, are seeking to reconstruct a previously existing legal nonconforming accessory structure on the subject property. The applicant has applied for variations from zoning code section 12 dash one zero two h and 12 dash one zero three h to allow the reconstruction of a detached garage with accessory dwelling unit within the r three single family residential district. The requested variations would allow the applicant to construct a legal nonconforming detached garage with an accessory dwelling unit which collapsed in April 2025. The applicant is proposing to construct an accept to construct the accessory structure in the same location as the previously, excuse me, existing structure. Although staff initially found that the zoning codes limitations on various on variations prevented the 2nd Floor of a garage serving as a dwelling unit, ZBA found that these variation limit limitations and conditions did not apply to variation requests regarding the reconstruction of previously existing legal nonconforming structures.

The ZBA conducted a public hearing on the application on 01/15/2026. Several members of the public spoke in favor of the application. The ZBA found that the variation would not impact the essential character of the surrounding residential area and noted similar ex accessory structures throughout the LaGrange Historic District. After the hearing was closed, the ZBA deliberated and voted four to zero to recommend approval of the requested variation. I, move to approve the proposed variation as reflected of ZBA's recommendation.

Second. Thank you, trustee Peterson and trustee O'Brien. Any discussion regarding this item? Trustee Augustine.

It's more of just a comment. I was not the trustee liaison for this commission meeting, but I went to it and I just wanted to commend the homeowners for a job well done. I know it was difficult. I know it was painful. First of all, to see your your structure and your yard fall down, that you've so carefully tried to restore. You've done great work on that property, and you've maintained a historic home. And and that that's been that's appreciated. And you've done everything right. You've pulled every permit. You've you've got every I and crossed every t.

But I thank you for coming through and educating me on a few things in our code. And I just commend the the zoning board for seeing seeing your point of view. And again, it was just a very impressive argument, shall we say. But I'm glad it went that way, and I look forward to seeing seeing seeing it go up again. Thanks.

Thank you. Trustee Peterson, it looks like you may have a comment.

I was the liaison

for the board,

so that was me. I attended the meeting. And I also wanna thank mister and missus Hoxtra. And I also wanna thank the members of the ZBA. They are very committed individuals and, always are very receptive to comments to the public hearing. And I've learned a lot in the last, year that I've been on it. And I wanna thank the neighbors and friends who came out in support of the Hocksters. It was very interesting meeting. So, I am in agreement with the recommendation of the ZBA and will be voting for it.

Thank you, trustee Peterson. Seeing no other comments, would ask for a roll call vote.

Trustee Augustine. Aye. Trustee Gail. Aye. Trustee McGee. Aye. Trustee O'Brien. Aye. Trustee Peterson?

Aye.

And that passes unanimously. Congratulations. Next up on the agenda is public comments regarding matters not on tonight's agenda. Good evening.

Barbara Foreman, 56 7th Avenue. I'm here this evening to wonder about formation of ad hoc committees in instances where the professional experience and expertise of our own residents could be helpful to the village's standing boards, departments, and commissions? What if, for example, an ad hoc committee consisting of finance and accounting professionals could assist the finance department with the current backlog of financial reports or with the annual budgeting process as we move forward toward a new fiscal year? What if resident engineers, civil engineers, for example, could be part of ad hoc committees that would add value to the vetting and evaluation processes of large scale development projects? What if making use of ad hoc committees could mitigate the high cost of hiring consultants?

None of us is as smart as all of us. What if residents who don't have time to serve on the standing boards and commissions had opportunity to offer their wisdom and experience to the village in the temporary, targeted, more short term format of an ad hoc committee. Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening. My name is Susan Walton. I live at 817 South Catherine Avenue. We have lived at this address for almost exactly forty two years. We have been fortunate to live here in La Grange.

We live in a lovely neighborhood. We started out with We were the youngest family on the block and now I think we are there almost longer than anyone else. And these last three years, two and a half to three years have been very trying for everyone on the block, on the 800 Block Of South Catherine. As a resident here, I expect that each of you trustees knows the history of what is going on on that block. It is inexcusable, it is unnerving, and it is dangerous for all of us.

One of the first gentlemen that spoke this evening said, our police in LaGrange are well trained and professional. I thought that. I had every confidence in the police of La Grange until these things started happening on our block. I had a personal experience, probably, I'm thinking it was in the 2023 when I personally went to the police department and I asked to speak to an officer. Unfortunately, I did not get the name of the officer who came out to speak to me.

I explained to him some of the things we were seeing. One of the specific things was a car in which a man was living. And the car had skulls on the inside, it was very unnerving and disturbing for us as adults, but also for our children. And the officer's response was, I think you are just worried because that person is not like you. To me, that was an insult.

That officer did not know me. He is an officer who who I expected to give me a little respect. The police department says, if you see something, say something. If you see something that is going on in your neighborhood, come tell us. The police have been in the 800 Block Of Catherine, South Catherine, a 100 or more times in the last is it the last twelve months or in the duration of the time?

Last two years? And still that situation exists. Drugs, probably prostitution, people living in the house who done who are do not own the house, and yet and yet we see no resolution. I would like for each one of you to think how you would feel if that was going on across the street from you. Thank you.

Thank you, Susan.

Good evening. My name is Paul Rutz. I live across the street from Susan at 822 South Catherine. I wasn't planning on speaking, so I don't have his prepared remarks. But when I was just listening to Susan, I thought she really shouldn't have to stand up here alone and do this.

Over the past three years, as I've told the chief and I've told mister Knight earlier tonight, we've been basically watching the opioid crisis happening right in front of us on our block. Started off with a fairly decent family and, went through, that house went through painkillers to couldn't get them anymore to getting illegal drugs, to not moving out of the house, forcing his wife and children out of the house, to criminal elements showing up in the house. So we weren't prepared for this either. We're not trained law enforcement or nothing as far as that goes. I personally think we're a great community.

It's been hard to watch. It's been insulting as we've called the police and been accused of wasting their time or whatever. But it did transition from watching a friend kind of his friend, his life kinda going down the the tubes to the point at which we needed to start to call the police. And things like where he went out of town and there were at least 14 or 15 people living in that house and it seemed that they were conducting business, whether that was prostitution or selling drugs or whatever, to finding white powder thrown under the bushes on the corner. We provided video.

We provided the powder. We couldn't get any any follow-up. We called. What happened with this powder? What happened with this investigation? And, unfortunately, the frustration was very high until we wrote a letter and got 38 households to sign it. We got immediate attention from the department and sergeant Nemachek. And there was a camera that went up, and we had occasional service from the police and so on. And that led to a raid. And I think that we contributed quite a bit of that.

We provided pictures. We provided names. We were sending in information as to what was happening at the house when. And as soon as that raid happened, I don't know why it happened on a Monday morning. I'm not in law enforcement, but it would seem that you could probably find a lot more activity at that house on a Friday night or a Saturday night. But in any case, they found stuff. They found fentanyl. They found cocaine. They found the useful things that were in the house, and then it kinda went dark again. The people returned to the house.

We were still calling. We were doing whatever, but we couldn't get the same attention of a patrol car sitting on the street finding you know, watching what was happening. And when mister Knight was quoted in the patch as saying that we were getting special surveillance, I couldn't have called that reporter fast enough saying, I'm home all day. I haven't seen anything. But when the WGN, our newscast ran, all of a sudden, we had attention again, and we appreciate that.

It's just we shouldn't have to beg for it. And I I understand the chief is gonna attend the hearing tomorrow to hopefully get him evicted. I don't know if that's gonna be the end of this. They had customers. They had people coming back and forth. Even if you're victim, I don't know if these people are gonna stop showing up on the block. This isn't over. And I don't know that anybody on the block feels safe. So I hope this rings your bell. I hope you're paying attention.

I would really request at some point because even though there's a vocal five or six houses on the block that have been working with the police and by the way, when we called the police, we never said do your job or where taxpayers are. We said, what can we do to help? What do you need from us to be able to knock on the door or get into the house or whatever? We were always asking, what can we do to help? So we think we've done our part.

Like I said, I'm not confident that I guess, I I don't know when the moratorium on evictions is over. I thought it was already over, but I was told today it's March 1. I don't know. But whenever he gets evicted, I don't know that this is I I still think we may be calling the police saying there's somebody wandering up and down the block. Right now, we're a tourist destination.

After the article after the story ran on WGN and and it ran today on Fox thirty two, we watch cars drive down the street and slow down to to look at 08:12. And so it's it's kind of a thing. So we saw him taking the appliances out of the house over the weekend and we hope he's gone, but we hope to be able to get some level of support going forward. And I think at some point, we need to have a meeting with with the people on the board and somebody from the village, whether that's the police department or whatever, to kinda reassure us that if something happens, that we can call the police and get them to show up and and do something about it. Alright.

I understand this is a quiet town, and maybe we're not as well versed as other areas, but

Yeah. I hear what you're saying. And I'm happy to meet with we've we've met once History. At at commissioner Aguilar's event at Bluery Hill. Happy to meet with the block and whoever they wanna meet with is fine. Tomorrow is an eviction hearing. We're hope and and our police chief will also. We're hopeful that they'll get an order of eviction. The staying is really the sheriff's department when they move the furniture out to the street. Again, we've seen the moving trucks there.

We believe a lot of things have been moved. It's our hope that tomorrow, either there'll be an eviction order entered or an attorney will say they're all gone. So that's the hope.

Yeah. No. We know there's still a couple of people in the house. Unfortunately, we're we're we're tracking it quite a bit.

Right. But if they don't say that they're a resident, that it's gonna be harder for them to stay in the house.

No. When I was talking about the moratorium, it was the the county has a moratorium starting on a a December 18, the one they stopped doing evictions. I don't know. I thought that was over on January 5. I was told today it's March 1 by somebody in the sheriff's department, I guess.

Okay.

So in any case, we don't know if even if there's an eviction order tomorrow, if they're out. I have it on pretty good terms. He has no place to go, so I'm assuming he's staying there until he's forced out. But in any case, all I'm asking for is we can't be ignored. I agree. Okay.

Thank you, Paul. Thank you.

Can I give you a little handout for everyone? Sure.

You give it to me, I'll pass them.

My name is John Pluto. I'm over on East Avenue. There was great discussion during the South LaGrange Road development informational meeting at 7th Avenue School this past November regarding the need for a pedestrian crossing at 52nd Street. This is not new. It was originally discussed at a village board meeting on 09/13/2010.

I have copies of page five of the minutes to distribute showing some discussion was had from the study of by KLOA, which is the village's traffic experts. And the next step was to petition IDOT to reduce the speed limit to 30 miles per hour. That speed limit remains at 35 miles per hour some fifteen years later. Enough already. It's well past time to have a safe pedestrian crossing at 52nd Street.

I do believe more than enough time has passed with no activity regarding the change of the speed. We need a true pedestrian crossing, hopefully with signals, lights, for safe passage for the many students attending Gurry Middle School. The study indicated a low volume of pedestrian crossing at this intersection because it's so dangerous to cross there. However, there are many more students today than fifteen years ago. Perhaps have a police officer or a crossing guard in attendance and not wait another fifteen years.

When I drive and try to get across La Grange Road, it's a chore just to get across La Grange Road in a car. I think fifteen years of not working on the speed limit deal is kind of sad because LaGrange Park was able to knock LaGrange Road down five miles an hour from Ogden Avenue to 31st Street. What what's our excuse? Why hasn't this happened? Thank you. Thank you.

I'm Jonathan Robinson. I'm a LaGrange resident. I had asked a few things in the public forum at the last meeting. The first item being an update on converting the intentions of the plan into an updated version of the zoning code. Since it was asked in the public forum, it would be appreciated if it could we could close the loop at the meeting and it be answered in a open forum.

The village president and village manager are both each given a report at the top of the meeting. One of the intentions is to give those individuals a place to address any and all public concerns that have been brought to light. These are opportunities to address the concerns that have come up at previous meetings open discussions. The second item was video recording of all meetings and events held in the auditorium. My reading of the 11/25/2024 resolution in the agenda that was approved indicates that all of the video equipment was purchased with the intention and promise for it to be used at every meeting and event in the auditorium.

I'm asking and will continue to ask for the village to move forward with that promise by executing official policies at all various meetings and events to video record and host files files for all meetings and events. I forwarded that referenced resolution to the president and trustees with the statement highlighted for their easy reference. Video recording of all public meetings and events will increase access to information, allow residents to be informed, create transparency in all processes, and most importantly, should help community engagement. I do not see what the problem is when the large investment is in place with the equipment, and there simply needs to be a reasonable policy created to use the equipment and post the videos. I would appreciate a public response to this request as well.

An update on my plan commission case two eighty six. Unfortunately, I've hit a snag in the process with my provisions at the plan commission regarding assisting residents when large developments are proposed next to their single family homes. Last week, I was provided with a bill from the village. I agreed and provided the original $1,500 reimbursable amount required with the application, which I had assumed would be used to supplement village cost for things above and beyond the normal operations and assumed the final fees would be around or under that amount. Only being partway through the process just after one hearing, I was told my current charges are approximately $2,700.

Of specific note was a fee of $603.75 for the creation of meeting minutes. I was under the impression that was normal and not an above and beyond normal duty cost. The village was billed thirty five hours a time to create the January Planning Commission meeting minutes. It's my understanding that meeting minutes should take in the range of two and a half times the length of the meeting to be created. I also found information that creating meeting minutes should be in the range of around $1 per recorded minute of audio.

Both numbers would have created fees in the range of $250. It appears the village is being charged two to two and a half times a reasonable rate for the creation of meeting minutes. Most concerningly and most unexpectedly, I was told I would be billed approximately $1,500 for the village attorney's time sitting at the hearing. The plan commission case just previous to mine, two eighty five, heard at the November plan commission meeting was the same text amendment application type situation as my application, and I was provided what they were billed. They were billed a total of $938 to be at the same point just after the first hearing.

The reason they were charged substantially less was because they were not billed for any village attorney time because the village attorney did not attend the November plan commission meeting. To me, case two eighty five proves that the village attorney does not need to be present at text amendment hearings. So there was no need for the village attorney to be at my hearing. It is unclear why the village attorney elected to attend my hearing, but did not elect to hear the case two eighty five hearing. But that simple action resulted in roughly chippering with fees I was charged from the $938 for case 285 to $2,700 for my case 286.

It has come to my understanding that in Midlothian, West Dundee, Bellwood, Roselle, Bloomingdale, Broadview, and Oak Brook. No village attorney fees from a planned commission hearing would be passed on to an applicant. As I told our village staff, the village attorney is not there to assist me. He's not there for my use. The village attorney is present for the village staff and board to utilize and to ensure the process stays reasonable and legal.

The village is there to represent the village during the meetings and hearings, which is not attributable to a specific applicant. In order to step in front of the plan commission meeting tomorrow for my hearing, I would need to pay the $2,700 owed and replenish the $1,500 reimbursable amount. So I would be in this for $4,200 and counting. I am unwilling to consider moving forward based on the aggressive billing that has happened by this village. Intended or not, this village has chased me away from my original goal of making things better for the next residents that would be in our family situation from the next development project in LaGrange.

Seeking assistance in my situation, I emailed president Kukler on Wednesday, February 1 to see if there was any room for assistance. That email has not only gone unanswered, it's gone unacknowledged. That email specifically said, dear president Kukler, I was pleased to see that two of my four visit visions were were accepted by the plan commission. I was looking forward to seeing recorded minutes, recorded meetings, and contractor meetings with neighborhoods move forward. I had also hoped to pivot on the two amendments relating to setbacks for developments next to single family homes to set a minimum required landscaping with and a maximum reduction in setback so that hopefully a compromise could be reached that would give homeowners a peace of mind.

This week, I received the fees associated with this endeavor, and they were much larger than anticipated and quite unexpected, particularly when compared to the two other text amendments that have recently been heard before the plan commission. My text amendments were done out of the goodwill toward the village, and I was willing to invest in them. However, I do not feel that I do feel that I've been taken advantage of in this process. As a result, I do not see how I can continue to move forward as I am not comfortable with how these fees are being assessed. I would like to ask the village, at a minimum, complete the process for the two tax amendments that were supported without requiring continued financial contributions.

These are both very beneficial to the people of La Grange, and it would be unfortunate if they did not come to fruition because I could not guarantee unlimited funding. Essentially, I'm looking for the same situation that happened with the anti ICE welcoming policy, where the village is proceeding forward without charging anyone for the policy writing and adjustment time and or village attorney time at a meeting, which is the normal situation when a resident brings a concern to the local government. Thank you for your consideration.

I really you. You you you're not done?

No. I got one more paragraph promise to be quick. Alright. I really don't understand what is happening in this village. I'm here trying to leave the situation on a positive note one way or another, and I have just run into issue after issue after issue. I would like to move forward and finish what I started, and it would be a shame to waste the time and effort already extended. It should not be this hard to advocate for your community. As president and trustees, please consider your options to assist me in this situation. Thank you.

Thank you.

I guess I won't make the news. Al Foreman of 56 7th Avenue. All of the following entities have something that the village of La Grange does not have. The La Grange Public Library, the Park District Of La Grange, the City Of Countryside, the Village Of Western Springs, the Village Of Hinsdale, all have some form of a finance committee.

The La Grange public didn't hear you.

Finance what?

Finance committee. Finance committee. I'm sorry. The La Grange Public Library, the Park District Of La Grange have published it audit financial statements as of April. Both Western Springs and Hinsdale have their audited financial reports on their websites.

The village of La Grange Park has their audited financial report for the year ended April on their website. It's dated October, four months ago. The village of Burridge has their audited financial report as of April on their website. It's dated September, five months ago. I find this particularly interesting as LaGrange and Burridge say share the same part time consultant.

Now it's nearly two years since the village has published any financial statements, 04/30/2024. And I appreciate the statement that says an audit is coming soon, but frankly, that's that's incredibly tardy. This village is a $40,000,000 annual business, and it's concerning that we've not provided timely, transparent, comprehensive financial reporting to the village residents of La Grange. The board needs to take action to improve this unacceptable situation. Poor financial hygiene not only risks public confidence, it will adversely affect the village's credit worthiness as you consider future borrowings.

Now based on FOIA responses, I've confirmed the village has no economic impact analysis of the 112 East Burlington project. I consider that a glaring omission. Now I've estimated the impact myself and I can confidently say that if the village incurs a 25 a 25 basis point increase in their borrowing rate due to poor financial management, that cost would exceed any of the incremental revenues the village would generate based on the 112 Burlington project. The village needs to get the financial house in order immediately. Completion of an audit four months late cannot be repeated.

We need to deliver improved financial reporting, especially on a more current basis. Thank you.

Thank you. Seeing no other public comments, I would ask for any trustee comments. Trustee Augustine.

Thank you, president Kuklaer. I wanted to just say a couple of things. The one thing I had planned for sure was that fourteen years ago tonight, my one and only child was born. So happy birthday, CJ. I know you're not watching, but I'll I'm saying it anyway.

Happy birthday.

You could care less. And then just a couple of things. I know we don't tip typically respond to to to to to public comments. But I wanted to just point out kudos to the community diversity group who ran a wonderful, I think, sixth annual inclusivity event last weekend. They are a great organization.

They are a place to to be to get involved and be involved. And please, anyone who doesn't know know anything about them, look them up, join them, and participate. They're a wonderful asset to this community in the area. To the woman to the woman who talked about the ad hoc committees, I stood up there years ago before I was a trustee and asked for the village to consider a new commission and stated that we hadn't had anything in a while. We actually put together a task force on communications and and digital technology to kinda see the village through, and we we we pulled residents from the area to join on this task force and make recommendations to the village.

And I think it was, on many levels, successful. But it was a task force, so it didn't stick around. We've had residents asking for a housing task force, and we just had Mr. Foreman talking about a finance committee. So, are all things that I think that we should consider, in my opinion.

To the residents of Catherine, we don't know everything that's going on, certainly with staff in the village. They wouldn't have time to tell us everything they're doing every day. We I would say I I found out a little later in the game about how deep the issues were down in your neighborhood. And I think we're all pretty much on the same page now, and we hope that this gets resolved soon and fast. And we we all learn something for it. I'm very I do wanna say that I'm very proud of our police force. I think they're amazing. And so, you know, I know that you felt that didn't go as well as it could have. I just do wanna give a shout out. I'm I'm very proud of our police work, and how they handle themselves, and what they're involved with on a daily basis.

I see things that and hear about things that not everyone does, and I and I couldn't be more more proud of them. But, you know, everything you know, not everything unfolds the way we hope to see. And mister Pluto, I couldn't agree more on the safe crossing on La Grange Road. I've talked about it with some folks up here for years. We made sure that it was addressed in the comp plan, and we're talking about it in the South Corridor study.

And I really hope that we can get something done there and soon. And and, Jonathan, I I know you didn't get all the way through with your your points, your two zero four, but I support those two. And I hope that we're still talking about those soon. And, I guess that's it for me. But thank you all for coming out. It matters. We listen. And, it doesn't always go the way we all want, but this is how it works. So thank you.

Thank you, trustee Augustine. Seeing no other trustee comments, I would ask for a motion to adjourn.

So moved.

Second. Second. All in favor of adjourning at 08:50, please say aye.

Aye. Aye. Aye.

Any opposed? And we are adjourned. We will be back in two weeks. Thank you everyone.

Who? You or me?

Did I

say fifty five in the I think

you said fifty.