Village Board of Trustees - Regular Meeting

Good evening everyone and thank you for coming out. We're starting a few minutes late and that's on me. I had a meeting with some people that wanted to talk about studying affordable housing which is always on our mind. So I apologize for starting late. But again, as we always start out, a video of this meeting is streamed on YouTube and can be found through The Villages Facebook page and website. I'd like to call the meeting to order and ask deputy clerk Jones to call the roll.

Trustee Augustine. Here. Trustee Gail.

Here.

Trustee McGee is absent. Trustee O'Brien.

Here.

Trustee Peterson. Here. Trustee Thompson.

Here.

President Kukler.

Here. Thank you. And if you'd please lead us in the pledge and if everyone could stand.

I pledge allegiance

to the flag

of The United States Of America.

To the republic, which is the nation, God, invisible.

Next up is the president's report. First on that, is the design review commission. The chairperson appointment is currently vacant with the former chairperson having resigned from the position. To fill the vacancy, I'd like to appoint commissioner Kurt Volkmann to serve as chairman for term expiring in 2026. Mister Volkmann was originally appointed to the village's environmental quality commission in 2021 and transferred to this to serve on the design review commission in 2022.

He's an architect and has demonstrated his abilities in matters involving design. He's also known to regularly provide his insights when input on the plan commission cases is requested. So at times, the plan commission will ask to have the matter reviewed by design review. Staff then notifies the design review members that the plan commission has sent this to them for their comments. And some people on the DRC always respond, some people never respond.

And Mr Volkmann falls definitely in that category of responding. And that was one of the things I considered when looking to make this appointment. And so I hereby move to appoint Kurt Volkmann to the position of chairman of the design review commission. I need a motion and a second on that.

I move for the appointment of mister Volkmann as presented. Second.

Thank you, trustee Gale and then trustee O'Brien. I know that there were some comments on social media about the process for selecting the chairman of a commission. It really is up to the president to pick out of the current commissioners. Whether it's a plan commission, ZBA design review, who has the skills to act as chairperson. And for that reason, looking at that, I asked mister Volkmann if he'd be interested and he said he would.

And he's here now if any of the trustees have any questions. But I'll open it up for any trust any questions before we do a a roll call vote? Seeing none.

Trustee Augustine?

Aye.

Trustee Gale?

Aye.

Trustee McGee absent. Trustee O'Brien?

Aye.

Trustee Peterson. Aye. Trustee Thompson.

Aye. And that passes. Kurt, thank you for serving. We look forward to, your continued contributions. Last Monday, I had the honor of attending a prayer breakfast held at First Baptist Church for Martin Luther King Day. It was a nice opportunity to reflect on the legacy of doctor Martin Luther King. I appreciate everybody that came. The Nazareth boys basketball team was honored for some of their service that they've done in the community. And we do appreciate their efforts. Last week on Tuesday, the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning and Village staff met with the South LaGrange Road Corridor Study Steering Committee.

During the meeting, a project update was present along with findings of a market analysis that was performed. The report covers key findings as they relate to employment, commercial real estate, occupancy patterns, and housing statistics. The committee discussed beautification of the quarter, funding mechanisms to achieve the plan's goals, as well as density. Several members of the public attended and shared their perspectives on excessive density, flooding, necessary infrastructure improvements, and pedestrian safety. And I think a lot of the pedestrian safety really does relate to how we can have more crossings across LaGrange Road, South of 47th Street.

Moving on and for perhaps why many of you are here tonight. Recently, several individuals, mainly residents, have reached out to the village board regarding what has been referred to as a welcoming community ordinance. The request is in response to activities of ICE and enforcing immigration policies. This weekend, demonstrators gathered at Casa And La Grange Road to raise attention to their concerns. I like the rest of the board are reviewing the request and working towards understanding various aspects of what has been requested.

For me, I try very hard to avoid national incidents to get involved in commenting about national politics and even state politics, even county politics. Trying to keep the focus on LaGrange as best as possible. I'm personally very shook by two murders happening in Minneapolis. And having a real difficult time remaining quiet when that is occurring without any reflection that it's going to stop. There's going to be any change.

It doesn't seem that that's the way it's moving. I'm very concerned with what I've heard referred to as the leaked memo regarding storming in the ability to storm into a person's house without any warrant. That strikes me as completely wrong and not the direction. So we as a board need to come together to see where we're comfortable with the understanding of we have a very limited role in this regard. I don't want to enter a stage to debate just to debate.

So we are looking at that and I'm sure we can hear from people today. With that, I'd ask manager Knight to please provide a manager's report.

Thank you, president Kufler, and good evening, everyone. Just a couple of items to note. Village held its first successful in service day last Monday. On that day, staff worked diligently to manage and organize our workspaces and storage areas. And with those efforts, we furthered our efforts of pursuing optimizing our filing systems, as well as making records electronic, more readily available, and easily searchable.

I just wanted to take the time to acknowledge the staff that planned the event, provided guidance to others, and all those that participated in what was a real successful event. Lastly, the Illinois Department of Transportation, or IDOT, continues working on a project at 47th At East Avenue. Project has experienced some delays due to utility conflicts. Currently, the contractor has scheduled utility providers to relocate some cabling. Those relocations are required before the contractor can proceed with drilling for a traffic signal foundation. As of of now, IDOT believes that stage two will start sometime in March 2026. So that's here in March. That concludes my report.

Thanks. And before I move on, I I skip two things, both inadvertently. One, I did wanna thank Public Works. Obviously, it's been brutally cold out there. Our Public Works people are out in the cold dealing with the water main breaks, dealing with the snow, dealing with the ice and putting down salt.

I really appreciate the efforts of our public works team. I did mention that there was a Miller protest or demonstration that was held over the weekend at Casa And La Grange Road. As many of you know, many of you may have participated. We've had a lot in La Grange and they've all have been very well run, very safe, very orderly, very courteous. And a lot of it really does have to do with the organizers as well as our police department, our fire department, making sure that everyone remains safe.

And so I do appreciate the efforts of our teams in public safety to really make sure that our residents, our visitors, and everyone else coming through town is safe. So I wanted to thank them for that. And lastly, we are after this meeting going into closed session. The purpose of the closed session is to talk about pending litigation. One of the litigations that we'll be talking about is the appeal as anybody with the flooding concerns knows.

We we were sued by the quarry to stop our 50th Street project. We won at the trial level. It's now at the appellate level. It's taken the appellate court longer than normal to issue a ruling. We are continuing and we have been continuing since the beginning with the build out plans.

But as we're getting closer to that, as as the permitting is starting to be finalized, we are going to be, if we continue on this schedule going out to bid. So I wanted to make sure that we hear from our appellate lawyers as to where we stand there. And so that everybody on this board is fully informed as we continue to move forward and get closer to having actual shovels in the ground. So that will be the closed session that we'll be doing. With that, I would ask Deputy Clerk Jones to read the items under the consent agenda followed by those appearing under current business, if any.

Matters on the consent agenda will be considered by a single motion and vote because they had 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 an updated intergovernmental agreement with the Board of Education of Lyons Township High School District number two zero four for reciprocal reporting, digital image access, and a school resource officer. Item b, a resolution approving a change order with SKC Construction Inc.

For crack sealing services. Item c, 01/26/2026 consolidated voucher. There are no items under current business.

Thank you. And I would entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda along with a second.

I move for approval of consent agenda as presented. Second.

Thank you trustee Gowan, trustee Peterson. Any comments regarding the consent agenda items?

President Kukler, thank you. As previously stated, I recuse myself from voting on any agenda items related to the village prosecutor.

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

Trustee Augustine. Aye. Trustee Gale.

Aye.

Trustee McGee is absent. Trustee O'Brien. Aye. Trustee Peterson. Aye. Trustee Thompson.

Aye. Well, first of all, I apologize. I don't think I'll change the vote on any of those. But I should have opened the microphone to ask if anybody had any comments on matters on tonight's agenda. If you do, feel free at this time to to speak. Tell me if it's on a, b, or c.

None of the above.

How did I think?

John Pluto, LaGrange. I have a question. There's a gray area. Public comments on consent agenda, is that include the appointment of the design and review commission?

Well, let me first answer that it's not public comments on consent agenda. Normally, we'd have more comments on current business. So it's public comments on anything on tonight's agenda. But I will ask our attorney to give us the legal advice as to what that relates to.

Yeah, so we do public comment twice during the meeting. It's public comment the first time is on any item on the agenda is what our rules state. So that can be anything that's listed on the agenda from the appointment, consent agenda, new business. And then at the end of the meeting, we do public comment again for items that do not appear on the agenda at all.

So so president's report would be part of the agenda? Correct. So when I brought up the president's report, this would be the time to speak.

Exactly.

Okay. But you've already voted on the matter. How does that

work? Yeah. Yes. That's that's a true statement.

So under the Open Meetings Act, the act provides that is that we are to have public comment during some point in the meeting. So it does not need to be necessarily before the vote, but you have certainly a right to comment on any item on the agenda.

Okay. Well, first thing I wanna comment was I sent an email to all of the trustees and the village president. I got one response. That that's a real communication between the people that represent my village and myself. I would have liked to have hear from more than one, and it didn't happen.

But I'm gonna give you my three minutes worth on my feelings at the village. I'm a forty seven year resident, and I've seen this village struggle, and it's struggling more than ever. So thanks for giving me my three minutes to convey my thoughts on the appointment of the new chairperson to the design review commission. This person has been on this commission since 09/12/2022. This commission is one of the most important as it guides our village into the future.

The La Grange Forward comprehensive plan was started in early twenty twenty three. This project took approximately eighteen months to complete. As I read the new plan, it spoke of five story high density development for certain areas of the South LaGrange Corridor. A similar type of development was once proposed for the Northeast Quadrant utilizing the term soft density for the redevelopment of that neighborhood, which would have changed the parameters of zoning to allow multiple family units in the entire district. That was met with strong opposition from the community and then was struck from the plan.

We now see the approval of a five story development at the Jackson Square property. Variances for lot setback and height requirements, which 75 feet, were amended for the approval of this project. My thoughts after viewing a video on YouTube entitled The Vacant to Turning the Dead Spaces into Thriving Assets, and I sent each one of you a link to that. With Kurt Bert with Kurt Volkmann, who is being appointed to the new chairperson of the village design review commission, his concepts are developer slanted to high performance buildings. In that YouTube, urban planning ideas of zoning codes and market dynamics are driven by the developer's bottom line.

In the video, he guarantees that parts of the village plan are already out of date. I think the money and time spent on that plan is a disservice to the residents of our community. I think having a developer oriented design review chairperson puts possible conflicts of interest in question for the village. I believe there must be a neutral individual to chair this committee. This person must not have professional ties to developers and to be community oriented to guide this village into the future.

I hope that all chairpersons and commission members are subject to ethics, compliance, and reporting standards. Thank you for my time. Thank you.

Al Foreman, 56 7th Avenue. I'll begin by noting what's not included in the president's or the manager's reports. That is the status of the vacant finance director's position and the availability of village financial reports. Where are the auditors and the financial statements? At this time, no financial matters should be considered routine in nature.

Now turning to today's consolidated voucher, it finally includes some descriptions of credit card transactions on pages 45 to 47. Over the last thirteen months, credit card transactions totaled a $140,000. However, a 109,000 of that spending included no details and has gone unquestioned by the board. I'm not saying the spend is invalid. I'm drawing your attention to the matter.

Page 36 includes summarized payroll totals. Do the trustees know exactly what they're approving? What's included and what's not? I suggest the finance department reconcile the payroll amounts that you approve in the vouchers with the ledger account balances that were shared with me via a FOIA request. I'm unable to connect those dots.

There's significant differences over the period of May to October. I see on page 61 of the village of the of the voucher record, page 61, the village spent $10,000 to rent a street sweeper for a one month period ended December 16. Unfortunately, the weather had other ideas. The specific account charged for that rental now exceeds the full year budget. Now there may be offsetting favorable variances elsewhere, but you don't know that.

After reviewing FOIA response information, I encourage you to question the finance department's payroll and related expenses. During the first half of the fiscal year, the finance department spent half of the annual budget for salaries, retirement, and FICA. How is that possible with the finance director and accounting manager vacancies? The six month totals for payroll and professional services, which would include MGT Impact Solutions, now exceeds budget. That's contrary to statements that anticipated budget neutrality during the vacancy of the finance director.

Now you all signed the consolidated vouchers. It's not apparent to me that you have the necessary information to even generate questions. The village must improve financial transparency. The board needs to elevate this priority. You're risking erosion of public confidence. Thank you.

Thank you, mister Foreman. Okay. Seeing no other comments regarding matters on tonight's agenda, I will entertain comments from the audience on matters not on tonight's agenda.

Hi. I'm Jenny Bergstrom. I'm at 601 8th Avenue. I wanna raise an issue, a topic that I'm sure has been raised a million times before before you all, which is flooding. And more precisely, in my instance, an infrastructure issue at 48th And 8th Avenue between 8th And 9th Avenue.

Ultimately, what I'm going to be asking for you is to please find a solution for the insufficient water and sewer system in front of our house. While I'm happy you're making progress in the litigation with the quarry, we can't afford to wait for a solution at that intersection. On January 8, we had a major flood event again, and we experienced this type of flooding more frequently each year and with greater severity. My family and I moved here in 2021. As a welcome gift, we received eight feet of water in our basement.

Eight feet. Up two feet above my head. This was a historic rainfall as they called it. All of the water from that intersection flowed into our basement. It broke out the windows.

It came all the way up the stairs and was almost to the subfloor. As new suburban homeowners, we knew very little about sump pumps and waterproofing. And for the next year, we sunk over 6 figures into our basement and landscaping in an attempt to keep our property and more importantly, our family of three young kids under five, well, we had one at the time, safe. We now have four commercial grade sump pumps in our basement, interior drain tiling, exterior water rerouting mechanics, a retaining wall, a foundation guards in each window well, a plastic sheet on any wall with any semblance of a crack on it. We remained safe and dry through some very, very nasty storms for the better part of four years.

Storms which each year are becoming more and more frequent and which are no longer considered historic events. These are frequent events that are happening. However, during the last year, we've been getting water again. We've had the waterproofing company out to make tweaks to an already expansive water system in our basement. We were laughed at when we asked them to put four commercial grade sump pumps in our basement, but we weren't willing to take any chances.

We've had the engineers from the village on our property, and they've told us there is no solution for you unless you can get the water off of your property, which we can't because we don't have the pitch in the grade of our yard to remove the water that is flooding our backyard at at this point. The front and the backyard are lake anytime we get a historic event. The engineers have told us we have no feasible way to get the water out of our backyard or our front yard. Our best solution, though admittedly not a full solution, would be to bore a 50 yard pipe underground to take the water from our backyard to the front yard and into La Grange's water system, which is already overrun with water. I don't trust that.

I don't want La Granges water in my house again. That obviously can't be done because the water system at 8th And 48th is already overrun. Tying into an already insufficient system is inviting water into our house. We are out of options. We've done everything we can do to fix our property. We've upheld our end of the bargain. A bargain we got into without knowing about these water issues, mind you, but we addressed with integrity because we want to raise our family in this house. The onus is now on La Grange to address the insufficient water system and sewer system in front of our home. We feel like sitting ducks. If you've ever experienced water issues, you know how stressful it is.

If these issues aren't addressed, we will end up with a completely devastating flood again. The volume of water we experience at this intersection with each major rainfall is terrifying. This is not an issue caused by ineffective, insufficient, or poorly timed leaf removal. This happens time and time again. This has been going on for years.

The work we've done to our property has been a band aid over the village's systemic problems for the last five years but that is no longer working. I'm begging you to please address this issue. I would like to note that Anthony DeSanto, who I understand is new to the village, has been very responsive to our calls for help during the most recent flood and is sympathetic to our situation. But this is not a job for a single man or for a single man's attention. We need your help. We need the village's help. Leave

that

for your consideration. Thank you.

Thank you. And sorry to hear about the flooding.

Good evening. I'm Mike Waters. I've lived in La Grange for almost forty years. So we watched in dismay as federal immigration agents terrorized Chicago and its suburbs in Operation Midway Blitz this past fall. And we're watching in horror now as the Department of Homeland Security wages war on the twin cities. Protesters are being executed while exercising their constitutional rights to record the violence brought by ICE agents. Children are being snatched and used as pawns. Families are being torn apart. US citizens are being dragged from their homes and detained. You see this and think, this can't be happening in America, but it is.

So while immigration activities in Chicago have lessened in recent week recent weeks, it's widely speculated that ICE and border patrol agents will be back again in even greater numbers in the spring with renewed operations. So in response to this reality, we're asking the village board to adopt an ordinance declaring LaGrange to be a welcoming community. Such an ordinance would, among other things, prohibit the use of municipal property and resources for immigration enforcement activities including staging and operations. This ordinance also should direct village staff to offer referrals and information to residents affected by immigration enforcement. It should prohibit staff from requesting or disclosing information about citizenship status, and it should guarantee that residents are not denied village services based on citizenship status.

We also ask that the village board use its website and newsletter to share information with residents about immigration topics such as family preparedness plans and the rights of those confronted by immigration agents. Brookfield is among the suburbs that has put this kind of information on their website. And I asked the village to promote community activities to support immigrants and their employers, including Know Your Rights workshops and the distribution of Know Your Rights material. La Grange would not be blazing a new trail with any of this. In Villa Park, a non home rural community, the village board recently adopted an ordinance prohibiting the use of village property for immigration enforcement activities.

Wilmette is among a number of other suburbs that have adopted welcoming community ordinances or banned ICE activity in their communities. So census numbers show that 6.5% of La Grange residents are foreign born and about a third of those residents are not US citizens. They, along with immigrants who work in La Grange businesses, are potential targets of unjust enforcement. This possibly is this possibility is not just theoretical and this is not strictly a national issue. We already have seen immigration enforcement operations in La Grange and it is reasonable to expect that we will again.

To those who argue that these measures are purely symbolic, I say symbolism matters. These actions would send a message of support to immigrants who live and work in this community, and they would make an important statement about our values as a community. So, I'm here today as a La Grange resident, but I'm also a member of the local chapter of the advocacy group, Indivisible, as are some of the others here tonight. We organized the peaceful vigil for Renee Good on January 11 that drew more than 850 people on less than 48 notice. We co also co organized the peaceful No Kings rally in October that was attended by more than 3,000 people who lined La Grange Road.

I mention these because they are evidence of the strong opposition on La Grange to the Trump administration's cruel tactics. So I recognize that there are probably some people who would question the need for these measures. Avoiding the topic would be the easiest thing for you to do, but taking these steps would be the right thing to do. And so we ask you today to do the right thing, to put this topic on the agenda for your next meeting and give immigrants who live and work in La Grange the support and protection that they need and deserve. History will judge us on how we respond in this moment. The question is, how will we be remembered? Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening, everyone. I'm Jim Longino, a resident of La Grange for thirty years and homeowner at 109 North Kensington Avenue. I'm here to request support for creating a welcoming ice free zone in La Grange. This request is to protect all individuals while here in La Grange from the witnessed excessive violations and brutality of the federal government ICE civil enforcement actions, and as a follow-up to the letters I have emailed the board today. This is even more important tonight with the most recent horrific violent executions of citizens we've seen this past weekend and over the last two weeks in Minnesota, as well as the continued violation of our first, second, and fourth amendment rights.

This brutality is being rightly condemned by people regardless of political viewpoints. We are all appalled at these abuses we have seen here in Chicago, Minnesota, and the nation. For someone like myself whose father and relatives fought in World War two against fascists, this is more than disturbing. We're we're emboldened secret deputies of the state enact violations against citizens and residents alike. We have a bill of rights and a social contract where we watch out for one another and ensure through our laws and law enforcement that there is accountability and consequences for criminals who abuse our safety and rights.

That goes for whether that criminal causing harm is a citizen or a resident, and especially if they are unidentified agents claiming to be from the government abusing people and violating our constitution. I've seen the dire and chilling results of this in my professional capacity on the Southwest Of Chicago as these actions escalate. In response to this threat, I asked the village of La Grange to adopt an ordinance much like Villa Park to create a welcoming ice free zone that at a minimum prohibits the use of village property or resources for civil immigration enforcement operations, directs village staff to support residents affected by immigration enforcements through referrals and information, prohibit village staff from requesting maintaining or disclosing information about residents immigration or citizens status, prohibit village staff from denying benefits or services based on immigration or citizenship status, proactively communicate to residents on immigration support activities in the community. I'm sure that we are doing some of that now. But in addition, and most importantly, I would request that police officers be empowered to protect the constitutional rights of people while in the village from arbitrary actions, civil rights, and due process abuses by these unidentified enforcers from ICE.

ICE and border patrol can only legally enforce civil immigration laws, yet have become a paramilitary force with the highest funded of all federal law agencies combined, and now are targeting anyone who asserts their rights. LaGrange would not be alone in this effort. Many suburbs already have adopted such laws, and even the International Association of Police Chiefs had a call for professionalism and clear identification during enforcement. This is bigger than LaGrange as the Bill of Rights is not a suggestion. I respect your service to our community.

As elected representatives and police officers who take an oath to the constitution, we entrust you to not only refuse to assist this rogue agency, but protect all the people in our community by ensuring that any violation of civil and human rights will not be tolerated. Without strongly asserting our rights in this two hundred and fiftieth year of our country's founding, we will lose all of the sacrifices our veterans, leaders, all who help keep America's driving to its ideals. For our village sovereignty and the rights of all people here, I respectfully request that the board initiate such an ordinance and show that our village will not only stand for the people, but also protect them. I thank you very much for your time.

Thank you.

Hello. Evening. Harold Finley, July. Flooding, complete problem. It's been a known issue. First off, I actually worked on the deep tunnel. I've been to the bottom of that. I put the hole through the wall. I drove a concrete truck through pipe. That's how big they are down there.

But other cities are joining. Chicago is now adding their name to add water to the McCook Reservoir. And that secondary system, which is larger, 7,000,000,000, I believe was the last number I heard, won't be available for several years. If we go ahead with this five story monstrosities, high density, where's all that gonna go? I've literally picked up a dookie floating in my basement.

I thought it was a stick, but that came up from LaGrange combination sewer, which is storm water, as you know, and toilet water, and everything else. It's happened to me multiple times. And I'm actually in an elevated situation in that side of town. You add these ridiculous, ugly buildings with another thousand people, where's all that dookie gonna go? You don't make a move on that until we can access that second half of the McCook, Balkan Quarry South Of I 55.

That is my opinion, and I have a strong opinion about that. The, by the way, I did wanna make a comment. This go around, the snow was much better cleaned up. I also worked thirteen years for IDOT through this area at a hillside and the Stevenson. The previous snowstorm, that was horrible plowing.

They didn't come within three or four feet of the curb. It was it was ridiculous, causing very dangerous situations for people parking, walking through it, like I live next door to the school, so I see kids and parents trying to struggle through it, and then people that didn't know how to drive on it. They you turn the roads into one lane roads. And head ons, luckily, I don't think we had any, but it could have easily happened. I thank you for your time, and have a good evening.

Thank you.

Al Foreman, sorry. I got plenty to say tonight. I'm not here to relitigate 112 East Burlington, but I wanna spend my three minutes doing a post game analysis. I wanna echo the words that I wrote to the plan commission that the village process screams for improvement in communication and transparency. And I think there's many lessons that could be learned from this experience.

Now to the board, the staff, and the commissioners, I'd say optics matter. Engaging the community in the construction of the comprehensive plan while holding concurrent discussions with developers looks terrible. Optics matter. You've now established a 75 foot height allowance without codifying any of the objectives in the comprehensive plan. Optics matter.

The timing of the property acquisition and the interested parties invites questions. Optics matter. The developers more than one year head start on the residents with extensive exposure to the staff and officials is not a level playing field. The solicitation of public comment was required. Call me naive, but I'm shocked at how little feedback had an insignificant impact.

Optics matter. Voting approval within minutes of public persuasion gives the impression that you had a mission. The plan commission and the board meetings ex executed rapid approval of plans and tolerated some turbulence from the public. It appeared no voice could give you pause. I have a few remaining questions directed specifically to the trustees.

Why was there so little breath spent on the pros and cons of the proposed site plan, the variances, and the text amendment on height. All of your talking points addressed history and the condition of the building. You all missed the point of what comes in the aftermath of Jackson Storage and the precedence set. Why were there no meaningful comments on the benefits to the village? I'm sorry, but streetscaping and a drainage bladder under the building are table stakes.

What else does the village get? Verbiage about taxes and business impact are just vaporware without facts. I've FOIA ed everything I can think of relating to the economics of this project. I'm anxiously awaiting the response. It's only a matter of time until the next development comes forward. Everyone needs to improve the process, starting with the residents who need to be aware and vocal. I'll remind the residents, don't forget you can vote with your dollars, especially where you choose to spend them and where you choose not to spend them. Thank you.

Thank you, mister Fulman. Somebody come up. Alright.

Board. Thank you again for your service. I just want to bring to everyone's attention a couple of events that are happening. I'm Becky Lorenzen, and I'm a member of the community diversity group, which is working to make the community more inclusive. There's a couple of events that you may or may not know about.

There's a wonderful conference coming up at Lyons Township South Campus on February 7 which is a Saturday And first year, they had a 100 people. Second year, they had 200 people. It's a wonderful event between our group, the high school, the ministerium, and churches and many others bringing people from all different backgrounds together to hear about hear from a teacher of the year and also have workshops and have discussions with high school students about the importance of diversity. So again, that's Saturday, 02/07/2026 at Lyons Township South. The second thing is that the First Baptist Church of which trustee Shawana McGee is a pastor is offering a four Sunday movie series and that's going to be at her church, First Baptist Church of LaGrange at 20 North Ashland and they're going to be showing movies on February, move four movies that changed America.

And I encourage you to come to any of those or all of those as you can and learn more about the history history here throughout the country and in La Grange. Thank you.

Thank you.

Jonathan Robinson. I'm a LaGrange resident. As far as their ice suggestion, the one simple thing I'd like to ask is that you actually put it on an agenda. You actually consider it and you actually vote. It's not a hard process. I think we can all live with the result, but please actually bring it up for consideration and actually formally vote on it whatever way it goes. Please don't the public came out to support an idea. Please support that idea and consider it. Whether you approve it or not, please actually consider it. And please don't make it look like whether you have considered it or not, you've just ignored it.

As you know, I've been attempting to put some new zoning codes into the end of the system. We had great success at the January 13 Planning Commission with the first two requests, which were to record the planning commissions and to get a neighborhood meeting. Both of those went very well. Both of those were negotiated nicely. The second two provisions, which were c and d, were not taken nicely.

We have decided that we'd like to pivot those where c originally was not allowing a, those four plus story buildings next to a single family home. We're simply like to request that there be a minimum landscape buffer created between these larger buildings and any smaller residents, whatever that may be. My proposal was 30 feet. I think we can all agree five feet's great. It's something.

We're gonna negotiate it out and figure out what it is. D was the, proposition to not allow significant code modifications toward a single family resident. We're going to pivot on that one and find a percentage reduction that would be allowable to reduce a setback in the direction of a smaller residence. Again, finding that what that is, my proposal begins with 0%. I think that high density and smaller residences can exist with the full extent of the current setbacks.

And if they can't, I would tell you that you need to update your code, not just you guys bought the equipment with the intention that all of it would be recorded. It doesn't necessarily have to be the production that we get here. It doesn't necessarily have to be live broadcast, but there's no sense in not flipping one camera on, recording it, and posting it online. And the equipment was bought with that purpose in mind as I read the report from November 25. And so I would like to it's been fourteen months and nothing's happened. I had to instigate it in this case on a completely different front. I'd really like to see the village move forward with that. You have the equipment. It really is some switches to flip, particularly just to record. Broadcasting is another thing.

It'll I'd love to see it, but it doesn't necessarily have to go that far. My last request is at that same 11/25/2004 or 02/2024 meeting, that was when the comprehensive plan was approved, and that's also been fourteen months ago. I'd like to specifically ask the, village manager in their next, manager's report to update what the status of actually executing that from comprehensive plan into zoning code where that is at. Because it's important, it's been a long time, and to my knowledge and my understanding of my optics, it hasn't gone anywhere. But I'm hoping it has and hoping that you're willing to share. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Next on the evening's agenda is trustee reports. Are there any trustees that wish to provide comment? Oh, sorry. If anybody else wants to stand up, it's it's just so much easier if you stand up behind the speaker, then we know there's a person coming and we don't have to I'm just learning energy. I appreciate it. I should have known.

I'd like to talk about the Jackson Square Building. And I never saw any official structural reports about the building, but I heard mister Volkmann pass comments and I heard mister Thompson talk about the condition of the building. And I understand the facade has been neglected for many years, and that's possibly partly the village's fault for not staying on property owners of that magnitude. I worked in many old buildings in the loop. To be exact, I was thirty five years in a landmark building.

And I saw that building come from no safety devices in it to fire life safety, sprinkler systems. I was there for a hotel remodel that got put in. And I looked at that Jackson Square Building. That Jackson Bear that Jackson Square Building is built like a bunker. The facade needed a bunch of work.

That useless that useless 2nd Floor that's only six foot high, well, that could have been the equipment floor for the 1st Floor and for the 3rd Floor. Tear the roof off of it, put two more floors on it, and then do some facade work on it, you might have a lasting icon there. But everybody gave it the death knell without looking at a viable option to that building. And I have another question. Does anybody know who owned the property at 5 South 6th Avenue?

Is that the Victorian?

That's that little house that's there. Do we know who owned that? Originally or Well, that that's part of the that's part of the project now.

Yes. It was gonna be part of the project with the first builders. It it was the Flowne and Kenny Law Office. Do do that's correct.

And it's kind of ironic that according to my dates, they sold the building in 2024 about a month or two before the comprehensive plan was redone and mister Spain bought that building. Now it's not in their names. It's called Breehan Corporation that owned it. And this whole process is starting to smell worse than those Ginkgo trees over on 9th Avenue. I'm not saying that anything was done illegal, but it's sure coincidental that all of this stuff transpires and this is how the machine works.

And the community input was negligent on this. Would you wanna live next to the five story balconies? Any one of you people up there? Do you think that's fair to the Robinsons? They moved in with a commercial building there that had a 35 foot brick wall.

You could live with that. But I find it hard to swallow the the size of that development that you people have approved to put in there. And as far as this lady's flooding and Harold's flooding, you know, this is another example of our infrastructure problems on the combination sewers of La Grange. And now, we're drawing plans to redevelop the La Grange Road corridor and all that water goes to the 49th Street sewer. And you ain't going to fix that problem until that reservoir is done.

And you are always avoiding saying that the date of that is going to be 2034. So let's be honest with the people in this village of when they can really see some headway on flood control. You know, I I read your at your art article in the patch, and it says the end is in sight. And, you know, we just keep stringing us along. And your temporary solutions of putting a underwater or underground storage vault for the soccer field over on the North Basin.

Well, if you watch that meeting, Burke said that that will not work until the Maple Avenue sewer is put in. And the that's incorrect.

That's incorrect. They're completely different things.

It won't be good for any more than a ten year storm. So you're gonna move you're gonna move that problem a block down, and all of a sudden, the people on sunset are going to be flooding. So the Casa Avenue sewer has never had the capacity that it needs. So before you people start super planning here, you better think about fixing the infrastructure here. Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Mr. Polito. Seeing no other public comments, are there any trustee comments?

Trustee Gale.

Thank you, mister president. I I simply wanted to chime in with respect to the idea of a welcoming ordinance, and say it's something. I know I know we don't like to get involved in large national issues at the same time. I do think that this has landed on our doorstep, and we can't Therefore, we can't ignore it. So I would I would like to direct staff to draft up a version of of a welcoming ordinance that we could

consider. Thank you, trustee Yao. Any other trustee comments? Trustee Heiser.

Thank you, president Kukler. Thanks everyone for coming out tonight with all the different comments and concerns. We have a lot of big problems, And certainly not prepared to answer everything that was stated tonight, but I can talk to some of you afterwards. But we are working on all of those, everything that's been discussed. I'm sorry that more hasn't been done, but there are reasons for that that have been stated.

And I think maybe we need another update again soon, but there unfortunately are good reasons for the slow pace. I met with some members of the community about three weeks ago to discuss some of their concerns for what was happening in this country and in this community area, particularly to do with enforcement, ICE enforcement. And I was excited to know that they were going to come and present that to us at a future meeting. In that period of time, it has gotten so much more worse. It is certainly hard to sleep at night.

I see what they're trying to do here. I've read up on what they're asking us and seen have seen what other communities our size and much like us have done. And it seems very reasonable to put an ordinance like this in place, perhaps with some additional specifics that we would talk over with counsel and the rest of the board. But I would absolutely support, similar to trustee Gail, that we take a look at this ordinance and have it on the agenda for our next meeting. It's it's it is a local problem.

And and I wanted to note that a town similar to us, similar to La Grange, well met, a much more a larger wealthier community, but they had, some lamps landscapers snatched off out of yards. And within weeks, it was on their village board's agenda, and they voted unanimously to enforce the kind of things that this group is asking us to do tonight. So that could happen here, and so much worse. And thank you for coming and presenting as you did tonight on that issue.

Thank you, trustee Augustine. Any other trustee comments? At this time, the village board intends to meet in closed session under the provisions of the Illinois Open Meetings Act under section two c five of the Illinois Open Meetings Act for the purpose of discussing the purchase or lease of real property for the use of the public body. Section two c 11 for the purpose of discussing pending or probable litigation. And section two c 21 for the discussion of minutes of meetings lawfully closed under the act.

The village board will not reconvene in open session as no formal action will occur following the closed session. I have a motion and a second to enter into closed session.

I move we enter into closed session.

Thank you, trustee Gale. Second. Thank you, trustee Thompson. Now roll call vote please.

Trustee Augustine. Aye. Trustee Gale.

Aye.

Trustee McGee's absent. Trustee O'Brien.

Aye.

Trustee Peterson. Aye. Trustee Thompson.

Aye. And that motion carries. Thank you. Do I do a motion to adjourn Ben Allen? Wait.