Board - Regular Meeting

Good evening everyone. At this time, I'll call to order the regular scheduled board meeting for the village of Mealthian, Wednesday, May 13th, 2026 at 7 p.m. Roll call, please. Clerk Moscow. Trusty Burbat here. Trusty Cwley here. Trusty Hilly. Trusty Jed. Trusty Johnson. Trusty Killery here. Mayor Laroo here. You have a quorum, sir. Thank you, sir. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance and remain stand for a moment of silence for our fallen veterans.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. Thank you. At this time, I will open the floor to public comment. Is there any public comment tonight? No questions, just comments. on the list of

bills the as of our audit solutions. Can can I ask who what that is? So, as far audits, all of our uh uh vendors, uh service companies, uh utilities, uh the nature of the village is receiving everything we're supposed to receive from streaming services, gas, electric,

gas, electric, cable, um there's a lot that They have found quite a bit of money that was supposed to be coming to us that wasn't. So, well, that's a good thing. So, we only pay they they get a piece of whatever they they earned for us. So, we're not really paying them. There's they're earning their own

and it's for a limited amount of time. So, the contracts are usually three years. So, they find a source in that we haven't there for three years and then 100% return. That's it. Anyone else? All right. Then I'll close the Florida public comment. Move on to tonight's consent agenda. Number one, approval of the settlement amount for a litigation case as discussed in close session last week. Uh number two, approval to hire the selected candidate for deputy chief position for the Multian Police Department. Number three, approval of the police department to purchase ammunition from Sunset Law Enforcement in the amount of $7,533. Number four, approval of the police department to purchase ammunition from Kaisler Police Supply in the amount of $2,517.78. Number five, approval of the police department to purchase a workstation HP laptop computer in the amount of $2,679.37. Number six, approval of the uh the April 15th, 2026 meeting minutes. Number seven, approval of the April 22nd, 2026 board meeting minutes. Number eight, approval of the April 2020 April 20 April 22nd, 2026 close session meeting minutes. And number nine, approval of the list of bills. Is there any item any trustee would like off of tonight's consent agenda? Hearing a session, I'm looking for a motion to approve tonight's consent agenda as read.

I'll make the motion. I'll second. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Court. Trustee Cwley. Hi. Trusty Killley. Hi. Trusty Bervette. Hi. May I hear Luro? Hi. Motion carries. Uh, then moving on to trusty business. Trustee Burbette. I personally have nothing but engineer Plato's going to give us an update on MS4.

A brief update. Um, so I'll call attention that uh I typed up a a nice memo kind of laying out all of the recent changes with this program. There's been a lot in the past year, so I thought it was warranted to do a write up. Um what we're talking about overall is the um MS4 program which is the village reporting to IEPA um under the national pollutant discharge elimination system NPDES uh that was established under the Clean Water Act of 1972. What it basically says is anytime you have a concentrated discharge in a waterway, you need a permit and you need to monitor what's in your discharge. The way they handle storm sewer systems for small communities like our situation is by uh publishing a general statewide permit and municipalities elect to participate in that because it's less strenuous than getting your own NPDES permit for storm sur discharge. So, we participate under this permit and we report to IEPA and IEPA publishes um new permits every so often with new requirements on say things like um monitoring how often there are elicit discharges, inspections of your storm system, stuff like that. Um so, a new permit came out last year. It has a lot of new stuff in it. Um, we also happened to get audited by IEPA last year, uh, where somebody came over and took a look at all of the documentation that we have

associated with this program and, um, issued recommendations for corrections. Um, so it's it's in the village's best interest to stay in good standing with IEPA and this program in general. um because there can be repercussions if the village does not participate in this. Um, so one of the bigger things that we need to do with the new permit is develop a villagewide storm water management plan plan. Um, it's the SWMP documents, the SWIP SWIMP. Um, that is due on August 1st of this year and uh, we're actively developing that right now. Um it will be published for an official comment period from the public and then after that any revisions implemented and sent in finalized to the IEPA. There are some new things involved in terms of village activities under specific metrics. Um you can see quite a few different things listed out below in the memo. uh things like public education, public participation. Um basically what's going on is they they want more paperwork associated with this. They want more evidence that the village is actively managing the storm sewer system. Whether that's a big pile of inspection reports that we can hand them at any given time or uh one thing that they really want to see is um active inspections of developments that are in progress for um construction activities and making sure that erosion control is proper on their sites. Managing a list of any given active development or project throughout the village. that's something that probably

the building department will have to get involved in. Um, and MS4 is not something that's typically touched the building department in the past other than requiring erosion control measures. Um, we also need to develop an outfall map, which is going through the storm sewer atlas and highlighting every individual discharge to waterways and developing a list of high priority outfalls that are inspected during dry weather quarterly. Um, that's main highle overview of what's going on here. Um, just to update the village on activities that may seem to go on in the background but are vital to making sure that we're in compliance with the law. Um, so as more information comes forward, we'll uh be reaching out. That's all I have on that subject.

Thank you. Thank you, sir. It's all you. It's all for me, sir. All right. Uh, Trusty Hill couldn't make it tonight, but under his um on his business, uh, looking for a motion to approve the repair of fire fire station one training for training room floor in the amount of $5,245. I'll make a motion. I'll second. Okay. Any discussion? Um, Deputy Chief, you have any? Uh, no. It's just damage. It's kind of a hazardous right now. It's needs to get repaired and it's budget item. Yeah. Yeah. Both are. So, thank you.

Thank you. Roll call, please. Trusty Crowley. Hi. Trusty Killy. Hi. Trusty Burbette. Hi. Mayor Luru. I. And then I'm also looking for a motion to approve the fire department to purchase a computer from Proven in the amount of $4,187.84. 84 cents. I'll make the motion. I'll second. Uh, same thing. Yes. Um, just that these are both budgeted items and are kind of uh necessary for facility safety and to continue wear critical equipment readiness. Thank you. Thank you. Call please. Trusty Crowley. Hi. Trusty Killy. Hi. Trusty Bat.

Hi. Mayor Luro. I motion carries. Sure. Uh then moving on to Trusty K.

Thank you, mayor. Um the Governor State University project proposal for performance management evaluation system. Um I think it's very much needed. We need to uh rejuvenate that uh process. Uh the not to exceed is $5,800. So, one thing I want to make uh the board aware of is that that is a budget item except for $750 if it goes to the maximum five days with our approval. Reason for that was that the original quote that I was given was $1,250 instead of 2,000 for the five days. And uh after the vetting from our attorneys, it turned out to be $400 a day, not instead of 250. But it's it's very much needed. I don't think we I I think we're going to be under budget because the person that is going to be our uh uh person who was doing this did the original system for us. So, I think it's going to be pretty easy to work with, but it's I just want to make sure the board is aware of that $5,800 uh not to exceed if we need the extra five days to adjust some things. So, I'd like to make a motion to approve the contract with Governor State University. I'll second. Any

discussion? Roll call. Please use clerk mask. Trusty Killy. Hi. Trusty Cwley. Hi. Trusty Burbat. Hi. Mayor Luru. Hi. Motion carries. I don't get to vote very often. It's kind of

And then uh one other thing, mayor, would be that uh we have a big event on Saturday, May 16th, uh village uh community cleanup day. make Midlotheian uh more beautiful than it already is. Make it the town that uh we all want to live in. And uh you know after during the winter there's a lot of trash that accumulates. It accumulates from everything and everywhere. And we need to do our spring cleanup just like you're doing it doing it in your house. So um the uh we can on Saturday uh at 8:30 we're going to have coffee and donuts over at the public works building right behind uh Village Hall. uh sign up and you get your assignments. And uh at noon time we gather again, finish up finish up our work and have a nice lunch courtesy of our very generous uh businesses in Meloian as always that they support the village of Melothian very very much. Uh they we we get a lot from them and we'd like to thank them for that. But uh if you can't, you know, and we'd like to have as much help as we can because there's a lot to do and uh we very much appreciate your time if you could. If you can't, we'd ask uh that maybe you can do some things around your your house or your your business in town. If you have a house in town, uh look around, clean up, uh some things around town, sticks, trash, uh tidy up some things, make it look a little more um pretty, and uh maybe trim some things. And if you have some times, maybe your street or your block, you can go around and do some work. You don't have three hours, maybe have an hour to to devote to clean up. So, if everybody in town does something, it's going to make the town look better. the more people that that help out in some way, some form, it's going to make the town

look better. It's going to make our town the town that we want that we really enjoy living in. And u I think we enjoy it, you know, right now, but we can enjoy it more. We can have a really nice nice looking town. And for businesses, uh the same thing. uh spend spend a little time look around your property. Uh maybe pull up some weeds, clean up in the front, in the back, and so on and so forth. If your business looks better, you're more likely to get uh customers. That's a fact. The people that uh their businesses don't look nice on the outside, they have trash or weeds or things like that, a lot of times that's not a good sign for customers who who don't know you and they don't they don't come into your door. you want to make more money, that's one way, one way to do it. Um, if you want to post what you're doing in any way, shape, or form on cleanup day, whether you're doing the communitywide cleanup or your personal property, uh, you can uh, post it on u our website and that is keep Mcloian IL period. Beautiful. And so you can post it, post your pictures, take a pic, take show us what you're doing, comment on it if you want, post it on your own Facebook and uh get the word out that you're u you're participating in a communitywide cleanup event and proud of it. That's all I have here.

Thank you, sir. Um I I can attest that just a few minutes uh of your time makes a big difference. Um, it it it's way better here than it used to be. And I think that's just because uh going back to the book and window theory in policing, if people see garbage on the curb, they're more likely to throw garbage on the curb to match. If they don't see it, it it it really is a a a visual thing. So, just a few minutes makes a big difference. I concur.

Thank you, sir. Uh, Trusty Crowley. Just a few things, sir. Um first, um I I have on my agenda for discussion the uh TIFF um TIFF reimbursement for uh sub submarine port at 14558 Palasi. Um the owner of submarine port came to us last month um was interested in taking advantage of the interior and exterior tiff program that we have. That program uh allows up to a 50% reimbursement um up to $35,000. So um after meeting with uh the owner of Submarine Port um he has decided to move forward with a landscaping proposal redoing all the way down to dirt his parking lot um a trash enclosure and new windows um as well as some landscaping if I didn't say that. um his whole project is estimated to be approximately $69,920 and of that $34,960 would be tiff eligible and that is what we are recommending. I will be asking or I did ask uh attorney or to go ahead and draft an ordinance for us and if nobody has any questions I'd like to have that on the agenda for next week's approval so they can move forward during the summer months. Kathy, can you get us that when you get a chance?

The ordinance. I will get it done. Thank you, ma'am. I appreciate it. You kind of brought it up last week. They've been in town 48 years. 40 48 is my um they love it here and they want to make it another 48 years. So, this is going to help them uh stay um fresh.

And I think in what in connection with what the mayor said, you know, about trash, if you see something that looks, you know, you see trash, they're going to throw trash. when you start investing in your community and you start investing in your property, um it's going to spread and that's kind of what's happening. Um just to kind of reiterate, I think I mentioned this last week, Modern Way Cleaners did get a new owner. Um we did approve a TIFF allocation for them about two and a half months ago. They are coming in spending about $1.4 million on that property to redevelop it. Um so, you know, that whole corridor is really getting worked on as well as our streetscaping program. So Popeyes is brand new. Um we're going to be working with some of the other uh businesses on Blaski Avenue to kind of keep the momentum going. So um we're really excited about it. Uh next uh on my agenda, I wanted to just I wanted to let everyone know some really good news. Um back in October, we applied for the safe routes to school grant. Um I was notified at the beginning of the week that we received $250,000 um for improvements. The improvements will be on 143rd Street from Kenton to Kenneth and on Kenneth from 143rd to 144th. This will directly benefit KMAR school and we will be putting in sidewalks where there are none. So that will really make a big difference over there. Um I have to say a huge thank you to our village engineer David Pleta. David without you this would not have been possible. That is definitely for sure. Also, our partners with school district 143, they were amazing. They stepped up. They got us um letters of recommendation from parents, from teachers, from the school, from the principles um which was a huge help. And our grant writing company, ACS, thank you. I always say ACS ACS. Um they put the whole grant together for us um and submitted it. So,

um thank you. Um, we really would not have been able to do it without our partners and this is going to be a huge improvement for Commer School.

Sometimes we just blow over this stuff like it these are huge deals. I mean, it's amazing what this team has accomplished over. I mean, sometimes we tend to just blow things over because that's just what we do, I guess. But Well, and I was pretty impressed. I knew before Robinson knew, which never happened. Robinson always knows first.

Um, yeah. So, I mean, we're really excited about this. We have a number of grants that, you know, we are every day, every week, we are going after. We've had to create grant um spreadsheets and and processes and things like that. And I mean it's, you know, the mayor's right, we do sometimes talk about it quickly because we've been talking about it behind the scenes so much and so long, but just so everybody knows, every department head that we have works on grants. Um, they are all tired of me sending them grants and saying, "What do you think of that?" As you can see, I'm all laughing. Ty, I'm sure, is being really quiet right now. But um we they all work really hard in addition to being and running and managing their departments. I cannot tell you enough how how our department heads step up every single day and look for these grants and look for ways to be able to work with our village engineer and with our grant writing company to get these grants. And this is, you know, just one example. um you know the all the different acronyms they all get confused after a while but every single day there's a different email going back and forth about these grants and like I said all the department heads and David kudos to David because without him I don't know what we would do but uh just you know every single day and these grants are not easy to write I mean I had to read the six page review that David gave like 11 times before I could understand what it was so um you know again just one example so thank you guys very much. Um, next on my agenda, I'd like to make a motion to approve uh the discontinuish disc to discontinue the sale of pet tags in the village of Midlotheian. Um, the number of of residents in the village that um are are applying for the pet tags has really dwindled and um there are, you know, state and county laws that require registration and vaccines and things like that. and we just think

it's one thing that we could do without save everybody a few dollars and um you know remove this burden from the taxpayers. So I'd like to make that motion. Second the motion. Any discussion? Um, I'm totally in favor of this, but please pet owners um get your pets uh um microchips. Chipped and spay and neuter. So, Bob Barker, right? Bob, spay your pets. But please get them chipped.

Dogs get out. Cats get I mean, animals get out and and We got to know how to get them back to you. So, please get them chipped. Um, obviously, as Trusty Cwley said, the sale of the village pet tag has not been very beneficial actually losing money on it. So, I'm totally in favor of this. So, thank you. Um, any discussion? I already said that, right? Roll call, please. Clerk Moscow. Trusty Cwley. I. Trusty Bett. I. Trusty Killy. Hi. Mayor Lur. I.

Motion carries. Uh, next one. I uh I just wanted to have a a quick discussion. Um over the last few months, uh Trusty Kelly and I have been working with um the South Suburban Land Bank and and the Cook County Land Bank on a number of properties in town that we have um are are seeking abandonment on, as well as working with our village attorney on some properties that don't quite meet the abandonment requirement, but are dilapitated and we need to make sure that they bring their buildings up to code or we need to hold them accountable. Um, one of those properties right now, um, I sent a letter out to the board the other day is 14916 Londale. Um, a brief history because I I wasn't here when all of this started, but uh, a number of years ago, um, there was a dilapitated home on this residential property and, um, the village was able to, um, take control of that property and we did demo the, uh, home that was on it. The property was subsequently sold to a developer who could not developed the property and has since abandoned the property. How it came back to our attention is um you know as everyone knows there are people out there who don't do good things and try to pull scams on people. So uh a few months ago there was a sign offering it for sale and the sign wound up being fraudulent. Um our police department um was able to um is still working on an active case with this, but um they were able to identify the person and um are currently trying to prosecute them. So um we would like to take this property back over. Um I sent an email to the board earlier this week. Um, we did reach out uh to the South Suburban Land Bank and their current policy is that um for residential vacant lots, they only go after them for abandonment if the municipality is willing to take them over um for their costs and that cost is

not to exceed exceeding them approximately $11,000. Um I think it's a good idea for us to go after this property. There's a couple of things that we could do with it. first and foremost is if we are able to get it in the abandonment process and we do buy it from the South Suburban Land Bank, um we could in fact market it and reach out to developers to take it over and build another home on there. Um I reached out to Lenny File and um the value of the property would well uh exceed what we would what our costs would be to take the property over. Um, and I know our building department or I mean our public works department loves it when I do these projects because then they get to have more grass to cut. So Ty, that'll be on our radar going forward. Um, but I think it's a great idea. I just wanted to run it by the board and see if anybody had any problems or concerns with this. Um, we'd like to move forward and try to get this property back into good repair and back marketed to be developed. Anybody have any questions, comments? Then I will um Trusty Kelly and I will move forward with this and we'll keep the board updated. And I think that is all I have this evening.

That's it. That's it. Oh no, I have one more thing. This is important. This is the most important one tonight. Unfortunately, it will be my first time as a trustee that I will not be a cleanup day uh on Saturday. Um and that is because it is my youngest grandson's first birthday. So happy birthday, Jameson. We love you. Um, and that's all I have this evening, sir. The most important. You're gonna meet miss your favorite event. I am. You know what it is, sir. You know it's my favorite. Bring your grandson to work. Ah. Well, yeah. Train him early. His birthday party is that day and it's at my house. So, I'll be a little bit of a crazy person. Is that it?

That's all I have. All right. Thank you, ma'am. Uh, department heads, deputy chief Karski. Nothing to do any uh just one thing reminder that this Friday, May 15th, we'll have our annual cop on Top event at the Dunkin Donuts at 146th in Palasky. Starts at 5:00 a.m. Goes till noon. Encourage everybody to stop by and buy your t-shirts, hats, mugs, make a donation for Special Olympics. I will not be there at 5:00 a.m. as usual like I don't have no more. I don't believe at 4:30. You deserve it, sir. Uh but at some point, Sounds good, sir. That was all I have. Thank you, sir. Superintendent sponsor.

Uh, yes. I was going to talk about cleanup day, but Trusty Killy stolen my thunder. But no, seriously, please come out. Help help uh pick up help uh support everything everyone. Uh coffee and donuts in the morning and lunch served in in the afternoon. And that's all I have.

Thank you, sir. Engineer play. Um, I did really quick want to say thank thank you to everybody who helped with the safe rest of school grant. I'm really excited about it. Um, it's probably my favorite part of this job to be able to go out and find monies for something and uh get something constructed that will improve people's lives. Um, I'm excited to see some kids walk on a new sidewalk. That's all. Thank you, sir. Uh, deputy clerk Harris, I have nothing this evening, sir. Ma'am, attorney war.

Yes, Michael and I are fighting as to who may attend the village board meeting. I won and I plan on being here for several months to come to show you. I won. We're happy. Happy to be here. We're happy to have you. Your energy is boundless. Infectious.

Infectious. Uh I I don't really have anything. I guess uh everyone talked about everything else. So uh clerk Moscow I just have one item. We have received a block party request for Saturday August 8th from 6:00 p.m. to midnight the 14900 block of Katrick and they requested visits from the police and fire departments. Does anyone have any concerns with this? Deputy Cler will send them a letter. That is all I have.

Thank you, sir. See, there's no further business for a board. I'm looking for a motion to make. I'll second. Wow. They're waiting for the same thing, I guess. Uh, all in favor? I I All opposed? No. Okay. The eyes haven't beed or anything. Thank you.