Board - Regular Meeting

Good evening, everyone. At this time, I'll call to order the regularly scheduled board meeting for the Village of Malolte on Wednesday, July 22nd, 2026 at 7 p.m. We'll call, please, Clerk Muskell.

Trustee Burbath? Here. Trustee Crowley? Here. Trustee Hilli? Here. Trustee Jett? Here. Trustee Johnson? Here. Here. Trustee Kelly. Here. Mayor Leroux.

Here.

You have a point.

Thank you, sir. Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. Remain standing for a moment of silence for our fallen veterans.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.

Thank you. Before we get started with the regular meeting, we're going to have a couple of swearing in. So at this time, will Daniel Delzell please step forward to be sworn in as a engineer.

Please raise your right hand and repeat after me. Aye. Aye. State your name. Daniel Dolezal. Having been appointed. Having been appointed. To the position of engineer. To the position of engineer. the fire department in the village of Midlothian. To the fire department of the village of Midlothian. In the county of Cook, before said, do solemnly swear. In the county of Cook, I do solemnly swear. That I will support the Constitution of the United States. That I will support the Constitution of the United States. The Constitution of the state of Illinois. The Constitution of the state of Illinois. And the ordinances of the village of Midlothian. And the ordinances of the village of Midlothian. And that I will faithfully discharge the duties. And I will faithfully discharge the duties. Of the position of engineer? Of the position of engineer. According to the best of my ability. According to the best of my ability. Congratulations.

Thank you, sir. It was a quick picture.

And at this time, Michael Jakuski.

Please raise your right hand and repeat after me.

I. I.

State your name. Michael Kirstein. Having been appointed to the position. Having been appointed to the position. a full-time probationary firefighter at EMT, a full-time probationary firefighter at EMT, in the village of Milliputian, in the village of Milliputian, in the county of Cook, in the county of Cook, before I do solemnly swear, before I do solemnly swear, that I will support the Constitution of the United States, that I will support the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the State of Illinois, the Constitution of the State of Illinois, and the ordinances of the village of Milliputian, the ordinances of the village of Milliputian, and that I will faithfully discharge the police, that I will faithfully discharge the police, of the position of probationary full-time firefighter DMT? The position of full-time firefighter DMT?

According to the best of my knowledge. According to the best of my knowledge. Congratulations. Thank you. One more. You have something? Yeah. Come on.

Welcome aboard, Michael. We're very happy to have you here. And of course, Danny. Well deserved. Thank you. As always, if you were here just for the swearing in, we're going to get on to the rest of the meeting, so now would be the time to... All right, at this time we are very pleased to have our dear friends here from CMAP to give our presentation on the recently completed Malothian Traffic Safety Study.

Can you all hear me okay? I feel like it's better to keep it at this height because Jake will need it this tall. All right, thank you.

I don't know who put it up there.

Thank you so much. Well, thank you all for having us here this evening to discuss the Midlothian Safety Action Plan. My name is Elizabeth Miller. I'm a planner with the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, or CMAP for short, and I'm joined here tonight with my colleague, Jake Vissers, who is a senior planner at TY Lynn, and he's led the wonderful consultant team that we've had for this project. So we're going to try to keep it brief for you all tonight. We'll do a quick overview of the project background, then we'll present some of the findings and the recommendations that came out of those findings. First, a little bit more about CMAP. This project was developed in partnership between the Village of Midlothian and CMAP. CMAP is the Regional Comprehensive Planning Organization and Metropolitan Planning Organization for the seven counties and 284 municipalities of Northeastern Illinois. One of the ways that we approach our regional planning work is through providing technical assistance for planning projects such as this safety action plan to jurisdictions throughout our region. This implements our regional plan on to 2050 and today we've completed more than 200 plans through this program including this one.

Oh, there we go. All right. Hello? Yep. Thank you, Mayor and trustees. As Elizabeth said, I'm Jake Bessers, a senior planner with TYLN. I've been working on this project for almost a year now. And just to take off where Elizabeth left off there, A lot of those plans that Elizabeth had mentioned on the 2050, it's really focused on safety because of this trend that we're seeing in the region as well as the country. There's been a large increase since about 2010 in traffic fatalities both nationwide and our region is certainly not immune to it. So this type of work and then work around the county and around the region is more important than it's ever been. Specifically, a response to the trend that we've been seeing nationally is something called the Safety Action Plan, which is what this is. This is actually a type of plan that's defined by the U.S. Department of Transportation. And it's not just a list of safety projects. There's really a series of components that are specifically laid out by the USDOT. including things like crash analysis, robust public engagement, review of local policies, and really all of that pulls together to come up with what projects should be prioritized and give you all a list of actions and projects that you can take over the next several years to try and make a dent in the trends that we've been seeing. Another thing to note too is that these projects and plans support and unlock future funding. Like I said, we've been working on this for nearly a year now. There's several components to it, existing conditions, public engagement. Again, all of that really culminating in the final development of this plan this spring into the summer and finally approving it tonight. Just a couple project findings, gonna give you guys some very brief highlights. I showed you the trend line for the region, and this is taking a closer look just at the village of Midlothian over the last five years. So there has been a small trend up in crashes that kind of reflects what we've seen at the regional level. The red line you see there is also just focusing in on crashes that result in injuries and fatalities. That's also trending up as well, so again, just kind of underscoring the impetus for starting to make progress wherever possible. Another key piece of existing conditions was a high injury network. A high injury network is kind of a national standard for trying to identify very small segments of roadway that contribute very disproportionately to those severe crash outcomes. This is the one that was assessed for the village of Midlothian, and you can see there it's about three quarters of crashes, KAB crashes, or crashes that result in fatalities, A injuries, or B injuries, so generally you're injured or you are killed in a crash. However, all of those crashes only occur on 5% of roadway mileage. So this is not to say this is the only place where a project should be done, but it's really just trying to help you all have some focus as to where could the least amount of effort make the most amount of impact in terms of addressing more severe crashes. Also looked at specific types of crashes bicycle and pedestrian crashes just a few things to call out here Disproportionately if you are involved if you're a victim of a bicycle and pedestrian crash You're disproportionately likely to be under 19 and you're disproportionately likely to Have an injury or a fatality result from that crash. So again, just underscoring the importance of making sure that Young people are protected, people walking are protected, people cycling are protected. In addition to the analysis, we had a kind of ongoing public engagement throughout the process. Two community events were the Scarecrow Fest and an open house this spring. Several direct interviews with stakeholders, as well as a couple surveys reaching over 150 people. Locations were addressed. Pedestrian cyclist safety was noted as a concern. Aggressive driving, high-speed traffic, and then an impetus for neighborhood and school safety was also brought up several times. And onto the recommendations. Our recommendations, we pulled together into a clear five-year action plan. This is not everything that's in the action plan, but just trying to give you all a gist of sort of how it's laid out. The idea being that 2027 has specific actions in there that you all can take to try and really build a foundation for a safety program. 2028 and 2029, there's several actions in there that's really trying to institutionalize and keep the momentum going, as well as implementing some of the things that we're identifying in 2027 through funding and planning projects. And then 2030 and 2031 are about scaling those improvements and trying to sustain momentum and eventually reassessing what are the next five years of priorities look like. Just a couple to highlight here, and then I'll turn it back over to you all. We took a closer look at one specific stretch of 147th a couple times throughout this project. This included a site walk, walking through a couple different concept plans with the stakeholders, which include IDOT, Cook County, PACE, METRA, as well as many of you here today. What you see up there is a potential concept that we all came up with for what a future of 147th right near us, near downtown, could look like. A couple safety improvements just to call out here. There's an enhancement and a relocation of the existing crosswalk there, as well as a new crosswalk, expanded sidewalks. And I think that the biggest thing here is a raised concrete median where we're really controlling where left turns can happen, as well as trying to narrow that roadway and slow traffic down, particularly in the downtown. I would note that these are not engineering drawings. These are really just meant to be a starting place of ideation of what this corridor could look like. And it also supported a grant application that's currently under review with USDOT to study this corridor and try and determine what is feasible and get a project funded. One last highlight here is the Neighborhood Greenway Game Plan. This really just lays out how to start to incrementally slow down traffic and reduce cut-through traffic on neighborhood streets. Within the game plan, there's clear objectives, again, reducing speeds, reducing cut-through traffic, helping to kind of strengthen the wayfinding and making sure that it's clear, you know, where are the safe streets and where are the less safe streets, and improving connectivity through that. And within it too, you can see on the right there, it lays out specifically what streets are priority streets. It has a toolbox of what can we do to improve traffic safety and calm traffic on those priority streets. And then it has a clear process for how can we start to implement this and do an annual process. It's not all gonna get done overnight, but as long as the process is in place, then progress can be made. That was the last slide. Very ceremoniously.

So thank you all. Thank you. I guess the question, obviously you know our issue with 147, of course, the state route. As we go out using this plan to seek funding, how do we convince IDOT that this is the right way to go? Is that something that you would continue to support us into Tell them this is the right way to go. I mean, I don't know. It's always been a struggle working with IDOT.

Yeah, I mean, I think this plan, like one of the biggest things that was sort of built into the plan and is kind of coming out of it is that IDOT was involved throughout the whole process. So they walked the corridor with us. They crossed the 147th multiple times with us. I think at least as a start, that initial coordination and the fact that all of the concept plans that are including in this have been vetted, commented on and read and reviewed thoroughly by several D1 engineers is a great place to start. But ultimately, it's always going to be a matter of coordination and making sure that that communication line is continued and open. But I think ultimately, like the next grant that we have in the works right now, would be a detailed corridor study, which would include engineering feasibility assessment, which is sort of when you want to continue to bring it out on board and see if there's an opportunity for you all to bring some funding or them to bring some funding, then, you know, again, continued conversation. But the ball's moving in the right direction. So what I hear you saying is that you're going to convince Ida that this is what's needed, and they're going to pay for it.

I'm half-joking. It's a struggle. The funding is the struggle. You guys have been a great partner for many, many years, and I know that you guys are highly... looked up to and I think what you've put together should be good enough to acquire, seek and acquire that fund.

Yeah, and I would also just underscore the fact that Like the high injury network that we noted there, it's largely 147th, it's largely Pulaski, it's largely Cicero. We recognize that that wasn't a series of streets that you all have direct control over. So we made sure throughout the actions to include things that you do have control over, like your neighborhood streets. So there's ways that progress can be made internally as well as progress through coordination can be made externally.

Anyone else? Well, thank you. How long have we been together for this plan?

Almost a year. Almost a year. Yeah.

I think it's over again. Thank you, guys.

Thanks so much. And we'll hold on to your numbers because we'll be calling for the next thing. All right. All right. Well, thank you. All right. Then I guess we will move on to public comment. Is there any public comment tonight?

Yes. Hello, good evening. My name is David Velasco. I live in Milothian. And what's going on is my neighbor's violating code exceeding the six foot ordinance of the height. And I want to know how can we get him on board by following the rules?

part-time superintendent on friday and if you could hand that packet to i can have that packet yes and that's jackie thank you and uh actually work with jackie to work with walter too it's it's clearly on code okay i appreciate it and thank you for letting me speak all right all right thank you for coming all right I didn't think you just came to sit and watch.

I was so captivated, I'm sorry. Are you going to sing? No, I just want to say thank you for live streaming this, by the way. My schedule has been keeping me from coming here, so the fact that I've been able to just tune in to Facebook or YouTube, that's been great. So thank you guys for that. I live here in Midlothian. I had a question about just the flock cameras. I was looking at the contract we're paying 25,000 a year for a two year deal. So it's 50,000 every time the contract renews. Uh, and I'm sure there's good reasons for it, especially when the contract was signed. I just, I feel like it is a fourth amendment violation and I'm just a little worried about them. I was just wondering about where you guys all stand right now with the contract. If it's something that you guys were looking to continue hanging on to, or if cancellation was something you were considering in the future.

I, no, no thought of cancellation of the chief. Benefits of the...

Absolutely. In terms of Fourth Amendment violations, I'd say the current concern on that is almost none because the hits that we get are on hot files, which are wanted vehicles for felonious type things like that. If we have a crime occurred, then we go search the database for that particular vehicle. We're not looking at just random things or things of that nature, but they've been a huge asset in solving a lot of our crimes, getting leads on that. being told when a vehicle that is stolen is coming into town. We had numerous gaming store burglaries that we were able to get there while they were in progress because those cameras went off. So they've been a huge asset for us. I understand some of the concerns out there, but I think that's more other people's speculation on what the uses are versus what they really are being used for. So I think it's a huge asset to law enforcement. I believe the $25,000, was that my annual?

It's $25,000 a year.

Yeah, so I was going to say, I think it's annually, not my annual. It's also taken out of TIF funds, which is in the taxing district. So they either spend those funds or lose them anyhow, so it's not actually coming out of the budget.

I think it would be hard to quantify how beneficial they really are because of the huge network that's in place now that other towns...

There's a sharing of information as well, so even with other law enforcement agencies. Correct. Correct.

It's the single greatest advancement in law enforcement in the last 30 years.

I agree. Just ask Fire Chief Hotwinger. Fire Chief Hotwinger, his son's car got stolen. He caught it through a flat camera.

I think also it's not just stolen vehicles, but serious felonies. It was instrumental in solving one of the homicides we both had about four years ago. Without Flock, we would never have been able to identify the car or the driver.

Missing persons, elderly, child, the list goes on and on.

Thank you.

to the St. Augustine Guest Committee. I'd like to thank the village, especially the fire department, the police department.

Without you guys, that probably would never have happened. You guys got us safe running the village board. We're sponsoring and paying off their volunteering. You guys also made it happen, so thank you guys.

Thank you, chickens.

Good job. Another carnival.

What's the status on the ordinance for the e-bikes and scooters and four wheelers and doing buggy things. What are those?

RTVs? I can actually answer that. It's pending with our attorneys. There was state movement on it. There has been a law that I believe now has been passed and the village will automatically adopt that law unless we want to make it more prohibitive and our attorneys are looking at that to see if there's anything more prohibitive we want to do. The problem with the legislation legislation as a whole is enforcement. Having someone on a scooter racing down a side street, it's near impossible for our police officers to chase them in a car and avoid having serious injury to the person. So enforcement of that law is going to be difficult for us. But we're looking at it. I have given it to the attorneys and they are going to determine whether or not we need to do anything to make it more prohibitive. But otherwise we will follow the law that the state passed.

Okay, thank you.

Just to piggyback on what Mr. Jacob Conway said, he didn't say his name at the microphone, but thank you, Chief and Chief, for amazing protocols and safety action plans, and it was... very warm very smoky the one night but uh a couple incidents uh you guys were right there both of your teams were right there to uh take care of the problem so it was uh another year in the books right anyway no further problem coming all right so now we'll close the florida public comment move on to tonight's consent agenda number one approval of the grievance settlement Approval of the Grievance Settlement Agreement between the Teamsters Local 700 and the Village of Midlothian. Number two, approval of the June 2026 Administration Department Monthly Report. Number three, approval of the June 2026 Fire Department Monthly Report. Number four, approval of the June 2026 Police Department Monthly Report. 5. Approval of the June 2026 Building Department Monthly Report 6. Approval of the June 2026 Public Works Department Monthly Report 7. Approval of the June 2026 Treasurer's Department Monthly Report 8. Approval of the June 17, 2026 Committee Meeting Minutes 9. Approval of the June 24, 2026 Board Meeting Minutes 10. Approval of the July 1, 2026 Committee Meeting Minutes Number 11, approval of the July 8th, 2026 board meeting minutes. Number 12, approval of the July 15th, 2026 committee meeting minutes. And number 13, approval of the list of bills. Any item, any trustee would like off of tonight's consent agenda. Hearing no dissension, 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, Clerk Moskal.

Trustee Johnson? Aye. Trustee Crowley? Aye. Trustee Berman? Aye. Trustee Hilli? Aye. Trustee Killi? Aye. Motion carries.

Thank you, sir. Moving on to Trustee Business, Trustee Johnson.

Thank you, Mayor. I have nothing to add.

Thank you, ma'am. Trustee Berman.

Approval of the pipeline license agreement, which is included in the agenda. I'll second.

Was that a motion?

It was a motion.

Oh.

I'll second.

Any discussion? Is this the one that Engineer Plata found, they found in 1936, original agreement? Is this the one they read in an email? Yes. 1936. Okay. Cool. All right. Roll call, please, Burma.

Trustee Bruback? Aye. Trustee Crowley? Aye. Trustee Hilley? Aye. Trustee Johnson? Aye. Trustee Killamy? Aye. Motion carries.

I'll have, sir.

Thank you, sir. Trustee Hilley.

I just have one item tonight, sir. I'm making a motion to approve resolution number 26-0722A, resolution of the Village of Midlothian Cook County, Illinois, approving building services for the fire department.

I'll second.

Any discussion? Roll call please.

Trustee Healy? Aye. Trustee Crowley? Aye. Trustee Rabette? Aye. Trustee Johnson?

Aye.

Trustee Killaly? Aye. Motion carries. Thank you, sir. That's it, sir.

Thank you, sir. Trustee Killaly?

Nothing to nightmare.

Thank you, sir. Trustee Crowley.

Thank you, sir. Just a couple things. Just a couple things, sir. First, I would like to also extend my thanks to CMAP and to TY Lynn. We worked together with them for the last, over a year now, to come up with this mobility and safety action plan, and it was a huge learning curve, I think, for all of us. I also want to thank the fire department, the police department, and public works. They've been actively involved. They've attended meetings. They've been on Zoom calls, all to make sure that this plan had the buy-in of all the departments that were going to be involved in it. So thank you to everybody. I think it's an amazing plan. It's going to be a lot of work. It's going to be consistent. But I think it's really going to be able to make an impact for keeping speed down and accidents down in Midlake. So thank you. After saying that, I would like to make the motion to approve the Midlothian Safety Action Plan.

I'll second. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Clerk Muskell.

Trustee Crowley. Aye. Trustee Hilli. Aye. Trustee Burbette. Aye. Trustee Johnson. Aye. Trustee Killian. Aye. Motion carries.

Thank you. Just a couple other things. I've sent out some emails today to the board to start reviewing. Next week, as everyone knows, is our fifth Wednesday, and then I will not be here the following week. So I wanted to get these things in the board's hands so that we could approve them on the meeting of 8-12, if everybody's in agreement. First is the amendment to the Katie Carl's TIF payout. She's having some work, the Village Board approved some work to repair some damage to her building that occurred during our demolition of the building next door. And her contractor would like, instead of a payout at the end, her contractor would like half of the money, which is about $5,000 in the beginning for material and the other half for completion. so attorney or has completed the ordinance to amend that and I sent it out today so if everybody could take a look at it and over the course of the next two weeks send me any emails if you have any questions or concerns next we have I sent out an email to the department heads and I also forwarded it to our board. Our IT company, Proven IT, has recommended that we upgrade our phone and our Wi-Fi services. Our contract for our phone service has expired. John's raising his hands in happiness back there. Our contract for service for our phones has expired, which means we no longer have a service contract. So we have to pay as we go or enter into a new contract. Based on upgrading our system, it appears that upgrading our system and getting new phones will be more cost effective and save the village money versus just purchasing a service contract. So I sent that out to the department heads. I've gotten a lot of feedback. We're going to hold, Chelsea Burbant and I are going to hold a meeting in August. with the department head so we can move this process forward but it will be something that I bring to the board if the department heads feel it's going to be beneficial to approve the upgrade so that's just something that I wanted you guys to be aware of again this will be according to the information we have right now it'll be a cost saving measure although we know what happens every time we upgrade something there's downtime and there's frustration and there's you know A lot of things that go wrong. But then they all get fixed since halfway over after. So I'll keep everybody updated on that.

So we're upgrading from the dial-up motor?

We'll no longer be our sound. Next, I wanted to talk about a couple redevelopment things. I have, we currently have a draft redevelopment agreement for the new Baja, which is the old task afford. They have since put in an application for some TIF reimbursement. The mayor and I and our economic development coordinator have been going back and forth as well as our village attorney. We are in the process of putting together those numbers and what they look like. As of right now, the projected numbers of them putting into their property is about $5 million including the purchase. So it's a huge investment and we also are going to be looking at doing a vacation of some streets that no longer exist and that to make it a little more clearer and all the lines defined. So I will send that out as soon as I have the redevelopment agreement and the TIF ordinance in place for everybody to review. And if anybody has any questions, please just reach out to me. We also have We also need to upgrade our procurement ordinance, our bid process. I sent that out today as well. Trustee Orr made the recommendation that we update this. Attorney. Attorney. At least I didn't say that before. I've been trying to vote. You wouldn't let me do it.

The motion.

So that revised ordinance I have sent out to everybody. If everybody could take a look at it, get me your input so we can get it on the agenda and get it approved. Just a couple more things. This week we did meet with Dunkin' Donuts and McDonald's, and they are both very interested in applying for TIFs to do renovations to their property. So we are looking forward to that. National Night Out. August 4th is National Night Out. Hopefully everybody can make it. We have a great evening planned. Last but not least, sorry, one more and I'm done. Last but not least, Mayor LaRue and I have been working with Republic Waste Service for about the last seven months. As most of you know, our contract with Republic is up at the end of the year. We have been trying to renegotiate a new contract Unfortunately, Mayor LaRue has met with other companies, none of which were interested in bidding because they didn't feel that they could compete at that point with Republic. And right now, it looks like we have, we've negotiated down to just keeping our two years, next two years without a rate increase, so zero rate increase for the 7th and 28th. They will also be eliminating the e-waste fee. So the $1.15 a month that was charged per every household will no longer be charged. So that will be a savings. And for the remaining three years, it looks like we are facing a 4% increase in waste services for 2019. 28 29 and 30 29 30 and 31 there is an option on it to extend our contract for another five years but that would have to be an agreement by both of both of the parties the other side of this is that part of this agreement we included a franchise agreement with Republic so that we would require all multi-family units to use Republic as well. This was done for a number of reasons, but one, to try to get our garbage, one of the biggest complaints I get, and I think Don gets and Kate McLaughlin beautiful, is garbage. around some of our multi-families so we're doing this to be consistent to have you know to try to get that under control and to have one agency that is responsible for doing this it's also a cost-saving measure to the multi-family and to the residents so that is what we're looking at right now as soon as we have the final document and Mary Lou approves it, we will be sending it out to the board to look at and we'll discuss it at the August 12th meeting and hopefully be able to approve it at that time. If any of the residents have any questions or comments, you can certainly email Mayor LaRue or myself, but that's where we're at with the agreement that we must have signed by the end of the year or decide what we're gonna do for trash. And that's all I have to say to you, sir.

That's it?

That's it.

Thank you, ma'am. Moving on to the department head is Chief Reha.

Yes, sir. The fire department would like to thank the village board for you guys having just our continued support on our promoted positions and new people coming in the door and I really appreciate keeping our numbers at a safe staffing level. And then just a reminder to the residents, we're running the free smoke detector program until the end of the summer still. So one each floor, they're 10 year smoke detectors. Contact the fire department Monday through Friday and we'll get you installed and get them out to you. That's all I have, sir.

Thank you, sir. Chief Toney. Nothing to see me saying. Thank you, sir. Superintendent Swanson.

Yes, sir. Just one thing. I know I sound like a broken record. I say this every two weeks, but we'd like to remind residents of the lead line replacement project is kicking off for phase two. So please call Robinson Engineering or Stipp Brothers. The letters went out to the residents who are inside of the replacement project. So once you get that letter, it is true. It is not just junk mail. Please call and get on the list. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Deputy Cliff Harris. Nothing to see here. Thank you, ma'am. Director Redman.

Nothing to see here, sir.

Thank you, ma'am. Attorney Hoare. A lot of work, but no report. I have nothing to report.

I have nothing to answer.

Thank you, sir. Then, seeing there's no further business coming from the board, I'm looking for a motion to adjourn.

I'll make the motion. Second.

All in favor? Aye. All opposed? The ayes have it. Meeting adjourned. Thank you all.