1
00:00:42,670 --> 00:00:49,250
Good evening, everyone. I'd like to call this village board meeting to order for the date of August 18, 2025.

2
00:00:50,030 --> 00:00:54,750
And if we could all please start by rising and saying the Pledge of Allegiance to

3
00:00:57,120 --> 00:00:59,560
the flag of the United States of America

4
00:00:59,560 --> 00:01:08,000
and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

5
00:01:09,020 --> 00:01:10,000
Thank you, everyone.

6
00:01:12,740 --> 00:01:14,620
Maggie, if you could please call the roll.

7
00:01:35,220 --> 00:01:41,060
Thank you, Maggie. We have two sets of minutes to review and approve tonight. The first one

8
00:01:41,060 --> 00:01:44,160
is from 8.45, it's a village board meeting.

9
00:01:44,660 --> 00:01:48,380
Are there any corrections or changes from anyone on the board?

10
00:01:49,160 --> 00:01:50,300
Anyone need to pass?

11
00:01:50,300 --> 00:01:52,960
Pass, okay, pass a note if we're Trustee Zick.

12
00:01:53,180 --> 00:01:53,720
Anyone else?

13
00:01:54,900 --> 00:01:56,260
Anyone from the audience?

14
00:01:57,220 --> 00:01:59,180
If not, I'll take a motion for approval.

15
00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:02,600
I would move that we approve the village board meeting

16
00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:04,780
minutes from August 4th, 2025.

17
00:02:05,380 --> 00:02:05,840
Second.

18
00:02:06,100 --> 00:02:07,660
Motion made by Trustee Schwingbeck,

19
00:02:07,700 --> 00:02:09,220
seconded by Trustee Lebedz.

20
00:02:09,220 --> 00:02:12,900
any further discussion. If not, all those in favor say aye.

21
00:02:13,240 --> 00:02:15,860
Aye. Aye. Any opposed? None. Motion carries.

22
00:02:16,520 --> 00:02:22,120
Next item is the special village board of trustees meeting minutes from 7.14.25.

23
00:02:22,640 --> 00:02:28,080
Again, any changes or corrections or are there any passes from anyone on the board?

24
00:02:29,160 --> 00:02:33,500
Seeing none. Anyone from the audience that needs anything changed or adjusted?

25
00:02:34,040 --> 00:02:37,880
Seeing none. Then I'll take a motion for approval please.

26
00:02:37,880 --> 00:02:44,740
I would move to approve the minutes of the special village board meeting of July 14th,

27
00:02:44,800 --> 00:02:45,340
2025.

28
00:02:46,140 --> 00:02:46,520
Second.

29
00:02:47,400 --> 00:02:50,740
Motion made by Trustee Manganero, seconded by Trustee Zick.

30
00:02:50,880 --> 00:02:51,760
Any further discussion?

31
00:02:52,580 --> 00:02:54,080
All those in favor say aye, please.

32
00:02:54,300 --> 00:02:54,420
Aye.

33
00:02:54,680 --> 00:02:54,820
Aye.

34
00:02:55,340 --> 00:02:55,360
Aye.

35
00:02:55,360 --> 00:02:55,560
Aye.

36
00:02:56,560 --> 00:02:57,100
Aye.

37
00:02:57,100 --> 00:03:03,280
opposed so motion carries all right next item is approval of accounts payable

38
00:03:03,280 --> 00:03:09,000
and I'd call on trustee Bertucci please. Mayor I'll move approval of the warrant

39
00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:27,080
register for the check date 8 15 2025 in the amount of two million three hundred

40
00:03:27,080 --> 00:03:28,220
Second.

41
00:03:28,600 --> 00:03:32,040
Motion made by Trustee Bertucci, seconded by Trustee LeBeds.

42
00:03:32,640 --> 00:03:35,080
Any discussion from the Board?

43
00:03:35,680 --> 00:03:36,840
Anyone from the audience?

44
00:03:37,060 --> 00:03:37,640
Seeing none.

45
00:03:38,300 --> 00:03:39,840
This is a roll call vote.

46
00:03:40,180 --> 00:03:40,700
Maggie, please.

47
00:03:41,300 --> 00:03:42,100
Trustee Bertucci.

48
00:03:42,560 --> 00:03:42,720
Yes.

49
00:03:43,140 --> 00:03:44,000
Trustee LeBeds.

50
00:03:44,160 --> 00:03:44,380
Yes.

51
00:03:44,780 --> 00:03:45,660
Trustee Schwimbach.

52
00:03:45,900 --> 00:03:46,080
Yes.

53
00:03:46,360 --> 00:03:47,020
Trustee Shirley.

54
00:03:47,520 --> 00:03:47,760
Yes.

55
00:03:48,060 --> 00:03:48,980
Trustee Menganero.

56
00:03:49,380 --> 00:03:49,720
Aye.

57
00:03:50,140 --> 00:03:51,000
Trustee Donington.

58
00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:51,660
Yes.

59
00:03:52,100 --> 00:03:52,800
Trustee Zick.

60
00:03:53,080 --> 00:03:53,340
Yes.

61
00:03:53,600 --> 00:03:54,420
President Tonalia.

62
00:03:54,420 --> 00:04:01,400
Yes. Okay, thank you. Next item is recognitions communication. We have none. No public hearings.

63
00:04:01,640 --> 00:04:09,600
So we'll go right into Citizens Be Heard. And I do have two blue cards tonight. If anyone is in the audience that would like to speak, you can certainly grab wings in the back.

64
00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:15,840
And if you don't, it's okay. We'll still call and just raise your hand. So the first one is Melissa Care. Melissa, come on up.

65
00:04:19,260 --> 00:04:20,020
I see that.

66
00:04:20,200 --> 00:04:24,980
Okay, we'll hold that for that discussion. Under Citizens Be Heard is Keith Moons.

67
00:04:24,980 --> 00:04:25,960
Thank

68
00:04:31,630 --> 00:04:37,030
you President Tonalia. I just wanted to note you know as we begin to negotiate to

69
00:04:37,030 --> 00:04:42,510
bring the billionaire bears out here I would really appreciate it as a resident if members

70
00:04:42,510 --> 00:04:48,470
of the Board of Trustees would not appear on television and proclaim that residents real

71
00:04:48,470 --> 00:04:54,910
estate taxes will not go up as a result of them coming out here. And this is for

72
00:04:54,910 --> 00:05:00,530
two reasons, two reasons why. First, that board member cannot know for sure where our

73
00:05:00,530 --> 00:05:05,650
real estate taxes are going to go if the bears do come out here. Second, our taxes likely

74
00:05:05,650 --> 00:05:12,790
will go up as a result of their relocation out here. So let's consider the bear's request

75
00:05:12,790 --> 00:05:18,370
for tax certainty over many years, which is a reasonable request from their point

76
00:05:18,370 --> 00:05:25,810
of you, but they have that because there is inherent and unavoidable uncertainty or risk

77
00:05:25,810 --> 00:05:28,750
in real estate tax levels increasing from year to year.

78
00:05:29,790 --> 00:05:34,950
In other words, tax uncertainty is built in to the system, it's just going to be there.

79
00:05:35,730 --> 00:05:40,530
And we all, we all know about this and we all have to cover that risk every year

80
00:05:40,530 --> 00:05:42,110
in our own tax bills.

81
00:05:42,110 --> 00:05:59,030
So by granting the bear's tax certainty through schemes such as pilot or mega projects, I fear it will transfer the bear's tax uncertainty risk onto local taxpayers forcing our taxes higher.

82
00:05:59,770 --> 00:06:04,950
Finally, if the billionaire bears want to come out here and relocate here, they're welcome.

83
00:06:04,950 --> 00:06:12,210
I welcome them with open arms, but we should not accept their uncertainty risk to do so.

84
00:06:12,390 --> 00:06:12,890
Thank you.

85
00:06:13,110 --> 00:06:14,190
Thank you, Mr. Moons.

86
00:06:17,430 --> 00:06:20,710
I think that's it for Citizens Be Heard, unless there's someone else.

87
00:06:21,550 --> 00:06:23,190
Yes, come on up and introduce yourself, please.

88
00:06:29,130 --> 00:06:30,370
My name is Robert.

89
00:06:31,910 --> 00:06:34,630
I believe I've expressed this with Randy before.

90
00:06:34,630 --> 00:06:44,790
I communicated to him that the businesses along Arlington Heights Road, there seems to

91
00:06:44,790 --> 00:06:55,810
be a number of people that seem to have privilege to park on Arlington Heights Road no matter

92
00:06:55,810 --> 00:07:02,770
at the time of the day and I tried explaining this to Randy before no

93
00:07:02,770 --> 00:07:10,230
matter if it's a like an Amazon delivery truck or if it's literally somebody

94
00:07:10,230 --> 00:07:16,730
parking there to want to get out of their car to walk to noodles and company to

95
00:07:17,430 --> 00:07:23,590
take all the time of the world to buy food and then come out to their car

96
00:07:23,590 --> 00:07:31,570
and then just leave. Like they're the only ones on the road. I've seen this

97
00:07:31,570 --> 00:07:37,090
time and time again and I've even said something to the police station and I

98
00:07:37,090 --> 00:07:42,250
said well I guess I'm gonna have to mention something to the board. I don't

99
00:07:42,250 --> 00:07:48,590
know if there's something that you guys can do where maybe you can paint some

100
00:07:48,590 --> 00:07:55,730
sort of details into the road like if like the fire station has in front of the

101
00:07:55,730 --> 00:08:00,470
fire station with diagonal lines that would say like no parking and then put no

102
00:08:00,470 --> 00:08:08,890
parking signs there for like you know saying we'll tell you like at your own

103
00:08:08,890 --> 00:08:14,830
discussion things like that or ticket you but I've noticed it becoming more

104
00:08:14,830 --> 00:08:23,330
more problem over the last couple years. People just, what happens is like they can't find

105
00:08:23,330 --> 00:08:30,750
parking in the mall there so they'll come back around to Arlington Heights Road to just

106
00:08:30,750 --> 00:08:34,770
take it upon themselves just to park there, just to like go to a noodles and company

107
00:08:34,770 --> 00:08:41,210
or something and I wondered if there might be some sort of solution for that.

108
00:08:42,090 --> 00:08:47,410
Okay. Thank you, Robert. I think it's a good point. I see it. I think all of us see it happen again.

109
00:08:47,750 --> 00:08:49,490
And yeah, I had actually one more thing.

110
00:08:49,590 --> 00:08:50,630
Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to.

111
00:08:51,830 --> 00:09:05,650
So I as a customer that likes to shop at the Joel in town, just based on our observation, I noticed that the math isn't

112
00:09:05,650 --> 00:09:11,950
mapping with what I see in the store and how many cars are parked out in the parking lot.

113
00:09:15,170 --> 00:09:21,610
Because there's just no way by the amount of people that are in the store versus who's

114
00:09:21,610 --> 00:09:34,270
parked out in the parking lot, like there's 20 people maybe in the store and then almost

115
00:09:34,270 --> 00:09:44,210
a full parking lot and I've even talked to people in there you know about that

116
00:09:44,210 --> 00:09:51,610
situation and they told me like yeah that's that's not customers that are you

117
00:09:51,610 --> 00:09:57,270
know for the store and for somebody like me that wants to shop there it there's

118
00:09:57,270 --> 00:10:04,710
There's only a few parking spaces left and it's kind of aggravating and I didn't know

119
00:10:04,710 --> 00:10:13,290
if there'd be some sort of solution with that as well to get that resolved because I've

120
00:10:13,290 --> 00:10:14,470
been noticing this for a while.

121
00:10:15,970 --> 00:10:16,370
So.

122
00:10:18,310 --> 00:10:18,710
Okay.

123
00:10:18,970 --> 00:10:19,810
I didn't want to interrupt you.

124
00:10:19,910 --> 00:10:20,990
Are you...

125
00:10:20,990 --> 00:10:21,370
Is that it?

126
00:10:21,570 --> 00:10:22,070
Yeah, that's it.

127
00:10:22,250 --> 00:10:22,530
Okay.

128
00:10:22,870 --> 00:10:23,070
All right.

129
00:10:23,090 --> 00:10:24,030
Well, thank you for your points.

130
00:10:25,290 --> 00:10:32,530
Yeah, but I interrupted you, so our village manager will take a look at that and if you

131
00:10:32,530 --> 00:10:36,610
want to grab his business card from him later on, I'm sure he can share thoughts with you.

132
00:10:37,190 --> 00:10:38,470
Anyone else from the audience?

133
00:10:39,650 --> 00:10:39,910
Okay.

134
00:10:40,330 --> 00:10:42,870
And we're going to move on then to the consent agenda.

135
00:10:43,890 --> 00:10:47,390
And the consent agenda is one vote with a number of items.

136
00:10:47,590 --> 00:10:51,990
Is there anyone on the board here that wishes to take an item off the consent agenda

137
00:10:51,990 --> 00:10:59,610
for separate discussion. Is there anyone who wants to vote pass or no on an item on that agenda?

138
00:11:00,590 --> 00:11:05,010
Is there anyone in the audience that would like a trustee to remove an item for separate discussion?

139
00:11:06,050 --> 00:11:10,590
Seeing none, is there someone who would like to make a motion to approve the consent agenda?

140
00:11:11,170 --> 00:11:13,210
I'll move approval of the consent agenda.

141
00:11:13,750 --> 00:11:15,870
Motion made by Trustee LeBeds.

142
00:11:16,210 --> 00:11:16,310
Second.

143
00:11:16,770 --> 00:11:18,430
Second by Trustee Zick, sorry.

144
00:11:18,430 --> 00:11:24,590
Sorry. Any further discussion? All right. All those in favor? I'm sorry. We'll have

145
00:11:24,590 --> 00:11:26,710
roll call vote on this one. I knew that. I knew that.

146
00:11:27,910 --> 00:11:28,970
Peggy, it's up to you.

147
00:11:29,570 --> 00:11:30,410
Trustee Labads.

148
00:11:30,690 --> 00:11:30,890
Yes.

149
00:11:31,370 --> 00:11:32,130
Trustee Zick.

150
00:11:32,370 --> 00:11:32,590
Yes.

151
00:11:32,950 --> 00:11:33,830
Trustee Schwingback.

152
00:11:34,050 --> 00:11:34,190
Yes.

153
00:11:34,490 --> 00:11:35,310
Trustee Bertucci.

154
00:11:35,730 --> 00:11:35,910
Yes.

155
00:11:36,210 --> 00:11:37,030
Trustee Dunnington.

156
00:11:37,350 --> 00:11:37,550
Yes.

157
00:11:37,970 --> 00:11:38,830
Trustee Manganero.

158
00:11:39,070 --> 00:11:39,270
Aye.

159
00:11:39,830 --> 00:11:40,570
Trustee Shirley.

160
00:11:41,110 --> 00:11:41,430
Yes.

161
00:11:41,650 --> 00:11:42,410
President Tenalia.

162
00:11:42,710 --> 00:11:48,110
Yes. All right. Very good. So then now we're going to go into new business.

163
00:11:48,110 --> 00:11:54,810
right? And we have five items tonight and the first two are a couple of appointments

164
00:11:54,810 --> 00:12:01,130
and I'm really pleased to call on Jennifer Thomas. Is she here? She is

165
00:12:01,130 --> 00:12:04,910
right there. If you could come up to the podium there, there's two mics that you

166
00:12:04,910 --> 00:12:05,590
can choose from.

167
00:12:16,540 --> 00:12:20,660
Wait a minute. I'm jumping ahead here. There was a

168
00:12:20,660 --> 00:12:24,560
discussion earlier today at the Committee of the Whole and I'm going to

169
00:12:24,560 --> 00:12:26,140
call on Trustee Schwingbeck first.

170
00:12:26,600 --> 00:12:26,820
Thank you, Mayor.

171
00:12:27,560 --> 00:12:29,820
I would move, as I did earlier this evening,

172
00:12:30,000 --> 00:12:32,620
to concur in the Mayor's appointment of Jennifer Thomas

173
00:12:33,080 --> 00:12:35,760
to the Commission for Citizens with Disabilities

174
00:12:36,320 --> 00:12:39,000
with a term ending April 30th, 2028.

175
00:12:39,540 --> 00:12:39,920
Second.

176
00:12:40,880 --> 00:12:41,380
All right.

177
00:12:41,840 --> 00:12:43,880
Motion made by Trustee Schwingbeck,

178
00:12:43,900 --> 00:12:45,060
seconded by Trustee Bertucci.

179
00:12:45,320 --> 00:12:46,400
Is there any further discussion?

180
00:12:46,880 --> 00:12:47,920
Anyone from the audience?

181
00:12:48,960 --> 00:12:51,020
Seeing none, is this a roll call vote again?

182
00:12:51,300 --> 00:12:52,320
This would be a voice vote, Mayor.

183
00:12:52,320 --> 00:12:54,460
Okay. All those in favor say aye.

184
00:12:54,820 --> 00:12:54,940
Aye.

185
00:12:55,440 --> 00:12:55,940
Any opposed?

186
00:12:56,340 --> 00:12:56,460
None.

187
00:12:56,820 --> 00:12:57,680
Okay. Motion carries.

188
00:12:58,260 --> 00:12:59,040
That is that.

189
00:12:59,360 --> 00:13:02,680
Now, I'm going to read you your oath.

190
00:13:02,920 --> 00:13:05,560
If you don't mind, you can repeat after me.

191
00:13:05,800 --> 00:13:05,980
Sure.

192
00:13:06,220 --> 00:13:06,520
Ready?

193
00:13:07,320 --> 00:13:08,560
So, aye.

194
00:13:08,880 --> 00:13:09,740
State your name in full.

195
00:13:10,120 --> 00:13:10,460
Aye.

196
00:13:10,720 --> 00:13:11,260
Jennifer Thomas.

197
00:13:11,960 --> 00:13:15,060
Having been appointed to the commission for disabilities.

198
00:13:15,440 --> 00:13:16,360
Having been appointed.

199
00:13:16,380 --> 00:13:17,120
For citizens with disabilities.

200
00:13:17,720 --> 00:13:21,640
Having been appointed to the coalition for citizens with

201
00:13:21,640 --> 00:13:29,160
disabilities, in the village of Arlington Heights, in the county of Cook, I do solemnly

202
00:13:31,320 --> 00:13:38,720
swear and affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution

203
00:13:41,420 --> 00:13:51,620
of the State of Illinois, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office

204
00:13:51,620 --> 00:13:56,220
according to the best of my ability very good congratulations Jennifer

205
00:14:01,140 --> 00:14:01,640
if you

206
00:14:01,640 --> 00:14:06,080
could come up here I'm gonna give you this pin and your oath and

207
00:14:09,830 --> 00:14:10,830
if you could

208
00:14:10,830 --> 00:14:16,510
take this over to Maggie over there she'll go ahead and take care of your

209
00:14:16,510 --> 00:14:18,570
signature down there with her and you're all set to go

210
00:14:19,650 --> 00:14:28,800
congratulations thanks all right so next is Stella Butler Stella if you

211
00:14:28,800 --> 00:14:31,860
could come on up. And I'm going to call on Trustee LaBette's.

212
00:14:32,700 --> 00:14:38,400
Thank you, Mayor Tonalia. I move now, as I did earlier this evening, to concur in the

213
00:14:38,400 --> 00:14:43,000
Mayor's appointment of Stella Butler to the Environmental Commission with a term ending

214
00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:45,920
April 30th, 2026. Second.

215
00:14:46,860 --> 00:14:52,920
Motion made by Trustee LaBette's and seconded by Trustee Dunnington. All those in favor

216
00:14:52,920 --> 00:14:53,600
say aye.

217
00:14:53,900 --> 00:14:54,160
Aye.

218
00:14:54,700 --> 00:14:57,760
Aye. All right. Sarah, are you ready?

219
00:14:58,040 --> 00:14:58,360
Steal up.

220
00:14:58,500 --> 00:14:58,820
Steal up.

221
00:14:58,920 --> 00:14:59,260
Steal up.

222
00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:01,900
Are you ready? Yes. Here we go.

223
00:15:04,140 --> 00:15:08,520
Raise your right hand. Aye. Stella Butler. Aye. Stella Butler.

224
00:15:08,780 --> 00:15:14,360
Having been appointed to the Environmental Commission. Having been appointed to the Environmental Commission.

225
00:15:14,700 --> 00:15:18,960
In the village of Arlington Heights. In the village of Arlington Heights. In the county of Cook.

226
00:15:19,420 --> 00:15:24,900
In the county of Cook. Do solemnly swear and affirm. Do solemnly swear and affirm. That I will

227
00:15:24,900 --> 00:15:30,380
support the Constitution. That I will support the Constitution. Of the United States. Of the

228
00:15:30,380 --> 00:15:34,560
United States and the constitution of the state of Illinois and the constitution of

229
00:15:34,560 --> 00:15:39,380
the state of Illinois and that I will faithfully discharge the duties and that I will faithfully

230
00:15:39,380 --> 00:15:44,040
discharge the duties of the office according to the best of my ability of the office according

231
00:15:44,040 --> 00:15:47,620
to the best of my ability fabulous congratulations all

232
00:15:52,800 --> 00:15:55,020
right Stella if you would take this over

233
00:15:55,020 --> 00:15:59,540
by Maggie and sign that and that's a pin that you can wear like we all do because

234
00:15:59,540 --> 00:16:03,900
you're part of our whole commission okay and same for you thank you very much everyone

235
00:16:03,900 --> 00:16:04,860
So

236
00:16:09,050 --> 00:16:24,090
now we're going to move on to item C, which is an ordinance amending Chapter 7 of the Municipal Code of the Village of Ireland tonight regarding municipal grocery retailers, occupation taxes, and municipal grocery service occupation taxes.

237
00:16:24,510 --> 00:16:27,310
So I'll call on Village Manager Recklout.

238
00:16:27,730 --> 00:16:28,590
Thank you, Mayor.

239
00:16:28,590 --> 00:16:34,450
So these are two separate items but the discussion is related so we're going to

240
00:16:34,450 --> 00:16:38,770
have one general presentation and then the board if it's so chooses can vote on

241
00:16:38,770 --> 00:16:43,250
the two items separately. You know the question is I think this is unique you

242
00:16:43,250 --> 00:16:46,770
know why are we discussing these you know outside of the budget process

243
00:16:46,770 --> 00:16:50,370
outside of kind of our normal way of discussing budgetary items and it's

244
00:16:50,370 --> 00:16:56,070
both of these are relatively unique. Back in June the board discussed and

245
00:16:56,070 --> 00:17:05,650
approved our budget ceilings for the 2026 budget. And they included the revenue that these two

246
00:17:05,650 --> 00:17:11,810
revenue sources would produce. However, at that time, the board indicated that it wanted

247
00:17:11,810 --> 00:17:19,730
to examine alternatives for both of these prior to approving them. These are unique

248
00:17:19,730 --> 00:17:24,670
for a couple of reasons. The grocery tax is not a new revenue. It is a revenue that

249
00:17:24,670 --> 00:17:31,510
that we've had for many years in the state of Illinois enacted a law recently where if

250
00:17:31,510 --> 00:17:36,010
municipalities want to retain the grocery tax, they have to take affirmative action.

251
00:17:36,150 --> 00:17:40,250
We're going to talk a little bit about the impact of that and the timing of that, but

252
00:17:40,250 --> 00:17:42,350
that's why that issue is before us.

253
00:17:42,770 --> 00:17:45,850
The second issue is the potential of a streaming tax.

254
00:17:46,690 --> 00:17:52,550
If you recall over the last several years, after a lot of analysis, it was determined

255
00:17:52,550 --> 00:17:56,770
that the village needed to put into operation a fifth ambulance.

256
00:17:56,970 --> 00:17:59,970
Currently, we've had four full-time ambulances,

257
00:17:59,990 --> 00:18:02,350
and this has been part of a multi-year process

258
00:18:02,890 --> 00:18:05,310
where we've been ramping up to a fifth ambulance.

259
00:18:06,330 --> 00:18:09,990
Currently, we have the fifth ambulance working

260
00:18:09,990 --> 00:18:14,950
on about 260 days a year during peak hours and peak days,

261
00:18:15,270 --> 00:18:20,750
and we staffed that ambulance with overtime,

262
00:18:20,750 --> 00:18:23,610
and if we happen to have overages on staffing,

263
00:18:23,750 --> 00:18:24,810
if we're above minimums,

264
00:18:24,810 --> 00:18:26,550
we can use those individuals to staff it.

265
00:18:26,870 --> 00:18:28,990
The goal as part of our three year plan

266
00:18:28,990 --> 00:18:32,710
was to have a fully staffed ambulance in operation

267
00:18:33,310 --> 00:18:35,010
January 1st of 2026.

268
00:18:35,990 --> 00:18:38,190
That will require additional revenue.

269
00:18:38,410 --> 00:18:39,530
And as we've been talking about,

270
00:18:40,550 --> 00:18:42,150
we've looked at different options

271
00:18:42,150 --> 00:18:43,270
and streaming tax is the one

272
00:18:43,270 --> 00:18:44,510
that the staff has recommended.

273
00:18:45,290 --> 00:18:47,890
The reason we are looking at putting that tax

274
00:18:47,890 --> 00:18:48,930
into effect now,

275
00:18:49,030 --> 00:18:50,130
and that's always been the plan,

276
00:18:50,130 --> 00:18:55,730
is firefighters have a long what I'll call incubation period. They require a lot

277
00:18:55,730 --> 00:18:59,710
of training before they can be available on the street and so we're

278
00:18:59,710 --> 00:19:05,050
actually making those hireings now so that we can have people ready to go come

279
00:19:05,050 --> 00:19:09,890
January 1st and so that was always a plan to have something in effect the

280
00:19:09,890 --> 00:19:14,410
middle part of this year so we can cover those expenses. The streaming

281
00:19:14,410 --> 00:19:18,950
tax itself we're gonna be talking about the merits of that in a minute

282
00:19:18,950 --> 00:19:23,170
but that was something we've talked about for a while and so that's why this is a little bit

283
00:19:23,170 --> 00:19:29,730
different of a process and why we're talking about this this year. Right now staff as part of

284
00:19:29,730 --> 00:19:38,150
our budget process is developing the 2026 budget and it's being developed based on the 2026 budget

285
00:19:38,150 --> 00:19:44,090
ceilings that the board adopted back in June and so the each department has now completed

286
00:19:44,090 --> 00:19:50,850
They've submitted their budget, they've submitted that to myself and Director of Finance Melissa Gallagher.

287
00:19:51,230 --> 00:19:57,710
What's going to be happening soon is those are going to be reviewed for completion and then our internal budget committee is going to be going through those.

288
00:19:57,790 --> 00:20:07,130
So that process is well underway so that we can have a balanced budget proposed to you all in usually the end of October for discussion in November.

289
00:20:07,130 --> 00:20:11,690
So that's going underway and so we're being able to talk about these revenues

290
00:20:11,690 --> 00:20:15,430
situationally is difficult because we're still we're in the process of

291
00:20:15,430 --> 00:20:19,990
developing that 2026 budget and we always do that under the direction of the

292
00:20:19,990 --> 00:20:24,130
board based on that 2026 budget ceiling that you've already developed. So the

293
00:20:24,130 --> 00:20:30,550
question here tonight is more how we will meet the needs of those 2026

294
00:20:30,550 --> 00:20:36,650
budget ceiling levels based on the board's direction back in June. So with

295
00:20:36,650 --> 00:20:41,210
With that, I will turn things over to Ms. Gallagher who is going to be walking through

296
00:20:41,210 --> 00:20:46,570
our analysis on these items and then obviously there will be the opportunity to discuss them

297
00:20:46,570 --> 00:20:49,630
further by the board and then vote if the board so chooses this evening.

298
00:20:50,850 --> 00:20:52,170
Thank you, Manager Recklaus.

299
00:20:52,570 --> 00:20:58,650
And yes, so we're in the midst of our budget development process and want to walk through

300
00:20:58,650 --> 00:21:00,030
this presentation with you.

301
00:21:00,030 --> 00:21:06,850
So one of the things as Manager Recklossom mentioned is that within the actual ceilings

302
00:21:06,850 --> 00:21:14,310
of for 2026 are the projections for the local grocery tax which has been part of our revenue

303
00:21:14,310 --> 00:21:15,610
stream for many, many years.

304
00:21:16,390 --> 00:21:22,150
And as we've mentioned, as part of the funding of the fifth ambulance we have proposed

305
00:21:22,150 --> 00:21:27,490
as one of the agenda items, the streaming tax is a two-year operational plan.

306
00:21:27,490 --> 00:21:31,850
So, what we wanted to do is walk through some of those revenue alternatives, kind of listening

307
00:21:31,850 --> 00:21:37,150
to what the board kind of had mentioned to us during our budget ceiling discussion and

308
00:21:37,150 --> 00:21:42,490
look at things also from other different means, which would also be looking at our peer communities

309
00:21:43,290 --> 00:21:47,250
in market considerations and discuss those alternatives with you as well.

310
00:21:48,290 --> 00:21:54,130
This is kind of, as Manager Reckles mentioned, we typically will kind of take a look

311
00:21:54,130 --> 00:22:00,050
at revenues just in general through the budget ceiling process and then come back to you

312
00:22:00,050 --> 00:22:04,490
with a proposed budget. But this is a little bit unique and we want to make sure we're

313
00:22:04,490 --> 00:22:10,710
kind of going through those notes from the budget ceiling discussion we had in June.

314
00:22:11,730 --> 00:22:17,850
So I wanted to first start with the local grocery tax in terms of the fiscal impact.

315
00:22:18,810 --> 00:22:26,650
And in the memo and in the agenda packet itself, we have been looking at a 1% local grocery

316
00:22:26,650 --> 00:22:29,290
tax as we're retaining the current tax.

317
00:22:30,150 --> 00:22:35,850
This, as we've mentioned before, would create a significant shortfall within our general fund

318
00:22:35,850 --> 00:22:36,290
operations.

319
00:22:37,570 --> 00:22:40,770
And this is not just one year, but it's every single year.

320
00:22:41,310 --> 00:22:42,530
So we have to think of it that way.

321
00:22:42,590 --> 00:22:44,770
It's not just a one-year loss of revenue.

322
00:22:44,770 --> 00:22:50,630
revenue. When we look at our general fund revenues just in total, local grocery tax

323
00:22:50,630 --> 00:22:57,110
is part of sales tax and sales tax makes up roughly about 25% of our overall general

324
00:22:57,110 --> 00:23:01,650
fund revenue so it's a very important revenue stream along with property tax which is about

325
00:23:01,650 --> 00:23:08,770
29% and then income tax which is about 14%. So our major revenues are about almost

326
00:23:08,770 --> 00:23:12,670
70% and so that's where we're kind of focusing in on the major revenues and what

327
00:23:12,670 --> 00:23:13,550
that might look like.

328
00:23:14,570 --> 00:23:19,690
When we're also looking at things also in terms of revenue streams, we take a look at

329
00:23:19,690 --> 00:23:24,550
what we can do to actively reduce any impacts for the property tax levy as well, and so you're

330
00:23:24,550 --> 00:23:26,530
going to hear a little bit about that as we walk through this.

331
00:23:27,270 --> 00:23:32,110
But the local grocery tax is direct money into the general fund paying for all our

332
00:23:32,110 --> 00:23:32,930
critical services.

333
00:23:33,650 --> 00:23:37,350
And what we are going to show you as well is that there are visitors to Arlington

334
00:23:37,350 --> 00:23:43,850
in height to shop here and they also do pay for grocery, food and other items in the village.

335
00:23:44,770 --> 00:23:51,030
And so as we mentioned during the ceiling discussion that should we have to look at

336
00:23:51,030 --> 00:23:56,130
other revenue sources, we mentioned property tax, we're not suggesting that in terms of

337
00:23:56,130 --> 00:24:01,230
making up the shortfall, what we are suggesting is to retain the local grocery tax. We're

338
00:24:01,230 --> 00:24:05,230
not suggesting service reductions but those are the types of things and when we say

339
00:24:05,230 --> 00:24:11,250
service reductions. We always take a look at that in a global way, and that would be

340
00:24:11,250 --> 00:24:15,890
through personnel. But we're not suggesting that. Again, this is just more of the fiscal

341
00:24:15,890 --> 00:24:21,110
impact showing about a $1.3 million significant shortfall to the general fund annually.

342
00:24:23,920 --> 00:24:29,380
One of the questions that comes up is what's the impact to the shopper? So you can

343
00:24:29,380 --> 00:24:33,380
look at it in a variety of different ways, but one way to look at it is when you

344
00:24:33,380 --> 00:24:38,260
to your local grocery store and you purchase a basket of goods.

345
00:24:39,200 --> 00:24:44,040
And so a typical grocery store purchase is going to vary widely, depending if you have

346
00:24:44,040 --> 00:24:47,440
teenagers like myself, but it will vary widely.

347
00:24:47,640 --> 00:24:49,640
And we kind of looked at some of the data points.

348
00:24:49,920 --> 00:24:54,960
And so we estimate about 70 to 85% of the grocery bill if you go to a grocery store

349
00:24:54,960 --> 00:24:56,460
is related to food items.

350
00:24:56,860 --> 00:24:59,340
So that's that 1% grocery tax.

351
00:25:00,140 --> 00:25:05,680
The next part of the basket is about 15 to 30%, which is general merchandise items, which

352
00:25:05,680 --> 00:25:09,200
would be household supplies, personal care items, or other items.

353
00:25:10,180 --> 00:25:16,600
So if we look at a family of four, that could be at a moderate cost plan about an impact

354
00:25:16,600 --> 00:25:20,140
of weekly grocery spending, and of course, every shopper is a little different when

355
00:25:20,140 --> 00:25:26,220
they go to the grocery store, but if we say you spend $323 in grocery spending,

356
00:25:26,220 --> 00:25:30,220
that 80% is food and 20% non-food items.

357
00:25:30,840 --> 00:25:34,860
And so we're looking at about a $2.58 impact per week,

358
00:25:35,220 --> 00:25:37,880
but if you annualize that, it's roughly $134.

359
00:25:38,560 --> 00:25:40,840
Again, I'm just for illustration,

360
00:25:41,220 --> 00:25:44,580
just sharing again what it might look like for a family.

361
00:25:44,720 --> 00:25:46,240
It could be more, it could be less.

362
00:25:49,330 --> 00:25:51,010
An important consideration as well

363
00:25:51,010 --> 00:25:54,090
is when we look at the local grocery tax impact

364
00:25:54,090 --> 00:26:00,730
are the effects of food assistant programs which is SNAP or supplemental

365
00:26:00,730 --> 00:26:05,770
nutritional assistance program which is a federal program that helps provide

366
00:26:05,770 --> 00:26:12,550
income assistance for shoppers and so none of the shoppers will be affected

367
00:26:12,550 --> 00:26:17,030
by the local grocery tax and they're exempt from that. We want to mention

368
00:26:17,030 --> 00:26:22,510
again that there would be limited impact per household and just based

369
00:26:22,510 --> 00:26:26,850
based on our analysis and what other municipalities looked at as well, is that there's equity

370
00:26:26,850 --> 00:26:32,470
built in through the SNAP tax exemption for household assistance.

371
00:26:36,670 --> 00:26:42,970
It's important to look at a variety of aspects to grocery store data, and one of the tools

372
00:26:42,970 --> 00:26:49,630
that we have at our fingertips would be some information that other municipalities have

373
00:26:49,630 --> 00:26:50,050
looked at.

374
00:26:50,050 --> 00:26:56,790
we pulled this data from a source that extrapolates data based on zip code and trade areas and

375
00:26:56,790 --> 00:27:02,610
what we were able to show based on our variety of grocery stores that we have in our community

376
00:27:03,130 --> 00:27:09,430
is that it just depends on where the grocery store is as far as the visitors to the stores.

377
00:27:10,370 --> 00:27:15,450
And so visiting shoppers may attend and shop at different grocery stores depending

378
00:27:15,450 --> 00:27:16,230
on the location.

379
00:27:16,230 --> 00:27:22,250
And so, just an overall picture, if you look at the estimated tax paid by zip code, and

380
00:27:22,250 --> 00:27:28,810
it's just extrapolated data, so it's not actual data, and it's not sales tax data because

381
00:27:28,810 --> 00:27:37,470
that's confidential data, but about 60% of visitors to Arlington Heights are not living

382
00:27:37,470 --> 00:27:41,870
in the community actually spend their dollars here, and about 40% of Arlington Heights

383
00:27:41,870 --> 00:27:45,070
zip codes spend their dollars in Arlington Heights.

384
00:27:45,070 --> 00:27:48,010
but it depends on the location of the grocery store.

385
00:27:48,190 --> 00:27:51,050
For example, downtown dual has a higher percentage

386
00:27:51,050 --> 00:27:56,370
for actual residents coming in to shop in the grocery store

387
00:27:56,370 --> 00:27:58,690
as compared to other types of grocery stores.

388
00:27:59,550 --> 00:28:02,630
Again, this is just one type of data to take a look at

389
00:28:02,630 --> 00:28:05,970
in terms of trade areas and it's just another aspect

390
00:28:05,970 --> 00:28:08,130
of the local grocery tax to share with you.

391
00:28:11,180 --> 00:28:14,280
We've been monitoring a variety of sources

392
00:28:14,280 --> 00:28:18,260
And we want to point out our local comparables.

393
00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:22,340
There are about 11 communities that we tend to say,

394
00:28:22,400 --> 00:28:25,660
how are we looking at as far as a comparable community?

395
00:28:26,140 --> 00:28:27,840
And so this is our list of 10.

396
00:28:28,380 --> 00:28:32,480
And we're one of a group, so it's a total of 11.

397
00:28:32,620 --> 00:28:38,060
But more than 350 Illinois municipalities across the entire state of Illinois

398
00:28:38,060 --> 00:28:43,480
have retained the local grocery tax as a funding mechanism for their general fund to retain that.

399
00:28:44,880 --> 00:28:49,680
We share that with you because that is also our pool of communities that we take a look

400
00:28:49,680 --> 00:28:54,180
at and we're going to show you some data from other points as far as our peer communities.

401
00:28:55,840 --> 00:29:00,780
So peer data moving on through and I'm just going to leave local grocery tax for just

402
00:29:00,780 --> 00:29:05,380
a moment because I want to show a little bit about our peer data and tax rates.

403
00:29:06,080 --> 00:29:13,020
And again, one of the things that we do when we're formulating new taxes or looking

404
00:29:13,020 --> 00:29:18,180
at our current tax structure, we're looking at how we kind of sit side by side with our

405
00:29:18,180 --> 00:29:21,520
community and how others formulate their tax structure.

406
00:29:21,960 --> 00:29:28,160
Just looking across from the home rail sales tax, you can see that pretty much we're all

407
00:29:28,160 --> 00:29:34,400
in on par at 1%, we just one community slightly higher at a quarter percent, Illinois Department

408
00:29:34,400 --> 00:29:40,000
of Revenue, the increments are only a quarter percent, so 25 basis points, it's the

409
00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:45,060
only increase that you can do at a time so it's not like you can do 10% or so

410
00:29:45,060 --> 00:29:51,020
on. Again, retaining the grocery tax, you can see all the communities there. We're

411
00:29:51,020 --> 00:29:55,200
going to talk about food and beverage tax rates and so I just list them for you

412
00:29:55,200 --> 00:29:59,540
to look at as well to kind of see where we sit and fall in our communities. And

413
00:29:59,540 --> 00:29:59,900
then the hotel

414
00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:01,840
We're going to talk about that as well.

415
00:30:03,620 --> 00:30:09,700
I mentioned the increase of a quarter percent to the village is approximately $1.8 million

416
00:30:10,260 --> 00:30:19,240
annually to the village. And so we're not recommending a new tax or this option as a new tax to consider.

417
00:30:20,000 --> 00:30:25,300
We do believe that it would place us a little bit above our community comparables and it

418
00:30:25,300 --> 00:30:32,760
also and potentially increasing costs to consumers for higher priced items and as well as to

419
00:30:32,760 --> 00:30:33,420
restaurant dining.

420
00:30:37,020 --> 00:30:40,540
And what does home roll sales tax apply to?

421
00:30:41,200 --> 00:30:45,200
We kind of abbreviate it there, HMR, it applies to purchases with the exception of

422
00:30:45,200 --> 00:30:45,740
food and drug.

423
00:30:46,700 --> 00:30:54,900
Things that are also common would be electronics, furniture, purchase a patio table, it can

424
00:30:54,900 --> 00:31:00,440
be a variety of household cleaning supplies. It can be school supplies. It can be a variety

425
00:31:00,440 --> 00:31:06,780
of things in your shopper's basket. It is going to just vary depending on what you shop

426
00:31:06,780 --> 00:31:13,740
for and how your spending plan is. And so shoppers may be a little bit more price concerned

427
00:31:14,260 --> 00:31:19,240
as things go up and as we're seeing that in the economy. And so the impact might

428
00:31:19,240 --> 00:31:26,060
be greater. Shifting things, when you look at shifting, should local grocery tax compared

429
00:31:26,060 --> 00:31:32,060
to an increase in homeworld tax? We'll talk a little bit about that. But that may potentially

430
00:31:32,060 --> 00:31:36,260
add a little bit more burden to retailers and potentially to restaurants. And so we're

431
00:31:36,260 --> 00:31:42,580
just kind of keeping those things in mind, particularly as profit margins have some

432
00:31:42,580 --> 00:31:43,700
pressure out there.

433
00:31:43,700 --> 00:31:50,640
If I can jump in too and just the point with this is, again, generally speaking, when you

434
00:31:50,640 --> 00:31:53,940
go to the grocery store, now everything you buy there is quote unquote groceries and

435
00:31:53,940 --> 00:31:56,460
subject to that grocery tax.

436
00:31:56,980 --> 00:32:02,080
A lot of the things you buy are general merchandise items, toiletries and all that type of thing.

437
00:32:03,040 --> 00:32:09,360
Anything essentially that you buy at the grocery store that other than drugs and food

438
00:32:09,360 --> 00:32:14,820
would be subject to the home roll sales tax and so one of the reasons we looked

439
00:32:14,820 --> 00:32:19,280
at this was it's another type of sales tax but it would essentially be also

440
00:32:19,280 --> 00:32:22,960
raising that grocery bill or the household item bill just in a different

441
00:32:22,960 --> 00:32:28,140
manner and again correct me if I'm wrong Melissa I don't believe these

442
00:32:28,140 --> 00:32:36,200
items are exempt from a sales tax like SNAP. We would have to just double

443
00:32:36,200 --> 00:32:41,200
confirm. But for the most part, we've identified that potentially it would not be, but I think

444
00:32:41,200 --> 00:32:42,620
that's an important point that you raised.

445
00:32:42,760 --> 00:32:48,920
Snap is generally for food items, and so they would get the sales tax exemption on that.

446
00:32:49,440 --> 00:32:54,720
But on non-food items, our understanding is that they still pay sales tax on that.

447
00:32:55,200 --> 00:32:56,600
But I just wanted to make that distinction.

448
00:32:57,220 --> 00:33:04,260
And if you think about it as, let's say it's $300 worth of food items and grocery store items

449
00:33:04,260 --> 00:33:10,460
in your basket. So you're going in and you're purchasing $300 worth. In the example of the

450
00:33:10,460 --> 00:33:16,020
grocery tax, as you've mentioned, only a portion of that is subject to the 1%. So if you look

451
00:33:16,020 --> 00:33:20,760
at your receipt, let's say you go to whatever grocery store you choose and you look down

452
00:33:20,760 --> 00:33:26,280
at your receipt and it's $300, two and a quarter you'll see, and then the 10% you'll

453
00:33:26,280 --> 00:33:32,720
see. And so it's either or. The two and a quarter includes the 1%. And so when you

454
00:33:32,720 --> 00:33:37,800
look at the grocery tax you just have to kind of look at your receipt and see that

455
00:33:37,800 --> 00:33:41,820
it's included in the two and a quarter. And the reason I mentioned is if you

456
00:33:41,820 --> 00:33:45,840
kind of shift things around and you say okay now we're going to eliminate the

457
00:33:45,840 --> 00:33:50,420
grocery tax and that now becomes one and a quarter and we're going to shift

458
00:33:50,420 --> 00:33:54,600
maybe a quarter percent for home roll sales tax and now our rate becomes ten

459
00:33:54,600 --> 00:33:58,740
point two five percent you shift it around when we ran this the short

460
00:33:58,740 --> 00:34:05,840
calculation it shifts it slightly and you may see some sort of savings but it's

461
00:34:05,840 --> 00:34:10,040
going to be very minimal to the shopper on the grocery bill where you are going

462
00:34:10,040 --> 00:34:13,520
to see the impact or some of those higher price items when you go to maybe

463
00:34:13,520 --> 00:34:18,760
other retail establishments and then also dining out and let's say you go to a

464
00:34:18,760 --> 00:34:23,220
home improvement store and you start purchasing other ticketed items so the

465
00:34:23,220 --> 00:34:29,600
The point is that you're shifting things, small increase to higher priced items.

466
00:34:29,900 --> 00:34:33,720
So I want to mention that because I know that there's a lot of different ways that

467
00:34:33,720 --> 00:34:39,240
you can look at examples but it's important to note kind of the shift that there really

468
00:34:39,240 --> 00:34:43,660
is kind of a modest change there that's important to note.

469
00:34:43,720 --> 00:34:47,700
We're not suggesting a home rule sales tax be implemented and be outside of our comparables

470
00:34:47,700 --> 00:34:48,940
but I do want to mention that.

471
00:34:48,940 --> 00:34:54,540
Feel free if you want to add a thought as we go through and you may have questions.

472
00:34:55,000 --> 00:35:01,620
But what I'm going to continue to go on through here, through the presentation, is to shift

473
00:35:01,620 --> 00:35:07,540
a little bit on the streaming tax side and because there is an ordinance for review, discussion,

474
00:35:08,360 --> 00:35:13,220
and consideration, as we've mentioned, this has been a plan now for several years.

475
00:35:13,220 --> 00:35:21,140
And with the full implementation in 2026, the effective date for a streaming tax could

476
00:35:21,140 --> 00:35:23,020
be considered as of next year.

477
00:35:23,180 --> 00:35:28,940
So we'd like to implement it, but it takes time to implement and initiate such a fee.

478
00:35:29,700 --> 00:35:34,000
Cable and telecommunication fees have been declining as people have cut the cord.

479
00:35:35,030 --> 00:35:39,000
And one of those things that are very important is that we still maintain the rights of

480
00:35:39,000 --> 00:35:39,160
weight.

481
00:35:39,480 --> 00:35:41,020
There's still an infrastructure cost.

482
00:35:41,020 --> 00:35:48,460
While the conduit in all of the services still flow through the rights away, we still maintain

483
00:35:48,460 --> 00:35:50,440
as municipality those rights away.

484
00:35:51,520 --> 00:35:56,960
There are several communities that have implemented a streaming tax and we've looked at a variety

485
00:35:56,960 --> 00:36:03,900
of things in addition to as we drafted with legal counsel the ordinance for review.

486
00:36:03,900 --> 00:36:11,480
I would want to also just mention that, again, it does not cover the full cost of the fifth

487
00:36:11,480 --> 00:36:11,960
ambulance.

488
00:36:12,140 --> 00:36:17,680
I know when we were speaking last year during the budget sessions that while the streaming

489
00:36:17,680 --> 00:36:22,140
tax is important, part of this, it doesn't even provide the full funding and we want

490
00:36:22,140 --> 00:36:27,460
to make sure that we are providing as much funding as possible for the full implementation

491
00:36:27,460 --> 00:36:29,020
of the fifth ambulance service.

492
00:36:29,860 --> 00:36:36,300
In our budget ceiling discussion, if you recall, and I put it in the agenda item as well,

493
00:36:36,420 --> 00:36:37,440
the approximate cost.

494
00:36:37,660 --> 00:36:44,780
So if you have a handful of streaming tax or streaming services, let's say from one

495
00:36:44,780 --> 00:36:49,260
of the, you know, Hulu to any of the other streaming services, it might range from about

496
00:36:49,260 --> 00:36:51,420
$41 to $61 per year.

497
00:36:51,480 --> 00:36:55,020
And I think we talked about at the end of June at the budget ceiling discussion,

498
00:36:55,020 --> 00:37:00,900
This is more of a choice-driven, consumer choice-driven tax rather than any other type

499
00:37:00,900 --> 00:37:01,260
of tax.

500
00:37:02,820 --> 00:37:09,170
So, I'm going to walk through a variety of the other aspects of the memo that we provided

501
00:37:09,170 --> 00:37:13,310
in the packet so that you have just a little bit of background on other types of revenue

502
00:37:13,310 --> 00:37:15,930
streams that come into the general fund, which are very important.

503
00:37:16,910 --> 00:37:19,030
One is our local hotel tax.

504
00:37:19,730 --> 00:37:21,090
It's a rate of 5%.

505
00:37:22,030 --> 00:37:27,150
It's administered by the village for the general fund services.

506
00:37:28,070 --> 00:37:34,450
And just a note to that, we looked at what might it look like should you increase it by a percentage.

507
00:37:35,070 --> 00:37:39,450
And one of those things that we also look at is our municipal comparables.

508
00:37:39,610 --> 00:37:48,490
But if we did increase anything by a percentage for hotel tax or current revenues about 925 to 950,000 to the general fund,

509
00:37:48,490 --> 00:37:55,450
but we estimate based on our 11 local hotels about 200,000, if you net out our contribution

510
00:37:55,450 --> 00:37:59,730
to meet Chicago Northwest, it's roughly about 184,000.

511
00:38:00,410 --> 00:38:05,990
We're not suggesting to consider an increase to the local hotel tax, but we did want to

512
00:38:05,990 --> 00:38:10,170
just make sure that you are aware that those are options to take a look at.

513
00:38:10,690 --> 00:38:16,590
We are suggesting to have this as part of a more thorough review and analysis as

514
00:38:16,590 --> 00:38:20,910
in context of ongoing and planned development activities across the village.

515
00:38:24,380 --> 00:38:30,280
Our local food and beverage tax, again, that's a local tax that we administer and collect.

516
00:38:30,920 --> 00:38:38,400
And it's a 1.25 percent tax on prepared food and liquor on and off premises.

517
00:38:39,040 --> 00:38:43,320
And there's also an additional amount for a fresco establishments.

518
00:38:43,320 --> 00:38:51,400
And what we did was just kind of run an increase from 1.25% up to 2% to see what that might

519
00:38:51,400 --> 00:38:54,300
generate for a revenue ad.

520
00:38:54,680 --> 00:38:56,880
And that came out to about 1.5 million.

521
00:38:57,220 --> 00:38:58,380
This is not one we're considering.

522
00:38:58,620 --> 00:39:04,520
We feel like it's an impact on shoppers and restaurant patrons and the hospitality sector.

523
00:39:05,160 --> 00:39:09,480
And we'd like to remain somewhat in line with our municipal comparables as well.

524
00:39:09,480 --> 00:39:14,120
The reason we are running a lot of these scenarios is to see what some of the

525
00:39:14,120 --> 00:39:18,380
bigger impacts. We do this as normal part of our budget process. On one of the

526
00:39:18,380 --> 00:39:22,240
pages in last year's budget, we actually run a lot of these for

527
00:39:22,240 --> 00:39:25,400
consideration. We want to make sure we're kind of going back through and

528
00:39:25,400 --> 00:39:29,080
updating numbers. And so that's the local food in Beverent Shacks.

529
00:39:31,340 --> 00:39:31,720
So how

530
00:39:31,720 --> 00:39:35,640
do we again kind of fit in the scheme of our comparable communities and

531
00:39:35,640 --> 00:39:45,060
municipalities, alcohol-related tax is really hearing the feedback from the village board

532
00:39:45,060 --> 00:39:49,600
we looked at, kind of those consumer choice or choice-driven kinds of taxes.

533
00:39:50,300 --> 00:39:57,080
And alcohol-related is typically taxed through your food and beverage tax structure from your

534
00:39:57,080 --> 00:39:57,940
local municipality.

535
00:39:58,200 --> 00:40:01,080
And so you can see the variation there across the municipalities.

536
00:40:02,360 --> 00:40:08,580
package liquor tax, the village does not have one, there are a couple out there that do that tax,

537
00:40:08,800 --> 00:40:16,400
that have that enacted in their village or city, and those sometimes are designated for certain aspects.

538
00:40:16,800 --> 00:40:20,120
But we, again, we're not suggesting new on that as well.

539
00:40:21,120 --> 00:40:29,000
Local tobacco tax, we did a survey and none have a local tax, but there are other considerations at the county and state we'd have to look into.

540
00:40:29,000 --> 00:40:35,120
do. And then video gaming terminals. We did run some numbers on that. Most of this you

541
00:40:35,120 --> 00:40:41,200
can download directly from, you know, the various websites. So we did provide some information

542
00:40:41,200 --> 00:40:45,840
in the back part of the presentation that I'll go through in just a moment. I did want

543
00:40:45,840 --> 00:40:49,860
to turn to a couple things that are not into effect and kind of walk through that

544
00:40:49,860 --> 00:40:54,980
as well. And I know we're, from a perspective of looking at all these different revenue

545
00:40:54,980 --> 00:41:01,760
new streams, I'm highlighting certain things on a per revenue basis, and I want to make

546
00:41:01,760 --> 00:41:04,880
sure that it's understood that we're looking at things globally as well.

547
00:41:05,120 --> 00:41:09,060
So I'm just kind of highlighting things on a global basis, and we can always walk through

548
00:41:09,060 --> 00:41:10,120
questions at the end.

549
00:41:11,500 --> 00:41:18,740
One of the aspects of kind of optimizing our operations through the village board process

550
00:41:18,740 --> 00:41:25,700
in the budget process. We eliminated the vehicles and pet stickers affected by the 2024 budget.

551
00:41:26,500 --> 00:41:31,840
The revenue was about $1.3 million to the general fund, but through some of the

552
00:41:32,710 --> 00:41:38,540
ways that we frankly did better in sales taxes over the last several years, we were able to

553
00:41:38,540 --> 00:41:45,180
absorb the loss of this important revenue stream. It is a very highly labor-intensive

554
00:41:45,180 --> 00:41:52,180
way to collect funds. When I think about revenues, I think about fairness, efficiency, predictability,

555
00:41:52,720 --> 00:42:00,500
and also reliability. And this one unfortunately wasn't one that was suggested to continue

556
00:42:00,500 --> 00:42:06,280
because one, it was very inefficient. And, you know, for example, we were able to save

557
00:42:06,280 --> 00:42:11,880
on savings for the village by eliminating a staff position that wasn't needed when

558
00:42:11,880 --> 00:42:17,300
the program ended. There was also considerations for enforcement and we felt like it was not

559
00:42:17,300 --> 00:42:22,060
a fair revenue source. So it's not recommended to reinstate the revenue but I did want to

560
00:42:22,060 --> 00:42:24,060
review some of the bullet points to that as well.

561
00:42:26,740 --> 00:42:32,920
One of the asks as well is to take a look at some of the things such as single use

562
00:42:32,920 --> 00:42:37,320
bag taxes or fees. I think generally people think of plastic bags when you're shopping

563
00:42:37,320 --> 00:42:43,940
is, I forget mine. I forget my reusable ones. I try to remind myself. But some municipalities

564
00:42:43,940 --> 00:42:49,280
want to incent behavior. And so to do that, they enact fee or a tax. Sometimes it's 10%

565
00:42:49,280 --> 00:42:55,840
per bag. And there are a variety of ways you can look at it. Of the municipal comparables

566
00:42:55,840 --> 00:43:01,160
that we looked at, we pulled a few. I would say what we're seeing is that, again, the

567
00:43:01,160 --> 00:43:04,540
the taxes were enacted so they could modify behavior,

568
00:43:05,040 --> 00:43:07,640
but that was not a revenue-generating source.

569
00:43:07,980 --> 00:43:10,640
And so just looking at some of the ones that we looked at,

570
00:43:10,820 --> 00:43:13,540
some of the net revenue out there was about 100,000 annually,

571
00:43:14,100 --> 00:43:15,660
but it was really more of a different way

572
00:43:15,660 --> 00:43:17,500
to incent behavior.

573
00:43:20,580 --> 00:43:21,620
And then video gaming,

574
00:43:21,940 --> 00:43:23,900
I'm gonna turn it over to Randy for just a moment.

575
00:43:24,200 --> 00:43:27,040
Yeah, and this is one that's obviously a current topic.

576
00:43:27,340 --> 00:43:31,000
And so we ran some numbers from some of our peers,

577
00:43:31,000 --> 00:43:35,660
But, you know, we know that that's something that's going to be discussed soon.

578
00:43:36,040 --> 00:43:40,860
And we know that this is being looked at not solely as a revenue source,

579
00:43:40,920 --> 00:43:43,860
but also as a way to help the business community.

580
00:43:44,020 --> 00:43:48,780
But from looking at this, it does not, when you look at the amount of revenue

581
00:43:48,780 --> 00:43:54,940
that we're looking to retain of the 1.3 million in terms of grocery tax

582
00:43:54,940 --> 00:43:59,020
and gain so we can fund the Fifth Ambulance,

583
00:43:59,020 --> 00:44:05,820
It doesn't appear that we can very easily kind of video gaming revenue our way out of those

584
00:44:05,820 --> 00:44:12,480
particular issues because one thing to consider is that our market right now we're one of

585
00:44:12,480 --> 00:44:18,460
only a few communities that don't have them and so by gaining them it doesn't necessarily

586
00:44:18,460 --> 00:44:23,680
mean we're going to realize the same amount of revenue per unit as some of these folks.

587
00:44:23,680 --> 00:44:29,760
It gives you a point of reference, but you're kind of saturating the market a little bit

588
00:44:29,760 --> 00:44:30,660
by doing this.

589
00:44:30,740 --> 00:44:34,360
But it is useful as a point of reference, but we know that that discussion is being

590
00:44:34,360 --> 00:44:39,360
had independent of this, so we wanted to throw it up for review as well.

591
00:44:40,720 --> 00:44:48,880
I'll add one footnote to that is that it's one of those revenue streams that consider

592
00:44:48,880 --> 00:44:54,380
factor and also remember that sometimes there's an unpredictability factor. The pandemic is

593
00:44:54,380 --> 00:44:59,640
a good example when gaming wasn't happening. Revenue was zero to general funds.

594
00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:04,080
But obviously it's just one of those things that were saturated. I thought I'd pull some

595
00:45:04,080 --> 00:45:05,780
data just to take a look at.

596
00:45:08,840 --> 00:45:13,260
So I want to somewhat end here because I think this one is interesting.

597
00:45:13,520 --> 00:45:20,320
There's a lot on the slide. We have, you know, in our budget book for 2026 we'll provide

598
00:45:20,320 --> 00:45:27,460
the updated amounts, but this one is from the 2025 Comparable Municipalities. So with

599
00:45:27,980 --> 00:45:34,820
What we try to do is kind of see where we sit in our total estimated annual homeowner

600
00:45:34,820 --> 00:45:35,160
costs.

601
00:45:35,680 --> 00:45:38,140
And so you can see from last year, we're kind of in the middle.

602
00:45:38,780 --> 00:45:43,660
Depending on what you look at, if you look at just home roll sales tax, you can see

603
00:45:43,660 --> 00:45:46,340
we're right in line with our municipal comparables.

604
00:45:46,580 --> 00:45:50,720
If you kind of take a look at the property tax, it's a little bit different where we're

605
00:45:50,720 --> 00:45:53,180
still kind of right in line, a little above actually.

606
00:45:53,180 --> 00:45:57,860
And then you can also just take a look at fees and user fees as far as utilities.

607
00:45:58,480 --> 00:46:04,060
I think what's important in the takeaway to this is what we were kind of saying in the beginning,

608
00:46:04,480 --> 00:46:09,180
is that much of what we're looking at, the two viable options,

609
00:46:09,500 --> 00:46:13,960
makes a lot of sense from the perspective of sitting within our community comparables.

610
00:46:14,380 --> 00:46:22,000
But in addition to that, making sure that our total costs are as much as possible viable for our residents as well.

611
00:46:22,000 --> 00:46:27,480
and so when we think about providing services in the general fund and we're

612
00:46:27,480 --> 00:46:31,160
looking at adding or looking at new taxes and seeing what the fairness

613
00:46:31,160 --> 00:46:37,320
structure is I think what's important is to remember that looking at the overall

614
00:46:37,320 --> 00:46:41,980
picture for our general fund revenue stream and so the two considerations while

615
00:46:41,980 --> 00:46:45,560
they're combined together they're a little bit separate the retaining of

616
00:46:45,560 --> 00:46:51,260
the local tax is no impact as far as new taxes to residents or visitors to

617
00:46:51,260 --> 00:46:57,280
to the village. Streaming tax has been paired up with our provision of the

618
00:46:57,280 --> 00:47:02,020
Fifth Ambulance Service and we feel that they are the most viable revenue options.

619
00:47:02,380 --> 00:47:05,820
Not that there are other revenue options to take a look at, but we're also

620
00:47:05,820 --> 00:47:10,360
balancing at the same time considerations to making sure that the tax levy

621
00:47:10,360 --> 00:47:15,220
proposal when you receive the budget in late October is as low as possible to

622
00:47:15,220 --> 00:47:19,420
next to zero if we can, but we're looking at as low as possible from

623
00:47:19,420 --> 00:47:25,360
feedback from the Village Board. So again, I wanted to kind of walk through what we presented

624
00:47:25,360 --> 00:47:28,760
within the memo and leave that and pause there for questions.

625
00:47:29,240 --> 00:47:38,360
If I can add just two points as well. One, there is a timing issue with the grocery tax

626
00:47:38,360 --> 00:47:45,040
in particular and that is in order to retain the grocery tax as we've been collecting

627
00:47:45,040 --> 00:47:52,440
at all these years. The board has to take action prior to the October 1st village board meeting.

628
00:47:52,620 --> 00:47:57,120
And so we wanted to have this discussion and provide this analysis, you know, with some time

629
00:47:57,120 --> 00:48:04,860
to spare on that issue. And so that's number one. If you didn't do that, then you would lose

630
00:48:04,860 --> 00:48:10,740
six months of revenue. You wouldn't be able to enact the tax again. And at that point, it would

631
00:48:10,740 --> 00:48:16,320
be a tax increase, really, you'd have to do that in the spring, and then you'd be able

632
00:48:16,320 --> 00:48:20,440
to begin that in effective July 1, 2026.

633
00:48:21,420 --> 00:48:22,500
So that's number one.

634
00:48:22,700 --> 00:48:28,700
Number two, again, on the streaming tax, this discussion is being generated by the decision

635
00:48:28,700 --> 00:48:33,800
by the board to implement the fifth ambulance in 2026.

636
00:48:34,380 --> 00:48:39,040
The idea was to generate a revenue that would take pressure off of property taxes

637
00:48:39,040 --> 00:48:43,740
to help fund this difference, something that was fair, looking at things historically.

638
00:48:44,340 --> 00:48:48,980
The other thing is with any new tax of this kind, it does take some time to implement,

639
00:48:49,220 --> 00:48:54,360
take some time to get the service providers kind of in line on this, and we are beginning

640
00:48:54,360 --> 00:48:55,340
hiring now.

641
00:48:55,900 --> 00:48:59,640
And so that's the reason we're looking at both of these at this point in time.

642
00:49:00,100 --> 00:49:03,100
And so at this point, yes, we do have ordinances prepared.

643
00:49:03,480 --> 00:49:07,640
If the board is so inclined to approve them tonight, it can happen.

644
00:49:07,640 --> 00:49:11,720
then if the board obviously has questions or wants to go in a different direction, that's

645
00:49:11,720 --> 00:49:14,480
obviously under your prerogative.

646
00:49:16,000 --> 00:49:16,740
All right.

647
00:49:16,840 --> 00:49:23,820
Well, thanks, Melissa and Randy for that very detailed outline for both of these items.

648
00:49:24,520 --> 00:49:27,780
I also wanted to welcome Trustee Santa Maria.

649
00:49:28,100 --> 00:49:30,520
She let the record show that she was here.

650
00:49:30,640 --> 00:49:36,040
She was returning from a wonderful vacation and back at 8.15 here joining us tonight.

651
00:49:36,040 --> 00:49:42,300
So these couple of items are things to talk about and I think at this point it's probably

652
00:49:42,300 --> 00:49:47,640
a good idea to just open it up to the board for discussions and we can start on either

653
00:49:47,640 --> 00:49:47,940
side.

654
00:49:48,120 --> 00:49:48,760
We'll start over here.

655
00:49:48,880 --> 00:49:49,620
Trustee Schwingback.

656
00:49:49,960 --> 00:49:50,160
Thank you, Mayor.

657
00:49:51,860 --> 00:49:57,260
So Randy, Melissa, on the, I guess the first one, the grocery tax.

658
00:49:59,580 --> 00:50:02,340
Right now 1% comes to us.

659
00:50:03,120 --> 00:50:09,120
what is the state, what's their percentage, one and a half?

660
00:50:11,800 --> 00:50:15,160
So 1% to the municipality.

661
00:50:16,220 --> 00:50:20,240
When I mention that, and I apologize for not kind of walking through the total tax,

662
00:50:20,360 --> 00:50:24,500
but our total tax rate is 10% on general merchandise.

663
00:50:25,020 --> 00:50:28,660
2.25% is what we call food and drug.

664
00:50:28,660 --> 00:50:34,660
and so that one percent is part of the two and a quarter and so that two and a

665
00:50:34,660 --> 00:50:40,460
quarter includes one and a quarter for the RTA. Okay. So are they, when you

666
00:50:40,460 --> 00:50:45,420
mentioned here that the state of Illinois passed the legislation to

667
00:50:45,420 --> 00:50:51,500
eliminate the one percent, we have the opportunity to keep it. Is that because

668
00:50:51,500 --> 00:50:57,740
we're a home rule? So are any other, they wanted to eliminate it, they you know

669
00:50:57,740 --> 00:51:01,440
So they looked at eliminating it across the board but they realized the negative impact

670
00:51:01,440 --> 00:51:07,420
it was having on municipalities and so they changed it to, they were eliminating it as

671
00:51:07,420 --> 00:51:14,980
a mandated revenue but every municipality, home rule or non-home rule under the law has

672
00:51:14,980 --> 00:51:16,160
the ability to retain it.

673
00:51:16,780 --> 00:51:22,140
At this point, it appears that all of our neighbors have retained it because again

674
00:51:22,140 --> 00:51:25,340
I think everyone's in that kind of same boat where it's an existing revenue and

675
00:51:25,340 --> 00:51:29,020
And, you know, expenses are tight, everyone's trying to keep proper taxes.

676
00:51:29,280 --> 00:51:33,760
And that gets distributed to us at some later point in time by the state.

677
00:51:33,840 --> 00:51:34,920
Monthly basis, I believe.

678
00:51:34,940 --> 00:51:35,160
Yes.

679
00:51:35,420 --> 00:51:35,580
Yeah.

680
00:51:36,360 --> 00:51:39,260
And you had mentioned that it's been going on for many years.

681
00:51:39,380 --> 00:51:40,780
How long has that been in effect?

682
00:51:41,080 --> 00:51:41,820
I mean, over 10?

683
00:51:42,360 --> 00:51:42,600
Oh, yeah.

684
00:51:42,680 --> 00:51:43,500
Oh, more than that.

685
00:51:43,680 --> 00:51:45,820
I would have to say even 30 or 40 years.

686
00:51:46,660 --> 00:51:46,780
Yeah.

687
00:51:47,180 --> 00:51:50,880
Randy, could you put up that slide or Melissa, where it talks about the other communities

688
00:51:50,880 --> 00:51:53,560
neighboring that you had up a little bit ago?

689
00:51:53,560 --> 00:51:56,740
Because all the other neighboring communities had already

690
00:52:00,870 --> 00:52:03,010
opted to retain it.

691
00:52:05,850 --> 00:52:16,550
And then on the other streaming tax, the question that I had was, I guess when I look at this,

692
00:52:16,550 --> 00:52:30,570
I look at it as a tax, I put the fifth ambulance aside because when we're losing tax because

693
00:52:30,570 --> 00:52:35,170
people are getting rid of, say, their cable TV and they're going to streaming.

694
00:52:35,770 --> 00:52:40,610
So when I look at this, I don't really look at it that we're trying to generate money

695
00:52:40,610 --> 00:52:42,670
for an ambulance or anything else.

696
00:52:42,670 --> 00:52:50,550
I'm looking at it more kind of like the cell phone versus the landlines where as people

697
00:52:50,550 --> 00:52:55,650
are getting rid of their landlines, we're losing all that tax that was on there.

698
00:52:57,160 --> 00:53:06,110
So when you had mentioned in here that the streaming service still require the use of

699
00:53:06,110 --> 00:53:10,570
public right away for cable lines, as people have,

700
00:53:10,890 --> 00:53:12,170
just one more time,

701
00:53:12,330 --> 00:53:16,170
as people have been getting rid of their cable

702
00:53:16,170 --> 00:53:17,750
and going to streaming,

703
00:53:18,390 --> 00:53:22,310
how much have we actually lost in revenue?

704
00:53:22,670 --> 00:53:23,590
Do we have that slide?

705
00:53:24,370 --> 00:53:25,710
If you could put that up.

706
00:53:25,850 --> 00:53:27,610
About six million was our annual,

707
00:53:28,690 --> 00:53:29,510
about 10 years ago,

708
00:53:29,570 --> 00:53:30,310
and I'll pull up the slide,

709
00:53:30,430 --> 00:53:31,450
I've got one in the back here.

710
00:53:32,410 --> 00:53:34,790
As you can see back in 2006,

711
00:53:34,790 --> 00:53:35,270
Right.

712
00:53:35,510 --> 00:53:40,950
We're almost to $6 million, now we're about half of that between cable franchise and telecommunication

713
00:53:40,950 --> 00:53:41,370
taxes.

714
00:53:41,610 --> 00:53:41,850
Okay.

715
00:53:42,270 --> 00:53:47,030
And that public right-of-way, what are we actually doing as a village?

716
00:53:47,850 --> 00:53:53,310
What expenses are we incurring by keeping that public right-of-way clear for them?

717
00:53:53,470 --> 00:53:59,250
We have to maintain it, essentially, that when these things are generally, the utilities

718
00:53:59,250 --> 00:54:03,290
are generally put in the right-of-way and we're responsible for maintaining it.

719
00:54:03,290 --> 00:54:09,490
And they, we have to keep it clear, there's Julie locates, there's all of those things.

720
00:54:09,570 --> 00:54:14,110
We have to make sure that no one else is building things that's going to interfere with these

721
00:54:14,110 --> 00:54:14,610
utilities.

722
00:54:15,930 --> 00:54:19,950
Those are the types of things we do, maintaining the roads, sidewalks, streets, et cetera.

723
00:54:20,730 --> 00:54:25,510
There's a permitting process to do work in the right-of-way that we have to manage,

724
00:54:25,510 --> 00:54:26,710
so all of those things.

725
00:54:27,090 --> 00:54:32,350
Some utilities are better than others at putting things in the right-of-way and

726
00:54:32,350 --> 00:54:33,570
And then we have to go after them.

727
00:54:33,730 --> 00:54:38,290
A lot of times residents will find cable lines and stuff just in their backyard.

728
00:54:38,590 --> 00:54:42,230
And then we can go after those and say, no, you have to bury it, you have to do those

729
00:54:42,230 --> 00:54:42,470
things.

730
00:54:42,650 --> 00:54:47,930
And so it's a process that whether, you know, essentially people are getting their

731
00:54:47,930 --> 00:54:53,110
services through that cable or through that telephone line now, just like they always

732
00:54:53,110 --> 00:54:56,990
have been, it's just packaged in a different corporate structure.

733
00:54:56,990 --> 00:55:01,990
right and so the work is the same the elements are the same it's just a

734
00:55:01,990 --> 00:55:08,470
different you know fee-for-service so as we've seen our revenue drop we're still

735
00:55:08,470 --> 00:55:14,450
doing the exact same thing to keep right public right away but our costs have

736
00:55:14,450 --> 00:55:19,950
probably gone up of course they have sure just like everything else yeah so

737
00:55:19,950 --> 00:55:25,510
I yeah I just wanted to try and understand what what we as a village

738
00:55:25,510 --> 00:55:28,850
we're doing to keep that right away clear for them.

739
00:55:29,290 --> 00:55:30,030
Yeah, so, okay.

740
00:55:30,150 --> 00:55:31,330
Thank you.

741
00:55:31,970 --> 00:55:32,450
Wendy?

742
00:55:33,570 --> 00:55:34,050
Jim?

743
00:55:34,450 --> 00:55:34,750
Go ahead.

744
00:55:36,570 --> 00:55:43,050
Well, without repeating, but just to piggyback on Tom's comments, Tom, your questions I thought

745
00:55:43,050 --> 00:55:43,790
were spot on.

746
00:55:44,550 --> 00:55:49,090
And by the way, Melissa and Marion, you're the rest of the finance staff.

747
00:55:49,190 --> 00:55:52,070
You guys did a great job with your memos and explaining all this.

748
00:55:52,070 --> 00:55:59,090
But I, too, look at both of these taxes as taxes that are being retained

749
00:55:59,710 --> 00:56:01,950
because they're just being packaged differently.

750
00:56:02,610 --> 00:56:08,750
Certainly, it's obvious on the grocery tax that this is just retaining the tax

751
00:56:08,750 --> 00:56:13,130
that the state said we're no longer going to be the ones that are so-called in charge of this.

752
00:56:13,610 --> 00:56:16,350
If you want it, put yourself in charge of it, you know.

753
00:56:16,550 --> 00:56:19,770
Okay. And so we already have that tax.

754
00:56:19,770 --> 00:56:27,990
We're already trying to push down our property tax levy from over 3% to under 3% and closer

755
00:56:27,990 --> 00:56:31,710
to an inflationary amount.

756
00:56:33,310 --> 00:56:39,210
And this would put a lot of pressure on being able to do that and maybe even put pressure,

757
00:56:39,550 --> 00:56:42,110
upward pressure on that if we don't retain these.

758
00:56:42,890 --> 00:56:46,970
And again, the streaming tax, I look at as an entertainment tax that's being retained

759
00:56:46,970 --> 00:56:53,930
And just for the reasons that you guys had mentioned that it's just shifting from one

760
00:56:53,930 --> 00:57:01,830
technology to another newer technology, such as the example that Trustee Schringbeck used

761
00:57:01,830 --> 00:57:02,830
on the phone systems.

762
00:57:03,990 --> 00:57:06,370
So that's my two cents, Mayor.

763
00:57:06,790 --> 00:57:07,010
Thanks.

764
00:57:07,290 --> 00:57:09,150
Mayor, I did get a piece of information.

765
00:57:10,370 --> 00:57:14,510
The Illinois Grocery Tax has been in effect since 1990, so about 36 years.

766
00:57:15,390 --> 00:57:15,790
Very good.

767
00:57:15,950 --> 00:57:16,030
Thanks.

768
00:57:16,030 --> 00:57:16,210
Thanks.

769
00:57:16,970 --> 00:57:17,590
Thank you.

770
00:57:17,710 --> 00:57:18,310
Trustee Donington.

771
00:57:18,470 --> 00:57:18,790
Thanks, Mayor.

772
00:57:19,510 --> 00:57:21,870
Thank you so much, Melissa, and the whole finance team.

773
00:57:22,210 --> 00:57:27,230
The memos that you sent and the presentation today was really helpful, good information,

774
00:57:27,730 --> 00:57:30,950
and explained in a really clear way.

775
00:57:31,110 --> 00:57:32,750
So I really appreciate that, thank you.

776
00:57:33,470 --> 00:57:38,710
One thing from the memo I did want to ask about is it highlighted the foods that

777
00:57:39,270 --> 00:57:44,570
are included in the grocery tax, but then it also mentioned drugs, and that was something

778
00:57:44,570 --> 00:57:51,250
that I wasn't familiar with. So is it correct that the grocery tax, if we eliminated the

779
00:57:51,250 --> 00:57:58,370
grocery tax, then we would not, there would be no tax on prescription medications over

780
00:57:58,370 --> 00:58:04,550
the counter drugs like pain relievers, allergy, meds, and acids, medical appliances, hearing

781
00:58:04,550 --> 00:58:07,630
aids, crutches, blood pressure monitors, is that correct?

782
00:58:08,230 --> 00:58:12,410
Those are the items that are listed on the Department of Revenue's website. So those

783
00:58:12,410 --> 00:58:16,790
Those are the ones that are included as far as food and drug and so in that category.

784
00:58:17,550 --> 00:58:22,750
And so if we eliminated it, there would be no tax on those prescriptions?

785
00:58:28,090 --> 00:58:29,270
I'm not sure.

786
00:58:29,890 --> 00:58:41,890
I think the 1%, I don't believe that the grocery tax is different than the special

787
00:58:41,890 --> 00:58:49,230
Also, 1% rate on prescription drugs remains in effect, I believe, we can double check that.

788
00:58:49,230 --> 00:58:50,010
We'll confirm that.

789
00:58:50,050 --> 00:58:50,870
Yeah, we'll confirm that.

790
00:58:52,590 --> 00:59:00,570
Okay, so the 1% is on bread, milk, eggs, fruit, vegetables, meat, poultry, fish, cereal, pasta,

791
00:59:00,870 --> 00:59:02,610
rice, yes, what it's on, okay.

792
00:59:04,090 --> 00:59:07,590
I will be voting no on the grocery tax tonight.

793
00:59:07,590 --> 00:59:14,930
I think it's a bad tax and tonight is our opportunity to eliminate a tax that hurts

794
00:59:14,930 --> 00:59:20,230
vulnerable people in our community, like seniors on a fixed income or lower

795
00:59:20,230 --> 00:59:26,010
income families who don't qualify for SNAP benefits. Low income households spend

796
00:59:26,010 --> 00:59:31,350
a much higher share of their income on food than better off households. The

797
00:59:31,350 --> 00:59:35,750
current grocery tax is a tax on food and maybe drugs that are basic

798
00:59:35,750 --> 00:59:40,770
necessities and it's something that's unavoidable even if you operate on a tight

799
00:59:40,770 --> 00:59:46,630
family budget. There was an article that just came out from the Hill and it said

800
00:59:46,630 --> 00:59:52,130
that the price of ground beef which is a staple in American households is soaring

801
00:59:52,130 --> 00:59:56,990
across the country right now and it's unlikely to drop anytime soon. The U.S.

802
00:59:56,990 --> 00:59:59,990
Bureau of Statistics shows the average price was $5 million.

803
01:00:00,000 --> 01:00:09,460
$5.36 in June of 2024. And just last month in July, it's currently $9.26 per pound according

804
01:00:09,460 --> 01:00:17,080
to the USDA. So I think that we should be the village that doesn't tax food, that food that's

805
01:00:17,080 --> 01:00:23,440
brought for your home. Who knows? Maybe people will choose to shop in Arlington Heights if

806
01:00:23,440 --> 01:00:31,420
eliminate that grocery tax. If the board feels that we have to make up the

807
01:00:31,420 --> 01:00:37,960
deficit, I would be more in support of the quarter increase in the home rules tax

808
01:00:37,960 --> 01:00:43,960
instead, since that would generate 1.8 million dollars in revenue and so that

809
01:00:43,960 --> 01:00:48,120
would cover both the grocery tax and the streaming tax that we're discussing.

810
01:00:48,120 --> 01:00:53,560
I think that with the rising costs of food,

811
01:00:53,960 --> 01:00:55,800
homeowners insurance, and electricity,

812
01:00:56,420 --> 01:00:59,100
the elimination of the tax will help families and seniors

813
01:00:59,100 --> 01:01:03,620
afford more nutritious food and afford basic needs.

814
01:01:05,180 --> 01:01:08,360
So my vote is no for the grocery tax tonight.

815
01:01:08,900 --> 01:01:09,940
Okay, thank you.

816
01:01:10,600 --> 01:01:11,540
Anyone else down here?

817
01:01:12,220 --> 01:01:13,280
Trustee Santamaria?

818
01:01:13,760 --> 01:01:14,620
Sure, thank you Mayor.

819
01:01:15,620 --> 01:01:21,680
Melissa, I know you had mentioned in your presentation that people receiving SNAP

820
01:01:21,680 --> 01:01:27,640
benefits would not be or not subject to the tax. Is that correct? That based on

821
01:01:27,640 --> 01:01:31,560
our research that is what I found. Okay, and but we don't know what would happen

822
01:01:31,560 --> 01:01:38,000
with the decrease of SNAP federally correct and what that might look like.

823
01:01:38,380 --> 01:01:43,740
Correct. I do not. Okay. Then I think I would because of that I really

824
01:01:43,740 --> 01:01:47,480
feel that groceries are not a luxury and they are a necessity and I agree with

825
01:01:47,480 --> 01:01:51,820
many of the sentiments that trustee Dunnington had said about food being in

826
01:01:51,820 --> 01:01:58,180
a necessity and not knowing how SNAP benefits may decrease for people who

827
01:01:58,180 --> 01:02:02,000
need it in our community. I don't think that this would be a fair tax to to

828
01:02:02,000 --> 01:02:03,740
continue in early tonight's.

829
01:02:06,930 --> 01:02:09,610
Thanks. Before we go on to the other side, can

830
01:02:09,610 --> 01:02:16,090
you clarify something, Randy? When you were talking about SNAP and you were

831
01:02:16,090 --> 01:02:24,430
You're talking about the difference between someone buying groceries versus buying other

832
01:02:24,430 --> 01:02:28,550
household items and how that affects their purchasing power.

833
01:02:29,270 --> 01:02:31,150
Can somebody refresh that, please?

834
01:02:31,650 --> 01:02:36,730
Our understanding is that SNAP benefits are generally for the purchase of food.

835
01:02:38,030 --> 01:02:43,630
And so food purchase with SNAP is exempt from any grocery tax that might be in effect.

836
01:02:43,630 --> 01:02:47,690
But obviously low-income people have to buy other household items.

837
01:02:48,310 --> 01:02:54,610
And those household items are still subject to whatever sales tax that locality has in

838
01:02:54,610 --> 01:02:54,930
effect.

839
01:02:55,390 --> 01:03:01,630
If that locality increases that sales tax, such as in the, you know, situation of our

840
01:03:01,630 --> 01:03:07,670
homeral sales tax, they would pay for that, whereas they're not currently paying local,

841
01:03:08,030 --> 01:03:10,490
you know, the grocery tax.

842
01:03:10,490 --> 01:03:14,960
I think I understand what you're saying.

843
01:03:16,180 --> 01:03:18,000
Does everybody understand that here?

844
01:03:19,420 --> 01:03:20,720
I'm just making sure I'm with you.

845
01:03:21,500 --> 01:03:21,740
Okay.

846
01:03:22,300 --> 01:03:22,820
Trustee LaBette.

847
01:03:23,140 --> 01:03:23,880
Thank you.

848
01:03:24,720 --> 01:03:30,880
I agree with a trustee's swing back and Bertucci that these are,

849
01:03:31,720 --> 01:03:34,120
this would be a continuation of existing taxes.

850
01:03:34,700 --> 01:03:38,980
So I'll just say up front that I will vote in favor of both.

851
01:03:38,980 --> 01:03:46,320
then, but I also have some questions. One is, I assume that stores that sell

852
01:03:46,320 --> 01:03:51,560
groceries that weren't listed like a Dollar Tree or a gas station,

853
01:03:51,860 --> 01:03:57,420
Cookie Mart or something like that, those also are 1%. And is it also

854
01:03:57,420 --> 01:04:03,280
correct to think that it's not that there will be no tax if we eliminate

855
01:04:03,280 --> 01:04:07,460
this because there'll still be one in a quarter percent RTA tax. Is that

856
01:04:07,460 --> 01:04:14,420
correct? So it's not that there will be no tax on these items. It would only be

857
01:04:14,420 --> 01:04:27,200
less if we did not agree to continue the 1%. I also want to mention that you know

858
01:04:27,200 --> 01:04:32,480
I that as far as the streaming tax goes we've actually this has been a

859
01:04:32,480 --> 01:04:38,460
subject that we've talked about for years during the budget time, and I think that the

860
01:04:38,460 --> 01:04:45,760
staff who are here will remember that has been part of the discussion that at some point

861
01:04:45,760 --> 01:04:52,500
with the loss of the cable franchise fee and the table communication tax revenue,

862
01:04:52,860 --> 01:04:58,520
we are going to have to start talking about this because I remember being here in

863
01:04:58,520 --> 01:05:04,840
this room and asking our former Director of Finance, Tom Keeney, how does this work?

864
01:05:05,440 --> 01:05:12,580
Because I just couldn't quite comprehend how one, how do we get somebody like Disney

865
01:05:12,580 --> 01:05:17,180
and Hulu and Netflix and all to assess this.

866
01:05:17,300 --> 01:05:20,140
So it's been something that we have discussed long before.

867
01:05:20,760 --> 01:05:23,480
We had a discussion about the fifth ambulance.

868
01:05:23,480 --> 01:05:33,260
So it's just kind of finally, in my mind, coming to the time that we need to address this and make up this difference.

869
01:05:33,400 --> 01:05:37,880
And a question about this particular chart, which is the green and which is the purple?

870
01:05:40,520 --> 01:05:46,100
The telecommunication taxes are in green and the cable franchise are in the purple.

871
01:05:46,420 --> 01:05:46,780
Okay.

872
01:05:47,420 --> 01:05:48,500
Thank you for that question.

873
01:05:48,500 --> 01:05:57,220
Kind of interesting. There's a slight increase in cable franchise fees this last year, but it's probably an anomaly of some kind.

874
01:05:58,960 --> 01:06:10,340
Let me see. If I had any... I think that we were probably... Oh, I have a question about this package liquor tax that some communities have.

875
01:06:12,680 --> 01:06:18,660
Does that mean if somebody was to buy a 12-pack of Bud, there's no tax on that?

876
01:06:18,820 --> 01:06:21,100
Or is it, is this a different kind of tax?

877
01:06:21,100 --> 01:06:22,360
It would still pay sales tax.

878
01:06:22,960 --> 01:06:23,240
Okay.

879
01:06:23,360 --> 01:06:25,860
This would be an additional tax on top of regular sales tax.

880
01:06:26,000 --> 01:06:26,820
Okay, okay.

881
01:06:27,280 --> 01:06:29,440
That wasn't clear to me from the chart.

882
01:06:30,520 --> 01:06:33,860
Perhaps that's going to be something we're going to need to discuss at a future date.

883
01:06:33,900 --> 01:06:37,300
Perhaps we're going to need to discuss the increase in the hotel tax.

884
01:06:37,300 --> 01:06:45,680
And yes, I am completely sympathetic with the potential loss in SNAP benefits for some

885
01:06:45,680 --> 01:06:46,040
people.

886
01:06:46,800 --> 01:06:56,040
I'm completely sympathetic with the knowledge that these items that are taxed for food and

887
01:06:56,040 --> 01:07:00,380
for drugs are necessities in life.

888
01:07:00,380 --> 01:07:07,400
If they're not something that you can choose not to have like you could choose not to have

889
01:07:07,400 --> 01:07:12,860
a Hulu subscription or any other streaming subscription, those are, you know, those are

890
01:07:12,860 --> 01:07:15,420
choices individuals make.

891
01:07:16,000 --> 01:07:17,500
So I understand that.

892
01:07:17,840 --> 01:07:21,140
But I still am in favor of the taxes.

893
01:07:21,840 --> 01:07:22,380
Thank you.

894
01:07:23,000 --> 01:07:23,980
Thank you for seeing that.

895
01:07:24,220 --> 01:07:25,340
Anyone else on this side?

896
01:07:26,720 --> 01:07:27,320
Trustee Shirley?

897
01:07:27,320 --> 01:07:32,720
You know, I'm going to mirror what Trustee LaVette said.

898
01:07:32,900 --> 01:07:41,280
I support both of these as presented by staff, and I, too, looked at them kind of as replacements

899
01:07:41,280 --> 01:07:44,000
for other revenue loss that we've had.

900
01:07:44,400 --> 01:07:49,860
I guess they ask, Randy, if we don't pass one or the other of these, then isn't it

901
01:07:49,860 --> 01:07:54,820
just going to put more pressure on the property tax burden this coming year, right?

902
01:07:54,820 --> 01:08:01,020
So I'm already very unhappy with the fact that we're targeting something over three percent, you know

903
01:08:01,020 --> 01:08:07,260
We had I don't know five or six years in a row. We were zero and then last year. I can't remember where we were but we were

904
01:08:08,140 --> 01:08:13,180
It was north of two percent two point four six two point four, right? Who's counting right? Yes

905
01:08:13,740 --> 01:08:18,000
But I just I don't find that to be an acceptable

906
01:08:18,880 --> 01:08:24,240
You know alternative to these I know we've gotten negative feedback on the streaming tax

907
01:08:24,240 --> 01:08:31,660
by quite a few people that have written in and sent emails and such and so I just

908
01:08:31,660 --> 01:08:36,500
I just can't see going into that discussion on property taxes with this

909
01:08:36,500 --> 01:08:40,660
additional burden on top of everything else so I know some people are gonna

910
01:08:40,660 --> 01:08:44,960
say well property taxes you can write off this and that but property taxes the

911
01:08:44,960 --> 01:08:49,760
one thing is increases in property taxes never go away they never go down no

912
01:08:49,760 --> 01:08:54,960
matter who the taxing body is they're there forever as far as I'm concerned so

913
01:08:54,960 --> 01:08:58,960
I do support these if someone makes the appropriate emotion or I would certainly

914
01:08:58,960 --> 01:09:03,460
be happy to do so at the appropriate time I just think that I don't really think

915
01:09:03,460 --> 01:09:07,800
we have any other good options and so I think these are the two that that I'm

916
01:09:07,800 --> 01:09:11,480
willing to support so that's all I have. Thanks Trustee Shirley. Trustee

917
01:09:11,480 --> 01:09:17,300
Manganera. Thank you Mayor. First of all I appreciate all of the work

918
01:09:17,300 --> 01:09:22,860
That staff has done to answer a lot of questions provide us with a lot of information

919
01:09:25,620 --> 01:09:32,380
When we talked about this at the the budget ceiling discussion, I think the board had a had a lot of

920
01:09:32,980 --> 01:09:36,340
Anks about these recommendations. I still do

921
01:09:36,340 --> 01:09:42,200
I'll be honest. I'm not planning to vote for any tax increase of any kind this year. I

922
01:09:42,200 --> 01:09:44,060
think that there are a lot of

923
01:09:44,060 --> 01:09:49,360
financial pressures on our residents from a lot of directions coupled with a

924
01:09:49,360 --> 01:09:55,500
great deal of uncertainty about 2026. We heard a lot about the conservative

925
01:09:55,500 --> 01:10:00,160
approach we take to budgeting and I agree that we take a financially

926
01:10:00,160 --> 01:10:04,980
conservative approach. I'd like to see us take a more tax policy conservative

927
01:10:04,980 --> 01:10:05,660
approach.

928
01:10:08,000 --> 01:10:12,720
Some of the burdens include we raised our water tax rates 3.6

929
01:10:12,720 --> 01:10:21,360
percent this year. The meter replacements, while that accuracy has had the effect of

930
01:10:21,360 --> 01:10:26,480
further increasing people's water bills. Meanwhile, ComEd has increased their

931
01:10:26,480 --> 01:10:31,340
rates 10 to 15 percent. NYCOR is looking at a 9 percent increase. All state,

932
01:10:31,620 --> 01:10:37,860
excuse me, state farm is following suit so that by the end, by next year everyone,

933
01:10:37,860 --> 01:10:44,000
everyone, whoever their carrier is, will be paying about 25% more for casualty insurance,

934
01:10:44,300 --> 01:10:47,340
property insurance than they did three to four years ago.

935
01:10:47,960 --> 01:10:55,160
We also are going to get reassessed on our property values in 2026, another upward pressure.

936
01:10:57,230 --> 01:11:05,310
So I believe this is the year, and as George Manager Recklaus said back in June, I believe

937
01:11:05,310 --> 01:11:09,810
when we looked at this, that reserves are a lever we can pull once.

938
01:11:10,430 --> 01:11:12,450
And I think this is the year to consider doing that.

939
01:11:14,650 --> 01:11:21,250
The grocery tax and a little aside on that, I don't agree that this is just a continuation.

940
01:11:21,910 --> 01:11:29,710
The legislature eliminated that tax with intent because of, as Trustee Dunnington

941
01:11:29,710 --> 01:11:35,470
mentioned the skyrocketing price of food to try to give people a break.

942
01:11:36,690 --> 01:11:48,370
If my math is right, the medium cost that you mentioned comes to about $3.84 per meal

943
01:11:49,350 --> 01:11:50,730
for that family of four.

944
01:11:51,410 --> 01:11:56,190
That's very frugal food budgeting in my view.

945
01:11:57,810 --> 01:12:02,050
And that 1% means they have 43 fewer meals per year.

946
01:12:04,310 --> 01:12:09,730
I really, as I say, believe that there was intent in that change.

947
01:12:11,210 --> 01:12:14,790
If we're not certain about the impact on prescription drugs,

948
01:12:15,030 --> 01:12:19,990
again, think of someone who is taking a very high-cost cancer drug.

949
01:12:20,190 --> 01:12:24,450
Think of someone who is taking a GLP-1 at hundreds of dollars,

950
01:12:24,630 --> 01:12:26,490
if not a thousand dollars or more per month.

951
01:12:26,490 --> 01:12:31,970
that has a real impact. So these are things that I'm just not prepared this

952
01:12:31,970 --> 01:12:37,670
evening to put on our residents over and above all of the additional costs

953
01:12:37,670 --> 01:12:42,150
they're bearing that are higher than they were last year. Thank you. Thank you

954
01:12:42,150 --> 01:12:47,950
Trustee Mangano. Trustee Zick. Thank you Mayor. Yeah and thank you you know

955
01:12:47,950 --> 01:12:52,290
everybody for for all the hard work that's gone into all this and Trustee

956
01:12:52,290 --> 01:12:55,810
Mangano you had mentioned in June that we had a lot of there's a lot of

957
01:12:55,810 --> 01:13:00,930
angst throughout the board. I'm still having a lot of angst right now as we're talking about

958
01:13:00,930 --> 01:13:09,510
this. The 1%, you know, that was essentially a pass-through to the state, right? They were

959
01:13:09,510 --> 01:13:14,370
taking this 1% in and they were just passing it, you know, taking it in and then passing

960
01:13:14,370 --> 01:13:21,310
on to us. The one reason I can stomach that part of it is because it isn't actually

961
01:13:21,310 --> 01:13:25,010
a tax increase that we're putting on people. If we walk out of here voting

962
01:13:25,010 --> 01:13:28,970
forward today, nobody's paying anything more than they were when we

963
01:13:28,970 --> 01:13:33,090
walked into here, because it's the same 1%. So that's the one part of it, that

964
01:13:33,090 --> 01:13:40,530
I can at least get me to kind of think about doing that, though I do

965
01:13:40,530 --> 01:13:44,590
agree with the comments of the other trustees on how it does affect certain

966
01:13:44,590 --> 01:13:48,650
people. The other one, though, that I'm having problem with and some things

967
01:13:48,650 --> 01:13:53,750
that came out through the discussion is with the streaming tax and it's just taxes, tax

968
01:13:53,750 --> 01:14:00,930
increase overall. You know, if we were a financially strapped village, I would be probably having

969
01:14:00,930 --> 01:14:05,250
a very much thought, different thought process in how we do things. You know, this past

970
01:14:05,250 --> 01:14:12,790
year, after last year, we had such reserves and I know you talked about it a little

971
01:14:12,790 --> 01:14:16,090
bit. We had such reserves that we had enough money that we were able to take some of

972
01:14:16,090 --> 01:14:20,150
that money and we were able to spread it around to other funds to increase to the pension

973
01:14:20,150 --> 01:14:28,890
funds, which was the right thing to do. So we are doing well financially as a village.

974
01:14:29,670 --> 01:14:34,530
This whole thing of tying it to the Fifth Ambulance. The Fifth Ambulance was a good

975
01:14:34,530 --> 01:14:38,810
decision by this board last year, and it was the right decision by the board. And

976
01:14:38,810 --> 01:14:43,690
I don't want to be put out there that if we don't go for this, maybe it wasn't

977
01:14:43,690 --> 01:14:47,270
a good decision for the village because it was a good decision for the village.

978
01:14:48,450 --> 01:14:52,650
You know, during the presentation there was a comment that was made that if we don't do

979
01:14:52,650 --> 01:14:57,610
this, if we don't pass both of these increases, two things are going to happen.

980
01:14:58,990 --> 01:14:59,870
One were.

981
01:15:00,000 --> 01:15:04,140
We're going to have to raise the property tax, or we're going to have to cut back services.

982
01:15:06,580 --> 01:15:12,060
And those are possibilities, but they're not the only possibilities, as we talked about

983
01:15:12,060 --> 01:15:16,860
with the reserve fund that we do have. We are doing a very good job, and I get it. It's

984
01:15:16,860 --> 01:15:21,900
a rainy day thing, and in case property taxes don't come in from the state or the county

985
01:15:21,900 --> 01:15:26,780
as quickly as possible, it helps us so we don't have to go out and borrow money

986
01:15:26,780 --> 01:15:31,040
and do all that kind of stuff and for different downturns. I totally get that, but we do

987
01:15:31,040 --> 01:15:35,600
have a policy, and correct me if I'm wrong, our policy for the reserves is that we want

988
01:15:35,600 --> 01:15:41,900
to be between 25 and 40%. If I'm wrong, please, please let me know that. Well, we have that

989
01:15:41,900 --> 01:15:49,320
for a reason. Maybe we do go that level this one time instead of increasing taxes

990
01:15:49,320 --> 01:15:56,400
and doing things like the streaming tax. We do it this one time in place of doing

991
01:15:56,400 --> 01:16:00,520
that, because if we don't ever want to come off that 40%, we should change that policy.

992
01:16:00,900 --> 01:16:06,020
We should make it that we have to be at 40% all the time, not that there's this range

993
01:16:06,720 --> 01:16:13,840
on there. So it's something for us to consider. I want to also get something on the hotel

994
01:16:13,840 --> 01:16:20,740
tax too if I can, and I will finish up here in a second. You know, it was a big thing.

995
01:16:20,800 --> 01:16:26,140
It was made on the grocery tax that how much of a percentage it comes from people outside

996
01:16:26,140 --> 01:16:30,540
of Arlington Heights based on the different stores, and it's true. Not everybody in Arlington

997
01:16:30,540 --> 01:16:34,220
Heights is the only one affected by that, people that are coming in also. You look at

998
01:16:34,220 --> 01:16:39,760
the hotel tax, though, and you spread, take that math and you spread it out to 11 hotels

999
01:16:39,760 --> 01:16:44,920
365 days a year, however many rooms that they have to. You break that down per room.

1000
01:16:45,700 --> 01:16:51,740
It definitely lessens it. But I'm guessing 95% of the people that are paying that

1001
01:16:51,740 --> 01:16:54,920
particular tax are not people that are in Arlington Heights.

1002
01:16:55,280 --> 01:16:58,320
I'm just throwing that number out there, I have no idea, but that's for people that

1003
01:16:58,320 --> 01:17:00,360
are coming into Arlington Heights, not living here in Arlington Heights.

1004
01:17:00,520 --> 01:17:04,820
So they're paying, they're paying nothing, not the citizens here of Arlington Heights.

1005
01:17:05,060 --> 01:17:12,260
So getting, so my end conclusion right now is I'm leaning towards voting for the

1006
01:17:12,260 --> 01:17:16,500
grocery tax and keeping that since it's not really increasing anything, but coming

1007
01:17:16,500 --> 01:17:19,380
back and voting no for the streaming tax.

1008
01:17:19,380 --> 01:17:23,540
In fact, I also want to look at when we get to budget time, and I've talked about this

1009
01:17:23,540 --> 01:17:25,560
before, I don't know how this really affects the budget.

1010
01:17:25,740 --> 01:17:28,960
I don't really know if we vote for this or we don't vote for this, what really happens

1011
01:17:28,960 --> 01:17:33,020
to the budget, because I haven't seen the complete budget numbers, you know, what it

1012
01:17:33,020 --> 01:17:33,160
does.

1013
01:17:33,240 --> 01:17:35,460
And I know we're working on those, and you're working very hard, and I know, and

1014
01:17:35,460 --> 01:17:37,540
I get that, and we'll get that at some point.

1015
01:17:38,020 --> 01:17:42,000
But it's hard for me to say, yeah, it is something like that when I really don't

1016
01:17:42,000 --> 01:17:44,840
know what's the end result going to be at the end.

1017
01:17:46,140 --> 01:17:46,820
Thank you.

1018
01:17:48,760 --> 01:17:51,000
Just a couple of the comments that were made.

1019
01:17:52,540 --> 01:18:00,840
For the hotel tax, one of the reasons that that's not looked at directly is travel, particularly

1020
01:18:01,580 --> 01:18:06,020
business travel, is something that's really dropped down considerably in recent years.

1021
01:18:06,380 --> 01:18:11,040
And it is one of those things that changes dramatically depending on the economy.

1022
01:18:12,040 --> 01:18:16,800
And so when you're looking at things, you're going to use the fund services we've talked

1023
01:18:16,800 --> 01:18:20,400
about, elastic and inelastic sources of revenue.

1024
01:18:20,880 --> 01:18:27,380
Generally you want to base your service provision revenues on things that aren't bouncing up

1025
01:18:27,380 --> 01:18:28,060
and down with the economy.

1026
01:18:28,180 --> 01:18:29,140
That's one of the reasons on that.

1027
01:18:29,380 --> 01:18:36,520
And the one thing I would caution is, you know, we don't ever, it's not a good practice.

1028
01:18:36,760 --> 01:18:38,560
It's not something staff would ever recommend.

1029
01:18:38,560 --> 01:18:42,100
And I wanted to make sure because, you know, we talked about drawing down reserves temporarily.

1030
01:18:42,700 --> 01:18:48,180
Staff would never recommend using the reserves to cover an operating cost, ever.

1031
01:18:48,780 --> 01:18:51,140
That is not a good practice.

1032
01:18:51,820 --> 01:18:58,500
You can use your reserves due to a one-time expense, where if you have a one-time expense

1033
01:18:58,500 --> 01:19:01,640
that you're not going to incur every year, that's a situation to draw it down.

1034
01:19:01,640 --> 01:19:08,340
You can also use your reserves to deal with a temporary reduction in revenues.

1035
01:19:09,100 --> 01:19:13,060
So if, you know, perhaps you may want to consider that when you have, you know,

1036
01:19:13,100 --> 01:19:17,740
a recession or something where you feel strongly that that number is going to come up.

1037
01:19:18,460 --> 01:19:27,300
But we are adding a pretty significant increase in the cost of service with the fifth ambulance.

1038
01:19:27,300 --> 01:19:31,860
I think everyone has agreed that it's something that's necessary if we want to maintain the

1039
01:19:31,860 --> 01:19:34,240
same level of service that we provided to our residents.

1040
01:19:34,640 --> 01:19:38,540
But I mean, make no mistake, that's something that's going to cost us money, and it's going

1041
01:19:38,540 --> 01:19:41,980
to cost us money every year for the foreseeable future.

1042
01:19:42,560 --> 01:19:48,380
And so the only way to do that is to add some kind of revenue source.

1043
01:19:48,840 --> 01:19:50,580
And that's something we've said from the beginning.

1044
01:19:50,720 --> 01:19:52,280
I'm just trying to be very clear with the board.

1045
01:19:52,280 --> 01:19:59,540
There is no, we don't have that type of give in our budget without reducing services or

1046
01:20:00,560 --> 01:20:05,940
looking at increases in property taxes. I mean, property taxes, love them or hate them, are

1047
01:20:05,940 --> 01:20:11,040
the thing that communities look at year to year when you have cost overages. And so,

1048
01:20:11,380 --> 01:20:16,280
are there other sources of revenue? There are. We laid out a lot of them. They have

1049
01:20:16,280 --> 01:20:20,160
different pros and cons. Could they be reasonably looked at as an alternative to the streams

1050
01:20:20,160 --> 01:20:24,300
that absolutely they could be, you know staff has this recommendation but that's

1051
01:20:24,300 --> 01:20:27,400
ultimately up to the board but I did want to make it clear that staff would

1052
01:20:27,400 --> 01:20:32,840
never recommend drawing down reserves to pay for an operational cost because what

1053
01:20:32,840 --> 01:20:36,680
you're doing is essentially you're meaning that that increase is gonna have

1054
01:20:36,680 --> 01:20:39,460
to be double in the in the in the following year and so I just wanted to

1055
01:20:39,460 --> 01:20:44,960
make that point. If I may also add to that as far as a credit reading

1056
01:20:44,960 --> 01:20:48,860
perspective so when you sit down with your rating agencies such as Moody's

1057
01:20:48,860 --> 01:20:52,300
they will ask if you're doing those types of activities.

1058
01:20:52,720 --> 01:20:55,240
Drawing down reserves is unfavorable.

1059
01:20:55,900 --> 01:20:59,960
In addition to that, they're not rainy day reserves.

1060
01:20:59,960 --> 01:21:01,720
They are for any type of situation

1061
01:21:01,720 --> 01:21:04,060
that would be an unforeseen circumstance.

1062
01:21:04,360 --> 01:21:06,360
And we do, as we've done over the years,

1063
01:21:06,540 --> 01:21:07,900
kept it at that 40%.

1064
01:21:07,900 --> 01:21:10,240
It's not a range for very good reason.

1065
01:21:10,740 --> 01:21:13,680
And we've been very, very prudent on those uses,

1066
01:21:13,680 --> 01:21:15,100
such as pension costs

1067
01:21:15,100 --> 01:21:18,360
and then also investments in capital.

1068
01:21:19,340 --> 01:21:24,180
I think the baseline, if I may add one more thing, the baseline for your general fund

1069
01:21:24,180 --> 01:21:28,120
is sales tax, income tax, and property taxes.

1070
01:21:28,760 --> 01:21:33,060
We are an organization of municipality that has just a little bit less than a third

1071
01:21:33,060 --> 01:21:35,360
of their property taxes funding, the general fund,

1072
01:21:35,700 --> 01:21:40,740
whereas libraries may be at 90-95% for property taxes.

1073
01:21:40,740 --> 01:21:44,920
Park districts might be at 40 to 55 to 60 percent.

1074
01:21:45,040 --> 01:21:47,400
School districts almost 100 percent.

1075
01:21:47,500 --> 01:21:50,320
So we have, what we're looking at is trying to make sure

1076
01:21:50,320 --> 01:21:52,980
that we've got that stable revenue source over time

1077
01:21:52,980 --> 01:21:54,840
to fund those ongoing operations.

1078
01:21:55,060 --> 01:21:56,320
And it's not just a one year.

1079
01:21:56,460 --> 01:21:58,460
So to the point of, could we use reserves?

1080
01:21:59,100 --> 01:21:59,240
No.

1081
01:21:59,900 --> 01:22:01,960
And could we make sure that we're looking

1082
01:22:01,960 --> 01:22:04,600
at the future we are and making sure

1083
01:22:04,600 --> 01:22:07,100
that you've got that revenue source year over year,

1084
01:22:07,100 --> 01:22:08,920
which is important for both of those.

1085
01:22:10,060 --> 01:22:10,860
Well said.

1086
01:22:12,980 --> 01:22:13,840
Mr. Passman.

1087
01:22:14,060 --> 01:22:14,600
Thank you.

1088
01:22:15,200 --> 01:22:16,440
One point of clarification.

1089
01:22:17,120 --> 01:22:18,200
It's come up in the discussion this evening.

1090
01:22:19,400 --> 01:22:27,160
On prescription drugs, there is a state sales tax of 1% on prescription drugs, excuse me,

1091
01:22:27,500 --> 01:22:35,920
that is separate and apart from the previous state grocery tax and from any municipally

1092
01:22:35,920 --> 01:22:38,700
imposed grocery tax, which is the one that's on your agenda for tonight.

1093
01:22:38,700 --> 01:22:46,440
In other words, that tax was unaffected by the state legislation, and if the Board adopts

1094
01:22:46,440 --> 01:22:49,720
the ordinance on your agenda, it will not apply to prescription drugs.

1095
01:22:50,440 --> 01:22:51,520
So I want to clarify that.

1096
01:22:52,500 --> 01:22:53,040
Very good.

1097
01:22:53,340 --> 01:22:53,420
Thanks.

1098
01:22:53,520 --> 01:22:55,760
Does that clarify the question at the Board level here, then?

1099
01:22:56,120 --> 01:22:56,780
I appreciate that.

1100
01:22:57,320 --> 01:22:57,540
Okay.

1101
01:22:57,800 --> 01:22:58,360
I got a question on that.

1102
01:22:58,360 --> 01:22:59,920
Yeah, there's a couple of questions here yet.

1103
01:23:00,560 --> 01:23:03,080
Anything else from staff before we come back to the Board?

1104
01:23:03,700 --> 01:23:04,000
Okay.

1105
01:23:04,320 --> 01:23:06,520
We're going to go back to the Board for a second round here really quick, and

1106
01:23:06,520 --> 01:23:08,960
I know Trustee Bertucci had a question and then Trustee Schwingbeck.

1107
01:23:11,160 --> 01:23:15,460
Actually, Randy and Melissa answered my question because that's the point that I was going

1108
01:23:15,460 --> 01:23:15,760
to make.

1109
01:23:16,060 --> 01:23:24,200
So I am in total support of what Randy and Melissa had to say about using reserves.

1110
01:23:25,360 --> 01:23:33,280
Just to, we'll let Trustee Schwingbeck, but when I'm ready I've got the recommendation

1111
01:23:33,280 --> 01:23:34,920
that I'm ready to make a motion.

1112
01:23:34,920 --> 01:23:35,840
Okay.

1113
01:23:36,080 --> 01:23:36,780
Trustee Schwingback.

1114
01:23:37,200 --> 01:23:42,980
So question on prescription medication, because Trustee Dunnington and I were talking about

1115
01:23:42,980 --> 01:23:43,240
this.

1116
01:23:43,320 --> 01:23:49,300
When I went back and looked at prescription medication, there's no tax on there.

1117
01:23:50,440 --> 01:23:55,960
It's a fee for the drug, but there's no line item on there for tax.

1118
01:23:56,920 --> 01:23:58,560
Is it buried somewhere else?

1119
01:23:58,800 --> 01:23:59,640
I think so.

1120
01:24:00,400 --> 01:24:03,240
It's not a municipal tax, for sure.

1121
01:24:03,240 --> 01:24:10,680
My understanding is that there is a statewide sales tax at a reduced rate for prescription.

1122
01:24:10,840 --> 01:24:16,780
The normal statewide sales tax is six and a quarter percent for regular goods, whatever

1123
01:24:16,780 --> 01:24:17,440
that may be.

1124
01:24:17,520 --> 01:24:20,720
There's a reduced sales tax of one percent for prescription drugs.

1125
01:24:20,880 --> 01:24:21,460
That's my understanding.

1126
01:24:21,560 --> 01:24:25,620
Because it's not showing up in a line item anywhere on the receipt.

1127
01:24:26,480 --> 01:24:29,300
And I was thinking about that, but it's my own personal anecdotal experience.

1128
01:24:29,300 --> 01:24:38,120
and starts to shrink back. I can't speak to that, but this proposed local grocery tax would

1129
01:24:38,120 --> 01:24:45,380
only affect food. Right. Right. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Anyone else here? All right. Well,

1130
01:24:46,280 --> 01:24:52,280
I'm going to make a comment or two in that it's really something that this board has

1131
01:24:52,280 --> 01:24:58,180
the kinds of diverse perspective all the way around. And I think our residents should

1132
01:24:58,180 --> 01:25:03,260
be pleased to the fact that it's not some kind of a slam dunk. Everybody thinks the same

1133
01:25:03,260 --> 01:25:08,680
on something. Here we are debating, you know, something that we all feel passionate about

1134
01:25:08,680 --> 01:25:13,420
and we're all speaking eloquently about it. And I think at the end of the day the vote

1135
01:25:13,420 --> 01:25:18,640
that happens will be one that was well thought out and well researched. So thank you to

1136
01:25:18,640 --> 01:25:22,860
staff for everything that you've done and thank you to the board for being good leaders.

1137
01:25:24,160 --> 01:25:31,860
My own perspective are really just very simple on the fact that I don't feel like we need

1138
01:25:31,860 --> 01:25:39,120
to take it away and be the island in the middle of these suburbs that has this extra benefit.

1139
01:25:39,300 --> 01:25:44,500
I think we're going to need it and I think it's important to keep for now at least.

1140
01:25:44,680 --> 01:25:49,620
We'll have time down the road if it ever comes up again and we want to remove it.

1141
01:25:49,660 --> 01:25:51,040
We can always do that. Am I correct?

1142
01:25:52,720 --> 01:26:02,740
So for the foreseeable future, my opinion is to leave it on the board, on the books as it is and keep the 1% tax.

1143
01:26:03,240 --> 01:26:13,720
On the other point of streaming taxes, I had this discussion with my young adult children and I said,

1144
01:26:13,720 --> 01:26:17,240
Well, you guys don't know because the question was why would you want to do that dad?

1145
01:26:17,520 --> 01:26:23,500
You know tax are streaming devices and so well because what you don't know is your mother and I paid an

1146
01:26:23,500 --> 01:26:25,980
ungodly amount of taxes on our

1147
01:26:26,540 --> 01:26:33,480
Cable bills and our cell phone bills and communication and so on and and now it's gone and these

1148
01:26:33,480 --> 01:26:37,600
Services don't want to change at the village level. We are really not I

1149
01:26:38,780 --> 01:26:42,660
Shouldn't say it like it. I am not an advocate for reducing any services

1150
01:26:42,660 --> 01:26:47,600
If I remember correctly, when we had our department heads come in here earlier, I kept thinking

1151
01:26:47,600 --> 01:26:53,000
myself, how are we going to get these departments more money to do their job that they're going

1152
01:26:53,000 --> 01:26:57,000
to need to do over the next 12 months, because there's so much to do and so much going on.

1153
01:26:57,840 --> 01:27:00,120
So reducing services to me is not an option.

1154
01:27:00,920 --> 01:27:05,520
I do not want to raise property taxes to cover something like this.

1155
01:27:05,680 --> 01:27:10,340
So I'm going to vote in favor of both of these, and I'm just really thankful for

1156
01:27:10,340 --> 01:27:15,460
the dialogue, and I'm thankful for the research and the work everybody put into this. So whoever

1157
01:27:15,460 --> 01:27:19,700
is preparing to make a motion, I think Trustee Shirley did, or Trustee Bertucci.

1158
01:27:19,880 --> 01:27:21,320
Oh, you know what, Scott, do you have the wording there?

1159
01:27:21,860 --> 01:27:27,680
I don't know if we really have the wording. Jim's got it here. Jim, why don't you go

1160
01:27:27,680 --> 01:27:33,040
over? I think I see it in the memo. Oh, there it is. Now you can put it up. Thank

1161
01:27:33,040 --> 01:27:34,520
you for that. Well, this is awesome.

1162
01:27:36,940 --> 01:27:38,660
I'll move that. The Village Board approved

1163
01:27:38,660 --> 01:27:43,320
the Ordinance Amending Chapter 7 of the Municipal Code of the Village of Arlington Heights regarding

1164
01:27:43,320 --> 01:27:51,900
municipal grocery retailers, occupation taxes, and municipal grocery service occupation taxes.

1165
01:27:52,380 --> 01:27:58,640
Second. Okay, motion made by Trustee Bertucci, seconded by Trustee Shirley. Now, what we're

1166
01:27:58,640 --> 01:28:02,600
going to do is we're going to go to the audience and ask for audience participation.

1167
01:28:02,600 --> 01:28:06,200
I have one card here and as Melissa Kayer our

1168
01:28:13,790 --> 01:28:17,570
nonprofit companies exempt from the sales tax

1169
01:28:18,590 --> 01:28:22,950
That's a good question. Does anybody on staff know the answer to that?

1170
01:28:25,480 --> 01:28:29,300
I think anyone engaging in the sale of

1171
01:28:29,300 --> 01:28:36,820
these materials at the at the retail level would be subject to them regardless of whatever their corporate structure is so I

1172
01:28:36,820 --> 01:28:42,580
I believe so it depends if they're the buyer of the tax they might

1173
01:28:43,240 --> 01:28:48,440
Right if the non-profit is the buyer of it. They may be exempt from sales tax

1174
01:28:48,440 --> 01:28:52,880
I don't know offhand, you know what they were a passman. We have we happen to have an extra matter expert

1175
01:28:52,880 --> 01:28:55,220
We have a subject matter expert on the board here

1176
01:28:55,220 --> 01:29:02,840
So trustee Santa Maria nonprofits are exempt from the sales tax as as the buyer as the buyer if you use your sales tax

1177
01:29:02,840 --> 01:29:08,560
exemption. But as a seller, and I apologize if I missed it, I thought

1178
01:29:08,560 --> 01:29:13,580
Melissa was referring to if they were selling items, you would still have to

1179
01:29:13,580 --> 01:29:20,960
pay a tax. Okay, sure. And the marijuana tax, I didn't see that listed. I don't

1180
01:29:20,960 --> 01:29:25,860
think anything is changing with that, am I correct? Which what that? With

1181
01:29:25,860 --> 01:29:29,920
dispensary tax? No, nothing's changing with that. Why was that not listed on

1182
01:29:29,920 --> 01:29:36,040
that chart with you know the alcohol tax isn't that that's regulated by the

1183
01:29:36,040 --> 01:29:40,720
state of Illinois that and you know we have there is a tax on there but it

1184
01:29:40,720 --> 01:29:45,020
wasn't listed it wasn't anything that was examined the part of this but it's

1185
01:29:45,020 --> 01:29:49,960
it's it's an established tax that we have we have a certain we have our own

1186
01:29:49,960 --> 01:29:55,300
debt we add above and beyond the state for our own benefit taxes on it right

1187
01:29:55,300 --> 01:29:58,660
and we're not discussing that tonight that's not changing correct and we

1188
01:29:58,660 --> 01:29:59,720
We don't believe.

1189
01:30:00,580 --> 01:30:06,220
Is there a reasonable increase when that would generate the type of money that we're talking

1190
01:30:06,220 --> 01:30:06,540
about?

1191
01:30:06,720 --> 01:30:08,000
We have two dispensaries.

1192
01:30:08,220 --> 01:30:08,400
Correct.

1193
01:30:08,680 --> 01:30:13,440
And one just recently opened and the type of money that we're talking about there would

1194
01:30:13,440 --> 01:30:20,300
not be enough to, unless you made a very dramatic increase that probably would generate

1195
01:30:20,300 --> 01:30:24,940
some conversations with the existing business owners, you wouldn't be able to make up this

1196
01:30:24,940 --> 01:30:25,340
kind of money.

1197
01:30:25,660 --> 01:30:32,720
But yeah, well it's fairly new and that that could be used for the the problem

1198
01:30:32,720 --> 01:30:33,720
you're trying to solve.

1199
01:30:36,740 --> 01:30:43,140
You could have a tax, let's see, so I would say yeah try

1200
01:30:43,140 --> 01:30:49,940
other things like a marijuana tax. You could put a tax on insurance, a government

1201
01:30:49,940 --> 01:30:58,200
worker head tax, a golf game tax, the sports field use tax, and how does the

1202
01:30:58,200 --> 01:31:04,880
streaming tax work? How does that exactly work? The provider will be collecting it

1203
01:31:04,880 --> 01:31:10,380
through their payments that any of us have to pay and then that money will get

1204
01:31:10,380 --> 01:31:17,160
sent to the municipalities from that provider. Because you are paying a tax

1205
01:31:17,160 --> 01:31:19,580
for your internet service, correct?

1206
01:31:20,220 --> 01:31:20,960
We already are.

1207
01:31:21,340 --> 01:31:24,520
Yeah, so now you're gonna ask on,

1208
01:31:24,760 --> 01:31:26,140
so now additionally what are,

1209
01:31:26,240 --> 01:31:28,460
how are you gonna pay more tax on streaming?

1210
01:31:29,000 --> 01:31:30,520
Streaming is different than internet.

1211
01:31:30,980 --> 01:31:32,200
Okay, how is it different?

1212
01:31:32,400 --> 01:31:33,260
I don't know that I can.

1213
01:31:33,380 --> 01:31:35,960
You would get a bill of mayor from,

1214
01:31:36,360 --> 01:31:38,280
you know, directly from your provider Hulu

1215
01:31:38,280 --> 01:31:41,100
or Netflix or whatever, and on that bill,

1216
01:31:41,100 --> 01:31:43,180
there would just be an additional tax,

1217
01:31:43,360 --> 01:31:45,540
which is separate from the internet.

1218
01:31:45,540 --> 01:31:51,340
separate from your internet service provider. Correct. In Village Attorney

1219
01:31:51,340 --> 01:31:56,680
Passman did want to note something as well. Thank you Manager Reckless. For

1220
01:31:56,680 --> 01:32:04,020
reference, the state caps local taxes on the sale of cannabis at 3%. The

1221
01:32:04,020 --> 01:32:08,140
village's cannabis tax is already at 3%. So we are statutorily prohibited from

1222
01:32:08,140 --> 01:32:10,300
raising that tax any further. Thank you. Perfect.

1223
01:32:12,700 --> 01:32:14,380
Well, so yeah, the

1224
01:32:14,380 --> 01:32:20,420
marijuana tax and some other tax could go towards funding the project, but all

1225
01:32:20,420 --> 01:32:27,440
right, so back to streaming tax. So you are going to ask for every streaming

1226
01:32:27,440 --> 01:32:34,920
company in this whole world to pay Arlington Heights a percent. That's

1227
01:32:34,920 --> 01:32:38,600
going to be an administrative nightmare. They already do that elsewhere.

1228
01:32:41,260 --> 01:32:44,200
We're just kind of catching up is all we're doing here.

1229
01:32:44,420 --> 01:32:50,520
Well, isn't that similar to a dog text that now you're putting a burden on it

1230
01:32:50,520 --> 01:32:56,060
someone else. Arlington Heights isn't keeping track of the dog licenses. The

1231
01:32:56,700 --> 01:33:00,060
streamers are keeping track of the licenses and actually you have to

1232
01:33:00,060 --> 01:33:03,880
keep track of all the streamers now which they come and go.

1233
01:33:03,880 --> 01:33:12,000
No, maybe you're misunderstanding, because we're going to have nothing to do as a municipality

1234
01:33:12,000 --> 01:33:17,420
with the streaming tax except open envelopes that come to us from those streaming providers.

1235
01:33:17,980 --> 01:33:18,660
Am I correct?

1236
01:33:18,880 --> 01:33:24,100
Yeah, we will notify all the streaming providers of the passage of the tax, and then at that

1237
01:33:24,100 --> 01:33:27,260
point they would be obligated to implement it under law.

1238
01:33:27,600 --> 01:33:32,940
And they already do that for other communities in states across the nation, it's just

1239
01:33:32,940 --> 01:33:40,180
matter of we have not been yet. Yeah, well just because other people are doing it doesn't mean we

1240
01:33:40,180 --> 01:33:50,140
should do it. And they do come and go, you know, in this day and age. Okay, I understand. So

1241
01:33:50,140 --> 01:33:53,620
non-profit streamers don't have to pay the tax.

1242
01:33:56,090 --> 01:33:58,830
I don't know about that exactly. And what is

1243
01:33:58,830 --> 01:34:01,110
the definition of a streamer exactly?

1244
01:34:03,620 --> 01:34:05,640
I don't think you should pass this because you don't

1245
01:34:05,640 --> 01:34:08,780
know what you're doing. I'm apparently not. Okay.

1246
01:34:12,870 --> 01:34:14,850
Okay. Is there anyone else from the

1247
01:34:14,850 --> 01:34:18,130
audience that wanted to address the board on this? Yes. Come on up.

1248
01:34:22,460 --> 01:34:23,520
Shaking my head over

1249
01:34:23,520 --> 01:34:34,160
the thought of you're saying that this average family of four spends $3.84 a meal. So someone

1250
01:34:34,160 --> 01:34:40,900
will go back to our family of four here at $3.84 a meal, three meals a day. They're

1251
01:34:40,900 --> 01:34:45,960
living pretty close to the bone. I'm thinking that's not a lot. That's pretty low. So that

1252
01:34:45,960 --> 01:34:53,980
1% that now that they have to pay, that means to keep things even, you're asking that family

1253
01:34:53,980 --> 01:35:01,920
afford to eat 43 less meals per year, right, to get by on less. I also feel like the streaming

1254
01:35:01,920 --> 01:35:06,480
tax, people are very stressed and they're hit with a lot of bills and they're trying

1255
01:35:06,480 --> 01:35:12,300
to hold it together. They just come home and especially if they're on $3.84 a meal, they're

1256
01:35:12,300 --> 01:35:17,220
not going up. They just want to watch a few things before they go to bed and have to get

1257
01:35:17,220 --> 01:35:24,240
up and face the next day, right? I think about us heading into probably some tough times.

1258
01:35:24,880 --> 01:35:28,680
I remember during the Depression, people went to the movies even though they didn't

1259
01:35:28,680 --> 01:35:32,800
have much. They didn't go to movies that depicted people in poverty like themselves.

1260
01:35:32,800 --> 01:35:38,580
films, they watched, you know, BuzzFeed Berkeley films and big, you know, things to forget what

1261
01:35:38,580 --> 01:35:43,200
they had going on in their life and just to give them a little relief. I feel this streaming

1262
01:35:43,200 --> 01:35:48,120
tax, this is going to be your soda pop tax. This will stick to you like that and it's

1263
01:35:48,120 --> 01:35:53,540
going to be that popular. I just really think it's a mistake. This is just something

1264
01:35:53,540 --> 01:35:59,040
that people go home, they want to relax and to make them pay more for that is not

1265
01:35:59,040 --> 01:36:06,840
a good thing. So here's my two bets. Thank you for your input. Yes, come on up.

1266
01:36:13,310 --> 01:36:13,730
I'm sorry,

1267
01:36:13,870 --> 01:36:18,670
I had most in this. Tell us your name. I'm sorry. Just tell us your name. Oh, Robert.

1268
01:36:19,050 --> 01:36:28,370
Okay. I must have missed, what's the reason we can't raise the percentage on the pot

1269
01:36:28,370 --> 01:36:36,050
Dispensaries. It's prohibited by state law. Maximum maximum tax 3%. Because I was

1270
01:36:36,050 --> 01:36:45,810
gonna advocate to somehow be able to raise more money through POT. So I just feel

1271
01:36:45,810 --> 01:36:52,470
like that would I guess unless we have more POT dispensaries here that would

1272
01:36:52,470 --> 01:36:53,550
Let's follow a lot of the problems.

1273
01:36:54,870 --> 01:36:56,210
Okay, so thanks.

1274
01:36:57,250 --> 01:36:59,810
Anyone else before we close this discussion

1275
01:36:59,810 --> 01:37:00,850
and go back to the motion?

1276
01:37:01,930 --> 01:37:03,810
Okay, any last comments from the board?

1277
01:37:04,110 --> 01:37:04,730
Trustee Donington.

1278
01:37:05,030 --> 01:37:05,450
Thank you.

1279
01:37:06,510 --> 01:37:08,790
Since it sounds like the grocery tax

1280
01:37:08,790 --> 01:37:10,290
will be approved tonight,

1281
01:37:11,310 --> 01:37:17,790
I want to suggest that we add a sunset to this motion

1282
01:37:17,790 --> 01:37:26,070
so that we review the this tax in two years and reevaluate it to see if it is

1283
01:37:26,070 --> 01:37:34,970
something that we need or not. So I'd like to move to add a sunset clause for

1284
01:37:34,970 --> 01:37:41,570
two years to this motion. Okay so there's a motion to amend the motion to

1285
01:37:41,570 --> 01:37:49,750
add a sunset clause for review in 24 months. I think parliamentary procedure is we have

1286
01:37:49,750 --> 01:37:53,650
to ask the, is there a second to that? Second.

1287
01:37:54,190 --> 01:37:58,250
Okay. And then we have to ask the maker of the motion if they accept that.

1288
01:37:58,470 --> 01:38:04,450
Well, no, this is done as a formal motion, Mayor Tonalia. So I think what you do is

1289
01:38:04,450 --> 01:38:09,150
you consider the amendment, whether or not it would be incorporated into the main

1290
01:38:09,150 --> 01:38:13,170
motion and when you're ready you can entertain a vote on that and then we'll

1291
01:38:13,170 --> 01:38:16,490
have the main motion either as originally stated or as amended depending on the outcome

1292
01:38:16,490 --> 01:38:20,850
of the vote on the amendment. Okay so there's a motion made to amend the the

1293
01:38:20,850 --> 01:38:26,330
actual motion to add a 24-month sunset for discussion in the second and that

1294
01:38:26,330 --> 01:38:30,890
second was made by Trustee Zick. Okay is there a discussion about that that we

1295
01:38:30,890 --> 01:38:33,250
want to have? If I may before you have a discussion I want to clarify

1296
01:38:35,070 --> 01:38:38,150
trustee Dunn is in your motion referred to a 24-month sunset would that

1297
01:38:38,150 --> 01:38:46,030
be 24 months by which the tax would be effective or you and keeping in mind we

1298
01:38:46,030 --> 01:38:50,330
assume that the state law doesn't change as the manager indicated earlier the way

1299
01:38:50,330 --> 01:38:55,270
the law is written is that there is a the deadlines are either imposing your

1300
01:38:55,270 --> 01:39:01,390
or eliminating this tax come October 1st and April 1st of each year for

1301
01:39:01,390 --> 01:39:07,950
implementation whichever direction three months later January 1st and

1302
01:39:07,950 --> 01:39:13,750
If this passes what it means, are you suggesting that this tax would automatically – right

1303
01:39:13,750 --> 01:39:18,230
now as – let me back up a step, but forgive me – right now the main motion, the ordinance

1304
01:39:18,230 --> 01:39:21,870
that's in your packet, which is the subject of that main motion, would implement the tax

1305
01:39:21,870 --> 01:39:23,330
beginning January 1st, 2026.

1306
01:39:24,110 --> 01:39:29,370
Is the amendment to have the tax go away automatically as of January 1, 2028?

1307
01:39:30,150 --> 01:39:33,110
Yes, unless we review it and decide to get it.

1308
01:39:33,170 --> 01:39:33,290
Right.

1309
01:39:33,370 --> 01:39:35,710
We'd have the code – so the amendment would have the code reflect that.

1310
01:39:35,710 --> 01:39:37,530
I want to clarify what the 24 months meant.

1311
01:39:38,250 --> 01:39:43,090
So the tax would be in place only for a 21-month period under this amendment, and it would automatically

1312
01:39:43,090 --> 01:39:43,530
go away.

1313
01:39:43,790 --> 01:39:45,210
It would automatically go away.

1314
01:39:45,670 --> 01:39:45,850
Yes.

1315
01:39:46,230 --> 01:39:49,070
You'd have to bring it back up to discuss it in two years.

1316
01:39:50,690 --> 01:39:55,810
We would need to code if this amendment passes, and then if the main motion passes, we would

1317
01:39:55,810 --> 01:40:01,510
need an amendment at some point between now and October 1, 2020, 7, to keep that

1318
01:40:01,510 --> 01:40:02,010
tax going.

1319
01:40:02,010 --> 01:40:05,790
So, what that's saying to me is that, well, let me ask a question first.

1320
01:40:06,710 --> 01:40:14,250
We at any time, tomorrow, two years from now, or six months from now, can, someone can make

1321
01:40:14,250 --> 01:40:19,890
a motion to revisit this, and we can decide that we don't want to do it anymore because

1322
01:40:19,890 --> 01:40:24,110
we've opened up six more dispensaries in town here, for whatever reason.

1323
01:40:24,650 --> 01:40:25,090
Correct.

1324
01:40:25,090 --> 01:40:29,390
The tax is covered now, and then it would be just a matter of timing as to when

1325
01:40:29,390 --> 01:40:34,190
we would stop collecting this in commensurate with the Illinois State

1326
01:40:34,190 --> 01:40:39,330
program of April 1st or January 1st or whatever. Nothing in the motion would

1327
01:40:39,330 --> 01:40:44,670
prohibit this or a future board from you know ending the ending the

1328
01:40:44,670 --> 01:40:50,310
grocery tax if it so chose. So the flexibility is endless basically on it

1329
01:40:50,310 --> 01:40:54,950
as it sits right now but with the additional amendment we're going to be

1330
01:40:54,950 --> 01:41:01,050
required to have this dialogue again in 24 months if there's an if the desire is

1331
01:41:01,050 --> 01:41:06,010
to keep it correct I have that right okay is there further discussion on the

1332
01:41:06,010 --> 01:41:11,630
amendment before you have to vote on the amendment okay we're gonna do a roll

1333
01:41:11,630 --> 01:41:16,070
call vote on the amendment and can you can staff can you repeat what the

1334
01:41:16,070 --> 01:41:20,770
amendment says exactly my suggestion but again I look to trust you Dunnington

1335
01:41:20,770 --> 01:41:22,110
to make sure we're consistent with her meaning,

1336
01:41:24,250 --> 01:41:27,390
it would be to, I would say, I would suggest

1337
01:41:27,390 --> 01:41:33,950
specifically the proposed section 7-2004, the village code, which under the draft in

1338
01:41:33,950 --> 01:41:39,370
your packet says that the tax is effective as of and after January 1, 2026, would add

1339
01:41:39,370 --> 01:41:43,050
in through and until December 31st, 2027.

1340
01:41:43,750 --> 01:41:47,950
So essentially, this tax would become effective for only that two-year period.

1341
01:41:48,210 --> 01:41:48,470
Okay.

1342
01:41:48,690 --> 01:41:49,530
Is that accurate?

1343
01:41:49,530 --> 01:41:55,090
Trustee Dunnington? Okay, okay. Okay, so that's the motion and it was seconded by

1344
01:41:55,090 --> 01:42:02,370
Trustee Zick and we'll do a roll call. Trustee Dunnington, yes. Trustee Zick?

1345
01:42:02,710 --> 01:42:09,090
Yes. Trustee Shirley? No. Trustee Labedz? No.

1346
01:42:11,400 --> 01:42:13,200
Trustee Bertucci? No.

1347
01:42:24,740 --> 01:42:25,460
Trustee

1348
01:42:25,460 --> 01:42:27,300
Trustee President Inalia?

1349
01:42:27,940 --> 01:42:28,260
No.

1350
01:42:30,000 --> 01:42:33,640
Okay, so the amendment did not pass.

1351
01:42:34,400 --> 01:42:38,080
So now we can revisit the actual initial motion,

1352
01:42:38,160 --> 01:42:39,420
the main motion, which is just the ordinance.

1353
01:42:39,580 --> 01:42:40,060
It's in the packet.

1354
01:42:40,340 --> 01:42:43,820
Do we need any further discussion on that from the board at this point?

1355
01:42:44,420 --> 01:42:48,500
If not, the motion was made by Trustee Bertucci.

1356
01:42:51,440 --> 01:42:53,280
Oh, yeah, I'm sorry.

1357
01:42:53,500 --> 01:42:55,160
Trustee Bertucci, seconded by Trustee Schuerl.

1358
01:42:55,160 --> 01:42:55,700
I lost track here.

1359
01:42:56,040 --> 01:42:56,120
All right?

1360
01:42:56,320 --> 01:42:56,680
Yes.

1361
01:42:56,800 --> 01:42:57,100
You got that?

1362
01:42:57,280 --> 01:42:57,420
Okay.

1363
01:42:58,880 --> 01:42:59,600
Maggie?

1364
01:43:01,000 --> 01:43:02,180
Trustee Bertucci?

1365
01:43:02,900 --> 01:43:03,200
Yes.

1366
01:43:03,820 --> 01:43:04,700
Trustee Schuerl?

1367
01:43:05,020 --> 01:43:05,360
Yes.

1368
01:43:05,760 --> 01:43:06,560
Trustee LaBeds?

1369
01:43:07,000 --> 01:43:07,260
Yes.

1370
01:43:07,600 --> 01:43:08,500
Trustee Manganero?

1371
01:43:08,860 --> 01:43:09,140
Nay.

1372
01:43:09,580 --> 01:43:10,560
Trustee Schwingback?

1373
01:43:10,840 --> 01:43:11,100
Yes.

1374
01:43:11,480 --> 01:43:12,420
Trustee Dunnington?

1375
01:43:12,740 --> 01:43:12,960
No.

1376
01:43:13,340 --> 01:43:14,300
Trustee Santa Maria?

1377
01:43:14,660 --> 01:43:14,900
No.

1378
01:43:15,260 --> 01:43:16,100
Trustee Zick?

1379
01:43:16,740 --> 01:43:17,300
Yes.

1380
01:43:17,300 --> 01:43:17,880
Yes.

1381
01:43:17,880 --> 01:43:18,880
President Tonalia.

1382
01:43:19,260 --> 01:43:19,400
Yes.

1383
01:43:23,220 --> 01:43:23,940
Motion passed.

1384
01:43:24,100 --> 01:43:24,300
Okay.

1385
01:43:25,020 --> 01:43:25,920
So motion carries.

1386
01:43:26,380 --> 01:43:26,500
Yep.

1387
01:43:26,640 --> 01:43:31,520
The motion that was suggested by village staff carries.

1388
01:43:35,280 --> 01:43:38,980
Now we're going to talk about the second item, right?

1389
01:43:40,020 --> 01:43:46,880
And it is, I think we're pretty much done with the dialogue from staff, from the audience

1390
01:43:46,880 --> 01:43:47,660
and the board.

1391
01:43:47,800 --> 01:43:49,500
Are we ready for a motion on this one?

1392
01:43:51,060 --> 01:43:56,420
I would move that the village board approve the ordinance amending chapter 7 of the municipal

1393
01:43:56,420 --> 01:44:00,260
code of the village of Arlingtonites regarding attacks on streaming amusement.

1394
01:44:01,300 --> 01:44:02,000
Second.

1395
01:44:02,500 --> 01:44:06,560
Motion made by Trustee Schwingbeck, seconded by Trustee Lebedz.

1396
01:44:06,660 --> 01:44:07,640
Is there further discussion?

1397
01:44:09,480 --> 01:44:10,000
Okay.

1398
01:44:11,080 --> 01:44:12,260
We'll do a roll call.

1399
01:44:13,330 --> 01:44:14,260
Trustee Schwingbeck?

1400
01:44:14,380 --> 01:44:14,500
Yes.

1401
01:44:14,860 --> 01:44:15,720
Trustee Lebedz?

1402
01:44:15,820 --> 01:44:16,040
Yes.

1403
01:44:16,340 --> 01:44:17,140
Trustee Santa Maria?

1404
01:44:17,140 --> 01:44:17,800
Yes.

1405
01:44:18,520 --> 01:44:19,560
Trustee Bertucci?

1406
01:44:20,060 --> 01:44:20,180
Yes.

1407
01:44:20,500 --> 01:44:21,180
Trustee Shirley?

1408
01:44:21,700 --> 01:44:21,980
Yes.

1409
01:44:22,240 --> 01:44:22,980
Trustee Zick?

1410
01:44:23,680 --> 01:44:24,020
No.

1411
01:44:24,860 --> 01:44:25,920
Trustee Dunnington?

1412
01:44:26,240 --> 01:44:26,660
Yes.

1413
01:44:27,300 --> 01:44:28,300
Trustee Manganaro?

1414
01:44:28,600 --> 01:44:28,800
No.

1415
01:44:29,380 --> 01:44:30,360
President Inalia?

1416
01:44:30,640 --> 01:44:30,880
Yes.

1417
01:44:32,040 --> 01:44:32,360
Okay.

1418
01:44:32,580 --> 01:44:33,580
Motion carries again.

1419
01:44:34,340 --> 01:44:34,620
All right.

1420
01:44:34,720 --> 01:44:39,660
Well, again, I don't need to reiterate myself, but I will thank you all for a very healthy

1421
01:44:39,660 --> 01:44:40,360
debate on this.

1422
01:44:40,460 --> 01:44:42,980
This was a good example of how boards should work.

1423
01:44:42,980 --> 01:44:43,080
work.

1424
01:44:45,800 --> 01:44:52,020
I think the last item on the agenda, item E, is a presentation by staff for some

1425
01:44:52,020 --> 01:44:58,160
upgraded potential work in our downtown area. Yes. So hand it off to Manager Reckloss.

1426
01:44:58,160 --> 01:45:00,000
Okay, I'm going to introduce this briefly and then

1427
01:45:00,000 --> 01:45:04,500
And hand it off to our Emily Rodman and our consulting team.

1428
01:45:04,760 --> 01:45:09,880
So back in 2020, I think we all are familiar with the creation of Arlington

1429
01:45:09,880 --> 01:45:17,340
Alfrosco. And since that time, the board has indicated an interest in making some

1430
01:45:17,340 --> 01:45:21,940
of those improvements more permanent. And back in 2023, there was a concept that

1431
01:45:21,940 --> 01:45:27,200
was presented to the board that the board approved that generally created a,

1432
01:45:27,200 --> 01:45:31,420
and we're going to go into detail on this, a curbless street, use of permeable pavers,

1433
01:45:31,740 --> 01:45:39,720
created more of a plaza feel for the, for the, that, the, the El Fresco area that created

1434
01:45:39,720 --> 01:45:45,080
a sense of place all year round, not just during the El Fresco period, but also made

1435
01:45:45,080 --> 01:45:50,500
the El Fresco feel more, less of an afterthought than perhaps it seems now.

1436
01:45:50,500 --> 01:45:57,560
Now, thankfully, the staff has been very aggressive seeking out grant money for these concepts.

1437
01:45:58,460 --> 01:46:04,120
And at this point, we're coming to a point where we've received over $3 million in grants.

1438
01:46:04,820 --> 01:46:08,600
We still don't have the entire project funded, but we're getting there.

1439
01:46:09,700 --> 01:46:17,220
And we theoretically would begin potentially as soon as 2027 on construction.

1440
01:46:17,220 --> 01:46:23,420
And so before we get much further in this process, we wanted to check in with the board,

1441
01:46:23,700 --> 01:46:27,780
make sure that we're still on the right track in terms of the design concepts,

1442
01:46:28,320 --> 01:46:34,800
answer questions from the board and have our consultants available to talk about the project

1443
01:46:34,800 --> 01:46:37,040
and have a little bit of dialogue on this.

1444
01:46:37,560 --> 01:46:41,480
But with that, I'll turn things over to Ms. Rodman, who's going to introduce our team.

1445
01:46:42,120 --> 01:46:46,320
Thank you. I'm just going to start off by introducing Kurt Corrigan from V3

1446
01:46:46,320 --> 01:46:50,700
and as he proceeds through the presentation, he'll introduce his team as well. Thank you.

1447
01:46:51,380 --> 01:46:56,160
All right. Good evening, everybody. My name is Kurt Corrigan, as Emily said, with V3

1448
01:46:56,160 --> 01:47:03,440
companies and on behalf of the V3 team, we look forward to presenting the progress

1449
01:47:03,440 --> 01:47:10,660
and the updates to the Vail promenade area. So tonight, we have a few things on the

1450
01:47:10,660 --> 01:47:14,600
agenda, but we want to keep this really an open dialogue. So if there's questions

1451
01:47:14,600 --> 01:47:19,340
or commerce throughout, just jump in whenever and we'll be able to address those as we go.

1452
01:47:20,020 --> 01:47:26,540
So with me tonight is Sarah. She's our in-house landscape architect and she will discuss some of

1453
01:47:26,540 --> 01:47:32,520
the hardscape and streetscape features of the Ville Promenade. Elora Xu, she is with us here

1454
01:47:32,520 --> 01:47:37,200
tonight. She does a lot of the I.DOT coordination in some of the phase one and she's very

1455
01:47:38,120 --> 01:47:42,800
intimate with some of the grant and funding opportunities out there and securing of various

1456
01:47:42,800 --> 01:47:47,400
funds. And then also Mark Millers with Confluence, he'll discuss some of the

1457
01:47:47,400 --> 01:47:53,640
performance area and any discussion concerning staging or entertainment

1458
01:47:53,640 --> 01:48:00,860
parts of the park itself. So first up the priorities, so I think everybody's

1459
01:48:00,860 --> 01:48:06,460
familiar with the original concept plan up here that's shown and really from

1460
01:48:06,460 --> 01:48:11,280
the original concept the goals have been to create a large census place of

1461
01:48:11,280 --> 01:48:15,860
the area with the park and the road and the fountain and some of the entertainment area

1462
01:48:15,860 --> 01:48:22,240
there itself. We want to create and enhance the pedestrian feel of the area. Mostly in

1463
01:48:22,240 --> 01:48:27,760
the roadway section itself, obviously the park is more pedestrian friendly, but we

1464
01:48:27,760 --> 01:48:34,360
want to kind of create that same feel within the road platform itself. We want to create

1465
01:48:34,360 --> 01:48:39,840
a shared use functionality of the road, which brings in sort of the curbless street

1466
01:48:39,840 --> 01:48:45,160
component of the discussion. We want to maintain flexible programming options

1467
01:48:45,160 --> 01:48:50,080
through the corridor itself and also explore some of drainage enhancements,

1468
01:48:50,500 --> 01:48:56,160
permeable pavers, maybe using some of the planter and seat walls as some green

1469
01:48:56,160 --> 01:49:01,740
infrastructure type effects throughout the corridor. I know we've talked a

1470
01:49:01,740 --> 01:49:06,160
little bit about Vale promenade itself in the stretch between Campbell and

1471
01:49:06,160 --> 01:49:09,660
let's say your parking garage but there are also three other intersections

1472
01:49:09,660 --> 01:49:16,880
that we've included in the in the project itself and they are Wing and Veil, Campbell and Dutton

1473
01:49:16,880 --> 01:49:23,120
and Campbell and Highland. I'll get to these a little bit further on but basically these

1474
01:49:23,120 --> 01:49:29,600
will all have some pedestrian enhancements. Bumpouts included gateways and some of the

1475
01:49:29,600 --> 01:49:35,400
different various signages as you enter the Alfresco area in the downtown area and as you guys

1476
01:49:35,400 --> 01:49:40,400
know right now the DTA sign is already out there as part of the park so that's

1477
01:49:40,400 --> 01:49:43,240
already been sort of implemented in this overall plan.

1478
01:49:46,190 --> 01:49:48,590
Next up, so Vale itself,

1479
01:49:48,890 --> 01:49:53,030
Vale Promenade runs from Campbell Street South to like I said about the

1480
01:49:53,030 --> 01:49:56,810
parking garage and so a few of the highlights here and some of the

1481
01:49:56,810 --> 01:50:00,010
differences from what you see out there today of what we're proposing is

1482
01:50:01,190 --> 01:50:06,090
bumping out the intersection curb lines, approximately about seven feet from

1483
01:50:06,090 --> 01:50:09,230
and what's out there today, still allowing about 26 feet

1484
01:50:09,230 --> 01:50:13,510
of pavement for cars to go by, two-way traffic.

1485
01:50:14,070 --> 01:50:16,210
This will allow for a shorter crosswalk

1486
01:50:16,730 --> 01:50:19,190
across the intersection, including

1487
01:50:19,190 --> 01:50:21,670
the enhanced crosswalks, whether it's

1488
01:50:21,670 --> 01:50:24,370
pavers or colored asphalt or sand concrete.

1489
01:50:24,910 --> 01:50:27,010
Those will just enhance the pedestrian feel

1490
01:50:27,570 --> 01:50:31,050
and really alert the drivers when the road isn't shut down.

1491
01:50:31,230 --> 01:50:32,990
This is a pedestrian space.

1492
01:50:38,180 --> 01:50:44,460
In this intersection, there are right turn lanes that are out there today, but as we did a lot of the traffic

1493
01:50:44,460 --> 01:50:50,240
counts and some of the traffic movements, eliminating the right turn lanes to create these bump-outs will

1494
01:50:50,840 --> 01:50:56,140
enhance the pedestrian safety and just the crossing in the field of the area itself.

1495
01:50:56,960 --> 01:51:00,440
One thing you'll notice is there's a boulevard-type section along Vale.

1496
01:51:01,540 --> 01:51:10,280
that section there. We want to increase during the alfresca time, but when the road

1497
01:51:10,280 --> 01:51:14,600
is open to traffic with the shared use and the shared street and the curbless

1498
01:51:14,600 --> 01:51:19,640
effect and the patio feel of the corridor, we want to create an area where

1499
01:51:19,640 --> 01:51:25,280
people can feel safe, be part of the road, but yet share the road and vehicles

1500
01:51:26,780 --> 01:51:29,720
will have to get used to a little bit of sharing the road on the

1501
01:51:29,720 --> 01:51:36,140
non-closure time. Now I would just add that we did implement this, or in my previous life

1502
01:51:36,140 --> 01:51:41,660
I did implement this in Batavia, the shared street aspect, and yes it does take a little

1503
01:51:41,660 --> 01:51:46,640
time to get used to because cars and people are everywhere in the road, but I think if

1504
01:51:46,640 --> 01:51:51,660
you went to the city of Batavia and asked them for what their thoughts of it were,

1505
01:51:51,800 --> 01:51:54,860
they would be very, very happy with it. I'm down there doing the pedestrian ramp

1506
01:51:54,860 --> 01:52:01,580
now and I mean every day there's people riding and biking and strollers and all kinds of people

1507
01:52:01,580 --> 01:52:06,440
just because they feel safe on the street even though cars are allowed they have that sense

1508
01:52:06,440 --> 01:52:11,620
that sense that it's more of a patio and just it's just an overall pedestrian feel.

1509
01:52:12,640 --> 01:52:17,380
The drainage patterns we did discuss with staff about raising the intersection

1510
01:52:17,940 --> 01:52:23,840
to create a little bit more of a traffic calming effect to the area but there are some

1511
01:52:23,840 --> 01:52:28,940
sensitive areas from a drainage standpoint. So after we discuss it a little bit with staff,

1512
01:52:29,280 --> 01:52:34,800
we decided to eliminate the raised intersection component of it, just because of the sensitivity

1513
01:52:35,520 --> 01:52:42,000
of the drainage in the area. So back to the Kerbalist Street. So this would be a section

1514
01:52:42,000 --> 01:52:47,980
looking north up Vale Avenue. So if you're standing kind of towards the garage and looking

1515
01:52:47,980 --> 01:52:52,240
up towards Campbell Street, you'll notice that from the building off to the left,

1516
01:52:52,240 --> 01:52:58,340
the park is on the right. The area itself drains from north to south which is

1517
01:52:58,340 --> 01:53:02,080
good because there's plenty of slope out there for drainage and also from the

1518
01:53:02,080 --> 01:53:06,840
building to the middle the plan is to invert the road. So right now you have a

1519
01:53:06,840 --> 01:53:11,060
crown of the road, typical road section. What we plan on doing is inverting the

1520
01:53:11,060 --> 01:53:15,560
road, eliminating the curves, letting the drainage come out away from the

1521
01:53:15,560 --> 01:53:19,280
buildings, away from the park to the center of the road and creating the

1522
01:53:19,280 --> 01:53:24,360
bowl of our area that you saw in the middle as a permeable paver area so then

1523
01:53:24,360 --> 01:53:28,540
the water will drain down naturally into the pavers into an underdrained system

1524
01:53:28,540 --> 01:53:33,940
and into the storm sewer system. So we also are leaving an 18 foot

1525
01:53:33,940 --> 01:53:39,160
unrestricted area. We've met with our staff met with the fire department and

1526
01:53:39,160 --> 01:53:43,620
they you know need 18 to 20 feet of an unrestricted area to be able to

1527
01:53:43,620 --> 01:53:47,580
drive an emergency vehicle through there. So we've we've maneuvered

1528
01:53:47,580 --> 01:53:52,360
some of the different aspects and planter areas to allow that to happen. And then when

1529
01:53:52,360 --> 01:53:57,340
the road is open to traffic, I would like to, you know, add with 18 feet, you can still

1530
01:53:57,340 --> 01:54:04,340
have a eight to nine foot, I'll call it a parking area or a pull off area and cars

1531
01:54:04,340 --> 01:54:09,120
are still going to be able to get around a vehicle that's waiting for a delivery

1532
01:54:09,120 --> 01:54:13,200
or picking up or running into a store. They'll be able to still get around there

1533
01:54:13,200 --> 01:54:21,500
in either direction. So we've tried to listen to the, you know, the fire, the emergency vehicles,

1534
01:54:21,920 --> 01:54:27,500
staff, drainage, public works, and so with the Curbless Street, I can tell you trying to

1535
01:54:27,500 --> 01:54:33,780
incorporate this as a shared use in creating that patio feel alongside the park is going to be a

1536
01:54:34,380 --> 01:54:39,080
big upgrade. And so what we've done, we've created a few renderings here and you'll see

1537
01:54:39,080 --> 01:54:44,480
more throughout the presentation, but this would be a look, an overhead look of the area

1538
01:54:44,480 --> 01:54:49,240
once it's completed. And then we have another view, and like I said, there's some other

1539
01:54:49,240 --> 01:54:55,640
views of this is looking south at the intersection, looking down Vale, what we anticipate the

1540
01:54:55,640 --> 01:55:00,620
final improvements to look like. So I mentioned the three other intersections.

1541
01:55:01,000 --> 01:55:05,380
Can you just put that, excuse me a minute. You had said that we could kind of make

1542
01:55:05,380 --> 01:55:07,960
comments. Can you go back to the aerial view?

1543
01:55:12,220 --> 01:55:18,960
Where would the stage be during

1544
01:55:18,960 --> 01:55:24,940
sounds of summer and during the band? The stage will be in this picture of the

1545
01:55:24,940 --> 01:55:29,800
upper right corner of the south end. It still would be in the same. Yeah, we've

1546
01:55:29,800 --> 01:55:33,340
reorientated things and Sarah and Mark will get into that a little bit later,

1547
01:55:33,340 --> 01:55:35,820
or the stage component in the programming of the park,

1548
01:55:36,140 --> 01:55:38,720
but it would still generally be on the south end of the park

1549
01:55:38,720 --> 01:55:41,620
just orientated in a little bit different of a direction.

1550
01:55:41,860 --> 01:55:43,780
Cause right now it's really faces north-south.

1551
01:55:44,500 --> 01:55:47,340
And one of the things we heard right out of the gate

1552
01:55:47,340 --> 01:55:48,700
when we started the project is,

1553
01:55:48,860 --> 01:55:51,780
is there a way to maybe look position a stage

1554
01:55:51,780 --> 01:55:54,020
a little bit more, I guess, northwest

1555
01:55:54,620 --> 01:55:56,640
to allow people at the restaurant or seating

1556
01:55:56,640 --> 01:56:00,340
or just at the intersection to look more into the stage

1557
01:56:00,340 --> 01:56:02,660
versus more of a north-south look

1558
01:56:02,660 --> 01:56:07,680
that's out there today. So we kind of reorientated that south area a little bit to allow for a

1559
01:56:07,680 --> 01:56:15,800
more northwest look of the stage. And you reduced lawn area. Well Sarah will get in that as well,

1560
01:56:16,040 --> 01:56:20,780
but let me let you. No, no, the lawn area generally is about the same size. It's just

1561
01:56:20,780 --> 01:56:25,840
to rearrange. So we do have an exhibit that shows the outline of the old lawn area versus

1562
01:56:25,840 --> 01:56:30,980
this landline area. So it's a good question because it has come up before and we will

1563
01:56:30,980 --> 01:56:35,640
address that here coming up. I just briefly want to talk about the three

1564
01:56:35,640 --> 01:56:40,040
other intersections included in the project. They all really are just

1565
01:56:40,040 --> 01:56:44,300
incorporating bump-outs, enhanced crosswalks. We again are looking at

1566
01:56:44,300 --> 01:56:49,520
evaluating, raising these intersections to create a little bit more of a traffic

1567
01:56:49,520 --> 01:56:54,540
calming element to them. But again drainage is pretty sensitive around some

1568
01:56:54,540 --> 01:56:58,680
of these building corners and some of the areas. So it's looking like

1569
01:56:58,680 --> 01:57:03,140
eliminating the raised crosswalks will be taken out of the project but again

1570
01:57:03,140 --> 01:57:09,020
enhancing the pavement type, the color of the intersection will just you know alert

1571
01:57:09,020 --> 01:57:13,380
the drivers that you're entering an area that's more pedestrian friendly and not

1572
01:57:13,380 --> 01:57:13,940
car friendly.

1573
01:57:16,390 --> 01:57:19,130
So with that I'm going to turn it over to Sarah and she can get

1574
01:57:19,130 --> 01:57:22,850
into the hardscape and streetscape features and some of the programming of

1575
01:57:22,850 --> 01:57:30,370
the park area itself. Good evening. So this illustrative cross section

1576
01:57:30,370 --> 01:57:35,690
here is sort of a reiteration of the geometrics that Kurt went over earlier, but it gives you a

1577
01:57:36,450 --> 01:57:43,270
sense of feeling of the place that we want to enhance with your corridor here. So starting over on

1578
01:57:43,270 --> 01:57:50,210
the right side, we are providing a buffer between the existing commercial buildings and to provide

1579
01:57:50,210 --> 01:57:55,950
for plant bed and landscaping along that to soften the edge up. And then we'll have a perimeter

1580
01:57:55,950 --> 01:58:00,750
or walk that connects folks from the streetscape experience through Harmony

1581
01:58:00,750 --> 01:58:06,050
Park with a five foot minimum sidewalk. Then a large open event lawn we're

1582
01:58:06,050 --> 01:58:11,010
really looking to enhance what the functionality that you have out there

1583
01:58:11,010 --> 01:58:15,230
today and just better organize it for even more enhanced flexibility for

1584
01:58:15,230 --> 01:58:20,710
programming throughout the year. Then as we continue to move to the left hand

1585
01:58:20,710 --> 01:58:24,410
inside we've identified pedestrian circulation

1586
01:58:24,410 --> 01:58:27,650
that seven feet there along with a plant bed

1587
01:58:27,650 --> 01:58:31,370
that would have seat walls to provide some of that protection

1588
01:58:31,370 --> 01:58:35,090
from the pedestrian zone and between the vehicular zones.

1589
01:58:35,870 --> 01:58:38,490
It also provides seating opportunities

1590
01:58:39,160 --> 01:58:42,070
for programming that is envisioned to happen

1591
01:58:42,070 --> 01:58:43,070
at Harmony Park.

1592
01:58:44,190 --> 01:58:47,170
And then moving into the vehicular area

1593
01:58:47,170 --> 01:58:53,730
we've provided for two-way drive lanes, a 10-foot median that would include a

1594
01:58:53,730 --> 01:58:59,710
seating element within that boulevard section. This is really to create a

1595
01:58:59,710 --> 01:59:04,770
comfortable space that the trees there create shade for when there is

1596
01:59:04,770 --> 01:59:09,070
programming and the street corridor is shut down to vehicular traffic as well

1597
01:59:09,070 --> 01:59:14,110
as flexible seating there so that folks can orient themselves in

1598
01:59:14,110 --> 01:59:16,670
whichever direction they wish to sit in.

1599
01:59:17,350 --> 01:59:19,910
And then continuing to move over to the left-hand side,

1600
01:59:20,110 --> 01:59:23,910
we're planning for enhanced streetscape area there

1601
01:59:23,910 --> 01:59:27,510
with the dining space next to commercial buildings.

1602
01:59:27,970 --> 01:59:31,310
We're planning for overhead stringer lights there as well

1603
01:59:31,310 --> 01:59:36,310
to create a more intimate and lively space there

1604
01:59:36,310 --> 01:59:37,390
for alfresco nights.

1605
01:59:39,610 --> 01:59:42,210
This is a site rendering,

1606
01:59:42,650 --> 01:59:44,370
really refining that concept

1607
01:59:44,370 --> 01:59:52,250
that we have worked with your staff in refining over the past few months. I will just draw your

1608
01:59:52,250 --> 01:59:57,310
attention to a few things here. The green outline, I don't know if this, I don't think the pointer

1609
01:59:57,310 --> 01:59:59,850
is working, but there's a dashed green line there.

1610
02:00:00,000 --> 02:00:07,020
That identifies the existing turf area. So, you'll see that in comparison to the proposed

1611
02:00:07,020 --> 02:00:13,520
turf area. Essentially, they're very similar in terms of their spatial sizes. Again, it's

1612
02:00:13,520 --> 02:00:15,540
better organizing and creating,

1613
02:00:21,840 --> 02:00:25,600
providing some connectivity so that folks can get from the

1614
02:00:25,600 --> 02:00:32,260
streetscape all around Harmony Park as well. We have reoriented where the

1615
02:00:32,260 --> 02:00:38,500
temporary stage would be set up, so where today it's in a north-south

1616
02:00:38,500 --> 02:00:43,300
direction. We are shifting that over slightly so that it's in the southeast

1617
02:00:43,300 --> 02:00:51,040
corner. That provides this performance line out to the streetscape as well. So

1618
02:00:51,040 --> 02:00:58,640
So envision people sitting in that boulevard area on those benches underneath the trees

1619
02:00:58,640 --> 02:01:03,780
and the stage is more now oriented to maximize that space that people will be in.

1620
02:01:04,940 --> 02:01:11,080
That plaza then also really pulls in folks that are parking just to the east here and

1621
02:01:11,080 --> 02:01:15,900
coming along that alley whereas today it feels a little bit more closed off.

1622
02:01:16,080 --> 02:01:20,160
We're really opening up that connection there, enhancing that through some stringer

1623
02:01:20,160 --> 02:01:26,300
lights as well. As we continue to move then kind of page left or as we go to

1624
02:01:26,300 --> 02:01:30,860
the north, we've identified some boulders in that landscape area. That's

1625
02:01:30,860 --> 02:01:35,420
a fun kind of feature for kids to clamber on. It also provides some informal

1626
02:01:35,420 --> 02:01:40,760
seating and then we're incorporating the location of the DTA sign there and

1627
02:01:40,760 --> 02:01:48,100
another plaza with a proposed overhead structure for seating, shaded seating

1628
02:01:48,100 --> 02:01:53,700
there. Again, we envision folks, you know, taking pictures at the DTA sign. We've identified

1629
02:01:53,700 --> 02:01:59,840
a potential mural opportunity on the building behind that DTA sign. You know, as we see this

1630
02:01:59,840 --> 02:02:05,020
as one of those Instagrammable moments for Harmony Park. We've provided site harnesses

1631
02:02:05,020 --> 02:02:11,660
like bike racks and trash scepticals thinking about the public use space as well as then

1632
02:02:11,660 --> 02:02:18,500
Then identifying some bollards at the page right near the median there.

1633
02:02:19,020 --> 02:02:25,080
Thinking about being able to close off the street for vehicles when you're programming

1634
02:02:25,080 --> 02:02:29,740
the space but then also still allowing for functionality and trash pickup into that

1635
02:02:29,740 --> 02:02:34,120
maintenance entrance just south of the theater space there.

1636
02:02:34,440 --> 02:02:37,840
And then also thinking about functionality from a drop-off zone.

1637
02:02:38,080 --> 02:02:39,100
We've identified that.

1638
02:02:39,100 --> 02:02:43,600
the blue dash line is another piece that I wanted to highlight and that is

1639
02:02:43,600 --> 02:02:48,700
your existing extents of Alfresco Knights and so in this concept you can

1640
02:02:48,700 --> 02:02:55,680
still maintain those same areas for programming and this just better enhances

1641
02:02:55,680 --> 02:02:59,780
that with some of the overhead lighting that would be along the

1642
02:02:59,780 --> 02:03:05,320
streetscape space there. It also builds off of the intersection with the

1643
02:03:05,320 --> 02:03:09,080
overhead lighting that's currently there but we've identified some

1644
02:03:09,080 --> 02:03:11,160
and intersection improvements as Kurt mentioned

1645
02:03:11,160 --> 02:03:14,060
with the introduction of the crosswalks,

1646
02:03:14,060 --> 02:03:16,240
as well as some branding that you can incorporate

1647
02:03:16,240 --> 02:03:18,840
within the streetscape enhancements there.

1648
02:03:20,040 --> 02:03:24,280
We are really keeping within the existing fountain

1649
02:03:24,280 --> 02:03:26,260
that was something that we built off of.

1650
02:03:26,440 --> 02:03:30,160
So that infrastructure piece stays, remains in place.

1651
02:03:30,440 --> 02:03:33,520
And then all of this geometry really builds off of that.

1652
02:03:34,620 --> 02:03:38,140
This again is that rendering there.

1653
02:03:39,020 --> 02:03:45,800
Speaking of paving, we've identified some recommendations here in terms of permeable

1654
02:03:45,800 --> 02:03:47,420
paver options for you.

1655
02:03:48,340 --> 02:03:53,820
Where the concept had identified these co-centric greens to build off of a circular geometry

1656
02:03:53,820 --> 02:04:00,380
coming from the fountain, we are recommending more of this blended pavement treatment

1657
02:04:00,380 --> 02:04:06,340
That allows for maintenance and operations as you continue to use this space.

1658
02:04:06,520 --> 02:04:12,020
If you need to replace a paver, it's not as specific in terms of the color because you've got this blend.

1659
02:04:12,240 --> 02:04:15,680
So it just eases it from a maintenance perspective.

1660
02:04:16,120 --> 02:04:24,160
But then we're still keeping with a very clear delineated crosswalk that you would need to identify those spaces.

1661
02:04:24,620 --> 02:04:26,560
Again, the branding opportunity that you have here.

1662
02:04:26,560 --> 02:04:30,900
it all kind of fits really well within your existing pavement that's coming

1663
02:04:30,900 --> 02:04:40,960
off of the fountain. This also creates that sort of large field that communicates

1664
02:04:40,960 --> 02:04:45,840
pedestrian space versus delineating the difference between pedestrian and

1665
02:04:45,840 --> 02:04:50,040
vehicular. So this all kind of blends together and lets pedestrians know that

1666
02:04:50,040 --> 02:04:54,560
they're welcome to use these spaces, particularly when the road is closed

1667
02:04:54,560 --> 02:05:00,660
software programming. And again, this rendering kind of highlights that particular intersection

1668
02:05:01,190 --> 02:05:03,640
and the pavement treatment and how that enhances it.

1669
02:05:06,100 --> 02:05:08,400
We are thinking about incorporation of

1670
02:05:08,400 --> 02:05:14,180
the circular geometry to blend in with the fountain there through the use of site furnishing.

1671
02:05:14,380 --> 02:05:19,340
So you have a very traditional aesthetic out in your space today, which we would want

1672
02:05:19,340 --> 02:05:25,140
to keep with. And so we can build that circular geometry into tree grates, whether

1673
02:05:25,140 --> 02:05:33,680
that be iron tree grates or even with a paver option with trash receptacles, planters in a

1674
02:05:33,680 --> 02:05:39,620
circular form, and then benches and biker acts. So the benches, this could be a mounted bench

1675
02:05:39,620 --> 02:05:45,600
with a back and armrest that could be placed on those planters again along the streetscape

1676
02:05:45,600 --> 02:05:51,260
side looking into Harmony Park to provide some seating for when there is programming happening

1677
02:05:51,260 --> 02:05:54,280
or just your everyday use of a streetscape.

1678
02:05:56,760 --> 02:05:59,760
We also are showing some flexible seating

1679
02:05:59,760 --> 02:06:03,800
for Harmony Park, the use of the Adirondoc chair,

1680
02:06:04,020 --> 02:06:07,220
excuse me, really adds a kind of colorful

1681
02:06:07,220 --> 02:06:09,140
and playful touch to it,

1682
02:06:09,260 --> 02:06:10,620
provides some of that flexibility

1683
02:06:10,620 --> 02:06:15,500
that folks will need for sort of pop-up events,

1684
02:06:15,980 --> 02:06:18,980
but these are commercial grade site furnishings.

1685
02:06:18,980 --> 02:06:22,160
They would be heavier than what you typically see

1686
02:06:22,160 --> 02:06:24,600
in like a traditional, or residential use, excuse me,

1687
02:06:24,680 --> 02:06:26,400
so they're not like the light plastic ones

1688
02:06:26,400 --> 02:06:27,880
that people can easily walk away with

1689
02:06:27,880 --> 02:06:29,380
they're heavier, more sturdy,

1690
02:06:29,540 --> 02:06:31,060
or built for commercial environments.

1691
02:06:32,940 --> 02:06:34,800
And then this is the vision, you know,

1692
02:06:34,840 --> 02:06:37,460
I think this is kind of what we're all looking forward

1693
02:06:37,460 --> 02:06:39,500
to seeing a very full Harmony Park

1694
02:06:40,260 --> 02:06:43,480
programmed with events, dining, alfresco,

1695
02:06:44,000 --> 02:06:47,060
just a really lively pedestrian friendly space,

1696
02:06:47,300 --> 02:06:49,040
a place where community wants to be.

1697
02:06:51,410 --> 02:06:53,210
Thinking about overhead, or excuse me,

1698
02:06:53,210 --> 02:06:57,390
you think about lighting and the incorporation of the overhead lighting, we shifted from

1699
02:06:57,390 --> 02:07:02,850
the concept where it had been identified for lighting throughout the vehicular corridor.

1700
02:07:03,270 --> 02:07:09,730
We're now focusing the, having the focus beyond these pedestrian spaces, so Harmony Park as

1701
02:07:09,730 --> 02:07:16,450
well as then the sidewalk cafe areas. That creates this really like nice intimate mood

1702
02:07:16,450 --> 02:07:20,970
lighting almost for these different events that would happen. The poles then that

1703
02:07:20,970 --> 02:07:28,930
that would support these stringer lights to connect with could also then include a traffic

1704
02:07:28,930 --> 02:07:35,510
and pedestrian light so that you are maintaining the current light levels that you have out

1705
02:07:35,510 --> 02:07:37,070
on the streetscape today.

1706
02:07:39,430 --> 02:07:45,090
And this is a nighttime view to show that desired experience, particularly with a concert

1707
02:07:45,090 --> 02:07:45,570
at night.

1708
02:07:47,420 --> 02:07:56,080
Lastly, landscaping. We are thinking about maintenance, so we've identified trees, particularly

1709
02:07:56,080 --> 02:08:00,440
streetscape trees that are well-suited for streetscape conditions. You know, these have

1710
02:08:00,440 --> 02:08:07,320
to be very tough disease-resistant trees that are picked for their shape to support

1711
02:08:08,200 --> 02:08:12,800
streetscape environments, as well as then native plantings that would be included in

1712
02:08:12,800 --> 02:08:17,500
the planting beds, just adjacent to Harmony Park

1713
02:08:17,500 --> 02:08:19,800
to provide some seasonal interest

1714
02:08:19,800 --> 02:08:22,080
as well as just softening that area.

1715
02:08:22,660 --> 02:08:26,060
The planter beds I will say are identified as seat walls

1716
02:08:26,060 --> 02:08:28,160
on both sides of the plant beds,

1717
02:08:28,300 --> 02:08:30,640
but the ends, the north and south ends are open,

1718
02:08:30,900 --> 02:08:34,780
also thinking about maintenance for staff

1719
02:08:34,780 --> 02:08:38,220
to be able to get in and pick up trash or weed

1720
02:08:38,220 --> 02:08:46,260
versus having to reach over an elevated planter and then the planters the

1721
02:08:46,260 --> 02:08:49,640
circular planters that are along the streetscape are very much similar to

1722
02:08:49,640 --> 02:08:53,980
what you have what's with the seasonal planters to provide interest and be

1723
02:08:53,980 --> 02:09:01,390
in line with their branding and then this is a daytime shot to looking at

1724
02:09:01,390 --> 02:09:06,570
the park toward the south and I think that's a good segue into Mark and how

1725
02:09:06,570 --> 02:09:07,730
we're thinking about the stage.

1726
02:09:11,410 --> 02:09:12,530
Yeah, sorry.

1727
02:09:12,790 --> 02:09:15,370
So to talk about what we're calling the performance area,

1728
02:09:15,870 --> 02:09:18,750
as previously mentioned, we relocated the setup

1729
02:09:18,750 --> 02:09:20,750
to be that more Northwest-facing.

1730
02:09:21,470 --> 02:09:29,250
So you don't get the sunsetting into the people

1731
02:09:29,250 --> 02:09:30,890
who are watching the performance's eyes.

1732
02:09:31,050 --> 02:09:31,890
It's not facing them.

1733
02:09:32,410 --> 02:09:34,310
And also, you don't have to worry

1734
02:09:34,310 --> 02:09:38,230
about the more North orientation,

1735
02:09:38,230 --> 02:09:43,610
where it's more performing up into the park. It's now angling to be more performing to

1736
02:09:43,610 --> 02:09:49,710
the whole street and whole of the Vale promenade. We're calling this performance area and we

1737
02:09:49,710 --> 02:09:53,950
have been discussions about having a more permanent stage, but we are recommending

1738
02:09:53,950 --> 02:09:58,690
not to be doing that to allow for greater flexibility of use than a permanent right

1739
02:09:58,690 --> 02:10:03,850
size stage. This allows you to be able to still have that winter market with

1740
02:10:03,850 --> 02:10:09,590
the trees sitting in this space. It allows you to have more informal pop-ups that are

1741
02:10:09,590 --> 02:10:15,190
coming on in these spaces and it's not just about the weekend, weeknight performances during

1742
02:10:15,190 --> 02:10:22,190
the summer, it's allowing more flexibility to utilize this space and to invigorate Harmony

1743
02:10:22,190 --> 02:10:27,470
Park during other times other than just the major performances. And then the other

1744
02:10:27,470 --> 02:10:31,870
thing that we had talked about is that connection to the South Alleyway, whereas

1745
02:10:31,870 --> 02:10:36,830
today it kind of is a very tight space with landscaping kind of overgrown when

1746
02:10:36,830 --> 02:10:39,830
you're coming from the rest of the community we're trying to really open

1747
02:10:39,830 --> 02:10:44,890
that up but then this location during performances can be where performer

1748
02:10:44,890 --> 02:10:49,730
staging happens so their crew hands can you know get into this area it gets

1749
02:10:49,730 --> 02:10:53,210
it all behind the stage and then they get everything set up and it's very easy

1750
02:10:53,210 --> 02:10:57,790
for the people who are working on they're working to set up the stage

1751
02:10:57,790 --> 02:11:04,610
and then we think that this continuing to do the temporary stages the a good

1752
02:11:04,610 --> 02:11:09,910
price that you already have so we're recommending to continue doing the rental

1753
02:11:09,910 --> 02:11:14,490
here in the year out as opposed to a more permanent stage.

1754
02:11:18,480 --> 02:11:19,600
Yeah so just real

1755
02:11:19,600 --> 02:11:24,940
quick on the on the stage itself as part of the initial I guess the initial

1756
02:11:24,940 --> 02:11:32,520
contract with us in the village. The stage itself isn't part of the scope and we're

1757
02:11:32,520 --> 02:11:36,640
recognizing that and we're trying to incorporate what, whether it's a permanent

1758
02:11:36,640 --> 02:11:41,580
stage or continue on with your temporary stage, having that space available. But a

1759
02:11:41,580 --> 02:11:46,320
more permanent stage would certainly be a different type of scope and function

1760
02:11:46,320 --> 02:11:50,560
that if the village, you know, wants to go down that road then we'll have

1761
02:11:50,560 --> 02:11:54,520
those discussions on how that gets implemented and the team associated with

1762
02:11:54,520 --> 02:12:01,020
that, but that wasn't really part of the avail promenade and some of the curbless street aspects

1763
02:12:01,020 --> 02:12:05,880
of the project, it kind of morphed into, okay, let's make sure we have a space that's going

1764
02:12:05,880 --> 02:12:12,280
to be usable for the other temporary stages or a permanent stage down the road.

1765
02:12:12,400 --> 02:12:14,920
So I just wanted to kind of clarify that for the board.

1766
02:12:18,100 --> 02:12:21,880
And then I'm here to, you know, talk about the IDOT process and the funding.

1767
02:12:22,540 --> 02:12:25,740
So where are we, you know, currently at and where do we go next?

1768
02:12:25,740 --> 02:12:30,400
Currently, our team is going through the IDOT process right now.

1769
02:12:31,160 --> 02:12:34,340
This IDOT process involves three separate phases.

1770
02:12:35,080 --> 02:12:39,380
Phase one is preliminary engineering and environmental studies, and that's the phase that we're

1771
02:12:39,380 --> 02:12:40,080
in right now.

1772
02:12:40,840 --> 02:12:45,260
Phase two is the preparation of construction documents and detailed engineering.

1773
02:12:45,920 --> 02:12:49,040
And then phase three is the construction of the project.

1774
02:12:49,660 --> 02:12:56,260
We are, we require to go through this process in order to enable the village to leverage

1775
02:12:56,260 --> 02:12:58,520
either federal or state funding.

1776
02:12:59,040 --> 02:13:04,600
And so, you know, that brings me to the two bullet points on the first two bullet points.

1777
02:13:05,310 --> 02:13:11,200
You know, our team we have applied for and received $3 million in ITEP funding.

1778
02:13:11,460 --> 02:13:14,600
And that is state funded.

1779
02:13:14,600 --> 02:13:21,020
So, ITEP is the Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program, and it consists of both federal and

1780
02:13:21,020 --> 02:13:27,060
state funding, and so this particular project did receive state funding allocated for it.

1781
02:13:28,140 --> 02:13:34,600
Secondly, we also applied for this Local Projects Funding Grant, which is a 2024 grant that

1782
02:13:34,600 --> 02:13:36,500
is also state funded.

1783
02:13:37,080 --> 02:13:43,400
We requested a million dollars to supplement the 4.4 million that we are projecting

1784
02:13:43,400 --> 02:13:48,200
this project to be. And then again, I think it's my understanding that the village did receive

1785
02:13:48,760 --> 02:13:56,380
grant funding from Representative Grassy for $450,000. So, you know, in all, you know, we're

1786
02:13:56,380 --> 02:14:02,700
projecting to anticipate that 4.4. We're still waiting to hear back on this local project

1787
02:14:02,700 --> 02:14:08,400
funding for that $1 million. But again, we have a dedicated grant coordinator looking for

1788
02:14:08,400 --> 02:14:12,140
additional funding sources to supplement the project budget.

1789
02:14:13,180 --> 02:14:19,420
Where we go from here as far as phase one, we did submit a preliminary project development

1790
02:14:19,420 --> 02:14:22,200
report to IDAT a couple weeks ago.

1791
02:14:22,860 --> 02:14:29,580
We also are going to coordinate with the Federal Highway Administration which is a requirement

1792
02:14:29,580 --> 02:14:32,440
as part of the phase one and conduct a public meeting.

1793
02:14:32,440 --> 02:14:39,920
Again, all of these items check the boxes of the federal and state requirements for federal

1794
02:14:39,920 --> 02:14:41,220
or state funded projects.

1795
02:14:41,940 --> 02:14:45,200
And then the goal of the phase one is to receive design approval.

1796
02:14:46,020 --> 02:14:51,460
And once we receive design approval, then we'll move on to phase two engineering and

1797
02:14:51,460 --> 02:14:52,660
then onto construction.

1798
02:14:53,300 --> 02:14:55,200
So those are the next steps.

1799
02:14:55,380 --> 02:14:56,020
That's where we're at.

1800
02:14:56,020 --> 02:14:59,980
And I think that is the end.

1801
02:15:02,980 --> 02:15:09,520
Okay, thank you for a very detailed report. Staff, is there anything that you guys want to

1802
02:15:09,520 --> 02:15:10,620
add to that at the moment?

1803
02:15:13,160 --> 02:15:20,000
I would just reiterate that the focus of this project was multifaceted. I know that's detailed

1804
02:15:20,000 --> 02:15:25,800
in the memo and the consultant team went through that as well. I mean, I think overall the

1805
02:15:25,800 --> 02:15:31,420
goal of the project is to help the downtown, to bring additional people to downtown to

1806
02:15:31,420 --> 02:15:32,540
to support our businesses.

1807
02:15:33,020 --> 02:15:35,840
It's to provide an enhanced amenity for our residents,

1808
02:15:36,140 --> 02:15:37,300
both those who live downtown,

1809
02:15:37,640 --> 02:15:39,800
as well as those who visit the downtown.

1810
02:15:40,680 --> 02:15:43,360
Certainly these improvements are being done with an eye

1811
02:15:43,360 --> 02:15:46,280
towards green infrastructure and sustainability.

1812
02:15:47,080 --> 02:15:49,080
A park itself is a green space,

1813
02:15:49,360 --> 02:15:51,680
but trying to incorporate the permeable pavers

1814
02:15:51,680 --> 02:15:53,040
and some additional green elements

1815
02:15:53,040 --> 02:15:55,880
was an important concept related to this project

1816
02:15:55,880 --> 02:15:58,360
and also has been a goal of the Village Board

1817
02:15:58,360 --> 02:15:59,640
as it relates to some of the

1818
02:15:59,640 --> 02:16:05,440
Villages Sustainability Efforts. And then also wanted to add that overall the

1819
02:16:05,440 --> 02:16:10,600
project is enhancing accessibility for residents. So the curbless street and the

1820
02:16:10,600 --> 02:16:15,120
enhanced crossings do make it safer for pedestrians that are transgressing

1821
02:16:15,120 --> 02:16:19,360
through downtown. It does make it easier for those with disabilities or

1822
02:16:19,360 --> 02:16:24,280
mobility impairments to be able to get to the park, get through the park when

1823
02:16:24,280 --> 02:16:27,860
you have a curbless street and when you have improved crosswalks that are

1824
02:16:27,860 --> 02:16:33,420
more accessible. So I wanted to highlight a few of those benefits more specifically in

1825
02:16:33,420 --> 02:16:37,260
addition to what's already been reviewed. Okay. Thanks, Emily.

1826
02:16:39,880 --> 02:16:41,200
I have a question. Can

1827
02:16:41,200 --> 02:16:45,220
you put the slide back about the overall site plan view on?

1828
02:16:53,730 --> 02:16:56,230
The one just passed it.

1829
02:16:56,510 --> 02:17:00,830
That one? That one I think is a pretty good visual.

1830
02:17:03,250 --> 02:17:07,650
So are we projecting this at 4.4

1831
02:17:07,650 --> 02:17:17,150
million? Correct. Can you guess how much of that, what percentage of that is gonna

1832
02:17:17,150 --> 02:17:27,930
be for the park proper? And how much is for the roadway changes and the other

1833
02:17:27,930 --> 02:17:33,370
stuff? I guess what I'm getting at, if you did nothing to the park, to Harmony

1834
02:17:33,370 --> 02:17:42,530
Park. And all you did was do the changes to the street and the boulevard and the

1835
02:17:42,530 --> 02:17:46,510
other side of the street in front of Armand's and so on in the intersection.

1836
02:17:47,070 --> 02:17:52,270
I'm just curious if we did nothing to that park what would what would be the

1837
02:17:52,270 --> 02:17:55,310
budget change, net change would you guess?

1838
02:17:55,310 --> 02:17:59,930
Let me just, I do have the estimate at the end of this.

1839
02:18:00,950 --> 02:18:03,390
So, Mayor, just a point of clarification.

1840
02:18:04,210 --> 02:18:06,590
Because you'd be doing, and you'd correct me if I'm wrong,

1841
02:18:06,830 --> 02:18:08,530
if we're talking about the curbless street,

1842
02:18:08,910 --> 02:18:11,710
there would need to be some lowering of the park,

1843
02:18:12,210 --> 02:18:14,190
regardless, even if you didn't change the orientation.

1844
02:18:14,350 --> 02:18:15,470
Am I correct on that, or?

1845
02:18:16,750 --> 02:18:19,430
No, the park will essentially be at the same grade.

1846
02:18:19,610 --> 02:18:20,510
So, it would just be the sidewalk.

1847
02:18:20,910 --> 02:18:23,730
Yeah, the sidewalk and the road will invert itself.

1848
02:18:24,730 --> 02:18:31,750
So it's 4.4 total project costs that's including engineering so I'm just

1849
02:18:31,750 --> 02:18:40,590
trying to see what right the park itself now that that becomes a little bit of an

1850
02:18:40,590 --> 02:18:44,910
issue because depending on what surface we redo the park at changes what the

1851
02:18:44,910 --> 02:18:49,510
cost of the park is so if we're just putting sod back the park itself to

1852
02:18:49,510 --> 02:18:54,710
redo the sod is only about $10,000 to $15,000 to redo the sod, but if we're

1853
02:18:54,710 --> 02:19:00,510
going down a different material type that exponentially goes up. So the park

1854
02:19:00,510 --> 02:19:04,590
costs really in the grand scheme of all the hardscape features in the road is

1855
02:19:04,590 --> 02:19:08,910
really insignificant when you just talk about natural turf and grass because

1856
02:19:08,910 --> 02:19:12,390
there's still a lot of pavers here outside of the park area if we were to

1857
02:19:12,390 --> 02:19:22,890
do some of the areas in the northeast corner up there where the pergol is and the DTA sign

1858
02:19:22,890 --> 02:19:27,250
to add the brick pavers up there and some of the stage area and redo that area as well.

1859
02:19:27,450 --> 02:19:31,810
I mean, it's still all pavers and hardscape feature or streetscape feature, so you're

1860
02:19:31,810 --> 02:19:35,930
still going to have to go on there and do some reconstruction of that in that orientation.

1861
02:19:35,930 --> 02:19:44,150
So, I bring it up for a bunch of different reasons, but one that I can't deny is that it's

1862
02:19:44,150 --> 02:19:45,330
not that old of a park.

1863
02:19:45,850 --> 02:19:51,270
That park, I see Derek in the audience there, and I know that he was instrumental on the

1864
02:19:51,270 --> 02:19:53,030
design of this back in the day.

1865
02:19:55,130 --> 02:19:58,630
Do we know when this was built, what year it was built?

1866
02:19:59,790 --> 02:20:00,810
Derek probably does.

1867
02:20:01,010 --> 02:20:02,290
Your guess would be best, Derek.

1868
02:20:03,690 --> 02:20:04,170
2003.

1869
02:20:04,170 --> 02:20:10,950
So about 22 years old, that was when the fountain was built and the rest of it was put together.

1870
02:20:12,150 --> 02:20:16,530
And it's still in a really good shape. It's a great part.

1871
02:20:17,290 --> 02:20:24,870
I'm just wondering can we find a way to do this without having to mess with the park itself and just do the street.

1872
02:20:25,690 --> 02:20:33,370
And then the second question I'd have is have we talked enough with the businesses that are on that street,

1873
02:20:33,370 --> 02:20:38,970
The corner is Arman's, Haynani's, the piano bar.

1874
02:20:40,330 --> 02:20:41,610
I guess that's really it.

1875
02:20:41,990 --> 02:20:47,230
Are they okay with the change and losing the parking stalls out in front?

1876
02:20:47,830 --> 02:20:51,050
I'll let Emily address that because I believe she just presented this to the Dapa Group.

1877
02:20:51,490 --> 02:20:55,650
I did share with the Dapa Group two weeks ago, and I see Ernie's here.

1878
02:20:55,790 --> 02:20:58,930
Thank you for coming, that we would be discussing this this evening.

1879
02:20:58,930 --> 02:21:05,190
We have not shared this plan specifically with the businesses. We wanted the village board to see it first

1880
02:21:05,190 --> 02:21:12,450
So certainly we intend to share it with the businesses, but we wanted to get the feedback from the board in case there were

1881
02:21:12,970 --> 02:21:19,270
Changes you were looking for in the plan before we shared it more widely with the business community and residents in general

1882
02:21:20,150 --> 02:21:21,410
Okay, fair enough

1883
02:21:22,310 --> 02:21:27,850
I have a lot of thoughts about this, but I'm going to hold back and hand off to the board here. So

1884
02:21:28,970 --> 02:21:32,990
We started this one last, let's go this direction this time, trustee debates.

1885
02:21:33,170 --> 02:21:41,010
Thank you. I just have a few questions and one note that I made that I don't know what I meant so I won't even address that.

1886
02:21:41,830 --> 02:21:53,690
About the ITEP grant, is that guaranteed? Is there a risk of it getting clawed back if it's federally funded or is it really a done deal?

1887
02:21:54,250 --> 02:21:56,350
Always a good question in the state of Illinois.

1888
02:21:57,930 --> 02:22:03,610
Yeah, it's, we got awarded the ITEP funding in the spring.

1889
02:22:04,010 --> 02:22:10,010
So it's secured, it's state funded, so it's not the federal share of the funding.

1890
02:22:10,650 --> 02:22:14,210
And ITEP has been around consistently for a number of years.

1891
02:22:14,850 --> 02:22:19,550
I've worked on a variety of projects that have received ITEP funding and we've seen

1892
02:22:19,550 --> 02:22:20,630
it through the project.

1893
02:22:20,630 --> 02:22:26,890
There is a four-year Sunset Clause and so going through the I.DOT process

1894
02:22:26,890 --> 02:22:31,690
ensuring that we go through and go through phase one get a design approval

1895
02:22:31,690 --> 02:22:37,390
phase two and phase three within those four years you know that's when you

1896
02:22:37,390 --> 02:22:43,210
know it could be forfeited but as long as we're going through the process we

1897
02:22:43,210 --> 02:22:48,450
will receive the the money for it. And the four years start started in the

1898
02:22:48,450 --> 02:22:59,070
spring. Okay, thank you. The stage location, I actually thought about that and took another

1899
02:22:59,530 --> 02:23:07,050
walk through the park when we were downtown eating last night. And as the people who always

1900
02:23:07,050 --> 02:23:13,930
sit in the street, at first I didn't understand this, but now that I see it and you have

1901
02:23:13,930 --> 02:23:20,670
a better explanation. I actually like the little shift that it gives a bigger picture

1902
02:23:20,670 --> 02:23:28,710
to everybody because I'm just, you know, when it's just straight north, for those of us

1903
02:23:28,710 --> 02:23:34,030
in the street and I'm usually along the fence, it's just not as good a view. So I think

1904
02:23:34,030 --> 02:23:40,890
this gives more people an opportunity to have a better view of whatever is going on

1905
02:23:40,890 --> 02:23:49,130
generally music on stage so I actually like the idea behind this. Do you know

1906
02:23:49,130 --> 02:23:56,410
how many parking spaces would be eliminated? Yeah right now there's 13

1907
02:23:56,410 --> 02:24:04,010
existing parking spaces so to clarify a little bit on the shared use of the

1908
02:24:04,010 --> 02:24:09,510
street now with the Curbless Street and having the 18-foot unobstructed area

1909
02:24:09,510 --> 02:24:16,030
I mean a parallel parking stall itself minimum is eight feet wide plus then we would still

1910
02:24:16,030 --> 02:24:18,730
have a 10 foot drive aisle by it.

1911
02:24:19,070 --> 02:24:25,870
So in the world of shared use street or a shared street you really don't want to designate

1912
02:24:25,870 --> 02:24:30,970
the parking areas because that takes away from your whole idea of a shared use street.

1913
02:24:31,530 --> 02:24:36,010
So you kind of want to create these pods or these areas where people know they can

1914
02:24:36,010 --> 02:24:41,850
park or park or pull-off and they can they can stay there depending on how the

1915
02:24:41,850 --> 02:24:47,430
village wants to you know sign that or regulate that so in the case of like

1916
02:24:47,430 --> 02:24:50,690
Batavia right here in front of Metropolis we have an area that's

1917
02:24:50,690 --> 02:24:54,630
designated between a couple planters that will have two cars and we're

1918
02:24:54,630 --> 02:24:58,170
just anticipating that to be a drop-off area outside of the drive

1919
02:24:58,170 --> 02:25:04,790
lane so I guess in the shared use I really don't like to designate

1920
02:25:04,790 --> 02:25:08,270
parking areas because it takes away you're trying to make pedestrians and not

1921
02:25:08,270 --> 02:25:12,870
vehicles so it's kind of allowing the space and how it gets used it gets used

1922
02:25:12,870 --> 02:25:18,130
that way but it's not necessarily directed for parking if that makes sense.

1923
02:25:18,650 --> 02:25:22,890
Yeah it does and and I'm not actually opposed to that because during

1924
02:25:22,890 --> 02:25:34,390
Alfresco those spaces aren't there anyway so for half the year they're not

1925
02:25:34,390 --> 02:25:42,790
off area for, you know, disability purposes or, you know, the bride getting out of her

1926
02:25:43,350 --> 02:25:49,130
limo so that she can go up to the ballroom for, you know, the wedding and the reception,

1927
02:25:49,470 --> 02:25:50,310
that sort of thing.

1928
02:25:50,650 --> 02:25:55,510
So, and then again, that's only during the non-alfrescope time of the year.

1929
02:25:55,770 --> 02:25:56,130
Yeah.

1930
02:25:56,670 --> 02:26:01,110
It's pretty unique here because you do close the street down from May to September, right?

1931
02:26:01,270 --> 02:26:01,490
Yeah.

1932
02:26:01,490 --> 02:26:09,110
So now you're really talking October through April well a lot of those months are what they are and they're winter, right?

1933
02:26:09,310 --> 02:26:09,490
so

1934
02:26:10,390 --> 02:26:13,310
You're not really going to have a whole shared use kind of

1935
02:26:14,670 --> 02:26:19,090
Time except for maybe October November, you know and maybe early in the spring

1936
02:26:19,090 --> 02:26:23,530
Rest of it, you know having vehicles down there. It's going to be winter time anyway, you know

1937
02:26:23,530 --> 02:26:27,810
So like the city of Batavia when they did the curbless Street in the shared use

1938
02:26:28,330 --> 02:26:31,990
there was a there's a couple of beauty salons on the corridor and they were

1939
02:26:31,990 --> 02:26:36,250
very adamant that some of their customers have to be in front of the

1940
02:26:36,250 --> 02:26:41,830
building for a variety of reasons so those were actually signed as spots for

1941
02:26:41,830 --> 02:26:47,410
that beauty salon but the rest of the area was just it's just pockets you

1942
02:26:47,410 --> 02:26:51,270
know and you can kind of see where you can kind of pull off park go get

1943
02:26:51,270 --> 02:26:56,110
what you need to get get back in and leave and so that's kind of the the

1944
02:26:56,110 --> 02:27:00,550
idea here okay and then the one last question that I have I have to do with

1945
02:27:00,550 --> 02:27:08,590
the paver bricks in the vehicle drive aisles how can we make sure that what

1946
02:27:08,590 --> 02:27:13,790
how what makes them strong enough for the vehicles and and like when it's not

1947
02:27:13,790 --> 02:27:19,530
blocked off for you know for alfresco if there's a delivery vehicle going down

1948
02:27:19,530 --> 02:27:23,610
if there's a fire truck going down and that sort of thing because I'm always

1949
02:27:23,610 --> 02:27:32,070
concerned about just the sidewalk paver bricks which we've had to redo because

1950
02:27:32,070 --> 02:27:38,070
you know they wear out and there's the substrate and they're not as strong or

1951
02:27:38,070 --> 02:27:43,910
whatever so so that how do you approach that? So the pavement design itself there

1952
02:27:43,910 --> 02:27:49,270
will be a concrete base under the pavers having been in the public works

1953
02:27:49,270 --> 02:27:53,930
environment before my previous life, the maintenance part of that. So I've been

1954
02:27:53,930 --> 02:27:58,690
used to designing paver streets with a concrete base, even the sidewalk. And

1955
02:27:58,690 --> 02:28:01,230
depending on where we're at in the sidewalk, so let's say around the

1956
02:28:01,230 --> 02:28:06,710
radiuses of the corners, I'll make that area a thicker concrete because most

1957
02:28:06,710 --> 02:28:11,230
likely public works truck or the fire truck or some sort of truck is going

1958
02:28:11,230 --> 02:28:15,070
to drive over the edge of that curbless area. So I always deepen up

1959
02:28:15,070 --> 02:28:17,510
of the concrete in those areas, the sidewalk areas

1960
02:28:17,510 --> 02:28:20,790
where you have today can remain a little bit less

1961
02:28:20,790 --> 02:28:23,910
of a concrete base, but still have the paver bricks.

1962
02:28:24,090 --> 02:28:26,990
There are paver bricks rated for vehicle traffic.

1963
02:28:27,370 --> 02:28:29,030
So between that and the concrete

1964
02:28:29,030 --> 02:28:31,490
and any other sub-base, the stone underneath there,

1965
02:28:32,770 --> 02:28:35,090
that's what would be the pavement section itself.

1966
02:28:35,530 --> 02:28:37,010
And again, we would rate it

1967
02:28:37,010 --> 02:28:40,750
towards the heaviest field, Gola 80,000 pound vehicle.

1968
02:28:41,210 --> 02:28:43,610
But again, you don't have a tremendous

1969
02:28:43,610 --> 02:28:44,970
And there's a lot of traffic down here.

1970
02:28:45,350 --> 02:28:46,810
You have some heavier trucks.

1971
02:28:47,570 --> 02:28:54,310
So with the concrete base and the thicker paver itself, Malcolm Wood, the last few towns

1972
02:28:54,310 --> 02:28:56,110
that we've done that in, it's been fine.

1973
02:28:56,390 --> 02:28:56,990
Okay, great.

1974
02:28:57,270 --> 02:28:57,850
It's good to know.

1975
02:28:57,970 --> 02:28:58,350
Thank you.

1976
02:28:58,570 --> 02:28:59,210
Mm-hmm.

1977
02:28:59,990 --> 02:29:00,530
Trustee Shirley.

1978
02:29:01,310 --> 02:29:04,790
Yeah, I just, I had a couple of questions about drainage.

1979
02:29:04,810 --> 02:29:11,690
Like, I'm not a big fan of inverted crowns, so, but I get you have to do it in this

1980
02:29:11,690 --> 02:29:12,290
application.

1981
02:29:12,290 --> 02:29:20,490
So, are there grates along the perimeter of the center island such that water that flows

1982
02:29:20,490 --> 02:29:23,890
up against there or does it all go through permeable pavers?

1983
02:29:24,390 --> 02:29:31,090
So, on the conservative side to your point, there will be a series of permeable pavers

1984
02:29:31,090 --> 02:29:36,070
and there will be a series of trench grates or traditional type manual covers that you

1985
02:29:36,070 --> 02:29:38,130
would see depending on where we are out in the road, right?

1986
02:29:39,430 --> 02:29:40,510
Nobody wants it to flood.

1987
02:29:40,510 --> 02:29:44,070
And the reason I continue to say inverted towards the center of the street,

1988
02:29:44,330 --> 02:29:48,290
we could still put a crown out there, which would take a little bit away from the

1989
02:29:48,290 --> 02:29:52,310
boulevard section, but I'm always hesitant to have water draining without

1990
02:29:52,310 --> 02:29:56,390
a curb towards the building. So, if you had the normal crown and take

1991
02:29:56,390 --> 02:29:59,750
out the curb that's out there now and have that curbless, I would still

1992
02:29:59,750 --> 02:29:59,990
would have.

1993
02:30:00,000 --> 02:30:03,900
They have some sort of drainage structures in that curb line that's out there today. So

1994
02:30:03,900 --> 02:30:08,560
I want everything to go to the middle away from the buildings as much as possible and then

1995
02:30:08,560 --> 02:30:14,340
drain it from that aspect. But along their way, like along the planters, usually there's

1996
02:30:14,340 --> 02:30:18,860
trench drains in there because sometimes there's hard spots for the water to get around out

1997
02:30:18,860 --> 02:30:23,340
to the center. So taking a little bit more of a conservative approach on that.

1998
02:30:23,540 --> 02:30:28,680
Okay. Yeah, because I think if you get, I don't know what permeable pavers can pass

1999
02:30:28,680 --> 02:30:34,500
as far as intensity of a rainfall. I doubt that they can pass an inch an hour.

2000
02:30:34,840 --> 02:30:38,460
Maybe they can. I don't really know that much about it, but I just think you need

2001
02:30:38,460 --> 02:30:45,340
to build in some safety for when you get a really good gully washer that

2002
02:30:45,340 --> 02:30:49,600
you know that there's somewhere for the water to go. And then is there also

2003
02:30:49,600 --> 02:30:52,260
drainage to this? You mentioned the whole thing drains to the south, which

2004
02:30:52,260 --> 02:30:55,940
I know, but I mean is there like trench drains at the end of the block

2005
02:30:55,940 --> 02:31:00,480
towards the parking garage as well or is it just along that center median?

2006
02:31:00,780 --> 02:31:05,940
No, there would be a there would be a couple different spots around the park area on the

2007
02:31:05,940 --> 02:31:11,160
south end. I know our drainage person has a few inlets out there at the south end of the park.

2008
02:31:11,300 --> 02:31:17,440
We pick up that before it went into the existing drainage more towards the parking deck. So it

2009
02:31:17,440 --> 02:31:22,360
could be a combination of both trench drains and traditional curb drains as we leave the

2010
02:31:22,360 --> 02:31:31,020
promenade area. And then how does snow and ice work with

2011
02:31:31,020 --> 02:31:36,560
permeable pavers? As far as can you use conventional road salt that's on the rest

2012
02:31:36,560 --> 02:31:41,360
of the asphalt and concrete streets in town or do you have to apply something

2013
02:31:41,360 --> 02:31:46,740
special? Because you've got to obviously keep the porosity of the

2014
02:31:46,740 --> 02:31:52,940
pavers and the joints between them and I just don't know if if they go through

2015
02:31:52,940 --> 02:31:58,620
there with a normal salt spreader do they can they not do that or do they have

2016
02:31:58,620 --> 02:32:02,980
to do something different for a higher level of service how to how do you

2017
02:32:02,980 --> 02:32:07,300
address snow and ice control yeah the permeable pavers itself there is

2018
02:32:07,300 --> 02:32:13,860
maintenance that has to happen with that because if it if the areas start

2019
02:32:13,860 --> 02:32:17,800
to plug up themselves, the permeableness of the pavers aren't going to work.

2020
02:32:18,320 --> 02:32:21,720
So there's still a maintenance procedure every couple of years.

2021
02:32:22,260 --> 02:32:27,120
Now from a snow and ice standpoint, what I've seen in the past is that the pavers, the permeable

2022
02:32:27,120 --> 02:32:33,680
areas will flaw quicker than the normal pavement areas because they have access down below,

2023
02:32:33,840 --> 02:32:34,020
right?

2024
02:32:34,140 --> 02:32:38,860
So it's the heat's coming up and it's kind of self de-icing itself.

2025
02:32:38,860 --> 02:32:44,660
Now, I don't know what your public works people use as far as de-icing procedures go.

2026
02:32:44,880 --> 02:32:49,300
That's something we can talk about, but I know with the paver street, you're going to

2027
02:32:49,300 --> 02:32:55,420
end up having the brushes and poly blades and probably a little bit more hand shoveling

2028
02:32:55,420 --> 02:32:57,560
than what is used to out there today.

2029
02:32:57,940 --> 02:33:02,500
But that's certainly a component of having an all-paver street, that there are some

2030
02:33:02,500 --> 02:33:03,680
changes in your maintenance.

2031
02:33:04,600 --> 02:33:07,960
So you do have to use rubber blades on the vows if you use condensers?

2032
02:33:07,960 --> 02:33:11,620
The towns that I've talked to that have paver streets,

2033
02:33:11,820 --> 02:33:15,160
yes, they go to a polymer blade or they go to a sweeper

2034
02:33:15,780 --> 02:33:18,560
or they hand, do a lot of hand-shell, please.

2035
02:33:19,240 --> 02:33:21,860
And then as far as street sweeping,

2036
02:33:22,860 --> 02:33:26,560
can you use a vacuum sweeper or do you have to use

2037
02:33:26,560 --> 02:33:29,240
mechanical or, because don't you run the risk

2038
02:33:29,240 --> 02:33:32,920
of like pulling all that stuff out of the joints?

2039
02:33:33,420 --> 02:33:35,200
Out of the pair of pavers, yeah.

2040
02:33:35,200 --> 02:33:36,240
Yeah, from between the pavers.

2041
02:33:36,660 --> 02:33:36,860
Right.

2042
02:33:36,860 --> 02:33:40,400
I'm just curious, like, I just don't know, Randy,

2043
02:33:40,480 --> 02:33:42,060
if we're gonna have to buy something special

2044
02:33:42,060 --> 02:33:46,160
or if we have something as far as streets sweeping the area.

2045
02:33:46,500 --> 02:33:48,280
So I guess these are all maintenance issues

2046
02:33:48,280 --> 02:33:51,340
that can be addressed, but I'm just curious

2047
02:33:51,340 --> 02:33:55,300
if the installation comes along

2048
02:33:55,300 --> 02:33:57,860
with maintenance recommendations.

2049
02:33:59,220 --> 02:34:01,400
Mayor, may I jump in?

2050
02:34:02,840 --> 02:34:04,800
Trustee Shirley, I mean, a couple of comments.

2051
02:34:04,800 --> 02:34:09,440
I mean, I think you're dead on on the drainage issues and for those of you that were on the

2052
02:34:09,440 --> 02:34:18,160
board, there used to be some pretty significant flooding issues along Campbell and particularly

2053
02:34:18,160 --> 02:34:23,780
and then somewhat along Bale and there were adjustments made in I think 2018, 2019, those

2054
02:34:23,780 --> 02:34:29,400
before COVID to address that and public works was very aware of that when talking

2055
02:34:29,400 --> 02:34:31,260
to these folks about not upsetting that.

2056
02:34:31,260 --> 02:34:37,360
As for the pavers, the one thing some folks may not remember or be aware of is if you

2057
02:34:37,360 --> 02:34:42,840
look at an aerial or if you just come out on your way out tonight, when we did the police

2058
02:34:42,840 --> 02:34:50,080
station parking project, that entire parking lot kind of behind our parking garage as

2059
02:34:50,080 --> 02:34:57,220
well as the drive that goes between Village Hall and the new police building, those

2060
02:34:57,220 --> 02:35:02,040
are permeable pavers and we've kind of used that as we kind of designed it as

2061
02:35:02,040 --> 02:35:05,540
and we've kind of used it as kind of a test bed for permeable paver concepts

2062
02:35:06,040 --> 02:35:11,140
elsewhere in town and so we are maintaining it now my understanding is

2063
02:35:11,140 --> 02:35:15,500
that we are using a street sweeper to clean that and that's worked reasonably

2064
02:35:15,500 --> 02:35:21,200
well so I think we have the the equipment present right now to do that

2065
02:35:21,200 --> 02:35:24,280
now it's a little bit different scale but if you look if you look online

2066
02:35:24,280 --> 02:35:29,300
It's not an insignificant piece of property that we're maintaining that have the permeable papers right now

2067
02:35:30,640 --> 02:35:37,460
And then I guess I would just say that it seems to me like the turf areas being reduced some I know you kind of showed

2068
02:35:38,420 --> 02:35:42,600
That it's kind of equivalent, but it seems like we're taking some grass away

2069
02:35:43,320 --> 02:35:46,340
And I kind of feel like the grass is a big attraction

2070
02:35:46,880 --> 02:35:51,900
Even though I know it's kind of a meat. That's nightmare. So that's just a comment and then for as far as the stage

2071
02:35:51,900 --> 02:35:57,040
I do think we've talked on and off about a permanent type of band shell.

2072
02:35:57,340 --> 02:36:03,500
And so I'd like to see if we can't maybe incorporate that into future discussions about the site.

2073
02:36:04,980 --> 02:36:11,900
And I like the orientation, but it seems to me like renting and setting up and all

2074
02:36:11,900 --> 02:36:16,880
that stuff and then nighttime security if we leave it up so that it doesn't get

2075
02:36:16,880 --> 02:36:21,640
vandalized and such that maybe something that was more permanent might be beneficial.

2076
02:36:21,920 --> 02:36:22,920
So that's all I have, thanks.

2077
02:36:23,740 --> 02:36:29,760
So just from the cost of the stage to address that, a stage that would sort of fit this

2078
02:36:29,760 --> 02:36:34,280
area, we're estimating anywhere from three and a half to four million dollars for a permanent

2079
02:36:34,280 --> 02:36:34,800
structure.

2080
02:36:35,720 --> 02:36:43,540
And so the annual amount that you're paying for the temporary stage set up now at $60,000

2081
02:36:43,540 --> 02:36:44,200
a year.

2082
02:36:44,200 --> 02:36:50,520
I mean we can do some quick math, but you got about 20 to 25 years until you pay off that permanent stage

2083
02:36:50,520 --> 02:36:52,380
So build that stage for 2 million

2084
02:36:53,660 --> 02:36:55,900
I'm just giving you some perspective on stage

2085
02:36:55,900 --> 02:37:02,000
And if I could on that point and Mayor Tenai and I were talking about this because you know he has

2086
02:37:02,640 --> 02:37:05,540
familiarity with the stage and band world

2087
02:37:05,540 --> 02:37:10,860
You know we can there's nothing incorrect if I'm wrong in this design

2088
02:37:10,860 --> 02:37:13,900
that would preclude the addition of a stage later

2089
02:37:13,900 --> 02:37:15,740
if the village were so inclined.

2090
02:37:16,260 --> 02:37:18,060
And if it's the will of the board,

2091
02:37:18,460 --> 02:37:21,040
staff can provide some further, you know,

2092
02:37:21,160 --> 02:37:24,600
drill down analysis on options on that.

2093
02:37:24,960 --> 02:37:26,720
But the idea is, you know,

2094
02:37:26,800 --> 02:37:28,280
because we got this grant money,

2095
02:37:28,720 --> 02:37:31,680
it's not within the scope of this project,

2096
02:37:31,860 --> 02:37:33,680
but there's nothing standing in the way of it.

2097
02:37:34,380 --> 02:37:35,800
Thank you, it looks great though.

2098
02:37:36,360 --> 02:37:36,980
Very good, thanks.

2099
02:37:37,180 --> 02:37:38,420
Okay, continuing this direction,

2100
02:37:38,660 --> 02:37:39,240
Trustee Manganero.

2101
02:37:39,900 --> 02:37:43,300
staff has already answered all the questions I had this afternoon I really

2102
02:37:43,300 --> 02:37:50,080
like the concept and just a quick look at that it does look like the lawn area is

2103
02:37:50,080 --> 02:37:55,520
almost identical it looks like where where there's a cut out here there's an

2104
02:37:55,520 --> 02:38:02,620
addition there is that yep yeah it's very very close yeah thank you trusty

2105
02:38:02,620 --> 02:38:07,840
sick thank you mayor and also thank you you know you brought up a couple

2106
02:38:07,840 --> 02:38:12,240
things you know at the beginning I think you're talking about you know I was

2107
02:38:12,240 --> 02:38:15,580
thinking about the same thing do we actually need to get rid of that grass

2108
02:38:15,580 --> 02:38:20,220
area that it's right there or is it something that can work into into what

2109
02:38:20,220 --> 02:38:24,000
we're doing right there do we need that cost to be able to do it so it's

2110
02:38:24,000 --> 02:38:27,340
something I'd like us to consider and then also talking to the businesses

2111
02:38:27,340 --> 02:38:33,000
that are there also how because I think one of the big reasons why we're

2112
02:38:33,000 --> 02:38:36,980
doing this is to bring sure bring more people into downtown Arlington Heights

2113
02:38:36,980 --> 02:38:38,880
but also to help the businesses there

2114
02:38:38,880 --> 02:38:40,600
and how is it going to affect them?

2115
02:38:40,900 --> 02:38:42,980
So I'm glad you asked those questions.

2116
02:38:43,680 --> 02:38:47,800
For one thing, Justice LeBuzz, you had mentioned turning it

2117
02:38:48,540 --> 02:38:50,860
and you get to see, you can see people,

2118
02:38:50,980 --> 02:38:52,560
but you can see the band's performance is better,

2119
02:38:52,640 --> 02:38:53,640
which is a great point.

2120
02:38:53,780 --> 02:38:56,840
I wasn't thinking about that, and that is a great point.

2121
02:38:57,120 --> 02:38:59,640
But one thing I kept thinking, and this may just be

2122
02:38:59,640 --> 02:39:03,440
me being stupid, I don't have the experience

2123
02:39:03,440 --> 02:39:05,760
of the mayor in this, but I'm not a sound engineer,

2124
02:39:05,760 --> 02:39:09,600
but I kept thinking about this going, okay, now you've got all those speakers that are also

2125
02:39:09,600 --> 02:39:13,980
turned and are going that way and now they're blasting right at the businesses that are right there

2126
02:39:13,980 --> 02:39:21,420
and you've got glass there and glass reverberates sound. Is that a potential issue? Will it actually

2127
02:39:21,420 --> 02:39:26,340
be louder because it's turned that way? So I don't know if we know the answer if it's

2128
02:39:26,340 --> 02:39:34,260
something that we can potentially look into at some point. The last thing I just got thinking

2129
02:39:34,260 --> 02:39:42,040
When we're talking about the landscaping, do we do anything such as talk with the Arlington

2130
02:39:42,040 --> 02:39:45,720
Heights Garden Club, get them involved, or environmental commission, get them involved

2131
02:39:45,720 --> 02:39:49,480
also in kind of getting their ideas and kind of giving us some guidance?

2132
02:39:49,780 --> 02:39:51,100
Do we ever interact that way?

2133
02:39:52,260 --> 02:39:56,380
We haven't, but that doesn't mean we can't, and that's something that if the board

2134
02:39:56,380 --> 02:40:00,440
wants us to explore some partnerships with that, we certainly could.

2135
02:40:00,440 --> 02:40:06,500
I mean, I think our public works department looks at this stuff from, you know, working

2136
02:40:06,500 --> 02:40:12,660
with Derek, who's very experienced with landscape architecture, both from an aesthetic and a

2137
02:40:12,660 --> 02:40:17,900
maintenance standpoint, but there's no reason you couldn't have other input points on that.

2138
02:40:18,280 --> 02:40:18,720
Okay.

2139
02:40:19,000 --> 02:40:19,280
Thank you.

2140
02:40:19,780 --> 02:40:20,120
That's it.

2141
02:40:21,000 --> 02:40:22,280
Just to step in.

2142
02:40:22,540 --> 02:40:23,300
Quick note.

2143
02:40:23,960 --> 02:40:24,260
One more?

2144
02:40:24,480 --> 02:40:24,560
Sure.

2145
02:40:24,600 --> 02:40:24,880
One more.

2146
02:40:25,020 --> 02:40:25,240
Sorry.

2147
02:40:25,680 --> 02:40:27,980
I was just going to respond to what Zick had said.

2148
02:40:27,980 --> 02:40:34,740
And when you're setting up stage, the speakers get set up, they point them at whatever they

2149
02:40:34,740 --> 02:40:40,200
want to point them at, so there's no real issue that I have, or I don't foresee any

2150
02:40:40,200 --> 02:40:46,540
concerns with, like, it becoming an issue, like, you know, you test it, is it an issue

2151
02:40:46,540 --> 02:40:48,580
over here, move the speaker a little bit.

2152
02:40:49,000 --> 02:40:52,840
So it's all field adjustable, so just to do that.

2153
02:40:53,680 --> 02:40:53,780
Go ahead.

2154
02:40:53,780 --> 02:40:57,240
So thank you for the comment about the sound.

2155
02:40:57,700 --> 02:41:01,140
My suggestion would be not worrying so much

2156
02:41:01,140 --> 02:41:04,040
about whether sounds reverberating glass,

2157
02:41:04,340 --> 02:41:06,320
but turning it down a little bit.

2158
02:41:06,760 --> 02:41:10,720
It can be pretty blasting, no matter what.

2159
02:41:11,420 --> 02:41:13,660
So I've sat through many concerts there.

2160
02:41:14,580 --> 02:41:16,120
OK, we'll go this way now.

2161
02:41:16,440 --> 02:41:17,080
Trustee Bertucci.

2162
02:41:17,940 --> 02:41:18,780
Thank you.

2163
02:41:19,700 --> 02:41:20,920
Couple of questions.

2164
02:41:21,600 --> 02:41:28,780
Whatever slides you need to go to, I am not understanding what's happening with the current

2165
02:41:28,780 --> 02:41:30,600
seating of the restaurants.

2166
02:41:33,860 --> 02:41:40,420
So the current seating, have you, have you, anybody from the team been there on a Friday

2167
02:41:40,420 --> 02:41:43,200
or Saturday night or sounds of summer?

2168
02:41:46,850 --> 02:41:47,830
No, I haven't.

2169
02:41:48,090 --> 02:41:49,050
I haven't specifically.

2170
02:41:49,430 --> 02:41:51,130
I've been out there during a dining area time.

2171
02:41:51,150 --> 02:41:53,010
Yeah, I mean, our planning staff has.

2172
02:41:53,010 --> 02:41:59,750
But I'm talking about this design team not specifically at the sound of summers, but during the early evenings

2173
02:41:59,750 --> 02:42:05,310
I've been out there, okay, okay, so but during sounds us that but not during sounds of summer, okay

2174
02:42:05,310 --> 02:42:12,350
So the the seedings utilize and and and I'm concerned that are we

2175
02:42:13,090 --> 02:42:18,430
Taking away seeding and either the along the west side

2176
02:42:19,270 --> 02:42:26,030
So the seating stays exactly the way it is so the restaurant will not lose any tables

2177
02:42:27,590 --> 02:42:29,850
No, so part of the

2178
02:42:30,510 --> 02:42:35,710
Discussion with staff is the blue line that you see up there right now. That is the current

2179
02:42:36,270 --> 02:42:39,750
Limits of the fencing. It's out there during alfresca now

2180
02:42:39,750 --> 02:42:47,430
Yeah, and so we've maintained that obviously with the with the street use the way it is you could extend that

2181
02:42:47,430 --> 02:42:53,530
However, we didn't want to get into a discussion with the other businesses on the other legs

2182
02:42:53,530 --> 02:43:00,110
of the street, saying, how come that 200 feet of veil got more seating area than we did?

2183
02:43:00,270 --> 02:43:05,910
So we kept the seating areas and the fencing as it is today generally in the same spot

2184
02:43:05,910 --> 02:43:08,730
regardless of what street it was.

2185
02:43:09,810 --> 02:43:09,890
Okay.

2186
02:43:09,890 --> 02:43:15,890
Okay, so Arman's, the piano bar, and Hey Nani,

2187
02:43:16,750 --> 02:43:20,670
none of them will lose any tables or seating.

2188
02:43:21,050 --> 02:43:21,270
Correct.

2189
02:43:21,490 --> 02:43:23,430
Is Staffall, are there any greens with that?

2190
02:43:23,850 --> 02:43:25,230
Correct, yes, that was one of them.

2191
02:43:25,230 --> 02:43:27,670
Okay, now let's talk about Carlos and Carlos.

2192
02:43:29,030 --> 02:43:32,330
Does Carlos and Carlos lose any seating along

2193
02:43:32,890 --> 02:43:35,410
their west wall?

2194
02:43:37,090 --> 02:43:39,250
The reorientating, correct me if I'm wrong,

2195
02:43:39,250 --> 02:43:44,230
Emily, but the reorientation this would change the seating for Carlos and Carlos

2196
02:43:44,230 --> 02:43:49,550
because that's on some of our property now, but you could theoretically, when you

2197
02:43:49,550 --> 02:43:54,250
see that area that said the flexible seating area, that could be if the

2198
02:43:54,250 --> 02:43:58,470
village were so inclined, you know, programmed in a different way if we

2199
02:43:58,470 --> 02:44:01,830
wanted to allow it. I don't know if you want any further comments? Yeah, you

2200
02:44:01,830 --> 02:44:07,030
could potentially let them expand into the plaza area around the fountain as

2201
02:44:07,030 --> 02:44:10,710
I mean, I think there are some options we could consider if we wanted to do that.

2202
02:44:12,990 --> 02:44:18,570
Okay, whoever it was that was talking about, or Emily, I think it was you,

2203
02:44:18,950 --> 02:44:27,130
I would specifically be interested in hearing what Carlos and Carlos has to say,

2204
02:44:27,130 --> 02:44:32,590
with Armin's, with the piano bar, and Hainani,

2205
02:44:34,170 --> 02:44:37,970
and going to them directly and not going through,

2206
02:44:38,290 --> 02:44:39,850
in case they don't go to the meetings,

2207
02:44:41,910 --> 02:44:44,330
which is a great organization, Ernie,

2208
02:44:44,630 --> 02:44:47,690
but I'd like to make sure that we don't get

2209
02:44:47,690 --> 02:44:51,130
any interpretation through any other organizations.

2210
02:44:52,210 --> 02:44:55,010
So that's my one question, is to make sure

2211
02:44:55,010 --> 02:44:59,850
that these restaurants don't lose what we're doing this for.

2212
02:45:02,700 --> 02:45:11,060
The other thing is, do the dollars have to go in this stretch of downtown for the grants?

2213
02:45:11,840 --> 02:45:21,580
This is the project that was applied for. Generally, yes. I don't know if there's any exception, but I would say generally yes.

2214
02:45:21,880 --> 02:45:26,280
Certainly the ITEP funding, any future funding we receive through these other grants.

2215
02:45:26,280 --> 02:45:33,180
I mean potentially Representative Grosse's money maybe could go towards something else.

2216
02:45:33,260 --> 02:45:39,140
I'm not sure what she expressed she was going, she was, you know, requesting the funding for.

2217
02:45:39,300 --> 02:45:47,260
But conversations with her, the intention was to make up gaps from that were with the ITEP.

2218
02:45:47,340 --> 02:45:53,220
It was specifically designed to cover essentially the same scope as ITEP and eliminating that gap

2219
02:45:53,220 --> 02:45:57,880
so that the village had opportunities to fund the whole thing.

2220
02:45:58,600 --> 02:46:09,020
Because for the amount of, you know, the beautification, I mean, it's great, but we're pouring a lot

2221
02:46:09,020 --> 02:46:13,340
of dollars to this particular area.

2222
02:46:13,720 --> 02:46:22,640
In the meantime, we need to very much develop what I call the dark zone, and that is

2223
02:46:22,640 --> 02:46:33,720
from Dunton to Evergreen. In other words, you leave beer on the wall and kitchen and the

2224
02:46:33,720 --> 02:46:40,840
scratchboard kitchen and you walk towards Pacero and that area needs truly a lot of

2225
02:46:40,840 --> 02:46:51,020
help, right? To really connect Evergreen and the Pacero and that shop in that area with

2226
02:46:51,020 --> 02:46:59,980
this area and so I would argue that we need we could bring this down and spread

2227
02:46:59,980 --> 02:47:09,460
some of those dollars to close that gap in that area somehow some way that would

2228
02:47:09,460 --> 02:47:14,340
be my other thought so sorry did you want to jump in jump you go ahead okay

2229
02:47:14,960 --> 02:47:18,560
while it doesn't sound like we have any flexibility with the dollars that we've

2230
02:47:18,560 --> 02:47:20,840
been awarded thus far for this project.

2231
02:47:21,060 --> 02:47:23,400
One of the objectives with this project

2232
02:47:23,400 --> 02:47:27,340
was to potentially be able to expand some of these treatments

2233
02:47:27,340 --> 02:47:32,500
into the downtown as the desire exists to do so,

2234
02:47:32,500 --> 02:47:35,020
as funding becomes available to do so.

2235
02:47:35,520 --> 02:47:37,520
So not necessarily that we're looking

2236
02:47:37,520 --> 02:47:40,160
to make every street in the downtown a curbless street,

2237
02:47:40,400 --> 02:47:42,500
but some of the treatment, some of the pavement treatment,

2238
02:47:42,720 --> 02:47:45,080
some of the site furnishings, some of the lighting,

2239
02:47:45,360 --> 02:47:47,740
we could potentially expand into the other areas

2240
02:47:47,740 --> 02:47:51,800
of downtown so there may be opportunities to connect some of these areas such as you're

2241
02:47:51,800 --> 02:47:54,680
describing with these types of treatments down the road.

2242
02:47:55,460 --> 02:48:02,000
Okay, and I still would like to get a little bit more detail about the financials as far

2243
02:48:02,000 --> 02:48:08,700
as what we specifically can and cannot do with the two grants and the grants that

2244
02:48:08,700 --> 02:48:15,220
we're getting, and then I would be hesitant to put other than if those dollars can

2245
02:48:15,220 --> 02:48:24,160
only go here to put many more village dollars there without looking at other ways of improving

2246
02:48:24,160 --> 02:48:24,860
other areas.

2247
02:48:24,980 --> 02:48:30,460
Otherwise, we've got this great area, but what are we doing, like I say, to close that

2248
02:48:30,460 --> 02:48:32,860
gap on Campbell?

2249
02:48:34,740 --> 02:48:41,090
And then not to mention is, I mean, if you listen to some of the businesses on the

2250
02:48:41,090 --> 02:48:47,230
and south end, you know, and okay here we go, here they go again spending more money

2251
02:48:47,230 --> 02:48:52,190
in downtown early tonight's and you know when when they can invest and spend

2252
02:48:52,190 --> 02:48:56,830
more money and some of our you know in my area if you're a north or a south

2253
02:48:58,070 --> 02:49:04,250
restaurant or business owner so that would be my other concern. Does this,

2254
02:49:11,070 --> 02:49:11,070
my

2255
02:49:11,070 --> 02:49:16,410
leave room or does it kill the idea of an ice rink?

2256
02:49:17,090 --> 02:49:18,490
I can jump in on that.

2257
02:49:19,510 --> 02:49:29,770
I would say that it's ice rink agnostic, that if the board were inclined to implement the

2258
02:49:29,770 --> 02:49:32,910
ice rink, it could be accommodated in this space.

2259
02:49:33,150 --> 02:49:34,970
It's, again, roughly the same amount of space.

2260
02:49:34,970 --> 02:49:43,050
the one thing I would say is that the exact orientation layout set up the

2261
02:49:43,050 --> 02:49:47,590
ice rink might be a little different and so if the ice rink were installed

2262
02:49:48,970 --> 02:49:53,290
before this work were done you know it may be something we would want to

2263
02:49:53,290 --> 02:49:57,150
consider to design it in a way to keep it in mind they could be used both ways

2264
02:49:57,150 --> 02:50:00,710
I mean but but I mean again you're correct me for among Emily I mean I

2265
02:50:00,710 --> 02:50:02,510
I think that it could be done, theoretically,

2266
02:50:02,850 --> 02:50:04,130
with some additional funding.

2267
02:50:04,130 --> 02:50:05,250
It's certainly possible.

2268
02:50:05,430 --> 02:50:06,990
Anything's possible with engineering and money.

2269
02:50:07,690 --> 02:50:09,850
One thing I would point out as staff

2270
02:50:09,850 --> 02:50:12,570
has been talking just internally and formally about this

2271
02:50:12,570 --> 02:50:15,310
is part of the goal with the stage area

2272
02:50:15,310 --> 02:50:19,130
was to also preserve that area for the Christmas tree

2273
02:50:19,970 --> 02:50:21,610
and have some flexibility in the space

2274
02:50:21,610 --> 02:50:23,910
for maybe a holiday market or something like that.

2275
02:50:24,930 --> 02:50:26,710
An ice rink would potentially limit that,

2276
02:50:26,870 --> 02:50:28,510
but that doesn't mean it's not doable.

2277
02:50:29,050 --> 02:50:33,150
one of the things that staff was thinking about just I think this morning was

2278
02:50:33,150 --> 02:50:37,390
potentially other areas in downtown where an ice drink could be located to

2279
02:50:37,390 --> 02:50:41,570
preserve Harmony Park for some of these other things that I just mentioned and

2280
02:50:41,570 --> 02:50:45,150
I have not talked with public works about this I don't I don't think I've

2281
02:50:45,150 --> 02:50:49,810
even mentioned this to Randy yet but one of the suggestions was looking at the

2282
02:50:49,810 --> 02:50:53,810
parking lot along the train line across from Bird's Nest so it's not

2283
02:50:53,810 --> 02:50:57,030
unusual for municipalities to erect these ice rinks in parking lots

2284
02:50:57,030 --> 02:51:02,730
because they're already graded and so it's also not unusual to do them next to

2285
02:51:02,730 --> 02:51:06,530
train lanes because you have the visibility from the train. Obviously

2286
02:51:06,530 --> 02:51:10,250
there's some parking and other things that we would have to look at but there

2287
02:51:10,250 --> 02:51:14,930
may be other opportunities to keep the ice rink in the downtown. I'm not saying

2288
02:51:14,930 --> 02:51:17,910
that Harmony Park couldn't make it happen but I think there are other

2289
02:51:17,910 --> 02:51:24,690
areas we could also look at if that proved to be challenging. Okay, my only

2290
02:51:24,690 --> 02:51:33,670
other thought is it reminds me of a nice open room that you know that sure

2291
02:51:33,670 --> 02:51:38,950
needed some furniture and some direct but then somebody came in and over

2292
02:51:38,950 --> 02:51:44,050
furnitureed it you know so to speak so and maybe it's just because it's an

2293
02:51:44,050 --> 02:51:49,110
aerial view showing the tops of the trees but it seems like it made a nice

2294
02:51:49,110 --> 02:52:01,010
open area, and I think European piazza kind of feel to a crowded, over-landscaped, over-bullvard area.

2295
02:52:01,630 --> 02:52:06,390
So, again, that's just my opinion, but that would be my other thought.

2296
02:52:07,350 --> 02:52:08,010
Thank you, Mayor.

2297
02:52:08,230 --> 02:52:08,390
Thanks.

2298
02:52:08,970 --> 02:52:09,590
Josie Donington.

2299
02:52:10,110 --> 02:52:10,610
Thank you.

2300
02:52:11,370 --> 02:52:13,850
Overall, I think the project looks really beautiful.

2301
02:52:13,850 --> 02:52:18,550
Thank you for everyone that worked on all of the grants for the funding for this.

2302
02:52:18,990 --> 02:52:21,130
Just a quick question, a few quick questions.

2303
02:52:21,790 --> 02:52:24,790
For the bollards, it's the removable, correct?

2304
02:52:25,430 --> 02:52:26,150
How does that work?

2305
02:52:26,530 --> 02:52:31,790
Is it, do they like go down into the cement or how does that work?

2306
02:52:32,170 --> 02:52:37,250
There are some that go down and there are ones that completely come out of the ground.

2307
02:52:37,490 --> 02:52:42,750
So that's going to be a discussion with public works on the preference on, I mean

2308
02:52:42,750 --> 02:52:46,190
if we go down then you're gonna have ice and snow and grit and all kinds of stuff

2309
02:52:46,190 --> 02:52:50,890
that are gonna get down into this tube of the ballard so I would hesitate to go

2310
02:52:50,890 --> 02:52:53,790
that direction from a maintenance standpoint because it's already cold

2311
02:52:53,790 --> 02:52:57,270
enough these guys are gonna try to pull up ballards and you know we know what's

2312
02:52:57,270 --> 02:53:01,410
gonna happen there versus them being taken out a cap put on it and then they

2313
02:53:01,410 --> 02:53:05,710
come back in the springtime and and close it up and bring them back so

2314
02:53:05,710 --> 02:53:09,250
that that's kind of an ongoing discussion of just the exact type of

2315
02:53:09,250 --> 02:53:13,530
baller that's going to be used but we prefer to just take them out and bring

2316
02:53:13,530 --> 02:53:18,510
them back. And then when you when we see the crosswalks they look different is

2317
02:53:18,510 --> 02:53:24,290
that because the pavers are different or are they painted or how are they marked?

2318
02:53:26,880 --> 02:53:30,100
Yeah so from an ADA standpoint you want to make sure that you have high

2319
02:53:30,100 --> 02:53:36,400
contrast in your in your delineation of the crosswalk so we're

2320
02:53:36,400 --> 02:53:42,740
proposing just a flat flush concrete curb essentially so it would be at the grade

2321
02:53:42,740 --> 02:53:48,560
and then a darker paver there in between that crosswalk so that you've got some

2322
02:53:48,560 --> 02:53:52,600
visual difference between the rest of the street and then where pedestrians

2323
02:53:52,600 --> 02:53:58,080
cross. Okay, I was disappointed that we couldn't do the raised crosswalk because

2324
02:53:58,080 --> 02:54:02,140
I think that really slows down traffic. Are there any of the intersections

2325
02:54:02,140 --> 02:54:06,760
sections that we could either raise or is it just out of the question because of the drainage?

2326
02:54:07,500 --> 02:54:12,820
The other three intersections that we discussed I think are still in probably somewhat of an

2327
02:54:12,820 --> 02:54:15,060
evaluation mode from the raised crosswalk.

2328
02:54:15,400 --> 02:54:22,820
This one it was pretty well discussed that given the past drainage issues down there

2329
02:54:22,820 --> 02:54:25,580
that we really don't want to get into that again.

2330
02:54:25,900 --> 02:54:30,700
So at that point it was like well let's we can eliminate it here but as you enter

2331
02:54:30,700 --> 02:54:34,260
or into the area if we were to do a raised crosswalk,

2332
02:54:34,420 --> 02:54:36,820
that would at least alert people that you're entering

2333
02:54:36,820 --> 02:54:38,340
into an area that's a little bit different

2334
02:54:38,340 --> 02:54:39,720
than the normal road.

2335
02:54:40,000 --> 02:54:41,620
So I think it's still under evaluation.

2336
02:54:41,940 --> 02:54:44,080
Trustee Dunnington, to further answer your question,

2337
02:54:45,620 --> 02:54:50,680
while the grain edge was the primary concern,

2338
02:54:51,220 --> 02:54:54,780
there is some concern by some in public works

2339
02:54:54,780 --> 02:54:57,380
about snow plowing and maintenance

2340
02:54:57,380 --> 02:55:00,000
of a raised intersection as well.

2341
02:55:00,000 --> 02:55:05,120
and you know the public workforce are practical people and try to look at these things from

2342
02:55:05,120 --> 02:55:08,780
maintenance standpoints and that's part of the conversation as well.

2343
02:55:09,500 --> 02:55:09,660
I

2344
02:55:12,150 --> 02:55:19,150
really like the curb bump out so that the crosswalk is shorter for pedestrians. I think

2345
02:55:19,150 --> 02:55:19,830
that looks great.

2346
02:55:21,970 --> 02:55:29,590
And the design in the middle of the crosswalk that's just the A is that

2347
02:55:29,590 --> 02:55:35,810
something that we can put something different there? Okay. Because I think it looks really

2348
02:55:35,810 --> 02:55:40,370
corporate. It looks like a business card or a letterhead and I think it would be nice

2349
02:55:40,370 --> 02:55:48,170
to have something fun in that area rather than our day. And I'm also wondering about

2350
02:55:48,170 --> 02:55:53,110
the trash receptacles. I know we're matching the ones that we currently have, but I would

2351
02:55:53,110 --> 02:55:59,250
love to see the sorter receptacles so that we could do better recycling and

2352
02:55:59,250 --> 02:56:05,290
garbage rather than just our standard ones that don't really give any

2353
02:56:05,290 --> 02:56:13,550
information. And then one of the slides we saw some gateway options and so I

2354
02:56:13,550 --> 02:56:19,690
just wanted to comment that I like the one with the arch on it. I don't know if I

2355
02:56:19,690 --> 02:56:24,650
jump in on the signage component. So we are looking at incorporating some

2356
02:56:24,650 --> 02:56:29,190
gateway signage at several of these intersections and V3 was able to put

2357
02:56:29,190 --> 02:56:32,730
together a variety of concepts for us to look at just to help us start thinking

2358
02:56:32,730 --> 02:56:38,110
about what that signage might look like. So we will continue to refine those

2359
02:56:38,110 --> 02:56:42,990
concepts and likely take those to the design commission for input. They

2360
02:56:42,990 --> 02:56:46,010
wouldn't necessarily provide input on the overall park design but signage

2361
02:56:46,010 --> 02:56:47,950
just typically fall under their purview.

2362
02:56:48,230 --> 02:56:50,030
So, we intend to take it before them

2363
02:56:50,030 --> 02:56:51,070
for consideration as well.

2364
02:56:51,310 --> 02:56:51,870
That sounds good.

2365
02:56:52,410 --> 02:56:56,050
Okay, so, I'd love to see a different design in the center,

2366
02:56:56,690 --> 02:56:58,050
better trash and recycle.

2367
02:56:59,050 --> 02:57:01,390
It would be great to do the raised sidewalks,

2368
02:57:01,390 --> 02:57:03,350
like coming into Arlington, El Frasco,

2369
02:57:03,410 --> 02:57:04,510
to like slow traffic down.

2370
02:57:05,350 --> 02:57:06,630
And I love the mural.

2371
02:57:07,870 --> 02:57:08,830
I think it looks great.

2372
02:57:08,990 --> 02:57:10,090
Thank you so much for your work.

2373
02:57:11,130 --> 02:57:11,990
Trustee Schwingack.

2374
02:57:12,490 --> 02:57:12,970
Thank you, Mayor.

2375
02:57:14,930 --> 02:57:22,310
Phenomenal presentation. I mean I love the plan. I'm making an assumption that V3

2376
02:57:22,310 --> 02:57:29,010
does all the construction as well. Are you the actual builder? Yeah. No we would

2377
02:57:29,010 --> 02:57:35,270
not bid on this particular but it's all incorporated in the price. So yes the

2378
02:57:35,270 --> 02:57:39,430
construction cost is in the three is in the 4.4 million dollars along with

2379
02:57:39,430 --> 02:57:43,190
the phase two engineering and the construction engineering that goes along

2380
02:57:43,190 --> 02:57:46,670
with that. And you would hire though would you are you the general contractor

2381
02:57:46,670 --> 02:57:50,730
would you be hiring him or who's hiring? No this will go out to bid for a

2382
02:57:50,730 --> 02:57:54,090
general contractor to build it itself. And we would work with the general

2383
02:57:54,090 --> 02:58:00,430
contractor. Okay so I you know I love the design I mean from a landscape point

2384
02:58:00,430 --> 02:58:05,890
of view it looks beautiful. The other three streets I think as trustee

2385
02:58:05,890 --> 02:58:10,970
Bertucci brought up, those are still going to be dropped with curbs.

2386
02:58:11,330 --> 02:58:16,950
So, you know, I certainly understand creating this European walkway.

2387
02:58:17,130 --> 02:58:21,510
I mean, it, it looks beautiful, but, but our other three streets in the

2388
02:58:21,510 --> 02:58:24,990
El Fresco zone are still going to be dropped down.

2389
02:58:25,670 --> 02:58:33,550
I, when, when I look at this whole area, um, I, I'm looking at Arlington

2390
02:58:33,550 --> 02:58:41,570
to El Fresco and I'm looking at people coming into this area to use our businesses and our

2391
02:58:41,570 --> 02:58:51,250
restaurants and I'm not 100% sure that doing this is going to be bringing in any more people

2392
02:58:51,570 --> 02:58:55,570
that are going to be eating at our restaurants and visiting our stores.

2393
02:58:55,570 --> 02:59:04,390
It looks beautiful, but my main goal would be, is it going to bring any more people coming

2394
02:59:04,390 --> 02:59:08,230
into our downtown during El Fresco and spending money?

2395
02:59:08,630 --> 02:59:13,730
Because during the non-El Fresco months, streets are going to be opened up and they're going

2396
02:59:13,730 --> 02:59:16,430
to be back to business as usual.

2397
02:59:16,430 --> 02:59:25,570
Well, I mean one question I had that I think Mayor Tonalia was trying to answer but I didn't

2398
02:59:25,570 --> 02:59:33,250
hear an answer from you guys, you don't touch the park at all, you just leave it as is.

2399
02:59:33,670 --> 02:59:37,570
No rearranging of the grass or brick pavers or nothing.

2400
02:59:38,950 --> 02:59:43,290
There's a lot of work there, it's got to add some cost, I can't see it just being

2401
02:59:43,290 --> 02:59:45,150
$15,000 or $20,000.

2402
02:59:45,150 --> 02:59:51,590
dollars so if we didn't touch from that you know east side curb even if we raise

2403
02:59:51,590 --> 02:59:57,010
up the street all the way to that wall where Carlos and Carlos says we didn't

2404
02:59:57,010 --> 02:59:59,450
touch that what would that reduce the price by

2405
03:00:00,000 --> 03:00:00,800
Approximately.

2406
03:00:02,900 --> 03:00:08,560
Based on my quick math here, while everybody's been discussing various things, we'd be somewhere

2407
03:00:08,560 --> 03:00:13,900
in the two and a half million range for the road, the intersection, everything from the

2408
03:00:13,900 --> 03:00:19,880
park to the opposite building, because there's still a substantial amount of work regardless

2409
03:00:19,880 --> 03:00:20,900
of the park area.

2410
03:00:21,000 --> 03:00:21,120
Right.

2411
03:00:21,300 --> 03:00:26,820
Yeah, and I guess my thoughts on this whole thing is we just spent the first half

2412
03:00:26,820 --> 03:00:36,820
for tonight's meeting talking about taxes and now, you know, if we had the funding to

2413
03:00:36,820 --> 03:00:41,380
do this where it wasn't going to cost the village any money, that would be one thing.

2414
03:00:41,600 --> 03:00:48,160
But to sit here and talk about a streaming tax and talk about that grocery tax and now

2415
03:00:48,160 --> 03:00:54,280
seeing this project with approximately a million dollar gap that we've got to come

2416
03:00:54,280 --> 03:01:00,540
up with. That's hard to swallow since we were just talking about, you know, not raising taxes

2417
03:01:00,540 --> 03:01:05,740
and trying to figure out ways of bringing in, you know, more money. And that's where

2418
03:01:05,740 --> 03:01:11,600
I really struggle. I'd like to see it where we're getting, you know, X amount of money

2419
03:01:11,600 --> 03:01:20,240
from one source and 450 from State Representative Grassy and trying to figure out how to

2420
03:01:20,240 --> 03:01:23,680
do that and make it beautiful for that amount of money.

2421
03:01:24,900 --> 03:01:33,180
Because I think as people are watching this meeting and it's being reported on, we worked

2422
03:01:33,180 --> 03:01:37,280
really hard at the beginning of this meeting to figure out what we're going to do with

2423
03:01:37,280 --> 03:01:42,500
those first two taxes and now we're talking about adding another million dollars or coming

2424
03:01:42,500 --> 03:01:43,720
up with a million dollars.

2425
03:01:44,180 --> 03:01:46,180
So that's really where I'm struggling.

2426
03:01:46,680 --> 03:01:51,820
And, you know, the race street looks beautiful, but we still have the other three intersections

2427
03:01:51,820 --> 03:01:55,840
that are going to be lowered and, you know, what would it look like if this were lowered

2428
03:01:55,840 --> 03:01:56,280
as well?

2429
03:01:56,580 --> 03:01:57,960
And we didn't raise it up.

2430
03:01:59,240 --> 03:02:07,640
So that's really, my thing is just that money that we would have to come up with

2431
03:02:07,640 --> 03:02:10,980
a village when we were just discussing taxes.

2432
03:02:10,980 --> 03:02:15,420
could I add just one point to that because I want to make sure this is clear

2433
03:02:15,420 --> 03:02:20,680
and I'm not quite sure that it has been clear this evening there is a village

2434
03:02:20,680 --> 03:02:26,060
match that is required for the ITEP grant so we do have money budgeted

2435
03:02:26,060 --> 03:02:31,780
already in the for capital projects for phase two engineering I believe which

2436
03:02:31,780 --> 03:02:37,140
is two hundred and fifty thousand dollars the ITEP grant covers that phase

2437
03:02:37,140 --> 03:02:40,420
two engineering so we can use that money we have budgeted towards the

2438
03:02:40,420 --> 03:02:45,680
village is required match but regardless of the where the scope of the

2439
03:02:45,680 --> 03:02:50,520
project ends up there are village dollars that are required by the grant

2440
03:02:50,520 --> 03:02:53,600
funding to be put into the project so I just want to make sure the board

2441
03:02:53,600 --> 03:02:57,560
understands that there the village will have to contribute a portion of money to

2442
03:02:57,560 --> 03:03:02,940
the project the question would be how much right and obviously if the board

2443
03:03:02,940 --> 03:03:07,760
were so inclined to reduce the scope of that the savings you know the

2444
03:03:07,760 --> 03:03:11,560
Village would feel savings. I mean, that's that's always an option for sure

2445
03:03:11,560 --> 03:03:16,100
But we wouldn't be able to get out of this without without some money, right?

2446
03:03:16,500 --> 03:03:23,480
So even though we would be getting three million if we drop the cost of this total project from

2447
03:03:23,480 --> 03:03:27,500
over four, you know down to say only

2448
03:03:28,680 --> 03:03:33,220
2.5 or 3 million we'd still have to fork out money even though the grants are here

2449
03:03:33,220 --> 03:03:38,920
That's that's our center saying there is a they want some local skin in the game for an ITEP grant so yeah

2450
03:03:38,920 --> 03:03:45,100
And I guess from my point of view I'd need to see what that skin is sure so so the ITEP money is

2451
03:03:45,100 --> 03:03:50,260
8020 80 state federal and 20% local and then the other

2452
03:03:50,260 --> 03:03:52,760
Funding source that we applied for the local

2453
03:03:53,640 --> 03:03:55,900
Program funding that came out through iDOT

2454
03:03:55,900 --> 03:03:59,280
Can be used as your match and so what we did

2455
03:03:59,280 --> 03:04:05,800
we took the gap that we had from the ITEP money and the local money, and we put that

2456
03:04:05,800 --> 03:04:10,560
into that additional grant that's out there, it hasn't been announced yet, who

2457
03:04:10,560 --> 03:04:15,400
receives that. So that money, hopefully, knock on wood comes in, because that's a

2458
03:04:15,400 --> 03:04:20,460
million dollars, that would make up the local gap to match that 20% ITEP. So

2459
03:04:21,140 --> 03:04:24,440
we've kind of maneuvered the funds as best we could within the rules that

2460
03:04:24,440 --> 03:04:30,380
we have. We've yet to be awarded that yet, not on what we might. Yeah and I just don't

2461
03:04:30,380 --> 03:04:34,400
see, I guess personally I don't see any reason to really change the layout of

2462
03:04:34,400 --> 03:04:39,820
Harmony Park. You know I think it's a beautiful area, people love coming there

2463
03:04:39,820 --> 03:04:46,660
and you know again I with these changes I don't know what that cost is so I'd

2464
03:04:46,660 --> 03:04:52,220
be, I'd really like to understand if we eliminated and didn't touch Harmony

2465
03:04:52,220 --> 03:04:54,280
Park, what would that do to the cost?

2466
03:04:56,660 --> 03:04:57,040
Thank you.

2467
03:04:57,560 --> 03:05:01,820
Thanks. Trustee Santamaria? The best part about being last is that

2468
03:05:01,820 --> 03:05:05,960
I typically don't have questions. But I wanted to say it's a beautiful

2469
03:05:07,220 --> 03:05:09,940
design. I do love it. My only last question

2470
03:05:09,940 --> 03:05:13,500
that hasn't been asked yet is what the plan for community feedback would be.

2471
03:05:15,320 --> 03:05:17,260
So there's a couple stages to that. I think

2472
03:05:17,260 --> 03:05:21,420
well as part of the I dot process we will have a community

2473
03:05:21,420 --> 03:05:26,560
open house meeting. Somewhere, I'd like to usually have them on site so that

2474
03:05:26,560 --> 03:05:32,520
everybody's engaged and go through sort of the same presentation. You know, there's

2475
03:05:32,520 --> 03:05:37,720
usually questions, FAQs, we'll put QR codes everywhere, it'll be online to

2476
03:05:37,720 --> 03:05:42,140
answer questions, get feedback from that standpoint. But I also heard tonight

2477
03:05:42,140 --> 03:05:46,540
as well that engaging a few of the local businesses directly adjacent to the

2478
03:05:46,540 --> 03:05:51,160
site will have to do outside of the normal IDOT procedure. So I think it's

2479
03:05:51,160 --> 03:05:53,200
combination of both. Okay, thank you.

2480
03:05:55,320 --> 03:05:59,500
Go ahead. That sound like rapping, but one

2481
03:05:59,500 --> 03:06:03,060
last one. So it's usually not me.

2482
03:06:06,980 --> 03:06:09,800
How many more sounds, we have one or two

2483
03:06:09,800 --> 03:06:18,480
sounds, two sounds of summers left, right? Two. Two. I would, in order, let me, how

2484
03:06:18,480 --> 03:06:26,540
best to say this. You need to come out and you need to stand there with the

2485
03:06:26,540 --> 03:06:33,460
3,000 people that'll be there. Thank you. Thank you. I don't know how you could

2486
03:06:33,460 --> 03:06:40,160
design something like that and not come to one of our most packed events for

2487
03:06:40,160 --> 03:06:45,680
that area. And it'll be even more during the Harmony Fest which is what's

2488
03:06:45,680 --> 03:06:48,200
That's the date in early October, the first weekend.

2489
03:06:48,560 --> 03:06:50,880
It's the last week of September.

2490
03:06:51,020 --> 03:06:52,520
The last week of September, okay.

2491
03:06:53,100 --> 03:06:55,320
So that's an even bigger event.

2492
03:06:56,880 --> 03:07:03,020
And so if we're wrapped up here and I'm gonna get a chance here, what I wanna say

2493
03:07:03,020 --> 03:07:11,010
is whatever you do, unless you put a second story on this park, you're not gonna increase

2494
03:07:11,010 --> 03:07:12,010
number of people in here.

2495
03:07:13,570 --> 03:07:19,450
Everything that we talked about here tonight, those images that you did with other people

2496
03:07:19,450 --> 03:07:22,430
standing in there, it's 20 times more people than that.

2497
03:07:22,550 --> 03:07:29,910
It's wall to wall, elbow to elbow, and there are times when it almost feels dangerous.

2498
03:07:30,350 --> 03:07:32,650
There's that many people in this space.

2499
03:07:35,170 --> 03:07:39,710
And while it may look beautiful, and I've said this about other petitioners who

2500
03:07:39,710 --> 03:07:45,050
been here in front of us on different things. I think that, like Trustee Schwingbeck said

2501
03:07:45,050 --> 03:07:53,250
and I said earlier, if we did nothing to Harmony Park, it would be fine to take that money

2502
03:07:53,250 --> 03:08:00,590
and turn it around and spend it on an intersection here or there or find a way to have it work

2503
03:08:00,590 --> 03:08:06,250
better for us somewhere just adjacent to this somehow. I just don't think that that

2504
03:08:06,250 --> 03:08:11,850
That park is necessary to tear it apart and do that right now.

2505
03:08:13,490 --> 03:08:21,110
I do think getting engagement like Trustee Santa Maria said with the stakeholders on-site

2506
03:08:21,110 --> 03:08:21,990
here is important.

2507
03:08:24,330 --> 03:08:28,950
I'm really worried about the parking guys that really I'm afraid of what people might

2508
03:08:28,950 --> 03:08:29,290
say.

2509
03:08:31,950 --> 03:08:40,510
but I guess at the end of the day, I think it's a wonderful idea. It would be great to

2510
03:08:40,510 --> 03:08:47,050
take advantage of these grants. It would be great to do something with it. I don't want

2511
03:08:47,050 --> 03:08:54,690
to be – I want to be more careful about where we spend the dollars. I want to be more

2512
03:08:54,690 --> 03:08:58,230
careful about it. And I'm going to say one last thing because everybody knows that

2513
03:08:58,230 --> 03:08:59,390
I have a lot to say about music.

2514
03:09:00,290 --> 03:09:02,630
Can we go back to the drawing where you have the stage

2515
03:09:02,630 --> 03:09:03,390
tilted in there?

2516
03:09:11,080 --> 03:09:14,960
You guys don't know me, but if you take that stage

2517
03:09:14,960 --> 03:09:17,560
and you aim it towards the promenade here,

2518
03:09:20,810 --> 03:09:21,210
everything

2519
03:09:21,210 --> 03:09:22,530
that Robin said is true.

2520
03:09:22,810 --> 03:09:25,150
The folks who are sitting in those chairs where the

2521
03:09:25,150 --> 03:09:28,730
ballards are and where the word says gateway, those

2522
03:09:28,730 --> 03:09:30,870
folks who have a better view of the stage, there's no

2523
03:09:30,870 --> 03:09:31,590
doubt about that.

2524
03:09:31,590 --> 03:09:38,810
but the result is everybody else who sits closer to Carlos and Carlos by the fountain

2525
03:09:38,810 --> 03:09:47,050
or who's standing anywhere near the fountain, when you turn it, you're going to turn your back on the other folks over there.

2526
03:09:47,910 --> 03:09:56,350
And you cannot adjust these big, massive speakers willy-nilly on site like that.

2527
03:09:56,350 --> 03:10:01,270
you set them up how you want them to be. No one is going out there and rotating

2528
03:10:01,270 --> 03:10:06,090
those and twisting those when it's going on. So you'd have to know that in

2529
03:10:06,090 --> 03:10:09,110
advance. We're going to aim these speakers here. We're going to aim those speakers

2530
03:10:09,110 --> 03:10:12,930
there and that's just how it gets set up for that night. You might learn

2531
03:10:12,930 --> 03:10:17,290
after a couple of performances you want to change it this way. As long as

2532
03:10:17,290 --> 03:10:22,610
you have the same sound system every time. But there are complications with

2533
03:10:22,610 --> 03:10:28,410
this and it's throwing all that sound. If you draw the line from the center of that stage

2534
03:10:28,950 --> 03:10:36,170
on the angle it's going to hit the front door of Armand's. That's where your main point

2535
03:10:36,170 --> 03:10:41,350
of your sound is that last big tree at the bottom just to the left or just to the

2536
03:10:41,350 --> 03:10:48,290
north of the metropolis entrance. And then unless you turn all the speakers to

2537
03:10:48,290 --> 03:10:53,970
go straight north, then you're going to lose the sound that goes to Campbell

2538
03:10:53,970 --> 03:10:59,070
Street. There's a few things about this that I'm not comfortable with and I feel

2539
03:10:59,070 --> 03:11:05,150
like we need a lot more dialogue on and some time and energy on and that's

2540
03:11:05,150 --> 03:11:09,250
where I'll stop for tonight. It's getting very late. You guys did a great job for

2541
03:11:09,250 --> 03:11:13,870
a lot of reasons. I think it's a really nice idea and I want to take

2542
03:11:13,870 --> 03:11:18,710
advantage of this. I want to do it the best way that we can. For all the reasons

2543
03:11:18,710 --> 03:11:24,950
Trustee Schwingbeck said about what we just did earlier today, you know, it all

2544
03:11:24,950 --> 03:11:29,950
kind of makes sense. All right, we have to be careful here. And that's really all

2545
03:11:29,950 --> 03:11:33,930
I have. So what are you looking for from us? What is staff looking for? I think

2546
03:11:33,930 --> 03:11:37,590
we were looking for feedback guidance based on where we're at and I think

2547
03:11:37,590 --> 03:11:42,750
we've gotten some good feedback and guidance that we can get back in, you

2548
03:11:42,750 --> 03:11:48,930
regroup and look at some options. I think you all had asked for some specific things

2549
03:11:48,930 --> 03:11:54,050
and we'll work on that. So, no, I think this is the kind of conversation we were looking for.

2550
03:11:54,830 --> 03:12:02,370
I think we're at a point here where we probably need to drop the pencils for a little bit,

2551
03:12:02,610 --> 03:12:07,670
do a little thinking, a little discussing, a little figuring. Not unlike another project

2552
03:12:07,670 --> 03:12:11,610
in town here right now that we just need to kind of figure it out a little bit more.

2553
03:12:11,610 --> 03:12:15,970
Before we go too far, and then we're sorry because we didn't think about some other stuff

2554
03:12:17,190 --> 03:12:18,570
Come out Thursday night

2555
03:12:18,570 --> 03:12:24,750
Come out next Thursday night whatever get a good feeling for what this space really is like right now

2556
03:12:24,750 --> 03:12:29,030
And then walk down a couple of the other directions of the streets and and see

2557
03:12:29,950 --> 03:12:30,430
the

2558
03:12:31,170 --> 03:12:39,510
You know the imbalance of how things are it's it's pretty nice right now in some areas not as

2559
03:12:40,910 --> 03:12:41,870
well-appointed.

2560
03:12:43,970 --> 03:12:48,250
But you can't set your chairs or blankets out before 2 p.m.

2561
03:12:49,230 --> 03:12:53,630
Try and do it. The blanket police will take it away.

2562
03:12:55,210 --> 03:12:59,550
We do have some bar copies. Yes, absolutely. Hang on one second.

2563
03:12:59,790 --> 03:13:03,930
Go ahead. I think you may have mentioned it earlier too but in the lieu of the

2564
03:13:03,930 --> 03:13:08,330
let's say you raised the street up in lieu of the brick pavers I know a lot

2565
03:13:08,330 --> 03:13:13,670
of times when I've driven through streets with brick pavers, they move around a lot

2566
03:13:13,670 --> 03:13:17,970
on you and break up pressed concrete that looks like brick pavers.

2567
03:13:19,290 --> 03:13:20,350
Certainly an option.

2568
03:13:21,230 --> 03:13:25,050
I don't know if that would reduce the price dramatically and the maintenance.

2569
03:13:26,130 --> 03:13:33,230
I know for a stamped concrete, it does not wear as well as pavers long term.

2570
03:13:33,370 --> 03:13:34,330
It gets discolored.

2571
03:13:34,370 --> 03:13:35,070
It can get cracked.

2572
03:13:35,070 --> 03:13:40,730
look on saline then you would lose the permeable aspect of it that was a big

2573
03:13:40,730 --> 03:13:46,030
reason we were getting grant money and so forth okay right and and I was

2574
03:13:46,030 --> 03:13:51,450
mentioning it to trustee Bertucci here quietly on your honor driveway out here

2575
03:13:51,450 --> 03:13:55,930
from this building where the brick paper example is the one thing that I

2576
03:13:55,930 --> 03:13:59,950
would want you guys to be able to answer as we get together how does it

2577
03:13:59,950 --> 03:14:07,790
behave when you spill blood light on it, and hot dog mustard, and ketchup, and then Scott

2578
03:14:07,790 --> 03:14:11,930
Shirley's ex-mates have to go out there and clean all this stuff.

2579
03:14:13,250 --> 03:14:19,390
When you have these big parties, you know, there's times when this is like a giant fraternity

2580
03:14:19,390 --> 03:14:23,550
party out there, and people bump into each other and things fall down and things spill.

2581
03:14:24,030 --> 03:14:27,690
How does that all work with these kinds of surfaces, right?

2582
03:14:27,690 --> 03:14:30,710
And then what's the cleanup? What's the what's the repair?

2583
03:14:32,860 --> 03:14:35,000
It's all I have anybody else

2584
03:14:36,080 --> 03:14:40,060
Thank you all for the presentation very much. Appreciate it. Thank you

2585
03:14:40,060 --> 03:14:45,000
And we do have some hard copies of the redner ease if you want to take those with as you're thinking about the project

2586
03:14:45,000 --> 03:14:48,480
You'll have some nice photos here of that. So I'll leave them with

2587
03:14:50,220 --> 03:14:53,700
Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. All right

2588
03:14:54,460 --> 03:15:00,000
I don't think there's any other business tonight. Am I correct? Correct. Alright, so a motion to adjourn would be a

2589
03:15:00,560 --> 03:15:07,460
I move we adjourn. Second. Motion made by Trustee Lavez, second by Trustee Schwingbeck. All those

2590
03:15:07,460 --> 03:15:11,560
in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. We're adjourned. Thank you, everyone.