[8:43] these days.

[15:05] » [clears throat]

[15:12] » going to take time

[15:18] We were down there.

[15:25] [laughter]

[15:28] » Got there in the middle of the night

[15:31] when it was

[15:34] » like 3 in the morning.

[15:36] Get off the tarmac.

[15:41] [laughter]

[15:46] back.

[15:48] >> Oh, yeah. So, it's totally

[15:52] » okay. It is 7 o'clock. And so, I'd like

[15:54] to call to order the regular meeting of

[15:57] the Betavia City Council for Monday,

[16:00] October 5th, 2026.

[16:02] And I would uh ask that you all please

[16:05] rise for a brief invocation to be

[16:07] followed by the pledge of allegiance.

[16:11] Tonight, as we meet the first meeting of

[16:15] October, we are ever mindful and

[16:18] thankful for the many challenges that

[16:20] are facing not only Betavia but the

[16:23] greater world around us. And we just ask

[16:25] for understanding and reassessments and

[16:29] goodwill on the parts of everybody at

[16:31] every level of government that they work

[16:34] to do what is in the best interest of

[16:36] the world at hand. Uh, Betavia [snorts]

[16:39] I feel is in a very special place. Uh,

[16:42] we have a very strong city council. We

[16:44] have good other districts, school board,

[16:47] park board, library board, uh, all

[16:50] working with us in Betavia on

[16:52] commonalities of of progress. And so I'm

[16:55] thankful that we have such a community

[16:57] where people can come together and work

[17:00] out their differences and present very strong governments. And I think

[17:05] each one of us in the various

[17:06] governments of Betavia has that. And

[17:10] also I'm very thankful for the support

[17:12] that the city has uh specifically for

[17:15] the good support we find within the

[17:17] Betavia Plan Commission which is very

[17:21] enticing and observant group and they're

[17:24] always there to do what they think is in

[17:26] the right interest of Betavia and we are

[17:28] ever thankful for their good efforts.

[17:30] Also tonight, we just ask for peace and

[17:33] understanding and vision on the parts of

[17:35] the city council as we take part in the

[17:37] business before us, knowing that in the

[17:40] hearts and minds of each and every one

[17:41] of them, they are here to do what is in

[17:44] the very interest of Bavia. Amen.

[17:53] » Yes.

[17:55] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the

[17:58] United States of America and to the

[18:00] republic for which it stands. One nation

[18:04] under God, indivisible, with liberty and

[18:07] justice for all.

[18:14] [snorts]

[18:18] » Ask a curve to call the role.

[18:21] >> Here, Lansancy

[18:22] >> here. Spec here,

[18:24] >> Malay

[18:24] >> here,

[18:25] >> Malone

[18:26] >> here.

[18:26] >> Wolf

[18:27] >> here.

[18:28] >> Sulfa

[18:28] >> here.

[18:29] >> Baron

[18:29] >> here.

[18:29] >> Leman

[18:30] >> here.

[18:30] >> Lman

[18:31] >> here.

[18:31] >> Peeper

[18:32] >> here.

[18:32] >> Farenbach here.

[18:33] >> Anderson

[18:34] >> here.

[18:34] >> White

[18:35] >> here.

[18:35] >> A full house, your honor. 14 to 14.

[18:38] >> Very good.

[18:38] >> I thank everybody for coming.

[18:40] >> Uh, moving to item four. A reminder to

[18:43] the audience. If you're going to speak

[18:45] to us tonight, please come forward and

[18:47] use the microphone because everything

[18:49] we're doing is being recorded for BATV.

[18:52] And if you don't speak into the

[18:53] microphone, you're going to be a silent

[18:56] vision of a moose mouth movement with

[19:00] nobody hearing what you're saying. So,

[19:02] please come forward and use the the

[19:04] microphone there. And uh we also are

[19:07] thankful if you have some issue or

[19:09] something you'd like to bring up at the

[19:12] appropriate times in the meeting, we

[19:13] will ask that you come forward and do

[19:15] that. All right. Uh moving then uh to

[19:21] item number five, matters from the

[19:23] public for items not on the agenda

[19:24] tonight. Do we have anybody that wishes

[19:26] to come forward and speak?

[19:36] » Thank you for the opportunity, mayor,

[19:38] members of the council, city officials.

[19:40] Uh many of you know me. I'm Bob Keyffer.

[19:43] I've lived in Pattavia for 21 years.

[19:46] resident at 639 Hamilton Way. That's in

[19:49] the Windmir subdivision on the west

[19:51] side.

[19:52] Um I'm here to share my concerns and the

[19:54] concerns of many of my neighbors about

[19:57] the recent change in traffic control

[19:59] management on Branson Drive.

[20:02] In the summer of 2024, with the

[20:04] completion of the bridge over the

[20:05] Brayburn Marsh, Branson went from being

[20:08] a one-way street, a dead-end street

[20:10] rather, to being a through connection

[20:12] that stretches east and south from

[20:14] Fabian Parkway all the way to Main

[20:17] Street through both Windmir, my

[20:19] subdivision, and the new Winding Creek

[20:21] subdivision.

[20:23] Initially, when that bridge opened,

[20:25] there was no traffic control at all at

[20:28] the intersection of Branson and Hamilton

[20:30] Way. the end of the bridge leading over

[20:32] toward uh Winding Creek.

[20:36] The neighbors called and and and raised

[20:38] the issue with the city and the city

[20:39] responded very quickly and saw the need

[20:42] for traffic control there on Branson and

[20:45] put up temporary stop signs to stop the

[20:48] traffic on Branson before it got across

[20:50] the bridge.

[20:52] They then saw that that worked and put

[20:55] up a permanent sign which has been there

[20:56] for two years now. traffic stopping on

[20:59] Branson before it gets to the bridge

[21:02] which is a dip and then comes up to the

[21:04] uh Winding Creek subdivision.

[21:08] Last month that all changed. The signed

[21:12] Hamilton was switched to allow the

[21:14] traffic from Branson to flow straight

[21:16] through onto the bridge through the dip

[21:19] and slingshot right into the new

[21:21] subdivision. Once it gets across there,

[21:24] there's an immediate blind curve that

[21:27] goes like 90 degrees to the right, which

[21:30] and I call it a blind curve because

[21:33] first of all, it's it's it's a very

[21:34] sharp curve. Second, there are usually

[21:36] cars parked there. There are cars parked

[21:38] across the sidewalk frequently and uh

[21:42] it's it's it's virtually impossible to

[21:44] see anybody coming out into the street.

[21:47] Um

[21:49] the um it makes it difficult. I mean,

[21:51] there there are kids. This is a

[21:53] neighborhood that's filled with young

[21:55] families. Really whole bunch of cute

[21:58] young kids, cute young puppies, and and

[22:02] if a car is coming in through 30 mph at

[22:04] the speed limit, it would be difficult

[22:06] for them to see anybody coming into the

[22:09] street to avoid uh parked cars or

[22:11] whatever. Cars don't come through there

[22:13] at 30 miles an hour. They come through

[22:15] they're much faster than that. There are three neighbors on the corner

[22:19] of Branson and Hamilton and three of

[22:22] them have have have implored me to come

[22:25] to you and say they they they sit on

[22:27] their porch and see the traffic coming

[22:29] through there not stopping and and going

[22:32] both ways. It's it's just dangerous

[22:34] there. The intersection is also a

[22:37] stopoff point for school buses from

[22:39] Geneva

[22:41] Pavia and special ed districts too. So,

[22:44] there's another consideration.

[22:46] Um,

[22:50] I actually wrote this out. I don't

[22:51] usually do that. The, uh, stop sign at

[22:55] Hamilton did do a good job of slowing

[22:57] this down. And none of us in the

[22:59] neighborhood can fathom why anybody

[23:01] wanted to make a change in that. Uh, did

[23:04] we pay for an engineering study to fix a

[23:07] problem that didn't exist?

[23:10] raw data. Even if there is raw data that

[23:12] says we need to move traffic faster for

[23:14] something like that, raw data by itself

[23:16] shouldn't trump the lived experience of

[23:20] neighbors who were sitting on their

[23:21] front porches, walking their dogs,

[23:23] walking their babies, and seeing what

[23:25] used to be a reasonably well-managed

[23:26] situation become a serious danger to the

[23:29] community.

[23:32] Um

[23:34] the the um [clears throat]

[23:37] the upshot of all this I guess is that

[23:39] we really want that stop sign back to

[23:42] stop the transit the traffic at Branson.

[23:45] Um we we feel that this is a matter

[23:48] that's that that ultimately comes to the

[23:50] decision-making power of the city

[23:52] council. As the mayor said, it's a

[23:54] strong council and it comes together

[23:57] deliberatively to consider all all sides

[23:59] of an issue.

[24:01] So, I'm I'm empowered by my neighbors to

[24:04] lay this in front of you and say, "We're

[24:05] going to lay it on you. Take a look at

[24:07] this situation and see if it's being

[24:09] done right, if it can't be done better

[24:11] in the name of safety and common sense."

[24:14] Beyond that though, I think I think

[24:16] neighbors should be consulted on

[24:18] questions like this, questions of

[24:20] traffic management and so on. When then

[24:22] the city repaved our street a couple a

[24:25] month or so ago, the city did an

[24:27] excellent job of keeping us informed

[24:29] about what they were going to do and

[24:30] when they were going to do it. There

[24:32] were updates on a regular basis. Why

[24:34] can't we do that when we do things like

[24:36] traffic management? And if the city

[24:38] can't do that for some reason, the least

[24:40] they could do is inform you, the city

[24:42] council, so that you can let us, the

[24:43] neighbors, your constituents, know about

[24:46] it. And I mentioned the parking across

[24:49] the sidewalks. That's a major part of

[24:51] the issue here because you park across

[24:53] the sidewalk and anybody a little kid

[24:56] riding a bike, somebody pushing a baby,

[24:59] um what do they do? They have to go out

[25:02] in the street to get around the car. Uh

[25:05] I my understanding is it's illegal, but

[25:07] it's not enforced. So, we don't think

[25:08] about that.

[25:10] I thank you for your time and I implore

[25:13] you, please take a look at this and uh

[25:16] consider what what uh what you would do

[25:19] if you were in a situation where you saw

[25:21] a situation that had been working for two years and that you perceived now

[25:26] had been changed to make things worse.

[25:29] Thanks for your time. Appreciate it.

[25:32] >> Thank you.

[25:34] >> Anybody else?

[25:36] I guess I'd like to maybe bring that

[25:38] back to the next cow meeting for

[25:40] discussion. Um I guess I read that and

[25:42] didn't think we were taking a stop sign

[25:44] out. I thought we were just adding one

[25:45] to make it a four-way. And I guess I

[25:47] read the memos wrong cuz I didn't

[25:49] realize we were taking one out of there.

[25:51] I drive through there on a regular

[25:53] basis. And that kind of surprises me

[25:55] that it's now a thoroughare with no stop

[25:59] sign there.

[26:00] >> That's not true. They added two four-way

[26:03] stops. That added two additional places.

[26:06] has to stop

[26:08] reconfigured that particular

[26:10] >> Yeah. And I, you know, just having

[26:12] driven through there enough as a test

[26:13] driving and, you know, I'm trying to pay

[26:16] attention to noises on cars and

[26:18] everything at different speeds.

[26:19] >> I I would that would bother me because I

[26:22] think that would be an open invitation

[26:24] for

[26:25] >> whatever the furthest away stop sign is that's going to be where people take

[26:29] off from and they won't be at 30.

[26:31] They'll be at 40 by the time they go

[26:32] through there.

[26:35] I would just second adding that as a

[26:37] topic of discussion for the next

[26:38] [clears throat] cow. Um gotten a lot of

[26:40] obviously we all got feedback and um

[26:42] I've spoken to a few constituents in

[26:45] that area that have some serious

[26:47] concern. So yeah, I think we should talk

[26:49] about it some more

[26:50] >> and maybe the chief could have

[26:52] information of why we decided to go with

[26:54] that layout out there because I it just

[26:56] kind of escaped me at how I didn't

[26:58] realize that was that was one of them

[27:00] that wasn't going to a four-way stop.

[27:02] Yeah, we can uh you know bring some

[27:04] information as to why that change was

[27:06] made again based on uh the results of

[27:09] the engineering study and staff review.

[27:13] » Most of you know I I have a

[27:17] regular encounter with the Kane County

[27:19] Highway Department. They go with me

[27:21] every time I go to Chicago to the

[27:23] Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning

[27:25] where I'm chairman of the Council of

[27:26] Mayors. So [snorts] we take a train ride in and a train ride out. So I

[27:31] get a opportunity to really hear from

[27:33] the county folks as to what's really

[27:36] happening and they've shared with me

[27:38] rather recently that the traffic numbers

[27:41] on Randall Road in the Tri Cities are

[27:43] just climbing almost all the time.

[27:46] There's more and more and more traffic

[27:49] and it's really they're glad that

[27:52] they've have fourlaned it now. They

[27:54] think maybe they should maybe six lane

[27:56] it. Uh, but there's just a lot of

[27:59] traffic out there and I'm sure that

[28:00] traffic spilling over into all the areas

[28:03] along Randall Road is what's generating

[28:06] a lot of this issue. So, I would agree

[28:08] that this is probably something we

[28:10] should take a stronger look at because

[28:12] there were there are factors now in

[28:14] place that are having a really

[28:16] phenomenal drive out there. And um

[28:19] they've shared that, you know, between

[28:21] 34 and 36,000 cars a day are out on

[28:24] Randall Road. And that's specifically in

[28:27] the Tri Cities. And one of the issues

[28:29] we've got is we've got I 88 to the south

[28:33] and we got I to the north. And there's

[28:36] some people that like to use Randall

[28:38] Road to go from one to the other. I

[28:40] mean, there's just all kinds of reasons

[28:41] why people are using Randall Road now.

[28:44] But and Randall Road is a good

[28:48] business generator for us. I mean, if

[28:50] you look at all the stores on Randall

[28:52] Road, all the sales tax that's coming at

[28:54] the city, those are all very positive

[28:56] factors. But, uh, like everything that

[29:00] has a problem, we need to take a look at

[29:02] it. So I would agree that we need to

[29:04] take that before the committee. Anybody

[29:07] else on any other subject?

[29:11] >> All right.

[29:13] >> Oh, I didn't see him. We're here. Would

[29:15] you come up and give us your name,

[29:16] please? And

[29:18] >> um my name is Vanessa. I live in

[29:21] downtown Bavia um in on Wilson Street. I

[29:25] appreciate you mentioning that because

[29:26] also considering uh new businesses on

[29:29] Randall Road like the Hollywood Casino

[29:32] on Aurora that also uh um brings a lot

[29:37] of traffic into the area. Um also adding

[29:41] on to his point on being more um open about information about like

[29:49] changes of stop signs and stuff. I

[29:52] recently started coming to city council

[29:54] a little more as like a um kind of like

[29:57] to try and see what's going on in my

[29:59] community. Something I've noticed is the

[30:01] lack of um just

[30:06] uh openness about what's going on in the

[30:09] city. Um like the change in the stop

[30:12] sign, I feel like other things like the

[30:14] agenda in itself should be more open to

[30:16] the public. It's really hard to n

[30:18] navigate the website itself and I had to

[30:22] ask someone for the agenda to be uh

[30:25] shown to me because as someone coming in

[30:28] and trying to see what's going on in the

[30:30] community, it's really difficult to be

[30:32] more aware of what's going on. And

[30:34] considering the new uh tap thing, which

[30:36] is very concerning to a lot of our

[30:38] citizens, uh which I've noticed on like

[30:42] uh local Facebook groups and stuff, um

[30:45] it's not very open or information is not

[30:48] out there open to like people in the

[30:51] community. So, it'd be appreciated if

[30:53] the agenda and other items like that

[30:56] could be more open and posted about.

[30:59] That is all. Thank you for your time.

[31:02] >> Thank you. Anybody else?

[31:05] >> I would just comment about the the

[31:07] website. I think the [clears throat]

[31:08] city's really worked hard to get that

[31:09] website to be very uh uh fan friendly,

[31:13] so to speak. And if you go on the

[31:14] website, there's actually um a section

[31:18] that you can just type on and it says

[31:20] agenda center and you can get the agenda

[31:23] meeting, future meetings once they're

[31:25] posted. Usually they're posted the week

[31:27] in advance.

[31:29] um

[31:30] >> usually very uh very helpful for me

[31:33] because that's how I find the agenda. I

[31:34] mean they if I get it emailed to me as

[31:36] well but

[31:37] >> right but as someone who's coming in

[31:39] here and someone in the general

[31:41] community they don't know to type in

[31:43] agenda to find us so agenda. So if it

[31:45] could just be posted as a separate icon

[31:48] that would be very friendly to the

[31:50] community

[31:56] » agenda center and if you that's where

[31:58] the agendas are

[32:00] >> you just click on agenda

[32:01] >> it might have been updated

[32:02] >> right it could have been updated um but

[32:05] last time I came I was told and I was uh

[32:08] guided to just search it up. Yeah.

[32:12] Thanks Ramon.

[32:14] >> Yeah. Uh just to kind of follow up on

[32:15] the theme, um if I recall, I believe I'm

[32:18] having trouble finding it in my notes,

[32:20] but we had a discussion about talking

[32:21] about speed limits kind of citywide. Um

[32:24] it sounds like that's a really good um

[32:27] thing to [clears throat] follow back up

[32:28] on. We had talked about having the um

[32:30] active transportation commission

[32:31] included in that along with the uh

[32:33] police and all that. I think we should

[32:35] maybe just double down on on getting

[32:36] something there now that we have a

[32:38] couple more tools in our tool belt to

[32:40] control speed limits and things. maybe

[32:42] uh this theme can be addressed all at

[32:44] once rather than doing it peace meal as

[32:46] we've kind of been kind of been doing it

[32:48] um because there's a theme there. Um and

[32:50] then I'll just just to echo uh yeah it

[32:52] can be tough to navigate these things. I

[32:54] think the city's doing a really good job

[32:56] trying hard, right? Um we just sort of

[32:58] have a lack of, you know, local media

[33:00] would be nice, other people helping us

[33:02] get the word out there, but I think the

[33:03] city's done um really a pretty good job

[33:06] of getting it out there. And if folks

[33:08] [clears throat] have questions, I know

[33:09] the city's been very helpful in kind of

[33:12] helping people navigate the websites and

[33:14] things. So, it's a tough tough landscape

[33:16] though.

[33:18] Anybody else?

[33:19] >> I concur.

[33:21] >> Okay.

[33:24] Anybody else?

[33:26] All right, then we will move to

[33:30] item five. Well, we're at five. Move to

[33:33] item number six, items removed, added or

[33:36] changed. Do we have anything tonight?

[33:39] Okay. Moving to then item seven, the

[33:42] consent agenda.

[33:44] >> Yes, your honor. The consent agenda

[33:46] reads as follows. Accept and place on

[33:48] file August 2026 building report.

[33:53] Committee of the whole minutes September

[33:54] 15, 2026 and September 21st, 2026.

[33:59] Special meeting approvals. Payroll fund

[34:03] totals for 9252026

[34:06] in the amount of 1,249,528.76.

[34:13] The accounts payable total for October

[34:15] 5th council meeting in the amount of

[34:18] 3,19,769.19.

[34:24] City council minutes September 21st,

[34:26] 2026.

[34:28] Approvals. City Council Executive

[34:31] session minutes September 8th, 2026 for

[34:35] litigation. September 21st, 2026 for

[34:38] personnel.

[34:40] Approval of the 2027 meeting calendar.

[34:43] Ordinance 2026-45,

[34:48] transfer of property to the Betavia Park

[34:50] District Peace Bridge Bike Ramp.

[34:54] Ordinance 2026-48

[34:57] amending an approved certificate of

[34:59] appropriateness for building demolition

[35:01] at 23 Northwater Street with Ordinance

[35:05] 25 2025-49

[35:08] and resolution 2026-109-R

[35:12] authorizing execution of task force 9

[35:15] with V3 companies for phase 1 and two

[35:19] engineering services safe routes to

[35:22] school willow rain and Blue Stem Lane. I

[35:26] move we accept the consent agenda as

[35:28] read.

[35:29] >> Second.

[35:30] >> Motion second for the approval of the

[35:32] consent agenda is read. Any further

[35:34] discussion on it?

[35:36] >> Cler, call the role.

[35:37] >> Baron.

[35:38] >> Hi

[35:39] >> Leman.

[35:39] >> Hi

[35:40] >> Lman.

[35:40] >> Hi

[35:41] >> Peeper.

[35:42] >> Hi

[35:42] >> Farenbach.

[35:43] >> Hi

[35:43] >> Anderson. Hi

[35:44] >> White.

[35:45] >> Hi

[35:45] >> Barza.

[35:46] >> Hi

[35:46] >> Lansancy.

[35:47] >> Hi

[35:48] >> Beck.

[35:48] >> Hi

[35:49] >> Malay.

[35:49] >> Hi

[35:50] >> Malone.

[35:50] >> Hi

[35:51] >> Wolf.

[35:51] >> Hi

[35:52] >> Sulfa.

[35:52] >> Hi

[35:53] >> 14. Yes. No. No. None.

[35:54] >> Motion's [clears throat] approved.

[35:57] All right. Moving then to eight, the

[35:58] Chamber of Commerce. Do we have somebody

[36:00] here to

[36:02] >> Oh, there you are. You're behind the

[36:04] screen. I couldn't see you. I didn't

[36:06] think we had anybody from the chamber.

[36:07] This is our newest chamber person. So,

[36:11] >> sorry that was bothering me, so I took

[36:13] that little [laughter] thing away. Um,

[36:16] hello. Good evening, everyone. Uh, good

[36:18] evening, Mayor Schuli, members of the

[36:20] city council, city staff, and everyone

[36:22] here tonight. Uh, my name is Kristen

[36:24] Winter, and I'm the membership and

[36:26] engagement coordinator at the Betavia

[36:27] Chamber of Commerce. I'm filling in

[36:29] tonight for Margaret Perau, and I

[36:31] appreciate the opportunity to introduce

[36:33] myself and share a little bit about what

[36:34] the chamber has been doing. Uh, just to

[36:37] introduce myself, I joined the chamber

[36:39] on July 13th, and it's been a wonderful

[36:42] firsthand experience to see how

[36:43] connected and supportive our local

[36:45] business community really is. I've

[36:47] received such a warm welcome and that

[36:49] has made it easy for me to share that

[36:50] same experience with new and prospective

[36:52] members.

[36:54] I want them to know that the chamber is

[36:56] here to connect and support our

[36:57] businesses to benefit benefit each of

[36:59] our members and ultimately to benefit

[37:01] the community as a whole. September was

[37:04] an extremely busy month for us. We

[37:05] celebrated seven ribbon cutings which

[37:08] many of you were at. Thank you. Um, and

[37:11] we hosted over 36 networking,

[37:14] educational, and community events in

[37:16] September.

[37:18] On September 22nd, the Betavia Chamber

[37:20] hosted another successful State of the

[37:22] Cane County address featuring Kain

[37:24] County Board Chair Karine Perog. Nearly

[37:27] 180 people attended to [clears throat]

[37:30] hear about the important developments,

[37:31] priorities, and opportunities throughout

[37:33] Kain County.

[37:35] The annual event gives our business

[37:37] community leaders a chance to hear

[37:38] directly about what's happening at the

[37:40] county level and more importantly how

[37:42] those decisions and initiatives affect

[37:44] Betavia.

[37:46] We're now looking ahead to the 2026

[37:48] state of the community breakfast at

[37:50] Covenant Living at the Homestead on

[37:52] Thursday, November 5th. Registration is

[37:55] now open through the chamber website and

[37:57] event check-in opens at 7:00 on the

[37:59] morning of the event.

[38:01] Mayor Sheli will deliver the keynote

[38:02] address and share some of Battavia's

[38:04] recent accomplishments, upcoming

[38:06] projects, and opportunities for the

[38:08] future. We'll also hear updates from

[38:10] Josephine Tucci of the Betavia Public

[38:12] Library, Allison Namela of the Battavia

[38:15] Park District, and Tony and Glacie of

[38:17] BPS 101.

[38:20] Um, for Betavia Citizen of the Year, I'm

[38:22] sure you all know what that is. Um, but

[38:24] nominations are now open for the 2026

[38:26] Battavia Citizen of the Year Award. This

[38:29] award recognizes an individual who

[38:31] demonstrates selflessness, dedication,

[38:33] and service to the Battavia community.

[38:35] If you know someone who deserves to be

[38:36] recognized, please send a nomination

[38:39] letter to Margaret at margaretavia.org

[38:42] by Monday, November 9th. This is a

[38:44] wonderful Battavia tradition. To give

[38:46] you just a sense of the community

[38:48] members who have been honored in recent

[38:50] years, recipients include Linda Shelkey

[38:52] in 2025, Bob Hubard in 2024, Dave and

[38:56] Marge Brown in 2023, John Dylan in 2022,

[39:00] and Dan Hoffler in 2021.

[39:04] I'm also very pleased to welcome our

[39:06] newest members to the Betavia Chamber.

[39:08] Gerber Collision and Glass, Worknet,

[39:11] Betavia, Anytime Fitness, North Aurora,

[39:14] Back N in North Aurora, Maria Anonya

[39:17] Fine Art, and Jar Packaging, a Welch

[39:20] company. With these new members, the

[39:22] Betavia Chamber has now reached 550

[39:25] members. That me that number means more

[39:29] than just a membership count. It

[39:31] represents businesses and organizations

[39:33] that are invested in Betavia, choosing

[39:35] to be a part of this community and

[39:37] recognizing that we're strong when we

[39:38] work together. Every ribbon cutting,

[39:41] every networking event and workshop and

[39:43] partnership gives us another opportunity

[39:45] to connect people to our community. As

[39:48] representatives of the businesses in

[39:50] your wards, we'd love to see you at

[39:52] chamber events, especially ribbon

[39:54] cutting celebrations. They're a great

[39:56] opportunity to meet the businesses that

[39:58] are in your wards, celebrating their

[40:00] accomplishments and giving them a chance

[40:02] to know you. I know our members really

[40:04] appreciate seeing city council members

[40:06] there.

[40:07] We have a very full lineup of events in

[40:09] October. Um there's something for

[40:12] everyone. Complete details and

[40:13] registration information is always

[40:15] available at paviachamber.org.

[40:18] But just to give you a little breakdown

[40:19] of some of the things that we have

[40:20] coming up on Wednesday, October 7th, we

[40:23] have our chamber notfor-profit forum.

[40:26] The chamber currently has 68

[40:27] nonforprofit members, and over 25 of

[40:30] them meet every week um to come

[40:34] together, connect, share ideas, and

[40:36] explore ways to collaborate and support

[40:37] one another. Wednesday, October 7th, is

[40:40] a Tri-C networking event at BASH in

[40:42] Geneva through the Betavia Chamber. Our

[40:45] chamber members have a great opportunity

[40:46] to connect with businesses and

[40:48] professionals throughout the Tri City.

[40:50] Thursday, October 8th, we have our fall

[40:52] into business multi-chamber event which

[40:54] is going to be held in Bartlett.

[40:58] Thursday, October 8th, we also have the

[41:00] Betavia Women in Business after hours

[41:01] networking event at Sturdy Shelter. Um

[41:04] they always love to spotlight a

[41:06] nonprofit and that will be Anderson

[41:08] Humane. Wednesday, October 14th is our

[41:11] coffee and commerce. It will be hosted

[41:13] at Start Something Studio. We invite

[41:15] everyone to come. Thursday, October 15th

[41:18] is our strong foundation series, HR for

[41:20] small business. Um, we just wanted to

[41:22] let people know that we received

[41:24] wonderful feedback from the first

[41:25] session in this series. It's completely

[41:27] complimentary. Um, and it's designed to

[41:29] give our members practical information

[41:31] and resources on topics that are

[41:33] especially beneficial for small

[41:34] businesses.

[41:36] Thursday, October 15th is our SSBCI

[41:39] technical assistance for small business

[41:41] webinar and we'll be presenting this in

[41:43] Spanish. Wednesday, October 21st is

[41:46] networking at a Geneva Winery. And

[41:48] Friday, October 23rd is out to lunch.

[41:52] You can meet us at JT's Tavern Tap and

[41:54] you can drop in, have soda, have lunch,

[41:57] and meet the chamber staff and members.

[42:00] We have a few ribbon cutting scheduled.

[42:02] There will probably be additional, but

[42:04] we will have one on Friday, October 16th

[42:06] for the Back N golf in North Aurora.

[42:10] Thursday, October 22nd for Gatsby Glass.

[42:13] And Tuesday, October 27th, honoring the

[42:16] 50th anniversary of Fox Valley Special

[42:19] Rec Association.

[42:22] Uh, before I introduce my guest, are

[42:24] there any questions that I can answer

[42:26] for anyone?

[42:28] Okay. Well, thank you so much for

[42:30] allowing me to come up and speak. Thank

[42:32] you for your time. Um, I'd like to now

[42:34] introduce Brian Weneck, co-founder of

[42:37] The Windmill Weekly. It's a community

[42:40] focused newspaper created to help

[42:41] seniors stay informed and connected to

[42:43] their local community. The Windmill

[42:45] Weekly began as a Bavia High School

[42:47] incubator project and went on to earn

[42:50] the top prize at Pitch Night, a great

[42:52] recognition of the value it brings to

[42:54] our senior community. Please join me in

[42:56] welcoming Brian who will tell us a

[42:57] little bit more about the windmill

[42:59] Weekly.

[43:02] [applause]

[43:05] » Hello. Good evening. Uh my name is Brian

[43:08] Winn and I'm a senior at Pavia High

[43:10] School. I am the founder and CEO of the

[43:12] Wimma Weekly, a bi-weekly local

[43:14] newspaper that is designed for seniors

[43:16] in retirement homes. I'm here today to

[43:18] share a little bit more about my story

[43:20] and exactly what I do. So, it all

[43:22] started with my grandmother. My

[43:23] grandmother once lived in a retirement

[43:24] home. She was surrounded by people and

[43:26] she felt disconnected from the community

[43:28] and from what was going on around her.

[43:30] As technology kept advancing and the

[43:32] news kept moving online, a lot of

[43:34] seniors like her were feeling left

[43:35] behind and trapped in these retirement

[43:37] homes. I realized the answer wasn't

[43:39] another app and it was something they

[43:40] already knew and trusted, a newspaper

[43:43] they can hold in your hand. So, I found

[43:45] a way to make it real. In September

[43:47] 2025, I started the Windmill Weekly

[43:49] through Incubator, the uh

[43:51] entrepreneurship program at Pavia High

[43:53] School. With the help of mentors, we

[43:55] built a business plan, talked to real

[43:57] customers, and pitched our idea. We

[43:59] eventually won first place at pitch

[44:00] night. When the class ended, we didn't

[44:02] stop. We kept this paper growing. Now,

[44:04] here's where we are today. We print the

[44:06] WIMO weekly every other week and deliver

[44:08] to senior communities including Heritage

[44:10] Woods, the Landings and the Homestead

[44:12] and even Limestone [clears throat]

[44:14] along with the drop off locations around

[44:16] town. Today we have over more than 300

[44:18] monthly readers already. We couldn't

[44:21] have done this without the Bavia Chamber

[44:22] of Commerce. They've been a huge role in

[44:24] getting us out there when we were just

[44:26] students with the idea. The chamber

[44:27] helped connect us with local business

[44:29] communities. Through their networking

[44:31] events, we met business owners,

[44:32] community members we never would have

[44:34] met on our own. These introductions led

[44:37] us to do so many more connections and

[44:39] many of those connections turned into

[44:40] sponsors who now support the paper. The

[44:43] chamber keeps us helps us out and

[44:45] opening new doors to opportunities. A

[44:47] big part of where we are today is

[44:48] because the chamber believed in what we

[44:50] were doing. And exactly what all those

[44:52] sponsors do is help us keep going.

[44:55] Sponsors are the reason this paper

[44:56] exists. They pay for the printing and

[44:58] get our copies out to these senior homes

[45:00] and they are what let us reach more

[45:01] communities for sponsors. It's a real

[45:03] chance to be seen because our readers

[45:05] read every single page. Getting these

[45:07] out to these retirement homes, we mostly

[45:08] give them to them for free to help out

[45:10] the community. Give it to these people

[45:12] to really help out the community in

[45:13] every way. So, there's other ways that

[45:15] you can get involved and how to help us.

[45:17] You can sub subscribe for yourself or a

[45:19] parent or grandparent that you know in

[45:21] town. You can sponsor, advertise, or you

[45:24] can connect with us with the so local

[45:26] senior community that should be getting

[45:28] the paper. You can send us stories that

[45:30] and events that are happening around

[45:32] town. Everything is at the

[45:33] windmillowweekly.com. Once again, the

[45:35] windmillowweekly.com.

[45:37] And my goal is to make sure that no one

[45:39] feels disconnected from their community.

[45:41] I want to thank you for their time and

[45:42] I'm happy to answer any other questions

[45:44] that are involved. Thank you.

[45:47] >> Any questions?

[45:51] Hey, I thought I heard that you guys

[45:53] print your newspaper in a larger type

[45:56] font so that it's more accessible.

[45:58] >> Yes. So, what we do is we print our

[46:01] newspaper in larger font so it's easier

[46:03] for these seniors to read and then what

[46:06] we also do, we took a survey

[46:08] [clears throat] at the homestead and we

[46:09] got topics of what these seniors like to

[46:11] read about. So, we gave them a list of

[46:14] kind of big general topics. We found out

[46:17] that they like to know more about, you

[46:18] know, the town and we always like to

[46:20] include the comedy vault in our upcoming

[46:21] events because that's like thing that

[46:23] they like to go to. But yes, we do do

[46:25] larger pro larger print for it's easier

[46:27] for them to read. It's all hyper local

[46:29] news about the town of Bavia. So that's

[46:31] what makes us mostly different.

[46:36] Anybody else? Well, I'm very impressed

[46:39] with what Betavia High School students

[46:41] are doing out there in the streets and

[46:42] specifically your focus on senior

[46:44] citizens because we have a lot of them

[46:47] in this community now and they want to

[46:49] stay in touch and um I go try to go to

[46:53] all the various senior places and

[46:56] talk at least once or twice a year. And

[47:00] ironically, one of the big things I hear

[47:02] from senior citizens, it's not a real

[47:04] bad thing, but they're concerned is why

[47:07] doesn't the Betavia movie theater have a

[47:09] sign out that tells them what movies are

[47:11] playing?

[47:14] And that seems to be a big one because

[47:16] most of them, several of them say,

[47:17] "Well, I don't know anything about

[47:19] technology, so when you tell me you got

[47:20] to go online and read it, I don't know

[47:22] how to do that. So, why can't I just

[47:24] drive out there like any other movie

[47:26] theater and there'll be a sign. It'll

[47:27] just have the title of the movie and I

[47:29] may want to go see it. But there's been

[47:31] a lot of good movies I've missed

[47:32] recently because movie theater doesn't

[47:35] [cough] have it. So, I'll throw that one

[47:36] at you guys and see if you can help my

[47:39] idea of movie science.

[47:41] >> I'll get working on it. [clears throat]

[47:43] >> As a sponsor

[47:47] get him as a spor.

[47:48] >> Anybody else?

[47:50] >> It's just a question about I guess

[47:51] succession planning. Um, will this be

[47:53] continued to be run by students in the

[47:55] incubator program or will you are you

[47:57] hoping to carry it forward after you

[47:59] graduate?

[48:00] >> Uh, yes. So, I am planning on continuing

[48:02] this after I graduate and most of the

[48:05] stuff that I can do here is remote so I

[48:07] can work on the news and everything from

[48:09] wherever I am and then I can send it

[48:11] into our printing facility, BFC Printing

[48:13] on Kirk. They help us out. They do our

[48:15] printing and shipping for us, but I'll

[48:17] also have a kind of homebased person

[48:19] here. So that can be someone from the

[48:21] Incubator program or anyone that I know

[48:23] that would like to help me out. And I'll

[48:25] have them almost as a home base so that

[48:27] while I'm away in college that I'll

[48:29] still have someone that can show up to

[48:30] meetings like this or get me some

[48:32] different news or what's going on around

[48:34] town. So that'll be a big impact for us.

[48:37] But we definitely plan on continuing it.

[48:42] » Comments or questions?

[48:45] >> Well, thank you for coming down and

[48:47] giving a report.

[48:52] » [applause]

[48:56] » Okay, now we'll go to the regular agenda

[48:59] and it's uh proclamation for breast

[49:01] cancer and I am told here that u

[49:09] here alderman Baron is going to present

[49:11] it.

[49:13] >> Sure.

[49:14] >> You got it.

[49:15] >> Got it. proclamation. Whereas breast

[49:18] cancer awareness month is observed every

[49:20] October to increase awareness of breast

[49:23] cancer, encourage early detection and

[49:25] screening, support those who have been

[49:28] diagnosed, and honor those whose lives

[49:30] have been affected by the disease. And

[49:32] whereas breast cancer affects women and

[49:35] men as well as their families, friends,

[49:38] caregivers, and communities. And a

[49:40] diagnosis can bring physical, emotional,

[49:43] and practical challenges throughout

[49:45] treatment and recovery. And whereas

[49:49] advances in breast cancer research,

[49:51] screening, and treatment continue to

[49:53] improve outcomes while also

[49:57] while access to reliable information,

[50:00] compassionate care, and a strong network

[50:03] of support remain important for those

[50:06] navigating a diagnosis. And whereas

[50:09] survivors, caregivers, health health

[50:11] care professionals, advocates,

[50:14] researchers, and community organizers

[50:16] provide invaluable encouragement,

[50:18] education, and assistance to individuals

[50:21] and families affected by breast cancer.

[50:24] And whereas Waterford Place Cancer

[50:27] Resource Center in Aurora serves as a

[50:29] welcoming haven when where everyone

[50:32] affected by cancer can find support at

[50:35] no cost with staff and volunteers

[50:37] providing compassionate and empowering

[50:40] resources for people at any stage of

[50:43] treatment and survivorship and their

[50:45] loved ones. including support groups,

[50:48] classes, counseling, mind, body, and

[50:51] spirit therapies, and other programs

[50:54] that embody the spirit of community care

[50:57] and neighbors helping neighbors. And

[51:00] whereas breast cancer awareness month

[51:02] provides an opportunity for the Betavia

[51:04] community to recognize those with breast

[51:07] cancer, celebrate survivors, remember

[51:10] those who have lost their lives to the

[51:12] disease, and support the family,

[51:14] friends, caregivers, and professionals

[51:17] who occupy them on their journeys. Now

[51:19] there I, Jeffrey D. Sheli, mayor of the

[51:22] city of Betavia, Illinois, do by do

[51:26] hereby proclaim October 26th, 2026 as

[51:30] breast cancer awareness month in the

[51:33] city of Betavia and encourage members of

[51:35] our community to learn about breast

[51:37] cancer, understand the importance of

[51:40] recommended screening and early

[51:42] detection, and offer support and compass

[51:45] compassion to those who whose lives have

[51:47] been affected by breast cancer. I move

[51:51] we accept the proclamation as read.

[51:54] A

[51:54] >> motion and second for acceptance of the

[51:56] proclamation as read. Any comment from

[51:58] the council?

[52:02] >> I was just that's a very good cause and

[52:04] one that has a big impact in Betavia. So

[52:07] I certainly I know we're all going to

[52:08] vote for it, but it it really does

[52:10] something that we should keep that in

[52:13] the forefront here of things that we

[52:15] need to keep an eye on.

[52:17] >> Cla.

[52:19] Hi.

[52:20] >> Um, I'm so sorry. Let me take

[52:22] [clears throat] all that back. Baron,

[52:24] [laughter]

[52:24] >> hi.

[52:25] >> Thank you,

[52:26] >> Leman.

[52:27] >> Hi,

[52:27] >> Lman.

[52:28] >> Hi,

[52:29] >> Peeper.

[52:29] >> Hi,

[52:30] >> Farenbach.

[52:30] >> Hi,

[52:31] >> Anderson.

[52:31] >> Hi,

[52:32] >> White.

[52:32] >> Hi,

[52:32] >> PZ. I believe you were an I. Would you

[52:34] like to confirm? Thank you.

[52:35] >> Hi,

[52:36] >> Lansancy.

[52:37] >> Hi,

[52:37] >> Beck.

[52:38] >> Hi,

[52:38] >> Malay.

[52:39] >> Hi,

[52:39] >> Malone.

[52:40] >> Hi,

[52:40] >> Wolf.

[52:41] >> Hi,

[52:41] >> Sula.

[52:42] >> Hi.

[52:42] >> 14, yes. No, no, none absent.

[52:45] >> Very good. Uh, moving then to item 9.2.

[52:49] 2 presentation on the Dennis Peron

[52:51] scholarship trading card program.

[52:54] >> Mayor, if we could, we would like to um

[52:56] please introduce um Omar Ramos. He's

[52:59] here from the Waterford Place Cancer

[53:01] Resource Center and we would like to um

[53:04] present the proclamation that you just

[53:06] read um to them. Thank you. If you could

[53:09] please come up tell us about your

[53:11] organization.

[53:15] What if the moment someone heard the

[53:18] words, "You have cancer," they didn't

[53:21] have to wonder, "what am I going to do

[53:24] now?" What if they knew there was a

[53:26] place where someone would understand, a

[53:29] place to find support, connect with

[53:31] others, learn, take a class, or simply

[53:36] catch their breath. That's water for

[53:39] place. Good evening, mayor and members

[53:42] of city council. I'm Omar Ramos, program

[53:45] development and operations manager for

[53:46] Water Place Cancer Resource Center. We

[53:49] are part of Rush CPPley Medical Center

[53:50] in Aurora and we understand simply as

[53:53] you also did within the proclamation

[53:55] that cancer is much more than a medical

[53:58] diagnosis. It affects families,

[54:00] relationships, emotions, and everyday

[54:03] life. Our role is to come alongside

[54:06] people through that experience. We offer

[54:09] support groups, counseling, exercise,

[54:12] wellness programs, nutrition, creative

[54:16] programs, and other services that helps

[54:18] serve the whole person. And importantly,

[54:22] everything that we provide within our

[54:23] space is provided at no cost, 100%

[54:27] without cost to every person who walks

[54:29] through our doors, regardless of where

[54:31] they get their cancer treatment from.

[54:33] You don't have to be a rush patient

[54:35] [clears throat] to be accepted at

[54:36] Waterford Place. You just need to be

[54:37] someone who is in need of our services

[54:39] impacted by a cancer diagnosis because

[54:41] again cancer doesn't care where you

[54:44] receive your care. So neither do we.

[54:46] We're open to everyone in the community.

[54:49] And if you walk through our doors

[54:50] tonight, I think the first thing that

[54:53] would stand out to you is not

[54:54] necessarily the programs themselves, but

[54:56] the actual people there. You'd see

[54:59] someone connecting with another person

[55:01] who understands, a caregiver taking a

[55:03] moment for themselves, someone who is

[55:06] rebuilding their strength,

[55:08] someone who is quite often laughing in

[55:11] the center. And that's the heart of

[55:13] Waterford Place. Over the past 10 years,

[55:16] we've welcomed approximately 5,700

[55:19] individuals through our doors. And that

[55:21] represents about 45,000 visits of

[55:25] support, of encouragement, of

[55:27] inspiration, of motivation to live with

[55:29] a greater quality of life. But what

[55:31] matters more is the actual people behind

[55:34] those numbers that they know that

[55:37] they're not doing this by themselves. Uh

[55:39] so I'd like to introduce to you

[55:41] Ranatada. She's with me today as one of

[55:43] our survivors who's participated at

[55:45] Waterford Place in several different

[55:47] aspects of programs. uh she has a

[55:49] fantastic story to tell as a metastatic

[55:51] breast cancer survivor now over four

[55:53] years. Uh she's here just to share a

[55:55] little bit how water place has impacted

[55:57] her own life and survivorship. Ranada,

[55:59] >> thank you so much Omar. Thank you. Thank

[56:01] you for having me here. I appreciate it

[56:03] very much. So as Omar mentioned, I am a

[56:06] stage four breast cancer thor. Um I was

[56:10] diagnosed in summer of 2022

[56:13] and even before my first treatment I

[56:16] learned about Waterford and

[56:19] one day before my first treatment I came

[56:21] to the center was given a beautiful tour

[56:24] of the facility and the immediate

[56:28] thought that struck me on that day was

[56:31] here I am there's hope for me I I am not

[56:35] alone I I have all the programs that

[56:39] I've learned prior to starting my

[56:42] treatments, programs that research show

[56:46] to help in achieving remission and

[56:48] staying in remission. Um, I don't want

[56:51] to cut this story short. I but I just

[56:53] want to say that everything that Omar

[56:56] just mentioned exercises, meditation,

[57:00] cooking classes, nutritions,

[57:02] uh gentle movement classes, all of this

[57:07] aided

[57:09] my remission. Only three months into my

[57:12] treatment, I achieved complete

[57:14] remission. And I strongly strongly

[57:18] believe that I would have not achieved

[57:20] it if it wasn't for Waterford. If it

[57:22] wasn't for support of wonderful people

[57:25] who

[57:27] lead different programs, the support of

[57:30] staff, Omar is not only a manager there.

[57:33] He's not. He's a friend. He's a shoulder

[57:35] to cry on. He's a person to love with.

[57:39] He's a person to share successes, share

[57:43] heartaches. It's a truly a an oasis of love.

[57:50] And anyone who

[57:54] has any type of experience with cancer,

[57:56] and we I'm sure we all do, uh, please

[58:00] spread the word because I believe that

[58:03] I'm here speaking to you guys

[58:06] mostly because of this organization that

[58:10] helped me go through everything that I

[58:13] was going through.

[58:14] I had completely different notes here,

[58:17] but after what Omar said, I I'm just I'm

[58:20] so touched what he said because that's

[58:22] truly what what Waterford gives us.

[58:25] hope. The first

[58:27] minute I walked into the place was was

[58:30] giving me hope that I can beat it. I

[58:33] can. And as of now, I am almost four

[58:38] years in a complete remission, still in

[58:40] treatment because it's stage four. But

[58:43] um I still attend not as often as I used

[58:46] to because again I kind of return to my

[58:50] regular life. But one of the programs

[58:52] that I continue religiously attend is

[58:55] the uh breast friends group which is

[58:57] breast cancer specifically breast cancer

[59:00] support group where uh women if in

[59:03] different stages of cancer in different

[59:06] stages of their life different uh ages

[59:09] we have young women we have women

[59:11] middle-aged like mine older women uh we

[59:15] all have something in common we all have

[59:18] something that we can share with each

[59:21] we all have some advice that we can give

[59:23] each other because we're all in

[59:25] different stages. So, um I appreciate

[59:29] your welcoming us here and English is my

[59:34] second language. So, I'm sorry

[59:35] [laughter] if if this sometimes was

[59:38] maybe not, but I'm emotional. So, I

[59:41] appreciate and

[59:43] >> we need you out here in the middle of

[59:45] the council.

[59:46] >> Take a couple pictures when I present

[59:48] the proclamation.

[59:51] >> Come on in.

[59:54] [clears throat]

[1:00:06] » [applause]

[1:00:36] » All right.

[1:00:38] Now 9.2

[1:00:40] Dennis Peron scholarship

[1:00:44] trading card program.

[1:00:54] Thank you for uh having me. I'm here

[1:00:56] with my committee colleague here Dave

[1:00:58] and um I appreciate the opportunity to

[1:01:01] talk to you guys today.

[1:01:03] >> Can you tell us your full name? So

[1:01:05] >> yes, I am Gary Ricky. I run a marketing

[1:01:07] company here in Betavia. And uh before I

[1:01:10] get started, a show of hands. Uh who's

[1:01:12] still thinking about the Geneva game?

[1:01:14] [clears throat]

[1:01:16] Um

[1:01:17] uh 56 to 49. I'm told that's a pretty

[1:01:20] large number. Um

[1:01:22] uh who doesn't follow football at all or

[1:01:25] know anything about the Corn Kings?

[1:01:28] That's me. That is absolutely me. Um,

[1:01:33] in fact, the first game, the first

[1:01:34] football games I've ever watched in my

[1:01:36] entire life were two games last, uh, the

[1:01:38] two playoff games last year, uh, in

[1:01:41] support of Dennis Piron. Before that,

[1:01:43] I've never seen a football game all the

[1:01:44] way through or even 5 minutes of a

[1:01:46] football game. Um, I met um, I met

[1:01:50] Dennis Piron in uh, 2019, in the fall of

[1:01:53] 2019. And at the time that I met him,

[1:01:56] not only did I not really care about

[1:01:58] football, I actually didn't like

[1:01:59] football. I I I was kind of against

[1:02:01] football. I was a band guy and so I had

[1:02:04] my own reasons for that. Uh and then

[1:02:06] within 10 minutes of meeting uh uh

[1:02:09] Dennis Pieron, I said, "I love

[1:02:10] football."

[1:02:13] Now, it wasn't enough to watch it, mind

[1:02:14] you. Um but it was because of what I

[1:02:18] learned from him about how it teaches um

[1:02:22] uh camaraderie

[1:02:23] um how to be good citizens and um just

[1:02:27] uh how to how to teach these kids how to

[1:02:29] be uh for for leadership uh out on the

[1:02:32] football field.

[1:02:35] And so at the time I uh met him uh I

[1:02:37] pitched my idea to him that I wanted to

[1:02:40] start a marketing internship. And I just

[1:02:42] met him, you know, 10 minutes and he

[1:02:44] said, "Uh well, you you can do it here.

[1:02:47] I will uh I'll find you the best kids in

[1:02:49] this school and uh you can do it here.

[1:02:51] Uh you can use one of these rooms."

[1:02:55] And so um we met a couple times

[1:02:58] throughout the wintertime. And then on

[1:02:59] March 12th, 2020, we had our first uh

[1:03:02] internship meeting. And I'll never

[1:03:04] forget it because the next day is when

[1:03:05] they close school down.

[1:03:07] Strangely enough, we were still a able

[1:03:10] to meet every week and I've been there

[1:03:12] ever since.

[1:03:14] Um,

[1:03:16] so you've seen what he's done. A lot of

[1:03:19] you are aware of what he's done with the

[1:03:20] football team. That's 14 straight wins

[1:03:22] against Geneva, uh, 2013 state

[1:03:24] champions, then again in 2017. Um, but

[1:03:27] could you imagine what he can do when

[1:03:30] he's unleashed to teach a bunch of

[1:03:32] teenagers how to start businesses?

[1:03:35] Um,

[1:03:36] what you see in how he teaches football

[1:03:40] is about 10% of what I see behind the

[1:03:42] scenes about what he's teaching these

[1:03:44] kids about uh running businesses. Um,

[1:03:48] I've seen him countless times, um,

[1:03:52] giving his own money to the loaning his

[1:03:53] own money to these kids to get their

[1:03:55] businesses off the ground. Um, I don't

[1:03:57] know how much it is because he doesn't

[1:03:58] advertise it. He just does it on his

[1:04:00] own. Uh, one of his students, Colin,

[1:04:04] uh, he, uh, he went to the coach with,

[1:04:07] uh, he had hit a wall and he was stuck.

[1:04:09] And, um, and this in his own words, he

[1:04:12] said, what Pan said to him was, um,

[1:04:14] there is no wall. you're making this

[1:04:16] wall. Um

[1:04:19] uh you need to get through this and you

[1:04:21] will get through this. Just this is the

[1:04:23] way real life works. Um and so what he

[1:04:27] does is he doesn't solve problems for

[1:04:29] these kids. He takes their excuses away

[1:04:30] and then gives it back to them to figure

[1:04:32] out what they got to do. Um

[1:04:36] so a lot of times what he would do is he

[1:04:39] would ask me to come in and present all

[1:04:41] the different things that I'm working

[1:04:42] on. And as I'm doing that, um, he's

[1:04:46] asking all these questions out to the

[1:04:47] room about all the things I'm I'm

[1:04:49] talking about. And then he helps answer

[1:04:51] those questions in ways better than I

[1:04:53] could ever do myself. I mean, he is the

[1:04:56] ultimate wingman. I have never never

[1:04:59] seen a teacher like him. And I've been

[1:05:01] spending, like I said, weeks every once

[1:05:04] a week on average since 2019. And I

[1:05:07] again, I don't know anybody I've never

[1:05:09] seen anybody like him. Um, last year for

[1:05:12] instance, he reached out to a YouTube uh

[1:05:15] influencer who had millions of followers

[1:05:18] and got this guy to come present to uh

[1:05:20] to the high school to the kids and tell

[1:05:22] them their stories. It was unbelievable.

[1:05:25] And all he did was go, "Hey, I'm going

[1:05:26] to ask this guy." And this guy showed

[1:05:28] up. Um, so last spring uh was his final

[1:05:33] pitch night for incubator. And you guys

[1:05:34] learned a little bit about the effects

[1:05:36] of that with Brian who I've done some

[1:05:37] work with as well. Amazing kids. and a

[1:05:41] couple of people from the community

[1:05:42] decided to start a scholarship in his

[1:05:44] name with $1,000.

[1:05:46] That was at pitch night last May. And

[1:05:49] then the Dunham Foundation

[1:05:52] said that if we raise $50,000, they'll

[1:05:55] match it $50,000 for 50 for 50. That's

[1:05:59] $100,000

[1:06:01] going to Betavia Kids in his name

[1:06:04] forever.

[1:06:06] We are $7,000 away from making that

[1:06:09] happen.

[1:06:11] And

[1:06:12] so what we created was, and I'll leave

[1:06:15] some of these on the table, but this is

[1:06:18] a trading card. This is Dennis Piron

[1:06:21] from 1981

[1:06:24] on the sidelines of Bavia. And again,

[1:06:25] I'll leave these on here. It's a set of

[1:06:28] 10 cards that uh we gave away these for

[1:06:31] free at one of the games recently. And

[1:06:34] um

[1:06:36] there's uh the the this is number three.

[1:06:38] Uh Baby Pyon is coming out this week in

[1:06:40] story of the season if you want to see a

[1:06:42] really great picture of him when he was

[1:06:43] one. Um oh and Dave's got some cards.

[1:06:46] Excellent. Um

[1:06:50] but uh

[1:06:52] you can't get the other nine by buying

[1:06:54] them. You have to donate. And if you

[1:06:55] donate, you get the other set of the

[1:06:57] nine cards. So uh that's uh that's what

[1:07:01] we're doing with the cards. And then um

[1:07:04] you can also go to puronleacy.org.

[1:07:06] There's a QR code on there to get to

[1:07:08] that. And that essentially is the ask is

[1:07:11] that we're $7,000 away. We need to get

[1:07:14] the word out. Um help us show him how

[1:07:19] awesome he is. We're so close to being

[1:07:22] able to give away uh to give this

[1:07:24] scholarship away forever. We're $7,000

[1:07:27] away right now. So, we're just looking

[1:07:29] for any kind of help that you guys can

[1:07:31] get this word out and get people to

[1:07:33] donate and um yeah, so that's our story.

[1:07:37] Thank you.

[1:07:38] >> Thank you.

[1:07:43] » Yeah, come on.

[1:07:44] >> Just I might have missed it when I was

[1:07:46] handing those out, but the whole idea of

[1:07:49] getting the $100,000 is so that this can

[1:07:52] go on forever. It's going to be an

[1:07:54] endowment that will feed off of itself.

[1:07:56] We don't know yet whether or not we're

[1:07:58] going to do two scholarships for $2,000

[1:08:00] each or one scholarship for $4,000.

[1:08:03] Um those are the kind of things that

[1:08:05] we're still kind of working out. But the the whole idea of it is this is to

[1:08:10] honor Dennis and what he's done for the

[1:08:12] incubator program mostly, but also

[1:08:15] include what he's done on this on the

[1:08:16] football program. And we just wanted to

[1:08:18] recognize him forever. one of his kids

[1:08:22] and Dennis himself are now on the um

[1:08:25] committee I'll say. And so when the

[1:08:28] scholarship is handed out, it's being

[1:08:30] handled through Beefy Pavia Foundation

[1:08:32] for Educational Excellence. When it's

[1:08:34] handed out that night, either Dennis and

[1:08:37] one of his kids will be handing that

[1:08:39] check out. So, it's a it's a great

[1:08:41] thing. And I just hope we get the word

[1:08:44] out and people help us reach that

[1:08:45] $100,000. If we hit $200,000, we're

[1:08:48] going to hand out more scholarships.

[1:08:50] [laughter]

[1:08:51] Thank you.

[1:08:52] >> Thank you.

[1:08:56] [applause]

[1:08:59] [cough and clears throat]

[1:09:00] >> All right. Then moving to item 9.3,

[1:09:03] presentation of United Way by Kathy

[1:09:06] Evangelista.

[1:09:08] [clears throat]

[1:09:26] Um, hello everyone. Thank you so much

[1:09:28] for allowing me to be here. My name is

[1:09:29] Kathy Evangelista. I am the executive

[1:09:31] director of Betavia United Way. Um, and

[1:09:34] I appreciate the opportunity to come in

[1:09:36] here and share with you what we've been

[1:09:38] doing uh over the past couple of months

[1:09:40] and what we have planned for the next

[1:09:42] couple of months. Um so the summer has

[1:09:45] been very busy for us. Uh we did uh

[1:09:48] complete our five-year impact report

[1:09:50] which many of you I think most of you

[1:09:51] have right in front of you and what we

[1:09:54] found was a great big number and it was

[1:09:58] a wonderful number. So, in um with all

[1:10:02] of our neighbors [snorts] and all of our

[1:10:04] donors and sponsors and everybody who's

[1:10:06] been attending our events, community

[1:10:08] dinner table, bat race, and the soup

[1:10:11] event, over the past five years, we have

[1:10:13] been able to collectively invest

[1:10:16] threequarters of a million dollars into

[1:10:19] Betavia residents, into programs that

[1:10:21] support Betavia residents. Um, and I

[1:10:24] think that's a big number. We're a small

[1:10:26] city and we're a small United Way

[1:10:28] comparatively to other United Ways. And

[1:10:30] this is an enormous um impact and it's

[1:10:33] not because of me. It's not because of

[1:10:36] United Way. It's because of all the

[1:10:37] neighbors that come together to love

[1:10:40] each other and love on our neighbors to

[1:10:43] help our neighbors. So, I really thought

[1:10:45] that that was something that was really

[1:10:46] important for city council to see the impact that um Battavia has a heart

[1:10:54] for its own neighbors. So, I wanted to

[1:10:56] share that first and foremost. Um we

[1:10:59] have, like I said, we have been busy

[1:11:01] over the summer. Uh we had our community

[1:11:03] dinner table event uh on in August 30th

[1:11:07] and it the weather didn't really

[1:11:09] cooperate, but [laughter] we still had a

[1:11:11] great time. It was a wonderful event. We

[1:11:13] were able to raise $20,000 to combat

[1:11:16] food insecurity right here in Betavia.

[1:11:19] Um so that was wonderful. Uh we also

[1:11:23] just this morning actually um we were

[1:11:26] out at the Betavia Community Garden uh

[1:11:28] at Betavia Apartments. Um we work with

[1:11:31] them. I think I've talked about it with

[1:11:33] you before. I'm not sure if I I have or

[1:11:36] not, but every spring and every fall we

[1:11:38] are out at Bavia Apartments helping them

[1:11:40] to get their garden started. They have

[1:11:42] 26 garden bed uh regular garden beds um

[1:11:46] that are in those little tin containers.

[1:11:49] Not really tin, whatever they are. Um

[1:11:51] and then four raised uh accessible

[1:11:54] garden beds. And so we're there to help

[1:11:56] them set up the garden at the very

[1:11:58] beginning of the season. And today was

[1:11:59] our uh final harvest and taking things

[1:12:02] down. So we had volunteers come out uh

[1:12:04] working alongside the residents. And

[1:12:06] that's that was my day today. So I'm

[1:12:09] ready for a nap. [laughter]

[1:12:11] um other things that were going on. Uh I

[1:12:14] think many most of you know that uh Miss

[1:12:17] Dolly Pardon passed away in August. Um

[1:12:20] and why that's relevant to us. Um well

[1:12:23] of course she's a wonderful human being

[1:12:25] but she also um was the patron of Dolly

[1:12:29] Parton's Imagination Library which is a

[1:12:31] program that we run here in Betavia. Um

[1:12:33] we were very nervous when we found out

[1:12:36] um well

[1:12:38] first and foremost we were very

[1:12:39] heartbroken uh because Dolly was a

[1:12:42] wonderful inspirational human being um

[1:12:45] but also we were worried that the

[1:12:46] program would be going away but we did

[1:12:48] receive news right away that the program

[1:12:51] will continue um Dolly Parton's

[1:12:53] Imagination Library will continue here

[1:12:54] in Betavia u in perpetuity as long as we

[1:12:58] get funding [laughter] as long as we

[1:13:00] continue being able to fund it. So, I

[1:13:03] did want to share that because we've had

[1:13:04] a lot of questions about that as well.

[1:13:07] We have a lot of things coming up this

[1:13:08] month um and into uh throughout the

[1:13:11] winter here or throughout the fall, I

[1:13:13] should say. Our bat race is our one of

[1:13:16] our biggest fundraisers

[1:13:18] and it happens on October 24th, Sunday,

[1:13:22] Saturday, October 24th. We kick off the

[1:13:24] day with our bat race. It's a 5K, 10K,

[1:13:28] and kids fun run. Um it we start off the

[1:13:31] day and then people go AC come across

[1:13:33] the Peace Bridge and head over here for

[1:13:36] Batfest, Main Street's Batfest. Um we

[1:13:39] are really happy to report that we bring

[1:13:41] in more than 700 runners

[1:13:45] uh and all their families to watch them

[1:13:47] run from over 40 different zip codes,

[1:13:51] not only in Illinois, but in Wisconsin

[1:13:52] and Indiana. We even have people coming

[1:13:55] from Washington.

[1:13:58] Um, so that brings in a lot of really

[1:14:00] fun fun times. So if you are

[1:14:03] so um if you are interested, please sign

[1:14:06] up. The website is right there. United

[1:14:09] Way.org/batrace.

[1:14:11] Um we do have um registration is open.

[1:14:14] We have spots for volunteers. If you

[1:14:16] want to come out and volunteer, we'd

[1:14:18] love to see you.

[1:14:20] Next thing we have coming up after that

[1:14:22] is in November the uh November for

[1:14:26] November 15th. It's a Sunday, whatever

[1:14:28] that Sunday is, whether it be 14th or

[1:14:30] 15th, we do our annual day of caring.

[1:14:32] It's a leaf raking event where we have

[1:14:34] volunteers between 50 and 100 volunteers

[1:14:37] that gather together and spread across

[1:14:39] Betavia to rake the leaves of senior

[1:14:40] citizens throughout Betavia. Um, so we

[1:14:43] are looking for seniors who need

[1:14:46] assistance or people with physical

[1:14:48] limitations that could use some

[1:14:50] assistance. Um, please contact us. Our

[1:14:53] phone number is 8630-877-2780

[1:14:56] or you can contact us by email info

[1:14:59] unitedway.org.

[1:15:01] Um, so we are looking for people who

[1:15:05] need the help and then we're also

[1:15:06] looking for volunteers and the website

[1:15:09] is potatoedway.org

[1:15:11] day of caring. So that is um available

[1:15:14] and that is on October

[1:15:17] 14th

[1:15:19] Sunday from 12 to 2. Another volunteer

[1:15:22] opportunity that we have coming up um

[1:15:25] all throughout the winter is our snow

[1:15:26] angels program. This is another program

[1:15:28] for our senior citizens here in Betavia.

[1:15:31] Um, seniors can contact us if they are

[1:15:34] unable to safely shovel their driveway

[1:15:38] um, and they can't they don't live with

[1:15:40] anyone who can do it for them or don't

[1:15:42] have anyone nearby and they can't afford

[1:15:44] to have it done for them, they can

[1:15:45] contact us and we will match them up

[1:15:47] with a volunteer who will um, basically

[1:15:51] adopt their driveway for the entire snow

[1:15:53] season from December through March. Um,

[1:15:56] so that is available right now. We are

[1:15:58] taking applications for both uh seniors

[1:16:01] as well as for volunteers. I already

[1:16:03] have two volunteers signed up, but I

[1:16:05] don't have any seniors yet. So, uh that

[1:16:07] is uh available on our website

[1:16:09] battunitedway.org/

[1:16:11] snow angels.

[1:16:14] And then uh the our our kind of biggest

[1:16:17] event of the year that actually makes my

[1:16:20] holiday season every single year is our

[1:16:22] adopt a family program. We're getting

[1:16:24] started in planning this. We work with

[1:16:26] the Battavia public schools who identify

[1:16:28] kids whose families could use a little

[1:16:30] bit of TLC over the holiday season. Um

[1:16:33] they collect wish lists. They send those

[1:16:35] wish lists to me and then I match those

[1:16:37] wish lists up with sponsors throughout

[1:16:39] Betavia. Small businesses um not only in

[1:16:43] Battavia but surrounding communities as

[1:16:45] well. uh neighbors,

[1:16:47] book clubs, families who uh sponsor and

[1:16:52] you guys sponsored last year if I recall

[1:16:54] correctly.

[1:16:56] That's available for you if you'd like.

[1:16:58] [laughter]

[1:16:59] Um so we are just now starting to gather

[1:17:02] sponsors um and collect those wish

[1:17:04] lists. And it's an it's a wonderful

[1:17:08] program because not only is it, you

[1:17:10] know, supporting our Betavia students,

[1:17:13] which it is, and that's wonderful, but

[1:17:15] it brings so many different

[1:17:16] organizations and so many groups

[1:17:18] together. We have Betavia Rotary that

[1:17:19] helps out. Uh Betavia Lions Club who

[1:17:22] does their underwear party, which is the

[1:17:24] Thursday before Thanksgiving. Um I

[1:17:27] should probably explain underwear. You

[1:17:29] don't come in your underwear. I use that

[1:17:31] joke every year.

[1:17:33] Um the underwear party is uh the

[1:17:38] people bring brand new not used brand

[1:17:41] new underwear or socks uh to donate for

[1:17:44] the kids. Um and that is the Thursday

[1:17:47] before Thanksgiving at the VFW from at

[1:17:51] 6:00 at 6 p.m. And that's the Lions Club

[1:17:54] that hosts that and then donates all of

[1:17:56] those um underwear and socks for our

[1:17:59] adopt a family program. So, so many

[1:18:01] different organizations come together uh

[1:18:03] to really provide a wonderful holiday

[1:18:05] season for our Betavia families. So, I

[1:18:09] love this community and this community

[1:18:11] loves itself and loves each other and

[1:18:15] it's all hearts and roses, isn't it?

[1:18:17] [laughter] So, I appreciate the time um

[1:18:20] that you allowed me to come share all

[1:18:22] the things that we're doing for Betavia

[1:18:24] and I hope to see you guys as sponsors

[1:18:28] this year. I think Kathy, we really

[1:18:31] appreciate you and all that you do. You

[1:18:33] brought a new kind of a strength to the

[1:18:35] whole organization that really is

[1:18:38] serving Betavia very very well and we've

[1:18:40] got as we all know we have some needy

[1:18:42] families and your group seems to be able

[1:18:45] to figure out who they are and what they

[1:18:47] need and to help [clears throat] them

[1:18:48] out. So I think you are a face that

[1:18:51] helps make Bavia a very very special

[1:18:53] place for good on the face of the earth.

[1:18:56] So thank you.

[1:18:56] >> Well, thank you for that. I think it's a

[1:18:58] community effort, but thank you. Does

[1:19:01] anybody have any questions about any of

[1:19:03] the programs we have coming up?

[1:19:07] » Okay. Thank you.

[1:19:09] >> Thank you.

[1:19:12] >> All right. Moving to item 9.4,

[1:19:14] amendments to the city code regarding

[1:19:17] video gaming.

[1:19:21] Yes, you're next three all pertain to

[1:19:24] changes to our requirements on um video

[1:19:28] gaming throughout town. The first one

[1:19:30] 2026-31

[1:19:33] revises the number of licenses that will

[1:19:35] allow for for to um 14 overall

[1:19:38] throughout the town and nine in our

[1:19:39] downtown. The second one 2026-46

[1:19:43] um establishes setbacks. We decided last

[1:19:47] cow to do 100 feet from the property

[1:19:50] line to both schools and churches. This

[1:19:54] will create some potential

[1:19:56] non-compliance

[1:19:57] um from existing establishments and

[1:19:59] within the within the language of the

[1:20:02] ordinance establishes that if those

[1:20:04] businesses do sell their business with

[1:20:06] the liquor with the with the gaming

[1:20:08] license that as long as it's in continue

[1:20:10] operation um then that can happen. can

[1:20:14] stay in the non-compliance

[1:20:16] um as long as it doesn't lapse for more

[1:20:18] than a year. And then the final one uh

[1:20:21] 2026-47

[1:20:23] amends the text of our zoning code to

[1:20:26] move video gaming establishments from a

[1:20:29] conditional use to an approved use. And

[1:20:31] it also adds language about video gaming

[1:20:35] cafes. And so we'll take them one at a

[1:20:37] time. And if there's other additional um

[1:20:39] discussion, we can do that at each one.

[1:20:42] But to start, I'll move we approve

[1:20:44] ordinance 2026-31, revising the city of

[1:20:46] Bavia city code, title 3, chapter 26,

[1:20:49] establishing the number of gaming

[1:20:51] licenses in city code.

[1:20:53] >> Second.

[1:20:55] >> Motion in a second. Is there any further

[1:20:57] discussion?

[1:20:59] >> Motion and second. Do any any discussion

[1:21:02] further?

[1:21:06] » Kirk, call the role. I guess

[1:21:10] >> start with Beck. Hi

[1:21:11] >> Malay.

[1:21:12] >> Hi

[1:21:13] >> Malone.

[1:21:13] >> Hi

[1:21:14] >> Wolf.

[1:21:15] >> No

[1:21:16] >> Sulfa.

[1:21:16] >> No

[1:21:17] >> Baron.

[1:21:17] >> Hi

[1:21:18] >> Leman.

[1:21:19] >> Hi

[1:21:19] >> Lman.

[1:21:20] >> Hi

[1:21:21] >> Peeper.

[1:21:21] >> Hi

[1:21:22] >> Farenbach.

[1:21:22] >> Hi

[1:21:23] >> Anderson.

[1:21:24] >> Hi

[1:21:24] >> White.

[1:21:25] >> I

[1:21:26] >> Barazza.

[1:21:27] >> Hi

[1:21:27] >> Lansancy.

[1:21:28] >> No.

[1:21:30] >> All right. We have 11 yes. Three no.

[1:21:32] Motion passes.

[1:21:33] >> Motion approved.

[1:21:35] >> All right. Then I'll move we approve

[1:21:36] ordinance 2026-46

[1:21:38] revising the city of Bavia city code

[1:21:40] title 3 chapter 26 establishing location

[1:21:43] requirements for video gaming

[1:21:45] establishments in the city code

[1:21:47] >> second motion and second for what was

[1:21:49] the or I don't have

[1:21:51] >> 26-46

[1:21:54] 2646 [snorts]

[1:21:56] 46

[1:21:58] any discussion on that one

[1:22:02] » this is absolutely arbitrary and I think

[1:22:05] somewhat ridiculous. The state already

[1:22:07] has what they have set up. So, let's say

[1:22:10] um we're 101 ft away. What are we

[1:22:13] protecting for that? I mean, it I I've

[1:22:16] already made my thoughts. Everybody's

[1:22:17] talked about this so much, but this is

[1:22:18] the most arbitrary one of all of these.

[1:22:20] So,

[1:22:23] » yeah. Um I think this is an important

[1:22:25] one and uh we have recent history to

[1:22:27] show that clarity for business owners is

[1:22:29] of benefit. So, I think this is good to

[1:22:31] provide a a crystalclear standard that

[1:22:34] you don't have to get denied and then

[1:22:36] appeal to then get approved, which is

[1:22:38] what happened to our businesses wasting

[1:22:40] money. Um, this gives them a crystal

[1:22:42] clear guideline to follow. So, that's

[1:22:43] why I think this is an important

[1:22:45] addition.

[1:22:49] Any other comments?

[1:22:53] I guess we call the roll then.

[1:22:56] >> Yes, sir. Once again, Beck.

[1:22:58] >> Hi, Malay. Hi

[1:23:00] >> Malone.

[1:23:01] >> Hi

[1:23:01] >> Wolf.

[1:23:02] >> No

[1:23:02] >> Sulfa.

[1:23:03] >> No

[1:23:03] >> Baron.

[1:23:04] >> No

[1:23:05] >> Leman.

[1:23:05] >> Hi

[1:23:06] >> Lman.

[1:23:07] >> Hi

[1:23:07] >> Peeper.

[1:23:08] >> Hi

[1:23:08] >> Farenbach.

[1:23:09] >> Hi

[1:23:09] >> Anderson.

[1:23:10] >> Hi

[1:23:11] >> White.

[1:23:11] >> Hi

[1:23:12] >> Barazza.

[1:23:12] >> Hi

[1:23:13] >> Lansancy.

[1:23:14] >> Hi.

[1:23:15] >> 11 yes. Three no.

[1:23:17] >> Motion's approved.

[1:23:19] >> Right. I'll move we approve ordinance

[1:23:21] 2026-47

[1:23:22] amending the text of the zoning code

[1:23:24] title 10 of the city code regarding

[1:23:26] video gaming establishments.

[1:23:28] >> Second. Motion and second for again I

[1:23:32] don't have it on my should 2647

[1:23:35] >> 2647

[1:23:36] >> okay

[1:23:38] 2647

[1:23:39] >> correct

[1:23:43] » this is the only one that makes any

[1:23:44] sense at all because it just it's just

[1:23:46] removing some of the barriers for people

[1:23:48] to actually apply for this and speeds up

[1:23:50] the

[1:23:53] to uh amend the situation that I voted

[1:23:55] no against in the first one. So,

[1:24:00] I don't think we need any of them. This

[1:24:01] would be the only one that makes sense.

[1:24:05] >> Other comments.

[1:24:10] » I guess have the clerk call the role.

[1:24:15] [clears throat]

[1:24:15] >> Yes.

[1:24:17] >> Beck.

[1:24:17] >> Hi.

[1:24:18] >> Malay.

[1:24:19] >> Hi.

[1:24:19] >> Malone.

[1:24:20] >> Hi. [clears throat]

[1:24:20] >> Wolf.

[1:24:21] >> Hi.

[1:24:21] >> Sulfa.

[1:24:22] >> Hi.

[1:24:22] >> Baron.

[1:24:23] >> Hi.

[1:24:24] >> Leman.

[1:24:24] >> Hi.

[1:24:25] >> Lman.

[1:24:25] >> Hi.

[1:24:26] >> Peeper. Hi

[1:24:27] >> Fairenbach.

[1:24:28] >> Hi

[1:24:28] >> Anderson.

[1:24:29] >> Hi

[1:24:29] >> White.

[1:24:30] >> Hi

[1:24:30] >> Barza.

[1:24:31] >> Hi

[1:24:32] >> Lansancy.

[1:24:32] >> Hi.

[1:24:33] >> 14. Yes. No. No. None. Absent. Motion

[1:24:35] pass.

[1:24:35] >> Motion approved.

[1:24:38] >> Okay. Moving to item 10.1, the

[1:24:41] administrator's report.

[1:24:43] >> Thank you, your honor. Um, one of the

[1:24:44] things I wanted to mention was there's a

[1:24:47] little bit of an abnormality to the um

[1:24:50] schedule for the meetings next year that

[1:24:53] I didn't have an opportunity to point

[1:24:54] out. It's in June. It just so happens

[1:24:57] that the first uh Monday and the second

[1:25:01] Tuesday are both in the same week. And

[1:25:03] so we moved the [laughter] instead of

[1:25:05] having those two meetings in the same

[1:25:07] week and none the next week, we uh have

[1:25:10] one meeting per week as we ordinarily

[1:25:12] do. And so we'll have it on the first

[1:25:14] and third Mondays, but the third and

[1:25:16] fifth Tuesdays. It's weird. Take a look

[1:25:19] at it. [laughter]

[1:25:20] >> It was too hard to understand.

[1:25:23] >> I was told there would be no map. I was

[1:25:24] [clears throat] told there would be no

[1:25:25] map.

[1:25:26] >> Uh don't worry about it. [laughter]

[1:25:30] >> It's all good. Um just wanted to let

[1:25:33] everybody know that uh last week we

[1:25:35] became a sponsor of the windmill weekly

[1:25:38] that Brian and his team had reached out

[1:25:40] to us and uh one of our uh items in our

[1:25:44] strategic plan is to find more ways to

[1:25:46] connect with seniors in our community

[1:25:48] and get them their news. Um they're a

[1:25:51] fantastic group of individuals to uh

[1:25:54] work with. I know from Margaret that

[1:25:57] they have been very involved with our

[1:25:59] chamber and they're doing such a great

[1:26:01] job and it it'll be a pleasure to

[1:26:03] support them in their endeavors.

[1:26:05] Um at last week's cow meeting um there

[1:26:08] was some requests for additional

[1:26:10] communications and um our communications

[1:26:13] department and HR worked together. There

[1:26:16] are um tap free trial cards in city hall

[1:26:19] in the police department lobbies at all

[1:26:21] the windows. Um there's a QR code on the

[1:26:24] back of that form as well as links to

[1:26:26] learn more and um how to try programs

[1:26:29] and the dates of the open houses. Um

[1:26:32] we're also posting a slide for the uh

[1:26:35] electronic bulletin boards out here.

[1:26:38] [snorts] Um and also there was a

[1:26:40] homepage news brief about all of the

[1:26:42] above. And um uh we have town halls on

[1:26:46] Wednesday, October 14th at 7:00 p.m. and

[1:26:50] Tuesday, October 20th at 700 p.m. at

[1:26:53] city hall. Um community and economic

[1:26:57] development. Um,

[1:26:59] last week Scott, Drew, and Zach attended

[1:27:02] the American Planning Association's

[1:27:03] Illinois State Conference uh in Evston

[1:27:06] and it provides great opportunities for

[1:27:08] continuing education in the planning

[1:27:10] field which is required to uh maintain

[1:27:13] staff certifications.

[1:27:15] And then uh the October 7th plan

[1:27:18] commission meeting is cancelled. The

[1:27:20] next scheduled meeting will be on

[1:27:22] October 21st. And at this meeting, there

[1:27:24] will be uh design reviews scheduled for

[1:27:27] Homestad's proposed additions to the

[1:27:29] Exom building. And also uh public

[1:27:32] hearings will be scheduled to address

[1:27:34] updates to the service business

[1:27:36] district's use list and addressing

[1:27:39] treehouses, fences in the PFI district,

[1:27:42] and uh some other proposed edits to the

[1:27:45] zoning text. Information technology has

[1:27:48] started a project to replace and upgrade

[1:27:51] our Wi-Fi systems. Um, and they were in

[1:27:54] all of our buildings today to assess the

[1:27:57] quality of the uh the Wi-Fi connections

[1:27:59] and to recommend the placement of where

[1:28:02] boosters should be placed. Public works

[1:28:05] uh on September 30th, the toy drive was

[1:28:07] moved to their new temporary home at 931

[1:28:10] West Wilson um where they will reside

[1:28:13] through uh this year's um um

[1:28:18] distribution. Also wanted to mention

[1:28:21] great collaboration between the public

[1:28:23] works team and CED. Um CED has done a

[1:28:27] great job of getting many many of our

[1:28:30] permit applications online and public

[1:28:34] works recognized how smoothly that's

[1:28:36] going. So they decided to put the 5050

[1:28:39] parkway tree program uh as an online

[1:28:42] application and it went really smooth.

[1:28:44] In fact, uh we they processed 61 tree

[1:28:48] permits and all the applicants paid

[1:28:49] online prior to the installation. So, it

[1:28:52] eliminates the need for the finance

[1:28:54] department to have to go back and

[1:28:56] individually bill all of these people.

[1:28:59] So, it was a great improvement in the

[1:29:01] efficiency of that program. And fire

[1:29:04] department had beautiful weather and uh

[1:29:07] great attendance at their open house on

[1:29:10] September 27th. uh their total

[1:29:13] year-to-ate calls for the fire

[1:29:15] department are uh just over 4,000

[1:29:18] already. On Monday, September 28th and

[1:29:21] Tuesday, September 29th, uh the police

[1:29:24] department participated in department

[1:29:26] training for emergency vehicle

[1:29:28] operations. Officers learned advanced

[1:29:30] driving techniques and information to

[1:29:32] help them in emergency response. The

[1:29:34] training helps improve their driving

[1:29:36] skills and sharpen critical

[1:29:39] decisionmaking under high stress with

[1:29:41] the ultimate goal of preventing

[1:29:43] accidents and improving public safety.

[1:29:46] Staff also worked for on uh educational

[1:29:49] campaigns for National Pedestrian Safety

[1:29:51] Month, which occurs in October of uh

[1:29:54] every year. And that's all I have unless

[1:29:56] anybody has any questions for me. Yes.

[1:29:59] >> Any questions for

[1:30:01] agreement?

[1:30:02] >> Thank you. Just curious, the plan

[1:30:03] commission meeting, was that canceled

[1:30:05] because of quorum issues or because of

[1:30:07] agenda? Nothing was on the agenda.

[1:30:09] >> Uh, in this case, it's lack of items on

[1:30:11] the agenda because there's, you know,

[1:30:12] applicants that are applying for things

[1:30:14] and then text a we throw on there

[1:30:16] periodically for things. So, it's it's

[1:30:17] we just don't have anything that's ready

[1:30:18] at this particular meeting.

[1:30:23] » Yes.

[1:30:24] >> With the uh is the llama permit system

[1:30:26] kind of up and running is been that way

[1:30:28] for a little while. Are we going to see

[1:30:30] like a report soon on its, you know,

[1:30:34] first year in in use and how um response

[1:30:38] times have been and stuff like that?

[1:30:42] » Yeah, I'm I'm long overdue to give you a

[1:30:44] report on where we've been uh with some

[1:30:46] of the things. Um I've started drafting

[1:30:48] it but then got taken away with other

[1:30:50] things. So um I will try to get that uh

[1:30:52] report done for you in in the next, you

[1:30:54] know, month or so.

[1:30:56] >> We're good. Thank you. Very good.

[1:30:58] Great. Thank you.

[1:31:03] » Uh,

[1:31:05] new business. Do we have any new

[1:31:07] business anybody wants to bring up?

[1:31:11] >> Your honor.

[1:31:12] >> Um,

[1:31:14] I would like to um on a upcoming cow

[1:31:17] meeting at a session where we review the

[1:31:20] um city administrator

[1:31:23] review process.

[1:31:26] Second that.

[1:31:29] I think we need any we'll just put that

[1:31:31] on the agenda.

[1:31:34] >> Any other new business from anybody?

[1:31:38] Old business. Do we have any?

[1:31:43] Well, under the mayor's report, I've got

[1:31:45] a handout that I'm going to send to you

[1:31:47] in a minute, but I want to talk about it

[1:31:48] before I send it to you. Uh about

[1:31:53] five, six weeks ago, I had some kids

[1:31:56] from one of the schools in the fifth

[1:31:58] grade, I guess they were, come down and

[1:32:01] see me and want to ask me, "Are there

[1:32:04] any pictures of how downtown Betavia

[1:32:06] used to look 50 years ago?" And I said,

[1:32:10] "Yeah, there's probably some around."

[1:32:12] And they said, "Could you see if you

[1:32:14] could put something together for us?

[1:32:16] We'd like to have it and maybe have you

[1:32:18] come and talk to our class about it."

[1:32:19] So, I haven't done that yet, but I do

[1:32:21] have it together. Then, two weeks ago,

[1:32:25] the Betavia High School high school

[1:32:27] class of 1966

[1:32:30] had their 60th reunion, and they were

[1:32:33] the very last class to graduate from the

[1:32:36] old high school up here where the

[1:32:38] library now is before it was turned into

[1:32:40] the junior high for a few years. They

[1:32:42] were the very last ones to go there. So,

[1:32:45] they had a very interesting class

[1:32:47] reunion. And they had three reunions

[1:32:49] over the weekend. They had one on

[1:32:51] Sunday, Friday, one on Saturday, and one

[1:32:53] on Sunday. And so because I am, guess

[1:32:56] who I am? And I was not in their class.

[1:32:58] I was a year behind. But they wanted me

[1:33:01] to come and to their reunion and talk

[1:33:04] about things. So I went and again, this

[1:33:07] whole thing about how did Betavia look

[1:33:10] when we graduated from high school. My

[1:33:12] goodness gracious, how different is

[1:33:14] changed for the better. and there's all

[1:33:16] these new things and the focus on

[1:33:18] enhancing the river and people's

[1:33:20] utilization of the river and they were

[1:33:22] just full of compliments. So this became

[1:33:27] after they talked about it some other

[1:33:28] people called me with questions. So,

[1:33:31] what I have done is over the last few

[1:33:33] weeks, I've gone back into the

[1:33:35] historical society records that I had

[1:33:38] and some from the museum [snorts] and I

[1:33:40] put together a a I'll call it a brochure

[1:33:43] here of which I show pictures of 50 60

[1:33:47] years ago in downtown Betavia. Most of

[1:33:49] them right around here. And so hand

[1:33:53] those out that way and you get one off

[1:33:56] the top and then you hand the other

[1:33:58] seven to the group going down. And I

[1:34:01] just would like to have everybody just

[1:34:03] take review it and get a appreciation of

[1:34:06] how much change you guys specifically

[1:34:09] have brought to downtown Betavia. And

[1:34:12] it's very complimentary because, you

[1:34:15] know, we took a couple old buildings,

[1:34:17] the one we're sitting in right now was

[1:34:19] one of them, and we modernized it and

[1:34:22] really have something proud to talk

[1:34:24] about in it. Because, as we say on the

[1:34:26] program at the back of the room there,

[1:34:28] this was the room where the fuel lines,

[1:34:31] flexible fuel line that was used in the

[1:34:33] rocket that landed on the moon was made

[1:34:36] in this room. And so we've got some

[1:34:39] interesting things about Betavia and

[1:34:41] what it has. So, uh, I've, uh, got

[1:34:45] everything on this, including the

[1:34:47] Saturday Evening Post cover, which

[1:34:49] showed back in the day when the depot

[1:34:52] pond was a different configuration than

[1:34:54] it is now. And as you will see as you're

[1:34:57] looking at it, and I see you're all

[1:34:59] looking at it now, uh, one of the more

[1:35:02] interesting stories was the one that

[1:35:04] happened on June 5th, 19 64 on the day

[1:35:08] of high school graduation at about 4:00

[1:35:11] in the afternoon. There was this old

[1:35:14] livery stable building that stood where

[1:35:16] McDonald's now stands in downtown

[1:35:19] Betavia. And something happened and

[1:35:22] somebody went over there and lit the

[1:35:23] thing up. And I have pictures of it

[1:35:25] here. And then immediate unfortunately

[1:35:28] immediately to the west of it was parked

[1:35:32] uh 12 newly delivered Chevy cars to

[1:35:35] Avenue Motors. And they were sitting

[1:35:38] there and you can see how they lost all

[1:35:40] 12 cars in the fire. And so there

[1:35:43] there's just a lot of interesting

[1:35:45] sidebar stories here that Betavia has.

[1:35:48] And then on the back page, we have a

[1:35:50] picture of the Miss Betavia boat that

[1:35:54] used to be again right down here at the

[1:35:57] where McDonald's is. And it used to sit

[1:36:00] there and then when they there'd be uh

[1:36:04] passenger cars that would come out on

[1:36:05] what they called the third rail and they

[1:36:08] would come to Betavia and then the

[1:36:09] people would get off that the the

[1:36:11] station was there on the east side of

[1:36:14] the river right by the bridge. People

[1:36:16] get off and walk across the bridge, come

[1:36:18] over to the Mispavia, and then it would

[1:36:20] take them north up the river to about

[1:36:23] where Gore Street and Washington Avenue

[1:36:26] are. And that was a big amusement park

[1:36:28] with a ferris wheel and water boats and

[1:36:31] all kinds of good stuff. And people from

[1:36:34] factories would spend the day in Betavia

[1:36:36] and then get back in the boat, come back

[1:36:38] downtown, and then walk back to the

[1:36:40] third rail car and go back to Chicago.

[1:36:42] So, and they had this neat boat there

[1:36:45] and it had a paddle wheel on the back of

[1:36:47] it and everything else. So, Betavia is

[1:36:49] full of it. So, uh I've suddenly have to

[1:36:53] start making all kinds of copies of this

[1:36:56] thing cuz I get all these people wanting

[1:36:58] to see what this is all about. And so, I

[1:37:01] I've got some a few extra up here right

[1:37:03] now if anybody needs one. And uh I'm

[1:37:06] making them and giving them away. And

[1:37:08] it's been I think it's a nice shot in

[1:37:10] the arm for Betavia because it clearly

[1:37:13] shows how much we've done to make the

[1:37:16] downtown a bigger and brighter and

[1:37:18] grander place. And we really took

[1:37:20] advantage of the Fox River. I think I

[1:37:22] told you I was out and had some meetings

[1:37:25] with the city of Rochelle, Illinois, and

[1:37:27] they were very, I would almost describe

[1:37:29] them as jealous of the fact that we had

[1:37:31] this river in the town and we were able

[1:37:34] to take that river and really do some

[1:37:36] nice stuff with it. And that really

[1:37:38] seemed to accent our town quite a bit.

[1:37:40] So, a lot of people are admiring us. And

[1:37:44] I think I've also told you I've got all

[1:37:45] these other cities now that want to come

[1:37:47] in here and see what we've done. I've

[1:37:50] already had Highland Park here once.

[1:37:52] They're coming back with a small bus

[1:37:55] supposedly and the city council. And

[1:37:57] I've got the mayor of Lraange talking to

[1:37:59] me about wanting to bring him and

[1:38:01] Western Springs over here. They haven't

[1:38:03] come yet. And so then Rochelle has been

[1:38:07] already they didn't tell me they were

[1:38:08] here and then I went out there and they

[1:38:10] told me all about what they had seen in

[1:38:12] Betavia and they were all excited

[1:38:15] because they really liked the windmill

[1:38:16] display we had of all the windmills and

[1:38:19] so they were the drinking fountain

[1:38:21] capital of manufacturing of the world.

[1:38:24] So they've now gone out and are trying

[1:38:26] to recapture example of all the drinking

[1:38:29] fountains that were made in Rochelle and

[1:38:31] they're going to put those up. But the

[1:38:33] one thing they liked, they told me, was

[1:38:35] that the back of the the comedy club

[1:38:39] over at Wilson and River, there's a nice

[1:38:42] painted portrait on the back of the

[1:38:43] building. And they apparently took a lot

[1:38:46] of pictures of that cuz they've already

[1:38:48] gone back to Rochelle with that idea.

[1:38:50] And they took one block of the downtown

[1:38:52] and at the back of this was an old dumpy

[1:38:56] alleyway. They've painted a beautiful

[1:38:58] painting on all these buildings at the

[1:39:00] back in Ro in downtown Rochelle. And so

[1:39:03] they tell me they're coming over to

[1:39:04] Betavia again to see more because

[1:39:06] they've heard about the quarry and they

[1:39:08] want to see that because that's

[1:39:10] something they I don't think they got a

[1:39:11] quarry, but they think that it's a good

[1:39:14] idea of how you take stuff and remake

[1:39:16] it. And so, uh, I just feel very proud

[1:39:19] of the fact that this council has got a

[1:39:22] community here that people are saying

[1:39:24] really nice things about. And if you go

[1:39:26] to a lot of other meetings in the

[1:39:28] region, there's a lot of cities that

[1:39:30] don't have nice things being said about

[1:39:32] him and they're in deep trouble with

[1:39:34] things going on. So Bavia's got a lot to

[1:39:37] pound his chest with and I think we

[1:39:39] should and we are. But I just wanted to

[1:39:41] share with you all this. So I'm going to

[1:39:44] I think put this

[1:39:46] on my city website on on the computer so

[1:39:49] if anybody wants to look at it, they can

[1:39:51] look at it there.

[1:39:53] And another thing that just came to me

[1:39:56] last week was Gene Olmstead from

[1:39:59] Homestead's Appliance, which as you

[1:40:01] know, he's kind of closing down and

[1:40:02] selling. Anyway, he was in there kind of

[1:40:05] cleaning the building out and he found a

[1:40:08] movie that his father had made in uh

[1:40:12] 1962

[1:40:14] of the day that the Betavia Fire

[1:40:16] Department invited all the neighboring

[1:40:18] departments over and we had one of the

[1:40:21] biggest fires we've ever had in Betavia

[1:40:22] and it was all a drill and all the

[1:40:24] ladder trucks were set up and all the

[1:40:26] firemen were there and they burned down

[1:40:28] the building between Wilson and Hugh uh

[1:40:33] Wilson and first and water street and

[1:40:37] that's where subsequently the new jewel

[1:40:39] then was built and other stores but they

[1:40:41] burned down all these old was a windmill

[1:40:43] factory and they burned the building

[1:40:45] down. It's quite a quite a movie. It I

[1:40:48] don't think we've ever had a spectacular

[1:40:51] real fire as that thing was that the

[1:40:53] fire department put on. But we now have

[1:40:55] that for future generations to look at

[1:40:58] to see how we got here and the things we

[1:41:00] had to do to do it. But we've done it

[1:41:02] very successfully and I'm I'm very proud

[1:41:06] of what we've done with the river. Uh

[1:41:08] that seems to get a lot of attention

[1:41:10] from people now. And we've got a couple

[1:41:12] of of scars on the river. I had a couple

[1:41:14] of the staff guys out today with me in

[1:41:17] the car. We were driving around and I

[1:41:19] was sharing my concerns about different

[1:41:21] stuff and I showed them my points on the

[1:41:24] river that we needed to get to. So, I'm

[1:41:26] confident that within the next few

[1:41:28] weeks, we'll clean up the remaining

[1:41:31] areas of the river that need a finishing

[1:41:33] touch to them. So, anyway, that's my

[1:41:36] report for the night. Anybody got

[1:41:38] anything else they want to talk about?

[1:41:42] I guess I would entertain a motion for

[1:41:44] adjournment then.

Batavia City Council Meeting. October 5, 2026

Transcript