[0:00] foreign

[0:29] [Applause]

[0:32] all right good evening ladies and gentlemen i would like to call the

[0:35] january 17th 2022 crest hill city council meeting to

[0:39] order if everyone would please rise for the

[0:42] pledge allegiance to the flag and please remain standing after the pledge

[0:50] i pledge allegiance to the life of the united states of america and to the

[0:56] republic for which it stands one nation under god indivisible with liberty and

[1:02] justice for all today we remember

[1:07] and we honor martin luther king jr for all the good things that he did for

[1:12] our country unfortunately he was taken

[1:16] too early from us but over the short time that he was here

[1:21] he certainly did change the course of history for the entire country

[1:27] and the initiatives that he founded and made

[1:31] were long overdue and much needed for our country

[1:37] we've come a long way since his death

[1:41] and we still have ways to go but we as a city of cresthill certainly

[1:45] want to honor remember and extend our deepest condolences to

[1:51] the king family on on the loss of martin luther

[1:54] and at this time i would ask for us all to take a moment of silence in his

[1:59] remembrance and his honor

[2:20] thank you

[2:26] roll call please chris ray solomon here glenn conklin president scott guy here

[2:31] john darrell jefferson here

[2:34] here

[2:40] okay you have before you the minutes of the

[2:44] city council meeting held the crestdale city council meeting held on january 3rd

[2:48] 2022 motion would be in order some move

[2:53] second we have motioned by alderwoman gaza seconded by alderman cepedy for the

[2:57] approval of the minutes of the january 3rd 2022 crest hill city council meeting

[3:02] questions or comments roll call please scott dice yes john roche yes darrell

[3:07] jefferson yes claudia gazelle yes you know oberlin yes mark zappedy yes nate

[3:13] albert yes girl kubo yes welcome carrie thank you

[3:17] and you also have before you the minutes of the work session

[3:19] held on january 10 2022 motion would be in order so move

[3:26] second we have motion by alderman albert seconded by alderman kuval for the

[3:29] approval of the minutes of the work session held on january 10 2022

[3:34] questions or comments i have a question um is there a reason like um chris like

[3:40] the minutes are like very little like we don't cover as much

[3:45] anymore minutes aren't verbatim they're a

[3:49] synopsis of what happened um i actually typed those for lori and

[3:54] where she went through them

[3:56] and does correct you know correct them and

[4:00] yeah i totally understand we don't go like

[4:03] word by word but if a council person stated a comment they should at least

[4:08] say you know so and so stated this and

[4:13] like i would like the minute to reflect uh

[4:16] on the part of the regional water commission

[4:20] about my comments to um the mayor

[4:24] regarding his appointee

[4:28] it was not added around like nothing that i've said it's

[4:32] again i understand that we don't go word by word

[4:37] but if you can add that i would appreciate it

[4:42] any other questions roll call please

[4:45] john shane yes doraleous represent yes apply the

[4:50] gazelle yes tina oberlin abstain marks the pd yes

[4:57] nate albert yes joel kubal yes and scott that

[5:01] abstain thank you mountain carries

[5:05] okay we do not have a business promotion this evening so we'll continue with the

[5:09] agenda items and first on the agenda is to our city attorney mike steph good

[5:13] evening mike good evening we have before you a resolution

[5:18] authorizing two several two cases uh will county cases 28

[5:26] in addition to that resolution uh there should have been separately uh on your

[5:31] uh spots on the diocese a consent decree which will become

[5:36] if approved exhibit a to that resolution exhibit a covers the

[5:42] uh prestill versus mr

[5:46] unlimited case both of these cases were

[5:49] discussed in executive session at the work session

[5:54] the consent decree was given to the defense counsel

[5:58] in the mr unlimited case and he got back to us about an hour and a half before

[6:04] the meeting here tonight with a couple of minor

[6:07] requests on a red line so we have i guess two options we have

[6:12] looked at the proposed changes

[6:15] i just did not have a chance to get those inserted into the red line because

[6:19] he sent it as a pdf and i'm okay in general with the language

[6:24] that he suggested it's mostly cosmetic it's not really

[6:28] substantive i'm happy to discuss those in executive

[6:32] session tonight if you think that that's necessary

[6:35] otherwise you could approve the resolution with exhibit a in

[6:39] substantially the same form so long as it is i would personally would like to

[6:43] speak on this cusp as an executive session since we have to vote on it and

[6:46] we haven't read it okay so it's okay i don't know if the rest of console but

[6:54] maybe not so we can go into executive session uh

[7:00] pending petting litigation okay

[7:04] i'm sorry you don't need to apologize i want to

[7:06] know what i'm going for thank you i'm sorry it's not like i don't trust you

[7:10] but it's just

[7:13] so other than that the the other uh the other case uh which i don't believe

[7:17] needs to be discussed in the executive session is the phillips versus uh

[7:21] uh or phillips versus crest hill case that's the administrative hearing case

[7:26] uh which was uh settled or discussed in executive sessions the

[7:30] settlement is simply waiver of the 750 fine in exchange for the plaintiff's

[7:35] dismissal of the case and uh um there should be no there's no

[7:40] separate settlement agreement on that it's it's all just uh being done through

[7:44] the court in the dismissal order so that's the other part of the resolution

[7:48] so absent that uh we can discuss the remainder on executive session and

[7:51] that's all i have to answer any other questions can we

[7:54] vote on the one or do we have to wait for both of them no i would vote on the

[7:58] resolution after the executive session for both one resolution okay

[8:03] we will do that okay anything else mike no that's it

[8:09] questions of city of time okay thank you

[8:15] to our city administrator jim moreno good evening john

[8:18] before you tonight you have a resolution authorizing the sale of the

[8:23] city hall this was discussed in the full session at the last meeting

[8:27] what the resolution does it declares the city hall property a surplus property

[8:32] authorize a negotiation of the sale of the property

[8:36] and allows us to publish notice in a newspaper soliciting proposals

[8:41] to purchase the city hall and then if we do receive proposals the

[8:46] due date for those are february 7th

[8:50] if we do receive proposals we'll review those

[8:54] staff would negotiate a purchase and sale agreement

[8:57] and then bring that before you at a future meeting to consider and approve

[9:02] some move second we have motion by alderman albert

[9:06] seconded by alderwoman gazelle for resolution authorizing the sale of

[9:09] surplus surplus real estate uh located at 1610 plainfield road crest hill

[9:15] illinois 60403 questions or comments roll call please

[9:20] darrell jefferson yes claudia gaza yes tina oberlin yes marks the pewdie yes

[9:25] nate albert yes joel cuba yes scott dyche yes john bush yes motion carries

[9:31] resolution 1133

[9:53] okay anything else jim no that's all i have any questions of city administrator

[10:00] okay thank you moving on public works department our

[10:03] director of public works mark c for good ending mark good evening mayor and

[10:06] council i have two agenda items before you this evening

[10:09] the first which was talked about last week is a resolution approving a

[10:13] preliminary agreement regarding formation of a regional water

[10:18] commission making preliminary declarations of future lake michigan

[10:20] water needs and other related matters uh as spoke about last week in last

[10:24] week's worst session this is the our intent to join

[10:29] the regional water commission and pursue lake michigan water

[10:33] with a delivery date of 2030 with other surrounding communities

[10:41] okay so we are voting on all the information in the packet

[10:45] correct yes so this is the the the first seven or eight pages are the resolution

[10:51] that we will be passing the rest is just uh auxiliary documentation that has to

[10:55] be part of the packet um these are all the things we talked about last at work

[11:00] session um but really the first eight pages are the resolution everything else

[11:04] is just the auxiliary information that has to be part of the resolution packet

[11:08] it was fascinating reading thank you okay i would ask for a motion

[11:14] for a resolution approving a preliminary agreement

[11:18] regarding formation of a regional water commission

[11:22] making preliminary declarations of future lake michigan water needs and

[11:25] other related matters so movement second we have motion by alderman albert

[11:31] seconded by alderwoman gazelle questions or comments yes i have a

[11:35] question over here go ahead um i wasn't at the uh work session so i

[11:40] don't know what claudia's comments might have been but i am curious as how to

[11:46] how we got the um choice of who the backup was

[11:51] what was the uh

[11:56] is the appointment from the mayor for an alternate and the mayor's absence

[12:02] uh that is required of all the communities that will be joining the

[12:06] water commission what was the rationalities

[12:11] behind that one person over everybody else

[12:15] the rationale was the mayor's choice of who he would like to

[12:20] have as an alternate on the board and that was nate alderman albert was my

[12:25] choice and alderman albert has agreed to be the

[12:29] alternate in my absence at any of the future meetings which

[12:34] involves the mayors and the city administrators

[12:39] okay i got one thing uh a page seven mark uh

[12:42] what's your name 2021 got changed in 2022

[12:47] the date yes we will change that thank you very much

[12:50] our hope was to have this our hope was to have this done in 2021 um we will

[12:54] change that to 2022 thank you john for that catch

[12:58] so with that that slight change and what is that seven seven

[13:04] and the past the day we passed it we'll

[13:08] change that to 2022.

[13:12] okay any other questions or comments

[13:16] roll call please oberlin

[13:28] tina i'm thinking oh do you want to pay off yeah i'll pay us for a minute yeah

[13:31] let me take a minute mark zappedy yes

[13:35] nate albert yes joe cuball yes scott dyke yes john roche yes darrell

[13:41] jefferson um yes

[13:45] claudia gazelle yes you know

[13:49] well i will say yes because the basis of this is is in the best interest of the

[13:52] city however my comments will do be noted that i

[13:55] don't like some aspect of it

[13:59] mayor would you like to vote i would mayor beaucia the mayor votes

[14:03] yes thank you washington carries

[14:08] it is resolution 11 34.

[14:16] all right before you continue mark um

[14:21] i just have a couple comments in regards to what just happened here

[14:24] with the joining of the water commission then

[14:27] i'll certainly open it up to city council if anyone would like to make any

[14:31] comments in regards to what has just taken place

[14:36] so as i have stated in the last several months that this was going to be the

[14:40] most important vote in the history of the city of cresttel

[14:44] and we have worked diligently from all levels

[14:50] over the past two years to get to this point this evening

[14:54] and with the unanimous vote that has just taken place

[14:59] i would like all our residents to know that we have set the course for a high

[15:04] quality sustainable water supply for the city of cresthill for the next

[15:09] 100 years for the next several generations

[15:17] our work is far from over because of this vote tonight

[15:22] our work has only begun and there will be bumps in the road

[15:26] going forward but we'll work through them

[15:29] and do what is in the best interest of the city

[15:31] at every bump in the road we have plenty of work to do

[15:36] over the next eight years with infrastructure and construction

[15:41] throughout the city of cresthill to get ready for the lake michigan water

[15:46] i certainly would like to give credit and an abundance of gratitude

[15:51] for all of the meetings that were attended by

[15:54] everyone here

[15:58] and to everyone that is still involved in any way today

[16:04] and that includes all the attorneys the engineers

[16:07] the public works representatives the mayors the city administrators the city

[16:12] council members and last but not least to the city of

[16:16] joliet to mayor otakirk

[16:19] and to allison swisher who spearheaded this

[16:23] project on behalf of the city of joliet in order to gain the formation of the

[16:27] regional water commission

[16:32] i believe that we have worked cooperatively

[16:35] and for the good of all of the surrounding communities

[16:39] in forming this commission

[16:43] we as the city of cresthill are now charter members

[16:47] and with the vote that just took place tonight we are the first to join with

[16:50] this with the regional water commission and there are several other communities

[16:55] that will be joining in the near future and to all our residents

[17:00] thank you for your patience for us for the last couple years and working

[17:04] through a lot of the details but i want you to understand that this

[17:09] is the most cost effective method for the city of cresthill to move forward

[17:14] to provide a high quality of water and again i would just like to give my

[17:19] thanks and my gratitude to everyone that has been involved in this most important

[17:23] decision with that i will open it up to city

[17:26] council if anyone would like to make any comments in regards to the formation

[17:32] well in throughout this whole thing i i've heard responses from many of our

[17:36] citizens on a daily on a daily basis and i must say that uh the majority

[17:43] with maybe one exception we're all positive all in agreement that this was

[17:48] the best move for the city um

[17:51] which did surprise me that there was only really one

[17:54] disagreeing vote i heard a voice i heard

[17:58] so the people that did listen that did

[18:01] know what was going on seemed to all share the same

[18:05] thought that that i did that that this was the only way we really had to go so

[18:10] i just wanted to say that anyone else just want to thank mark

[18:16] seifert and all his team the attorneys everyone that was involved in this

[18:20] everyone amazing job great job can't thank you

[18:24] enough

[18:28] mayor i just would like to say that it's an exciting step for the city of

[18:31] crestville you know to make such a

[18:34] drastic change in our future

[18:38] is going to be beneficial for not only our residents but also for you know

[18:42] potentially uh commercial businesses that would like

[18:46] quality water and restaurants and and stuff like that so

[18:51] certainly excited about it just gotta remind the residents that we're still

[18:55] quite a few years away from when it actually comes out of our tap but

[18:58] we are starting here tonight thank you

[19:02] [Music] okay

[19:06] anything else mark yep the next agenda item i have this evening

[19:11] is the bid approval and contract award to the

[19:15] to williams brothers out of peoria for the east

[19:20] water reclamation facility phosphorus removal upgrades as mentioned last week

[19:25] this is a this project is required through the

[19:28] iepa for phosphorus removal um the low bid was at four million nine

[19:33] hundred and thirty thousand dollars uh just over the engineer's opinion of

[19:37] probable cost of 4.9 million uh to remind council this is an iepa

[19:42] loan project with 15 percent loan forgiveness and an interest rate of

[19:47] under one those loan terms and conditions will be

[19:51] coming before council uh before uh this project takes off from the ground but

[19:56] the first step is awarding the bid so i'd be looking for council's approval of

[20:00] the bid

[20:03] motion would be another move dispresented

[20:06] second we have motion by elder person overland

[20:09] seconded by alderwoman gazelle to award the contract to williams

[20:15] brothers for the phosphorus removal upgrades

[20:20] questions or comments roll call please mark the p yes nate

[20:25] albert yes joe kubal yes scott dice yes chad richey yes darrell jefferson yes

[20:32] flooding saul yes and tina overland yes motion carries thank you

[20:37] that's all i have for this evening but i would like to thank council

[20:39] for all your support over the last uh six to seven months uh in the formation

[20:45] of the regional water commission had a lot of work like we we've done but

[20:49] like uh many of you have said uh we have a long road ahead of us and we will

[20:52] continue to work hard for this city so thank you

[20:54] thank you mark okay thanks mark uh moving on city

[20:59] engineer our city engineer ron wedeman good evening ron good evening just have

[21:03] one item it's an informational item that is requested by idot to be presented to

[21:08] council and then after presented needs to be filed at the clerk's office

[21:13] um during 2021 i've been working with idot to go through basically an audit of

[21:19] all the mft accounts through january 1st of 2013

[21:24] through april 30th of 2019. basically they reviewed all of our

[21:30] expenditures they made sure all the expenditures were eligible based on the

[21:33] guidelines we provided all the appropriate documentation we closed out

[21:37] all the projects um

[21:40] so that's what's here in front of you today on third page of it does say here

[21:44] that there is a net balance account of on december 31st that is an error should

[21:49] be actually april 30th 2019. but that basically was our unobligated

[21:55] mft amount at that time obviously since that time we've gotten

[22:00] additional funds we've got an additional but

[22:02] that's what we had in particular at that time

[22:05] my my internal numbers that i had worked

[22:08] with was in that neighborhood wasn't exact and there's lots of reasons why it

[22:12] could be a little bit off there's some interest and things like that but

[22:16] it's just an informational item for you i'm now working on the 2019 2020 and

[22:22] i've just presented 2021 to them does anybody have any questions regards to

[22:28] this

[22:34] that's all i had now okay do we have a motion

[22:38] so moved second motion by all the person overland second to buy alderman dike for

[22:42] the approval of the motor fuel tax uh audit for the period beginning

[22:47] january 1st to april 30.

[22:53] questions or comments no it's just good job

[22:56] again thank you

[22:58] roll call please claudia gazelle yes tina oberlin yes mark

[23:03] yes nate albert yes joe blueball yes scott dyke yes darrell jefferson yes

[23:09] welcome carrie thank you

[23:14] anything else around that's it mayor okay any questions for our city engineer

[23:18] okay thank you moving on community development

[23:22] department you have the reports uh on file and your packet and laura

[23:26] will be here tomorrow um police department our police chief ed

[23:31] clark good evening guy giving mayor council live before you

[23:35] this evening the comcast

[23:38] contract for the city center and police station uh

[23:42] the contract includes uh

[23:44] an equipment and splicing fee of forty four thousand eight hundred fifty six

[23:48] dollars seventy two cents this contract was voted on uh through

[23:54] work session last week informally for our discussion

[23:58] this contract also provides us our fiber internet for our phone system as a

[24:02] backup our fiber uh for closed circuit tv which is our peg channel and our 911

[24:09] connection which is most important for will county 911 services

[24:14] and as i said we already discussed this in last week's uh

[24:18] work session i'd be looking for just the formal approval of that contract

[24:23] motion would be in order so a move second motion by alderman albert

[24:27] seconded by alderwoman gazal for the approval of the comcast

[24:32] contracts for city center and new police station questions or comments i forgot

[24:36] one more question when after i called you today yeah how are we gonna track

[24:40] how soon they're gonna do this well

[24:43] they had i was told i believe it was uh 90 to 120 days out

[24:48] so that's the reason we got we got moving last week to get that

[24:52] informal vote and get it signed so it's typically not that long but they're

[24:56] going to let us know when they're putting it in

[24:59] can we find a way to keep tracking because due to

[25:03] the timing already in january absolutely like to put it like somewhere

[25:07] reminder constantly call them to yeah we've been in contact with uh with

[25:12] comcast with their uh government um representative we'll keep in contact and

[25:17] see if we can get it in sooner or later okay thank you

[25:23] okay roll call please joe cool yes scott dice yes john richards gerald

[25:28] jefferson yes claudia gasol yes keane oberlin yes mark the pedi yes nate

[25:34] albert yes motion carries thank you

[25:40] you don't have any other agenda items and uh

[25:43] your information is in the packet i'll entertain any questions any questions of

[25:46] the police chief [Music]

[25:49] okay thanks ed thank you all right moving on to the mayor's report this

[25:52] evening we have uh two proclamations and one resolution so we will

[25:57] we've split we split up all three uh at the diocese here and i am going to begin

[26:04] um with the reading of a proclamation

[26:08] commemorating the city of cresthill school choice week

[26:12] whereas all children in the city of cresthill should have access to the

[26:16] highest quality education possible and whereas the city of crest hill

[26:20] recognizes the important role that an effective education plays in preparing

[26:25] all students in the city of crest hill to be successful adults

[26:30] and whereas quality education is critically important to the economic

[26:35] vitality of the city of cresthill

[26:38] and whereas is home to a multitude of high-quality public and non-public

[26:43] schools from which parents can choose for their children

[26:47] in addition to families who educate their children in their home

[26:51] and whereas educational variety not only helps to diversify our economy

[26:56] but also enhances the vibrancy of our community

[27:00] and whereas our area has many high quality teaching

[27:03] professionals who are committed to educating our children

[27:07] and whereas school choice week is celebrated across the country by

[27:11] millions of students parents

[27:14] educators schools and organizations to raise

[27:17] awareness of the need for effective educational options

[27:22] now therefore i raymond r solomon by virtue of the powers vested in me as the

[27:27] mayor of the city of crest hill along with the members of the city

[27:31] council do hereby designate january 23rd

[27:36] 2022 through january 29th

[27:39] 2022 as the city of cresthill school choice

[27:43] week in the city of cresthill in witness whereof i have here on to set

[27:48] my hand and cause the corporate seal of the city of cresthill

[27:52] the 17th day of january 2022 raymond r solomon mayor

[27:58] motion would be in order for the proclamation second we have motion by

[28:03] alderman albert seconded by alderman sipity

[28:06] for its approval questions or comments roll call please scott died yes john

[28:12] richard yes jefferson yes flooding us all yes can oberlin yes mark yes nate

[28:17] albert yes joe yes

[28:19] thank you and we will send a copy of that

[28:22] proclamation to the proper authorities we have we have passed this proclamation

[28:27] for the last several years i think eight or

[28:30] nine um

[28:33] for schools choice week next on the agenda uh and we have the

[28:37] honor and privilege of having our director of our crest hill branch white

[28:41] oak library here with us this evening and they are

[28:46] celebrating their 100th anniversary as a library district

[28:53] so we certainly want to congratulate them

[28:56] and with the 100 year anniversary they will

[28:59] be holding a

[29:03] dinner at the library

[29:07] by invitation on friday february 4th

[29:12] and they are actually having these dinners in crest hill and lockport and

[29:16] in romeoville the three communities that the white oak library district

[29:22] serves so with that um

[29:26] they are asking for a waiver of the

[29:30] liquor license and a waiver of the entertainment license

[29:36] um in conjunction with the um

[29:41] dinner that they're going to have on february 4th within the library building

[29:45] itself we did discuss this at the work session

[29:50] last monday evening so i would ask for approval

[29:55] or motion for the waiver of the 50 permit fee for the liquor and

[30:01] entertainment for february 4th from 6 00 p.m to 10 p.m

[30:09] we have a motion by alderman petty

[30:13] seconded by seconded by

[30:17] second alderman

[30:20] jefferson questions or comments of the motion

[30:24] roll call please

[30:28] nate albert yes joe kubal yes

[30:32] scott dyke yes chad rasheed yes darrell jefferson yes

[30:36] claudia gasol yes you know berlin yes mark the pd yes motion carries thank you

[30:42] and again i would certainly uh like to encourage anybody from the city

[30:47] council or anyone involved with city of

[30:50] cresthill to join uh the party by invitation on february

[30:55] 4th uh this is a great milestone for the library district and it would great it'd

[31:00] be great to see a good turnout there for the uh the dinner that they are

[31:05] proposing that evening with that being said you have before you

[31:09] also a proclamation recognizing the 100th anniversary of the white oak

[31:13] library district um we split this up between wards one

[31:17] and two so we will first read the uh proclamation and pass it

[31:23] uh beginning with alderman dyke thank you mayor a proclamation recognizing the

[31:28] 100th anniversary of the white oak library district whereas public library

[31:32] services and lockport township were first offered in 1922 when the lockport

[31:39] women's club started a voluntary library in lockport illinois in pilgrim hall and

[31:45] whereas after unsuccessful attempts were made to establish a tax-supported town

[31:50] library voters approved the establishment of

[31:53] lockport township public library in 1929 and purchased the voyeur residence in

[32:00] 1932 and built a small addition in 1938 and

[32:06] whereas in 1965 while temporary while responding to changing needs of the

[32:12] growing community the library trustees decided to build a new library in

[32:17] lockwork and in 1969 the trustees decided to expand

[32:22] services and build a new library in the city of cresthill

[32:27] thus forming the des plaines valley public library district in 1981 and

[32:33] whereas in

[32:36] 1920 2008 2008 the library trustees agreed to a transfer of the territory

[32:42] with the fountaindale public library district

[32:46] transferring over to the the plains valley public library district after

[32:51] several referendums attempted in february 2010 voters approved a

[32:57] 23 million dollar building bond measure to construct a new trust hill library

[33:03] branch refurbished and expand the lockwood

[33:07] branch library and to purchase and refurbish the fountaindale public

[33:11] library building in the village of romeville and

[33:15] whereas in june 2011 the board of library trustees voted to rename the

[33:20] organization to the white oak library district and

[33:24] the city and the cresthill branch library was open to the public in

[33:29] september 2013 and whereas the white oak library district has a current

[33:35] circulation of approximately 650 000 items per year and currently has 92

[33:41] employees amongst three branches and offers a multitude of educational

[33:46] recreational and social opportunities to a wide variety of community members of

[33:51] all ages and whereas libraries are an integral component of

[33:57] every compute community and offer a wide variety of services to all generations

[34:03] for the betterment of the community and are and are

[34:07] deserving of the gratitude and appreciation of the citizens of the city

[34:11] of cresthill and whereas the white oak library district

[34:15] will celebrate this momentous milestone of its 100th

[34:19] anniversary with a celebration including a dinner numerous programs events and

[34:24] activities throughout the year of 2022. now therefore i

[34:30] rhyme raymond r salmon by virtue of the authority vested in me as the mayor of

[34:36] the city of cresthill do hereby proclaim february 4th 2022 be observed as a white

[34:42] oak library district day in the sea of cresthill and hereby congratulate the

[34:47] white oak library district and its 100th anniversary and encourage all the

[34:53] citizens to salute them for their efforts and accomplish it

[34:58] giving under my hand and the corporate seal of the city of cresthale the 17th

[35:03] day of january 2022 raymond r salomon mayor so presented

[35:10] a second i'll second it we have motion by alderman dyke seconded

[35:15] by older person overland for the approval of proclamation recognizing the

[35:18] 100th anniversary of the white oak library district questions or comments

[35:22] roll call please jabber shay yes

[35:25] darrell jefferson yes vladimir yes yes mark zappedy yes nate albert yes joe

[35:31] cuba yes scott dyke yes motion carries thank you

[35:38] you are welcome we certainly want to congratulate our

[35:42] director of our library scott poynton he's been doing it for how many years

[35:46] now uh over 15. over 15 years and i think we all remember the library

[35:51] that was on theodore street for all those years

[35:54] it's small size small parking lot and it's a

[35:59] small amount of circulation and when you look

[36:04] from the information that was put together in

[36:07] the proclamation how far the library has come over the

[36:11] last 100 years 92 employees

[36:15] district-wide and over 650 000 circulations per year that's

[36:22] incredible for what they have to offer and just

[36:25] like our schools in the city of cresthill our library is

[36:30] a very integral part of any community because a community is only as strong as

[36:35] its school system and its libraries a lot of people do look for those things

[36:40] when they look to move into a community and our library and all three of them

[36:46] the one in lockport the one in romeoville are all run very efficiently

[36:51] there are all generations that go into that

[36:54] library every day whether to use the internet

[36:58] to look for a book to children's programs the activities

[37:02] the programs that they have at that library the programs that they

[37:07] had when all of our children were at that age as

[37:12] youngsters to go into the library to learn and to gather information has just

[37:17] been incredible so i want to on behalf of all of the citizens of the city of

[37:22] cresthill scott present you with a copy of this

[37:25] proclamation that we have just passed i want to thank you for your commitment

[37:29] your dedication your loyalty not only to the crest hill branch but to romeo

[37:33] villain to lot for all branches also it's an incredible

[37:38] feat to try to handle those three buildings and to provide the services

[37:41] that you do but you do it very well and we're very proud to have you in the city

[37:45] of crest hill great so congratulations on behalf of myself and everyone in the

[37:49] city of christ thank you so much certainly the podium is yours all right

[37:54] thank you mayor and council this is quite an honor um

[37:58] as you've gathered from the the reading of the proclamation it's quite a storied

[38:02] history 100 years is a long time and um you know as i was listening to that

[38:06] it kind of reminded me a little bit of just the city of cresthill i mean

[38:10] uh you know officially crest hill uh

[38:14] incorporated in 1960 so some someone might say cresthill is only 62 years old

[38:18] but obviously there was a community before it incorporated and so a very

[38:22] long story uh passed and i think one of the things that i've

[38:26] tried to bring uh is a little bit of a drive and a you

[38:30] know continuing to look forward it might you know be easy to to rest on laurels

[38:35] or or whatever but

[38:37] you know we're as the mayor said we we're a really good

[38:41] library right now and we're striving every day every week every month to be a

[38:45] great library and you know we're very proud of what we've

[38:48] accomplished but there's a lot to do still and so we're not

[38:52] we're not done just yet

[38:55] and and i would also mention i can get in a

[38:58] commercial while i get the podium so the mayor mentioned the dinner that

[39:02] we're having on february 4th that's kind of a combination celebration

[39:08] recognize our library partners announced the existence of our new foundation that

[39:12] we've just launched but also throughout the calendar year of

[39:16] 2022 we're going to have all kinds of activities at the library celebrating

[39:19] this anniversary so look for all ages open to the public birthday

[39:24] parties to happen in may and all three of our branches and uh all kinds of

[39:29] other fun things that we're gonna do throughout the year so

[39:31] yeah it's it's uh i'm humbled and honored to to receive this so thank you

[39:36] all very much so just stay right there i'm gonna open up the city council for

[39:39] any comments they would like to make to you scott i just have one one question

[39:42] what are some of the the ways that they can support the foundation

[39:46] okay so we have a like i said a brand new library foundation it is a true uh

[39:51] endowment type of foundation so any money given to the foundation

[39:55] is principal and it will never be spent so if you give ten dollars that ten

[40:00] dollars for the rest of time will earn interest that goes to the library so

[40:05] it's it's an endowment so the principal will never be touched the interest money

[40:09] uh will start to flow to the library to create

[40:12] a source of income that doesn't come from tax dollars and that's what you

[40:15] know that's what i've been hearing for the

[40:17] last 15 years so that's what we've now put together um so to ultimate albert's

[40:22] point

[40:24] anybody who donates during

[40:27] this calendar year will be considered a

[40:30] centennial donor and they'll be recognized as such you know forever on

[40:34] our website the foundation website i should say

[40:37] um and that's you know one dollar up to in theory 249

[40:42] um if you're willing to give 250 uh you get a bronze leaf on the on the

[40:46] donor tree which is about to be installed at the chrysler branch in the

[40:50] next week or so um 500 you get your silver leaf 750 you can see a gold leaf

[40:56] um if you really want to be a big spender a thousand dollars

[41:00] we'll get you an egg corn which is bigger

[41:02] on the tree we are we are the white oak library

[41:05] district after all uh there are acorns and then um beyond that uh the

[41:10] foundation has conceived of and the library board has approved a naming

[41:14] rights sort of menu for spaces in the library so

[41:18] um you know if you'd like the the raymond solomon uh you know children's

[41:21] department you could probably get that for the low low price of 75 000

[41:25] all right but uh you know there's meeting rooms

[41:29] and whatnot they're much much less expensive but like i said the whole

[41:33] thing is conceived of so that you know in five years or ten

[41:37] years or however long it takes us to sell all the leaves on the trees and

[41:40] sell all the naming rights of the rooms or whatever

[41:43] there might be a million dollars sitting in the bank churning out fifty thousand

[41:47] dollars and that's probably not that much but but whatever tens of thousands

[41:50] of dollars of income every year interest income

[41:54] which will go to support and sustain the library's efforts so

[41:58] it is a leave a legacy type of situation because

[42:01] like i said the principal will never be touched so any dollar given will

[42:05] continue to produce income for the library forever

[42:08] you're going to have one of these giving trees at each of the branches we we will

[42:12] yes the um

[42:14] so we're having these these partner parties that the mayor had mentioned

[42:17] earlier um in the order that our three buildings opened so the lockport party

[42:22] is this friday um because that was our first branch

[42:25] obviously and then two weeks later the crystal

[42:27] party will happen and our intention is to have these trees you know in place

[42:32] and mounted in time for each of those parties um so it's kind of uh

[42:37] there's they're a celebration party but also it's a sort of a

[42:40] also celebrating the launch of our new foundation as well as

[42:44] looking backwards we're also looking forward

[42:47] um and then the romeo party is three weeks

[42:49] after the crystal party

[42:53] thanks well scott i i think you've done a remarkable job since you've taken over

[42:57] i've seen all the great changes that that have come to this library district

[43:01] and um i want to thank you personally for what a great job you've done

[43:06] uh and if somebody wants to donate to this

[43:08] can they just mail you a check and if so where because i think it's a wonderful

[43:12] wonderful idea and you always come up with great ideas but i think this is a

[43:15] really great one so thank you so the foundation has a website it's

[43:19] www.woefoundwhite.wofound.org

[43:26] and it has they list all the ways that you can give

[43:28] if you want to use a credit card we use paypal as our as our credit card

[43:32] processor but all those all those means are

[43:35] explained there on the website but otherwise if you want to write a

[43:39] check just make it out the white oak library foundation and bring it to the

[43:42] library and tell them to give it to me

[43:45] we'll make it happen

[43:49] anyone else thank you for everything you've done um and i also want to thank

[43:52] you on a personal note for all your support for the food pantry that uh

[43:57] every time i reach out to you you're you're very helpful and we're doing it

[44:01] again in a couple months so sounds great yeah everything you do for crosstalk

[44:06] thank you thank you scott for all you've done for the city of crest hill

[44:11] congratulations on 100 years it's amazing um i think you you provide

[44:17] such an invaluable service to the residents

[44:20] um with the library and as a a father of three

[44:23] that have gone are all teenagers now i believe i spent

[44:27] many hours in the library with them helping them on projects or taking part

[44:31] in the programs that you had there as well um been an integral part of of

[44:36] their childhood so i want to thank you personally

[44:39] thank you scott i just wanted to

[44:42] also thank you for i know it was one of your goals to get the foundation started

[44:46] pretty much when you got here so yeah congrats on getting that off the ground

[44:50] and and in place um keep up the good work

[44:54] thanks thank you yeah a hundred years is a long

[44:58] time uh i looked it up uh betty white was

[45:01] born nine days before our library district opened its doors so just to put

[45:04] it in perspective that's they were the same age um

[45:10] oh what i was gonna say is the only library that i'm aware of out here in

[45:13] the southwestern suburban area that's this age or older is joliet

[45:18] or out of all the other libraries in our consortium where the other than joliet

[45:22] we're the oldest library so in many ways we're the little library

[45:25] they could because you know it might not have been flashy or fancy for a lot of

[45:29] those hundred years but it kept on chugging along so

[45:33] it's an honor to be here thank you all thank you thank you thank you thanks

[45:36] scott thank you thanks scott thanks scott and thank the trustees of the

[45:40] library boards for going along the wisdom they had planned all this it

[45:43] worked out very well for them i will they deserve some contact too absolutely

[45:47] yes yes i'll pass that along thank you all right thanks scott

[45:52] um next our final agenda item is a

[45:56] resolution honoring janet m serdar on her retirement as deputy city clerk

[46:01] of the city of crest hill um again jan did retire last week

[46:08] so with that

[46:10] we will have wards three and four read a resolution and her honor and we'll begin

[46:15] with other person overland resolution 1132 a resolution honoring

[46:20] janet m serdar on her retirement as deputy city clerk of the city of crest

[46:25] hill whereas janet m serdar began her career with the city of cresthill

[46:30] on october 20th 1986 as a temporary employee and was appointed deputy city

[46:35] clerk on april 20 1987

[46:39] and whereas janet m serdar has over her 35 plus years of service received

[46:44] numerous awards recognitions and letters of appreciation and gratitude from the

[46:50] citizens of the city of cresthill and whereas janet amsterdam over the course

[46:55] of her career was responsible for the day-to-day operations of the city

[46:59] clerk's office several city-wide elections

[47:02] and maintaining all official city records along with several other duties

[47:07] and responsibilities and whereas janet m serdar was a valued employee who served

[47:14] in the role of deputy city clerk with professionalism integrity

[47:19] humility and most importantly compassion and has developed positive relationships

[47:24] with both businesses and citizens over her long and distinguished career

[47:29] and has worked cooperatively with numerous staff members with the goal of

[47:33] improving the quality of life of the city of cresthill citizens and

[47:38] whereas janet and msurt are retired on january 7 2022

[47:43] and the city of crest still wishes to recognize her for commitment dedication

[47:47] and loyalty along with her excellent service to the citizens of the city of

[47:51] cresthill and express our appreciation and admiration of her work for the past

[47:55] 35 years now therefore be resolved by the mayor

[47:58] and the city council of the city of crest hill will county illinois as

[48:01] follows section one the mayor and the city council of the city of cresthill

[48:06] wish to express their heartfelt gratitude and profound expression of

[48:10] thanks to janet m serdar for her dedicated years of service to the

[48:14] citizens of cresthill

[48:16] section two the mayor and city council extend their best wishes to janet m

[48:21] cerdar for a productive and joyous future and for her continued success in

[48:26] whatever endeavor she chooses section three

[48:30] the crest hill city clerk is directed to forward a copy of this resolution to

[48:35] janet amsterdaar and make the original of the resolution available to members

[48:40] of the general public during normal business hours at the city

[48:44] of crest hill city clerk's office resolve this 17th

[48:48] day of january 26th 22nd christine for shay hall city clerk

[48:55] approved this 17th day of january 2022 raymond r solomon mayor so moved is

[49:01] presented second we have motion by all the person

[49:04] overland seconded by alderman albert for the approval of a resolution honoring

[49:08] janet m serdar on her retirement as deputy city clerk of the city of

[49:11] cresthill questions or comments roll call

[49:14] please gerald jefferson wow yeah

[49:18] claudia gazelle yes peter berlin yes mark the pedi

[49:21] yes nate albert yes joe cool well yes scott dive yes javascript yes motion

[49:27] carries resolution 1132.

[49:30] and unfortunately jan could not be with us this evening so we were we will uh

[49:35] certainly make some arrangements um here at city hall uh and invite everyone to

[49:41] honor her on the

[49:43] on the resolution um with that i will open it up if anyone

[49:47] would like to make any comments in regards to jam well i certainly would

[49:51] because as i said last time in all the years she's been here

[49:56] throughout everything even before i served on this council there's one thing

[49:59] that you could be sure of when you walk through that front door you were always

[50:03] treated with a smiling face you were always helped

[50:06] you were always given the best information she never showed partiality

[50:11] to anyone she gave all the time if you needed an answer she got you that answer

[50:16] and she knew most of it off the top of her head she was a one in a million and

[50:22] not only was she a one in a million but i consider her a good friend of mine and

[50:27] i wish her a very very happy retirement but she will be sorely missed and i want

[50:33] to thank her for doing such a wonderful job for 35 years

[50:37] through everything that's gone on the tumult throughout the city from

[50:41] different things in coven and you name it she was always consistently wonderful

[50:47] and that is a rarity in any job to have an employee work for you that long

[50:53] and um she deserves an accolade for that and representative natalie manley also

[50:58] had one sent through the house for her she got

[51:01] that at her party so i was very pleased to see that so congratulations jan

[51:06] good job

[51:11] i'd like to congratulate jan i know jan for a number of years i knew

[51:15] her mother for a number of years i was happy to vote for her when we

[51:18] hired her and it's nice to see her last 30 years she's the first one in the

[51:22] department that last 30 years retired from that department so it's an honor

[51:26] for her also she's number one

[51:30] chan was the type of person that if you ask her something she got it to you

[51:34] in no time she had a wealth of knowledge in

[51:38] her head and we're really going to miss her and like tina said you know after

[51:42] so many years people just become friends and

[51:45] certainly going to miss the interface around here

[51:51] i want to thank jan for all her years of service she was always a

[51:55] reliable person that you could depend on to help get you answers whatever it may

[51:59] have been that you needed to find out or that

[52:03] she was always there i thought you know she was here before i

[52:07] started and i thought she'd be here after i left but i guess i don't lasted

[52:10] her surprised me you know

[52:13] but seriously thanks again jan i'll echo what everyone

[52:18] would have been said here but congratulations jan and

[52:22] i'm hoping to see you on your next party eventually mayor it's coming up

[52:27] so see you soon jen and i will congratulate you personally

[52:33] thanks jan for your uh many many years of service to the city of cresthill

[52:38] um as nate said you were always so helpful and always quick to respond

[52:44] and and provide answers and enjoy your retirement thank you

[52:54] okay from the mayor congratulations jen

[52:59] certainly well deserved uh wish you nothing but good health and happiness

[53:04] and your retirement and thank you for your commitment your dedication and your

[53:08] loyalty to the city of cresthill it's very rare for anybody to work 35 years

[53:13] in one place and retire from there anymore

[53:15] so uh that's a very loyal loyal person that we had at the city of

[53:20] cresthill for many many years so congratulations to you

[53:23] and thank you for your friendship um

[53:27] more thing sure jan if you're listening to the program tonight when you go on

[53:31] vacation look down and see what your shoes look like before you leave

[53:36] she'll know what i'm talking about okay

[53:39] that's it for the mayor's report if there's any questions they'll certainly

[53:42] try to answer them hearing none we'll move on to our city

[53:45] clerk's report our city clerk christine berche hall good evening chris good

[53:49] evening first thank you council for approving

[53:52] the resolution for jan and yes she was a great asset to the city of

[53:58] cresthill she is missed karen has some

[54:02] big shoes to fill and she's doing a good job at it

[54:09] and i just have a note that for the local 150 union contract

[54:14] that was approved on december 20th 2021 president's day is now included as an

[54:20] observed holiday the city council meeting scheduled for

[54:24] monday february 21st will be cancelled and rescheduled for tuesday february

[54:29] 22nd 2022

[54:32] and that's all i have to report

[54:36] any questions of city clerk okay

[54:40] thanks chris uh city treasurer's report our treasurer glenn conklin good evening

[54:44] glenn good evening mayor and council i'd like to report regular overtime payroll

[54:48] from december 20th 2021 through january 2nd of 2022.

[54:54] the amount of 266 thousand 137.50

[55:01] again without him i'm looking for action on us i would uh

[55:04] appreciate your uh uh request your approval on our list of bills in the

[55:09] same time frame totaling one million 266 thousand

[55:13] five hundred thirteen dollars and sixty eight cents

[55:17] so move this percentage we're a motion by other person overland

[55:21] segmented by alderman jefferson for the approval of the list of bills questions

[55:25] or comments roll call please

[55:28] claudia gazelle yes you know yes marcia pedi yes nate albert

[55:33] yes joe cuball yes scott dyke yes john roche

[55:38] garrell jefferson yes motion carries thank you

[55:41] i thank you all take any questions if you have them questions of city treasure

[55:46] uh glenn i don't have a question so much as um

[55:49] i was speaking with lisa uh one day about a new program that she

[55:56] put into place that i guess catches bad checks before

[56:01] they get cashed correct and

[56:03] [Music] it doesn't cost the city anything to run

[56:06] this program and she told me the first month that she ran it there was over

[56:09] thirty one thousand dollars in checks that were recovered

[56:14] i i think maybe a better explanation would

[56:16] be uh checks that were submitted yes not

[56:19] cashed right but that saved us thirty one thousand dollars

[56:24] assuming they would have went through that's not

[56:26] not but i i just think that's really remarkable that she's you know jumped in

[56:30] and done something like that to save the city money and um

[56:35] she should be applauded for that that was there before and it was not

[56:38] utilized correct it was a uh

[56:42] a while back it was client yeah was chosen not to be used in this

[56:47] case it does put a little bit of extra burden and extra step on the

[56:50] on the accounts payable and receivables but

[56:53] um that extra step can save us money along the line wow and it's a free

[56:57] program it takes nothing but yeah a little effort on our part but saving

[57:01] money and probably should have been done a long time ago but i i agree and

[57:05] actually there's kudos for that thank you yes thank you tina

[57:08] anybody else okay thanks glenn uh unfinished business

[57:13] we have nothing on the agenda anyone new business anyone

[57:17] committee liaison reports anybody

[57:22] city council comments positive city council comments anything you'd like to

[57:26] share with your constituents

[57:30] anybody first we'll begin with alderman coobel this

[57:33] evening um may or nothing tonight uh alderman albert and nothing more than

[57:38] what's already been said ward three alderman's a pity nothing at this time

[57:43] there other person overland well i would like to reiterate that today is a day to

[57:48] honor martin luther king and the strides he

[57:51] made for civil rights in this country and let let those efforts not be lost we

[57:56] still have a long road to go in america in that respect

[58:01] and i think we all need to take a page from his book

[58:06] ward two older woman gazelle just want to bring awareness mayor um

[58:12] that january is the titled cancer awareness national

[58:18] months as

[58:20] early detection is really important um look at the small details like losing

[58:26] hair gaining weight there are little things that we don't consider um

[58:32] i'm a survivor myself and i was lucky enough to deduct it early

[58:38] so just just be be careful and be safe

[58:42] that's it mayor thank you alderman jefferson

[58:45] uh yes i'd like to thank you mr mayor for your remarks regarding reverend dr

[58:50] martin luther king also i'd like to

[58:55] get an update if we can on the lgl supermarket situation

[59:01] i have been in communication with some of those

[59:04] residents and uh i'd like to give them an update as soon

[59:08] as possible actually just so i can there's a meeting

[59:14] you'll be invited to it soon

[59:24] okay public comment anyone would like to

[59:26] address any console please step to the podium set your name for the record your

[59:29] address is optional let the records show that no one has

[59:34] approached the podium there is a need to our city attorney

[59:37] mike there is a need for an executive session correct correct

[59:41] that would be a motion to go into an executive session

[59:46] to discuss pending litigation five iscs 122 c 11. so move mayor second motion by

[59:52] alderman elbert second at biola person overland for an executive session

[59:57] um roll call please mark the pedi yes

[1:00:02] nate albert yes joe kubal yes scott dykes yes camera shay yes darrell

[1:00:07] jefferson yes bloody good yes kena overland yes motion carries okay we'll

[1:00:12] be going into executive session at 8 02 p.m

[1:00:16] good night

[1:00:29] you

01-17-22 Crest Hill City Council Meeting

Transcript