[2:24] Good.
>> Good evening everyone. At this time,
[2:27] I'll call to order the regularly
scheduled board meeting for the village
[2:29] of Lotheian Wednesday, fe February 25th,
2026 at 7 p.m. Roll call, please. Deputy
[2:35] clerk Harris.
>> Trusty Burbat
[2:37] » here.
>> Trusty Crowley
[2:38] » here.
>> Trusty Hilly
[2:40] » here.
>> Trusty Dread
[2:41] » here.
>> Trusty Johnson
[2:43] » here.
>> Trusty Killy
[2:44] » here.
>> Mayor Laroo
[2:45] » here.
>> You have a quorum.
[2:46] » Thank you, ma'am. Please stand for the
pledge of allegiance. remain standing
[2:49] for a moment for fallen veterans.
[2:54] » I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the
[2:58] republic for which it stands, one nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and
[3:04] justice for all.
[3:11] » Thank you. [snorts]
At this time, I'll open the floor to
[3:15] public comment. Is there any public
comment tonight? See
[3:20] there's no public comment. I'll close
the floor of public comment and move on
[3:23] to tonight's consent agenda. [snorts] On
tonight's consent agenda, number one,
[3:27] approval of resolution number 26-0225-
which is a resolution approving an
[3:33] economic incentive agreement between the
village of Lotheian and the Bartellini
[3:36] Restaurant, Inc. Number two, approval of
hiring the selected candidate for the
[3:40] police administration administrative
assistant clerk 2 position. Number
[3:44] three, approval to spend $600 on a
streetcaping and traffic safety study
[3:48] openhouse on March 2nd, 2026.
Number four, approval of the January
[3:53] 2026 administration department monthly
report. Number five, approval of the
[3:57] January 2026 building department monthly
reports. Number six, approval of the
[4:02] January 20
26 fire department monthly report.
[4:07] Number seven, approval of the January
2026 Police Department monthly report.
[4:11] Number eight, approval of the January
2026 public works department monthly
[4:15] report. Number nine, approval of the
January 2026 treasures monthly report.
[4:20] Number 10, approval of the February 4th,
2026 committee meeting minutes. Number
[4:25] 11,
approval of the February 4th, 2026 close
[4:29] session meeting minutes. Number 12,
approval of the February 11th, 2026
[4:33] board meeting minutes.
[4:39] 13. Number 14, approval of the February
18th, 2026 meeting minutes. And number
[4:44] 15, approval of the list of bills. Is
there any item any trustee like offer
[4:47] tonight's consent agenda?
>> Hearing no dension, I'm looking for a
[4:52] motion to approve today's consent agenda
as read.
[4:55] » I'll make the motion.
>> I'll second.
[4:58] » Any discussion?
Roll call, please. Deputy clerk.
[5:03] » Trusty Johnson.
>> I.
[5:05] » Trusty Crowley.
>> Hi.
[5:06] » Trusty Burbat.
>> Hi.
[5:08] » Trusty Hilly.
>> Hi. Trusty Jed.
[5:10] » I.
>> Trusty Killy.
[5:11] » I.
>> Motion carries.
[5:13] » Thank you, ma'am. Moving on to trusty
business. Trusty Johnson.
[5:16] » Thank you, mayor. I have nothing
tonight.
[5:17] » Thank you, ma'am. Trusty Burbach.
>> I also have nothing tonight.
[5:20] » Thank you, sir. Trustee Billy.
>> Nothing tonight, sir.
[5:23] » Thank you, sir. Trusty Chad.
>> Nothing tonight, sir.
[5:26] » Thank you, ma'am. Trustee Kley.
>> As I have nothing either. [laughter]
[5:32] » Thank you, sir. Trustee Crowley.
>> Just one thing you see, sir. Um, I would
[5:36] just like to remind everybody that
Monday is our open house for our LO
[5:41] Lakota streetscaping
um and for our uh traffic safety study.
[5:46] It will be held at the police
department. So, we'd love to have a
[5:50] great turnout and get a lot of people to
give their input to see how they would
[5:53] like our streets to be safe, become
safer, and how they would like our
[5:56] downtown area to look. And that's all I
have this evening, sir.
[6:00] » Thank you, ma'am. Moving on to
department heads, Chief Rita. Uh, just
[6:04] one thing tonight, mayor.
[clears throat] Um,
[6:08] I just want to take a minute. Uh, I got
another great email from a resident. Um,
[6:13] last Saturday evening, February 21st,
around 8:00 p.m., our crew responded to
[6:18] a critical cardiac arrest call near
143rd in Kedville. 60-year-old man had
[6:24] suddenly gone into full arrest. Thanks
to our rapid arrival, immediate CPR,
[6:28] defibrillation, advanced life support,
[snorts] and seamless teamwork by our
[6:32] personnel, particularly the members of
Gold Shift on duty that night. This
[6:36] gentleman was successfully resuscitated
on scene and transported to the hospital
[6:41] in critical but stable condition. I'm
proud to report that he continues to
[6:45] make very promising recovery
[clears throat]
[6:46] and the family has reached out with
profound gratitude for the life-saving
[6:50] care we provided. Um, [clears throat]
this outcome is a direct result of our
[6:56] department's ongoing training and high
performance CPR, quick response times,
[7:00] and professionalism of all of our
firefighters and paramedics involved.
[7:04] [snorts] It reminds us of why we do what
we do. Protect lives, serve our
[7:08] community with excellence every single
day. So, to the Gold Shift crew and all
[7:12] our personnel, your actions not only
saved a life, but also reinforced the
[7:17] trust of our residents placed in us.
This kind of outstanding work makes
[7:21] Nolothian safer and stronger. So, I want
to thank Gold Shift and uh newly
[7:26] promoted engineer Golden was running the
shift that night.
[7:31] [applause]
[7:36] » Thank you, Chief. We continue to be very
proud of your department and thank you
[7:39] for everything you're doing.
>> Thank you.
[7:41] » Taking over the new chief. I know
there's a lot uh a lot of learning curve
[7:45] there. Um the loud boom and the smoke
out of the second floor apartment over
[7:50] at the Keystone that we do
>> last night. Yeah. Uh guy throwing uh
[7:54] quarter sticks out of his window in one
of the apartments.
[7:59] [snorts]
>> Don't do that.
[8:04] » Good advice. Good advice.
>> Thank you. I saw the call and I'm like
[8:08] all right. I didn't hear anything.
>> Everyone was returning to station like
[8:12] there must be [clears throat] nothing.
So
[8:13] » yes.
>> Thank you, Chief. Uh, Chief Delaney.
[8:16] » Yes, sir. Just a couple things tonight.
[8:21] » Um, first, uh, Officer Miller and K9 Leo
got invited to the, uh, judges annual
[8:28] conference in Lombard. Um, they went
there today and they took pictures with
[8:33] a lot of the Supreme Court justices and
interacted and they were more than happy
[8:37] to have the dog there interact. I'll uh,
post some of the pictures on Facebook
[8:41] tomorrow. Uh second thing is we
[clears throat] had uh collaborated with
[8:45] the schools all the time about um doing
certain things with the kids. Um we came
[8:50] up with uh Central [clears throat] Park
to adopt a classroom for kindergarten,
[8:54] first grade and second grade. Um myself,
Officer Bid, Officer Neimoth, Officer
[9:00] Albator, Officer Lacapruia are all going
to adopt a classroom, which means we're
[9:06] going to go there at least once a month
and read to the kids and interact with
[9:09] the kids uh starting in March. Awesome.
[9:15] » I love it.
>> It's all for kids. It's my favorite
[9:17] favorite part of the job, sir. I can't
compete with a fire department story.
[9:21] [laughter]
[9:24] » I thought that loud boom might have been
the remote hitting the floor, but
[9:27] [laughter]
at least with the quarter stick.
[9:32] » Sorry, sir. That's all I have.
>> Thank you, Chief. Uh, superintendent.
[9:37] Sir,
>> uh, nothing this evening, sir.
[9:39] » Thank you. Uh, I see that uh Popeye's is
getting close.
[9:44] » Uh, yes. Yes, sir. Actually, we're
scheduled uh fire officer, prevention
[9:49] officer Walker and myself are going
there tomorrow for what hopefully will
[9:53] be successful finals.
>> Okay. Health department.
[9:59] » Uh, he's going to make a uh
courtesy visit there. uh contractor
[10:04] requested that just to make sure that
they have everything in place prior
[10:08] prior to setting up for actual
operations. Yes.
[10:11] » Excellent. Looking forward to it.
>> Love that chicken from
[10:16] Thank you, sir. Superintendent Swanson.
>> Uh yes, sir. Just one thing. Just want
[10:20] to remind our residents that Kellyman
City Plumbing has started back up with
[10:23] the leadline replacement program. Uh
this is their first week back. I think
[10:26] they have somewhere in the neighborhood
of about 45 that are ready to go and for
[10:31] them to work. So, if you're interested
in signing up for the program, it's
[10:34] still going on. Uh, please call public
works or visit our website uh for more
[10:39] questions or more or you could call
Kelly Med City Plumbing themselves at
[10:43] 7088680074
[10:48] and that's extension 618.
And that's it.
[10:53] » Is that a good
[10:57] I got to take Sandy. [laughter] I'm
sorry.
[11:01] Is that a good number good amount of
people that signed up this time or No,
[11:05] you're not happy
>> for for the Well, we want more, but it's
[11:08] for what it is, I I'm happy with it at
least to get them going.
[11:12] » Okay.
>> So,
[11:13] » excellent,
>> Ty. What percentage have we
[11:17] » probably around 38
30 40%.
[11:21] » Uh, are we talking the whole village or
just this one?
[11:23] » Just about the phase one.
>> Probably like 40%. I I haven't
[11:30] calculated that in a while. Um
[11:35] so
>> yeah, 30 is probably a good number,
[11:40] » at least reasonable.
>> So we still have a little bit of work to
[11:44] do.
>> Yes. Yes.
[11:46] » Projectwise, we're at about 65 and we're
trying to get it done as quickly as
[11:52] possible this year before phase two
starts.
[11:55] » Can you compare that to other towns? how
we're doing as far as other towns that
[12:00] are doing lead service line replacement.
The number of people that are
[12:04] » um I mean I I would say we're probably
middle of the pack in terms of resident
[12:09] responsiveness.
I've heard of some horror stories for
[12:12] sure in other places.
um with us starting from a place that
[12:20] um in terms of numbers is not a super
substantial percentage of the village.
[12:26] You know, we were thinking we had
something in the range of 800 to a,000.
[12:31] Um
I would say so far we're doing pretty
[12:36] well.
>> Okay. Um, we I mean 2027 is when
[12:40] mandated replacements start and that's
when you're mandated to do 10% of what
[12:45] you have within the village at that
time. So getting a bunch of these
[12:50] knocked out on the front end with money
that we got for free from UPA is just
[12:55] going to make the process a lot easier
um once we get into that mandated
[13:01] replacement territory.
Um,
[13:04] » okay.
>> So, I I feel pretty good about where we
[13:08] are right now.
>> It's free.
[13:10] » Yes, it's free.
>> And it it helps you. It protects you. I
[13:15] don't know what else we can do to
promote this lead in your line. Water
[13:19] line is not good. So, we're offering for
free.
[13:22] » We're getting ready to send out the next
newsletter. If you get me a flyer, I'll
[13:25] put it in there, too.
>> Kelly Met is an excellent contractor,
[13:28] too. I had it done. very very
responsive, very transparent, and
[13:36] everything worked super well. Um,
there's nothing to be afraid of there.
[13:42] » Again, well, when I say free, I mean,
somebody's paying for it, but not you.
[13:48] » Uh, thank you, Chief Delaney. That's
something
[13:51] » one last thing. Um, we had our annual
department meeting today where I
[13:55] announced the officer of the year and
runners up. Um, so probably at the next
[13:59] board meeting we'll do that
presentation.
[14:03] » Thank you. You have something to make
sure.
[14:06] » Uh, I was going to add one thing on the
lead project. Um, we've been doing an
[14:10] outreach campaign of calling people
directly the last few weeks to talk to
[14:15] him about status and I've felt good
about the response that we've gotten.
[14:20] But one of the comments that we've
gotten from a lot of different people is
[14:24] that they feel like that they're kind of
in the dark since there's been like gaps
[14:28] of start and stop. And um so what I'm
going to do is I'm going to give out my
[14:34] direct line phone number to anybody who
has a question about what's going on,
[14:40] what the status of your home is, um to
further reiterate that you want to
[14:45] participate. So the number is 815412209.
[14:54] Once again, 815412209.
[14:58] If I don't answer the phone, leave a
message and tell me your address and
[15:01] I'll get back to you as quick as I can.
That's all.
[15:04] » Thank you, sir. Appreciate it.
>> I have nothing to say.
[15:09] » Director Redmond,
>> nothing's attorney.
[15:13] Um the Illinois legislature actually
introduced there were four bills
[15:17] introduced um to address the mass
requester voyas that have gone out to
[15:21] many municipalities. Um and so hopefully
there'll be some progress on some of
[15:26] that so that municipalities and other
public bodies have some recourse for
[15:29] some of those requests.
>> Excellent. Thank you. Um there was
[15:35] supposed to be a new business owner
tonight. He didn't show up. Uh I think
[15:39] he took over the um
appliance store over here on 147th. But
[15:44] uh want to thank him to come to the
village and
[15:48] » reliable.
>> Reliable. Yeah.
[15:51] » Also I was asked um once again to bring
up our Melothian Historic Museum. Uh
[15:58] they get very few visitors. They're open
every Saturday except for the last
[16:02] Saturday of the month. Uh open for four
hours. Uh Marcia Gman, her team has made
[16:07] that such a beautiful place. Uh I can't
recommend enough people go visit it.
[16:12] Bring your kids. Uh we're going to look
into some other avenues uh to to bring
[16:17] more traffic there. Maybe we'll do u
field trips and and things like that
[16:23] from the school. But it's just an
amazing place and I can't speak highly
[16:28] enough about it. So please go show up.
um if if we can't get in traffic, I
[16:34] mean, there's no reason to have a team
of people there every Saturday for 4
[16:37] hours if no one shows up. So, um we're
working on that. So, um I guess that's
[16:42] all the flaw. I talk about the flaw
a week from Saturday.
[16:49] » That's it.
>> Okay.
[16:51] » We're going to have float.
>> Yeah. Our standard setup.
[16:54] » Standard setup.
>> The rain holds off
[16:56] » 11:00 supposed to be in the mid50s.
We're going to hear
[17:00] » early park.
>> Going to hear thunder struck six or
[17:02] seven times.
>> Of course,
[17:04] » if you are going to get there early, get
a good spot. Bring a chair.
[17:08] » 151st in Central to almost 159.
>> That's usually pretty packed the crowd.
[17:13] Yeah.
>> Yeah.
[17:15] » Yeah. I think last year's estimate was
8,000 people or something like that.
[17:19] » Wow.
>> It was crazy.
[17:20] » Got candy.
>> Yes,
[17:22] » we got candy. And you got beads and
>> Sure. Other stuff.
[17:25] » Okay. Other stuff.
>> Festive stuff.
[17:27] » Okay.
speakers are working.
[17:30] » We're all good.
>> Working.
[17:34] » Excellent. Uh, anything from the clerk's
office?
[17:37] » Nothing this evening.
>> Nothing. Okay. All right. Well, see
[17:40] there's no further business for the
board. I'm looking for a motion to
[17:42] adjurnn.
>> I'll make the motion.
[17:45] » I'll second.
>> All in favor?
[17:47] » I.
>> All oppose.
[17:50] Meeting adjourn. Thank you.