[0:01] [music]

[0:06] Yep. It's time. >> Okay, we're going to call this to order.

[0:09] So, uh, calling the meeting of the Riverside

[0:14] Township Board of Trustees to order. Uh, and Trustee Highland back, would you

[0:20] please lead us in the pledge? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United

[0:24] States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under

[0:30] God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

[0:35] » Thank you. I'm sorry. Who's would somebody want to do the one? Okay. Thank

[0:42] you. All righty. The uh roll call of the board, please.

[0:51] Trusty Clark >> present.

[0:53] » Trusty Highland >> present.

[0:55] » Trusty Navaro >> present.

[0:57] » Trusty Dosta >> present.

[0:59] » Clerk Reges is here. Supervisor Wilt >> present. Thank you. We have a quorum so

[1:04] we can get going. Uh the approval of the minutes of the December 9th board

[1:10] meeting. I move to approve. Have a motion to approve by Trustee Navaro. Do

[1:16] I hear a second? >> Second.

[1:19] » Thank you. I have a a second by trustee Dasula. Are there any additions,

[1:24] corrections? >> I have a correction, Supervisor Will. On

[1:27] page three, under mental health board report,

[1:31] uh, Trustee Highland attended the It should be Brookfield tree lighting.

[1:38] » Okay, that was Brookfield. Thank you.

[1:44] Any other corrections, additions? Any notes hearing? None. Then

[1:52] I have a motion by trustee Navaro, seconded by trustee Dasala to approve

[1:57] these minutes. And I presume with the correction is u part of your motion.

[2:03] There being no further discussion, all in favor signify by saying I.

[2:07] » I. >> All oppose. Nay. Motion is carried.

[2:11] Thank you. Next item. Are there any communications?

[2:16] » There are no communications. Okay. Um,

[2:22] so we're on to the supervisor's report. Uh, the food pantry donations were very

[2:28] generous this holiday season. The shelves are full with many deposits of

[2:32] shelf stable goods. The extras shelves are also full. Some items we may have to

[2:37] share with other pantries because we don't go through much baby food or small

[2:41] diapers. Um, monetary donations exceeded $1,800 in December. Utilization was high

[2:48] as well. By year end, we had $127 households use our pantry at least once

[2:55] during the year. We provided 90 of the $75 gift cards approved by this board.

[3:01] Plus, there were two smaller uh gift cards given for a couple of people who

[3:06] came right before Christmas when we had run out of the allocated ones. The

[3:10] smaller cards were $50 ones that had been donated to the pantry. So, there

[3:15] was one to Riverside Foods and one to uh Juel.

[3:19] Uh the county treasur's office sent two lumpsum payments each representing quote

[3:25] unquote 20% of build taxes at the end of the year. the two payments of $154,11866

[3:36] for a total of $38,237.32

[3:41] were much appreciated, but the notice also indicated that they do not have the

[3:45] system for regular payments working yet. They also said the money dispersed was

[3:51] dispersed only to principal taxing bodies. um that they acknowledged that

[3:56] we needed operating funds, but it was only to the general fund and nothing was

[4:01] sent yet to the general assistance fund. And I understand nothing has gone out

[4:06] yet to the mental health fund. Dispersements reporting system has not

[4:11] shown any updates since October 31st, so I can't even verify if um any anything

[4:18] is getting paid. I was supposed to meet with the architect to go over their

[4:22] proposed plans for the restrooms in mid December, but I got sick and had to stay

[4:26] home two days and cancelled that meeting. We're working on rescheduling.

[4:32] Um, as a matter of fact, we are supposed to meet this week, Thursday. Uh, the

[4:39] staff had a small lunchon to celebrate Fran Sitkowitz's retirement on December

[4:44] 30th. If you didn't see it on Facebook, Fran Friends celebrated Fran Sitkcoitz

[4:49] Day with a sign in front of her house to call attention to the day. I sent a

[4:53] press release about the retirement and the day in her honor uh to the RB

[4:59] landmark and they reached out to her for an interview and the front page of the

[5:03] paper had the story on her retirement and her day and her picture with her

[5:08] Higgins bowl and trustees Dassel and Navaro and with myself.

[5:14] Now, I welcome uh Mary Joe Miller to her official capacity as the township

[5:19] assessor. Unfortunately, she got sick this the first week in her role, but I

[5:24] see that she's managed to to be here this evening. Uh I reported to you in

[5:29] November that our 14-year-old copy machine is starting to fail. At the time

[5:34] it was out of service, but the part we needed was found and we were up and

[5:38] running for a while, but we were given no guarantees on whether the next

[5:42] problem will be fixable. We requested and have been waiting for a proposal

[5:46] from Canon for a replacement. The proposal came midday on Monday of this

[5:51] week after our agenda had to be posted late last week. The copier started to

[5:56] show some overprint that you can see on some of the pages in your binders. So,

[6:02] the the proposal um I believe you've been given a copy of the proposal. It's

[6:07] um about $9,400 uh to purchase the new machine. The last

[6:13] one we purchased lasted us for 14 years. So, you know, that that's not too bad an

[6:19] investment. And um apparently our service agreement will be less than half

[6:25] the price of what we're paying for this old machine now. So, um, that will only

[6:31] be under $500 a year. So, um, I don't have it on the agenda

[6:38] because it started acting up after the agenda was distributed. Um, but I

[6:44] consider this an emergency and we'll need to go forward with ordering a new

[6:48] one even if it's outside uh, my usual spending limit of 5,000 and

[6:53] then you can approve it at the next meeting. I guess that I mean I I don't

[6:57] expect that we're going to be able to go very long when it's starting to print

[7:01] the way it is. >> Do we not approve it without being on

[7:04] the agenda? >> We're not supposed to.

[7:07] » No, we can't take any formal action if it's not on the agenda.

[7:11] » Okay. >> So anyway, um but I do have authority

[7:15] under emergencies to >> go forward and I think in principle we

[7:19] were aware that it was going to be happening. Okay. Um, other than that, we

[7:25] passed a resolution in October of last year in support of the Illinois America

[7:29] 250 commemoration with a general plan to do some kind of a volunteer project.

[7:34] Perhaps we can place discussion of such a project on an agenda for a committee

[7:39] of the whole meeting in February if everyone is going to be available then.

[7:43] So although we usually cancel them, I think we have something to discuss at

[7:48] this point. So come to that meeting with uh your thinking caps on about what we

[7:54] could do uh to commemorate the 250th anniversary of our nation. That's all I

[7:59] have, but I'm very happy to answer any questions you might have.

[8:03] » Uh what is the out time on the machine? >> Um I'm really not sure like we just got

[8:09] this although it's dated the 9th. We uh we were waiting for it to come through

[8:14] and of course that came over after as well. Um, so I'm not sure how long on

[8:22] that. I mean, we'll hold off if we can, but uh, by the way, this new machine

[8:30] will also print color, which we don't we have not had before. So,

[8:36] » do we have a secondary machine in case something happens?

[8:39] » We have all of our printers that attach to our uh, individual computers. Okay.

[8:44] our printers uh you know they're they're uh copiers too but they're individual

[8:49] sheets and they're they're much slower so it's not great actually last month

[8:56] when we or the month when we were out of commission because of the part um I

[9:00] think we used the assessor's office um their copier was a little quicker so

[9:05] » okay >> I mean yeah we have a backup plan so I

[9:08] will try to hold off and um we probably wouldn't be doing the spending until

[9:12] then anyway Is the is the February 9th committee of the whole meeting or is

[9:18] » it would be the first of the first Tuesday?

[9:21] » The second. >> No. Uh isn't that the third? The

[9:25] February 3rd. >> Is it the third?

[9:29] » Yeah. February 3rd. >> Okay.

[9:31] » And then our regular meeting would be the 10th.

[9:33] » Thank you. >> Yes.

[9:36] » Yes. So So yeah, let's plan to have that and

[9:40] those are usually at 6:30. So all right. Uh if there's nothing further, then

[9:45] we'll go on to the reports of the uh trustees. Um Trustee Clark, do you have

[9:52] something for us? >> Uh yes. Um

[9:56] I want to say um the exercise class is going well. Uh we had the senior

[10:01] Christmas lunch on Monday, December 22nd, and thank you very much to Trusty

[10:07] Navaro who helped me with that. >> And um we had pizza

[10:13] And um the seniors really really enjoyed it. I will say that uh TOI lobby day is

[10:20] April 15th which is a Wednesday and it is the day after our annual town

[10:26] meeting. >> Wow.

[10:29] » Everybody's town meeting. Right. >> Everybody's town meeting. Yes. Uhhuh.

[10:33] » But >> uh Wednesday, April 15th, but they it

[10:38] doesn't start till like noon. So they figure people can drive down

[10:42] that morning. Um, also the talk board has been trying

[10:48] to reinvigorate the trustees division of the talk board and they had originally

[10:54] scheduled um a meeting a trustee meeting um on January 22nd.

[11:03] However, that has been cancelled because only four people responded. And um

[11:08] Jackie Small, who is the president of the T trustees division, is having a

[11:13] really hard time getting this up and going. So she is she is trying very very

[11:20] hard. So um she thinks that she'll probably try to u do um a trustee

[11:27] meeting in April. And um that is all I have. Thank you

[11:33] very much. Trusty Dasa, do you have anything? Thank you, supervisor. No

[11:37] report. >> Thank you. Uh Trusty Navaro,

[11:41] » um only that the lunch, the senior lunch was lovely and the exercise class. I was

[11:45] so glad I went. It was uh well attended and it's just so nice to see the

[11:51] relationships that are formed and people getting together and sharing resources,

[11:56] information, and fellowship. Great. I hope there's another lunch coming up

[12:00] soon that I could help with. I just This is a lot of fun. Um,

[12:05] » probably around St. Patrick's Day. >> Yeah, I'm glad to help anytime. That was

[12:09] a lot of fun. >> I try to do them once a quarter.

[12:12] » Okay, perfect. And then I did my FOYA open meeting act with the Illinois

[12:16] Attorney General's Office. It took me a while because the the password was not I

[12:22] don't know if any I I was trying for like a month and I finally got a hold of

[12:27] somebody there and was able to complete the training. So, yay. Yeah.

[12:32] » But they don't make it easy. I'll tell you how. No, it was hard to get the

[12:37] password. >> Thank [clears throat] you. Uh Trusty

[12:40] Highland. >> Hi, good evening everyone. Uh the mental

[12:44] health board, I told you that we uh postponed our uh our presentation that

[12:50] we're going to do for the TV uh in January. We have rescheduled that for

[12:56] February 21st and it'll be filmed here at at the auditorium. Uh we also uh have

[13:05] partnered with the Riverside uh police director Buckley and I have talked and I

[13:10] I know he's talked to Dr. Tratiani uh he's got some ideas. I know we are

[13:16] going to include AI in that since it's AI is uh real hot right now and I mean

[13:23] it's great but there are some really bad things out there on that and the name of

[13:29] the program is the kids aren't okay. Uh so um that's that. Uh we are also going

[13:38] to do refresher courses for the uh CIT trained officers and our partnership uh

[13:44] communities. U we will get a couple of dates on those

[13:48] but we have to wait until um the county decides to release our funds and uh we

[13:55] will get those dates together. I will let you know when those are as soon as I

[14:01] know when they are. And that concl Oh, our next meeting is next Wednesday.

[14:05] It'll be at the way back in which is in uh their office in Oak Park. And that

[14:11] concludes my report. >> Thank you very much. Any questions for

[14:15] anybody? If not, then we will move along.

[14:19] » Uh Supervisor Wil, does the assessor have a report? Do you have anything?

[14:23] » I'm sorry. That would be nice to Yes. I skipped right over.

[14:28] » Hi, I'm Mary Miller. I'm the new professor. Um, I just want to report

[14:31] that so far, except for myself getting sick. Um, we've had a smooth transition

[14:37] into the office. Um, I would like to say that my staff assistant Barbara Legan is

[14:42] staying on and she's doing great covering for us. Also, on Friday,

[14:47] although I was not in attendance, I was voted to the Cook County Township

[14:51] Assessors Association board and so I >> Congratulations [laughter] member of the

[14:55] board. >> That's what you get for not showing up.

[14:57] » Yeah. Uh I was actually slated back in September, but they [clears throat] took

[15:01] the vote because that was the first time they've had another inerson meeting. And

[15:05] so that our December meeting got pushed to January because of the late tax bill.

[15:09] So I'm now part of that board. And the only other thing I would say I have to

[15:14] announce is that um we are still waiting on any we did not get a lot of

[15:19] information from the county at that meeting. Um there's a big hold up with

[15:23] refunds for taxpayers that had certificates of error. So that's um

[15:29] something and some um other exemption corrections. There's a lot of they're

[15:35] still really slow. The the technology that went is a big hold up in the

[15:40] treasur's office, but they're doing the best they can. As you can see, they're

[15:43] trying to get out funds to the communities. Um and lastly, the senior

[15:48] tax deferral. Um the deadline is March 1st. That's a state program. We saw a

[15:54] lot of people struggling to pay their tax bills this year and I think we've

[15:58] had a a little bit of participation in that in the in the past. I think we're

[16:02] going to see a lot more but it is a state-run program. Um and those the due

[16:08] date for that is March 1st. So I'll probably post something and possibly

[16:11] post something on the township website. >> Okay.

[16:14] » To get people because that's a deadline by the state. It's not flexible at all.

[16:18] » Right. Okay. >> Okay.

[16:19] » Thank you. Any questions? >> Congratulations, Mary.

[16:24] » You do a great job. >> Okay. Um then now we're on to new

[16:30] business and we have some requests for uh rentals that include alcohol. So,

[16:39] first item is for Saturday, January 31st.

[16:44] Um these are relatives so I am going to uh abstain on this but we have it's a uh

[16:53] family first birthday party uh for Saturday the 31st of January

[17:00] and uh they are aware as soon as this is approved they will uh provide the

[17:05] insurance and um they are looking for the

[17:11] auditorium and the

[17:14] What is your pleasure? >> I make a motion that we approve the will

[17:20] family's first birthday party on um January 31st was it?

[17:26] » Yes, >> January 31st.

[17:29] » I'll second it. >> I have a motion by Trustee Clark,

[17:33] seconded by Trustee Highland to approve the request of the Wilt family. Um any

[17:39] discussion? Hearing none, then would you please call the

[17:44] role? >> Trusty Clark,

[17:46] » yes. >> Trusty Highland,

[17:47] » yes. >> Trusty Navaro,

[17:49] » yes. >> Trusty Dosta,

[17:50] » yes. >> Supervisor Wilt,

[17:52] » abstain. >> Motion is carried. Uh, next one is for

[17:58] the 20th of February for a PTA fundraiser for Ames School

[18:06] and that is a Friday and they also um it requires board

[18:13] approval because they're requesting alcohol also utilizing the just the

[18:18] auditorium apparently no kitchen. They're just going to use that. I I

[18:24] strongly suspect they'll come. Oh, okay. Good. Okay.

[18:28] » Good. Thank you. >> Great.

[18:31] » We don't intend to use the kitchen because we are bringing all the catering

[18:34] in. So, we're bringing everything in in addition to two bartenders. So, we're

[18:38] asking a that we're able to have alcohol. Um we did provide the

[18:41] certificate of insurance in hopes that you would say yes this evening. So,

[18:44] Andrew already has that. Um and also if you would consider waving the fee since

[18:48] it's a fundraiser for a local elementary school.

[18:52] Um, >> are you charging for your alcohol?

[18:56] » We are not. Well, you we're not charging individually for the alcohol. There's

[19:00] it's a ticketed event, so you're paying for the ticket to attend.

[19:06] » Any other questions? >> So, the request is for the approval and

[19:12] for the waiver of fees, >> correct?

[19:14] » Generally, what we do on this is we do ask for the deposit at least.

[19:18] » Yes. >> Um, just in case,

[19:20] » of course. So, what is your pleasure? >> Um, just one thing. I don't think we

[19:26] have high tops. >> No, we Yes, we do. Oh, you're renting

[19:29] them. >> You have four? We have four.

[19:30] » I think you have four. And then we're renting an additional

[19:33] » two of them are typically down here in the hall. Actually, [laughter]

[19:36] » I didn't know that this could be moved. Okay.

[19:41] » We're renting a dozen. Also, >> I I have no problem. It's a It's a our

[19:46] local one of our local schools and waving the uh the fee. the auditorium

[19:51] fee for for this group. >> So, I'll make a motion to wave the fee.

[19:57] » Second and and approve the event >> and improve the event.

[20:00] » I have a motion by trustee >> to [laughter]

[20:05] approval to approve the event and to wave the fee. Uh, do I hear a second?

[20:10] » Second. >> Seconded by trustee Navaro. Any

[20:13] discussion? >> Then would you please call the role?

[20:19] » Trustee Clark. Yes. >> Trusty Highland.

[20:21] » Yes. >> Trusty Navaro.

[20:23] » Yes. >> Trusty Dosta.

[20:24] » Yes. >> Supervisor Wilt.

[20:26] » Yes. >> Is carried.

[20:29] » Thank you. Okay. Uh, next one is for a baby shower on Saturday, March 7th.

[20:40] And once again, this is for the auditorium and a security deposit.

[20:47] um and alcohol will be served. So once again,

[20:52] this requires board approval and their insurance.

[20:56] What is your pleasure? I move to approve the special use for

[21:03] the Vala baby shower on March 7th. Okay, I have a motion. Do I hear a

[21:11] second? >> Second. I have a motion by trusty

[21:14] Navaro, seconded by trustee Dasala to approve the uh use of the building with

[21:19] including alcohol um for Saturday, March the 7th for the V Va family. Any

[21:27] discussion and hearing none, would you please call

[21:31] the role? >> Trustee Clark,

[21:34] » yes. >> Trusty Highland,

[21:36] » yes. >> Trusty Navaro,

[21:37] » yes. >> Trusty Dula,

[21:39] » yes. Supervisor Wilt. >> Yes. Motion is carried. Thank you.

[21:45] Okay. Um preliminary discussion of the township budget. Right now, um I'm

[21:52] making notes, copious notes as to things that I expect we'll need to fund in the

[21:58] coming year. If you have any thoughts on on something that we should look into,

[22:04] don't know what the estimate is for the bathrooms yet. Don't know if we'll be

[22:07] able to afford it. Um I'm I just got a notice today from the county about some

[22:14] uh funding opportunities. Don't know if we'll qualify for them because many of

[22:19] them come with the small print proviso of and community with in need. So we'll

[22:26] see. Um, but uh I did see in there uh things like roofs would be uh a

[22:34] potential thing, but I don't know that we're ready to to take that plunge yet.

[22:39] Um, and so far we've been fortunate. So, um, but if if you have observed

[22:48] things that really need to be done or you would like to see us expand in some

[22:53] direction, uh, hopefully we're going to continue to get some tax funds soon and

[22:57] we can deal accordingly. >> Professor, um, tomorrow I'm listening to

[23:03] a webinar put on by TOI on community block grants,

[23:07] » right? So, I don't know if that will help us at all, but I will um listen to

[23:13] that and see if >> Yes, I if I can, I'm going to get on

[23:16] that, but I'm not sure that I will be able to.

[23:19] » Um, and

[23:22] supervisor, yes, I had a um community member ask me about the clock face.

[23:29] » That's several. Yes. So, the clock face and that Yes. Uh obviously it's not

[23:35] something we're going to do in dead of winter, but yes, it's a project that I

[23:38] would like to take on and the family who funded the clock to begin with has

[23:43] offered the Jes family has offered to >> um to get us some funding for that. So

[23:50] um but yes, I will make a note of that for

[23:54] the um [clears throat] for the coming budget as well.

[24:00] Any other thoughts now? um open to them and we will have further

[24:07] discussion. I hope that I'll have some preliminary thoughts next month so that

[24:12] we can pass a budget as soon as possible. Again, I'm waiting to see how

[24:19] the tax money starts coming into. Apparently, they they don't have the

[24:25] system for paying it out. That the treasur's office has indicated that

[24:31] that's why they were sending these they called in an approximate 20% on each of

[24:36] those payments of what had been build. >> Is there a deadline to where they have

[24:40] to put the money out? >> I think we're way past it. I mean, yeah,

[24:44] they're supposed to. Sure. Yeah. >> I mean, we are looking at almost a month

[24:49] since the tax bills were due. >> Okay. They were due to be paid on the

[24:55] 15th. >> I presume that most people did pay them

[24:58] because they were they were sitting on the money and the all the mortgage

[25:03] houses are going to pay them as soon as they can. Um but I I just I don't even

[25:09] know what to with to make of it anymore. It's it's a hot mess. So

[25:17] all right. Um, so that's really all I have in terms of discussion on the

[25:21] budget at this point, but we usually start thinking about it in January. So

[25:28] again, if you have other thoughts on it, just let me know so that I can work it

[25:32] into the uh the individual line items. So far, we're doing okay on our current

[25:38] budget um with very little, you know, deviation from what was expected.

[25:47] All right. Um, just for your information, uh, I already shared this

[25:53] with Riverside Brookfield High School. Um, and the, uh, college advisors are

[26:00] aware of it, but the township officials of Illinois do present scholarships each

[26:06] year. And so the application is here. If you know of anyone who perhaps doesn't

[26:11] go to um RB and might be interested in applying for this scholarship, please

[26:17] feel free to share it or let me know and I will share it um there as well.

[26:24] Okay. The approval of warrants.

[26:29] Trusty Highland moves that the board authorize and ratify payments in the

[26:33] bills identified on the general warrant for January 2026 in the amount of

[26:39] $14,73629

[26:44] as presented to the board this 13th day of January 2026.

[26:50] » Thank you. I have a motion by trustee

[26:55] Highland, seconded by Trustee Clark to approve the general warrant for January

[26:59] 2026 in the total amount of $14,73629.

[27:06] Is there any discussion or any questions?

[27:11] Hearing none, would you please call the role?

[27:14] » Trustee DSLA, >> yes.

[27:16] » Trusty Davaro, >> yes.

[27:17] » Trustee Highland, >> yes.

[27:19] » Trustee Clark, >> yes.

[27:20] » Supervisor Weld, >> yes. Motion is carried.

[27:24] » Motion by trustee Highland that the board ratify and authorize payment of

[27:29] the amounts indicated on the following warrants. The utility warrant for

[27:34] January 2026 in the amount of $2,2615.

[27:39] The payroll warrant for January of 2026 in the amount of $20,49320.

[27:48] The health warrant for January of 2026 in the amount of $3,656.

[27:55] General assistance warrant for January 2026 in the amount of $10,200.

[28:01] The township radio players warrant for January 2026 in the amount of $180.

[28:08] And the food pantry warrant for January 2026 in the amount of $34,581.

[28:16] All of the above as presented to the board this 13th day of January 2026.

[28:23] » Thank you. Do I hear a second? >> Second.

[28:26] » Motion by trustee Highland. Seconded by trustee Dassula to approve the following

[28:32] warrants for January 2026. Utility warrant in the amount of 20 $2,2615.

[28:42] The payroll warrant in the amount of $20,49320.

[28:50] The health warrant in the amount of $3656.

[28:55] Even the general assistance warrant in the amount of $10,200.

[29:01] The township radio players warrant in the amount of $180.

[29:06] And the food pantry warrant in the amount of $345.81.

[29:14] Is there any discussion? Any questions?

[29:19] Hearing none, would you please call the role?

[29:21] » Trustee Clark, >> yes.

[29:22] » Trusty Highland, >> yes.

[29:24] » Trusty Navaro, >> yes.

[29:26] » Trusty Dosta, >> yes.

[29:27] » Supervisor Wil, >> yes. Motion is carried.

[29:31] » Are there any public comments? Hearing none, then I will entertain a

[29:37] motion to adjurnn. >> So moved.

[29:40] » Harris. I have a motion by trustee Dasla, seconded by trustee Clark to um

[29:46] adjourn this meeting. Is there any discussion?

[29:49] Hearing none. All in favor say I. I. >> All oppose? Nay. Motion is carried.

[29:55] Thank you.

Township of Riverside Board of Trustees Regular Meeting 01-13-26

Transcript