[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.