MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING
CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COUNTRYSIDE, ILLINOIS
HELD IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS ON WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2006

1. After the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, Mayor LeGant called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. City Clerk Herberts called the Roll which was as follows:

PRESENT: Mayor Carl LeGant, Aldermen Robert Conrad, Wayne Straza, Karen Michalczyk, John Von Drasek, Michael Smetana, Robert Pondelicek

ALSO PRESENT: City Clerk Herberts, City Treasurer Stoffels, City Attorney Erik Peck, Administrator Bailey, City Engineer Fitzgerald, Deputy Chief Novak, DPW Supt. Fullar, PC/ZBA Member Jasinski

OMNIBUS AGENDA

2. Approval of Minutes of October 25, 2006.

3. Statement of Bills for the period ending, November 8, 2006: $102,884.07.

4. Application for a general business license from Clocktower Pointe (Sales Office) 6475 Joliet Road. Type: Sales office. Applicant: Mike Conneely.

5. Application for a general business license from Rallo Realty, 943 W. 63rd St. Type: Home office. Applicant: Giancarlo Rallo.

6. Application for a general business license from One More Cast, 6525 Joliet Road. Type: Retail sales. Applicant: Joseph Meyer.

7. Membership: West Suburban Chamber of commerce & Economic Development Partnership – Administration – $3,465.

8. Application for a general business license from Louder Enterprise, Inc., 6700 Lorraine Drive. Type: Home office. Applicant: Brian Louder.

9. Application for a general business license from Generations Development, 1110 W. 55th Place. Type: Home office. Applicant: Sheila Benson.

10. Application for a general business license from Schwartz Excavating, Inc., 10880 Crestview Road. Type: Home office. Applicant: Bruce Schwartz.

11. Application for a general business license from Donegal Excavating, Inc. 6502 Joliet Road #102. Type: Business office. Applicant: Eamon Lynch.

12. Application for a special use to hold a grand reopening for Jewel-Osco, 5550 Brainard Avenue on December 10, 2006 with a 5-piece band playing from 12-3 p.m.

13. Application for a fundraiser from FOP #155, Indian Head Park Police at Kenney’s Tavern on November 12, 11-4 p.m. to defray medical expenses for cancer victim Police Chief Patrick Crowley. Request fee be waived.

14. Membership: Illinois Municipal League – Administration – $532.

15. Application for a general business license from James Dean Muffler & Brake, 6501 Joliet Road (newly annexed). Type: Auto repair. Applicant: James Galemb.

16. Ald. Von Drasek moved to approve the Omnibus Agenda as presented, seconded by Ald. Smetana and carried unanimously.

ADDITIONS TO AND/OR DELETIONS FROM THE AGENDA

17. Additions to the Agenda were noted by Mayor LeGant, Ald. Michalczyk and Ald. Conrad.

QUESTIONS AND/OR COMMENTS FROM THE AUDIENCE – none

MAYOR’S REPORT

18. Mayor LeGant presented a Service Recognition Award to Bob Fullar, Director of Public Works, who has been with the City for 25 years. Bob is a rare individual – a working Superintendent – He was provided with a token of appreciation from the City. Mr. Fullar thanked the Council for the opportunity to serve the City for so many years.

19. Mayor LeGant reported on the Aging Well meeting which he attended at the Southwest Suburban Center on Aging. Agenda topics included the role of the Center as an access point, review of existing resources and determine and prioritize what needs to be developed, bringing in the use of technology to increase access to referral systems. In that vein a poll was conducted to help identify changes taking place in the aging process. Responses were tallied and results distributed to participants, which the Mayor read aloud. The Center is seeking to establish a central reference area to provide assistance to seniors who phone in with concerns, using a live person rather than a machine.

CITY CLERK’S REPORT

20. City Clerk Herberts stated that Council has been provided with the schedule of 2007 Regular Meetings for Countryside. If there are no changes, she asked for Council approval. Ald. Conrad moved to approve the schedule, seconded by Ald. Straza and carried unanimously.

21. Clerk Herberts noted that the Illinois General Assembly passed legislation establishing formal procedures for the recording of closed session minutes. Attorney Peck stated that the Open Meetings Act requires a municipality to videotape or audiotape all Executive Session meetings. This ordinance provides a format for keeping the minutes, reviewing them, approving them and ultimately destroying the video or audiotape after 18 months. Every six months the Clerk’s Office will present the minutes to be reviewed to determine whether they can be released for public review or if there is a need to keep them confidential. Ald. Smetana moved to adopt the Ordinance as presented, seconded by Ald. Conrad and carried unanimously.

Clerk Herberts declared that this will be known as ORDINANCE 06-47-O.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

22. FINANCE COMMITTEE – TREASURER STOFFELS, CHAIRMAN, no action taken on WSCC Holiday Luncheon & Annual Meeting.

23. LICENSE COMMITTEE – ALDERMAN VON DRASEK, CHAIRMAN, presented the request from Insomnia Entertainment to hold an over-17 Dance at the Park Place on December 15, 2006; to segregate the over-21 crowd to prevent underage drinking; also request extending the closing to 3 a.m. Ald. Von Drasek recommended denial of the request after speaking to Chief Swanson and Deputy Chief Novak – the main reasons being curfew requirements, serving alcohol with minors present, and the 3 a.m. closing time. Ald. Straza seconded the motion. Motion carried by unanimous voice vote.

24. Discussion with Nicholas Tercek and Polly Pellicer regarding the above item. Mr. Tercek is with Insomnia Entertainment and stated he did not know about the City’s curfew; he thought 17 was the legal age limit; closing time can be moved back to 2 am. Mayor LeGant suggested that he check with the Clerk’s Office for any future events. He also suggested that the operators refrain from mingling age groups, over and under 21, because it poses a problem. Ms. Pellicer is the mother of one of the entertainers; she stated that the kids just come to dance and listen to music. At the last event with 500+ kids, there was good security and no problem. Mayor LeGant suggested eliminating alcohol and limiting the age group to 17-18, and abide by the curfew.

25. HOTEL/MOTEL COMMITTEE – ALDERMAN MICHALCZYK, CHAIRMAN, presented recommendations from the committee meeting of 11-2-06. The committee recommended approval of $520 for an ad on the back page of the WSCC Membership Directory. Ald. Pondelicek moved to approve, seconded by Ald. Von Drasek and carried unanimously.

26. Ald. Michalczyk recommended renewing billboard advertising for $126,000 for a one-year contract. Ald. Smetana moved to approve, seconded by Ald. Pondelicek and carried unanimously.

27. Ald. Michalczyk recommended approval to update the website for a cost not to exceed $5,000. Ald. Von Drasek moved to approve, seconded by Ald. Conrad and carried unanimously.

28. Ald. Michalczyk recommended accepting further marketing plans of Serafin & Assoc. for approximately $1,000/ month. The Committee will present the final expenditure when it is received from Serafin. Ald. Von Drasek moved to approve, seconded by Ald. Smetana and carried unanimously.

29. Ald. Michalczyk recommended applying the city decal on ALL city vehicles with gocountryside.net logo, just like the Police Department has done. Ald. Von Drasek moved to approve, seconded by Ald. Pondelicek and carried unanimously.

30. FYI – Ald. Michalczyk noted that the proposal from the Chicago Southland Convention and Tourism Bureau is on hold until after the I & M Canal National Heritage Corridor makes its presentation before the Hotel/Motel Committee, which should be prior to the next City Council meeting.

31. FYI – regarding Countryfest 2007 – the Hotel/Motel Committee members were split – 3 for – 3 against having the festival. That item will be referred to the Recreation Committee for their recommendation prior to bringing it to the City Council.

32. INFRASTRUCTURE COMMITTEE –ALDERMAN SMETANA, CHAIRMAN, presented recommendations from the meeting held earlier this evening. Ald. Smetana moved to authorize the Administrator to engage the services of Teng Engineering as the main engineering consultant for the IDOT ITEP grant for the Joliet Road/LaGrange Road/55th St. Streetscape Project, seconded by Ald. Pondelicek and carried unanimously.

33. Ald. Smetana moved to authorize the Administrator to send a Letter of Commitment to IDOT for the City to become the lead agency for the Joliet Road / LaGrange Road / 55th St. reconstruction project, seconded by Ald. Conrad and carried unanimously.

34. Ald. Conrad seeks to have a Recreation Committee meeting to discuss Countryfest 2007 prior to the City Council meeting of December 13, 2007.

35. HUMAN RESOURCES COMMITTEE – ALDERMAN PONDELICEK, CHAIRMAN, presented the recommendation to authorize the Administrator to hire a Community Development Director, seconded by Ald. Conrad and carried unanimously. Mr. Bailey will negotiate further with the potential candidate.

LEGAL REPORT

36. City Attorney Erik Peck presented a draft ordinance establishing Nahlbach Engineering Company, 621 E. Plainfield Road, as a Class 6b assessment classification. This is a designation provided by the County to encourage industrial development throughout Cook County. This designation will assess the market value of the property at 16% for the first ten years, then 23%, then 30% in the 12th year. Without this designation it would all be assessed at 36% of fair market value. In essence the classification reduces the tax rate for purposes of development

37. Attorney Mike Elliot represents John Nahlbach and Nahlbach Engineering. Class 6b provides an incentive to the owner to remain in the community grow the business and remain competitive. The cost of doing business in Cook County is very high; this designation will enable Nahlbach to invest those funds in capital improvements and become a stronger corporate citizen. Their research indicates that over the last ten years 8% of commercial industrial business has been lost in Cook County due to the high tax rates. Mr. John Nahlbach, President of Nahlbach Engineering addressed Council and described the working of his business; they basically build machinery for use in the packaging industry. They moved the business to Countryside in 1996. They build high-speed powder fillers and plastic bottle unscramblers. They have been granted new patents on their high-speed machinery; they primarily service the food industry. Their present building is 50,000 s.f.; they plan to expand it to 70,000 s.f. Currently 72 people are employed and they plan to increase that number to 100. The average hourly wage is $20/hour with full benefits. They try to control costs internally, but cannot control external costs, such as taxes; Mr. Nahlbach seeks the City’s assistance in that area. Ald. Michalczyk moved to adopt the Resolution in Support of the Class 6b Classification for 621 E. Plainfield Road with the finding that it is necessary for development to occur on the property, seconded by Ald. Straza and carried by unanimous Roll Call vote.

Clerk Herberts declared that this will be known as RESOLUTION 06-14-R.

38. Attorney Peck presented the draft ordinance to create the position of preliminary hearing officer for impound hearings. Currently there is a 24-hour time period within which that hearing should occur. This ordinance will create a preliminary hearing officer, the Chief of Police or his designee, to hold the hearing and make a determination on whether or not there is probable cause for impoundment. The owner is also entitled to a final hearing before an adjudication officer. This draft ordinance will amend the Code to provide for a preliminary hearing officer. Ald. Smetana moved to adopt the ordinance as presented, seconded by Ald. Conrad and carried unanimously.

Clerk Herberts declared that this will be known as ORDINANCE 06-48-O.

ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT

39. City Administrator Bailey stated that the City’s Open Space Master Plan is being updated by Sharon Peterson. She is doing very nice work on this 50-page document which should be ready for Council’s consideration within the next two weeks. The original document was created in 1998.

STAFF REPORT

City Engineer Fitzgerald advised Council that he and DPW Supt. Fullar reviewed the streets and modified the five-year plan, due to the South Lyons Sanitary District project, that is impacting continued progress of the street program. He recommended that this matter be returned to the Infrastructure Committee for discussion prior to the next Council Meeting.

ADJOURNMENT

There being no further business to discuss, Ald. Straza moved to recess into Executive Session under Section 2Ac of the Open Meetings Act to discuss real estate, seconded by Ald. Conrad and carried by Roll Call vote.

Mayor LeGant declared the meeting recessed at 8:20 p.m.

The Regular City Council meeting returned to Open Session with the same members present at 8:40 p.m.

Mr. Peck suggested language for the motion to approve the real estate contract for the sale of 5631 S. LaGrange Road to the Autobarn and authorize the Mayor to sign it after review by the Finance Director and City Attorney. Ald. Von Drasek moved to approve the above motion, seconded by Ald. Conrad and carried by Roll Call vote – 5/1.

Ald. Pondelicek opposed the motion.

ADJOURNMENT

There being no further business to discuss, Ald. Smetana moved to adjourn the Regular Meeting, seconded by Ald. Pondelicek and carried unanimously.

Mayor LeGant declared the meeting adjourned at 8:41 p.m.