Will County Gazette

City of Braidwood City Council met Dec. 12.

Here are the minutes provided by the council:

Minutes of the Regular Meeting of the Braidwood City Council Tuesday, December 12, 2023 Braidwood City Hall 141 W. Main St., Braidwood, IL 60408

Call to Order: The Regular Meeting of the Braidwood City Council on December 13, 2023 was called to order at 7:00 p.m., by Mayor Hart in the Council Chambers of the Braidwood City Hall.

Pledge of Allegiance: Mayor Hart requested all rise for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Roll Call: Upon Roll Call by the Clerk, the following members of the corporate authorities answered "Here" or "Present";

Elected Officials;

Present: Commissioner Money, Commissioner Walsh, Commissioner Wilczak and Mayor Hart

Absent: Commissioner Wietting

Appointed Officials:

Present: City Clerk Weaver, City Administrator Altiery, Chief Goodwin, City Engineer Dave Weber and City Attorney Wellner

Absent:

Quorum: There being sufficient members of the corporate authorities in attendance to constitute a quorum, the meeting was declared in order.

Public Comment: Marylu Jensen 340 S. Washington: Are we here to speak on this? (CMAP pamphlet) There are several things I would like to make a comment about, my stand, I think the council already knows that I do not want any change within my community. I like it the way it is, that is why I live here. Part of what this says is how close anything else is, which I want to attend. So, one of the problems here I see is that it talks about having a hotel on 55. We have had two hotels on 55, both a disaster; both an embarrassment to our city. It says here that Chicago residents have very limited awareness of us; great, wonderful, keep it that way. I don't want anybody to know about us, we have things great here. Another thing you have here is about slight population decline, that would be across the country and specifically in Illinois due to the political thoughts of people vacating premises is everywhere. The new subdivision here, Townes of Braidwood, how many years did it take to fill that? Why in the world would we ever think of trying to do something like that again? It says here that new housing can support the market, I don't believe that for a minute. Most people who are in this community own their homes, I am retired, my house has long been paid for. I think that is the situation for a great many people, although no everyone. We do have a senior citizen home here in town. They have information here on the shopping; I don't shop, unless online. I have been doing online shopping for twenty years because I can get what I want online instead of wasting my time going from store to store finding absolutely nothing. So, when you are talking about going to these different shops, the only one I go to is the Whistle Stop Café because the have the best pie ever. So, that is where I go. The rest of this, no, not interested. As I skim along in this huge packet of repeating information. Finished. Thank you for your time.

Wayne Kancler 227 Fossil Cove Ln: I know this is later on in the meeting but I see there is a motion, maybe Commissioner Wilczak can answer during his presentation. A motion to purchase some additional firearms in the amount of $16,000 and some Glock's and Sig Sauer. Didn't we just dispose of a whole bunch of firearms last council meeting of the same type of weapon? Can you address that in a little bit more detail?

Dave Slager 335 N Walker: First off, I want to go back a little way; 4 years ago, we took in two of my grandkids; granddaughter and grandson. The police department at that time did a Shop with a Cop, we got an invitation to do that with my grandkids; awesome, appreciated that nine ways to Sunday. Bret called me up a couple weeks ago and asked if I wanted to do the same thing. Well, I am in a little better situation, I don't have to worry about it. I declined the offer, I appreciated it, but I wanted to let somebody else more eligible to have that scenario. So, first off, I want to say, Bret and everyone who did Shop with a Cop; Thank you, you did a great job in this community. My question is, I was at that meeting, Open House, I only have one question. That team that you guys formed with those people; now do they have any power? I know they were saying hey if you have any suggestions; you put a suggestion in. I know mine wasn't going to work because I talked to Josh Bolatto about it. It was about getting a train station. You know Dwight is 25-30 miles that way and Joliet is 25-30 miles that way. He said they won't do it because they don't want to slow the train down from this to go there. He explained it to me and fine. So, does this team that was here have any power, suggestion on what can be done over our power. Go to the governor or congressman. Do they have any power at all and say we should be able to do this and can they override anything we get?

Mayor Hart: We cannot discuss at this moment; this is public comment. I am sure they will discuss during their presentation.

Approval of Minutes: Commissioner Wilczak made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Money, to approve meeting minutes from the November 28, 2023. Regular Council Meeting. Motion carried with 4 ayes: 0 nays; 0 Abstain (Money, Walsh, Wilczak and Hart)

Mayor's Report: Mayor Hart: I would like to appoint Liz Dixon a member to the City of Braidwood Plan Commission with a term to expire on October 31, 2029. I would need a motion to approve that appointment of Liz Dixon. Commissioner Wilczak made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Money, to approve the appointment of Liz Dixon a member to the City of Braidwood Plan Commission with a term to expire on October 31, 2029. Motion carried with 4 ayes: 0 nays (Money, Walsh, Wilczak and Hart)

The second one is, I would like to appoint Dave Slager a member to the City of Braidwood Plan Commission with a term to expire on October 31, 2029. I need a motion to approve that appointment of Dave Slager. Commissioner Walsh, seconded by Commissioner Money to approve the appointment of Dave Slager a member to the City of Braidwood Plan Commission with a term to expire on October 31, 2029. Motion carried with 4 ayes: 0 nays; 0 Abstain (Money, Walsh, Wilczak and Hart). Before I go to the next one, I would like Liz Dixon and Dave Slager to stand up and turn around so we all know who you are. Our zoning board is now full which hasn't been for a while. So, that is very good.

The last thing is that I would like to appoint Adam Beaty to the Board of Trustees of the Police Pension Fund of the City of Braidwood. I would need a motion to approve Adam Beaty. Commissioner Wilczak made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Money to approve the appointment of Adam Beaty to the Board of Trustees of the Police Pension Fund of the City of Braidwood. Motion carried with 4 ayes: 0 nays; 0 Abstain (Money, Walsh, Wilczak and Hart). I don't think Adam is here, he is working, good.

Administrator Report: I have a couple things Mayor. I would like to bring up Chief Jude to do a short presentation. We are looking to go from our Fire Code 2009 to 2015.

Chief Jude: As Tony brought to your attention, we have always been under the 2009 International Fire Code and Building Code. The 2015 Life Safety Code is what we have always abided by because that is Sate of Illinois, I believe. So, we have been following that for years. The surrounding areas; Coal City is at 2015 Life Safety Code; Village of Diamond is 2015; and Wilmington just went to 2021. We are at 2009 and that is about 15 years old. I recommend that we bring it up to as close as we can to 2021 without making any more undue things what the city needs to take care of when it comes to building. Our biggest thing with the changes that we put into the fire code was CO detection in sleeping rooms and group of four buildings, with the talk of having hotels coming in. If we do go the 2015 then they would have to abide by the 2015 code. The storage of lithium batteries, as you know we have that recent Morris fire, that is becoming huge. We don't have anything in the 2009 that keep people from storing lithium batteries in your storage facilities around here. Also, the fire alarm systems. In this new fire code, we amended it to any new commercial business that comes in should have a minimum fire alarm system if not a sprinkler system. For example: Berkot's; We have a grocery store here with no fire alarm system, no sprinkler system. Two years ago, someone set a bag of chips on fire and we had people in there shopping, pictures on Facebook with smoke down to here. With new stuff coming in, I feel it is important that we go to the 2015 and put some those stipulations on these businesses coming in. Lastly, the installation of solar panels on structures, that is becoming a huge thing right now. The 2009 code doesn't protect firemen. So, what I would like to do is if we went to the 2015, there is jargon in there to protect firemen from these installers covering the roofs with full panels. This is just snippet of some of the other stuff. I have handed it off to Tony to look at. Again, I would appreciate it you guys would consider that, it would at least bring us closer to the 2021. I know in the next coming years I have heard talk about them requiring cities and jurisdictions to be within 8 years of the most current one. I don't know if that is going to come to next year but there is talk that it could happen. Thank you for your time.

Admin Altiery: In order for us to pass an ordinance on this, we have to have it on display for thirty days, which we have had a little over a week. We still have the next meeting to go over it if there is any questions or comments. You can meet with Chief or anybody else and if everything is good it will be brought to the board at the first meeting in January. Second thing I have is that CMAP is here for a short presentation, Steven.

Steven Austrander with CMAP, we are working with the request of City of Braidwood to update the comprehensive plan. Every community in Illinois is supposed to have a comprehensive plan and Braidwood's last comprehensive plan was back in 2004. We have rarely seen a turn out like we did at the open house a couple weeks ago especially for a town of this size of about six thousand people. It was impressive and received an enormous amount of feedback from the residents of Braidwood. This will help guide us to help understand about the priorities and the most important issues for the community that can be addressed in the plan. We have not decided anything yet about which recommendations we are going to be making. We are recording all the feedback we received at the open house. We are still gathering information at this point. To follow up, CMAP does not have any authority power to tell the City of Braidwood what to do. We can help connect the city to other resources but no power. What we are doing is to find out what is important to you and come up with our best recommendations. Then the city will decide which of those recommendations to do or not do. We do have some of our own funding, not the City of Braidwood, set aside for a project to hire consultants. We put out a competitive bid for a marketing analysis to look at commercial, retail, residential, industrial, and hotel. To get an idea of what the market says for our area. Kretchmer Associates won that bid and has done a great job and are here to summarize their findings. This is just informational nothing is being decided tonight at all. Valerie Kretchmer: Summary of discussion; There is homebuyer interest in Braidwood, but inventory is low. There is a need for more market-rate homes at a range of prices for families and seniors. There is also demand for rental housing, which is extremely limited in Braidwood and neighboring communities. This includes demand for senior rentals. Housing options exist that can both satisfy demand and fit into Braidwood, small-town character. The Braidwood market can support a new 45-room lower-mid tier hotel near either I-55 interchange. Braidwood's retail sector is small, but with multiple anchors demonstrating long-term commitment to the community. The community is not "on the radar" of retailers looking across the region, and traffic counts and population density sought by retailers and restaurants are low. However, Braidwood can attract a family restaurant or coffee shop near I-55, especially with a hotel. It is likely to be 10+ years before there will be interest in large scale warehouse/distribution in Braidwood given other available space and absorption pace.

City Clerk Report: Weaver: Reminder that the food pantry has ham dinners and sides for the month of December. There are also a few Christmas trees left and assorted decoration for those who come in Tuesday's from 8am to noon. Also, with it starting to get colder out, don't forget to unhook your hoses from the spigots and close your foundation vents to help avoid frozen pipes. With the week of Christmas, since Christmas is on a Monday all garbage and recycling will be pushed back a day. So, Monday pick up will be Tuesday and Tuesday pick up will be Wednesday. The same will be for first of the year because New Year's Day is on a Monday as well. Finally, we have our annual holiday lighting contest entry form that is available on our Facebook and here at City Hall.

Engineer Report: None

City Attorney Report: None

Accounts & Finance Report: Commissioner Money made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Wilczak, to approve the Payment of Bills, in the amount of $187,163.76 as identified in the Accounts Payable General Ledger dated December 12, 2023. Motion carried with 4 ayes: 0 nays. (Money, Walsh, Wilczak and Hart) Commissioner Money then made a Motion, seconded by Commissioner Walsh, to Approve Payroll Expenses, in the amount of $86,850.48 as identified in the Payroll General Ledger dated December 8, 2023. Motion carried with 4 ayes; 0 nays. (Money, Walsh, Wilczak and Hart). Commissioner Money made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Walsh to approve Ordinance 23-18 for the Levy and Assessment of Taxes for the City of Braidwood, Will County, Illinois for the Fiscal Year Beginning May 1, 2023 and ending April 30, 2024. Motion carried with 4 ayes: 0 nays. (Money, Walsh, Wilczak and Hart).

At the last meeting I discussed about the Rural Development help that is available for people, that is now on our website under residents.

Streets & Public Improvement Report: None

Public Property Report: None

Public Health & Safety Report: Commissioner Wilczak made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Money to approve a purchase from Keisler Guns in the amount of $16,823.40. Motion carried with 4 ayes: 0 nays. (Money, Walsh, Wilczak and Hart). Chief Goodwin looked at the supplies of the department and how they need improvement. Last meeting, we approved the surplus of items that were obsolete and old and in regards to that the police department has requested to replace with newer equipment. They can use the funds to trade in the equipment they were selling. The police department also gets some funds from operations that they do, forfeiture funds. This is being funded by the trade in and the forfeiture funds paid to the police department. Commissioner Wilczak made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Walsh for Ordinance No. 23-19 Authorizing the Chief of Police to enter into and Execute Reciprocal Reporting of Criminal Offensed by Students Agreement Between the Braidwood Police Department and the Office of the Grundy County State's Attorney. Motion carried with 4 ayes: 0 nays. (Money, Walsh, Wilczak and Hart). This is requested by the State's Attorney of Grundy County, this is a common between districts to coordinate with the school system to inform information regarding students.

Attorney Wellner: This is not just a reporting of general crimes that students are committing. It is not informing them of what your children are doing outside of school in general. This is provided for in the Juvenile Court Act, it is all statutory, this is just being adopted in contract form. This is largely related to people's safety. If your child wrote something on the internet that they are going to shoot up the school they will be investigated by the police, then the police will inform the school. This is not tattling about underage drinking; this is very specific about what crimes can be reported and how it can be reported. This a contract memorializing to all to understand their part in a situation.

Comm. Money: This is already state law?

Wellner: This is already state law. We can completely carry out the function of this agreement without this agreement. The police department would be required to follow without this agreement.

Comm. Wilczak: Finally, we have the report of our number of service calls, total number of 229. Total case reports of 19. Total subjects arrested was 6 and total arrest charges were 7. The total number of traffic stops were 71, of those there were 29 citations, written warnings were 24, total number of P-tickets were 18 and P-Tickets issued to trucks were 6. Just want to mention because I didn't before the last meeting that P-tickets are violations of Braidwood laws the other violations are state laws. P-tickets have their own judication process and that is internal to the city.

Admin. Altiery: I hear comments out here about what bills are being paid. If you look at the bottom of the agenda you can see where everything is posted at www.braidwood.us under residents and under agendas. That will be posted by Friday before a council meeting.

Planning & Zoning Report: George Kocek: The Planning and Zoning Board met on November 29, 2023 in regards to an Ordinance 23-20, a proposed zoning variance, amendment, lot division for the property located at 1140 N. Division St. PIN 02-24-06-400-027-0000. This is 66 acres owned by the D'Orazio/Bauer Dealership property. The proposed variance is to divide the lot for the Braidwood Commercial Subdivision Phase 1, which is the northern portion of the property.

Admin. Altiery: We have a map here on the screen to display the layout of the property. It is already zoned industrial we are not changing that part of the zoning.

Kocek: This whole lot is one PIN number and this is to divide into nine different lots. We found all the jurisdictional requirements for the hearing were met. The property was posted, personal notice of public hearing was sent to all property owners nearby as required by law and it was posted in the Braidwood Journal. After listening to public comment and discussing the lot division between the commission members, a motion was made to approve the text amendment to divide the lot. All members voted aye, the facts supporting this will make D'Orazio/Bauer Dealership property much easier to plan for future development. This will also make our city attractive to other businesses that may consider moving here. What you need to look at is the well being of our community and needs a balance of residential, commercial and industrial development so there is not an undo burden on our residential property owners. The plan commission recommends the city council to approve this division. Commissioner Walsh made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Wilczak to approve Ordinance 23-20 Approving a Final Plat of Subdivision for 1140 N. Division Street, Braidwood, Illinois 60408. Motion carried with 4 ayes: 0 nays. (Money, Walsh, Wilczak and Hart).

Old Business:

New Business: Comm. Walsh: I just wanted to congratulate the Reed-Custer High School Class of 2024 Illinois State Scholars: Zach Randall, Caroline Kulach, Landon Jankus, Olivia Williams, Micah Crisp and Maria Bragg.

Mayor Hart: I want to take this time to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. We won't see everyone until after Christmas so get your applications in for the lighting contest. I have seen some through town and it looks lovely. People have done themselves proud this year. Merry Christmas.

Adjournment: Commissioner Wilczak made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Walsh, to adjourn the December 12, 2023 regular meeting of the Braidwood City Council. Motion carried with 4 ayes: 0 nays. (Money, Walsh, Wilczak and Hart) The next regular meeting of the Council will be held Wednesday, December 27, 2023 at 7:00pm

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