Will County Gazette

Village of Manhattan Board of Trustees met Jan. 27.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

A Strategic Planning Workshop Meeting of the Village of Manhattan President and Board of Trustees was held on Tuesday, January 27, 2024.

CALL TO ORDER:

Mayor Adrieansen calls the Village of Manhattan Board meeting to order at 8:35 A.M. ROLL CALL:

Neighbors aye, Young aye, Dilling aye, Beemsterboer aye, Adamski aye, Doyle aye, Adrieansen aye (7 ayes, 0 nays, 0 absent). Also present are Lewis, Palmer, Nelson, Pintar, Tyk, Gehrke, Wold, Doyle, Werner, and DiBendetto.

PUBLIC COMMENT:

There is no public comment.

TOPICS OF THE STRATEGIC PLANNING WORKSHOP:

1. Mayor - Welcome & kick off program

2. Initial input exercise

▪ What are your priorities for 2024?

▪ What do you want Manhattan to look like in 10-20 years?

▪ Other important topics you want us to discuss?

3. Topic #1 - Comprehensive Plan

4. Topic #2 - Baker Road

5. Topic #3 - Eastern Avenue South

6. Short Break

7. Topic #4 - Police Department

8. Topic #5 -- Downtown Plan

9. Topic #6- Budget issues

10. Priorities for future discussion

11. Review of action items & wrap up

Mayor Adrieansen thanks the Village Board and staff for attending today’s Strategic Planning Workshop.

Village Administrator Palmer began by spending time asking participants to write down goals and then the group reviewed them. Short term and long-term goals,

Discussion took place about the bike path plan and whether the village would be financially contributing. Beemsterboer asked about who would maintain and take care of a bike path.

Comprehensive Plan

Village Administrator Palmer informed the Village Board and Staff that the current comprehensive plan was completed in 2008. If agreed, the Village can move forward with an RFQ to hire a company to help prepare an updated comprehensive plan.

Mayor Adrieansen spoke about the money that could go toward the cost of a plan from the Joliet Arsenal Development Authority (JADA). A $75,000 grant that Mayor Adrieansen secured.

Village Administrator Palmer directed the Village Board to a draft RFQ included in the packet.

Community Development Director Nelson spoke about the specifics of the RFQ and then spoke about page 2 for specifics.

Adamski asked about traffic or studies about traffic flows.

Beemsterboer said to be careful what you wished for and cautioned the group that we need to not have a knee jerk reaction on making decisions. We need to be careful on the wording of the comp plan, so we are careful what we pick, and we need to think it out and be flexible. Lakewood Homes was a factor in the 2008 plan. Switching from industrial to residential and it was based on the comp plan.

Mayor Adrieansen asked about whether we should engage neighboring communities on our comp plan.

Village Administrator Palmer stated that the Village needs to have a regional plan and talked about a transportation study on traffic for example for US Route 52. Village Administrator Palmer continued to say that they hope to put out the RFQ out soon so this plan can be accomplished in this calendar year. Palmer suggested that the Village Board could pass a resolution at the Feb 6th meeting.

Young asked about input from the board on qualifications.

Community Development Director Nelson spoke about the process of getting a company and then negotiating a price. This is not an RFP.

Beemsterboer suggested the Village start with the RFQ process as an outline.

Adamski asked if the RFQ would include a transportation study.

Village Administrator Palmer said not really and spoke about his discussions with a few firms on doing a feasibility study instead. Palmer suggested a regional study for transportation and truck traffic.

Young reiterated his concern about making sure we get details upfront before picking a firm. Village Administrator Palmer received consensus from the Village Board to publish the RFQ.

Baker Road Improvements

Village Administrator Palmer informs the Village Board that the cost of Baker Road improvements is in the budget and developers’ money is also in this budget. Approximately $350,000 is left in the budget and estimated to cost $2 million. Baker Road is about a half mile road. The Village Board can decide if we want to do this road or Eastern. This project could be bid out by spring and complete by the end of the year.

Public Works Superintendent Tyk spoke about the plan and getting letters to the homeowners impacted by the project. Tyk states that Baker road is heavily traveled so we need to fix this the proper way. North of Baker Road is unincorporated. The frontage of Hanover will have sidewalks. Tyk spoke about the cost and said that the Village needs to get Baker done.

Public Works Superintendent Tyk indicated that he is working on Eastern but working with Robinson to get permitting on that road.

Village Engineer Pintar spoke about how the bids are competitive and, pricing could be lower. Village Administrator Palmer states that any money not spent on Baker would go towards Eastern. Beemsterboer asked about prescriptive right aways.

Village Administrator Palmer informed the Village Board that Jeff Taylor is more optimistic about getting this accomplished without hopefully any legal action.

Village Engineer Pintar thinks the landscape restoration could go as late as September. It will take a couple of months depending on the weather.

Public Works Superintendent Tyk states that the road will be shut down except for residents.

Village Administrator Palmer said there is a detour plan being planned. It will be a short-term inconvenience but will be a significant improvement.

Dilling asked if we can mandate the company start date and finish the job without delays. Village Engineer Pintar said we use the same language as the state to keep the project moving. Adamski asked about the length of Eastern and Public Works Superintendent said it is about a mile. Village Administrator Palmer received a consensus to fund this project.

Eastern Avenue

Village Administrator Palmer spoke about the history of Eastern Avenue South trying to get funding and then discussed the challenges of the road. Village Engineer Robinson produced a cost breakdown.

Palmer spoke about the federal funding and their requirements. Village Administrator Palmer asked the group, given the delays in federal funding, do we fund it locally? Palmer stated it is roughly $2.4 million for Eastern Avenue South to be completed.

Village Administrator Palmer thinks the Village cannot start this in full earnest this year. The Village may need more time to get approvals from residents for this road. Most likely this road will be done in 2025.

Finance Director Gehrke clarified that the budget for the project is in the 2025 budget year. Adamski asked about local funding.

Village Engineer Pintar said no sidewalks or bike paths are budgeted for Eastern Ave. Railroad tracks, culverts and creeks are part of the challenge. The corner of Smith and Eastern could be an issue. Pintar spoke about the project responding to Adamski and mentioned the Village Engineer is in Phase 1 of this project.

The group discussed the need for bike paths and sidewalks and pedestrian walkways.

Public Works Superintendent Tyk mentioned that the Village just took over the road from the township a few years ago in 2020.

Mayor Adrieansen asked if we could pull away from the federal funding and do it on our own and not wait for federal funding.

Dilling is in favor of not waiting and doing it on our own.

Village Administrator Palmer gave an overview of doing it in parts vs. all at once. Kathy Kirby (resident) asked about the fire department and their responsibility toward the road costs.

Erika Aultz (resident) mentioned something about Brookstone and SSA funds that went to the village for the road.

Young asked about the costs and more about the breakdown.

The discussion then went to the topic of a regional study for truck traffic and questions about using federal funds for another project.

Village Engineer Pintar said we reapplied last month for federal funding. We can stay on the Will County governmental list, but we may tell IDOT we do not want to get federal funding after this discussion. Pintar also spoke about permitting process for the road work.

Village Administrator Palmer reviewed the decisions so far which were the comp plan moving forward, and Baker Road moving forward and then Eastern Avenue moving forward in 2025.

The Village Board and Staff take a 10-minute break.

Police Department

Village Administrator Palmer spoke about the projected costs of $280,000 for additional police and squad cars.

Chief Wold spoke about the need for an additional officer in the day shift due to the school officer and traffic. An additional officer would also give the staff flexibility during training sessions or time off to avoid overtime costs. Chief Wold states that mandatory training is impacting the officers. The list of mandatory training is now twenty-two classes, or 4 to 5 times more than before and approved by the state. Officers are trying to do most classes online, but we often must send people away. Better for officer safety to have more officers as well. More violence is coming our way, Chief Wold predicted, and we need to have more officers to deal with violent offenders.

Adamski asked about the school resource officer and who pays for that. New law allows schools to hire retired police officers and the school is then responsible to train to the same level we do.

Chief Wold states that the schools are asking for more from our officers such as doing school programs and so forth.

Beemsterboer mentioned the need for more police officers but did not like the part of the presentation with officers doubling up in one squad car and suggested we should get two cars vs. two officers in one car. Beemsterboer said we should have one officer per car, and they should be responsible for keeping the car maintained. Public safety should come before any other funding the village allocates.

Chief Wold stated that most officers have their own car, but some are double up and do not take them home.

Kathy Kirby (resident) asked about overtime vs. getting new officers, and then she asked about why we buy SUVs vs. cars.

Chief Wold responded that cars are the same price as SUV’s in most cases.

Dilling agreed with Beemsterboer not to have two police officers per car.

Village Administrator Palmer said we should get pricing on more cars for our officers. Neighbors said it improves the appearance of more officers on the street.

Village Administrator Palmer said the bulk of village funds are being used on police and public works which is what we do. Palmer said we can add that expense to the budget.

Chief Wold said we also need to replace one car with high mileage. The Village Board agreed on two new officers and three squad cars.

Truck enforcement was also discussed, and the legislation the Village is proposing with the IML. The legislation has been filed SB2894. Senator Patrick Joyce sponsored the legislation.

Chief Wold discussed the truck enforcement issue and how the local adjudication is currently being managed. Will County receives more money than we do, and we receive $35.00 per case. If we send an officer to court, we must pay them for 2 hours and bring more people in to cover the streets. Chief Wold suggested local adjudication would generate $350,000 more a year in revenue.

Village Administrator Palmer spoke about the revenue and the process along with staffing issues, and a multi prong approach.

Chief Wold stated full time officers are pulling trucks over and our new officer will be focused on truck enforcement only. This new officer would work 16-20 hours a week or two eight hour shifts a week and will also do overweight issues for trucks.

Beemsterboer spoke about the legislation and asked the staff to keep the board informed in a timely manner about the status of the bill. He also mentioned the village could file slips for support of the legislation on behalf of the board.

DiBenedetto mentioned submitting slips and there are ways to get that done.

Village Administrator Palmer asked if the board wants to take a position and pass a resolution to support the legislation.

Beemsterboer said in the past, a few trustees went down to Springfield to support bills. Mayor Adrieansen suggested the Village work with the IML on this.

Village Administrator Palmer thinks the IML may have put the legislation on their list to other boards to support along with the Will County Governmental League. Palmer can ask the county to support it too.

Young thinks we can ask residents to support the bill.

Beemsterboer spoke about social media support, including other communities, stating the more education on it the better.

DiBenedetto offered to help with the promotion of the campaign for support of the bill. Village Administrator Palmer said he would talk to IML and WCGL about this legislation.

Village Administrator Palmer went back to the topic of police staffing and spoke about meeting the school officials about school safety in front of the new school and the School Resource Officer’s. Palmer will try to get the schools to supplement the costs.

Downtown Redevelopment Plan

Village Administrator Palmer gave an overview of what we have done to date and referenced the Downtown Redevelopment Plan in the packet. Palmer said he has had many discussions about design standards with the trustees.

Young thinks the design standards should be part of phase one. Neighbors agreed. Village Administrator Palmer asked if we should hire a professional firm to manage that. Young thinks it is a good idea.

Beemsterboer asked Community Development Director Nelson if the Village can get an architectural review board going.

Community Development Director Nelson states yes, the Village could, but he thinks it is better to get a firm. A group of experts vs. handpicked ones.

Village Administrator Palmer spoke about how other towns approached it and mentioned the community wants to keep our village unique. A collaboration with a firm, residents, and the Historical Society would be best.

Young and Neighbors think hiring a firm could make it more cohesive since the firm does this full time.

Dilling asked who the Village could talk to about the trains parked there. He is concerned about the visual of the railway cars and Aeropres. Dilling spoke about the fumes, and how Aeropres has train cars carrying hazarded materials like gasoline or diesel, and they produce residue.

Mayor Adrieansen mentioned that the Village borders a few dangerous sites like BP too. Village Administrator Palmer said we can investigate it. We may need to give them a different access site. Young thinks we need to collaborate on this for design and not just two trustees at a time. Doyle spoke about Peotone-Wilmington Road is getting improved. Where will the traffic go? The group discussed truck traffic downtown.

Village Administrator Palmer said we have consensus on design standards. Nick said the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) offers grant money for projects like this issue.

Beemsterboer said design standards are the first and most important thing to do then everything follows that. Design standards, hazardous materials, and money in the budget for property acquisition.

Village Administrator Palmer asked if we should demolish the homes the village owns and turn the lots into green space to avoid future costs to maintain them.

Young said we should budget for this to buy the properties that remain in the downtown area. The village can allocate money for acquisition for all the above.

Dilling thinks we should demo the houses because they are shot and dilapidated. Dilling is not in favor of the Village being in the business of buying properties but at least demo the two homes since they are a liability.

Young thinks we bought the homes for a reason so we should proceed with the plan to develop downtown.

Village Administrator Palmer states that the garages are in decent shape but the houses not so much. The Manhattan Park District is moving forward with removing some of their dilapidated buildings at the Round Barn Farm Park. Palmer states they got a fair price to demo a few sites.

A discussion proceeded around the Park Road street closure.

Public Works Superintendent said it can be done.

Village Administrator Palmer asked if the group supported doing the curb because we may have to deal with IDOT.

Public Works Superintendent Tyk suggested we put a curb and bollards there.

Village Administrator Palmer said safety is a top concern with closing the street, getting safety mechanisms in place, and to start the process with IDOT.

Kathy Kirby (resident) asked about the road project and the appearance of the parking lot. Young asked if the grassy area north of the fire station could be used for additional parking. Public Works Superintendent Tyk explained the Village may need drainage there. Staff will investigate additional parking options in the downtown area.

The group discussed pavers and other options for the area.

Budget Overview

Village Administrator Palmer spoke about the direction given by the board with respect to input into the budget. Palmer spoke about the new ERP system and focus for 2024. The goal is to be accountable in our checks and balances and Palmer explained the process of trying to streamline purchases and removing stop points to make approvals smoother for procurements if things are in the budget.

There were no questions about the budget.

Additional Priorities for Future Discussion

Village Administrator Palmer introduced a list of items:

• Multi-purpose trail plan

• Public Works & EMA buildings. Initial Feasibility study. Extra land needed.

• Code Enforcement

• US Route 52 bypass

• Communication improvements

The group talked through the topics and then opened the floor for discussion.

Adamski mentioned our welcome signs in town, and we need to look at our branding. Beemsterboer said the Chamber handles those, we own the sign, but chamber is involved. We should also look at the village’s sign ordinances.

Young asked about the water line on Smith.

Village Administrator Palmer stated that Robinson is working on the plan for that water issue. Village Administrator Palmer spoke about the idea of recapturing monies to make other improvements.

Village Engineer Pintar spoke about the four water main projects she is working on. Dilling asked about code enforcement.

Community Development Director Nelson provided the board with a report of violations the last code enforcement officer worked on. Nelson asked the board for direction on the replacement of the code enforcement officer. Nelson asked if the Village Board would like to see more or less enforcement and how many hours per week the code enforcement officer will work.

Mayor suggested 10 hours a week.

The Village Board agrees on 10 hours per week.

DiBenedetto suggested the Village work on messaging regarding code enforcement as not being punitive but being enforced to protect property values and making sure residents are adhering to local ordinances.

Village Administrator Palmer also spoke about current staffing levels and workloads. Palmer stated that he wants to clean up a few historical issues.

Doyle Motion to Adjourn. Adamski Second. All are in favor. The meeting is adjourned at 12:39 P.M.

https://cms7files1.revize.com/manhattanil/Agendas-Minutes/Village%20Board/2024/Minutes/01.27.2024%20-%20Strategic%20Planning%20Workshop.pdf