Will County Gazette

City of Braidwood City Council met Aug. 13.

Here are the minutes provided by the council:

Call to Order: The Regular Meeting of the Braidwood City Council on August 13, 2024 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 Wietting, Commissioner Walsh, Commissioner Wilczak and Mayor Hart

Absent:

Appointed Officials:

Present: City Clerk Weaver, City Administrator Altiery, Chief Goodwin, City Engineer Sean Kelly, 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: Mike Tomasek; 195 N. Front St: Questions on the golf cart ordinance and how they can move about the city and crossing certain roads? Can a golf cart cross Division to get to Cermak on the other side? Can a golf cart cross the tracks? Can you please address these issues when you discuss for vote?

Greg Cholek; 176 Harbor Landing: Want to send my thanks to Doug Money for his service that he has done for the city during his tenor as Finance Commissioner. He brought a sense of fiscal stability, responsibility, and fiscal accountability to the city. I have a request for our incoming Commissioner Kim Earling, if you have stock in a publicly held company, I believe you should be able to get the financials and income statements on their website. Since we have finished our first quarter of the fiscal year, I would like to see an income statement compared to our budget to see how we are doing so far. Can you please post this on our website every quarter? I think a GL Budget status report would be helpful if you could post that.

Debbie Jackson; 984 Mabel Ct: What happened with Doug? And how did we appoint the new Commissioner already?

Approval of Minutes: Commissioner Wilczak made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Walsh, to approve meeting minutes from the July 23, 2024 Regular Council Meeting. Motion carried with 4 ayes: 0 nays; 0 Abstain (Wietting, Walsh, Wilczak and Hart)

Mayor's Report: Hart: Doug resigned because he took another position at the Township. It was not a quick appointment. We were looking at several people but since this is appointed, we didn't need to go get bids or anything.

I am requesting a motion to appoint Kim Earling to Commissioner of Accounts and Finance. Kim is currently an accounts specialist, she works with accounts audit, and she works with financials. She was also involved with the city on the Planning and Zoning Board and a local member of CMAP. She comes with good credentials.

Commissioner Wilczak made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Wietting to appoint Kimberly Earling to Commissioner of Accounts and Finance. Motion carried with 4 ayes: 0 nays. (Wietting, Walsh, Wilczak and Hart).

Kim Earling was sworn in by Mayor Hart and took her seat at the council table at 7:12 pm.

I am requesting a motion for Ordinance 24-35 but with a modification. Commissioner Wilczak spoke that there will be a change of wording in Section 82-277 paragraph h; changing besides to except. Commissioner Walsh commented on the change from the old ordinance where that you could not cross a state highway but with this ordinance you can. Attorney Wellner: Same applies to any other jurisdiction. You cannot drive on Township, County, or State Roads. The city did not restrict any more than the state allows. Admin. Altiery: It also includes UTVs. Commissioner Wilczak made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Walsh to approve Ordinance 24-35 with a modification. Motion carried with 5 ayes: 0 nays. (Earling, Wietting, Walsh, Wilczak and Hart).

Administrator Report: Altiery: Reported on the water main work that will be done at the Elementary School.

City Clerk Report: Weaver: Requesting a motion to approve the Knights of Columbus to hold their annual Tootsie Roll Drive on September 13, 14, and 15, 2024. Commissioner Wietting made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Wilczak. Motion carried with 5 ayes: 0 nays. (Earling, Wietting, Walsh, Wilczak, and Hart).

Engineer Report: Kelly: We opened bids for the Reed-Custer Elementary School water main relocation. There is a 10-inch water main that needs to be relocated from where they are going to build. The low bid came from Austin-Tyler $144,000 and Brandt Builder was the second contractor with $153,000. They are bit higher than our estimated bid of $133,000. Next, we will confirm with the school on what bid they want to work with.

City Attorney Report: Wellner: Want to commend the city, I work with a lot of municipalities and townships regularly, and none of them allow the transparency and the availability of the council members and their staff with these town halls. These were from responses of negative feedback, but from hosting the town hall meeting we have noticed a lot more positive than negative comments and suggestions that we can use. I commend everyone's ideas.

Accounts & Finance Report: Commissioner Earling requested a motion for the payment of bills. Commissioner Wietting made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Wilczak, to approve the Payment of Bills, in the amount of $446,705.46 as identified in the Accounts Payable General Ledger dated August 13, 2024. Motion carried with 5 ayes: 0 nays. (Earling, Wietting, Walsh, Wilczak and Hart)

Commissioner Earling requested a motion for payroll expenses. Commissioner Wilczak made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Wietting, to Approve Payroll Expenses, in the amount of $106,770.58 as identified in the Payroll General Ledger dated August 8, 2024. Motion carried with 5 ayes; 0 nays. (Earling, Wietting, Walsh, Wilczak and Hart).

Streets & Public Improvement Report: Walsh: We are working on sending bids out for some street repairs. We should see in the coming months some repairs.

Public Property Report: Wietting: Want to thank the guys at the plant for all their work on the upgrades with the systems.

Public Health & Safety Report: Commissioner Wilczak requested a motion, seconded by Commissioner Walsh to approve Ordinance 24-34 Approving and Authorizing an Intergovernmental Agreement between the County of Will and the City of Braidwood for the Provisions of Animal Protection Services. Motion carried with 5 ayes; 0 nays. (Earling, Wietting, Walsh, Wilczak and Hart).

Commissioner Wilczak requested a motion, seconded by Commissioner Wietting to approve Ordinance 24-36 Approving the Acceptance of a Vehicle Donation from the Braidwood Fire Protection District, Approving and Authorizing the Execution of a Release and Hold Harmless Agreement, and authorizing the City Administrator to spend money and execute any agreements necessary to properly register and title the vehicle. This vehicle will be used by E.S.D.A. Motion carried with 5 ayes; 0 nays. (Earling, Wietting, Walsh, Wilczak and Hart).

Commissioner Wilczak requested a motion, seconded by Commissioner Wietting to hire two (2) new Full-Time Police Officers. This is to fill the needs of officers retiring and turnover. Commissioner Walsh: How many full-time officers will we have after this? Chief Goodwin: I believe, 17. Commissioner Wilczak: Our goal is to have staffed one Sergeant and two Officers per shift. Motion carried with 5 ayes; O nays. (Earling, Wietting, Walsh, Wilczak and Hart).

Commissioner Wilczak gave the Braidwood Police Department Press Release for July 23 to August 12, 2024. The total number of calls for service 302, case reports 28, total subjects arrested 5, total arrest charges 6, total number of traffic stops 61, citations 17, written warnings 25, semi-truck violations 3, and total number of P-tickets 4.

Commissioner Wilczak gave a report on the month of July for the E.D.S.A. activities and man hours.

National Night Out was a great event. I learned that this is a yearly event that is nationwide. It is always the first Tuesday of August.

Shadow Lakes had a family event last Saturday. I hope everyone enjoy that; it was very nice.

Planning & Zoning Report: No report.

Old Business: Altiery: Want to make everyone aware of the locates that are happening for Surf Broadband. They will be boring and will soon give us another option for fiberoptic internet.

New Business: Commissioner Wilczak: Thank you to everyone for their consideration and help. Thank you to all who came out for the Town Hall. Altiery: The Mayor and myself, the door is always open.

Adjournment: Commissioner Wilczak made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Walsh, to adjourn the August 13, 2024 regular meeting of the Braidwood City Council. Motion carried with 5 ayes: 0 nays. (Earling, Wietting, Walsh, Wilczak and Hart) The next regular meeting of the Council will be held Tuesday, August 27, 2024 at 7:00pm

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