Will County Gazette

City of Braidwood City Council met March 11.

Here are the minutes provided by the council:

Call to Order: The Regular Meeting of the Braidwood City Council on March 11, 2025 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 Earling, Commissioner Wietting, Commissioner Walsh, Commissioner Wilczak and Mayor Hart

Absent: None.

Appointed Officials:

Present: City Clerk Weaver, City Administrator Altiery, City Engineer Sean Kelly, and City Attorney Wellner

Absent: Chief Goodwin

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

Public Comment: Danita Morgan from the Braidwood Area Healthy Community Coalition 465 E. Reed St; Hosting a Community Garden Prep Day on Saturday, April 5 from 10 am - 4 pm. There are flyers and informational cards on the table. I am asking if this can be put on the marquee.

Liz Dixon; 195 N. Lincoln St.: At the last council meeting, Tony said he was going to get the bids for a truck during the week. So why are we purchasing a truck and are waiving competitive bidding when he said he was getting bids? Was it bid out or not bid out? If it was bid out, it was not bid out right. If it is not bid out, $120k is a lot of money to not bid out. I know your answers are going to be they are short and we need to get it now before we can't get it.

Approval of Minutes: Commissioner Wilczak made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Earling, to approve meeting minutes from the February 25, 2025 Regular Council Meeting. Motion carried with 5 ayes: 0 nays; 0 Abstain (Earling, Wietting, Walsh, Wilczak and Hart)

Mayor's Report: No report.

Administrator Report: Altiery: There is a solar program that was brought to us by, Diane Elkins, where they have these rebate programs. This is a program by some of the bigger solar companies and the solar panels that are on everyone's house, these grants are being sent out to them. For what they are getting they are rebating 10% to schools and municipalities, where we can get that back on all our electric bills for the life of that program. We could save $40-$60k a year by signing up with them.

Mayor: Would the city sign up for these?

Altiery: The city would sign up. I am getting the information now.

Also, every three years or so we have a contract with an electric company. Somehow, we can buy electric from them cheaper outside of ComEd. We have been using Dynegy for the last six years and our renewal is up. The rates are holding and we would be able to be locked in for three years. They also have a program called the Green Backs, which we could get about $7-$9k back to be used for any repairs or updates in City Hall. Which can be applied to all the work for our battery backups, new phone systems, and clean up our maintenance room system.

City Clerk Report: Weaver: The Braidwood American Legion is requesting approval to conduct their 2025 Poppy Days fundraiser for Friday, May 9 and Saturday, May 10, 2025 at the intersections of Division and Main St, Division and Kennedy Rd, Main St. and Route 129, and Main St and Route 53. The donations support Veteran Services in our area, including the Manteno Veteran Home, Homes 4 Vets Organization, and the Fisher House at Hines VA hospital. At this time, I am requesting a motion to approve the American Legion Poppy Days for May 9 and May 10, 2025. Commissioner Earling made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Wilczak, to approve the American Legion Poppy Days for 2025. Motion carried with 5 ayes; 0 nays. (Earling, Wietting, Walsh, Wilczak and Hart).

Early reminder, that as of April 1st, the yard waste pickup will resume. Please do not put garbage in the yard waste bin as they will not pick it up. The yard waste should be picked up weekly with the trash schedule. If you have a missed garbage/recycle/yard waste, we have a link on our website that notifies the garbage company for them to reschedule a pickup.

Early voting will start next week, Monday, March 17. It will be Monday through Friday for the next two weeks from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm.

Engineer Report: Kelly: We are finishing up the draft of the water study report. We should have something put together in the next couple of weeks. Once we have everything reviewed, we can move on to the second phase.

City Attorney Report: No report.

Accounts & Finance Report: Commissioner Earling made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Wilczak, to approve the Payment of Bills, in the amount of $296,565.73 as identified in the Accounts Payable General Ledger dated March 11, 2025. Motion carried with 5 ayes: 0 nays. (Earling, Wietting, Walsh, Wilczak and Hart)

Commissioner Earling then made a Motion, seconded by Commissioner Wietting, to Approve Payroll Expenses, in the amount of $96,230.74 as identified in the Payroll General Ledger dated February 28, 2025. Motion carried with 5 ayes; 0 nays. (Earling, Wietting, Walsh, Wilczak and Hart).

Announcement of Public Hearing Notice that is posted in the newspaper today, at our next council meeting on March 25, 2025 at 7:00 pm for the purpose of Hearing Testimony Regarding the Proposed Annual Budget for Fiscal Year 2026.

Streets & Public Improvement Report: Walsh: I would like to recognize one of our residents, Steve Zier, he was out over the weekend picking up garbage on Deer Run, Partridge Run, and Wildwood. Thank you. We would like to plan a community pickup sometime in April. We don't have an exact date yet, just some Saturday in April. If any high schoolers need some community service hours, this would be a great opportunity.

Commissioner Walsh made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Wilczak, to approve Ordinance 25-8 waiving competitive bidding and approving the purchase of a 2025 Ford F650 from Holt & Sons, Inc. for use by the City of Braidwood Water and Street Departments. We were debating on getting another large truck or maybe use another small vehicle. The old truck we have is a 1995. But after discussion with the crew, we could fill this truck with salt for the whole town instead of making multiple trips. As far as the competitive bidding, one of the reasons is that we wanted to buy local. Holt and Sons is here in Gardner. There was an open discussion on why we are waiving competitive bidding for our purchased vehicles. Attorney Wellner stated that other municipalities follow this as well. Most dealerships will not wait for that process because it is lengthy, when they can just sell it.

Motion carried with 5 ayes; 0 nays. (Earling, Wietting, Walsh, Wilczak and Hart).

Public Property Report: An update on the water tower, we finally found a solution to get the water shut off and drained. Once it's empty, we will get a crew inside to fix it. Part of it froze up and our guys were engineers and got some heat to it and are getting it done

Commissioner Wietting made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Wilczak to approve Ordinance 25-9 waiving competitive bidding and approving the purchase of a 2024 Chevrolet Colorado from Arnie Bauer Chevrolet GMC for use by the City of Braidwood Water Department. There was an open discussion among the council that this vehicle is being purchased to be "ready to go" when our other Colorado “dies" because it has been worked on numerous times.

Motion carried with 5 ayes; 0 nays. (Earling, Wietting, Walsh, Wilczak and Hart).

Wietting read a letter he composed about how he became a commissioner and what their goals were to help the city.

Wilczak thanked all the council and city workers for all their hard work.

Wietting: Tony is the Administrator but is also the plant supervisor. He starts at the plant, then is at city hall during the day, and is back with the guys as well.

Public Health & Safety Report: Commissioner Wilczak made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Wietting, to approve Ordinance 25-10 authorizing the city to purchase and to enter into any necessary agreements for the purchase of an Autel Evo Max 4N Urban Scout Bundle from DSLR Pros. This will be paid from the Asset Forfeiture Fund. Motion carried with 5 ayes; 0 nays. (Earling, Wietting, Walsh, Wilczak and Hart).

Braidwood Police Department Press Release February 25 - March 10, 2025. Total number of calls for service 265, case reports 24, total subjects arrested 10, total arrest charges 18, total number of traffic stops 85, citations 39, written warnings 39, semi-truck violations 2, and total number of P-tickets 3.

Braidwood E.S.D.A February monthly report. Total manhours for the month are 26.5, which included 9 hours to assist BFD, 5 hours to assist BPD, and 11 hours to administrative duties. The yearly manhours are 654. They also assisted in additional activities with events in town.

Spoke on the potential data center that is likely to come to town. If they annex into Braidwood this will create jobs for our town and create an increase in revenue for our city. They will also donate some land for a needed water tower.

Planning & Zoning Report: George Kocek requested a motion to approve a final plat map amendment of Jevara Commons. Commissioner Earling made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Wilczak to approve a final plat map amendment of Jevara Commons Subdivision (PIN No. 02-24-07-307-001-0000). Motion carried with 5 ayes; 0 nays. (Earling, Wietting, Walsh, Wilczak and Hart).

George also requested a motion to approve Ordinance 25-11 granting variances for 533 E. Cody Lane. Commissioner Wietting made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Wilczak, to approve Ordinance 25- 11 granting variances for 533 E. Cody Lane, Braidwood, IL 60408 (PIN No. 02-24-09-301-018-0000). There was a discussion on the split vote by the Plan Commission Board. Motion carried with 4 ayes; 1 nay. (Wietting, Walsh, Wilczak and Hart).

The next Planning and Zoning meeting will be held March 17, 2025, for a public hearing for the proposed Comprehensive Plan for the City of Braidwood.

Old Business: Wilczak: At the last meeting, Amanda Beasly requested a meeting with the mayor over a police issue. After the council meeting, we spoke with her and invited her to set up a meeting with all of us. I have also spoken with her and gave her the additional information. So, it is up to her if she sets this up or not.

Also, there was a statement made by Mr. Kodjer's nephew regarding the city administrator. There has been no further information provided for the indication that was said.

New Business: Walsh: The crew was along Novy Road cleaning up garbage for the last few days. They will continue doing this, so please be careful, slow down, and watch for them.

Wilczak: We have an election on April 1. On Thursday, we have a gathering at the Public Library, and on Saturday at the Ignite Church, there will be a meet the candidates.

Wayne Kancler: Would like to commend all the candidates from our meet the candidates at Shadow Lakes. Everyone was personable, and straightforward, and answered every question. It was a great deal of good information.

Mayor: We have a blood drive on March 26 but we had to change from city hall to the Braidwood Fire Station because we will be having early voting.

Wilczak: If you donate blood, you will be entered to win a trip to Hawaii.

Adjournment: Commissioner Wietting made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Wilczak, to adjourn the March 11, 2025 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, March 25, 2025 at 7:00 pm

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