Will County Gazette

City of Braidwood City Council met Aug. 26.

Here are the minutes provided by the council:

Call to Order: The Regular Meeting of the Braidwood City Council on August 26, 2025 was called to order at 7:00 p.m., by Mayor Lyons in the Council Chambers of the Braidwood City Hall.

Pledge of Allegiance: Mayor Lyons 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 Dixon, Commissioner Wietting, Commissioner Walsh, Commissioner Mikel, and Mayor Lyons

Absent: None.

Appointed Officials:

Present: City Consultant Manager Gulden, City Clerk Weaver, City Engineer Sean Kelly, and City Attorney Wellner

Absent: None.

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

Mayor Lyons read letters written by the Mayor and Chief of Police of Shorewood in recognition of incoming Braidwood Chief of Police Eric Allen.

Chief Eric Allen gave a thank-you speech.

Mayor Lyons swore in the Braidwood Chief of Police, Eric Allen, in front of the council, and the chief took his place at the table at 7:09 p.m.

Public Comment: Micheal Budzinski; Owner of Premier Auto Detailing. Requested rules and regulations at City Hall but was given contractor registration which does not pertain to this business. Sent FOIA's about ordinance changes but the city needed an extension but there were no changes.

Bobby Earling; 560 N. School St.: Spoke with the new chief and he listened and said he will take care of it. Who is the grocery tax benefiting? Talked about saving homeowners on their water bills. Is the city going to pay for cleanup if they find PFAS in our town? Everyone should be held to the same standards when it comes to violations.

Tony Altiery: Spoke about the bid acceptance that is on the agenda for road repairs in the amount of $318,000.00 plus engineering fees. The estimate under the last administration was under $200,000.00; feels this council is overspending.

Approval of Minutes: Commissioner Mikel made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Dixon, to approve the meeting minutes from the August 12, 2025 Regular Council Meeting. Motion carried with 4 ayes: 0 nays; 1 Abstain (Mikel, Dixon, Walsh, and Lyons)

Mayor's Report: Lyons: Requested a motion to approve Ordinance 25-35 Approving and Authorizing the City of Braidwood to enter into and for the Mayor of Braidwood to execute a Cable Franchise Agreement by and between the City of Braidwood and Comcast of

California/Colorado/Illinois/Indiana/Michigan LLC ("Comcast") Yohan Fernando, our Comcast Representative stood up and introduced himself and addressed this is a standard contract agreement with the city as a continuation as the previous contract had expired. Commissioner Mikel made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Walsh to approve Ordinance 25-35. Motion carried with 5 ayes; 0 nays (Mikel, Walsh, Dixon, Wietting, and Lyons)

Mayor Lyons addressed a statement from public comment. Stating that our code enforcement made a decision from his interpretation of the codes. Requesting the council to potentially discuss at a future meeting to review the code pertaining to who is a contractor, which was last updated in 1996.

Administrator Report: Gulden: Requesting a motion to approve Ordinance 25-36 Approving and Authorizing Execution of an agreement between the City of Braidwood and Property Owners and Finding that the property located at 693 W. Main Street is Legal Nonconforming (PIN No. 02-24-07-406-001- 0000). Commissioner Walsh made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Mikel to approve Ordinance 25- 36. Motion carried with 5 ayes; 0 nays (Walsh, Mikel, Dixon, Wietting, and Lyons)

The city has not made any new ordinances, only a couple of changes to the abandoned vehicles, where boats and recreational vehicles were added. Lastly, changed the ordinance about the Chief going on property to give tickets for vehicles. There have been many complaints, so now we are enforcing ordinances that were not enforced before.

Building code updates: Our last update was in 2009. Met with B&F Technical and hope to discuss with the council at the October Committee of the Whole meeting about the updates needed.

D'Orazio: The Ford dealership is looking to start moving dirt by September 2, 2025.

Town Center: There will be a public meeting on September 10 at 6:30 pm at City Hall with Hitchcock to present the project and get feedback from the public.

Computer Purchases: All computers have been purchased to comply with our Windows mandate update.

Purchasing Policy: There is a drafted policy to discuss at the September 9, 2025, Committee of the Whole.

Property Maintenance Code: We have a couple of agreements with owners about work that needs to be done with the vacant homes.

Springbrook Software: This purchase order suite will be brought to the council on September 9, 2025, with the cost and how it would be implemented.

McPherson Duplex: We discussed the NPDES guidelines that need to be followed. Concerning the drawing that was submitted to the city, it does not specify if part of the garage is in an easement or an old right-of-way. He has not signed the agreement that is out there yet because he does not know what the ramifications can be if needed. This will be up for discussion on September 9, 2025.

Tree Issue: A dead tree that posed a hazard on city property that could damage a neighboring home has been taken down.

Landscape Ordinance: On September 9, have a proposed ordinance for new development to at least seed the property before they get a final occupancy.

E Scooters: Have several complaints from residents, we will be researching and having discussions to address this issue.

Godley Park Touch-A-Truck: They requested to have Braidwood participate in the event on September 20 from 2-4 pm.

Development Handbook: In the process of completing a development handbook, which has step-by-step instructions on development projects and also a handbook for permits.

ComEd Vegetation: ComEd will be conducting some vegetation control near our border with Essex. It should not disturb any residential lots.

Professional Fee Agreement: On September 9, at the Committee of the Whole, we will be presenting a tiered agreement to the council. The fee will be in correspondence with the project size.

City Clerk Report: No report.

Engineer Report: No report.

City Attorney Report: Wellner: A new law has been passed with school resource officers; we will have to amend our agreement currently to reflect the new law. This law prohibits officers from ticketing students on school property if the school already has provisions in place for discipline.

Accounts & Finance Report: Commissioner Dixon made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Mikel, to approve the Payment of Bills, in the amount of $176,189.57 as identified in the Accounts Payable General Ledger dated August 26, 2025. Motion carried with 5 ayes: 0 nays. (Dixon, Mikel, Wietting, Walsh, and Lyons)

Commissioner Dixon then made a Motion, seconded by Commissioner Mikel, to Approve Payroll Expenses in the amount of $86,667.11 as identified in the Payroll General Ledger dated August 15, 2025. Motion carried with 5 ayes; 0 nays. (Dixon, Mikel, Wietting, Walsh, and Lyons).

Engineering, Zoning, Attorney and inspection fees have been high over the last couple of months. This is due to having several large projects on the books and having to involve engineering to correct several projects that were not correct. Since the city has begun collecting Professional Fees, a majority of these fees will be reimbursed.

There is a monthly report posted to the website from the accounts of our financial statement. There is also a summary page if needed.

There is an MFT resolution that will be closing out 2018-2021. There is no money being moved; this is closing out what the budget was for that year. This is an audit that should be done at the end of every year.

Sean Kelly: These are open-ended items from IDOT, who are closing out paperwork.

The part-time clerk is working out very well.

The purchasing policy is done. This was needed for our purchase orders suite in Springbrook.

The audit is still in process and they are requesting some more information, hoping to have it done in a couple more weeks.

Commissioner Dixon made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Wietting to approve Resolution 25-12 to appropriate the sum of $830,000.00 of Motor Fuel Tax Fund for 05/01/2017 to 12/31/2018. Motion carried with 5 ayes; 0 nays (Dixon, Wietting, Walsh, Mikel, and Lyons)

Commissioner Dixon made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Mikel to approve Resolution 25-13 to appropriate the sum of $250,000.00 of Motor Fuel Tax Fund for 01/01/2020 to 04/30/2021. Motion carried with 5 ayes; 0 nays (Dixon, Mikel, Wietting, Walsh, and Lyons)

Streets & Public Improvement Report: Commissioner Walsh made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Mikel, to award the road bid amount in the amount of $318,727.65 to P.T. Ferro for road improvement for Stacey Court, Vita Lane, and Third Street. Motion carried with 5 ayes; 0 nays (Walsh, Mikel, Dixon, Wietting, and Lyons)

The street crew dug up part of N. Lincoln St. to fix the road that was dipping. They dug it out, filled it with gravel, wait for that to compact, and then it will be paved.

Next year we are planning on starting the bid process earlier, so work is not being done to late in the year.

Bought a new grasshopper mower from Sistek Sales, which was purchased below $20,000 for the purchasing policy threshold.

Requesting homeowners to trim back branches now, that are hanging over the road to avoid any issues in the winter with plow trucks driving by.

Public Property Report: Thank you to Commissioner Walsh for handling an issue that occurred at the plant and helping with a safety meeting.

Water department report: 2 emergency shut-offs, 7 final reads, 2 fire hydrant repairs, cleaned ac condensers at City Hall, 8-meter repairs, 2 new meter installs, 88 locates, put up and took down bunting at City Hall, 4 B-Box repairs, moved desks, fixed office tiles in Chief's office, and monthly water reads.

Commissioner Wietting made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Mikel to award the salt bid amount of $137,780.00 to Midwest Salt, LLC for water softening salt. Motion carried with 5 ayes, 0 nays (Wietting, Mikel, Dixon, Walsh, and Lyons)

With discussion of ordinances, as a council, we also need to set an example.

Public Health & Safety Report: Mikel: Thank you to Chris Altiery for stepping up in place of the Chief when needed.

Braidwood Police Department Press Release for August 12, 2025, to August 25, 2025: total number of calls for service 320, case reports 29, total subjects arrested 8, total arrest charges 14, total number of traffic stops 92, citations 39, written warnings 47, semi-truck violations 2, and total number of P-tickets 8.

Planning & Zoning Report: No report.

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Old Business: Lyons: There is an agreement with Mr. Dixon about water meters, and we need to look into this and discuss.

New Business: Lyons: There is an open house for the Town Center for discussion on September 10, 2025, at 6:30 pm here at City Hall.

Mastodon is moving forward and is working with Shelly to get things in order.

We want to engage the community in helping to develop a slogan or mantra.

Thanks to Cindy Howard for cleaning up the Welcome to Braidwood sign by the high school.

Walsh: Would like to let the grocery tax expire for the City of Braidwood. Discussion among the council of dollar amounts and whether we should pass this now or later.

Gulden: On the next meeting of September 9, 2025, the 120 Water Quote will be up for a vote for the lead and copper survey and are recommending the amount of $24,906.96.

Executive Session: Commissioner Dixon made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Mikel to go into executive session to discuss (i) the appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance, or dismissal of specific employees (5ILCS 120/2 (c) (1)) and (ii) pending, probable, or imminent litigation against, affecting, or on behalf of the City (5 ILCS 120/2 (c) (11)) at 8:30 p.m. Motion carried with 5 ayes; 0 nays (Dixon, Mikel, Wietting, Walsh, and Lyons)

Commissioner Mikel made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Wietting to close executive session at 8:57 pm. Motion carried with 5 ayes; 0 nays (Dixon, Wietting, Walsh, Mikel, and Lyons)

Adjournment: Commissioner Mikel made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Wietting, to adjourn the August 26, 2025 regular meeting of the Braidwood City Council. Motion carried with 5 ayes: 0 nays. (Mikel, Wietting, Dixon, Walsh, and Lyons)

The next regular meeting of the Council will be held Tuesday, September 9, 2025 at 7:00 pm

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