Village of Western Springs General Government Committee met March 8.
Here are the minutes provided by the committee:
Present
Chair Tyrrell, Member Rudolph, Village President Gallagher*, Village Manager Baer*, Deputy Village Manager Biernacki, Director of Technology Schramm*, and Village Attorney Jurusik* * Present at Village Hall, 740 Hillgrove Avenue, Western Springs, IL
Chair Tyrrell moved to open the Committee meeting, seconded by Member Rudolph. The motion passed on a roll call vote. Voting aye: Chair Tyrrell and Member Rudolph. The General Government Committee meeting was called to order at 6:00 p.m.
Agenda Items
1. Public Comment
There were no public comments.
2. Approval of Minutes
Chair Tyrrell noted the draft meeting minutes in the agenda packet were from January 2021, not January 2022. Approval of the January 2022 meeting minutes was tabled until April 2022.
3. French Market - Fifty Addendum to the Market License Agreement Between the Village of Western Springs and Bensidoun USA, Inc. Relative to Operation of a French Market in the Village (Extended Term: March 28, 2022 to December 31, 2024)
Village Manager Baer provided an overview on this item as Director Scott was unable to attend. Bensidoun USA has operated the French Market here at the Village of Western Springs for about 14 years and is interested in renewing that contract with us. The proposal before this committee this evening is to extend the agreement for three years to December of 2024. They are not proposing any significant changes to what we have been doing at the market. They are still looking to operate on Sundays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. from May to October at the Tower Green. Typically, they have had between six and ten vendors each week and they have a steady flow of people that come and go throughout that time. Village Manager Baer said Director Scott said the Bensidoun contact would be available by phone but Village Manager Baer did not have a phone number this evening to contact her but would reach out to Bensidoun if there are any follow-up questions from the committee.
Trustee Tyrrell asked if the non-compete clause was new. Village Manager Baer said that was in the agreement previously according to Director Scott and she and Director Scott had talked about that. Village Manager Baer had expressed concern about that and Director Scott said that the likelihood of us doing that would be slim in the exact same location. If we decided ever to leave Bensidoun and do something different, we probably would do something very different. Discussion followed.
After discussion, the committee came to a consensus that extending the contract for the French Market at Tower Green for three more years with Bensidoun made sense. The committee will report on this request and recommend approval to the Board during the March meeting cycle.
4. Commercial Filming Application Updates
Deputy Village Manager Biernacki presented information on staff recommended updates to the existing Commercial Filming/Taping procedures and the associated fees. These procedures are in place for instances where commercial filming companies come to the Village or, more frequently, to our residents requesting to utilize their homes or property to shoot commercials, films, television series, and photography shoots. There are procedures in place that outline everything they need to do in order to be able to do that within our municipal limits. Mr. Biernacki noted there are many grammatical updates and then he outlined the main updates.
Staff did a comprehensive review of surrounding municipalities to see what everyone else was charging and it appears that our fees were a little low at $75 with everyone else charging between $150-$200. After a quick analysis of staff time required to review and issue the permit, it was determined that $150 seemed to be the right fee for the permit application fee and that is what staff is proposing. Staff also recommended increasing the Public Building Usage fee to $700 based on the same criteria. We do not receive many Public Building Usage requests but have received a community-based request from the Western Springs Theatre in the past and the fee for that was waived.
Deputy Village Manager Biernacki said the updates also outlined commercial photography procedures for photo shoots. The application approval timeframe, which was two (2) days, was also updated and staff proposes that all applications for all size productions be submitted ten (10) days prior. The change is proposed to allow for better notification to residents and businesses adjacent to the production and to allow staff more appropriate review time. Discussion followed.
Staff also proposed improved language on the use of Village parking and right-of-way. In general, production vehicles, crew vehicles, trailers, etc. park on the same, or adjacent, streets as the production. The proposed language gives the Village Manager the ability to specify parking locations for larger productions, if necessary.
After discussion, the committee came to a consensus that the updates make sense and will report to the Board of Trustees on March 14, 2022 and recommend approval of the changes on March 28, 2022.
5. CDW Office 365 License Payment
Director Schramm presented a CDW Office 365 license payment request to the committee. The Village's previous vendor for Microsoft Office365 account, CDW-G, failed to send an invoice for the third and final year of their contract which ran through February of 2022. The Village budgeted for the final invoice amount in 2021, and the entire three-year enterprise agreement with CDW-G was approved by the Board of Trustees on August 20, 2018. The final outstanding 2021 amount is $17,189.90. Staff requested that the Village pay this invoice in the 13th period of the 2021 budget year. Director Schramm reminded the committee that the Board of Trustees approved EDO as the new account management vendor in July of 2021 to give the Village more flexibility with licensing.
After discussion, the committee agreed to move this item forward to the Board of Trustees in the March cycle with a recommendation to approve this payment request.
6. Recreation Commission Discussion
Village Manger Baer introduced this item. It was brought to our attention that the Recreation Commission was not always able to get a quorum. They were canceling a lot of their meetings over the last year or two. A few commissioners' terms had expired and a few new commissioners were approved at the last Board meeting. Director of Recreation Briedis requested that the codified schedule for the Recreation Commission be modified from a monthly meeting requirement to a quarterly meeting requirement (annually) to better suit the commission schedule and meet the statutorily required frequency. Village Manager Baer talked with Director Briedis about some different things that could be brought through the commission. She also talked with Director Briedis about putting together a summary of classes, events, and activities that the Recreation Department hosts each quarter and do a recap at each meeting on what worked, what is different, etc. and to look to the next quarter. Manager Baer said they would run functional activities past the commission to get input from them on what they think the community is looking for, which has not been how this commission has functioned before. It has only reviewed things that were coming to the Board, like the SEASPAR room and bigger things like that. Village Manager Baer said that residents are on the commission to lend their expertise and to give their thoughts and opinions which should be a part of those Recreation Commission meetings. Staff would then bring those ideas up and bring them to the Board for final approval.
Village Manager Baer also mentioned that perhaps some of the sustainability items that we have been discussing might be appropriate for that commission. We do not have a commission or a committee that is focused on green initiatives, sustainability, and we have had some requests from the Green Team from First Congregational Church to do something like that. Village Manager Baer said that she believes that President Gallagher was looking at what we have in place today for those types of issues. Trustee Rudolph said she thought sustainability would be more global and perhaps made more sense to be part of the General Government Committee. Village Manager Baer said that since President Gallagher is not present this evening, perhaps it would make sense to revisit the discussion of sustainability at the next committee meeting. Discussion followed. Village Attorney Jurusik provided a draft ordinance to make the proposed meeting frequency change. If approved, the Recreation Commission meetings will be held at the Recreation Center or Village Hall four times per year (quarterly). Village Manager Baer added that if there is a need for additional meetings, the commission can call meetings more frequently. Discussion followed.
After discussion, the committee determined they will recommend the Board of Trustees approve the ordinance that modifies the schedule of meetings for the Recreation
Commission during the March meeting cycle.
7. Resolution Approving the Content of and/or Release of Certain Closed Meeting Minutes of Regular and Special Meetings and Workshop Meetings of the General Government Committee (2021 Full Year Review)
Deputy Village Clerk Haeske explained this is a housekeeping matter. Chair Tyrrell and
Member Rudolph received draft General Government Committee closed meeting minutes as well as a draft resolution which contains Attorney Jumsik's recommendations on whether to release or hold each of the General Government Committee closed meeting sessions' minutes. Chair Tyrrell and Member Rudolph both agreed with Attorney Jurusik's recommendations.
Chair Tyrrell moved, seconded by Member Rudolph, to approve Resolution 22-01 approving said minutes and determining to release or withhold same.
The motion passed on a roll call vote. Voting aye: Chair Tyrrell and Member Rudolph.
Voting nay: None.
8. Tollwav Intergovernmental Agreement - Central Avenue Project: Commonwealth Culde-sac Chair Tyrrell stated for the record that while he did have some issues with potential litigation with the Tollway on a personal basis because of the condemnation of parts of his property but that issue has been resolved so he no longer has a conflict with the Tollway and can participate fully in this discussion and agenda item 9.
Village Attorney Jurusik explained the intergovernmental agreement with the Tollway - Central Avenue Project: Commonwealth Cul-de-sac. This agreement was originally presented to Village staff as a clean-up and housekeeping intergovermnental agreement but, unfortunately, the Tollway did not put all of the housekeeping into it. The project is listed as the cul-de-sac project at the south terminus of Commonwealth in the Commonwealth subdivision, Gurrie Rhoads' old subdivision. The Tollway also wants to add some different components of work in the agreement including case pipe extension, Central Avenue reconstruction and the 49 Street culvert clean-out so the draft intergovernmental agreement presented to staff is going to be revised by the Tollway's legal team. Village Attorney Jurusik, staff and the Tollway legal team had a conference call late last week and so we are sort of "teeing" this agreement up and will bring it back to the committee for further review and discussion once we have that revised version from the Tollway. For tonight's purposes it was to introduce the matter, indicate that these are four components of work that are sort of loose ends that are hanging out there and this will be the clean-up intergovernmental agreement that will take care of those items.
The cul-de-sac is the actual construction of the turnaround cul-de-sac at the end of Commonwealth Avenue. Director Supert explained that the case pipe extension involves a watermain emergency interconnection that the Village shares with the Village of Hinsdale, just south of47A Street. It has been inoperable for a number of years, mainly because both communities did not want to exercise it and were afraid to exercise it, under the Tollway in the event that it blew up underneath the Tollway. As part of the Tollway project, both towns want to re-establish the emergency connection. There is a casement pipe, which is basically a larger pipe, that the watermain goes inside to help protect the watermain. The Tollway has agreed to extend, repair, or replace the pipe as needed underneath the Tollway when they do their main project and that is what the intergovernmental agreement would cover. Separately, we would work with the Tollway as part of another contract to extend/replace the watermain that runs through that casement pipe.
Trustee Tyrrell asked what that does. Director Supert said this would be in the event of a catastrophic event where an emergency situation existed and all of our systems were offline. The Village currently has emergency connections with some of our neighbors. We have this one with Hinsdale as well as a second one with the Village of Hinsdale, further south, that we are still working on and determining whether that will be reestablished but this one at 47th Street, we wanted to reestablish. We also have emergency connections with the Villages of LaGrange and LaGrange Park. Those emergency connections are designed to help supplement or remediate some of the issues if we had a full system go down. None of the emergency connections would actually be able to fully treat the entire Village. We just have too many miles of pipe for those smaller connections but they are designed to help certain subdivisions or to balance out what we have in certain emergencies. We have never had to actually use any of these emergency connections but we feel it is a good practice to be maintained. It is a two-way street and Hinsdale could use it too. Director Supert added that because we are on an independent well system and the other communities are lake water communities, it is a redundant system. Hinsdale is on lake water through the DuPage Water Commission.
Village Manager Baer said there is a much bigger story with these emergency water connections as Director Supert alluded to. These are not the kinds of connections that we would just randomly utilize. It is not that simple. There would have to be something pretty catastrophic happening for us to even attempt to do this. The Village of Hinsdale has said that they do not really think they would ever use this; they do not really care if it is every reestablished but they will do it if we want it. Trustee Tyrrell added that the Tollway is paying for it. Village Manager Baer said that is correct; the Tollway is constructing it as part of their project but in terms of putting in a new pipe in, as Director Supert was saying, there would be coordination with Hinsdale in terms of how that will look and how that will function, exercising it in the future, etc. We have a long way to go in terms of ever being able to utilize this connection but Village Manager Baer thinks it is a great idea to get it in there and then we will worry about how it works later. Village Manager Baer reiterated that these emergency connections would be utilized only for catastrophic failures. Director Supert added that, as best as our records indicate, the connection was actually in place prior to the construction of the Tollway so it has been there since the 1950s or so. Director Supert said that at some point in the 1990s, both communities stopped exercising it, meaning operating the valves, flowing it both ways and flushing it out. As best we can tell, both communities were afraid to do so because if there was a watermain break underneath the Tollway, the Tollway would be very upset. That would be very disruptive to regional traffic so that is why the connection kind of just languished over the years and now there is an opportunity to reestablish that connection.
Trustee Rudolph wondered why the Village of Hinsdale thought they never would use that emergency connection. She said she understands it is a catastrophic connection and that the probability of use is extremely low. Village Manager Baer said that they have concerns about the type of water, the temperature of our water, the flow rate of our water, etc. The water composition is very different in terms of its makeup. Trustee Rudolph said it seems that it is better than nothing. Director Supert said those concerns do go our way as well. It is not as simple as just turning the pipe and a whole subdivision has water, there is a bit more planning and these connections would be more localized so we might be able to provide water to the Forest Hills area or the Commonwealth area from this connection. We would have to isolate other portions off but it is in those truly catastrophic situations that we could get some sort of potable water. Even if it is as baseline as, people with jugs needing to fill up, a truly catastrophic event. As Tmstee Tyrrell said, it is like our fourth line of emergency preparedness. This is an opportunity for the Village since the Tollway is paying for it.
Attorney Jurusik added that the Central Avenue Reconstruction Project is another element that did not make it into the Tollway's draft agreement but the Tollway legal team will be incorporating this into the revised agreement. Director Supert said this item is related to the land acquisition related to the stonn sewer easement. Attorney Jurusik added this item is related to the storm sewer easement and also the 49th Street culvert.
Director Supert said the committee has received some updates on the land acquisition and we are at the finish line for that; the administrative court process that has to be finalized. The court date was supposed to happen last December but there was some sort of stay that occurred and a final court date is supposed to happen in early April to get those final easements. The Tollway is acquiring some land just south of47t Street near the creek through the Commonwealth curve for detention and other needs that they have for their pervious area for their construction. Director Supert said that we have Village watennain that runs through there and we also plan to put our new storm sewer in, in that same location so once they acquire that land, the Tollway was going to issue us a permit/easement to put the storm sewer on that land. Right now, the land is owned by other parties so we are kind of in an administrative process and the intergovermnental agreement identified that they are granting that permit process to the Village to allow us to put the storm sewer out there.
Related to that, is language regarding the 49 Street ditch. That is in Commonwealth and is a ditch that runs through the Tollway to the west bank of the creek. It is basically a drainage ditch and a culvert that goes underneath the Tollway. The Tollway has had conversations with the HOA in Commonwealth to improve that ditch, and there was some language that was proposed in the intergovernmental agreement which was not finalized about what the future maintenance responsibilities would be and what the partnership may or may not be with the Village and the HOA for that. That is not Tollway right-of-way that the ditch is in, but they have water off the Tollway road that drains through that ditch so they are proposing to improve it because it is kind of overgrown. Trustee Rudolph asked if some residents had complained about that maintenance. Director Supert said that the HOA has complained about the maintenance of that as well as the maintenance of the creek in general. Director Supert said that the HOA has maintenance of the creek as part of their responsibility. That drainage ditch was something that was a little ambiguous but this fall staff found documentation about who owns that and that is now all lined up. Director Supert said that his understanding is that the language does say that the ultimate responsibility for that drainage ditch would the HOA because it is within their property. Attorney Jurusik confirmed that is correct. Director Supert said that the Tollway is offering to clean it up because they have water that runs through there so they said they will improve the ditch to an improved state and make it clear to the HOA that they have maintenance responsibility for that.
Director Supert said the HOA has reached out to the Village to see if there is a way that the Village can participate or assist with certain items like cleaning out debris. The Village has not committed to anything at this point but we are talking with the HOA about what those options are. Village Attorney Jurusik said that is another reference that has found its way into this catch-all intergovernmental agreement. Attorney Jurusik added that once this thing is fully cleaned up, we will bring it back for approval, this is a status report to put on the committee's radar that it is out there and we are working with the Tollway to try to get it buttoned up for approval. Director Baer added that the Tollway is anxious to get this completed so it is likely the committee will see something more on this in April.
9. Tollway Intergovernmental Agreement - Central Avenue Project - Temporary Easement in Spring Rock Park from Western Springs Park District
Village Attorney Jurusik explained that this intergovernmental agreement contains a permanent and a temporary construction easement and a permanent access easement. There is a storm sewer facility in the middle of Spring Rock Park and it connects into an easement that we got through the BNSF this way and runs over to the Flagg Creek outfall. The sewer line is in this area (green area on map) and is legally described in the easement agreement. They basically got the pipe in the ground before we got the easement done and we have been trying to finalize this ever since this project started. We are now at a point where we have a legal description to match where the pipe went now that it is in the ground, we have the as built. This agreement is based on the same intergovernmental agreement that the Village entered into with the Western Springs Park District for Well #5 over in Field Park and it really just says that the Village has the right on a temporary basis to do construction in this area and to permanently maintain the infrastructure there. The Park District gets the benefit of storm water drainage because there are manholes and inlets throughout this little green area. Trustee Tyrrell asked when the work was done. Director Supert said the work was done two years ago at the front end of the BNSF bridge reconstruction. The Tollway shot a new storm sewer pipe underneath the BNSF bridge for us and then ran it through the Park and the Park connected some of their sewer system onto it as well, and it discharges onto Flagg Creek. It was directionally and mechanically bored and not open trenched.
Discussion followed about the unrelated water main replacement on the south end of the Park. That project is another high priority targeted project. Staff is in the design stage of that project right now. Director Baer said the Park District is very anxious for the Village to repair or replace that water main as they want to rebuild the field and not have to do so over and over again. This project is a priority and will be timed when the field is not in use. Director Supert said the end of summer or fall is likely the soonest this project would be done.
Chair Tyrrell moved, seconded by Committee Member Rudolph, to recommend the Board of Trustees approve the intergovernmental agreement covering the easement agreement for Storm Water Drainage Facilities at Spring Rock Park in the March cycle.
The motion passed on a roll call vote.
Voting aye: Chair Tyrrell and Member Rudolph.
Voting nay: None.
10. Other
There was no other business to discuss.
11. Schedule Next Committee Meeting
The General Government Committee will meet on Wednesday, April 6, 2022, at 6:30 p.m.
12. Adjourn
MOTION:
Chair Tyrrell moved, seconded by Member Rudolph, to adjourn this meeting.
The motion passed on a roll call vote.
Voting aye: Chair Tyrrell and Member Rudolph.
Voting nay: None.
The meeting adjourned at 7:01 p.m.
https://www.wsprings.com/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_03082022-1339
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