West Cook News

Village of Bellwood Committee of a Whole met Aug. 12

Here are the minutes provided by the committee:

Call to Order 

The Committee of the Whole meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Village of Bellwood was called to order by Mayor Harvey at 3:31p.m. on Monday, August 12, 2024. 

Roll Call 

Those in attendance were Mayor Harvey, Clerk Janel Moreland, Trustees Ciavattone, Boston, Holman (3:39pm), Robinson, Delgado, Nightengale, Willie Norfleet (Finance), Attorney Michael Castaldo. 

1. Pledge of Allegiance 

2. Approve Minutes of last Committee of a Whole Meeting 

3. Approve Agenda for Committee of a Whole Meeting 

4. Trustee Committee Reports 

a. Public Works Trustee Ciavattone, Chairman; Trustee Delgado, Member 

b. Community Development - Trustee Boston, Chairman; Trustee Robinson, Member 

c. Quality of Life - Trustee Holman, Chairman; Trustee Boston, Member

d. Administration -- Trustee Robinson, Chairman; Trustee Ciavattone (absent)

e. Public Safety - Trustee Delgado, Chairman: Trustee Nightengale, Member

f. Finance Trustee Nightengale, Chairman; Trustee Holman, Member 

g. Ad Hoc Committees - Traffic Safety

5. Department Head Reports 

a. Economic Development 

i Capital Project 

ii. Developmental Projects

b. Finance Director/Comptroller 

i. Utility Collection Billing and collection Status 

ii. Payments of Bills 

iii. Review of Revenue and Investments 

iv. Inventory 

v. Bidding

c. Police Department - Police Chief 

d. Fire Department - Fire Chief 

e. Director of Public Works 

i. Street Department 

ii. Water Department

f. Village Engineer 

g. Building Commissioner 

h. Director of Human Resources 

i. Village Attorney/Corporation Counsel 

i. Litigation (item to be reported on in executive session if required) 

ii. Contract negotiations (item to be reported on in executive session if required), and 

iii. Pending legal matters. 

6. Clerk's Report - Per Mayor Harvey & Attorney Castaldo, the clerk will no longer give a report and Attorney Castaldo removed it from the agenda. 

7. Mayor's Report 

8. New Business -- Discussion/Agenda Items for upcoming board meeting 

9. Unfinished Business 

10. Public Comment

11. Adjournment 

Mayor Harvey requested a motion to approve the agenda for the August 12, 2024, COW meeting. Trustee Nightengale made a motion and Trustee Delgado seconded to accept the agenda of the regular COW meeting. Upon a voice vote, the motion was carried unanimously to approve the August 12, 2024, COW Meeting Agenda. 

Mayor Harvey requested a motion to approve the minutes of the July 8, 2024, COW meeting. Trustee Boston made a motion and Trustee Ciavattone seconded to accept the minutes of the last regular COW meeting. Upon a voice vote, the motion was carried unanimously to approve the July 8, 2024, COW meeting minutes. 

Committee Reports 

Trustee Ciavattone: regular report 

Trustee Boston: regular report 

Trustee Holman: (late) 

Trustee Robinson: absent 

Trustee Delgado: regular report 

Trustee Nightengale: regular report 

Ad Hoc: no report 

Department Head Reports 

Economic Development 

Peter Tsiolis reported the following: 

A few items under new business and presenting for approval at the board meeting: 

i. Refinance of the old old bonds will be happening sometime in September. 

ii. The house on Bohland is completed. It looks great. 

iii. We had a tour this morning of Ferrara on Maywood Drive and saw the improvements they made. They put $50million into that plant. It's an improvement to the village of Bellwood. Mayor - Are they going to take care of the exterior what we've been talking about for years? Peter- We will have that conversation tomorrow.

Finance Director/Comptroller 

Willie Norfleet reported the following: 

i. Utility billing for June 2024 was billed $690k and collected $702k. Year to date total billing has been $4 million and we are on schedule at the 50% ratio point. 

ii. As of July 31, 2024, we have had turn on fees for 147 locations and 82 new owner fees collected.

iii. As of June 20, 2024, our cash receipts were approximately $2.1 million for a year-to-date total of $24,3000,000. 

iv. June 2024, we processed invoices for $2.1 mil worth of bills to be paid and we have the cash flow to pay the bills 

v. General fund year to date revenue we bought in $15.8mil and spent $13.3mil. For revenues over expenditures year to date is $3million, which is $2.7 million to the good. 

vi. Water & sewer Fund - we collected $3.3 million in revenue and $3.1million in expenditure. We're at $230K to the good year to date. 

vii. June 2024 Interest received in the general fund received $95,927k. in interest year to date total $519,627. So far the total interest collected for the month of July is $100k with approximately $1k to be had when the posting comes through.

Police Department 

Chief Allen reported the following: 

i. Our guys did a great job at the taste. I haven't looked at our metal detectors to see what the count is of the in and outs. 

ii. 5 new Officer in the academy starting August 26. One is certified, so he'll start right away, so that'll be a total of 6 officers. One graduates on August 15th, and I'll be going to his graduation. He's at the top of his class and doing very well. One of our new officers is in the training program.

Fire Department 

Fire Chief Reitz reported the following: 

i. I don't have a report. Just want to say thank you for allowing me to serve in this capacity. 

BOEM/Homeland Security – 

Mike Sabel reported the following: 

Director of Public Works 

Superintendent Marty Walker reported the following: 

i. The reopening of Washington Blvd from the taste will be once the tent people remove the tents. The village hall parking lot will reopen sometime tomorrow afternoon/evening. We are walking the streets picking up extra trash. 

Building Commissioner 

Jim Stock reported the following: 

i. Expecting some reports back from MWRD today on final approvals so we can work on permits. We have already reviewed the temporary permits. 

ii. 241 Bohland building is done. Contractors have a few things to repair for us before final inspection.

iii. The channel improvements are still underway. They reported that they will be done by September but doesn't look like that's going to be the case.

Director of Human Resources 

Tonita LeShore reported the following: 

i. The village received over a million dollars for a water main project on Grant Street. 

Village Engineer 

Chuck Hodges from Hancock Engineering reported the following: 

i. Michael has already summed up my report. We have 2 items appearing on the consent agenda and we're asking you all to consider. One is the engineering agreement with Hancock Engineering to assist the village to apply for IPA loan opportunity for lead service line replacement program.

ii. Looking to award a contract to the select bidder for improving roadway improvements on Maywood Drive from 25th avenue to the village's east limits a little west of 25th Ave. 2 options. will be put together for this proposal: 1) Roadway improvements & Traffic Signal Improvements 2) Just roadway improvements. Trying to get an available electrician. M&J Asphalt came in with the highest bid of $1,119,911.25, the lowest bid was Schroeder Asphalt Paving Co. at $1,104,228.15. M&J has worked in town this year and last year, does great work and has a great reputation with us. They want the village to know that they would like to be considered for this opportunity and are willing to enter into negotiations as it pertains to the cost. 

iii. CDBG Alley reconstruction project is complete, and the alleys are now open.

Village Clerk - At Mayor Harvey's request the clerk will no longer give a report and Attorney Castaldo removed it from the agenda. The Clerk is no longer given the opportunity to give a report. 

Mayor 

Mayor Harvey reported the following: 

i. Thanks to everyone that volunteered, helped and supported the Taste of Bellwood. We had about 55K people that came to the taste of Bellwood. If you worked the beer and wine garden, we saw so many IDs from different states. People came from Arkansas, Maryland, Texas and Aurora. People said this was the most organized event they'd ever been to. People that go to festivals all over said Bellwood has the number one festival. We had a Kids Corner this year. Young kid entrepreneurs. The idea was from Deborah Jenkins, Tonita LeShore and Takiyah Lane. One called and said their kid made $1000. It was supposed to be for one day, but we did it for two days. We were on ABC news Friday and Saturday as one of the best places to be this weekend. Kudos to the police department for the outstanding job. Marty & Arnie take care of everything we need. Trustee Delgado - I met this lady who was at the taste with her husband and father. They lived in Bellwood for 10 years and this was their first time attending the taste. She said she can't believe how well organized the event is. Tonita Leshore - You thanked everybody, and we want to thank you too. As the mayor being the leader, you really push forward, nothing but excellence and we know that we have to follow your guidance and leadership, and we want to thank you. 

New Businesses 

Attorney Castaldo reported the following: 

Some items are in Dropbox the rest will be there later this week. 

i. A couple of Memorandum of Understanding one with Cook County and the other with Neighborhood Heroes Foundation. Mayor - This is with a local celebrity that's doing things in the Chicagoland area and partnering with the village of Bellwood to do some mentoring on entrepreneurship, internships. Hopefully he has a big pot of money we can work with to better our youth and community. 

ii. Workers Comp claim. 

iii. Agreement for the purchase of Tasers. Updating tasers from Axon. 

iv. 2 items from the village engineer. One is an engineering agreement and the other, we're working through that now, responses to the request for the work on Maywood Drive have been received and discussed at this time.

Unfinished Business 

None. 

Public Comment 

Mayor Harvey requested a motion to open the floor for Public Comment. Trustee Boston made a motion and Trustee Delgado seconded to open the floor for public comment. 

All Trustees were in favor of opening the floor for public comment. Upon a voice vote, the motion was carried unanimously. Mayor Harvey declared the floor for public comment open. 

There was no public and no public comment. 

Mayor Harvey requested a motion to close the floor for Public Comment. Trustee Delgado made a motion and Trustee Nightengale seconded to close the floor for public comment. 

All Trustees were in favor of closing the floor. Upon a voice vote, the motion was carried unanimously. Mayor Harvey declared the floor for public comment closed. 

Adjournment 

Mayor Harvey requested a motion to adjourn the Committee of The Whole meeting at 3:40pm. Mr. Norfleet reminded him that the department heads had not given their department reports. The meeting was not adjourned at that time and the reports were given. 

Mayor Harvey requested a motion to adjourn the Committee of The Whole meeting for the 2nd time. Motion made by Trustee Delgado seconded by Trustee Boston to adjourn the meeting. Upon a voice vote, the motion was carried unanimously. Mayor Harvey declared the meeting adjourned, with no further business to come before this Board, this meeting stands adjourned at 3:53p.m. 

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