City of Markham City Council met Jan. 5.
Here are the minutes provided by the council:
Mayor, Roger Agpawa called the Regular Meeting of the Markham City Council to order at 7:11p.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance. Prayer led by Ald. McDowell. Roll Call was taken by City Clerk, Leslie Trimuel.
ROLL CALL: ALDERMAN PRESENT Alderman Rondal Jones – (Logged in Zoom at 7:20 p.m.)
Alderman William Barron
Alderwoman Wanda McDowell
Alderman Breanna Hampton
ALSO PRESENT: Attorney Steven Miller
Treasurer, Belinda Richardson
City Administrator, Derrick Champion
APPROVAL OF MINUTES FOR
SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING
Motion to approve minutes of November 29, 2021, by Ald. McDowell, seconded by Ald. Hampton-Houser
Roll Call: 3Yes/0 No/0 Absent-Motion Carried
APPROVAL OF MINUTES FOR
REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING
December 15, 2021
Motion to approve minutes of December 15, 2021, by Ald. McDowell, seconded by Ald. Hampton-Houser
Roll Call: 3Yes/0 No/0 Absent-Motion Carried
AUTHORIZATION OF CLAIMS
Motion by Ald. Hampton-Houser, seconded by Ald. McDowell, to adopt Authorization of Claims and Accounts Bill list, totaling $905,858.78, with manual checks of $-0- for a grand total of $905,858.78
Roll Call: 3 Yes/0 No/0 Absent-Motion Carried
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
None
CITY ATTORNEY’S REPORT
Members of Council members of the public with respect to the city attorney's report, starting off with 8a, a proposed resolution approving the extension and renewal of the Re Proclamation and Declaration of a continued local state of emergency, within the City of Markham, and approving the Mayor's Determination Regarding Modifications to In-person Meetings in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic, (January 5, 2022)
ADOPT RESOLUTION
22R-665
Motion by Ald. Barron, seconded by Ald. Hampton-Houser, to adopt Resolution 22-R-665 A RESOLUTION APPROVING THE EXTENSION AND RENEWAL OF THE RE PROCLAMATION AND DECLARATION OF A CONTINUED LOCAL STATE OF EMERGENCY WITHIN THE CITY OF MARKHAM AND APPROVING THE MAYOR’S DETERMINATION REGARDING MODIFICATIONS TO IN-PERSON MEETINGS IN RESPONSE TO THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC (January 5, 2022)
Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent-Motion Carried
ADOPT RESOLUTION
22-R-666
Motion by Ald. Barron, Seconded by Ald. McDowell to adopt Resolution 22-R-666 A RESOLUTION BY THE CITY OF MARKHAM REQUESTING TO PARTICIPATE IN THE NO CASH BID PROGRAM
Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent-Motion carried
Questions:
Ald. Jones – Are these no cash bids in Bel Aire area?
Mayor Agpawa – These are in the North end of your ward, in the Meadow View subdivision. Ald. Jones – Do you have a particular project you are working on this this area? Mayor Agpawa – Yes there’s various things, some housing development, but some commercial as well. I thought you were aware Mr. Champion, and I will get with you on this.
ADOPT RESOLUTION
22-R-667
Motion by Ald. McDowell, Seconded by Barron to adopt Resolution 21-R-662 A RESOLUTION APPROVING THE AMAZON BUSINESS LICENSE FEE AGREEMENT BETWEEN AMAZON AND THE CITY OF MARKHAM
Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent-Motion carried
Questions:
Ald. Jones – Is this licensee is this the max we can charge?
Mayor Agpawa – Yes, that's why we're we had to go this route because the ordinance required us to draw it up because we're doing the max.
Ald. Jones - We can actually change it later?
Mayor Agpawa - We would, but it would probably the way the ordinance is drawn or put together, we may have to restructure. We do that because we're at the max, so we may have to restructure the ordinance, but we can always go higher. But we just would have to redo some things or amended, but we're maxing this one out.
ADOPT RESOLUTION
22-R-668
Motion by Ald. Barron, Seconded by McDowell to adopt Resolution 22-R-668 A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE APPROVAL AND EXECUTION OF A COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF MARKHAM FIRE DEPARTMENT AND INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FIREFIGHTERS LOCAL 3209 Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent-Motion carried
CLERK REPORT:
Good evening. I have a business license for The Markham Weenie Wagon.
OPEN FLOOR
Motion by Ald. Hampton-Houser, seconded by Ald. Barron to open floor to The Markham Weenie Wagon
Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent-Motion carried
Mayor Agpawa - Good evening, Mr. Sutton. Welcome, we want you to maybe give us a little bit of background about what you're going to do with the Weenie Wagon. We know it's been over there for a long time and what you're going to do different there if anything.
Mr. Sutton – Thank you for the opportunity and happy to be there. The Weenie Wagon has been a staple in the City of Markham forever. It's always been a staple in the community, cook who's going to be running The Weenie Wagon was trying to change the name and we said absolutely not. As a matter of fact, we want to tag the name Markham. What we plan on doing is cleaning the place up which we've done, which required a lot of work, and getting back to the old simple hot dogs, hamburgers, polishes and serving the people.
Ald. Barron -Mr. Sutton the application that I have, think it is always between feeling that you have passed on final inspection.
Mr. Sutton – Yes that’s right.
Ald. Hampton-Houser – On the application, I'm kind of confused a little bit, is this a past application because it has dates of April 15, 2021. On this application it says do you hold a full sanitation certification? Is that required?
Mr. Sutton – Yes that is required we do hold one now, as you mentioned back in April, we probably started the process in February. As we started getting into the building and getting inspectors in, there's just a lot of work that needed to be done it we weren't aware of and it has taken a lot of time a lot of money. That's the reason for big time delay on the application.
Ald. Hampton-Houser - Do you all have the full sanitation certification? B Mr. Sutton - Yes, we do, they should have any copy first thing tomorrow.
Mayor Agpawa - We'll follow up with Building Dept. prior to them opening and make sure that they have it. That's part of what they will make sure that they have in place before the license is actually issued. Did you talk to the inspector about your final inspections?
Mr. Sutton -Yes.
Mayor Agpawa - The passage was contingent on everything being completed, us passing the license you still have to make sure everything is done before we let you open.
Mr. Sutton- Okay, that conversation was about this morning around 1130.
Mayor Agpawa - The only other question I had is you have hours from 9am to 3am you are going to sell a lot of hotdogs at three in the morning? Is that a typo or was that a manuscript error?
Mr. Sutton - No, it wasn't at the time, but we've since changed. Originally, our plan was to make it quick stop breakfast place where truckers and all that traffic is coming in the morning could get a breakfast burrito with eggs and pancakes to go that was our plan and vision
CLOSE FLOOR
Motion by Ald. Barron, seconded by Ald. McDowell to close floor to The Markham Weenie Wagon
Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent-Motion carried
GRANT LICENSE
Motion by Ald. Barron, seconded by Ald. McDowell to The Markham Weenie Wagon pending final inspection.
Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent-Motion Carried
MAYOR’S REPORT
On Monday, I attended a funeral of a dear friend who passed away, his name was Jeff Jones, he and the Jones family are longtime residents on the east side, a family of 13 brothers and sisters and real notable prominent family. For many years I actually was a church member with him we fellowshipped at church. Pretty tough situation, he was an individual that had a kidney transplant and then he caught COVID, it was kind of tough for him to recover and passed away, so it's been pretty tough, with people getting sick. As I was leaving that that funeral a very dear friend to me, Frank Zuckerelli passed away and I ask that we keep the Jones family and the Zuccarelli family in prayers. Mr. Zuccarelli was not just was a good friend, we worked together in the 70s at Ingalls Hospital before he had gotten into politics, neither one of us really were both in government but not in politics in the late 70s, but we both worked at the hospital together, he went on to do things with the College Board and as the Thornton Township Supervisor for a number of years and so that is a deep loss in Thornton Township Again, we'll be prayerful for the township, as well as for his family, and what's going to happen in the future for Thornton Township.
I just want to commend Public Works for getting the snow out of the way and getting out there doing what they do. Everyone needs to be careful of the cold weather that's on us right now and for the most part, I think that we're heading for a good great new year. And I wish everybody a Happy New Year.
CITY ADMINISTRATOR – DERRICK CHAMPION
Good evening, everyone. Happy New Year. First and foremost, just want to start off by giving some real time updates. One would be with Buddy Bear, I had the opportunity to speak with Charles Durham, he's analyzing the TIF qualifications that's due to wrap up next week. Katie McKenna anticipates the TIF be established in early 2nd quarter of this year. In reference to Thornton’s gas station, the final engineering was approved and now is pending IDOT and awaiting their approval. They're looking at a summer construction to start for that particular project. Also, the city is still focusing on business development, we are definitely looking for and recruiting for family style restaurant. I talked about some of the needs for Markham in need of in reference to family style restaurants. We know that our residents have been calling for some type of sit-down place where they could convene, so we're looking at that we're looking at other healthy options as well. 2022 there's a lot of federal dollars that are coming down the pipeline, as well as state opportunities so we're working closely with our lobbyists, identifying grants and I'm in contact with the Department of Commerce as well Illinois Department of Commerce and identifying grants that we can go after I am and have been entertaining certain companies as well, we have a meeting tomorrow with a food manufacturer that would like to relocate to Markham. Just know that there's some great momentum that is happening. Amazon is here now, we're really excited and enthusiastic about some of the development that's taking place in the city of Markham. There’s going to be a lot of changes, especially from an aesthetics standpoint, with the water tower being painted sometime in q1 q2. Looking forward to that, of course, some people may or may not know that Amazon did fund up some funds to start a new park so we're looking forward to breaking ground on the new park stay tuned for details on that.
MAYOR AGPAWA
One of the things that I’ll add is about the lighting project, Mr. Champion, talked about the lighting project, the grant that we received, I got a call from the Governor's office, what was the release date though?
CITY ADMINISTRATOR – DERRICK CHAMPION
Early Spring, looking forward to that because just to kind of speak to that a little bit. The City of Markham was awarded a grant. Really excited about that because Markham is going to be the first city in the Southland that's going to have smart technology on the street poles, push to talk directly to our police department, 360 cameras, digital banners and Wi Fi, really excited about the direction that the city is going in and its cutting-edge technology that's going to make Markham stand out in the years to come. S
ALD JONES
We are still in COVID, it has rebranded to Omicron it is doing damage across America, I'll tell you please get your shots. Get your booster shots. If you know anyone that needs to be tested, please give us a call at the township. We have a reliable source for COVID testing, the number at the township708-333-9530 for COVID testing it is also posted on Facebook. Mayor – With this
COVID issue are we still doing Facebook live to for people to know we are doing Council meetings?
MAYOR AGPAWA
That's something we could visit right now the meetings are open. If we run into a matter where we're at capacity, then we can entertain that but it's the option for anyone that wants to come.
ALD JONES
What about afterwards, will it be posted to the page so it can shared?
MAYOR AGPAWA
They should be posted, but that we had that discussion before.
ALD JONES
A lot of my constituents have looked on the page and haven't seen it so I'm just curious.
MAYOR AGPAWA
Okay, I'll check and find out why, they should be posted, there's no reason why they shouldn't be posted.
ALD JONES
Also, the water bill process, are we doing those online?
MAYOR AGPAWA
Nothing's changed.
ALD JONES
I’ve had a couple of calls about the process, they can be taken into the building, online and also the drop box, just seeing that these avenues that are available. I also give my condolences out to Franks Zuccarelli family, the Z team and families during this time in the Township, He was like the entrepreneur or the goal to reach to be like, I still admire the man he's always been fascinating. He was a good man to know, he will be missed speaking and also in the township. We also have programs available to people who need assistance with rent, if you need assistance with water, or lights we are here for you. Also, we have partnered with Great Lakes also for rental and financial assistance. So please give our office a call here the township here the number again 708-333-9530. Contact me and Rondal Jones that makes sure to see if we can assist you with the services in these COVID times. Last but not least, I have to give a kudos out to Bobby Rush, my State Representative I appreciate your accomplishments and look forward you having a great future.
ALD BARRON
Good I hope everybody had a safe, happy New Year; I agree with Ald. Jones as far as the COVID numbers that are off the charts. But probably the most pressing problem right now is everybody checking on your neighbor, especially the elderly with this cold weather making sure that they are okay. Public Works did an excellent job a couple of small mistakes that have already been corrected.
I thought they did a really good job and then they came back and salted the streets. We're still going to have slick spots, because when it's blowing snow on the street, it's melting it's freezing, so people should take caution when you're approaching an intersection because some of them are a little bit icy. Other than that, that's my report at this time.
ALD. HAMPTON-HOUSER
Well, good evening. Mayor and Council, I have to also build that back on this COVID I've been hit with the COVID it’s no joke, I'm praying that everyone continue to be safe. God bless those individuals who actually had the opportunity to receive the shots and those who haven't, please
don’t hesitate to get the shots, because they do save lives. Also, kudos to Public Works, they have actually done an awesome job thus far. I pray that they stay healthy to make sure that our streets can stay clean and safe for everyone. My condolences also go out to my neighbor, the Jones family who I've known all my life, also the Zuccarelli family, you all are in my prayers. I also want to say we had an awesome time with our Christmas program the day was very successful. Please stay safe is again COVID is real.
ALD. MCDOWELL
Good evening, Mayor City Council, Happy New Year I hope your holidays were wonderful and all your family everyone was safe. My condolences go out to the family in Thornton township I ask to keep our township in prayer as we go through this process of guiding us to another superintendent. Also, we have a long time resident in the 2nd Ward who is our former City Clerk, our former first African American Teacher Theresa Cannon who made 93 very happy birthday. Saturday the family is having a parade. The line-up will start at 12:30, at Christ Temple. We'll go around to her home and just give her some wonderful warm happy birthday wishes.
CLERK
No one has signed in to speak tonight.
ADJOURNMENT Motion by Barron, seconded by McDowell to adjourn at 8:19 p.m.
Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/ 0 Absent-Motion Carried
https://www.cityofmarkham.net/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_01052022-185
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