City of Markham City Council met March 1.
Here are the minutes provided by the council:
Mayor, Roger Agpawa called the Regular Meeting of the Markham City Council to order at 7:00p.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance. Prayer led by Ald. McDowell. Roll Call was taken by City Clerk, Leslie Trimuel.
ROLL CALL: ALDERMAN PRESENT
Alderwoman Wanda McDowell
Alderman Breanna Hampton-Houser
Alderman Rondal Jones
ALSO PRESENT:
Alderman William Barron
Attorney Steven Miller
City Treasurer, Belinda Richardson
APPROVAL OF MINUTES FOR REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING
February 15, 2023
Motion to approve minutes by Ald. Barron, seconded by Ald. McDowell
Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent-Motion Carried
AUTHORIZATION OF CLAIMS
Motion by Ald. Hampton-Houser, seconded by Ald. Jones to adopt Authorization of Claims and Accounts Bill list, totaling $900,637.40 with manual checks of $4,329.43. for a grand total of $904,966.83
Roll Call: 4Yes/0 No/0Absent-Motion Carried
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
CITY ATTORNEY REPORT
ADOPT ORDINANCE
An Ordinance Consenting To The Cook County Class 8 Real Estate Tax Incentive For Permanent Index Numbers 28-23-204-002-0000, 28-23-204-003-0000, 28-23-204-004- 0000,28-23-204-016-0000, 28-23- 204-017-0000, 28-23-204-018-0000 and 28-23-019- 0000 Located At 3333 W. 159th Street, Markham, Illinois 60428 Being Developed By 3333 159 LLC
ATTORNEY MILLER
Is there motion to pass this resolution or would you all like to hear from the owners first?
OPEN FLOOR-3333 159 LLC
Motion by Ald. Jones, seconded by Ald. Barron, to open the floor 3333 159 LLC
Roll Call: 4Yes/0 No/0Absent-Motion Carried
MAYOR AGPAWA
Good evening, we know that you're asking us to agree with Cook County tax exemption. Would you just explain to the council your business and the nature of it.
MR. SABBAH - 3333 159 LLC
We're trying to bring a restaurant to the area per you and Derrick Champion's suggestion. We have 3 or 4 that are interested. The only problem is when you tell them how much the taxes are, that is a big turnoff at $14 to $15 per sq. ft, it is hard for a business to survive. We're trying to get the Class 8, I have drawings of the building with this proposal, it's a big improvement. We're thinking about trees in the back, so you do great things for the coffee shop.
MAYOR AGPAWA
Wonderful, any questions Council.
ALD. JONES
You want to expand the existing building; I noticed this proposal is about $1.1million in improvements.
MR. SABBAH - 3333 159 LLC
Yes, parking lots, inside work, the actual building on the outside, the façade will all be changed, Knocking down trees is a big part of that as well in the back, so the parking lot can be extended, so people can sit down to eat, which can be from 40 minutes to 1 12 hours, thus the extra parking is needed.
ALD. JONES
How many people will the facility hold?
MR. SABBAH - 3333 159 LLC
The original idea was to do one big restaurant, but the potential occupants, Mr. Champion and I interviewed are saying it's too big. Some are okay with the current 4,000 sq. ft. but again it came to the taxes. We proposed dividing it in half to make it more affordable for a restaurant and coffee shop. We're proposing a coffee shop.
ALD, HAMPTON-HOUSER
What type of coffee shops are you proposing?
MR. SABBAH - 3333 159 LLC
We haven't spoken to Starbucks or anybody like that. To be honest, it was just an idea that we are going to try it.
MAYOR AGPAWA
We had a recommendation we were going to send over to him. When we went to Vegas we came across Scooters. We were going to send that over to him. That's another one that's a r franchise if they're interested, but there's a bunch of them out there but we had a connection from our convention.
ALD. JONES
Will you apply for liquor license?
MR. SABBAH - 3333 159 LLC
I will myself, the restaurants would like to do that.
ALD. JONES
Is this the scope of a restaurant or bar and grill?
MR. SABBAH - 3333 159 LLC
That'll be something that they need to work with the city on. My main objective is to rent it out to people that are good tenants for the city.
MAYOR AGPAWA
We're going to take action on your application. Thank you.
CLOSE FLOOR-3333 159 LLC
Motion by Ald. Barron, seconded by Ald. Jones, to open the floor 3333 159 LLC
Roll Call: 4Yes/0 No/0Absent-Motion Carried
WAIVE READING OF ORDINANCE
22-0-2351
Motion by Ald. Jones, seconded by Ald. Barron, to waive reading of Ordinance 22-0-2351
An Ordinance Consenting To The Cook County Class 8 Real Estate Tax Incentive For Permanent Index Numbers 28-23-204-002-0000, 28-23-204-003-0000, 28-23-204-004- 0000,28-23-204-016-0000, 28-23- 204-017-0000, 28-23-204-018-0000 and 28-23-019-0000 Located At 3333 W. 159th Street, Markham, Illinois 60428 Being Developed By 3333 159 LLC
Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent/0 Abstain-Motion Carried
ADOPT ORDINANCE
Motion by Ald. Jones, seconded by Ald. Barron, to waive reading of Ordinance 22-0-2351
An Ordinance Consenting To The Cook County Class 8 Real Estate Tax Incentive For Permanent Index Numbers 28-23-204-002-0000, 28-23-204-003-0000, 28-23-204-004- 0000,28-23-204-016-0000, 28-23- 204-017-0000, 28-23-204-018-0000 and 28-23-019- 0000 Located At 3333 W. 159th Street, Markham, Illinois 60428 Being Developed By 3333 159 LLC
Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent/0 Abstain-Motion Carried
CLERKS REPORT
No report.
MAYORS REPORT
Just a few items tonight, I'm going to really hate to see all the nice things go for Black History. I'm glad that we got it up. We're going to try and find some permanent fixtures, which takes to let everyone know that we are working on a City History Committee, we've had a lot of people respond to the city as the word has gotten out about things that we're doing with the city's history. The library has a few things, we're working with them with as well. Some of the things that we see like this around the room will eventually be permanent fixtures throughout the city, all over the buildings. We will have a lot of archive information about the city's history, clear up to current. We are having regular meetings every month, we started this a few months ago and we've been pretty diligent. April we will have regular meetings, but it's going well just wanted to mention that. We'll have something like this all over the city in the future that will have a lot of history for the city in general as well as black history. To mention Public Works, we're still doing some of our routine matters. I wanted to make sure that I update the council, we're not being fooled by the weather, because even though it seems like it's going to be really nice, we've got to still be ready for snow and ice and some of the northwest suburbs have really caught it. The guys are staying pretty much on point. One of the other things that Mr. Champion and I do regularly, is have some individual sessions with the departments. I had a very good, spirited conversation in about a 1 1⁄2 hour meeting with the building clerical staff, it did not include the building inspectors or code inspectors, but the actual clerks themselves to really let them get some direction about what we're doing and why we're doing it. When you sit at a desk, you can sometimes think or believe that you're just shuffling paper, I didn't want them to think that for one minute. We want to re-emphasize that they're taking care of people on the street, moving that paper is changing the community. One of the code guys, when we had a meeting with them, said you know what, I look at driving around different the way you made me think about what I'm doing every day. That's what we will continue do, give them direction about why they're here, their purpose, what is the goal, what is the objective? what are we trying to accomplish? Letting the employees know why they're here, I think every organization should do that, so we make sure that we drive that in we call them in when they get complacent and remind them, I just want to let the Council and public know that we're continuing to do that. Sometimes if my report is short, we're still doing things. The other things that I wanted to mention, I know that we're hitting in our budget time, I think I've made it kind of known and I'll make it known probably for a good while not that we have some police problems or violent or crime issues, the police is a focal point for me. I think that public works was a focal point when I first came in office, the entire building department, code department had been a big focus for me. Police are really at the forefront, I just wanted to share really, I think that all the departments are doing well. Since the fire department got a fire truck, I'm okay with those guys (lol). They always say that they feel like they're getting penalized because we do so well. He's kind of right, but they do a good job and they're consistent, they're routine, they're methodical, and they have a regiment. You wind up not going there, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, it's working out well. I wanted to give a quick synopsis of what the departments are doing to the public and to the council. Last matter I'll mention Ald. Jones, you might know about Miss Williams in your ward, her family reached out to me we're doing a resolution. She's one of our residents that has been here for 43 years. The family has been since 96. We have a lot of seniors that are getting up in age. She'll be one of the ones that are in the 90s that we want to try and have a wall of longevity for our Markham residents, you know, but I read her some of her bio and it was really kind of interesting to know how as a senior, she would take other seniors places to do errands at 85 years old. She drove up until that time, we can only hope and pray that we're just as blessed to get that far. They contacted me and I told them I would definitely honor her and any of our other seniors that come along and have that kind of history and longevity as well. I did mention at the last meeting the Tuskegee Airmen that passed, the only thing I would mention again about him is that we have been looking for him for several months, if I didn't mention that before. We finally found out he passed.
ALD. JONES
My condolences to Ms. Williams family, but I like the concept of the history piece that you want to bring to capture the history, because we have a lot people that are leaving us and we need to capture that history. I definitely support that concept, keeping the memory and history alive.
MAYOR AGPAWA
To go along with that., the key we presented a key to Ms. Bryant, we asked the family to give it back to the city so we can place it on a wall. We'll do things like that and we'll make sure that how it says this in the archive, it will be on file and we'll have an archive wall or something instead of just kind of letting it be what we put archive.
ALD. JONES
The weather is warming up, even though it's kind of crazy, I was wondering if we're on target to repair some of the speed bumps or put speed bumps back up because they're speeding down the streets. They know the easiest path to get around, it's like zoom we go around, we've started targeting those. Are we doing anything as far as cleanup?
MAYOR AGPAWA
Yes, I would think we're going to do what we do regularly. I haven't had the Treasurer's Office ever to push back. But I never wait to pick up branches, especially if the residents cut the tree down, we will pick it up, it's cheaper than us cutting the tree and picking it up. With branch pick up or clean up, we'll have the regular routine but if people put out things we'll pick it up and especially since we have garbage truck it makes it that much easier to pick up different things.
ALD. JONES
Great, well last but not least, remember March 12th is spring forward.
ALD. BARRON
I think we have to be a little bit careful, winters not over even though I'd like to believe it is but I saw exactly what we want to set your stops. We could see six plus inches of snow Friday; the good thing is we're going to be back and forth, Saturday and Sunday. So, it should be temporary, but I did talk to the superintendent, about the speed bumps. We're trying to figure out something a little bit different because those are supposed to come out of the ground, when they tried to take them back out, they couldn't get them out without really messing up the street. So, I know he's looking at something. For the next five weeks, the VFW will have a fish fry every Friday.
ALD HAMPTON-HOUSER
Good evening, Mayor, City Council, I really don't have too much I just want to say that we are still diligently cleaning the wards. If anyone in Ward 1 has any questions, just have them give me a call to address the concerns. I think that one small concern on garbage day which was today if we can kind of communicate with Homewood Disposal when they dump the garbage but they drop the can two doors down or next door or it is laid in the middle of the street, to see if they can do a little bit better in emptying the garbage cans for us.
MAYOR AGPAWA
We will do that, we'll kind of survey.
ALD. MCDOWELL
Good evening, Mayor City, Council, and residents that are present. I do want to remind everyone; and I hope everyone received in the mail, a "Yes to the Dress" flyer. This is the City of Markham along with our Library, connecting to help young ladies going to prom. We still need more donations., so that we'll be able to help these younger ladies. If you have any donations that would be dresses, shoes, handbags, jewelry, feel free to drop them off at my office or either at the library. But we want to be a blessing to our young ladies here in the City of Markham. Also, the location has been changed to City Hall.
MOTION TO OPEN FLOOR TO PUBLIC
Motion by Ald. Barron, seconded by Ald. McDowell to Open Floor to Public. Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent-Motion Carried
MOTION TO CLOSE FLOOR TO PUBLIC
Motion by Ald. Barron, seconded by Ald. McDowell to Close Floor to Public Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent-Motion Carried
ADJOURNMENT
Submitted by:
Motion by Ald. Hampton seconded by Ald. Barron to adjourn at 7:27p.m. Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/ 0 Absent-Motion Carried
https://www.cityofmarkham.net/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_03012023-222
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