City of Markham City Council met April 5
Here are the minutes provided by the council:
Mayor, Roger Agpawa called the Regular Meeting of the Markham City Council to order at 7:06p.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 William Barron
Alderman Rondal Jones
ALSO PRESENT:
Attorney Steven Miller
City Treasurer, Belinda Richardson
City Administrator, Derrick Champion
APPROVAL OF MINUTES FOR REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING
March 15, 2023
Motion to approve minutes by Ald. Barron, seconded by Ald. McDowell
Roll Call: 3 Yes/0 No/0 Absent/1 Abstain-Motion Carried
AUTHORIZATION OF CLAIMS
Motion by Ald. Hampton-Houser, seconded by Ald. McDowell to adopt Authorization of Claims and Accounts Bill list, totaling $750,225.66 with manual checks of $14,068.07. for a grand total of $764,293.73
Roll Call: 3Yes/0 No/1Absent-Motion Carried
SPECIAL PRESENTATION
Donate Life
OPEN FLOOR TO DONATE LIFE
Motion to open floor by Ald. Hampton-Houser, seconded by Ald. Barron to Donate Life
Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent-Motion Carried
MAYOR AGPAWA
We have Donate Life, there's a representative here this evening. My office decided to be supportive and to participate with light up purple.
REPRESENTATIVE
I'm from the Gift of Hope organ/tissue Donor Network we're a fully connected to Donate Life Month where we honor and celebrate all those family members who have said yes to give life to someone else, what that means is that family we meet them on the worst day of their lives when they experience tragic circumstances, and they have to make the decision in one of two ways. One if their loved one is registered, they we are supporting tissue/organ donation or ask them would they consider these things on one of the worse days of their lives. We offer education and help people in the community to understand that we should be having conversations about organ and tissue donations, not just under tragic circumstances, but with our loved ones, also places of worship, schools and communities. If you've experienced tragic circumstances, you don't want to go in and make a decision on what could be the worst day of your life. We thank the City of Markham for recognizing National Donate Life Month, thank you for lighting up purple, and we thank you for being a partner with the organ/tissue donor network.
MAYOR AGPAWA
I thank you for enlightening so many of us, some of us have had some exposure to things like this. I know personally I have with family. I think that it's a great, great effort that we can let people know that life can go on in some other places when it is a bad day in our lives. We want to be able to help you create a legacy.
SPEAKER
I myself am a donor because I lost my husband four years ago, and he went on to be a donor.
AUTHORIZATION TO SIGN PROMOCLAMATION
Motion by Ald. Barron seconded by Aid. Jones for Mayor and Clerk to sign proclamation for Donate Life
Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent-Motion Carried
CLOSE FLOOR – DONATE LIFE
Motion to close floor by Ald. Barron seconded by Ald. McDowell to Donate Life
Roll Call: 3 Yes/0 No/1 Absent-Motion Carried
CITY ATTORNEY REPORT
ADOPT RESOLUTION
23-R-700
Motion by Ald. Barron, seconded by Ald. Hampton-Houser to adopt Resolution 23-R-700
A Resolution Approving A Cannabis Business Community Agreement Between NMG IL 4, LLC And The City Of Markham
Roll Call: 3 Yes/0 No/0 Absent/1 Abstain-Motion Carried
ADOPT RESOLUTION
23-R-701
Motion by Ald. McDowell, seconded by Ald, Barron to adopt Resolution 23-R-701
A Resolution Consenting To The Renewal Of The Cook County Class 6B Property Tax Incentive For Local Business With Permanent Index Numbers 28-24-310-011-0000, 28-24-310-012-0000, 28-24-310-013- 0000, 28-24-310-014-0000, 28-24-310-019-0000 and 28-24-310-020-0000 Located At 2900 W. 166th Street, Markham, Illinois 60428 Owned and Developed By First Industrial Realty
Roll Call: 4Yes/0 No/0 Absent-Motion Carried
ATTORNEY MILLER
I believe Mr. Dotson is here for the Ordinance for Amertin International Corporation/Markham Steel & Supply, LLC
OPEN FLOOR
Motion by Ald. McDowell, seconded by Ald. Barron to open floor to Amertin International Corporation/Markham Steel & Supply, LLC
Roll Call: 4Yes/0 No/0 Absent-Motion Carried
Mr. DOTSON
Mr. Magnuson, he's the owner of Amertin some of you might be aware and familiar with this property. Some of you might have been out there last week to see what kind of operation they run, a very clean operation obviously 50,000 square feet of sheet metal that they supply to the south side businesses.
MR. MAGNUSON
I think that's the value we add to the community, it kind of diversifies the businesses that are being attracted here. We're in the age-old steel industry, we export it, which is different, not many people are doing that now. It's just nice to have a variety of businesses in the community. Though we don't have 150 employees, we have eight, we're very small but as you know, many of the businesses in your community are small businesses, this is how they get by having this ability to have this tax incentive in place. Having to control costs as a small business, taxes are one of the number one things that we're trying to control with that extension for another 10 years, that's what Markham can do for this business, just keep it here for another 10 years and keep control that situation.
CLOSE FLOOR
Motion by Ald. McDowell, seconded by Ald. Barron to close floor to Ameritin International Corporation/Markham Steel & Supply, LLC
Roll Call: 4Yes/0 No/0 Absent-Motion Carried
WAIVE 48 HOUR READING OF ORDINANCE 22-0-2354
Motion by Ald. McDowell, seconded by Ald. Barron, to waive 48 hour reading of Ordinance 23-0-2354 An Ordinance Consenting To The Renewal Of The Cook County Class 8 Property Tax Incentive For Local Business With Permanent Index Number 29-19-124-019-0000 Located At 2222 W. 162nd Street, Markham, Illinois 60428 Owned And Developed By Ameritin International Corporation/Markham Steel & Supply, LLC
Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent/0 Abstain-Motion Carried
ADOPT ORDINANCE
23-0-2354
Motion by Ald. Barron, seconded by Ald. McDowell, to adopt reading of Ordinance 23-0-2354
An Ordinance Consenting To The Renewal Of The Cook County Class 8 Property Tax Incentive For Local Business With Permanent Index Number 29-19-124-019-0000 Located At 2222 W. 162nd Street, Markham, Illinois 60428 Owned And Developed By Ameritin International Corporation/Markham Steel & Supply, LLC
Roll Call: 3 Yes/0 No/1 Absent/0 Abstain-Motion Carried
WAIVE 48 HOUR READING OF ORDINANCE
23-0-2355
Motion by Ald. Barron, seconded by Ald. Jones, to waive 48 hour reading of Ordinance 23-0-2355
An Ordinance Consenting To The Renewal Of The Cook County Class 8 Property Tax Incentive For Local Business With Permanent Index Number 28-22-405-011-0000 Located At 16600 S. Crawford Avenue, Markham, Illinois 60428 Owned And Developed By Alpha Pro, LLC.
Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent/0 Abstain-Motion Carried
ADOPT ORDINANCE
23-0-2355
Motion by Ald. Barron, seconded by Ald. Jones, to adopt reading of Ordinance 23-0-2355
An Ordinance Consenting To The Renewal Of The Cook County Class 8 Property Tax Incentive For Local Business With Permanent Index Number 28-22-405-011-0000 Located At 16600 S. Crawford Avenue, Markham, Illinois 60428 Owned And Developed By Alpha Pro, LLC.
Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent/0 Abstain-Motion Carried
CLERKS REPORT
Business License - AF Twins Truck Repair
I am reading into the records AF Twins Truck Repair has moved out of state and there is no need for this business license to be approved.
MAYORS REPORT
Okay, moving on to you got the quick the mayor's report. Good evening, everyone. Just a few things that I wanted to mention. Most of most of the time when we go through election times. A lot of us don't say much on the diocese or the council doesn't say much in general because it's typically would be kind of political to do that. I feel a lot better after the fact talking about these things so people can freely make up their mind about what they want to do. It's not as if many of us don't have much to say about me saying we try to get to the community and try to let them know what it is that we are trying to do, we have to go through that electoral process to do that. I am really very glad of the outcome last night for our community. I'm very proud in fact of what the community has stated in the election process. I think I only said one thing, that I'd like to see in our community is more people to be part of that process. I think that we don't have enough participation and I think that that is everywhere you go well, we just don't have a lot of people that vote. But we had the numbers that we needed. I think it's still sent the message of how people think, and it certainly did for me and I'm very glad, in fact, I endorsed people on this council, why does the mayor endorse people just like they did in the city of Chicago, I didn't know who they were going to endorse next all the endorsements they had I just could not believe how that went. But typically, we do that and that's to really try and send a message of how leadership thinks about the people that we get behind. We're trying to make a better community and let people understand what we're getting behind. That's all I'm saying because I actually had some people say that I shouldn't have done that. I need to make sure that we have people that are heading in the same direction, and any of them will tell you on this Diocese that they'll definitely argue with me, but that's democracy at its best where we have differences of opinion. But for the most part, we can agree to disagree about what it takes to take care of people in the community. I thank the community for getting behind the endorsements that I made. I'm very proud of the reelected officials and the newly elected officials and they'll have something to say about their election. I'm very glad that they are all successful and victorious and now we can continue to get down to work, as we go into the next month when everybody is sworn in. So, I really wanted to mention that. The other thing that I wanted to mention about elections as I get out of that mode and give more of my report is, hopefully we can find some peace because you know, you have to fight with people a little bit when you have election sometimes and everybody doesn't have the understanding. You try to let them know where it's at and it should be done in a good spirit. We should not have to fall out about things like that we should try to understand we all have differences of opinions, and we all should be trying to get to the same place but I'm looking for peace in Markham to continue so we can be about working for the people. Some of the things that I intend to make sure that we're doing, we are reevaluating some things that we want to do in Public Works going into this year. We have some things budgetary, that we're working on to try and make some improvements to Public Works. One of the things that I know that the Aldermen understand from the wards and certainly when you go door to door knocking on doors, we still know that even clearer since 2017 since I've been in office that we have a lot of work to do with housing. We've had some things that we've been trying to overcome legally to try to make sure we get that out the way we're much closer than we've ever been. I really can't wait because we really have to continue to improve what's built or what's next door to too many of us. We want to make sure that we continue to put good properties out there in our community and they're on tax roll and they're presentable and they make everyone's tax a property value go up. We're going to continue a lot of development Mr. Champion will probably talk about that a little bit as well. The other focus is upcoming we didn't do this when I first had gotten in office, but we're focused and for me as well as I'd like to implore the council to get into the neighborhoods and deal with housing. We rebuilt the Building and Housing Department because we want to try to get into the neighborhoods and really make the community better by rolling up our sleeves in the neighborhoods, but one of them is policing. You know, I say all the time if you're calling the police about a home or who lives somewhere or something like that, then you you're a little bit too late about what you should have done maybe in the Code or the Building and Housing Departments about the standard of living at that address. You're missing the point if you have to start about where people live before you call the police. That's the proactive way to try to get into creating a better standard of living and may improve the community. One of the things that I'll say in closing is one of the things that we were going to do as well, there will be more demolition this year than ever before.
DERRICK CHAMPION - CITY ADMINISTRATOR
Congrats to the council members that were reelected and newly elected officials. I like the direction Markham is going in, I think we're creating some real transformational changes. One of the things that we are focusing on more than anything is the infrastructure and focusing on grants. I will be attending a workshop at the SSMA next Friday. The Federal EPA is releasing some additional dollars for infrastructure they have an informational session going on with the branch manager for water division in Region Five also Illinois EPA will be in attendance as well as our section manager for this particular region. Just note that our infrastructure here, just like you have a lot of municipalities, is failing, it's important that we continue to go after grant dollars, especially on the federal level. We have several funding opportunities before us and we're working with engineers I think that gets in with the catalyst blessing. We got to continue to go after the grants. Stay aware that Amazon is hiring as well, alerts are going out consistently. Amazon did not fully open up that building all the way, they had to do some additional build outs, but they are hiring 1200 additional employees there. The Mokena site has been carrying Markham and Matteson sites for a while. Those operations transferred over to the respective sites in Markham and Matteson, please if anybody is looking for a job, do not hesitate to visit the kiosks here in the lobby area, counter corner to the water department and of course on their website as well.
ALD. JONES
Once again, congratulations to the winners of yesterday's event. Wish you all the best. It's been a pleasure working with you all these past couple of years. Looking forward to you doing great things in the City of Markham. Also, thanks to Public Works for doing some cleanup in the area. I reached out to Ed, thanks for coming out and doing those things, it makes things much better. Thanks again.
ALD. BARRON
Good evening. I'd like to thank the voters in the Fourth Ward for returning me in reelection. There are some things I started I'd like see finished. Our City Administrator is working on one of the biggest city water projects. I said last night at the gathering that I like the direction we're going in and I think it's worth his time. We had a presentation last Council meeting that I'm super excited about. We have some great things in store, I think finally Markham is being recognized, that's not by accident. I also thank the mayor and the council because it's a team effort. I want to wish everybody a Happy Easter and remind anybody that's interested that Friday Good Friday, City Hall is closed and also it is the last fish fry for the Markham VFW you might want to take advantage of that. Thank you very much, everybody.
ALD. HAMPTON-HOUSER
Thank you, Council and residents, first I want to say I want to thank all the residents in Ward 1 who voted. for me, they trusted me to Brenna Hampton-Houser to continue moving forward in Ward 1 and to continue to allow me the opportunity to see the vision that we have set forth for our city and to see it into fruition. I want to thank the voters for their confidence and allow me to sit in this seat again. I also want to state that we are starting to clean up easements, clean up some of the homes, the weather has been very favorable for us to go ahead and get started. I think, if I'm not mistaken it takes is going to be next week. Also, I just want to say happy Good Friday and Happy Easter. Enjoy the weather, it's going to be beautiful outside. Just have a great Easter and stay blessed.
ALD. MCDOWELL
Good evening mayor and city council. I want to thank each and every resident that took time out to cast their vote for my reelection as your current Alderman of the 2nd Ward. I do not take this position lightly; it is an honor and pleasure for me to sit in this seat and serve each and every one of you every day. For those that did not vote for me, I'm here to serve you. Please reach out to me, let me see what your concerns are. I have many residents that I knocked on doors that have many concerns and issues. Next week, Mayor, I would like to get with you to start addressing some of those concerns in the different areas of the ward. Being able to take on Canterbury was new, but I was able to connect with a lot of residents, and new residents in a 2nd ward, which has really it was a blessing for me on the campaign field. I am really happy to be able to serve all residents, I thank you for that and I wish everyone a happy resurrection.
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
No Public Comments
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
Motion by Ald, Hampton seconded by Ald. Barron to adjourn at 7:51p.m. Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/ 0 Absent-Motion Carried
https://www.cityofmarkham.net/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_04052023-226
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