City of Markham City Council met April 26
Here are the minutes provided by the council:
Clerk, Leslie Trimuel called the Regular Meeting of the Markham City Council to order at 7:03p.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
CITY CLERK
The Mayor is not present, the Council needs to appoint a temporary Chair for this meeting.
Motion by Ald. Barron, seconded by Ald. Hampton-Houser to appoint Ald. Jones as the Mayor Pro Tem. Roll Call: 3 Yes/0 No/0 Absent/1 Abstain-Motion Carried
APPROVAL OF MINUTES FOR REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING
April 5, 2023
Motion to approve minutes by Ald. Barron, seconded by Ald. McDowell
Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent/0 Abstain-Motion Carried
AUTHORIZATION OF CLAIMS
Motion by Ald. Hampton-Houser, seconded by Ald. Barron to adopt Authorization of Claims and Accounts Bill list, totaling $1,028,954.17 with manual checks of $1,855.20. for a grand total of $1,030,809.37
Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/ 0 Absent-Motion Carried
SPECIAL PRESENTATION
RJN Group, Inc. Akwasi A. Nketia, P.E. - Civil Engineer
MOTION TO OPEN FLOOR
Motion to open the floor to RJN Group, Inc. by Ald. McDowell, seconded by Ald. Barron
Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/ 0 Absent-Motion Carried
ALD. HAMPTON-HOUSER
Mr. Champion, can you give a little overview before the gentleman comes up?
DERRICK CHAMPION
As we have been discussing over the last several months, we have been working on infrastructure dollars to replace some of the water mains and sewer lines in the City of Markham. We've been working very closely with Akwasi of RJN Group. He will give us a presentation on some of the funding sources we're going after and will open for Q&A,
A slide presentation was presented showing the plans for the East Side water main and sewer project which will be available on the City Website for review.
AKWASI A. NKETIA, P.E.
Thank you everyone here, thank you council members. I'll be talking about the inside of a water main project within the East Side neighborhood. I'll use a lot of acronyms today, so please feel free to stop me at any time if you have any questions. At the end of the presentation, I'll stick around if you guys have any additional questions, I'll be able to answer them for you. My name is Akwasi Nketia, I serve as a principal product manager at RJN Group. RJN Group was established in 1975, it has offices nationwide and has three offices in the Chicagoland area, Downers Grove, Joliet and West Chicago. Our area of expertise is underground infrastructure, the purpose of this presentation is to talk about funding opportunities that are out there and how the city has positioned itself to take advantage of them. I'll start this presentation by first talking about the bipartisan infrastructure law that was passed by President Joe Biden in November 2021. I'll also talk about some of the funding pursuits and the recent awards by the city. I'll give it to the current regulations that are out there pertaining to the length of the slides surely heard a lot about that. The focal point of today's presentation is going to be the East Side water mains.
In November 2021, President Biden has a bipartisan infrastructure law that is making $1.2 trillion available funds for infrastructure, (Slide presentation) there are the nine major areas where funding is going to be going $55 billion is going into the clean water infrastructure, $10 billion going into roads and bridges, 65 billion going into the affordable high-speed internet. We positioned ourselves to go after this funding to address the infrastructure needs. The fiscal year 2025 there's $230 million will be available out of that $112 million is going to be forgiven for fiscal year 2026 and beyond. A lot of that is going to be forgiven. Within the past six months the city has won several grants. And the first one is $40,000 that we got from the IEPA for the lead service line inventory program. We also recently got awarded federal funding through Congress to meet MWRD infiltration program. That amount is yet to be determined but it's going to be released as well. Also, a $50,000 grant from the DC office Field Services. About two weeks ago, I had a call with Mr. Champion, I would like to thank him so much for all his efforts and for being proactive in going after these funding opportunities for the city of Markham. For the combined sewer project is still being reviewed by the IPA. I think the next step for that is going to be the environmental review. And that is going to go down the line so with that, I'll open the floor up for any questions that you may have.
DERRICK CHAMPION
Let's talk about just real briefly about the survey that's going to go out. I know I mentioned it to you earlier. I think it's a good idea that we work closely with the Alderpersons to work with their residents so we can get a response back to find out what's going into the house. We have to come up with a plan but I want to work closely with the Alderpersons to kind of help out with that process.
AKWASI A. NKETIA, P.E.
Yes, you can do that.
QUESTIONS
HOWARD WEISMAN - So, you're going to sleeve the old main.
AKWASI A. NKETIA, P.E. - Yes, combined sewer that is called CIPP.
HOWARD WEISMAN - How many of the old mains are you going to take out that you can't sleeve, like the ones with the roots?
AKWASI A. NKETIA, P.E. - Yes sure. So that's where we can align.
HOWARD WEISMAN - So now when you were you're separating the sewer from water from the drain. Where is that?
AKWASI A. NKETIA, P.E. - We are not separating. ALD. JONES - What is the total cost of the project?
AKWASI A. NKETIA, P.E. - The total cost of the project for the water main including the construction phase, the engineering is $23 million and for the combined sewers is $60 million.
ALD. JONES - Okay, and how much that'd be forgiven?
AKWASI A. NKETIA, P.E. - For phase one of this project, the cost we put together was about $2 million. And we have the report, Mr. Champion has a report so you can look at it but that half of it is going to be forgiven. So, the 2 million a million of it is going to be forgiven. And the rest of them is going to be on a 0% interest rate.
Mr. Champion has a copy of the report. So, if anyone wants to take a look at it, kind of get into the nitty gritty aspects of the projects and the cost. I will stick around to if anyone has any additional questions.
CLOSE FLOOR RJN GROUP
Motion to close floor by Ald. Jones, seconded by Ald. Barron to RJN Group, Inc.
Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent-Motion Carried
CITY ATTORNEY REPORT
ADOPT RESOLUTION
23-R-702
Motion by Ald. Barron, seconded by Ald. McDowell to adopt Resolution 23-R-702
A Resolution Authorizing Execution of a Lease-Purchase Agreement Between the City of Markham and Tax-Exempt Leasing Corp. for the Lease-Purchase of a Vehicle and Sewer and Drain Jetter for the City of Markham Public Works Department
Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent/0 Abstain-Motion Carried
WAIVE 48 HOUR READING OF ORDINANCE
22-0-2356
Motion by Ald. Barron, seconded by Ald. McDowell, to waive 48 hour reading of Ordinance 23-0-2356 An Ordinance Concerning Annual Appropriation of the City of Markham, Illinois for the Fiscal Year Beginning May 1, 2023, and Ending April 30, 2024
Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent/0 Abstain-Motion Carried
ADOPT ORDINANCE
22-0-2356
Motion by Ald. McDowell, seconded by Ald. Barron, to adopt Ordinance 23-0-2356
An Ordinance Concerning Annual Appropriation of the City of Markham, Illinois for the Fiscal Year Beginning May 1, 2023, and Ending April 30, 2024
Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent/0 Abstain-Motion Carried
WAIVE 48 HOUR READING OF ORDINANCE
23-0-2357
Motion by Ald. Hampton-Houser, seconded by Ald. McDowell, to waive 48 hour reading of Ordinance 23-0-2357
An Ordinance Concerning the Establishment of a Petty Cash Fund for The City of Markham Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent/0 Abstain-Motion Carried
ADOPT ORDINANCE
23-0-2357
Motion by Ald. Hampton-Houser, seconded by Ald. McDowell, to adopt of Ordinance 23-0-2357 An Ordinance Concerning the Establishment of a Petty Cash Fund for The City of Markham Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent/0 Abstain-Motion Carried
WAIVE 48 HOUR READING OF ORDINANCE
23-0-2358
Motion by Ald. Jones, seconded by Ald. Hampton-Houser, to waive 48 hour reading of Ordinance 23-O- 2358
An Ordinance Granting a Zoning Map Amendment (Rezoning) of 21 Parcels Owned by the City of Markham and Located Between 159th St. and 160th St. and Sawyer Ave. and Homan Ave. in the City of Markham, Illinois
Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent/0 Abstain-Motion Carried
ADOPT ORDINANCE
23-0-2358
Motion by Ald. Jones, seconded by Ald. Hampton-Houser, to adopt Ordinance 23-0-2358
An Ordinance Granting a Zoning Map Amendment (Rezoning) of 21 Parcels Owned by the City of Markham and Located Between 159th St. and 160th St. and Sawyer Ave. and Homan Ave. in the City of Markham, Illinois
Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent/0 Abstain-Motion Carried
WAIVE 48 HOUR READING OF ORDINANCE
23-0-2359
Motion by Ald. Hampton-Houser, seconded by Ald. Jones, to waive 48 hour reading of Ordinance 23-O- 2359
An Ordinance Authorizing the Conveyance of Surplus Personal Property Owned by the City of Markham to the Village of Robbins - 2 Ford SUVs
Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent/0 Abstain-Motion Carried
ADOPT ORDINANCE
23-0-2359
Motion by Ald. Hampton-Houser, seconded by Ald. Jones, to adopt Ordinance 23-0-2359
An Ordinance Authorizing the Conveyance of Surplus Personal Property Owned by the City of Markham to the Village of Robbins - 2 Ford SUVs
Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent/0 Abstain-Motion Carried
CLERKS REPORT
No Report
DERRICK CHAMPION
First, I want to acknowledge Ald. Jones for all you've done for the City of Markham, it will be three years for me, August 5th, but it's been a pleasure working with you and the Council and I'm always a phone call away if I can be of assistance in any way. Just to piggyback a little bit off to what he was talking about. As you all know, the city of Markham has a lot of failing infrastructure. We have been very aggressive about finding funding opportunities. Working with RJN, Christina can attest to this being really and probably one of the best decisions that the city has made in a long time, but we have to work with the infrastructure. Me and Jim recently attended a workshop at South Suburban Mayors and Managers headquarters last Friday. There's a workshop and a panel with the federal EPA as well as the Illinois EPA and we received some great information on funding opportunities just this week, we sent a request for support letters to our congressman and woman, as well as Jonathan Jackson to receive letters to go after certain funding on the federal side with the Army Corps of Engineers. We're really excited about what's happening in Markham with the support of the council and of course, the finance department has been really great at understanding the needs of the city. I also had an opportunity to go down to Springfield last week for a Lobby Day with the mayor and some of the council as well, I had opportunity to meet with Senator Napoleon to have some capital dollars released. One project is the I-57 overpass bridge to get capital dollars for that, so we have a couple of things in the pipeline they're going to release funding for this good Markham.
ALD. BARRON
The time that I've served on the council, I've always identified today's problem Markham has had is water and sewer. So, you know, this is something that hasn't been available for a long time. If all the Governor Quinn had been elected, I think we were in a position to get some of that clean water money, but you know, that didn't happen. I'm just really pleased now that the federal government, the President and Governor Pritzker are making some of these available because more and more all the communities around us have water systems that are 50, 60,70 years old. It's kind of late, it's time. We have to start somewhere and the most logical place to start was the East side. We've been very fortunate to receive funding from the EPA and Water Reclamation.
DERRICK CHAMPION
That piece right there from MWRD and the government agreement and funding that we're getting from them, it's a huge asset.
ALD. BARRON
I don't want anybody to get discouraged. We need to do the entire city, but we need to do it in sections. Because of the dollars involved in some of these places, when we start digging up the sewer mains, we're going to have to replace the street. That's going to be very expensive, but I'm pleased to start anywhere in Markham. I agree with where they're starting. In my particular area west of Kedzie we still have some orange mains, that problem won't be identified in the very near future. I don't care where we start, it's going to be huge for all of us. I also want to announce that the second week of May is city cleanup on your particular garbage day, anything set out will be picked up also we are going to have Public Works pick up trees and branches. Branches and trees should be no longer than five feet long and tied up with string. After that, it'll be up to the homeowners to do this yourself. But we're going to pick up probably a couple 100 dump truck loads. We will still see Ald. Jones at the first meeting in May. He will open the meeting, but I want to congratulate him on his 16 years of service. We haven't always seen eye to eye I but I've enjoyed my time with him, I wish you nothing but the best.
ALD. HAMPTON-HOUSER
Well, good evening, everyone. I do want to start off by giving my accolades to Alderman Jones. I recall when I first became an alderman, I had many phone conversations with you off the norm and ask him for your leadership ID and teaching me how to conduct meetings and I have to honestly say you truly were a scholar, in reference to teaching me and I humbly appreciate that information that you shared with me Appreciate you so much for sitting on my left side here even doing the Council Meetings when I was asking questions of you and you answered those so I thank you so much for being a Senior Alderman and teaching me as a new Alderman coming in. I wish you the best in your endeavors and whatever your future endeavors are, I humbly just appreciate you so much. Thank you for everything you've done. Moving forward, I'm so elated in reference to getting the repairs done on the east side of our city of Markham. Coming from Dixie Highway going east all the way to Park Avenue, it's well needed. I have to honestly say we are truly blessed to have good organization, good leadership to actually move our city forward. I want to give accolades to our mayor as well because he did spearhead this and he understood as well in reference to what our city requires and how to prioritize what is necessary for a city, so I do want to thank him in his absence for spearheading that project, and then just piggybacking off of all the things that we are having our cleanup week. So please make sure that you read that information and know exactly what needs to be set out. Let's clean it up.
Thank you, I want to remind everyone Mother's Day is approaching and on May 4th the city council along with partners we have in our annual Mother's Day brunch, which was actually made more than 12 o'clock if there's anyone from the second ward the Park District if you would like to attend you can see me. Also I'm excited that they started on the East side painting the fire hydrants, you probably have noticed the fire hydrants are all white, well, that's the primer that has to be put on and it has to sit for two days. Now they're working their way over in Canterbury. Ald. Jones, I want to wish you well I know the road in your 16 years here on this council. has not always been easy, but we've had good times. I want to wish you success as you move forward with whatever steps God has for you.
ALD. JONES
I'd like to say it's been an honor to chair this meeting, even though they say 16 years it has actually been 20 years. I've been here for 20 years; you know it's been an honor. Even though it's been an honor where did the time go? I just it's just amazing, I'm part of the old regime from the old Council Chambers the attorney was talking about that. I was so honored to chair this meeting tonight, thankful for the residents of the 3rd Ward that that put up with me for the past few years. You know, it's amazing how time flies, I was only in my 20s when I started now, I'm 49 and I'm looking back and it's like wow, what a time go but I really appreciate the residents, putting me into this seat and I'd like to say thank you, thank you., so much. I mean it's been a long time and I will miss you all guys. I think that you are moving in a great direction, I like the vision, I like the changes, the mayor is doing a great job and the Council is doing a great job. I say keep up the good work. I tried my best on a lot of things. I made decisions that I wish I could have taken back, we've worked as a team collectively to get things done, I liked it. I love the direction that this council is going, I thank you very much. A new council member, Joe Bertrand, is taking my place and I look forward to working with him. Thank you, all the council.
MOTION TO OPEN FLOOR TO PUBLIC
Motion by Ald. Hampton-Houser, seconded by Ald. Barron to Open Floor to Public. Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent-Motion Carried
MS. SPEARS
First of all, I would like to say to the council, I'm glad to see that we're moving ahead with replacing these lead pipes because seeing that other communities are experiencing this as well, my house was built in 1959 I've been in it 52 years. I'd like to thank Ald. Jones for all he did whenever I saw him, especially about that entertainment place across 167th with windows rattling, lights flashing, he personally came out and addressed it. My concern this evening is about one of my neighbors who just informed me that the house across the street has been shot up to 15 times and no one from the city has done anything about this. I also found out through one of the detectives that investigated I have two bullet holes in my house. Fortunately, they did not come through. I'm still concerned about the idiot that comes down and does donuts in the cul- de-sac across from me in the winter as well as in the summer and then periodically he would disappear and let things calm down. Chief Genius has been good, I've seen a lot more officers coming up and down Oxford Drive. I haven't seen or heard the car out there doing that, I've also seen the marks on the ground and 163rd Oxford. But if he loses control, he's going to end up in my front room in my lap where I watch television, I'm saying if we cannot catch this person, I'm requesting that guardrails be put up just as they are across the street in front of Lisa's house. I'm glad to see that my city council is doing all that it is doing. I applaud all of you all and thank you. I know there's a few additional things we can do. I'd like to be kept informed with something as serious as 10 to 15 shootings across the street from my house, I'd like to know since the woman whose son is the target of the shootings, is renting the house I've been told that maybe she's got something going on with the landlord. I don't care about that, I want this eliminated, if not, I would like to know why it cannot. I'm sure the police department should have records on this. Thank you.
One of the great things that we are doing right now is we have cameras up to help us identify license plates. Speak to Chief Jack Genius after the meeting, they actually increased security patrols over there to make sure this issue is resolved.
MS. SPEARS
There is one of these new lights on California but not down on Oxford Drive. I forgot to mention is we've got empty houses across the street from me, are doing something about it. They're moving in and out. The house to the north of me has been empty for several months, the house west of me someone finally bought the old Cook house which is across the street and two doors. East of Lisa has been empty for probably a couple of years now. I don't know what happened, the man said that he had been forced out he had been trying to keep the house up. He had been making repairs on it, suddenly the house is boarded up and that does not make sense because if we've got somebody in there paying taxes, we've got revenue coming in. We should be encouraging people to come in and not putting people out. Thank you.
MR. HOWARD WEISERMAN
Thank you for your service for 20 years (Ald. Jones) I want to congratulate you now, I don't know where you are with Amazon. It's been a real team effort. It's been a real joy working with this community. I'm sorry to see you leave, we should all give them a clap (to Ald. Jones). I've been here longer than you.
JONATHAN EVANS/MRS. EVANS
Me and my wife have embarked on a new career in Markham on purpose. I care about the time I could have gone anywhere, I wanted to go. I chose Markham on purpose. One thing that can apply and as far as the lady goes, I screened my tenants, you can't have a criminal background, you have to have good credit. If you have a job, you need three months' security, you don't want to lose that. So, I'm picky about who I let around me and I'm sorry that has happened in March. But what's happened is people are buying these homes and don't care who they put in them. I have a feeling that's what's happening. My lawns have not a one dandelion at all, I don't tolerate that. But there's an important job here to register your home, I don't know if you guys are familiar. You have a resident in your home, they also want to do inspections. Okay, I got no problem with that. When a home is purchased, it is inspected. Now you have to register and inspect again why you under permit you get what I'm saying? So now you are constructing trying to put it back together trying to get rid of these blackboards on these windows around here. If you don't know about that rule, now you are penalized. I have houses I've been doing for a year or more and I'm and I don't know anything about these fees, and I have to go locate these ordinances. Now I'm getting penalized on each home because I didn't know you had to register. It just didn't make sense to me if it was under permits. I don't know why the process is confusing as far as when you have to purchase the tenant portion if you don't have a tenant, It's so many different inspections that you have to pay for. For instance, if I'm selling my home, then we have to pay for an inspection, then the person that's coming in, they have to pay for an inspection. If I'm selling, if I'm rehabbing my home, I don't have a tenant yet, so I shouldn't have to pay for the tenant coming in until we're done with all permits and everything and it's what we just had or folks move in, it's time to register, we just went through a regular inspection whether it be a first walkthrough in the month of April, now we have to do another inspection. I've expressed it to the mayor briefly at the fire station. He told me he didn't know anything about it.
ALD. MCDOWELL
Can you see me tomorrow?
PETER ILORI
Evening everyone. I'm approaching the door today because of an issue I'm having kind of just honestly seeking assistance or guidance on the next steps I can take in resolving my issue, is just getting a building permit approved, I purchased the house about three months ago that I originally planned on residing in. When you first walked through the house the construction is unpredictable, so I didn't notice that the bathtub was cracked and there were safety issues with the wiring for the electrical, so I just thought we were just going to do a remodel. That's what I pulled the permit for and moved forward once we got into it, I was advised by contractors that, you might want to fix this if you plan on living here. So, I said go ahead and fix it, I didn't really realize at the time that I needed to stop what we were doing and reapply for an additional building permit that said exactly what we were doing. I'm not perfect, I'm human being I made that mistake on my own, and I own it. However, the issue I'm having issue with being penalized and it almost feels like I'm being retaliated against for making that mistake by one of the inspectors. I actually came up here for a update for my permit. I was told that we're putting you on ice. I called and I didn't know how to respond to this. I called a week later, I apologized, it wasn't like that. But I obviously made a genuine mistake and was told you're going to have to wait. On your website on the front page, the third paragraph of the mayor's message says you guys have professional employees that will provide customer service that will provide response in a prompt manner. I'm sorry, there's no promptness, getting this resolved and it is insane to be put on ice honestly feels like because I made a mistake they are purposely holding off on my permit, because I made a mistake. I just don't feel like that's right. I'm pretty sure if I submitted a FOIA request about all permits that were submitted after mines, you will find multiple permits that were approved. So, mine is like purposely being targeted for as long as two months. I'm really passionate about this because he doesn't understand how that's really affected me financially. I guess I'm just coming up here to ask if anyone can help me out.
ALD. JONES
I'm sorry that you weren't that problem, we can sit with you after the meeting to see what we can do. See Mr. Champion.
DEBORAH WILLIAMS
Okay, good evening, I wasn't going to speak without us thinking about how Ald. Jones has been very supportive of the Nature Conservancy, and his children and you know, we have the festival every year and he's always been there. His kids have just been stellar, in engaging with that and I want to thank you on behalf of the Nature Conservancy for your support. Also, to say we're talking about flooding in natural infrastructure, just remember that the prairie capital, the prairie state, has natural infrastructure that sucks up a whole lot of water that does not get to the county. So as a member of the community, I just wanted to say that it also reminds us of the value of what the prairies offer to Markham, especially when it comes to flooding and have been a conduit to even encourage person to know even on your property, there are things you can plant. There's natural infrastructure that can help with flooding, that's for anybody who wants to connect with us. But I wanted to also ask that if anybody has gotten information about a questionnaire that we're doing for my Markham and the area, we literally go through the area and 25 miles out to try and get information the best way we can to be the best neighbor as a resource in Markham. I will send the link to the aldermen to share with your residents, because we did a survey before but the people who answered were not the ones we wanted to really connect with. We want to get the information from the residents. There will be some cash gifts done by drawings from those who respond. It takes about 15 minutes and is in English and Spanish. I didn't realize (Ald. Jones) this was your last session thank you.
CITY ADMINISTRATOR – DERRICK CHAMPION
I just want to feel as though I know that you have a couple items Phil is the owner Buddy Bear Carwash, he has items to pass out., air freshener, and dash wipes.
MOTION TO CLOSE FLOOR TO PUBLIC
Motion by Ald. Jones, seconded by Ald. Hampton-Houser, to Close Floor to Public Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent-Motion Carried
ADJOURNMENT
Motion by Ald. Jones seconded by Ald. Hampton-Houser to adjourn at 8:17p.m. Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/ 0 Absent-Motion Carried
https://www.cityofmarkham.net/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_04262023-229
Alerts Sign-up