City of Markham City Council met June 7.
Here are the minutes provided by the council:
Mayor, Roger Agpawa called the Regular Meeting of the Markham City Council to order at 7:21p.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 Joseph Bertrand Jr.
ALSO PRESENT:
Attorney Steven Miller
City Treasurer, Belinda Richardson
City Administrator, Derrick Champion
APPROVAL OF MINUTES FOR REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING
May 17, 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. Bertrand Jr. to adopt Authorization of Claims and Accounts Bill list, totaling $978,818.32 with manual checks of $1,492.85, for a grand total of $980,311,17. Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/ 0 Absent/0 Abstain-Motion Carried
CITY ATTORNEY REPORT
INSURANCE - Moved to Executive Session
CLERKS REPORT
Business License - Joy 1 LLC dba Harolds Chicken - Food Truck
Business License - Hot Potato Café - Food Trailer
Business License - Accurate Construction Site Service, Inc.
Business License - Precision Automotive and Race Technology
OPEN FLOOR – JOY 1 LLC dba HAROLDS CHICKEN
Motion to open floor by Ald. Hampton-Houser, seconded by Ald. Barron to Joy I LLC dba Harolds Chicken
Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent-Motion Carried
JOY 1 LLC dba HAROLDS CHICKEN
KEVIN PICKENS - Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, thank you mayor. We have a food truck we also have a brick and mortar. We have several locations, one is the city and one in Riverdale, but we're interested in bringing our food truck to Markham to some festivals, and on 160th by the rink, also anywhere else we can go. We have very good food a lot of people want and love.
ALD. HAMPTON-HOUSER - Ald. Hampton-Houser - Mayor, I did get an opportunity to speak with Mr. Pickens in detail in reference to his future goals here in the city of Markham, once we move forward with presenting him with his business license. I like the fact that when I first spoke with him, he actually stated that his most important reason was he wanted to participate within the City of Markham with our festivities and of course over at Amazon. I'm hoping that we can move forward and have him join our food truck industry as well.
ALD. BERTRAND JR. - What are your addresses?
KEVIN PICKENS - 7318 Vincennes, 13801 Halsted
CLOSE FLOOR - JOY 1 LLC dba HAROLDS CHICKEN
Motion to close floor by Ald. Barron seconded by Ald. Barron to Joy 1 LLC dba Harolds Chicken
Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent-Motion Carried
GRANT LICENSE – JOY 1 LLC dba HAROLDS CHICKEN
Motion to grant license by Ald. Hampton-Houser, seconded by, Ald. Bertrand Jr. to Joy 1 LLC dba Harolds Chicken
Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent-Motion Carried
OPEN FLOOR – HOT POTATO CAFÉ
Motion to open floor by Ald. Hampton-Houser, seconded by Ald. McDowell to Hot Potato Café
Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent-Motion Carried
HOT POTATO CAFÉ
MIKKA FOY - We specialize in a variety of loaded baked potatoes and salads, we cater as well. I'm looking forward to participating at the festivals and the food truck locations as well.
ALD. HAMPTON-HOUSER - I did get an opportunity to speak with Mikka Foy, she shows great interest in working with the City of Markham. I think the food truck that she's going to actually cater is truly unique. Loaded potatoes are potatoes with veggies, potatoes with broccoli and cheese and a variety of others. I feel that we should give her an opportunity to receive her license.
CLOSE FLOOR – HOT POTATO CAFÉ
Motion to close floor by Ald. Hampton-Houser, seconded by Ald. McDowell to Hot Potato Café
Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent-Motion Carried
GRANT LICENSE – HOT POTATO CAFÉ
Motion to grant license by Ald. Hampton-Houser, seconded by, Ald. Bertrand Jr. to Hot Potato Café
Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent-Motion Carried
ACCURATE CONSTRUCTION SITE SERVICES, INC. – NOT PRESENT
No action taken.
MAYOR AGPAWA - Let me say this about this location to this council because I think the next one here is someone from Precision Auto Racing tonight. There's a little bit of an issue over there in that area. We'll open the floor to this gentleman in a minute. But Accurate, I guess wants to come over and have storage, The property and the building need a lot of work, I am going to work with the Building Department and Mr. Champion to try to get the building in shape. They have a variety of issues over there, we really don't want to invite more than what we have over there because it's just not very well laid out I'm being modest, right?
ALD. MCDOWELL - Correct.
MAYOR AGPAWA - Well, I'll just say it that way and be fair to the next guy about what his presentation may be. But I'm just saying to the council, we have a little bit of work to do over there, before I really would like to see anything over there because we've already got our work cut out for us. We have enough work in trying to straighten things out. To invite more in is kind of an issue. I think that's what the Alder lady is saying.
ALD. MCDOWELL - Right.
OPEN FLOOR – PRECISION AUTOMOTIVE AND RACE TECHNOLOGY Motion to open floor by Ald. Bertrand Jr. seconded by Ald. McDowell to Precision Automotive and Race Technology
Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent-Motion Carried
EDWARD LOGGINS - I do automotive repair, as you will know has been a kind of struggle to obtain my license on this particular unit, I've been here two years we offer great service and prices. We return customers' cars in a timely fashion. I do appreciate the opportunity to apply for a license.
MAYOR AGPAWA - Well, let me just ask you've been over there a year now in that location.
EDWARD LOGGINS – Yes
MAYOR AGPAWA - I thought you were moving from somewhere else. You're already open? Were you aware of that? (To Ald. McDowell)
ALD. MCDOWELL - I wasn't aware of that.
MAYOR AGPAWA - Well, here's what I think we need to do, Mr. Champion will have to meet with him, because that area needs some work. That building needs some work, the area needs a lot of work. Are any or all of those cars up and down the building yours?
EDWARD LOGGINS - We're not operating as of this moment.
ALD. MCDOWELL - You said you're not operating, you're at the first garage? You guys are open every day.
EDWARD LOGGINS - No, we're cleaning up the building and bringing it up to code.
MAYOR AGPAWA - Where have you been operating the last year? I was under the impression had been operating in the last year.
EDWARD LOGGINS - I applied for the license last year.
MAYOR AGPAWA - Where are you operating now?
EDWARD LOGGINS - I am not operating.
MAYOR AGPAWA - None of those vehicles over there yours.
EDWARD LOGGINS – No.
MAYOR AGPAWA - Mr. Champion, we need to have a talk with him and with the Building Department. That's what we need to do with you sir. Then we can see about bringing you back here for approval, but we're not there right now. We have some things in that area that need to be resolved and maybe you have nothing to do with any of it. But we have to get the ownership in line with what we need to do over there.
CLOSE FLOOR – PRECISION AUTOMOTIVE AND RACE TECHNOLOGY
Motion to close floor by Ald. Barron seconded by Ald. Jones to Precision Automotive and Race Technology
Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent-Motion Carried
MAYOR AGPAWA – Mr. Champion, the Administrator, is going to talk to you, we'll have a meeting with you about how it's going to work over there.
GRANT/DENY LICENSE – PRECISION AUTOMOTIVE AND RACE TECHNOLOGY
No motion made at this time, on hold.
MAYORS REPORT
I just have two items under the mayor before I was in touch with the engineer about the speed humps city wide. I don't think I got anything from you Ald. Bertrand, I know you're working on some other things. I'm really happy to say I'm glad that the council is so seasoned for me to say this, that I'm happy for Ald. Bertrand, because he's doing a lot of work in Country Aire because he's out there, you all had those moments of being able to go into your wards and really make it happen. I can feel his passion as I felt that with all of you all in your wards, getting something done and having some accomplishment. So, I imagine they're going to put some pressure on you about those tree cuttings.
DERRICK CHAMPION I was going to say so he's eligible for rookie of the year? (lol)
MAYOR AGPAWA - His average is really high, let me tell you because I have pictures, he's out there just as you all have done the same things, so it's just kind of exciting for him. We're working out some things we have to meet with him tomorrow. What will happen in every ward once the tree cutters have come in. I'm trying to save money, so I'll have a dump to pick up trees and a machine is going to pick up the trees. We need to save some money and use our own labor, get those trees up and move them and we can get to the other sides of the city pretty quick. I'll get one guy on the dump and one guy on the machine, we will pay the dumping fee and the bill will be lower. We can cut more trees, I'm not sure who's on next, we'll make sure we get it spread out to get these trees cut down but I'm excited for the Alderman. I just wanted to mention the speed humps and mention the work that I know you all are doing, you can mention that on your report. I don't have anything other than next week I will be in all the wards and have been in all the wards, but I will be in all the wards specifically for speed humps. If I have your list the engineer and I will be on the streets, ready to put them down. So, you'll see some progress next week,
DERRICK CHAMPION – CITY ADMINISTRATOR
Good evening, Council and members of the public. Just briefly Mayor just provided an update regarding DCEO we have completed our periodic performance reports, that was the last step before they release some of the funding that the State Senator is going to release for the city, they approved that this week. So they're really happy about helping with the bridge.
MAYOR AGPAWA - Is that just the latest? That's great. What's that number?
DERRICK CHAMPION - There's several numbers.
MAYOR AGPAWA - Oh, it's a conglomerate of numbers.
DERRICK CHAMPION - We had a list of items; this was part of that process Okay. Wanted to have released and this was part of that process. We just got approved for that process and we go to the next phase, which is having the Department of Commerce release the funding. Just wanted to update that.
MAYOR AGPAWA - Do you know what the tally is, if you tallied it up?
DERRICK CHAMPION - I don't.
MAYOR AGPAWA - I thought it was a half a million or so.
DERRICK CHAMPION - A little bit under a million.
ALD. HAMPTON-HOUSER - I'm sorry, I missed the first part of the compensation and what it's for.
DERRICK CHAMPION – Various capital projects.
MAYOR AGPAWA - When it comes down to capital like that, it gives us a little bit of room to go in different areas with the money. One thing that we have to address is the walkway over I-57, we're going to have to put some money there to at least repair it and make sure that it's not hazardous to anyone. Also, getting the lights and all that stuff is hard to do with replacing the fencing. But the concrete, we want to make sure that's straight so we probably won't use as much as I thought we would use.
DERRICK CHAMPION - I think some of the funding is for lighting as well for the city.
MAYOR AGAPWA - That's a good thing because I know we've got some dark spots I'm hearing about all the time, but if we can get the trees down, that'll help illumination as well from the lights would be better.
ALDERMANIC REPORTS
ALD. BARRON
Good evening, everyone, I was really impressed with our Memorial Day. We didn't have very many incidents in town, it went very well. I hope the Fourth of July is the same. I was very distressed to find out that the state is about a half inch away from approving fireworks in the state of Illinois, I can't believe it. Apparently, the Police Chief and Fire Chief have sent responses that are not supporting this law change. I got a lot of calls on the grass, I know we're still a little bit behind, but our guys work Saturday and Sunday trying to catch up and I'm very proud of them, they work very hard. It's not the easiest thing to do, it just seems like the job gets bigger every year.
ALD. HAMPTON-HOUSER
Good evening, Mayor, Council and residents. First of all Father's Day is coming up, so fathers Happy Father's Day. We started on a lot of those vacant homes; I think we accomplished quite a bit. I've had conversations with individuals in my ward in reference to the vacant home of course, you know, we still have some individuals who are still a little bit disgruntled. But again, I ask them to be patient because we are definitely getting to the vacant homes. I think we've accomplished more than 95% of the vacant homes, as far as cutting them. I've had a few individuals also our seniors stated they were not getting cut, I also gave them the information to Lisa to follow up with. I also expressed to them that every year you have to go through the program and recertify and some of them didn't know that, but they are well informed now.
ALD. MCDOWELL
City Council. I would like to wish each and every one of our fathers that are here a very happy Father's Day. Thank you.
ALD. BERTRAND JR.
Good evening, Council and residents, especially residents in the 3rd Ward, I want to thank them for coming out and walking and attempting to walk Country Aire to identify the dead trees that need to be removed. I second the report that we have started the process, we are working on Rosner hopefully it'll probably take a couple of weeks to get it done. To identify problems with 25 stumps that need to be removed. That's from trees that have been already down on Roesner, Birch and Heather as well. We are working, I need to complement Public Works and the grass cutting. It was a major task to try and get caught up. We haven't had any rain in 10 days and then things turn brown. I found out something, anybody that wants to do a block club party, there's an application process and I have accepted several applications. Willow is planning to do an event on July 1, I will be giving you information about these events. There's another one on Heather they're looking to close off the street around the 24th. I don't know if we'll meet before that but to make you aware and the community aware, that will be a memorial for Mr. Gray, I wanted to make the board aware. Willow Lane there will probably be 8 to 10 houses that will be affected. I've also been notified by Knotty Luxe Chief I need to talk to you about them specifically because they would like to do some jazz shows in the parking lot. I don't know at this point what requirements we would have to make in order to do that. Because they're on 159th Street, it might be some things that this department needs to take a look at before I sign off.
MAYOR AGPAWA - I think we had something over there.
ALD. BERTRAND JR. I did not know what the requirement might be because of cars parking on 159th Street.
MAYOR AGPAWA - They will provide crossing and security. They make sure that they have enough staff to cross people, but they can still touch base with police and fire dept. We just need notice, they're already established. Give us a plan of what they're going to do, we say okay, provided from a fire safety standpoint.
MOTION TO OPEN FLOOR TO PUBLIC
Motion by Ald. Hampton-Houser, seconded by Ald. Bertrand to Open Floor to Public. Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent-Motion Carried
CRISTAL BEYER AND JALEN HENDERSON - MARKHAM LIBRARY
We're from Markham Public Library and we just want to invite everybody to our Summer Reading Kickoff event, starting June 17th from 12 to 2. We will have a bounce house, food and a bunch of prizes to give away that were donated from different businesses in the community. If any of your kids want to sign up for the program, it starts on June 28 from 1pm to 3pm. We have live music, a group of children coming with instruments to perform. We have a lot of different things going you can sign up there as, we will have a game room, arts and crafts table and a bunch of other things for the children. One last thing, we also have a mobile DMV coming to the library this coming Tuesday June 13th from 10am to 2pm. You can check our website that shows all events at the library currently happening.
CRISTAL BEYER
I'm Crystal Beyer, the Library Director, I want to give a huge shout out to Public Works who is always on the move around town, cleaning our streets, they look so wonderful, and they spent a few dedicated hours recently, cleaning the property line along the fence. It's beautiful so a huge shout out to them. A huge shout out to Ald. McDowell for helping to put us in connection with Public Works to get our library and property cleaned up.
CINDY VALENTI
Good evening I'm Envy's Pub, I've been waiting for a meeting with the mayor. We haven't got a call yet for that meeting. That was a couple of weeks back when it came up before and I just want to put it the record. Since that time, my husband and I have decided that we are going to put our property up for sale. Because of different situations that have happened, we have been here 15 years almost 16 years but unfortunately, it's a tavern and other taverns in town have had issues. But every time every other taverns had an issue we also got dinged for it. We were all put into a position of we have to follow. We have we had to get I guess reprimanded for somebody else's issue at their establishments. Unfortunately, our business has died 65% that being said, we've been there for so long, we were able to make this work for a while. I still need to speak with you. I had spoken with Derrick, what we would like to do was put it out there if you guys know of any businesses that are looking to come into Markham, we're open to have somebody come in. I don't know that you would want another bar, but this is what we decided to do. We did have somebody want to come in and lease it from us, we really don't want to have that. We don't want to have to worry about somebody else taking over our business and we're still responsible. Taxes are super high there; we work with a company downtown to get our taxes looked at every year. It's sad to say, again, if you can find somebody else if somebody calls up and says we're looking to open a restaurant or whatever you guys would approve of. We would appreciate that help. We're just going to be sad to go but we appreciate, you know, the time we were here.
MAYOR AGPAWA - Thank you for being here, Mr. Champion just set up something next week and we'll get with you okay.
COMMISSIONER JACKSON
I've been asked to find out what's going on with the grass cutting in Canterbury with the seniors. And I think you've answered the question, you have to sign up for grass cutting. Seniors need their grass cut; they can't get anyone to cut.
ALD. HAMPTON-HOUSER - Yes, if you need to have assistance from the City of Markham.
COMISSIONER JACKSON - That was my question that was answered during the meeting.
MAYOR AGPAWA - Just get a hold of my office and we'll put you in touch with the coordinator of the senior program.
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
MOTION TO MOVE TO EXECUTIVE SESSION
Motion by Ald. Barron, seconded by Ald. McDowell to move to Executive Session for the purpose of Insurance Renewal
Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent-Motion Carried
MOTION RETURN TO BUSINESS
Motion by Ald. Barron, seconded by Ald. Hampton-Houser to return to business.
Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent-Motion Carried
ALD. BARRON - After the presentation there is a timing issue for Insurance Renewal, I will make a motion to accept the renewal bid of United Healthcare. If the city decides to change carriers, we will not have enough time, insurance will lapse.
MOTION TO APPROVE
Motion by Ald. Barron, seconded by Ald. Hampton-Houser to accept temporary insurance renewal from United Health Insurance, subject to change.
Roll Call: 3 Yes/0 No/0 Absent I Abstain -Motion Carried
ADJOURNMENT
Submitted by:
Motion by Ald. Bertrand seconded by Ald. Hampton-Houser to adjourn at 9:00p.m.
Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/ 0 Absent-Motion Carried
https://www.cityofmarkham.net/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_06072023-233
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