South Cook News

City of Markham City Council met Oct. 4.

Here are the minutes provided by the council:

Mayor, Roger Agpawa called the Regular Meeting of the Markham City Council to order at 7:04p.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance. Prayer led by Ms. Williams. Roll Call was taken by City Clerk, Leslie Trimuel.

ROLL CALL: ALDERMAN PRESENT

Alderman Brenna Hampton-Houser 

Alderman Joseph Bertrand Jr 

Alderwoman Wanda McDowell 

Alderman William Barron

ALSO PRESENT:

Attorney Steven Miller

City Treasurer, Belinda Richardson

City Administrator, Derrick Champion

ABSENT:

APPROVAL OF MINUTES FOR 

REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING 

September 20, 2023 

Motion to approve minutes by Ald. Hampton-Houser, seconded by Ald. Bertrand Jr. 

Roll Call: 3 Yes/0 No/0 Absent/2 Abstain-Motion Carried 

AUTHORIZATION OF CLAIMS 

Motion by Ald. Hampton-Houser, seconded by Ald. Bertrand Jr. to adopt the Authorization of Claims and Accounts Bill list, totaling $735,914.23 with manual checks of $8.00, for a grand total of $735,922.13. Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/ 0 Absent/0 Abstain-Motion Carried 

SPECIAL PRESENTATION 

CITY ATTORNEY REPORT 

ADOPT RESOLUTION 

23-R-708 

Motion by Ald. Barron, seconded by Ald. McDowell. to adopt Resolution 23-R-708

A Resolution Authorizing Execution of an Intergovernmental Agreement between Cook County and the City of Markham for Climate Resiliency Planning Services

Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/ 0 Absent/0 Abstain-Motion Carried 

WAIVE 48 HOUR READING OF ORDINANCE 

23-0-2373 

Motion by Ald. McDowell., seconded by Ald. Barron, to waive 48 hour reading of Ordinance 23-0-2373 An Ordinance Amending Chapter 120 of the Code of Markham Concerning Licensing of Contractors and Builders in the City of Markham, Illinois

Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent/0 Abstain-Motion Carried 

ADOPT ORDINANCE 

23-0-2373 

Motion by Ald. McDowell, seconded by Ald. Bertrand Jr. to adopt Ordinance 23-0-2373

An Ordinance Amending Chapter 120 of the Code of Markham Concerning Licensing of Contractors and Builders in the City of Markham, Illinois

Roll Call: 3 Yes/0 No/0 Absent/1 Abstain-Motion Carried 

WAIVE 48 HOUR READING OF ORDINANCE 

23-0-2374 

Motion by Ald. Hampton-Houser., seconded by Ald. Bertrand Jr., to waive 48 hour reading of Ordinance 23-0-2374

An Ordinance Amending Section 152.30 of the Code of Markham Concerning Transfer Stamp Requirements Upon Real Estate Transfers in the City of Markham

Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent/0 Abstain-Motion Carried 

ADOPT ORDINANCE 

23-0-2374 

Motion by Ald. Hampton-Houser, seconded by Ald. Bertrand Jr. to adopt Ordinance 23-0-2374 An Ordinance Amending Section 152.30 of the Code of Markham Concerning Transfer Stamp Requirements Upon Real Estate Transfers in the City of Markham

Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent/0 Abstain-Motion Carried 

APPROVAL/AWARD 

Motion by Ald. McDowell, seconded by Ald. Hampton-Houser, to Approve Award of the Honore Ave. Resurfacing Construction Project to Sanchez Paving of Markham, IL

Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent/0 Abstain-Motion Carried 

CLERKS REPORT 

Business License - Utility Transport Services

Business License - LM Consulting Agency, Inc.

Business License - Fast Tire

OPEN FLOOR – UTILITY TRANSPORT SERVICES 

Motion by Ald. Hampton-Houser, seconded by Ald. Bertrand Jr., to open floor to Utility Transport Services Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent/0 Abstain-Motion Carried 

MAYOR AGPAWA 

I've talked to the Building Department today but moving forward you've been in business since 2005 and we want to make sure the back fees are paid, and any improvements are made.

UTILITY TRANSPORT SERVICES (SUMMARY) 

Representative presented on behalf of James Bracken and his wife, owners of a company that employs 500 people and provides utility transport services for major companies in the region, working to bring Brackenbox, a major employer, into compliance with past services. Architectural services to build a million- dollar center at an old house located at 2300 West 167th Street. We are working with Morris Engineering to address watershed issues. We want to ensure everything is done "by the book".

MAYOR AGPAWA 

In terms of licensure, there's a few other things we need to do. You have 15-18 years of no licensing, that's all we're seeking, the plan is excellent, we need to go after the infrastructure and then improve the site. We need to figure out what that number is for the licensing and come to an agreement.

MAYOR AGPAWA 

Everyone has some exposure, there's enough blame to go around. There's nothing stopping you from paying us. 

UTILITY TRANSPORT SERVICES 

Representative is working for the client, to see what can be done to try to come to an agreement on the number of years' worth of unlicensed activities.

CLOSE FLOOR – UTILITY TRANSPORT SERVICES 

Motion by Ald. Hampton-Houser, seconded by Ald. Bertrand Jr., to close floor to Utility Transport Services Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent/0 Abstain-Motion Carried 

MOTION TO TABLE LICENSE 

Motion by Ald. Hampton-Houser, seconded by Ald. Bertrand Jr. to table business license for Utility Transport Services

Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent/0 Abstain-Motion Carried 

OPEN FLOOR – LM CONSULTING AGENCY, INC. 

Motion by Ald. Bertrand Jr., seconded by Ald. Hampton Houser, to open floor to LM Consulting Agency, Inc.

Roll Call: 4Yes/0 No/0 Absent/0 Abstain-Motion Carried 

LM CONSULTING - LATAVIA HUDSON (SUMMARY) 

LM Consulting offers credit education and credit restoration services for people that are unable to get financing for home loans, or whatever their aspirations are. Services are also offered for people that don't understand their credit report. Webinars, e-books and in-person classes are also offered. Works with real estate agents and law offices. Seminars are also offered through South Suburban and Governor's State Colleges.

CLOSE FLOOR - LM CONSULTING AGENCY, INC. 

Motion by Ald. Hampton-Houser, seconded by Ald. Bertrand Jr. to close floor to LM Consulting Services, Inc.

Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent/0 Abstain-Motion Carried 

APPROVE LICENSE 

Motion by Ald. McDowell, seconded by Ald. Barron, to approve business license for LM Consulting Services, Inc. 

Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent/0 Abstain-Motion Carried 

OPEN FLOOR - FAST TIRE 

Motion by Ald. McDowell, seconded by Ald. Barron to open floor to Fast Tire

Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent/0 Abstain-Motion Carried 

MAYOR AGPAWA 

Good evening, you know, sometimes I make sure that I kind of cut to the chase about what's going on at the location, the building has several issues in terms of improving the property and some licensure issues. Who are you in contact with about leasing or renting space there?

FAST TIRE - JUAN BASTIDAS 

Sergio was the one who was working on the building. I have a couple of businesses, you can check where I am, I have fixed everything, it looks nice. There's no tire shop in Markham.

MAYOR AGPAWA 

Until the improvements are made to the building, we will not grant licenses there. The work needs to be finished. The City Administrator will reach out to you specifically to keep you updated of the

improvements needed on the property before we allow additional businesses there. You have done some good things on your side.

CLOSE FLOOR – FAST TIRE 

Motion by Ald. McDowell, seconded by Ald. Barron to close floor to LM Consulting Services, Inc. Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent/0 Abstain-Motion Carried 

TABLE LICENSE 

Motion by Ald. McDowell, seconded by Ald. Barron, to table business license for Fast Tire Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent/0 Abstain-Motion Carried 

MAYORS REPORT 

I just want to encourage residents that live in the community if you have some things that are going on in your block that are undesirable with neighbors, you don't always have to call the police, you could call the Building Department, Housing Department or the Code Department regarding different things on your block. The same way we have vigilance about Police and Crime, I want to suggest before it gets to that level, to call the Housing Department, Code Department or the Building Department. A lot of things that happen are not good from a crime aspect or violence aspect, they're typically smaller things before they grow into that. That's usually at a level where you can call Housing, or Building, I'm talking about bad neighbors, that's where some of that comes from. Don't wait until you need to call the police because then it's too late. Call on your own and say I got some neighbors that are just deplorable, you don't have to wait for them to start violence or shooting, just deal with it now. This is the best way to get a handle and get a grip on rebuilding. A lot of us have lost great neighbors over the years, then we wound up with some people who don't know how to be good neighbors. So, I'm telling you, the best way to manage that is to call not the police, you can tell me or tell you aldermen, that's what we're here for, to try to make the community better and stronger. If I wasn't a good neighbor, you should call on me. I call about my neighbors. Somebody was playing music down the street; I didn't know who it was. I think it was a new neighbor, down the street. I'm in my backyard, I have no peace, it was just too loud. I called the police they came and talked to my neighbor she was new, and she lived across the street. I felt kind of bad about it, she came down the street the next day trying to figure out who called, she was upset, she was trying to figure out who it was so she could apologize. But my wife told it was me, I said thanks for throwing me under the bus (lol). But I wasn't hiding anyway because me and the neighbors get along just fine. I joke about how my wife says, well, my husband called on you. Now when she has parties or whatever she lets me know, we let the other neighbors know, we have a good understanding about it. She had parties where there were cars all over, but they organized the parking, she informed us, the whole block knew, and we don't fuss about any of that. I don't want to get into gory details to what really drove me to this saying this, but we have rebuilt the Code Department, we rebuilt the Housing Department and all the code and building people are waiting for your phone call. They need to hear from you, if the gutters are hanging off the house and you're fixing your gutters, if their grass is high, then you need to call. I know what these aldermen are doing, all of them work, I know I talk with them all the time, you may not get what you want from me sometimes and you may not get what you want from them, but we're working to make a better Markham. We don't just let businesses just willy nilly come in. We must try to work with them a certain pattern of the way to come in, because the adage is we can do bad by ourselves, that's the truth. That's my report, call Code, Building and the Housing Department before you call the police, that's what I'm telling you.

ALDERMANIC REPORTS 

ALD. BARRON 

Before I start my report, have we stopped the Senior grass cutting?

MAYOR AGPAWA 

Not yet, but it's getting close. If we can stop the ad agree to temperatures 80 degrees, you know, in the rain combination, then we can stop cutting and I know that the finance department wants to stop because we have spending issues with taxes.

ALD. BARRON 

I would like to remind everyone; October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, please support it, it's a very worthy cause. For Public Works with the flooding we had, I still have four or five culverts that needed to be replaced. I've talked to a couple of neighbors on Sunset, I don't know if we can get to that because I'm sure there's going to have to be at least a grade set for those ditches. What happens is over the years, somebody's people haven't done anything, they just start filling up with sediment.

MAYOR AGPAWA 

We started going west of Kedzie with the sewer jet in the culverts, they're documenting street by street where the problems are now. I think we can divert them, just to make sure that it's open in case we get some torrential rain again. We can still do some good over there with the new machine, we'll divert them tomorrow. They may be on Spalding or Sawyer somewhere because they just started Monday, but they're documenting street by street, if they have a bad culvert anywhere their documenting where it is.

ALD. BARRON 

Maybe if we did a 50/50 with the homeowners. We would have a document drawn up, so that we can make it attractive by putting their payments on the water bill.

ALD. HAMPTON-HOUSER 

Good evening, the residents of Markham, I would like to mention a longtime resident of ours in my ward. Rose Jones passed away Saturday, I've received quite a few phone calls for individuals who would like to find out more information can absolutely reach me at 708-825-7585. Rose Jones worked diligently with me and was my neighbor. I did make a phone call regarding the garbage cans with Homewood disposal, we have quite a few concerns regarding the individuals that's picking up the garbage and leaving the garbage cans, partially in the street, and not removing all the trash inside the trash cans or leaving them in the middle of the driveway. The improvements in Ward 1 are still going on moving forward. I must honestly say along with a lot of the other residents that we're doing an awesome job in Markham, and we have seen major improvements. Again, you mentioned earlier that sometimes we can't get to everyone when they want things done on their property. But I just ask them as I always do, please be patient. Again, Markham hasn't grown. up to look like a forest over the last four years and it's going to take us a little while longer to actually get control over it. We have been getting those easements cleaned out; we have been cutting down trees. We have been catching up on our lawn maintenance on our vacant homes. We have been demoing homes in f'Markham. We don't have a huge public works crew that does a good percentage of this work. So again, just please be patient.

ALD. MCDOWELL 

Good evening, Mayor, and City Council, I have no report this evening.

ALD. BERTRAND JR. 

Good evening, Board, and residents. I've received a lot of phone calls regarding the no parking signs. I'm going to share two reasons why. Water lines run along the front of our homes, one of the things there are no parking so they can get access to the fire hydrants if there's an emergency. The other one is the 3 to 5am which was probably put in 40 years ago. I think that over the years, people that moved into the community will just unaware of the fact that you can't park between 3 and 5 in the morning I said to someone that it was because you have people that are having parties all night long, they park on the street, if you're not required to park out there, you park your car in the driveway, you do not want to get a ticket. I have received a lot of phone calls and we've had some discussions about the possibility of putting information on our water bill, so people are notified. There's a reason for it, not just that we don't want you to have a car now there are more cars than there were 40 or 50 years ago in a neighborhood, but it's something that we need to keep up front and make people aware of it. I attended last week with the mayor and a few of the people from the city some information on where they can find money to fix their homes. Illinois Housing Development Authority has some funding.

MAYOR AGPAWA 

That's excellent, I think occasionally, we must recycle information and get it back out there for people. But you know, if they receive tickets, we try to work with them, we just want compliance. That's good information we'll put on the website as well.

MOTION TO OPEN FLOOR TO PUBLIC 

Motion by Ald. Bertrand Jr, seconded by Ald. Hampton-Houser, to Open Floor to the Public.

Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent-Motion Carried 

MS. FREEMAN (SUMMARY) 

Ms. Freeman is seeking a business license for a thrift store to be located in Markham, with affordable clothing and household items. This would provide necessary support for low-income families and foster a sense of community. A meeting is scheduled with the City Administrator and the Alderwoman.

MAYOR AGPAWA 

Okay, well that I do know that the administrator has been out of town, that's why you haven't heard from him. I'll let you address the Council.

DIANE FREEMAN 

Dear Mayor and city council I Diane, as a fellow resident of Markham, am writing this petition to express my deep concern and disappointment over the closure of Unique Thrift Store in our beloved city six years ago. As a community we were left disheartened by the loss of this valuable resource that provided items to constituents with tight budgets. Markham is home to a diverse population, and many families struggle financially when they cannot afford to purchase items at retail. Thrift stores have become essential, they allow us to budget wisely while still being able to access quality items and donate for less fortunate. As we are aware of the closure of Unique Thrift Store had a significant impact on our community's ability to access affordable clothing, household items, furniture and more, it forced resident to choose between the paying for high priced items or going without essential items all together. Every community that I have explored, which included Harvey, Chicago Heights, Midlothian, Calumet City, Tinley Park all have maintained thrift stores. for their residents to be able to shop and explore the different items for sale. Many of our residents here are living below established poverty levels according to federal guidelines, this highlights the urgency for affordable thrift retail within our city limits. By establishing an affordable thrift retail store here, we will provide much needed support for the low-income families struggling with a limited budget.

I urge you, Mayor, and the City Council to take action in establishing the Thrift retail store in our city. Together we can make a positive change that will be beneficial to all residents of Markham and surrounding neighborhoods as well. Thank you for your concern and attention to this matter.

MAYOR AGPAWA 

Miss Freeman, I can tell you I will make sure myself, Ald. Bertrand and the City Administrator will meet with you, no later than next week, because we can't take any action tonight. Let's meet with her to get this resolved, it will still be up to the council to vote it up or vote down. I made it clear that there were some things that needed to be done.

DOROTHY TOWNS 

I am in support of what Ms. Freeman trying to establish, in the City of Markham.

JAMES ROBINSON 

I just want to say was a child in Markham, as we all know it takes a village to raise a child and it saves the community. It takes a council, a community and commitment to be to be able to build a community. It takes all of us and all of our contributions to the community. I want to say good job, keep going, be the best that you can. Thank you.

MARKHAM PUBLIC LIBRARY (SUMMARY) 

The last Council meeting I talked about digital inclusion, that event is Friday. We are encouraging all our residents from Markham and to sign up for a free computer it could be a tablet or laptop, but also come and try to see if you are eligible for the affordable connectivity program, where you would either get low or free internet as well. If anybody needs any help with learning their computers, tablets, or phones. Please come this Friday from 3:00 to 4:30pm. Please call the library if you have any questions. Thank you.

MOTION TO CLOSE FLOOR TO PUBLIC 

Motion by Ald. Bertrand Jr, seconded by Ald. Hampton-Houser, to Close Floor to Public. Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/0 Absent-Motion Carried 

ADJOURNMENT

Motion by Ald. Hampton-Houser seconded by Ald. Bertrand Jr. to adjourn at 8:05p.m.

Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/ 0 Absent-Motion Carried 

https://www.cityofmarkham.net/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_10042023-243