South Cook News

City of Markham City Council met Aug. 6

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 Alderman Brenna Hampton-Houser

Alderman Joseph Bertrand Jr.

Alderwoman Wanda McDowell

Alderman William Barron

ALSO PRESENT Belinda Richardson

Attorney Steven Miller

Derrick Champion

MOTION TO OPEN FLOOR TO PUBLIC

Motion by Ald. McDowell, seconded by Ald. Barron, to Open Floor to the Public.

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

DANIEL MISCH (SUMMARY)

Daniel Misch works for the Nature Conservancy in Markham. They just launched a community service and wanted to make sure everyone was aware. Placards have been added to learn bit more about the prairies. A survey is available tonight for you to tell them what the prairies mean to you.

VERA CASEY (SUMMARY)

Ms. Casey has been having problems with the grass cutting. She was told she would be taken off the list for grass cutting. She said the communication was not good. Ms. Casey has been in touch with the mayor's office, stated there has been several problems with different vendors that have come to her property, and if it's not meeting her satisfaction, she would be given the option of the city not coming back anymore. If there are constant complaints about it, that's what will be done. The mayor stated the service is not costing the seniors who have already enrolled but you must cooperate, we have sent different people to cut the grass and it's the same problem. Ms. Casey would be given one more chance with the program. The mayor stated this is a courtesy program, not afforded to everyone, she has the right to complain, however bad people are not sent to her house. But by the same token, the city can't meet every single standard that she wants, if she wants more than what is provided, she should get her own service.

MS. STYLES (SUMMARY)

The mayor asked if she was on the list, she stated yes and was asked if they are cutting her grass, which she stated yes.

DEBRA WILLIAMS (SUMMARY)

Ms. Williams wanted to just reiterate appreciation for the accommodation at City Hall for the Youth Environmental Thinkers Program to have their culminating event. It was significant for their seventh year. The interns appreciated being welcomed here. Ms. Willams also gave notice of two upcoming events. September 4th, they are sponsoring a butterfly feeding tent from 10 to 5pm in an area near 159th Street the event is free. There will be educational information about the environment, and about the migration of butterflies, etc. You are invited to come into the tent, to feed butterflies. Presently there are classes, on environmental investigations classes from a couple of the high schools coming, and possibly classes from Prairie Hills coming. So, they too can be the youth can experience that. October 4, at Nature Meadows for the major festival, Markham is partnered with that.

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

APPROVAL OF MINUTES FOR

REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING

July 16, 2025

Motion by Ald. Barron, seconded by Ald. McDowell, to approve minutes of July 16, 2025, Regular Council Meeting.

Roll Call: 4 Yes/0 No/ 0 Absent/ 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 $1,407,068.91 with manual checks of $-0- for a grand total of $1,407,068.91

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

CITY ATTORNEY REPORT

ADOPT RESOLUTION 25-R-746

Motion by Ald. Barron, seconded by Ald. McDowell to adopt Resolution 25-R-746

A Resolution authorizing execution of an Intergovernmental Agreement by and between the City of Markham and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago for the usage of a global positioning system (GPS) unit.

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

ADOPT RESOLUTION 25-R-747

Motion by Ald. Barron, seconded by Ald. McDowell to adopt Resolution 25-R-747

A Resolution authorizing execution of an Intergovernmental Agreement by and between the City of Markham and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago for the acquisition, conversion to open space, and maintenance of floor prone parcels of real property located in Markham, Illinois.

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

ADOPT RESOLUTION 25-R-748

Motion by Ald. Hampton-Houser, seconded by Ald. McDowell to adopt Resolution 25-R-748

A Resolution authorizing execution of an Intergovernmental Agreement between Cook County and the City of Markham for climate resiliency implementation services.

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

APPROVAL OF PAY REQUEST

Motion by Ald. McDowell, seconded by Ald. Hampton-Houser, for Approval of Pay Request #1 from KFive Construction Corporation in the Sherwood Avenue Resurfacing and ADA Improvement Project.

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

CLERK REPORT

BUSINESS LICENSE - DO ALL FENCE

DO ALL FENCE

Ald. Barron - They are unable to appear tonight; however, they've been in business for over 25 years. They have a very small area off Crawford Avenue, which has been inspected by the city. I would like to make a motion that we grant them a license.

APPROVE LICENSE

Motion by Ald. Barron, seconded by Ald. McDowell to approve business license for Do All Fence

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

MAYORS REPORT

We've had community meetings, as we do every first of the month, many things are covered at both the East and West side meetings. Some don't make the meetings and are here tonight. We cover a lot of ground in those meetings on the first Monday and First Tuesday of the month as residents and citizens. We go as residents ourselves, but we're part of the process of meeting in the community. We discuss issues just kind of mentioning that to the general public tonight. I did mention at both meetings, we have some good public works changes on the way, as well as Code Enforcement. We will be reaching out to the community regarding what we're doing in terms of trying to get housing in order in the community. So, stay tuned.

CITY ADMINISTRATOR - DERRICK CHAMPION

Good evening, we are coordinating with K-Five (Sherwood Street Project) to go back and restore the grassy areas full of weeds. We are holding the Contractor's retainage onon the project in the amount of about $17,000 ifthis is not addressed, we will use that money to restore those areas. The MWRD alleyway project north of 159th Street behind the BP Gas Station is near completion. Roadway patching and ditch restoration is anticipated next week. The MWRD will have a ribbon-cutting event on August 28,2025 with City officials. Engineering design for the 2nd phase of the MWRD Green Alley Project is ongoing. This is for the alleyways between Homan Ave to St. Louis Ave. Funding from the MWRD in the amount of $381,500 with the County contributing an additional $200,000 towards the project. There will be no cost from the city for the engineering design and the construction cost for this project. This will build on the success of the Phase one (1) Alleyway project which is near completion. Three (3) bids were opened today for the neighborhood lighting project which is being funded with a DCEO grant. Our engineer is currently reviewing the bids and performing background checks on all the bids received. A recommendation will be made to the Council after the review. This project is to install new residential streetlights on Willow Lane in Country Aire and on Crocket Lane. in Bel Aire and 150th Street in Meadow View. The 2024 CDBG Water Main Valve Replacement project is expected to begin next Monday by M&J Underground Inc. The project is to replace inoperable water main valves in the West Markham neighborhood as well as the resurfacing and patching of various streets. Notification letters will be hand delivered to the residents impacted by the construction of the project beginning tomorrow. You may have seen pink paint marks on various streets throughout the city. These are proposed locations for this year's MFT roadway patching program. Our engineer is finalizing the drawings and specifications for the project; anticipated construction is September of 2025. Davey Group has completed the tree inventory and data collection. We will be meeting with them to discuss their findings next week. They plan to begin work on the urban management plan after our meeting. This entire work is being paid for with a grant in the amount of $272,000.The City will be applying for OSLAD (Open Space Land and Development) grant to supplement the funding from Cook County towards the (Dixie Park) project.

MAYOR AGPAWA

I appreciate the things that you're getting done for us, and it takes a lot of time to put these things together, so it's greatly appreciated. Markham is definitely reaping the benefits of these robust grants that we've been in need of to take care of things that normal tax dollars just won't do. It's scarce in some places to get dollars.

We've been fortunate. There are a couple things I've seen we have been denied for; we've gotten approved for more than we've got denied. I'm not used to seeing the denial letters. However, we're really doing well.

When we look at the numbers, they add up to quite a bit.

ALD. BARRON

Good evening, National Night Out, our Police Department was well represented. People had a good time. I think there's some things we can do next year to improve which we'll work on. Also, they are in the final stages of completing the drainage on 154th Place, I'm kind of hoping that we get a good rain so I can see how it works. The guys have been cutting grass. I don't know if we'll ever catch up, however guys have been doing a good job. We've found a couple more houses, one on Blackstone that we're going to check into an emergency appeal to drop it to the ground, because walls are caving in,

MAYOR AGPAWA

Thanks for mentioning National Night Out, it was a great event.

ALD. HАМPТON-HOUSER

Good evening, Mayor, Council, and everyone present with us this evening. I don't want to be redundant, but yes, we had an awesome time last night at the National Night Out each year it's get better. I'm pretty sure next year there will be more improvements. Hopefully we can get more residents out. Last but not least, Mayor, I want to thank you so much for getting to my demo list. With homes, we did demo a minimum of two homes, one on Hermitage and one on Ashland, it was greatly appreciated. I spoke with the homeowners next door they just said, thank you. I did express to them these things do take time, because they're standard operating procedures that we have to go through in order to accomplish it. I'm looking forward to the next 22 that I have on my list.

ALD. MCDOWELL

Good evening, City council and residents present tonight. I want to commend the police department for a wonderful job, last night with National Night Out, the kids seemed to have a really wonderful time engaging with our Police and watching the K9 show. The K9 was a little bit scared because of so many people they got him under control. Also, I want to thank everybody in the Second Ward that came out to our Annual Pancake Breakfast, it was a great success. We were able to hear a lot of your concerns and complaints. On August 30, we will have an additional event, Markham Style hot dogs, which will take place right Roesner, the ward is spread it out and I need to capture from the east to the west. You should start receiving those flyers in the mail.

ALD. BERTRAND JR.

Good evening, Mayor I'm not going to give a report, I do see al Kindall from the President's Office, and I'd offer my time to him if he has some words of wisdom from the President of Cook County.

AL KENDALL

Thanks to God, and we're glad to see Markham doing well. It's our model for those across Cook County and the rest of the state. There will be a special Juvenile Advisory Council, there will be a special allotment for additional grants around violence prevention that we're expecting to come out, I will get that information to you to pass to your agencies. The last submissions, because of some technical errors, could not be processed.

Make sure to pay extra attention in terms of completing those applications. Today we had Path Forward Summit, with a lot of opportunities of $40 million of various disbursement activities and procurement across the state and the county. I will provide QR codes you can share and put on your website. Also there still are a lot of job opportunities available across this state and in this county, in addition to apprenticeships, we have to make a concerted effort to our fourth graders, eighth graders and those that are in high school to focus their minds to be available for the opportunities that are there, not only just for their dreams, that includes both AI and others. The current jobs available make sure that you apply and also there are future jobs that we need to focus on our presentations to the students thank you. Mayor, I just wanted to send an invitation to you to be a guest on the President's radio show.

ADJOURNMENT Motion by Ald. Barron, seconded by Ald. Hampton-Houser to adjourn at 7:41p.m.

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

https://www.cityofmarkham.net/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_08062025-299