South Cook News

City of Markham City Council met Sept. 3

Here are the minutes provided by the council:

Mayor Roger Agpawa called the Regular Meeting of the Markham City Council to order at 7:09p.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 Brenna Hampton-Houser

Alderwoman Wanda McDowell

Alderman William Barron

Alderman Joseph Bertrand Jr.

ALSO PRESENT Belinda Richardson

Attorney Steven Miller

Derrick Champion

Christina Fischer

MOTION TO OPEN FLOOR TO PUBLIC

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

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

CRISTAL BEYER (SUMMARY)

Ms. Beyer announced National Library Card Month in the United States inviting everyone to obtain a library card if you don't have one. She also invited all to attend the Community Health Walk on the new prairie path at the library property on Saturday, September 13, at 10am there is also a new story walk for you to enjoy and check out. Ms. Beyer was pleased to announce the 3rd Annual STEAM Fair, Saturday, September 27 at 12pm, with a series of exhibits throughout the library, indoors and outdoors for families to come and enjoy

MOTION TO CLOSE FLOOR TO PUBLIC

Motion by Ald. Hampton-Houser, 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

August 20, 2025

Motion by Ald. Barron, seconded by Ald. McDowell, to approve minutes of August 20, 2025, Regular Council Meeting.

Roll Call: 3 Yes/0 No/ 0 Absent/1 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 $833,230.83 with manual checks of $100,257.04 for a grand total of $933.487.87

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

SPECIAL PRESENTATION

Christina Fischer presented a overview of the 2024 audit results also giving the backstory history of the financial history of the City with the steps taken to get where we are today. Stating this is a governmental institution, using fund accounting. The basis of the financial statements is based on funds. Funds are the collection of resources allocated for specific purposes. The main types of funds are governmental, business type and fiduciary, focusing primarily on governmental. The main operation of the city includes the General Fund, which is all the basic operations, lease, fire, public works, City Hall, etc.

CROWE, LLP - DAN KURIN (SUMMARY)

Presented the 2024 audit results, summarizing key points, presenting some observations for the city going forward. The audit opinion for fiscal year 2024, is a unmodified opinion, meaning the results of financial statements from what we tested were presented fairly under generally accepted government auditing standards with a clean opinion. The library was also audited with similar results of a clean opinion. The Pension Funds are audited by other auditors and are included with an opinion also unmodified. Some of the key procedures to perform this audit were to talk a lot about revenues which was the focus of our time. Property tax revenue was confirmed via the county state tax, state tax revenue was also confirmed via the state comptroller's website, allowing them to get evidence for the majority of revenue streams, with respect to enterprise funds on the user charges. Water rates and usage to make sure that is in line with those rates and usages on the expense side of things. Test sample of expenses with respect to your personnel, which has shown some personnel growth. We looked at your head count over the year, as well as unique contracts to ensure that rates make sense and that directionally, it's good. We assisted with the preparation of the financial statements, a service that we offer to all our clients, and the majority of communities do take advantage of this, because the document is over 100 pages long. A couple of observations regarding the financial statements, which we're seeing across the board in this sector, is the rising cost of everything, capital, projects, personnel, everything just seems to be more expensive. So, going forward, you want to look to balance rising costs with building your fund balance. Even for your general funds. I think the Government Finance Officers Association would recommend that you want several months of reserves in your fund balance. But again, it's just balancing your current needs with building stewardship of the future, which is difficult, but they do recommend getting that more in the positive. Now that you've gotten to the positive, look to the future to build that more. You have a great resource, with the TIF coming in from Amazon. Also, MDMA, MDNA management's discussion analysis within the other reports, also a nice summary for a resident, you're just looking to get a high-level understanding of the finances of the community. It has been a if pleasure working with Christina, I look forward to continuing building a relationship going forward.

CHRISTINA FISCHER

In closing, I wanted to thank the Council for their support over the past five years, it's been a process. I know it couldn't happen overnight; it took a team effort between the council making the hard decisions in the budget with department heads having to comply. I just wanted to say the general fund for 2024 closed with a positive $168,490.

MAYOR AGPAWA

I really have to applaud the treasurer's office and Ms. Belinda and her team for all the hard work that they did with Crowe, working hard to make sure that we got a clear picture of our finances and what we're doing. I really like this slide presentation because it really gives a path, although I had to sit here and relive some things, I think that we all did. Congratulations to all of you on what you've done over the years, to get there and to have the courage to make the decisions that we made together. I see that we're going to continue the trend of working hard. We made some decisions about where we're going, I think that the public is saying how they feel about it, and it's a good thing. Congratulations to all of you, and I thank you as well for all your support in what we're doing, and we have some frugal department heads. Congratulations on their hard work and really watching what they're doing every day and being equally good stewards daily of what they're doing in these departments. I appreciate it. We never have to really call anybody up and say, you really need to dial back the things that we see on our bill list, we always question if there's a question that needs to be asked. But typically, we all kind of know what people are doing, that's really important, so everybody knows where everything is going. Congratulations to the council.

ALD. HAMPTON-HOUSER

I have to give out accolades, when I first came aboard with the City of Markham, as the alderman for the first year, it was very, very shaky. I didn't know for sure how we were going to actually move forward and get ourselves out of that pickle. But I want to thank you all so much for your professionalism, for your confidence in the city allowing us to make the decisions. But it takes a whole team to get it done, you're absolutely correct, sometimes decisions are not always comfortable to make, but they're necessary. Mayor, I want to say to you, thank you so much for your leadership, because if we didn't have good leadership, we wouldn't be where we are at this present time. I appreciate you so much for having confidence in us, to say yes, we feel this is the best route to take. We see now, as things have come into fruition, we are moving in the right direction. So I want to thank all the personnel, and the city of Markham.

CITY ATTORNEY REPORT

WAIVE 48 HOUR READING OF ORDINANCE 25-O-2414

Motion by Ald. Barron, seconded by Ald. Hampton-Houser, to waive reading of Ordinance 25-O2414.

An Ordinance Amending Section 53.03 of the Markham Code of Ordinances - Rates and Charges for Municipal Water and Sewer

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

ADOPT ORDINANCE 25-O-2414

Motion by Ald. Barron, seconded by Ald. Hampton-Houser, to adopt Ordinance 25-O-2414

An Ordinance Amending Section 53.03 of the Markham Code of Ordinances - Rates and Charges for Municipal Water and Sewer.

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

WAIVE 48 HOUR READING OF ORDINANCE 25-O-2415

Motion by Ald. Bertrand Jr., seconded by Ald. Barron, to waive reading of Ordinance 25-O-2415.

An Ordinance Amending Title V, Chapter 50, Section 50.024 of the Markham Code of Ordinances and Ordinance 21-0-2304 Concerning the Charge to Residents for Municipal Garbage and Refuse Disposal Services.

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

ADOPT ORDINANCE 25-O-2415

Motion by Ald. Bertrand Jr. seconded by Ald. Barron, to adopt Ordinance 25-O-2415

An Ordinance Amending Title V, Chapter 50, Section 50.024 of the Markham Code of Ordinances and Ordinance 21-O-2304 Concerning the Charge to Residents for Municipal Garbage and Refuse Disposal Services with correction in Section 2 removing the waste sticker fee.

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

ADOPT RESOLUTION 25-R-750

Motion by Ald. Bertrand Jr. seconded by Ald. Ald. McDowell to adopt Resolution 25-R-750

A Resolution calling for a Public Hearing to consider the Establishment of the West 159th Street Corridor Tax Increment Financing and Redevelopment Project Area for the City of Markham, County of Cook, State of Illinois.

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

ADOPT RESOLUTION 25-R-751

Motion by Ald. Bertrand Jr., seconded by Ald. Hampton-Houser, to adopt Resolution 25-R-751

A Resolution Authorizing Execution of an Agreement Concerning Residential Refuse Services between the City of Markham and Homewood Disposal Service Inc.

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

APPROVAL OF PAY REQUEST

Motion by Ald. Bertrand Jr., seconded by Ald. Hampton-Houser, for Approval of Pay Request #2 from M&J Underground, Inc. in the amount of $257,383.06 for the MWRD Green Alley Improvement Project.

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

LITIGATION

Gordan - Case #2023-CV-6130

Motion by Ald. Barron, seconded by Ald. McDowell, for Approval of Gordan Case #2023-CV6130.

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

Lloyd - Case #1:25-CV-06410

Motion by Ald. Barron, seconded by Ald. McDowell, for Approval of Lloyd Case #1:25-CV06410.

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

Vaughns - Case #1:24-CV-12513

Motion by Ald. Barron, seconded by Ald. McDowell, for Approval of Vaughns Case #1:25CV12513

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

CLERK REPORT

Approval of Girls Scouts Solicitation -Door to Door, September 19- October 16, 2025, December 12, 2025 - January 15, 2026

Motion by Ald. Barron, seconded by Ald. McDowell, for approval of Girls Scouts Solicitation -

Door to Door, September 19 - October 16, 2025, December 12, 2025 - January 15, 2026

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

BUSINESS LICENSE - OSSO AFFORDABLE INSURANCE

OPEN FLOOR

Motion by Ald. Barron, seconded by Ald. McDowell to open floor to Osso Affordable Insurance

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

OSSO AFFORDABLE INSURANCE - LENISE NEAL

Lenise Neal - I am a insurance broker, who brokers through 18 different companies.

Ald. Bertrand Jr. – Are you living in Markham?

Lenise Neal - Yes, I have been here since 1971.

Ald. Bertrand Jr. - I am in support of her opening in my ward, she is moving next door down from where she is presently, she has been a Markham business owner for nine years.

CLOSE FLOOR

Motion by Ald. Bertrand Jr. seconded by Ald. Hampton-Houser, to close floor to Osso Affordable Insurance.

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

APPROVE LICENSE

Motion by Ald. Bertrand Jr., seconded by Ald. Hampton-Houser, to approve business license for Osso Affordable Insurance.

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

BUSINESS LICENSE - NATIONAL TANK WASH

OPEN FLOOR

Motion by Ald. Hampton-Houser, seconded by Ald. McDowell to open floor to National Tank Wash.

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

NATIONAL TANK WASH -- LAMAR PROMISE

Lamar Promise - We are looking to operate a truck and trailer repair service in the old bus depot.

We operate a network of trucking repair shops across the country.

Ald. Hampton-Houser - I think they're going to be awesome partners here in Markham as well, just adjacent to the tank wash, where they are, I do know they have some trajectories in place, which was approved through our housing department, and I welcome them aboard there.

Ald. Barron - A lot of us that are excited to see this process that you're going to use for the parking lot, it's a different kind of concrete, where it's spread like asphalt, and then it's sealed. One of our inspectors drove up to Streamwood, to look at it, and he said he couldn't believe it. There's going to be a lot of us there, we can't wait to see the process.

CLOSE FLOOR

Motion by Ald. Hampton-Houser, seconded by Ald. Bertrand Jr., to close floor to National Tank Wash.

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

APPROVE LICENSE

Motion by Ald. Hampton-Houser, seconded by Ald. McDowell to approve business license for National Tank Wash.

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

MAYORS REPORT (SUMMARY)

We had a very good, successful audit and report on the things that we're doing to continue to have that kind of trajectory presented to where we're going. We want to continue that. A couple of things mentioned to the public, and some of our block club meetings, different things in the community, and bringing back to the Council, to mention to the public. We are doing different things in Public Works that we mentioned we were going to do, we gave our word to work on the leadership, getting some consistency there, which has been put in place with new leadership. We're moving in the right direction, along with the code department, and have brought in some experience to lead that area.

One of the latest things which I spoke to the council about is some of the things that we need to do in the police department, we have to take additional steps there, to make some changes. This will be a little different from what we thought we would do, but when the finance person comes back and says, you must make a cut somewhere to put things in order, then that's what we do. I think that we should have some good results from it, that's the plan. Hopefully next week, we will get some things implemented, I've been in contact with each of you (Alderpersons). I've have seen the letter from the Police Chief requesting to make some changes, I would like to get support to see if we can at least give it a try. We have to make some steps over there. Just one other item, I'll mention tonight, next week here in this room, we'll be talking to the public on a rental moratorium forum.

We've had a moratorium for close to a year, we are going to talk to the public about how we're going to deal with that in the future and continue to work with a lot of the stakeholders and people that live here as well as people who want to do business here as well.

CITY ADMINISTRATOR - DERRICK CHAMPION

The city had a very nice ribbon-cutting event for the MWRD Green Alley project on 08/28/2025.

This is a project that will address flooding in the area that holds 90K gallons of water. 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 is in the amount of $381,500 with the County contributing an additional $200,000 towards the construction 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 I Alleyway project which is near completion. The neighborhood lighting project will begin in a couple of weeks. This project is to install new residential streetlights on Willow Lane in the Country Aire neighborhood, Crocket Lane in the Bel Aire neighborhood and 150th Street in Meadow view neighborhood. The 2024 CDBG Water Main Valve Replacement project is on-going. The project involves the replacement of inoperable water main valves. Bids were opened yesterday for the MFT Crack sealing and patching programs. Bids came in under the Engineer's cost estimate. Project is anticipated to begin in a couple of weeks. The city would be applying for OSLAD (Open Space Land and Development) grant to supplement the funding from Cook County towards the Dixie Park project. The anticipated construction for the Dixie Park is Spring of 2025. Design engineering by Cook County's Engineering consultant is anticipated to begin in September. The MWRD is having a discounted price on their rain barrels to Cook County residents. The rain barrels capture rainwater from your roof and save it for later use such as watering flowers, gardens, washing your car etc. The rain gardens also help to prevent basement backups, street flooding, and sewer overflows by keeping rainwater out of the sewer system. The costs are $21.50 each and $10.75 each for Seniors. Community Update: Advancing Healthy Food Access in Markham. We remain committed to expanding access to healthy food options throughout the city of Markham. Our team has been actively engaged in ongoing conversations with several promising businesses that align with our vision for nutritious, affordable, and community-focused offerings.

These efforts reflect our continued dedication to improving public health, supporting local economic growth, and ensuring that every resident has access to the resources they need to thrive. We look forward to sharing more concrete developments in the near future.

ALD. BARRON (SUMMARY)

Good evening, Mayor, I would like to publicly commend the City Treasurer, and the CFO. I've been on the city council long enough to see what the opposite side of this situation has been, we had some lean months, years ago; Belinda and Christina have done a wonderful job. We had to do some cutting in putting things together, they have done a really good job. It's nice that we made up our deficit, and now holding our own. We survived COVID, which was really tough, a lot of money was lost during that time, also we survived the mortgage crisis which really started, the trend going downwards and made for some difficult times, but we survived it, and the community survived it, so I publicly applaud the Treasury Department on all of their hard work. We just went through Labor Day without too many incidents, there were a couple of parties, the police handled. We still have a lot of branches on the street from the storm that we had two and a half weeks ago, they will be picked up soon. Public Works has done an excellent job, it's impossible with the amount of grass that we're cutting, as soon as they finish up one end of town, they have to start all over. I want to commend all our workers here in the city.

ALD. HAMPTON-HOUSER

No report.

ALD. MCDOWELL (SUMMARY)

Good evening, mayor, city council and residents that are present here on this evening. I want to thank Public Works for taking care of the big manhole on 165th Honore they responded very quickly.

The project has been completed, and all residents that live on 163rd Damen received a letter giving information regarding parking. as they are getting ready to start the new project for the construction on Damen, with our new park. Also, please, please, all residents who have a dog, it is very important that you register your dog, as we do have an ordinance stating your dog must be registered. We have so many people moving into town, which is wonderful, but you have to register your pet. To our Treasury Department. I want to thank you all so much for what you have done when I came aboard six years ago, it was very rocky, we went through the changes and the ups and downs, but through the perseverance of your leadership, what you guys have done within that Treasury Department and our mayor, Markham stands today and we stand strong.

ALD. JOSEPH BERTRAND JR.

No report.

ADJOURNMENT Motion by Ald. McDowell, seconded by Ald. Hampton-Houser to adjourn at 8:13p.m.

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

https://www.cityofmarkham.net/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_09032025-302