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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-24-2022 MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING OF THE PRESIDENT AND THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE VILLAGE OF MORTON GROVE RICHARD T. FLICKINGER MUNICIPAL CENTER COUNCIL CHAMBERS JANUARY 24, 2022 CALL TO ORDER I. & II. Village President Dan DiMaria convened the Regular Meeting of the Village Board at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers of Village Hall. He then asked two children in the assemblage to lead the Board and audience in the Pledge of Allegiance. III. Village Clerk Eileen Harford called the roll. Present were Trustees Bill Grear, Saba Khan, Rita Minx, John Thill, Connie Travis, and Janine Witko. IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Trustee Minx moved to accept the Minutes of the January 10, 2021 Village Board meeting as presented, seconded by Trustee Witko. Motion passed unanimously via voice vote. V. 1. a. b. c. d. SPECIAL REPORTS Promotion of Sergeant Dennis Johnson to Watch Command er Police Chief Mike Simo invited Mayor DiMaria and Trustee-liaison Travis to join him at the podium to assist with the swearing-in of Sgt. Dennis Johnson to Watch Commander. Sgt. Johnson was joined at the podium by his parents and his girlfriend. Chief Simo said it is a pleasure to promote Sgt. Johnson, and provided some background information on him. Sgt. Johnson is a 12-year veteran, having begun his employment with the Village in September of 2009. He grew up in the western suburbs and graduated fro m Addison Trail High School in 2006. He obtained a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice from Lewis University in 2009, and a master’s degree in Business Administration (with a concentration on Human Resources Management) in 2019, also from Lewis University. Sgt. Johnson spent his first three years in the Village as a patrol officer, field training officer, evidence technician, and defensive tactics instructor. In 2013, he became a Special Operations Officer in the Field Services Division and served as an evidence technician with the Major Crash Assistance Team. In 2014, Sgt. Johnson became a Detective and served on the North Regional Major Crimes Task Force; he is currently a Violent Crimes team leader. Sgt. Johnson was promoted to Sergeant in January of 2021. He served as Patrol Sergeant, and in May of 2021, he returned to the Detective Bureau as a Supervisor. Minutes of January 24, 2022 Board Meeting 2 V. e. f. g. 2. a. b. c. d. e. f. g. h. SPECIAL REPORTS (continued) Chief Simo said it’s been a pleasure to work with Dennis over the years, adding that he’s very proud of him and glad he’s on the Police Department Senior Command Staff. Sgt. Johnson’s dad added that he’s also been named “Officer of the Year” twice! Mayor DiMaria swore in Sgt. Johnson to his new position of Watch Commander. Sgt. Johnson’s mother pinned his badge on. Mayor DiMaria said this promotion was well-earned and well- deserved. The assemblage congratulated the new Watch Commander with applause. Outstanding Neighbor Recognition Mayor DiMaria welcomed Community Relations Commissioners Janice Cha and Ginny Ching-Yin Lo, here this evening to present the Commission’s Outstanding Neighbor Award to Bill Page. Commissioner Cha noted that Commissioner Bob Burkhardt was also in attendance this evening. Commissioner Cha explained that the purpose of the Community Rela tions Commission (CRC) is to foster, encourage, and improve our sense of community through positive interactions among all Morton Grove residents regardless of age, gender, religion, national origin, or economic status. Commissioner Lo said she and Ms. Cha were pleased to represent the Commission this evening in acknowledging another extraordinary neighbor through the Outstanding Neighbor Recognition Program. This program gives all Morton Grove residents the opportunity to acknowledge an outstanding neighbor for doing special things that make your neighborhood a better place. Commissioner Cha said tonight’s Outstanding Neighbor is a special friend and neighbor, and a personal friend as well, Bill Page. Bill was nominated by his friend and neighbor, Oakley Okiki. She commented that Bill is a frequent attendee of Village Board meetings. She said Bill is aware of the Outstanding Neighbor Recognition Program and was humbled when he received a call from Trustee Travis letting him know he’d been nominated. Commissioner Cha invited the McDonalds and their friends/neighbors to the podium as Commissioner Lo shared comments from his nominator. Ms. Lo stated that Oakley wrote, “We’ve lived here for 20 months. We were on a trip that was supposed to be for one year, but with pandemic travel restrictions, it ended up being two years. Bill watched over our house. He picked up our mail and sorted it in batches, and he opened the house for routine smoke alarm tests. His helpfulness has been immense and priceless .” Commissioner Cha invited Mayor DiMaria and Trustee liaison Travis to come to the podium to present Bill with some tokens of the Village’s appreciation. Minutes of January 24, 2022 Board Meeting 3 V. i. j. k. l. SPECIAL REPORTS (continued) Mayor DiMaria said that Commissioner Cha is correct in saying that Bill is no stranger t o Village Board meetings, noting that Bill probably won’t be surprised by the gifts he’ll be receiving. But just because he knows what the gifts are doesn’t mean they’re any less meaningful or well- deserved. The mayor presented Bill with a pen, a $25 gift card to any of the Village’s eating establishments, and a special pin given only to “people who make our community a better place.” Trustee Travis presented him with a Certificate of Recognition as well. Bill said he was honored and humbled to be receiving an award for being a neighbor and friend. He added that he appreciates the recognition and wants to serve as an example . Oakley said he was going to start attending Board meetings more often, and said he just couldn’t praise Bill enough. He thanked the Ma yor for his kind words. Commissioner Cha stated that the Commission is always looking for new members. She invited anyone who is interested in serving the Village to join the Commission. The CRC meets the second Tuesday every month at 6:30 p.m. Meetings are held at Village Hall in the second floor conference room. The next meeting is scheduled for February 8, 2022. All are welcome! Mayor DiMaria thanked the Community Relations Commission for the fine work they do. VI. PUBLIC HEARINGS NONE VII. PLAN COMMISSION REPORTS NONE VIII. RESIDENTS’ COMMENTS (Agenda Items Only) NONE IX. 1. PRESIDENT’S REPORT Mayor DiMaria said these are the final days of the Holiday Lights Recycling. The Village, through the Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County (SWANCC) and Elgin Recycling, is offering free holiday lights recycling. Only strings of lights will be accepted (no garland with lights entwined, lighted wreaths, etc.) There is a box on the south side of the Village Hall lobby for residents to drop off their holiday lights. Mayor DiMaria noted this recycling program will end on February 1, 2022. Any questions on what is acceptable for recycling, please visit elginrecycling.com or call 847-448-4311. Minutes of January 24, 2022 Board Meeting 4 IX. 2. 3. PRESIDENT’S REPORT (continued) Mayor DiMaria said the Police Department is still accepting applications for the 2022 Citizens Police Academy. The academy will be every Tuesday from March 22 to May 24, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Anyone interested in getting an up-close look at what police do should apply. The 10-week program is designed to give participants an understanding of the operation of the MGPD and a working knowledge of what law enforcement is all about. The academy classes are held once a week and the class is limited to 20 students, so register early. There is no cost to participate. More information can be found at the Village’s website at mortongroveil.org/cpa. Mayor DiMaria said this has been a very successful program in the past. Mayor DiMaria said that February is National Restaurant Month, adding that the Village will again be having a “Dine Morton Grove” contest. He said 2021 was an incredibly difficult year for local restaurants, which is why it’s more important than ever to show your support. Celebrate National Restaurant Month by entering the “Eat at Morton Grove Restaurants and Win” contest. You can enter the contest by submitting photos of you and your friends enjoying Morton Grove’s restaurants, or by submitting individual receipts for $25 or more. (If you submit photos, you don’t need to meet the $25 per entry requirement.) Each entry is eligible to win one of ten $25 gift cards! Photos can be submitted by uploading them at www.mortongroveil.org/dinemg. Photos and receipts can also be dropped off at Village Hall. Winning entries will be announced at the March 14, 2021 Village Board meeting. Prizes are limited to one winner per household. More information can be found on the Village’s website. X. CLERK’S REPORT Clerk Harford had no report this evening. XI. A. STAFF REPORTS Village Administrator: Mr. Czerwinski had no report this evening. B. Corporation Counsel: Corporation Counsel Liston had no report this evening. Minutes of January 24, 2022 Board Meeting 5 XII. A. 1. a. b. c. TRUSTEES’ REPORTS Trustee Grear: Trustee Grear introduced Ordinance 22-01, Amending Title 1, Chapter 9, Sections 1-9A-2 and 1-9A-4 of the Municipal Code to Increase the Threshold Requirement for Formal Bidding from $20,000 to $25,000. He explained that the Municipal Code currently requires Village Board approval for any purchase or contract for services expected to exceed $20,000, except for emergency purchases or services or products or services covered by blanked purchase orders or co ntracts previously approved by the Village Board. In 2017, the State of Illinois, by statute, raised the threshold to $25,000. Due to increased costs attributable to the rate of inflation, the Village’s current $20,000 threshold for formal bidding hampers Village operations and places an unnecessary burden on staff. The Village Administrator and the Finance Director have recommended that the Municipal Code be amended to increase the Village’s purchasing limits from $20,000 to $25,000 to be consistent with state statute and meet contemporary standards. Trustee Grear noted that, as this is a first reading of this Ordinance, no action will be taken this evening. B. Trustee Khan: Trustee Khan had no formal report this evening. C. Trustee Minx: Trustee Minx had no formal report this evening, but extended her thanks to the Public Works personnel for their diligence and hard work with snow clearing over the last couple of days. D. Trustee Thill: Trustee Thill had no formal report this evening. Minutes of January 24, 2022 Board Meeting 6 XII. E. 1. a. b. c. d. e. TRUSTEES’ REPORTS (continued) Trustee Travis: Trustee Travis presented Resolution 22-04, Authorizing and Approving a Contract Between the Village of Morton Grove and Flock Group, Inc. For the Installation, Maintenance, and Use of Automatic License Plate Readers. She explained that there is advanced technology in the area of law enforcement that has proven to be an effective tool in investigating and deterring crime. Morton Grove Police Department staff have researched automated license plate reader camera (ALPR) systems for the last three years. ALPR systems read and collect license plate information from passing vehicles and al ert the police when a vehicle is on a “hot list” created by local police departments or other public safety agencies. ALPRs aid in the deterrence of crime and the efficient resolution of cases involving residential and vehicular burglary, stolen automobiles, and missing persons. MGPD staff is recommending the Flock Group, Inc. ALPR system. Trustee Travis said this Resolution will authorize a 24 -month contract with Flock Group, Inc. for the installation, use, and maintenance of eight (8) automated license plate readers to be located at the intersections of Dempster and Waukegan and Dempster and Central in the Village. The first year cost will be $22,000, which includes a one-time installation fee, and the second year cost will be $20,000. If the system performs satisfactorily, the agreement can be renewed for subsequent two-year terms. Trustee Travis moved to approve Resolution 22 -04, seconded by Trustee Witko. Trustee Thill said he’d talked to Commander Brian Fennelly at the MGPD so he could learn more about the technology involved and the advantages it would provide. He asked Commander Fennelly to reiterate the information for the rest of the Board and the assemblage. Commander Fennelly said that it has been a long process, getting information from var ious vendors possessing various technologies, while the technology continues to improve. He said what the MGPD has found when conducting criminal investigations is that “leads” are not always easy to come by. High traffic volume during daytime hours hinde rs the ability to track down wrongdoers; relatively low traffic volume at night can sometimes enable people to slip in and slip out of town after conducting bad behavior. The advantage of having ALPRs is, when the MGPD can narrow down the timeframe of wh en a serious or significant crime has occurred, they will now be able to go to the data picked up by the ALPRs and develop leads using a time range leading up to the crime or for a period of time following the crime. They will be able to search the license plates and find out who the registered owners are. Commander Fennelly said this information we could never have accessed in the past. He said, occasionally we’ll have witnesses to a crime, but the best they can come up with is the color of the car. The search capabilities of the new software is really quite significant. Minutes of January 24, 2022 Board Meeting 7 XII. E. f. g. h. i. j. TRUSTEES’ REPORTS (continued) Trustee Travis: (continued) Trustee Thill asked where the cameras will be installed. Commander Fennelly said once the contract is signed, the Village will get eight (8) cameras. Two of them will not be installed in an Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) right-of-way, so they will be installed fairly quickly. For the other six cameras, MGPD will have to go through an IDOT permitting process, which c ould take some time. Commander Fennelly felt that by the end of the summer or early fall, all of the cameras will be up and running. Trustee Thill inquired as to the location of the cameras. Commander Fennelly said, for the Dempster & Central intersection, there will be a camera just east of the BP station on Dempster to get the traffic heading into Skokie or the Edens Expressway. A camera will be installed just west of the Shell station to capture westbound Dempster traffic. For northbound Central traffi c, a camera will be installed just north of Frontage Road, and a camera in the alley behind the BP station will capture southbound Central traffic. For the Dempster & Waukegan intersection, a camera located in the mid-Castle Honda area will monitor northbound and westbound traffic. A camera near the Bank of America will be for southbound traffic, and a camera near the cleaners will be for eastbound traffic. Trustee Thill thanked Commander Fennelly for his comprehensive response. Trustee Khan asked if these cameras were similar to the Google cameras installed on some traffic lights, for example, at Dempster and Waukegan . Commander Fennelly said the Google infrastructure is different. Google infrastructure uses cell phone data and they do “geo-fencing,” which means you can map out an area in a timeframe of a crime, and it’ll capture every single phone that was active in that timeframe. He said we’ve used that on cases as well. It gives a massive dump of information which is not very searchable. The ALPRs provide an actual license plate number, which the MGPD can then run through other law enforcement means to get an address or a person’s name. With the Google data, they get IP addresses and then have to get a search warrant through Google; even then, they may only end up with the name of the cell phone carrier. The ALPRs will provide more specific data and will be more efficient. Trustee Khan asked how long the data is available to look back on. Commander Fennelly said the data stream stays active for 30 days and then is deleted. It is not the property of the MGPD, although they have the ability to download the information in order to keep it. Mayor DiMaria called for the vote on Resolution 22-04. Motion passed: 6 ayes, 0 nays. Tr. Grear aye Tr. Khan aye Tr. Minx aye Tr. Thill aye Tr. Travis aye Tr. Witko aye Minutes of January 24, 2022 Board Meeting 8 XII. E. 2. TRUSTEES’ REPORTS (continued) Trustee Travis: (continued) Trustee Travis encouraged everyone to “save the date” of Saturday, April 16, 2022, for the 12th Morton Grove Community Artists Performance, sponsored by the Community Relations Commission. The event is free to the public and will take place from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the Civic Center. It will feature live performances on stage per COVID guidelines at the time and will also be available to livestream. This is a platform for people of all abilities to celebrate our diversity and uniqueness. Submissions can be made from February 1 through March 11 at noon to www.identityperformingarts.org/projects.aspx. Anyone who has questions should email Ginny at Ginny@identityperformingarts.org. F. 1. a. b. Trustee Witko: Trustee Witko presented Resolution 22-03, Authorizing Participation in the Northern Illinois Municipal Electric Collaborative (NIMEC) and Authorizing the Village Administrator to Approve a Contract for Electricity For Village-Owned Buildings, Facilities, and Infrastructure. She explained that, since Illinois deregulated the purchase of electricity in 2007, electricity suppliers have been able to compete against Commonwealth Edison for the purchase of electricity. ComEd no longer offers a fixed energy rate for large or medium sized commercial accounts. In 2017, in order to secure a fixed rate for electricity for municipal buildings, water pumping stations, and parking lot lighting infrastructure, the Village evaluated qualified electrical energy brokers and selected Northern Illinois Municipal Electric Collaborative (NIMEC) to serve as its electrical energy broker. NIMEC has represented over 170 member municipalities, park districts, water districts, and libraries in northern Illinois, and the Village has worked with NIMEC since 2008. Village staff has recommended the Village continue to use NIMEC as its electrical energy broker in 2022. If the Village choses an electricity supplier recommend by NIMEC, NIMEC’s compensation will be included in the contracted electricity prices, so there will be no direct payment made to NIMEC by the Village. This Resolution will designate NIMEC as the Village’s broker for purposes of obtaining electricity. This Resolution will also authorize the Village Administrator to negotiate and execute a contract with the most optimal bidder for the acquisition of electrical energy for the Village-owned buildings, facilities, and infrastructure, including it water pumping stations and parking lot lighting, for a term of up to 36 months. Trustee Witko moved, seconded by Trustee Thill, to approve Resolution 22-03. Motion passed: 6 ayes, 0 nays. Tr. Grear aye Tr. Khan aye Tr. Minx aye Tr. Thill aye Tr. Travis aye Tr. Witko aye Minutes of January 24, 2022 Board Meeting 9 XIII. OTHER BUSINESS NONE XIV. WARRANTS Trustee Grear presented the Warrant Register for January 24, 2022 in the amount of $1,121,010.70. He moved to approve this evening’s Warrant Register as presented, seconded by Trustee Thill. Motion passed: 6 ayes, 0 nays. Tr. Grear aye Tr. Khan aye Tr. Minx aye Tr. Thill aye Tr. Travis aye Tr. Witko aye XV. RESIDENTS’ COMMENTS NONE XVI. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business before the Board, Trustee Minx moved to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Trustee Witko. Motion passed unanimously via voice vote. The meeting adjourned at 7:29 p.m.