Village of Lombard Legistar System

President Mueller said that it is with many regrets that he has accepted the resignation

of Suzan Kramer who has served as Village Clerk for two years. Her family is leaving

the community and that is why she has tendered her resignation. He said that Suzan

has served with honesty, integrity and sincerity as Village Clerk. He reminded the public

that she previously had served on the Plan Commission for seven years. While on the

Plan Commission Suzan was involved in many decisions which have shaped our

economic future. It was a big job to replace our former Village Clerk Lorraine Gerhardt

who had served as Clerk for 22 years. Suzan stepped forward and has done a

wonderful job.

Trustee Soderstrom said that as a friend, a colleague and a resident of District 6, he is

sorry to see Suzan go. He told Suzan that it had been a privilege to serve with her. He

said it has helped the citizens of District 6 immeasurably to have a had an extra set of

eyes and ears helping people with their concerns.

Trustee Florey said that Suzan had been a great addition to the Village Board, serving

the Board with integrity and honesty, and thanked her for her Plan Commission work.

Trustee Sebby said that he would miss Suzan tremendously, that she brightens the

dais. He said he hopes everything works out for the Kramer family.

Trustee Koenig recalled the years when Suzan served on the Plan Commission that she

was very impressed with Suzan's work on the Commission and impressed with the

amount of homework that she did. She said that when Lorraine left she had hard shoes

to fill but said that Suzan did it. She said it has been a joy knowing Suzan and she has

enjoyed her sense of humor.

Trustee Tross said that Suzan will be missed as Clerk. In trying other roles such as the

Electoral Board Suzan has also shown the highest amount of integrity and to be a

person of emotion. He said that as Chair of BOLI she has done a wonderful job. It has

been said her leaving will be Lombard's loss. Trustee Tross said he disagrees, rather

there is one more visiter who knows the pleasure of living in Lombard.

Trustee DeStephano said that she had admired Suzan's hard work on the Board and

her dedication. She said she knows that Suzan will be missed.

President Mueller also thanked Suzan's husband Tom and daughter Alyssa, saying that

holding elected positions takes away from our family and friends. The elected position

has become complex. He explained that Suzan's family was unable to be here as

Alyssa was at Karate where she has won two first honors. He thanked the family for

allowing us to borrow Sue. We wish all of you the best as you move forward. God

Bless You

Trustee Tross said that he would be asking to table the item regarding Carnivals due to

many proposed changes.

Marilyn Jensby of 13 S. Edgewood spoke against carnivals and pedophiles being

discussed in the same breath. She said that there are four carnivals in town and three

of the four have other family oriented activities. She said that the Lilac Carnival is

different, having only the carnival and that it should not be in the neighborhoods like

when it is at the Commons Park but away from the neighborhoods as it was when it was

at K Mart.

Mary Mae Meyer, 414 W. Windsor, said she has no issue with carnivals but picked up

on the subject from comments made by Trustee Florey which struck a chord in her

personal vendetta to bring to justice any who would abuse a child. She said that in a

small Illinois town recently, a seven year old waiting on his front porch for the church

bus was kidnapped and killed. The family is devastated. She said she grieves for them.

She went on to say that this is a nightmare that can only be dealt with on the local level.

She urged the Village Board to incorporate meaningful language in all our ordinances to

protect our children . She said that public unwillingness to address the subject enables

the perpetrators. She believes we must realize we are not immune and become more

vigilant against the problem. She asked the Board to ask themselves if that little boy's

family would have let him wait alone if they knew of all the sex offenders in their little

town.

Trustee DeStephano said that the Committee met on March 25th and finalized the Clark

Mosquito Abatement contract which will be on the Village Board meeting agenda on the

17th of April. She said that the contract calls for more traps, includes larvaciding and

targeted spraying. There will be a Public Education program on TV 6 and articles in the

Pride to let the public know about mosquitos and the West Nile Virus. She announced

that the Committee had streamlined the grant application to one page and established a

cover letter explaining the criteria for awarding grants, what the Committee looks for in

the application. Members will take the application to the schools before the summer

begins to help to educate the groups as to what the Committee and Village will support.

Trustee Sebby reported that the Committee had not met since the last Board meeting.

He said that this Tuesday a newsletter will go out and the Lombard Hills bid responses

are due April 8th. There will be a public meeting regarding the Lombard Lagoon and

Veterans' Pond. Work is ongoing on St. Charles Road with the pavers due to go in.

The permanent signals are installed at Grace and St. Charles. He said that the signals

may need some adjustment as it still seems too long a wait. He reported that they had

heard from some residents concerned with safety of the bus pick ups on North Avenue.

He suggested that any experiencing problems with the school buses should contact

Gary Smit of School District 44.

Acting Village Manager Len Flood stated that in Manager Lichter's absence he wanted

to thank Clerk Suzan Kramer on behalf of Staff and especially the Staff of the Village

Clerk's Office for her service. He said that Suzan has spent quite a bit of time in the

office. When she was there working with us, it was a delight.

President Mueller announced that the Municipal Officers' Electoral Board met tonight

and verified the canvass of Election results for the April 1, 2003 Election.

He reported the figures as follows:

For Village Trustee District 2, Richard J. "Dick" Tross was re-elected with 183 votes

For Village Trustee District 4, Steven D. Sebby won with 438 votes. candidate Jim

Devitt a write in candidate had 415 votes.

For Village Trustee in District 5, Kenneth Florey was re-elected with 356 votes.

President Mueller congratulated these Trustees who will be sworn in on

May 1, 2003.

He stated that the Election results were also approved for the Library candidates at that

meeting. He gave those results as follows:

Heather Grover with 1,349, Linnea Warda with 1,256, Wayne Kankovsky with 1,175. He

congratulated the new Library Board Trustees and thanked residents who did vote. He

commented that this Election had a low voter turn out.

President Mueller then spoke regarding the DuPage Water Commission on which he

represents the Village of Lombard and serves as the Vice Chair. He explained that

there has been an ongoing problem with the County's intent to provide water to

unincorporated areas with contaminated wells. While he said that this is a worthy

cause, there are financial considerations. When the Water Commission started it was

Tri Town Commission with Lombard, Elmhurst and Villa Park organized to bring water to

us from Lake Michigan. In the 1980s the DuPage Water Commission was established

as set out in State Statute. DuPage County chose not to be a member or pay the fees,

but had the right to sit on the commission and they collected the 1/2% sales tax to fund

bringing the water to the suburbs from Lake Michigan.

President Mueller said that the Commission has done a good job. About a year and a

half ago, the county decided to step in to the unincorporated areas. The Mayors agreed

that this was something they would like to do but this is more than providing the service,

there is also a financial consideration and the Water Commission came to an agreement

on how to provide the water. This week he received a call from DuPage County Board

Chairman Schillerstrom asked him to enter into an agreement with the County that the

Commission would guarantee a rate of $1.65 for 5 years and in turn he wants the half of

a percent of sales tax, which is in excess of $75 million dollars from the Village. Mr.

Schillerstrom is planning on talking with all of the Mayors. Schillerstrom next talked to

Mayor Murphy of Woodridge. An emergency committee meeting of the core committee

was held and we brought in an attorney and a lobbyist to speak to Chairman

Schillerstrom also. The group will recommend approval of a resolution to move forward

with a lobby against this proposal to the Mayors and Managers Conference next

Wednesday night . President Mueller explained that there has been a shell bill out of an

Illinois House Committee which is already all the way to the Senate, there has been no

language attached to the bill, no wording but it has already made it out of the committee

and House of Representatives and it is on the way to the Senate. Chairman

Schillerstrom has discussed the shell bill with the Governor.

President Mueller said he wants the residents of Lombard to know how seriously other

government entities are coming after the residents' money to use for the convalescent

home and other causes. The Water Commission members are requesting that each

municipality contribute toward hiring a lobbyist to keep the County from walking all over

us financially. The residents should ask the County officials why they are doing this. He

further pointed out that any reserves should come back to the member municipalities as

we have contributed and the County has not. The public should know how much time

our elected officials put in to fight causes like these and how much time the Mayors are

expending to prevent this type of action against the municipalities.

Trustee Tross also suggested that the residents contact their State Legislators. With the

stroke of a pen the government takes away. He said that our taxpayers paid for those

water lines and now a hierarchy is trying to take it away.

Trustee Tross announced that the Christ the King Fish Fry is being held tomorrow from

5-8. They will be serving fish, fries green beans and mac and cheese for the kids.

Christ the King is located at 15th and Main Streets The Knights of Columbus are

hosting the event.

President Mueller thanked the Knights of Columbus as they have invited the on duty

Police and Fire personnel to dinner.

Director of Community Development David Hulseberg gave a power point presentation

regarding this annexation agreement saying that a previous annexation had never been

recorded and now the new owner is trying to bring the property up to code. He said

there are two parcels involved, one a Showroom on Roosevelt Road, the other houses

ancillary uses for the Showroom and a single-family home on Westmore-Meyers Road.

The Village has a preliminary agreement with their neighbor, Road Pilot. If Road Pilot

becomes annexed, then we can annex the other properties forcibly. The owner is not

seeking variations but there are non-conforming uses, grandfathered situations that

exist. He explained that annexing the property would put the Village in a good position

for future annexations.

Director Flood commented that there is a corrected ordinance before the Board tonight.

He explained that there was an error in the budget summary and the system did not pull

in the amounts that are in the Capital Improvements Plan. The total numbers are

correct. He apologized for the error and assured the Board that Finance is taking the

appropriate steps to prevent a reoccurrence.

Trustee DeStephano said that she wanted to correct the record regarding her position

on the budget. She referred to the minutes of the Joint Finance Committee and

Committee of the Whole Meeting of February 4, 2003. She referred to page 5 under

where it says "Mr. Lichter continued reporting other facets of the budget. He said that it

is proposed that the Village institute a 1% Food and Beverage Tax." She read her

statement following the explanation of the tax. "Trustee DeStephano said she could not

support the increase saying the expenses should be cut instead. She said she does not

support filling all the positions."

Trustee DeStephano stated that she had said all along that she could not support the

tax and the record should reflect that she took exception to that aspect of the budget.

She continued saying that she does not think that we should raise taxes in order to raise

money. She said that she is allowed to have an opinion and her stance is that she does

not support the 1% Food and Beverage Tax as it raises a tax. She also referred to her

statements in the minutes of February 4th on page 7 where she outlined her

suggestions for budget cuts which should be made to avoid raising a tax, which included

funding the Technology Reserve Fund, the cost of the Phone System and not filling the

Fire Marshal position.

President Mueller said that Trustee DeStephano had said that there were several items

she could identify to save thousands of dollars and that she questioned many areas and

supported some of the other increases. He explained that we all disagree on certain

items in the budget but because you disagree, it does not mean that the budget is bad.

He said that he does not want the public to think the Board is not fiscally responsible.

Trustee DeStephano agreed that whole budget is not bad, but explained that in tough

times, though she supports the increase in water rates and permit fees, we should not

institute a Food and Beverage Tax.

Acting Village Manager Leonard Flood introduced the item explaining that it is presented

as recommended in the budget ordinance. The request calls for an increase effective

June 1, for a 1% tax on places of eating which would be passed on to consumers for

prepared food and beverage, where food is sold in retail for immediate consumption

where there is seating for eating, whether the food is actually consumed on the

premises or not. He said that informational meetings for business owners will be held by

the Village. Trustee Koenig said that she supports this tax as the Village has done as

much staff cutting as is safe to do. She explained that eating out is discretionary and

consumers can control their expenditures if need be. She also said that carry out only

establishments will not have this tax. She said that it is going to be less consequential

because it is controllable.

Trustee Tross said that we have only talked about this over a memo, in the past we

would have gone to Chamber of Commerce or to the residents. He reminded that the

Utility Tax was a hard fought tax, it took a lot to implement it. He opposes this tax. Not

that we don't need the revenue but because not enough due diligence was done. He

thinks that to our general public it will look like we are scurrying to slap taxes on the

books to a targeted group. We may have to go to the people and say we need extra

tax. He said he feels that it is time to go back and find the permanent best source of

revenue for the Village.

President Mueller added that revenue generation is challenging. He said that the public

should be aware that we are not Home Rule and we are restricted by the tax cap.

DuPage County is not Home Rule and they are having trouble with revenue also. How

do we protect the tax levy if the County becomes Home Rule. The County now is

looking at tapping in to municipalities' Hotel Motel Tax and using the unused revenues

generated, which should be the municipalities' money. We have to protect our money.

He also explained that Governor Blagojevich still has not told us how much we stand to

lose. No one likes to talk about taxes but we have to protect what we have. We can not

tell our residents that we can't afford to provide the services they need.

President Mueller said we are not taxing our residents per se. He stated that less than

50% of the tax would be paid by our residents as Lombard is a destination restaurant

location and we have fine restaurants that bring people from all over.

Trustee Sebby said that it is our responsibility to be fiscally responsible in all our actions

to our residents. He said that Mr. Flood and the Finance Department are doing great job

compared to many communities. He stated that this is an opportunity, as we have needs

and we need staff. He agreed this is a tax to those who eat out and not directly to our

residents. He concluded that no one likes to pay extra, and that his family eats out, but

the money is going back into our community.

Director Hulseberg presented a brief power point presentation describing the requested

variations on the lot originally platted as a lot of record in 1872 and since 10 feet had

been dedicated to the Prairie Path leaving a 40 foot wide yard.

Jenny Primus, 252 S. Brewster, spoke against the petition as her home is directly

behind the property. She said that this is her third attempt to convince the Village. she

said that Staff had recommended approval, the Plan Commission voted for it as usual,

but that does not make this the right decision. She said that she had turned in a petition

and of the people she spoke with 97% opposed the variation and the others were

neutral.

She feels that the petitioner is asking the Village to lower the standard, that the lot is too

narrow to accommodate the house and the property is too short. She said that a

comparable house on Craig is 50% bigger than the homes in the area, it alters the

neighborhood and looks too big for the property. She said that the owners have to drive

on the bike path to get in the driveway at the house on Craig. She urged the Board to

uphold the standards and deny this request.

Trustee DeStephano said that she has looked at the house. She stated that the style is

attractive and fits the neighborhood, but she is concerned because thirty two neighbors

don't want it. She feels it is too big of a home on a small lot and she is not in support of

this request. She went on to explain that Lombard is built out and people will want to be

dividing and sub dividing. She moved to deny the recommendation for the minor plat

variation of lot width and the variation of the lot size. Trustee Tross seconded.

Trustee Tross asked why are we requiring a variation for a lot of record? Director

Hulseberg explained that it is not a full lot of record. Trustee Tross said that we have a

lot of properties that are not 60 feet wide. Director Hulseberg said it is a portion of a lot

of record, but ten feet went to the Prairie Path. No one has shown the new 40 foot lot on

their records.

Bill Idecek, the petitioner, said that Ms. Primus lives 50 feet behind him. Their home is

closer to this lot than this house will be to theirs. Except for being 40 feet wide, the plan

meets all of the set backs.

Trustee Koenig said that she had driven past both lots and said it seems that this

variation is stretching it. She felt that the Craig property didn't look that bad, but the

house on Edson would be more out of character than the house on that particular block

of Craig.