Village of Lombard Legistar System

President Mueller turned the Public Hearing over to Village Attorney Tom Bayer at 7:51

P.M.

Mr. Bayer explained the purpose of the Public Hearing relative to the proposed Village of

Lombard Annual Budget for the Fiscal Year beginning June 1, 2007 and ending May 31,

2008. He said that the proposed budget had been on display at Village Hall and the

Helen Plum Library and published according to State Statute. He announced that

Village Manager Lichter would give an overview of the proposed budget and said that

afterwards anyone wishing to question or comment should come to the podium.

Village Manager William Lichter presented a brief overview and power point

presentation of budget highlights (See Attached). He said that nine public meetings had

been held regarding the budget beginning last fall, representing six months of work by

the Village Board and staff.

Trustee Tross asked if the rate reduction is contingent on Du Page Water Commission.

It is not. There being no further comments or questions the Public Hearing was closed

at 8:07 P.M.

Director of Public Works, Wes Anderson commented that we have experienced 55 of

the worst winter days. January 7th and March 3rd were the coldest and Public Works

Crews had 9 water main breaks, 3 service lines frozen. In February there were 65

repairs and main breaks, 3,632 hours of overtime for 17 employees. He said that one

employee had 148 hours to overtime. He pointed out that most main breaks take 7

hours to fix, but one took 17 hours. President Mueller thanked Public Works for the job

they had done, saying that he appreciated their hard work. He said that they are the

unsung heros, they are out there when no one else would want to be. He heard a Police

Officer say that he thought that his job was not that bad when he saw Public Works

crews out in the cold working on a main.

Trustee Sebby said that they had met on Monday, April 2nd and several items on the

agenda were recommended by the Committee, including the no turn on red, no parking

Cruise Nights and the yellow box the TV monopolies want to put in our Rights of Way.

They want to put more teeth in our ordinance to prevent this. He said that there are

already problems Naperville, saying that they had seen a picture of Mayor Pradle

standing next to one. It has been a recommendation for all Committees to discuss ways

of putting teeth in our ordinance. He said that the Lombard Town Centre had brought up

that they are not concerned about enough adequate parking downtown but with

business owners and employees parking in prime spots.

President Mueller announced that on April 18th the Village will host a Community Blood

Drive, those wanting to donate should contact Carol 620-5712. The drive will beheld

here at Village Hall from 1:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m.

He reported that when budgets were discussed with the Mayors' Conference they also

discussed Senate Bill 1429, which calls for sharing of Sales Tax dollars for any major

purchase in Lombard by a resident of say Wheaton, for example, if they bought a car or

furniture in Lombard, the sales tax would go to Wheaton instead of Lombard. He

pointed out that it would have a tremendous affect on Lombard because we have a

regional mall, car dealers and major businesses. He encouraged Board Members to

contact their Senators and tell them what a major affect this would have on us.

The President also spoke regarding House Bill 1500, which is about Cable Franchising.

He explained that we have welcomed other franchisees to come into the Village,

currently the industry is regulated by the Federal Government. We only control and

mediate service problems. Now AT&T is coming into the Chicagoland market and they

are going through the State of Illinois. There are 50 pages of a proposal from AT&T.

They also wish to have the right to come onto an individual's property and condemn it

for one dollar and put that large box on your property or Village Property. They also

want to pick and choose their customers. We want a service to serve all our residents

and we don't want this huge box on our property or yours. We welcome Competition

that is fair and not harmful to our residents.

Trustee Tross echoed his concerns with the cable box saying this would mean that we

would not only have them in the Right Of Way, but also on the Utility Easements in

people's back yard, they wouldn't have to give money to me and wouldn't have to ask

me. We need competitive companies but on a level playing field, they are in Springfield

usurping our revenues and powers. The rates increased when they became controlled

by the Federal Government. President Mueller, in follow up to Sebby's coments, said

he will be showing Mayor Pradle on Open Mike regarding this issue.

Trustee Tross asked about item F, 1263 S. Main, the Conditional Use for a "Physical

Culture and Massage Establishment". He said that concerns had been voiced with the

conotation that is tied to massage establishments. Bill Heniff explained that the Plan

Commission had considered this and that they had noted that this is meant to be a

therapeutic massage and not adult uses. During the licensing period this establishment

and owners will be scrutinized by the Police Department. Trustee Soderstrom said that

there is no issue, the follow through has been done by staff and the Plan Commission

has done their due diligence. He requested a waiver first reading on Poolside Dogs,

they will open on April 14th.

Mary Anne Eastman 110 S. Charlotte said it is time to let it go and to eliminate the

structure and not develop the building proposed, which invades the neighborhood and

creates problems with parking and water retention.

Kevin Fitzpatrick said the Theater is on life support. He felt that some of our

representatives showed indignation towards the groups who filed a lawsuit against the

Village and towards President Mueller for his veto. He said that is his right. He urged

the Board to slow down, he is seeing a different view. Fitzpatrick said that some of the

representatives don't even respond to his emails. He said Public Officials should not

mislead the public about TIF. He said that the representatives don't all understand TIF.

He said he was working hard for the candidate in District 5. The public says that they

don't like the way Board is handling the subject..

Laura Fitzpatrick said that what the Maple Street Chapel, Lilacia Park and the Theater

have in common is that they are beautiful, historic and part of the historic downtown.

She suggested using the theater for wedding receptions and a fine banquet facility and

during the week for business events. She said that weddings bring in good revenue.

She said the outdoor facility in Elmhurst is so lucretive, they are converting the Wilder

Mansion for such events. She read from the Elmhurst paper regarding the project. She

highlighted other communities' adaptive reuse projects, and said that we are knocking

down this magnificent building.

Brad Janisch thanked the President and Trustees and said he didn't envy the Board's

decision but urged them to make the right decision. He said that the theater is in

disrepair and what has remained consistant through the years is that all the proposals

have failed, the building continues to crumble and has taken focus off the core of the

downtown district.

Pat Poskocil spoke on behalf of the Historical Commission and read letter from the

Commission's Presiden, Rita Schneider, regarding their record of supporting the

President's action to keep moving forward with the RSC proposal. She said that many

have worked on this project and want us to benefit from this gift of the theater. She

further explained that the Historical Commission has met with state and national

historical preservation foundations and continued to work with the Lombard Town

Centre and the Main Street Program to preserve our historical downtown. The

Commission recognizes this building as an historical site and this building is one of two

in Lombard on the National Register. She thanked Board for the opportunity to shape

the future of our downtown and the citizens. She urged the Board to pursue the

proposals available.

President Mueller said he was offended by something received from a Trustee. He had

sent a letter explaining his veto, this was a personal letter from him. He said that he had

gotten an emailed letter from a resident that a Trustee shared his communication with a

resident. He read the attached letter. He pointed out that we are in the process of

huge community progress, the Highlands of Lombard, Fountain Square the theater and

the Yorktown expansion. He asked the Board to continue with this project by sustaining

his veto. He said that he had communicated with the Library and Historical Society for

inclusion in this project along with a community center.

Trustee Florey said that the theater was on its death bed and then was revived by

Trustee Tross when we were told that that the lobby and facade can be preserved. He

said that he was disappointed, discouraged and beaten down. This Board is wasting the

gift given to us. We can't violate the trust of our constituents, which will be the case if

this is overturned.

President Mueller said that the President is given the right to veto the Board's decision

Trustee Tross said that he was disappointed as well, private owners of the property

have abandoned the "Grand Dame", Big Idea abandoned their plan after that we had a

plan which had suggested the developer would restore the theater. The issue was

always that of doing what the people want. He said that he took the time and sent a

survey to 2,316 households within his district, he said he will vote the way his

constituents did, but he did say that he saw comments as to why the Board has waited

so long. He said that the gift was accepted for families, the community and the children

and will work with a developer or other governmental agencies to accomplish that. He

thanked the President and his wife Eileen for hosting him, when they opened the survey

results and tallied them, the overwhelming majority voted to demolish and move on. He

thanked President Mueller for being the tabulator.

Trustee Gron said that if RSC is the culprit , why does the the theater have to suffer.

We say we would like a theater and yet we want to tear it down and rebuild where we

just tore the walls down. He pointed out that they had tried to make changes at the

request of the residents on Charlotte. He said that changes occur with any project. The

concept where the theater stays would be a win win situation, get rid of RSC and go on

with this., he suggested that we tear down the parts that are not good and build a state

of the art theater behind it. We could save the facade, preserve the historical presence,

attract shoppers and get rid of RSC.

Motion to Waive Competitive Bidding

And award a contract to Heneghan Wrecking Company in an amount not to exceed

$149,675.00 for the demolition of the DuPage Theatre and Shops. (2/3 Vote of the

Trustees Required)

Trustee Tross made a motion to Waive Competitive Bidding and award a contract to

Heneghan Wrecking Company in an amount not to exceed

$149,675.00 for the demolition of the DuPage Theatre and Shops.Trustee Soderstrom

amended the motion as the second to include that this matter be signed by the

President and Clerk tonight and sent by messenger to Heneghen's office Friday, or if

closed for Good Friday, by Monday, to move with haste

The Board had requested this item tabled but at the advice of Attorney Bayer that this

item had to be acted upon, a motion was made by Trustee Florey to waive first reading

and pass on second reading an ordinance declaring just the ticket booth as surplus with

the property to be given to the Lombard Historical Society, seconded by Trustee

Soderstrom. Trustee Tross amended the motion to include that the booth must be

removed within 10 working days or the ordinance would become null and void. Trustees

Florey and Soderstrom accepted the amendment.

Manager Licthter said that the booth could be removed easily and would be done Friday

or Monday.