McHenry Times

Village of Fox River Grove President and Board of Trustees met June 20.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL 

Village President McLaughlin called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. in the Municipal Center. Present at roll call were Trustees Curtiss, Hester, Knar, Migdal, Schladt, and Wall. Also, present were Administrator Soderholm, Assistant Administrator Bechler, Operations Manager Reese, Operations Manager Zintl, Chief Waitrovich, and Village Clerk Caesar.

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE 

The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.

PUBLIC COMMENT 

John Holzer, 208 Gladys Ave. - Mr. Holzer stated he was there to address the sidewalk installation on Gladys Ave. He noticed trees have been marked to be removed and is concerned the aesthetics of the tree lined street will be lost once the trees are gone. He feels the sidewalk will not look nice given the curves and hills and that majority of people prefer to walk on the street. Mr. Holzer asked the Board to ensure a restoration plan is in place should a favorable bid come in that allows the Gladys sidewalks to be included in this year's sidewalk connectivity project.

VILLAGE PRESIDENT AND TRUSTEE REPORTS 

Village President Report - President McLaughlin announced the annual Parks Fundraiser is this Friday, 6:00 10:00 p.m. in Picnic Grove Park. Raffle ticket sales and the weather are both looking good.

Trustee Curtiss reported for Special Events, stating that SEC Chairperson Jamie Dimmick has reached out to carnivals for the preferred weekend in August 2024. Trustee Curtiss also announced the Fox River Grove Lions Club is partnering with Lions of Illinois Foundation to provide free mobile hearing and retinal screenings at the annual Lions Arts & Crafts fair, July 22, 2023 in Lions Park.

President McLaughlin asked staff to advertise the mobile event on social media to create awareness of the opportunity.

STAFF MONTHLY REPORTS 

Trustee Knar asked for a review of the upcoming sidewalk bids at the next meeting. Trustee Knar also inquired about the asbestos findings in block B. Administrator Soderholm stated the original report did not have the quantities listed for the areas in which asbestos was found, so the company revisited the building to gather the quantities. Trustee Knar asked about water conservation and whether any consideration has been given to the fireworks being delayed due to the recent draught.

Public Works Operations Manager Zintl said monthly well readings are taken and they watch for any drops in supply, but so far everything is looking okay. Administrator Soderholm added that the two (2) plants and four (4) wells have historically produced plenty of water to meet the demand placed on the system. As for the fireworks, Administrator Soderholm stated he had not heard of any other firework shows in the area considering canceling and that if the need should arise, there is a rescheduling clause in the contract.

1. APPROVAL: CONSENT AGENDA – APPROVAL VIA ONE VOTE FOR ALL 

A. Village Board and Executive Session Meeting Minutes - June 6, 2023

B. Accounts Payable - June 20, 2023

C. Treasurer's Report - April 2023

D. Award of Bid, Lincoln Avenue Sewer Replacement, Ganziano Sewer & Water

E. Façade Grant Agreement, From Spore to More

F. License Agreement, Train Station Coffeeshop

Trustee Migdal made a motion to approve consent agenda items A - F. Trustee Hester seconded. Roll Call: Trustee Curtiss, Hester, Knar, Migdal, Schladt, and Wall-all "yes." MOTION PASSED.

2. APPROVAL: BUSINESS CAPITAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM GRANT, LINCOLN AVENUE MARKET Administrator Soderholm stated that per the direction of the Board a modifiable Business Capital Assistance Program Agreement was prepared and petitioner Mr. John Raviolo provided the list of intended uses for the Boards consideration. The payments are schedule for half at three (3) months and half at six (6) months of being in business.

Petitioner Raviolo requested the Board consider accelerating the payout to one (1) and four (4) months which he said will help speed up the execution of the business plan.

A discussion was held.

Trustee Migdal stated that after reviewing the itemized list of expenditures, he felt some of the items were more façade grant eligible and that he did not support awarding the full $8,000 grant amount requested. Trustee Migdal feels the business hours of 11:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m., four days a week were not adequate to successfully grow a new business.

Administrator Soderholm stated that the concept of the Business Capital Assistance Program when it was established was to fill vacant store fronts. The grant was to provide capital to assist businesses with startup costs. The two-phase grant distribution was agreed upon by the Board to ensure the business was growing as anticipated.

Trustee Curtiss made a motion to authorize the Village Administrator to execute an agreement between John Raviolo and the Village for a Business Capital Assistance Program Grant to Lincoln Avenue Market in the amount of $6,000 with half ($3,000) to be paid at month one (1) and the remaining half ($3,000) at month four (4). Trustee Hester seconded. Roll Call: Trustee Curtiss, Hester, Knar, Migdal, Schladt, and Wall - all "Yes." MOTION PASSED.

3. DISCUSSION: PICNIC GROVE PARK 

Administrator Soderholm stated the three takeaways from the previous Picnic Grove Park discussion that the Board directed Staff to look into were the Oslad grant buyout, the cost to put a gate at the entrance of the park, and the cost to establish some security /parking attendant on peak weekends.

Administrator Soderholm stated that buying out the grant is not an option and the state would only permit a conversion of another piece of property of similar size and characteristics as the Picnic Grove Park. The price to install a manual gate is expected to be around $8,000 and an electronic gate in the range of $18- $20k. The cost for security/parking attendants will range from $25-$35 per person, per hour and could be an option for high traffic, holiday weekends.

Staff presented additional measures to consider adopting since exiting the grant is not a feasible option at this time.

A discussion was held.

The general consensus of the Board was to direct staff to move forward with the installation of the manual gate at the entrance of Picnic Grove Park and to prepare an ordinance for Village Board consideration that included parking restrictions on streets adjacent to the park on weekends or holidays, no trailer parking in the parks, banning gas cans and portable grills from the parks, and increasing illegal parking fines at the park from $75 to $100.

4. OTHER BUSINESS 

President McLaughlin announced that the next Village Board meeting will be on Thursday July 6, 2023, due to the Fourth of July holiday falling on the regularly scheduled Tuesday meeting night.

Trustee Knar announced a link for ordering Village apparel is coming soon.

ADJOURNMENT 

Trustee Hester made a motion to adjourn the Village Board meeting at 7:46 p.m. Seconded by Trustee Schladt. A voice vote was taken. Trustees Curtiss, Hester, Knar, Migdal, Schladt, and Wall - all "yes". MOTION PASSED.

https://cms5.revize.com/revize/foxrivergrove/document%20center/Minutes/Village%20Board/Village%20Board%20Minutes%206-20-2023.pdf