VILLAGE OF BARRINGTON HILLS Minutes of the Regular Meeting November 24, 2008 President Abboud called the Regular Meeting to order at 6:35 p.m. Roll Call. Present Guests Robert G. Abboud, President Fritz H. Gohl, Pro-Tem Pamela Cools, Resident Walter E. Smithe, Trustee John Rosene, Resident Steven E. Knoop, Trustee Joe Messer, Resident George L. Schueppert, Trustee Barry LeCompte, Resident Beth Mallen, Trustee (departed at 10:50 p.m.) Dan Lundmark, Resident Elaine M. Ramesh, Trustee Douglas Wambach, Village Attorney Robert Kosin, Director of Administration Michael N. Murphy, Police Chief Kathleen Soeder, Village Clerk Trustee Smithe motioned to adjourn to Executive Session to discuss pending litigation and matters of personnel at 6:36 p.m. Trustee Mallen seconded. Roll Call. Ayes: 7 (Ramesh, Mallen, Schueppert, Knoop, Smithe, Gohl, Abboud) Nays: 0 Absent: 0 Meeting Adjourned EXECUTIVE SESSION PUBLIC SESSION President Abboud called the Public Session to order at 8:05 p.m. MINUTES Trustee Schueppert motioned to approve the minutes of the Regular Meeting of October 27, 2008. Trustee Mallen seconded. All present said aye. Motion Approved Village Board Meeting November 24, 2008 – page 2 Trustee Schueppert motioned to approve the minutes of the Executive Session of October 27, 2008 as amended by Trustee Mallen. Trustee Knoop seconded. All present said aye. Motion Approved Issue moved forward in agenda to address group in attendance PUBLIC SAFETY – Fritz H. Gohl Police Awards – Several awards were both given to and given by our Police Department. The IDOT Saved by the Safety Belt award was given to civilian Henry Kao. Wearing his safety belt was determined to have saved his life during a car accident earlier this year within the Village. Sergeant Dave Kann was awarded second place in the Illinois Chiefs Challenge, and Barrington Hills Police Department earned a second place Safety Program award nationally for their presentation made about improving safety at Routes 62, 59, 68 and Bateman Road. The IDOT Division of Traffic Safety Speed Enforcement Award was given to both Officer Brian Baird and Officer Sabas Parada for writing 1000 speeding citations. The IDOT Division of Traffic Safety DUI Enforcement Award was given to Officer Brian Baird for making 25 DUI arrests. PUBLIC COMMENTS President Abboud opened a thirty-five minute session for public comments at 8:21 p.m. President Abboud asked that the residents in attendance give the Board a status update on the Polo Club situation. He reminded the Board that the two parties, Polo Club members and Deepwood Road residents, were asked to work together to resolve the Polo field access issue as part of the conditions of the Special Use permit. Resident and Polo Club member Joe Messer reported that the Polo Club has tried to arrange a meeting with the neighbors. He reported that both Mr. Drury and Mr. McLaughlin have refused attendance. As a result, the Polo Club is unsure how to proceed and believe that, as a result of the Deepwood Road residents’ refusal to communicate, the conditions of the Special Use permit should be reassessed in an expedited fashion to address the needs of the Polo Club and its loss of members. Due to the shortened polo season, they feel they have not had an adequate opportunity to demonstrate their ability to be good neighbors. Village Board Meeting November 24, 2008 – page 3 The Polo Club members believe that Dr. LeCompte, as the owner of the Polo field property, has the right to lease his property to anyone he chooses and to grant easement to anyone who leases this property. They believe access is granted until a court of law says it doesn’t exist. The Board reminded the Polo Club members that they have strong sensitivity to the private nature of our Village and that adjoining landowners have legitimate concerns. However, President Abboud is concerned that adjoining neighbors are unwilling to engage in discussion. Trustee Mallen asked if adjoining landowners were invited to participate in tonight’s discussion and suggested they should be involved. President Abboud asked Doug Wambach, Village Attorney, to provide the procedures to amend the Special Use. As there were no additional public comments, the public comments session ended at 8:57 p.m. FINANCE – Walter E. Smithe Treasurer’s Report – Trustee Smithe presented the Treasurer’s report for the month of October, 2008. Trustee Smithe motioned to accept the Treasurer’s report as presented. Trustee Schueppert seconded. All present said aye. Motion Approved Police Pension Board Report –Trustee Smithe motioned to accept the financial report of the Police Pension Board through October, 2008 as presented. Trustee Schueppert seconded. Trustee Schueppert found three errors in this month’s Lauterbach & Amen report, two of which will be corrected and the third of which has been escalated for adjustment. Trustee Schueppert expressed his continuing frustration with having to check this report detail every month. He has requested a new actuarial report to detail the level of underfunding that exists. President Abboud asked that a letter be sent to the Pension Fund Board members stating that if visible action has not been taken to correct this situation in the next thirty days, he will not sign additional funding checks. Roll Call. Ayes: 6 (Ramesh, Mallen, Schueppert, Knoop, Smithe, Gohl) Nays: 1 (Abboud) Absent: 0 Motion Approved Village Board Meeting November 24, 2008 – page 4 Overtime Reports – Trustee Smithe motioned to approve $8201.78 in overtime expenses for October, 2008. Trustee Mallen seconded. Roll Call. Ayes: 7 (Ramesh, Mallen, Schueppert, Knoop, Smithe, Gohl, Abboud) Nays: 0 Absent: 0 Motion Approved Presentation of Bills – Trustee Smithe motioned to approve payment of the bills for the month of October to date of $315,811.03. Trustee Mallen seconded. Trustee Schueppert questioned the details of an insurance claim for police car repair and confirmed reimbursement. Roll Call. Ayes: 7 (Ramesh, Mallen, Schueppert, Knoop, Smithe, Gohl, Abboud) Nays: 0 Absent: 0 Motion Approved Budget Fiscal Year 2009 – Trustee Smithe motioned to approve the budget for fiscal year 2009. Trustee Schueppert registered his concern that the estimate of revenue used within the budget for state income tax and state sales tax is optimistic and therefore expected revenue may be overestimated. Director of Administration Robert Kosin will determine what numbers Treasurer Ryba used and will notify the Finance Committee. President Abboud also asked that the Deputy Clerk salary increase be modified on the report to reflect an actual increase. Trustee Mallen seconded. Roll Call. Ayes: 6 (Mallen, Schueppert, Knoop, Smithe, Gohl, Abboud) Nays: 1 (Ramesh) Absent: 0 Motion Approved ROADS AND BRIDGES – Elaine M. Ramesh Monthly Report - Trustee Ramesh reported that Fall drainage improvement projects are underway. The Merri-Oaks project is in progress and conflicts with the location of utilities are being resolved. Pease Construction has begun work on the miscellaneous drainage projects. Improvements along River Road and Ridge Road have been completed and Three Lakes Road work has begun. Village Board Meeting November 24, 2008 – page 5 The addendum to the Village’s standing winter services contract with Cuba Township has been executed. The Village will spread out the extra costs projected for salt by making two payments in 2008. The base monthly cost for the contract is $24,167 and the additional salt payment is $21,750 for a total payment of $45,917 this month. The same payment will be made next month. President Abboud mentioned that there are a few Village residents that do not have natural gas service. He wanted to know if their roads were coming up for service soon so this issue might be addressed. Trustee Gohl asked if the Village might gain control of Old Sutton Road and consider closing it at the tracks south of Penny Road to prevent cut through traffic from Route 72. President Abboud asked that a lunch meeting be set up with both the Forest Preserve and Cook County Commissioner Goslin. He also asked that historical traffic counts be prepared for that meeting. The Equestrian Commission did not meet during the last month. PUBLIC SAFETY – Fritz H. Gohl Monthly Report – It was requested that the monthly Public Safety report begin including traffic tickets by street once again. Chief Murphy ensured it will resume next month. Bicycle Regulations - Trustee Gohl began discussion on the feasibility of revising the vehicle code to include specific bicycle regulations. Village Attorney Doug Wambach will confirm whether new regulations would be enforceable only on municipal roads or also on county or state roads. A few years ago, investigation began on the possibility of requiring bikers to come into the Police Station to pay a fee, sign a waiver and review rules and regulations. No action was taken. Discussion also involved the possibility of including a time of day limit for bicycle riding within the Village. The plan is to hold a public session jointly governed by Public Safety and Roads and Bridges with involvement from the Legal Committee, when the draft regulation is ready. BUILDING AND ZONING – George L. Schueppert Building Permit Report – Trustee Schueppert reported that the number of permits issued continues to be far below expectations. Only six single family permits have been issued. Given this, we will not meet our budget this year. ZBA Report – Trustee Schueppert reported that this month’s ZBA meeting was devoted to the approval of a Special Use Permit for Verizon Wireless. This provider expects their new tower to service traffic primarily along Algonquin Road and to aid a small number of Village residents. Village Board Meeting November 24, 2008 – page 6 The ZBA has scheduled a public hearing on zoning issues for December 3rd and has cancelled their regular December 15th meeting. The ZBA still plans to hold a separate special public meeting regarding the commercial boarding of horses in the Village. The meeting is now planned for January when all ZBA members can be present. PLANNING – Steven E. Knoop Monthly Report - Trustee Knoop reported that the Planning Commission is hoping to forward lighting ordinance recommendations to the ZBA within the next 60 days. They have reviewed the Homer Glen Village ordinance as a model. Trustee Ramesh expressed concern with the Village imposing too many regulations limiting personal freedoms. She is also concerned about how such ordinances will be enforced. International Year of Astronomy – Related to the lighting issue, Trustee Knoop sees an opportunity for the Village to tie into a larger event promoting dark skies. Next year will be the 400th anniversary of the mapping of the moon by Galileo. There will be a series of events in celebration. The Adler Planetarium is likely to be unable to participate in some commemorative events due to the lack of dark sky within the city of Chicago. President Abboud asked for a meeting with the curator of Adler Planetarium to discuss opportunities to collaborate on possible astronomy events in the Village. INSURANCE – George L. Schueppert Monthly Report – Trustee Schueppert reported that an eight-month extension of the Village’s liability insurance was secured. Since our insurance broker was able to negotiate a rebate, the Village was able to obtain other bids for eight months of coverage. Therefore the single source issue discussed last month did not materialize. Trustee Schueppert also reported that Dental and Health insurance expenses continue to be less than expected. HEALTH, BUILDINGS & GROUNDS, ENVIRONMENT – Beth Mallen Monthly Report – Trustee Mallen reported that Village property has been completely winterized. The Board of Health meeting was not held this month. Communications Committee will begin article collection in mid-January in preparation for delivery of the next newsletter. Village Board Meeting November 24, 2008 – page 7 ATTORNEY – Douglas Wambach Village Attorney Wambach was asked about the need for Executive Session to be scheduled at 6:30 p.m. prior to the Public Session. This had been done in the past to address the expense of having attorneys wait around all evening to be present in those sessions. It was suggested that perhaps Executive Session should be moved back to follow the Public Session. The Board decided that, if enacted, the Executive Session would remain as a 6:30 p.m. start time. Attorney Wambach stated that all matters of litigation and personnel had been addressed in Executive Session. Trustee Mallen departed meeting at 10:50 p.m. ADMINISTRATION – Robert G. Abboud Meeting Calendar 2009 – Stated that adoption of the 2009 calendar will be voted on at the next meeting. Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) – If municipalities are planning projects of regional significance, they must interact with CMAP. President Abboud requested Trustee comment and proposed a letter be drafted to CMAP supporting regional planning as long as it doesn’t supersede local planning efforts. Canadian National Railway (CNR) – President Abboud reported that the Forty TRAC communities continue their efforts. Trustee Smithe motioned to adjourn the Public Session at 10:57 p.m. Trustee Gohl seconded. All present said aye. Meeting Adjourned Approved_____________________