Kankakee Times

Westmont Village Board of Trustees met Oct. 3.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

WESTMONT VILLAGE BOARD MEETING ROLL CALL: 

PRESENT: Mayor Gunter P      Clerk Szymski P 

TRUSTEES: 

Barker P Guzzo A Liddle P Nero P Simonovich P Guzzo A Nero P

STAFF: May P (Village Manager) P

Parker (Assistant Manager) P

Hennerfeind P (CDD Director) P

Brainerd  (H.R. Director) P

McIntyre  (Communications) P 

Liljeberg (I.T.) P

Chief Gunther (Police Dept.) A 

D.C. Thompson (Police Department) A 

Altic (Finance Director) P 

 Chief Riley (Fire Dept.) P 

D.C. Frank (Fire Department) P 

Mielcarski (Gov’t Services) P 

Mulhearn (Deputy Liquor Commissioner) A 

Richards (Deputy Clerk) A 

Ries  (Public Works Director) P 

ATTORNEY: Zemenak P      Lampariello A 

A QUORUM WAS PRESENT TO TRANSACT BUSINESS. 

PRESS: Bugle A 

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE DIRECTOR: Forssberg - A 

THOSE PRESENT RECITED THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE. 

OPEN FORUM: 

● No open forum

OATH OF OFFICE 

Mayor Gunter administered the oath of office. 

Harrold Barry III took the oath of office to fill the Village Trustee vacancy. 

ROLL CALL OF NEW VILLAGE BOARD 

PRESENT: Mayor Gunter P      Clerk Szymski P 

TRUSTEES: Barker P Guzzo A Liddle P Nero P Simonovich P Barry P 

Trustee Barry addressed the audience. 

Note: The items listed in these minutes are summaries only and are not meant to be a direct transcript of the Mayor’s, Manager’s, Clerk’s and Trustees’ comments. For actual quotes of the referenced items please refer to the Archival video copy of this meeting.

REPORTS

Mayor Gunter

● Mayor, Patti, and Manager May had the opportunity to go to Maerker school to answer questions and talk about local government with their fourth grade students. There were two sessions, since they had 150 kids.

● Sunday, October 6th is the Last Straw event at Veterans Memorial Park from 12pm - 4pm.

Clerk Szymski

● October 8th is the last day to register or transfer registration by mail or in person for the November 5th election. October 20th is the last day to register or transfer registration on the paperless online voter application.

● October 9th through November 5th grace period registrations are offered at the County office and four other designated locations. Visit DuPage County website for details.

● Early voting will be available at the Westmont Public Library from October 21st until November 4th. Other locations are listed on the Dupage County Website.

Trustee Liddle

● The Administration and Finance Committee had a meeting this afternoon where they learned two very important ideas:

○ The meeting schedules for 2025 were discussed and will be published.

○ The water rates were discussed. Due to covid, the Village chose not to increase water rates for 5 years. Now we have to play catch up. Residential users will see a $5 increase on the water bill.

● Westmont Special Events will once again be hosting the Halloween decorating contest this year. Citizens are encouraged to sign up. Voting will take place online. Details are on the website.

● The Wicked Westfest and all of its events are coming up this month. Event information has been posted on the Village website.

○ Special Events will host the Wicked Westfest Costume Contest on Saturday October 19th downtown Westmont at the intersection of Cass and Irving. Sign up will be 10:15 am sharp. Judging begins at 10:30 am and awards will be

presented prior to 11 am just in time for the Trick-or-Treat Trail.

○ Also look for Casket Races on Cass Avenue.

○ The Pub Crawl will be the following Saturday.

Trustee Nero

● Downers Grove Sanitary District is having their open house on October 5th.

● The next Community Development meeting for Halloween is canceled. We will be scheduling another one in the next month or two.

● The next Planning and Zoning Commission meeting is October 9th at 6 pm.

● Our business mural program, Westmont special events, and the Creative Arts Network are coordinating fall business mural program. Visit westmontevents.com for more information.

Trustee Simonovich

● The next Police Public Safety Committee meeting will be 4:30pm, October 17th at Village Hall.

● The police department is hosting the paper shred fundraiser for the Special Olympics. It is scheduled for October 5th from 9am - 1 pm at the police station at 500 North Cass Avenue.

● The Police department will also be hosting drug takeback day on October 26th from 10 am until 2 pm. There will be two locations. One at the Police department at 500 North Cass and there is one at Mariano’s on 63rd Street. More details are on the Village website.

Mayor gives the report for Trustee Guzzo since she is out of town.

● Open house for the Fire department was last Saturday. It was a great turnout despite the poor weather. Thank you to everyone who coordinated the event and participated in it.

● The Silent Parade is scheduled on October 11th. The parade is dedicated to Firefighters and fire victims who have lost their lives due to fire. It will travel along Chicago Ave and Maple Ave through Westmont about 7 pm.

Trustee Barker

● The next Environmental Improvement Committee meeting will be October 7th at 5:30 pm in Village Hall.

● We have a green business and residential recycling contest where businesses and residents have the chance to receive one or two months of free recycling and waste hauling. You can sign up on the Village website

● The Environmental Improvement volunteers will be at the Trick-or-Treat Trail on October 19th providing games for the children and informational handouts for the adults including details about the pumpkin compost collection which is scheduled for Saturday November 2nd at the Library from 9am until noon.

● Electronics and more recycling event is on November 23rd from 8am until noon in front of Village Hall. Additional details are on the website.

Mayor announced that the October 31, 2024 Village Board meeting has been canceled.

ITEMS TO BE REMOVED FROM CONSENT AGENDA:

Trustee Barker has asked to remove Arts DuPage Proclamation from the consent agenda.

(1) CONSENT AGENDA [Omnibus Vote]:

Manage May addressed the Board on this agenda item.

Motion by Trustee Liddle to approve the consent agenda.

(A) VILLAGE BOARD MINUTES

Board Meeting Minutes

Board to consider approving the Village Board Meeting held on September 19, 2024.

(B) FINANCE ORDINANCE

● Finance Ordinance #12: $2,554,855.73

(C) PURCHASE ORDERS:

PO 25201089	Atlas Bobcat LLC	$ 36,276.47
PO 25201090	M.E. Simpson	35,100.00
PO 25201103	Rush Truck Centers of Illinois	30,676.77
PO 25201104	Western Grandall Corporation	38,240.00
PO 2520153	M.E. Simpson 66,528.	38,240.00
TOTAL OF PURCHASE ORDERS		$206,821.24

(D) TOTAL OF PURCHASE ORDERS & FINANCE ORDINANCE: $ 2,761,676.97

(E) COMMUNITY EVENTS

(i) 2024 WICKED WEST FEST HALLOWEEN EVENTS

Board to consider an ordinance approving the Westmont Chamber of Commerce hosted Wicked West Fest Halloween Events that will be held on October 19, 2024:

● Community events Permit

● Amplified Sound Permit

● Street Closure Requests from 7:30am - 2:30pm:

○ Cass Ave between Burlington and Chicago / Naperville

○ Cass / Irving Parking lots on Cass Ave

○ Manning School Parking Lot

○ Norfolk and Irving Streets from Alley East and West to Cass Ave

● Waive the restrictions in Chapters 38 and 70 of the Code of Ordinances in order to allow scarecrows to be secured to public utility light poles during the month of October

(ii) 2024 HOLLY DAYS

Board to consider an ordinance approving the following requests from the Westmont Holly Days Committee for the 2024 Westmont Holly Days Festival on December 7, 2024:

● Permit amplified sound in downtown business district near Westmont Centre 4pm to 8pm

● Event Banners on public property

● Close Cass Avenue from Naperville Road to Richmond Street from 4pm to 7:30pm, for the Holly Days Parade

● Close West Quincy Street from Cass Avenue to Adams, from 3pm to 8pm, for the Holly Days Parade, tree lighting, and Santa visit

● Close North Linden from Burlington to Naperville Road for parade staging area 3pm to 7pm

(F) PROCLAMATION - CYBERSECURITY AWARENESS MONTH

Board to consider a proclamation declaring October as National Cybersecurity Awareness month in the Village of Westmont.

(G) PROCLAMATION - FIRE PREVENTION WEEK

Board to consider a proclamation declaring October 6-12, 2024 as Fire Prevention Week in the Village of Westmont.

Seconded by Trustee Nero and the motion passed.

VOTE ON MOTION #1

Ayes: Barker, Barry, Liddle, Nero, Simonovich

Nays: None

Absent: Guzzo

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

NEW BUSINESS

(2) PROCLAMATION - ARTS DUPAGE MONTH

Trustee Barker addressed the Village Board on this item.

Motion by Trustee Barker to consider a proclamation declaring October as Arts DuPage month in the Village of Westmont.

Seconded by Trustee Liddle and the motion passed.

VOTE ON MOTION #2

Ayes: Barker, Barry, Liddle, Nero, Simonovich

Nays: None

Absent: Guzzo

(3) DOWNTOWN INCENTIVE PROGRAM - 19 NORTH CASS AVENUE

Community Development Director Hennerfeind and Dr. Esposito addressed the Village Board on this item.

Motion by Trustee Nero to consider an ordinance awarding a Downtown Incentive Program (DIP) grant to Stephen Esposito DDS LLC (d/b/a Dental Excellence of Westmont), for the installation of a fire sprinkler system and new water line at 19 North Cass Avenue.

Seconded by Trustee Liddle and the motion passed.

VOTE ON MOTION #3

Ayes: Barker, Barry, Liddle, Nero, Simonovich

Nays: None

Absent: Guzzo

(4) BUSINESS REGISTRATION

Attorney Zemenak addressed the Village Board on this item.

Motion by Trustee Liddle to approve an ordinance amending Chapter 22 and other miscellaneous Chapters of the Code of Ordinances to require annual business registrations for Westmont businesses and to eliminate certain categories of business licenses.

Seconded by Trustee Nero and the motion passed.

VOTE ON MOTION #4

Ayes: Barker, Liddle, Nero, Simonovich,

Nays: Barry

Absent: Guzzo

(5) 5/1/2023 - 4/30/2024 ANNUAL COMPREHENSIVE FINANCIAL REPORT (FY24)

Finance Director Altic and Auditor Nick Babba addressed the Village Board on this item.

Motion by Trustee Barker to consider an ordinance accepting the FY 2024 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR).

Seconded by Trustee Liddle and the motion passed.

VOTE ON MOTION #5

Ayes: Barker, Barry, Liddle, Nero, Simonovich

Nays: None

Absent: Guzzo

MISCELLANEOUS

● Sky zone had their grand opening. Great place to hold kids parties.

(6) REQUEST FOR EXECUTIVE SESSION - 6:58pm

Mayor Gunter requested a motion to adjourn to Executive Session to meet with external auditors, pursuant to Section 2(c)(29) of the Open Meetings Act.

Motion by Trustee Liddle to adjourn to executive session..

Seconded by Trustee Nero and the motion passed.

VOTE ON MOTION #6

Ayes: Barker, Barry, Liddle, Nero, Simonovich

Nays: None

Absent: Guzzo

(7) ADJOURN EXECUTIVE SESSION TO RECONVENE REGULAR MEETING Board to consider a motion to adjourn at 7:08 pm.

Motion by Trustee Liddle.

Seconded by Trustee Barker and the motion passed.

VOTE ON MOTION #7

Ayes: Barker, Barry, Liddle, Nero, Simonovich

Nays: None

Absent: Guzzo

(8) ADJOURNMENT - 7:08 pm

Motion by Trustee Liddle to adjourn the regular meeting.

Seconded by Trustee Simonovich and the motion passed.

VOTE ON MOTION #8

Ayes: Barker, Barry, Liddle, Nero, Simonovich

Nays: None

Absent: Guzzo

MEETING ADJOURNED AT 7:08 P.M.

https://westmont.illinois.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_10032024-2280