2020.10.12 Meeting Minutes

GREEN GARDEN TOWNSHIP

REGULAR MEETING

OCTOBER 12, 2020

The regular meeting was called to order by Supervisor Nolan at 7:00 p.m.
The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.
Roll call
In attendance were Trustees Wagner, Newton, Standish, Assessor Bushong, Commissioner Hilliard, Supervisor Nolan, and Clerk Coffey (via phone).
There was a motion to approve the minutes of the Regular meeting held September 14, 2020 by Trustee Wagner with a second by Trustee Standish. Voice vote: Motion carried.
PUBLIC COMMENTS – None
PLANNING COMMISSION – Murday: No meeting in October, nothing scheduled for November.
HIGHWAY COMMISSIONER’S REPORT – Hilliard:
Past Operations:
● Pauling between 45 & 104th, built up 1/8th mile section cut in larger ditch, built up 104th about 2 ½ ft. keep water off & hold water back, 2 culverts in. Change way water goes through sod farm, hit waterway, instead of it traveling across Pauling. Cut ditch deeper so it goes to creek, where it should go. Road probably not ready this year.
● 104th north of Pauling – installed 2 cross culverts, shoulder work completed
● 4 street lights serviced
● All heavy equipment serviced
● Various tree trimming throughout township
● Sold 2 surplus bush mowers & 1 tailgate
● Attended Roadway, Signage & Liability Seminar
● All ditches mowed
● Ditches reshaped: Dralle east of Center & 80th Ave near Tuscan Hills subdivision
● Links Edge sewer patched
Present Operations:
● Bruns east of 45 service drain tile, problems for years. Wanted done before this meeting,
waiting on bids for Robot Camera & Vac Truck. 2 companies, one can’t do until Nov., no bid yet & the other, no bid yet.
● Ditch reshaping, approximately ½ mile in various locations throughout township
● Upgrade sign posts to Telespar Posts (Stronger post meets breakaway standards)
Future Operations:
● 80th Ave south of Dralle – replace cross culvert (in the spring). Spoke with friend Spiess
Construction, he looked at, fine over winter. If not, he will give steel plate (across rd). If done now, we’d be filling with gravel once a week. If we pave now, we’d fight it for next 10 years. Needs to set for a good month to settle with no frost.
● Check & service all broken streetlights in township- Erinwood, blown fuse, working with ComEd
● Prep plow trucks for snow
● Deliver mandatory Sexual Harassment training for Road District Employees
● Electronic Waste – October 20th
ASSESSOR’S REPORT – Bushong:
Board of Review Appeals – in process of filing evidence or providing stipulation agreements
● Spending many hours processing Assessor Office responses for each Board of Review appeal filed with the county.
● Some of these GGT appeals may be avoided in the future, if the residents realized there was an opportunity for a Soft Appeal in the spring. Will make it a point to update our website this winter to include the Soft Appeal information for the 2021 tax year.
PAMS Data Entry
● Continuing to enter all property record card information, sales, permits, appeals, & inquiries into PAMS
Levy Information
● Provided preliminary 2020 Levy information to the Township Supervisor to review for upcoming Budget. General interest information, I thought fascinating, found on Redfin.com. Home market information affecting Green Garden.
➢ US Home median home sale prices increased 15% in over a year.
➢ Active listings (number of homes listed for sale at any given point) fell 28% from 2019,
for an all-time low.
➢ 45.2% of homes that went under contract had an accepted offer within the first 2 weeks
on the market.
➢ Mortgage applications increased 5% week over week during the week ending October
2nd. Another indicator that demand remains strong.
➢ Large, expensive, luxury homes are taking up a bigger share of the homes that are
selling which is driving a high growth rate for the median sale price.
➔ Remote work at home is increasing demand from affluent people, while middle-lower income people are more often expected to do their jobs in-person and many have been affected by furloughs & shutdowns.
➔ Even as sales continue to experience typical seasonal slowdown, real estate remains firmly in seller’s market territory.
➔ Sellers that are just getting into the market are seeing they can set their asking price a little higher than they may have expected because inventory is so low & the buyer pool is still growing.
Nolan: How does that affect our tax base? New owners will lose the “homestead” exemption. Bushong: New owners generally get them, new owners get their exemptions as long as they own the home and are living in it. Nolan: Thought they had to be there for certain period of time? Bushong: No. Nolan: Does house get reevaluated? Bushong: Very often, not always, if appears it be equitable, leave alone. If market consistently starts climbing, observe, might have to change some assessments. Generally, no.
TRUSTEE’S REPORT – Newton: Memorial Stone for Don. Coffey: Memorial stone delivered has been delivered for Trustee Hellriegel.
SUPERVISOR’S REPORT – Nolan: Annual Financial Report not done yet, some of this is behind. Accountant will have final audit done, hopefully by end of this month. I won’t be here, have to work on, because I need to sign, this is the 2019-2020. Currently in the 2020-2021 Budget. Trying to figure how to sign. Newton: You can give Murday’s contact info to accountant. Nolan: Sue, for discrepancy in 2018 thing. I’ll talk to you before I
leave, we’ll have to re-issue W2, have to get with accountant. We don’t know why that check bounced back that way. We’ll figure it out. Me & Bill went through from financia lside, from Trustee side, I was paid $10,500 in January, covered 2017 7 2018 until March 2018, then went on monthly payments after. That’s why 2018 showed $16,000 whatever it was. Reason, didn’t want to be shelling out that money in January, and sit on money all year round. We went to monthly for everyone, that’s how discrepancy came about. Found out I didn’t pay myself for 2 months. Saved some money.
I am resigning tonight. Handing in my resignation to Board, effective when Board accepts. Anything else? Bushong: Did we ever sign up for COVID relief? Nolan: No we did not. We did not.
NEW BUSINESS –
Vote on appointment of Trustee to fill vacancy
● Nolan: I asked Board to “Table” appointment of new Trustee. There was a motion to table
Trustee appointment by Trustee Standish with a second by Trustee Wagner. Voice vote: Motion carried.
Vote on accepting resignation of Supervisor & appoint Bill Wagner to Deputy Supervisor
● Trustee Standish made a motion to accept Supervisor Nolan’s resignation & appoint Bill (Deputy Supervisor) with a second by Trustee Newton. Voice vote: Motion carried.
Wagner: Next order of business, vote to appoint Don Murday as Supervisor for remainder of term.
● There was a motion to appoint Don Murday as Supervisor for the remainder of term by Trustee Standish with a second by Trustee Newton. Roll call vote: Standish, yes; Newton, yes; Wagner, yes. Motion carried. Wagner welcomes Murday (applause).
Murday: Introduces self, on behalf of township, Jim has served township well as Trustee & Supervisor. I have been Planning Chair for 12 years, and had opportunity to work very closely with Jim especially last 4 years. Jim always had township 1st & foremost in his mind whenever any issue came up before Board & township. Lot of historical knowledge he had, last month while grabbing a beer with him, trying to syphon some of that from him for better understanding of what it would have been like to be raised here. On behalf of the Township & Board, thank Jim, wish Jim & his family the best in Florida. Township will miss him, he has assured, he is only a phone call away, appreciated. (Applause). Murday: I moved to Green Garden 15 years ago, honored by the couple that built my house being here, very supportive, Jack & Maria Maloney, means alot to me. I have always been
involved, great privilege to be Supervisor for duration of term. Qualified people on Board to help guide me. Learning as I go. Given Trustee bible for Township Officials, becoming required reading. Here to serve the community. Questions, concerns, & comments, my phone number will be on the website. I respond to emails & answer phone, pride myself on being responsive to people. I ask for patience with learning curve. Everything I do will be done with the best interest of the Township. Thanked the Board, intend to make people proud.
● Murday: Regarding Trustee position, 60 days to fill position. Conduct interviews with those
interested. Vote to appoint at November meeting.
● Murday: Meeting 5-6 weeks ago regarding water issues in township, with intent to obtain maps (ordered from County, haven’t received yet) to see waterways. Map residents with complaint to particular areas. Maybe Supervisor title will gain attention at County level. I have not forgotten & it will be addressed. I will work with Jim (Road District) to see if some fixes can come at township level. Sure some issues with County, State, Feds, & Army Corp of Engineers, on front burner.
● Murday: Concerns over Monee Comprehensive Plan, meeting last Monday in Frankfort with Mayor Holland, Land Use present. Folks placated & understood Comprehensive Plan is nothing immediate. Frankfort does it, Monee does it, Manhattan does it, & Green Garden does it. Article in Vedette spoke with Officials in Monee, Village stated “Slow down, there are no initiative to annex any property from Green Garden to Monee.” Comprehensive Plan is a forward looking document, could be 20, 40, 50 years. Frankfort has 50 year plan. At one time they had down to Bruns & Offner, now scaled back to Manhattan-Monee, they will make sure it benefits them. Not really interested in residential, more commercial & industrial for tax bump. Residential has more expense than revenue. I will contact Monee, University Park, & Manhattan officials to talk. University Park, more evasive, but I believe in communication, I will reach out to all folks in positions of power. Past discussions had, Illiana Expressway, Stuenkel interchange, we had IDOT come talk. Green Garden to be forward looking, control & manage change, active voice in participation. Create united front to protect ourselves as a collective body.
PUBLIC COMMENTS – Striggow: Jane, do you get notified by County of new structures going up? Bushong: New construction? Like a home? As long as permit is pulled, I will eventually be notified. Striggow: Also, please consider vote regarding “Fair Tax” vocally I am against. Make sure everyone understands it, what they’re voting for & not getting with this thing. I have signs for those interested. Don’t let Legislature hit us with a tax whenever they want. The bill doesn’t say anything about tax cuts, thought more for pensions. This is 1st step of
bad deal coming down the road. Thank you.
Murday: Appreciate the number of people coming out tonight, would like to continue to draw residents, to make sure we are doing our jobs.
Clerk Coffey administered the Oath of Office to Don Murday, Green Garden Township Supervisor. Newton: Those interested in Trustee vacancy need interviews. Murday: Anyone interested in fulfilling the term for Trustee, contact Sue Coffey, must be Republican. Special meeting for interviews, appoint at November meeting.
There was a motion to adjourn the meeting by Trustee Wagner with a second by Trustee Standish. Voice vote: Motion carried.
Meeting adjourned at 7:39 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Susan Coffey, Clerk