VILLAGE OF NORTH AURORA
COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING MINUTES
Monday, September 18, 2023
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Village Board meeting was conducted live remotely
via telecommunications.
CALL TO ORDER
Mayor Gaffino called the meeting to order.
ROLL CALL
In attendance: Mayor Mark Gaffino, Trustee Jason Christiansen, Trustee Laura Curtis, Trustee Mark Guethle, Trustee Mike Lowery, Trustee Todd Niedzwiedz, Trustee Carolyn Salazar
Staff in attendance: Village Administrator Steve Bosco, Finance Director Jason Paprocki, Community & Economic Development Director Nathan Darga, Village Attorney Kevin Drendel, Public Works Director Brian Richter, Village Engineer/Assistant Public Works Director Brandon Tonarelli, Police Chief Joe DeLeo.
AUDIENCE COMMENTS – None
TRUSTEE COMMENTS – None
DISCUSSION
1. Liquor License for Hidden Beauty Salon
Administrator Bosco stated that Hidden Beauty Salon located at 110 John Street was interested in obtaining an L-1 Salon Liquor License. The Village currently had no other L-1 Licenses issued. Bosco explained that the category had been created years ago to allow salons to offer alcoholic beverages for sale separately or as part of a package of services to clients for consumption on premises.
The Village Board was in favor of issuing the license.
2. Special Use: Banquet Hall
Administrator Bosco explained that this item was for a special use for 1167 Oak Street. The proposed project was being classified as a banquet hall. Bosco stated that this item had already gone before the Plan Commission.
Community & Economic Development Director Nathan Darga stated that Tiffany Nesbitt was seeking Special Use approval for an event space to be called Sage Event Studio. The vacant space located at 1167 Oak Street, within the B-2 General Business District Planned Unit Development known as Randall Commons.
Darga presented the Village Board with the proposed floor plan as well as additional details provided by the petitioner. He stated that the event space had been designed with a prep kitchen, events would be catered. The anticipated hours of operation for the banquet hall would be 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., Sunday through Thursday and 7:00 a.m. to 12:30 a.m. on Friday and Saturdays.
Darga stated that there had been a Public Hearing before the Plan Commission meeting on September 5, 2023 where approval had been recommended without any conditions. The petitioner was not seeking a Liquor License currently.
The Village Board offered positive feedback on the proposed banquet hall.
3. Road Program Presentation
Administrator Bosco explained that each year the Village’s Road Program begins with the Village’s process of rating the roads to determine which roads will be repaired during any given year. Staff will try to group the streets for improvement within a neighborhood so that repairs are being done one area at a time.
Village Engineer/Assistant Public Works Director Brandon Tonarelli began to explain the Village’s street rating system. He provided a presentation which included maps of the Village and the current state of each of the Village’s streets.
Tonarelli explained the road maintenance strategy which included the use of the results of the PCI scores along with road history and other maintenance performed to help optimize the road program for each year. Water mains and sanitary sewer repairs are considered. The Village will update the PCI each year but every three to five years the Village has a consultant do a more in depth analysis of the road network, which was last done in 2021.
Finance Director Jason Paprocki explained that the Road Program was paid out of the Village’s Capital Projects fund. He stated that “base revenues” in the Capital Projects fund averages $2 million annually and that supplemental General Fund transfers to the Capital Projects fund over the last four years had been over $9 million total. Paprocki explained that the Village had a healthy reserve in the Village’s Capital Projects fund, however the cost of the Road Program is typically kept below $1.8 million each year.
Administrator Bosco interjected, stating that although the Board was about to be presented with the proposed Road Program for the next year, there could be changes subject to the condition of roads and other areas becoming worse than streets that are ahead of them on the schedule.
Tonarelli stated that staff had projected six years of Road Program plans and he spoke a bit about each year’s projected street repairs. For 2024 there was an estimated 3.3 miles of road to be repaired at a cost of $2.3 million.
There were no question from the Village Board.
4. Public works Building Schematic Design Presentation
Administrator Bosco explained that the agenda item was an update of the current happenings of the proposed Public Works building. He stated that the space needs study had been started in 2019, the Village worked with civil engineering group WBK in 2021, who helped to lay out the engineering for the site plan. Williams Architects was hired to design the facility and Frederick Quinn Corporation was hired as construction manager on the project. Bosco stated that the Village was currently in the phase where Williams was working on schematic design. Bosco explained that before Williams moved on to design development, staff wanted to stop because this is the first time the Board had actually seen full renderings of the building. The next phase would introduce the finishes and circuitry. The responsibility of FQC is to go through the design phase and ensure that the design matched the Village’s budgeted amount.
Administrator Bosco then went through the steps to design/select a facility which included:
1. Validation of the space needs study
2. Schematic design
3. Design development
4. Construction documents
5. Bidding phase
6. Construction phase
Bosco displayed the site plan designed by WBK Engineering. He reminded the Board that the Village had been working on a Land Swap agreement with the Southern Kane County Training Association and the aerial view of the plan incorporated that land. Bosco explained the layout and buildings that were being shown.
He then displayed the floor plan of the proposed public works building and explained they layout.
Administrator Bosco invited Mark Rhode from Williams Architects to present. He explained architectural choices, cost saving measures and aesthetic choices made for the design.
There was discussion regarding the design and layout of the building, including how vehicles would be able to move in and out of the area as well as access to the SKCTA training area.
Mayor Gaffino asked about the longevity of the building and if it would take the Village through its max population. Mr. Rhode stated that the building could last 75-100 years. Bosco stated that size-wise the building is large enough to add staff. In regard to the addition of equipment, Mr. Rhode stated that the parking spaces were currently very generous and could be reduced in size to accommodate more vehicles.
There was additional discussion regarding whether or not the building could be expanded to accommodate more vehicle and equipment storage.
There was further discussion regarding the ingress/egress points for the facility.
Finance Director Jason Paprocki explained that the estimated budget for the building was currently $18 million, the projected debt borrowing was $13 to $18 million. Paprocki stated that the Village would utilize $5 million from the Capital Fund to assist in paying construction costs. Paprocki went on to explain that the Village still has police station debt through January 1, 2029 which equates to $645K annually. He stated that with the Village borrowing $13 million over 20 years, the first five years the Village would make interest only payments until the police department building debt is paid off. Paprocki stated that staff feels confident that this plan would work, based on current revenues, however there would be some risk based on how the economy evolves.
Paprocki then offered options on how the Village could obtain funding for the new public works facility. These options included raising utility taxes, introducing a property tax levy, or increasing the non-home rule sales tax by a half percent.
Bosco recapped the presentation for the Village Board. He stated that the staff was looking for direction form the Board to move forward with development design. He explained that if the Board would like to move forward with the development utilizing internal payment options that the Village currently had, as well as seek referendum options as a backup, that decision would need to be made by the end of 2023 to be placed on the next election cycle ballot.
Rhode estimated that if the project were to move forward the building could be completed by the summer of 2025.
Bosco spoke about bid options for construction. He also stated that the estimate given by Rhode was dependent on a referendum with could push the timeline back by a few months.
Trustee Christiansen asked about the costs to homeowners should a property tax increase be implemented. Bosco explained that he did not have the numbers for that, it was an option that staff would not recommend, opting for a non-home rule sales tax referendum instead.
Trustee Salazar asked if seeking a referendum could be postponed and sought after if it needed while midway through the project. Bosco explained that the Village would not have to tie a referendum into the construction of the building. If the Village decided to fund the project internally, the budget would be tight but staff believed that it could cover the costs. He stated that the Village currently receives a half percent in sales tax revenue and could request up to one percent. Trustee Salazar expressed that if given the options presented, she would opt to raise the sales tax. She stated that she was glad to know that if the Village needed to wait until the next election cycle to introduce a referendum, the Village could do that. Bosco stated that when there is a discussion that focuses more on the financial options for the Village, staff would present more detailed information regarding the Village’s financing options.
Mayor Gaffino stated that if necessary he would prefer the sales tax referendum over taxing utilities. He said that he would prefer taxing optional purchases over essential needs of a resident.
Bosco stated that the staff would come back to the Board within the next month or two with more detailed financial information.
The Village Board expressed positive feedback on the proposed public works facility.
7. Video Gaming
Administrator Bosco stated that the issue of video gaming had been previously discussed at a recent Committee of the Whole meeting. Staff had taken the suggestions offered by the Village Board in an effort to make changes to the code for Board approval. Bosco recapped the suggestions previously offered by the Board which were to add provisions to the code allowing the village the ability to review a business’s financial data to ensure revenue derives mainly from the sale of food and beverage and not video gaming, limit gaming signage to be consistent with restaurant and not a gaming parlor, and base the number of allowable video gaming machines on the overall square footage of the business.
The Village Board reviewed the verbiage of the new proposed code and discussed the option of regulating a business’s number of video gaming machines based on the square footage of the establishment. Staff presented options to the Board of regulating the number of machines based on a 500 square foot, 750 square foot, or 1000 square foot per machine models.
Trustee Curtis suggested opting for the one machine per 500 square foot option citing the Village’s revenue from the machines and the goal of not wanting to be overly restrictive to the Village’s businesses that have incorporated gaming into their business model.
Bosco posed the question to the Village Board of how they would like to address existing businesses if a threshold is set.
There was further discussion regarding the restrictions and the option to grandfather in the existing businesses with Liquor Licenses.
The Trustees expressed their desire to not be too restrictive on business owners, opting for the one machine per 500 square feet suggestion, with hopes that it would also deter potential gaming cafes from operating in the Village.
EXECUTIVE SESSION –
1. Property Acquisition
2. Personnel #1
3. Personnel #2
ADJOURNMENT TO EXECUTIVE SESSION-
Motion to adjourn to Executive Session made by Trustee Guethle and seconded by Trustee Curtis. All in favor. Motion approved.
RETURN FROM EXECUTIVE SESSION-
Mayor Gaffino called the meeting to order.
ROLL CALL
In attendance: Mayor Mark Gaffino, Trustee Jason Christiansen, Trustee Laura Curtis, Trustee Mark Guethle, Trustee Mike Lowery, Trustee Todd Niedzwiedz, Trustee Carolyn Salazar
Staff in attendance: Village Administrator Steve Bosco, Village Attorney Kevin Drendel, Public Works Director Brian Richter, Village Engineer/Assistant Public Works Director Brandon Tonarelli, Police Chief Joe DeLeo.
ADJOURNMENT TO EXECUTIVE SESSION-
Motion to adjourn to Executive Session made by Trustee Guethle and seconded by Trustee Lowery. All in favor. Motion approved.
RETURN FROM EXECUTIVE SESSION-
Mayor Gaffino called the meeting to order.
ROLL CALL
In attendance: Mayor Mark Gaffino, Trustee Jason Christiansen, Trustee Laura Curtis, Trustee Mark Guethle, Trustee Mike Lowery, Trustee Todd Niedzwiedz, Trustee Carolyn Salazar
Staff in attendance: Village Administrator Steve Bosco, Village Attorney Kevin Drendel, Public Works Director Brian Richter, Village Engineer/Assistant Public Works Director Brandon Tonarelli, Police Chief Joe DeLeo.
ADJOURNMENT
Motion to adjourn made by Trustee Guethle and seconded by Trustee Christiansen. All in favor. Motion approved.
Respectfully Submitted,
Jessi Watkins
Village Clerk
