VILLAGE OF NORTH AURORA
COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING MINUTES
Monday, March 20, 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 Mark Carroll, Trustee Laura Curtis, Trustee Mark Guethle, Trustee Todd Niedzwiedz, Trustee Carolyn Salazar
Staff in attendance: Village Administrator Steve Bosco, Finance Director Jason Paprocki, Community & Economic Development Director Mike Toth, Village Attorney Kevin Drendel, Public Works Director John Laskowski, Police Chief Joe DeLeo.
AUDIENCE COMMENTS – None
TRUSTEE COMMENTS – None
DISCUSSION
1. Park District Liquor Code
Administrator Bosco stated that the Village had a Park District Liquor License classification. He reminded the Board that the Fox Valley Park District has been building a new facility at Lippold Park. He stated that as part of that, the Fox Valley Park District will be looking to host private functions and that would require a change in the Liquor Code. Attorney Drendel and Executive Assistant Natalie Stevens worked with the Fox Valley Park District in order to update the Village Code to reflect what the Park District would like to accomplish with the new facility. Bosco explained that currently the code required park districts to go before the Village Board and have the venue or the park listed in the Code as being allowed to have liquor. In that case, only three locations are currently allowed to have liquor, Red Oak Nature Center, Lippold Park and Island Park. Liquor can only be sold until 10pm at any event at the locations. The changes to the code are a few, increase the hours of operation where liquor can be served from 10pm to 10:30 pm, as requested by the Fox Valley Park District. Another change would be to allow private events to bring liquor in with the requirement to have insured, licensed, trained servers on site and submit that paperwork to the Park District. BYOB would also be allowed with the same requirements of having an insured, licensed and trained individual on site to serve the alcohol and permission from the Village. The same would apply for a host hiring a caterer for their event, the caterer must have a State Caterer Liquor License to serve alcohol.
One additional change will be a name change from Lippold Park to The Wilds of Red Oak.
The Village Board gave positive feedback in regard to the changes.
2. Petition #23-01: 400 Mitchell Road PUD
Administrator Bosco introduced the agenda item, a building at 400 Mitchell Road, which would be under a PUD. He stated that staff was looking for direction on whether the Board thought the PUD should move forward or if there were any questions or concerns about the project.
Community & Economic Development Director Mike Toth explained that the proposed site was at 400 Mitchell Road, northwest corner of I-88 and Mitchell Road on the west side of Mitchell Road. The property was currently vacant and in the Village’s Office, Research, Light Industrial (O-R-I) district. Because the development proposed would be 40 acres and non-residential it is required to be a PUD and have site plan approval.
This proposed development went before the Plan Commission on March 7, 2023 with favorable reviews with the recommendation for approval.
Kelsey Perrin, Vice President with Prologis and Brian Johnson from Pinnacle Engineering were on hand to provide a presentation on the project for the Village Board. Ms. Perrin began with an overview of Prologis, a global owner/operator and developer of industrial real estate. She stated that the interest in the property at 400 Mitchell Road is due to the proximity as well as visibility and access to I-88. Prologis acquired the site from Liberty in 2020, they are now seeking to construct a 604,000 square foot building. Perrin reviewed some renderings of the project, including the condition given by the Plan Commission of including a stop sign in the outbound lanes from the project to regulate traffic. She also spoke about trailer parking and how the availability of it does not necessarily mean additional traffic.
Brian Johnson, a licensed Civil Engineer with Pinnacle Engineering spoke about the logistics of the site and the construction of the proposed building. Johnson stated that the North Aurora Fire Department have given approval for the plan.
Mike Cody, licensed architect for Blair Malcolm spoke about the design of the building. He stated that it would be a Class A industrial building, 50’ tall (40’ clear height). He spoke about the elevation of the proposed building.
The Board had no questions and positive feedback for the proposed development.
Director Toth stated that the next steps would be to bring back the PUD ordinance to the Board for consideration. He also stated that there were no deviations for consideration.
3. Site Plan Approval #23-01: Opus 1-88 Corporate Park Building C
Administrator Bosco reminded the Board that the plan under consideration already has two buildings built, this item for discussion was for the third building. He stated that staff was looking for direction on whether to move forward.
Director Toth reminded the Board that in 2021 the Village Board approved the PUD for Opus I-88 Corporate Park which was the former Valley Green Golf Course. Buildings A and B were part of phase one of the project, building C was part of phase two. Building C was required by the PUD to come back before building permit to get site plan approval. Building C meets all of the requirement of the PUD it just has the requirement to come back for approval before building C construction. This item went before the Plan Commission on March 7th, 2023 with a favorable recommendation.
Mike Robinson of Opus Development Company was on hand to present the proposed project, building C to the Village Board. He began with information regarding Opus, stating that they are head quartered in Minneapolis. Opus has architecture and engineering in house. He then spoke about the project, stating that they tried not to stray from the original plan that had previously been approved by the Village Board. He said the changes were that the office had been moved from the southwest corner of the building to the northwest corner. He also stated that the future truck and bypass lane that had previously been approved in the original phase, will not be build but replaced by a landscaping feature of a mound. Building C will also be decrease by 19 square feet due to precast panel thickness has decreased. Landscaping plans had not changed since original approval. The elevation of the building will be the same as building B.
Trustee Niedzwiedz asked staff if there had been any feedback from residents around the project, to which staff replied that there had not.
Village Board provided positive feedback for the project.
Director Toth stated that the final approval of the site plan will be brought back before the Board.
4. FY 2023-24 Draft Budget
Administrator Bosco reminded the Village Board that a budget overview was presented two weeks ago at the last Committee of the Whole meeting, the presentation for this meeting was a more in depth overview of the budget.
Finance Director Jason Paprocki began with a high level overview of all the funds, budget revenues and expenditures for the year. In a summary of all the funds, he stated that revenues were $31.1 million while expenditures were $35.8 million with a net decrease of $4.7 million. Paprocki said that the majority of the movement was within the capital projects fund. The majority of the Village’s revenue is made up by sales tax, $8.4 million was projected in sales tax for 2023-2024. Paprocki explained that staff expected post pandemic purchases to slow with rising interest rates resulting in a projected decrease of 2.8% of sales tax revenue.
In terms of expenditures, personnel makes up a majority. Paprocki spoke about the Personnel changes for the upcoming year including pay increases and benefit changes. He spoke in detail regarding the Police Pension Funding. He stated that there is expected to be a surplus in the General Fund with has historically been transferred to the Capital Projects fund. Staff researched the impact of transferring additional funds from the General Fund to the Police Pension Fund instead, he said that the impact would not be monumental.
Paprocki went over the General Fund, the history of it and what to expect going forward into the next year. He detailed the General Fund department budgeted expenditures.
Paprocki moved on to the Capital Projects fund. He stated that staff expected to spend a lot of reserve funds in the upcoming year. He listed the projects expected in the upcoming year. This list included the Annual Road Program, Chestnut, Locust, Spruce Road improvements, Clearwater, Lovedale, Offutt Road improvements, Public Works facility engineering/design/construction management, Police Department Bollard Replacement, Pedestrian Traffic Signal Randall and Ritter/Dogwood, and Tanner Storm Sewer Improvements.
Paprocki spoke about the Water Fund and the water rate increase to be voted on which will go into effect on June 1, 2023.
Administrator Bosco spoke about a long term cell tower lease that was lost due to the merging of cell carrier companies which will be a loss of about $50,000 a year.
Paprocki highlighted the major expenses for the Water Fund in the upcoming year including a new Laborer position, system upgrades and improvements.
The Vehicle and Equipment Fund summary was discussed next. Paprocki stated that there were vehicles that were ordered the previous year and were yet to be delivered so they will appear on the upcoming budget. He detailed the vehicles to be purchased, replacement of three Police Ford Explorers (carryover), replacement of four Ford Explorers, new Public Works Ford F-350 (carryover), new Public Works Ford F-350, used Public Works Dump Truck, new Public Works 5-yard Truck w/hook lift, v-box spreader, anti-ice tank, and replace Public Works Grumman Van w/enclosed service truck.
Paprocki finished his presentation touching on other funds, Motor Fuel Tax Fund, Route 31 TIF, United TIF, Insurance Fund, Tourism Fund, Special Service Areas Fund, Sanitary Sewer Fund, Police Station Debt Service Fund and Police Pension Trust Fund.
Paprocki stated that the 2023-24 budget timeline was to have additional discussion at the Committee of the Whole on April 3, 2023 and April 17, 2023 if needed. An official Public Hearing on April 17, 2023 and a FY 2023-24 Budget Ordinance presented on May 1, 2023.
There were no further questions from the Village Board.
ADJOURNMENT TO EXECUTIVE SESSION
Motion to adjourn to Executive Session made by Trustee Guethle and seconded by Trustee Carroll. All in favor. Motion approved.
EXECUTIVE SESSION –
1. Property Acquisition
2. Personnel
RETURN FROM EXECUTIVE SESSION
CALL TO ORDER
Mayor Gaffino called the meeting to order.
ROLL CALL
In attendance: Mayor Mark Gaffino, Trustee Mark Carroll, Trustee Laura Curtis, Trustee Mark Guethle, Trustee Todd Niedzwiedz, Trustee Carolyn Salazar
Staff in attendance: Village Administrator Steve Bosco, Finance Director Jason Paprocki, Village Attorney Kevin Drendel, Police Chief Joe DeLeo.
ADJOURNMENT
Motion to adjourn made by Trustee Niedzwiedz and seconded by Trustee Carroll. All in favor. Motion approved.
Respectfully Submitted,
Jessi Watkins
Village Clerk
