VILLAGE OF ANTIOCH

BOARD OF TRUSTEES, REGULAR MEETING
Municipal Building: 874 Main Street, Antioch, Illinois

January 5, 2004
 

CALL TO ORDER The regular meeting of the Board of Trustees was called to order by Mayor Maravelas at 7:30 p.m. in the Municipal Building: 874 Main Street, Antioch, IL.
ROLL CALL Roll call indicated the following Trustees were present: Pierce, Larson, Caulfield, Porch, Hanson and Turner. Also present were Mayor Maravelas, Attorney Long and Clerk Rowe.
MINUTES 12/15/03 A motion was made by Trustee Porch, seconded by Trustee Larson to approve the minutes from the December 15, 2003 meeting with the following correction:

On page 4492 under CITIZENS; ...Mr. Roe has actions and tendencies...

On roll call, the vote was:
YES: 6; Pierce, Larson, Caulfield, Porch, Hanson and Turner.
NO: 0.
THE MOTION CARRIED.

MINUTES 12/22/03 A motion was made by Trustee Porch, seconded by Trustee Turner to approve the minutes from the December 22, 2003 meeting as presented. On roll call, the vote was:
YES: 4; Larson, Caulfield, Porch and Turner.
NO: 0.
PASS: 2; Pierce and Hanson.
THE MOTION CARRIED.
MAYOR Mayor Maravelas said that during the holiday the Mayor and Board distributed a present to the village employees. He distributed thank you notes that were sent to him from village employees.
CLERK ROWE RESIGNATION Mayor Maravelas read aloud Clerk Rowe’s letter of resignation dated December 22, 2003. Clerk Rowe is resigning from the position of Village Clerk as of January 7, 2004. Mayor Maravelas said that he spoke to Clerk Rowe a couple of days ago and tried to persuade her to stay. It’s up to her.
CLERK ROWE Clerk Rowe read a letter stating that she is ending her employment with the Village of Antioch on January 7. Clerk Rowe said this has been a very difficult decision to make because she loves her job and working for the community, but feels that it is time to look forward to new opportunities. Clerk Rowe thanked those who have supported her efforts throughout her career and that she enjoyed working with many employees and elected officials. She will take with her fond memories of their experiences working together and she wished them much success in the future. Clerk Rowe also thanked the citizens of Antioch for the privilege of working for them. She said that she has met many wonderful people in our community, whether it was at local businesses, village hall or attending village board meetings. She said this has been the bright spot of her career, encouraged her to be the best clerk that she could be and has made her a better person for knowing them. Clerk Rowe also said that in making this decision, she finds that she still has a strong sense of duty to her community and that in time, she will find other ways to give back to the community that has given so much to her.
CITIZENS Mr. Marvin J. Raymond addressed the Board and read his letter of appreciation regarding Senior Planner George Sakas. Mr. Raymond said that it is has been a pleasure working with George Sakas. He said that George Sakas has been the most professional and most helpful in dealing with all the things that he has asked him to help him with and that his cooperation is greatly appreciated.
TRUSTEE TURNER Trustee Turner said that she is professionally and personally devastated by Clerk Rowe’s resignation and she expressed concern with the number of people leaving the Village of Antioch and at some point in time, we need to figure out why and she believes we need to do exit interviews to find out a lot of these people are leaving. She said we are losing qualified professional people and the true losers in all of this, are the people of the Village of Antioch.

Mayor Maravelas said that it is true that Clerk Rowe will be missed but in any government, whenever there is a change, people learn to go on with their life to do better things. He said that it’s not happening here, it is happening all over and referred to the State of Illinois when the governor took office. He said that we can hope to find better educated people so that the government can go on.

Trustee Turner reiterated that we have some very well educated and professional people and they’re leaving and we should find out why. Mayor Maravelas said that he thinks she is wrong, and after what we inherited two and half years ago, it’s a lot better today. Mayor Maravelas said that we are a lot better off in all the departments of the village.

Trustee Caulfield said that he doesn’t believe this is any different than any other business and we shouldn’t discount the fact that these are very talented folks, and it is correct that we have lost some of them, and he doesn’t think it’s right for us to prejudge why they made a decision to go and better themselves. He said that it’s sometimes sad to lose people, but we should be happy for them, because some of those folks are moving onto much better opportunities to suit them.

Trustee Larson said that she doesn’t think that it would hurt to do exit interviews. She said we should find out if we could do something different and better serve the citizens. Mayor Maravelas said that we are serving the citizens better than we were two and half years ago. Trustee Larson said we are a body of government that can be making mistakes, why we don’t find out from the people that have worked for us, if we’re doing something that they don’t like or that we could change and do better. Mayor Maravelas said if we look at the statistics from 2001 to 2004, he asked her if the village is better today, than it was two and half years ago, yes or no. Trustee Larson said she doesn’t know if it’s any better or any worse, it’s different.

Trustee Hanson said that he’s been on the board on and off since 1989 and he doesn’t think we spent this much time ever, asking why people left. He said, now all of sudden it’s a big concern of ours that people are leaving. He said that he sat on the board between 1989 and 1993 and several people have left and we didn’t ask why. Trustee Hanson agreed with Trustee Caulfield’s comments.

Trustee Larson said that we are on third administrator in two and half years and we have gone through almost every department head and we need to take a good hard at ourselves and find out why. Mayor Maravelas said that we have the best chief of police, the best fire chief, the best public works superintendent, and the board hired the new administrator.

Trustee Porch said that since we hired a new administrator why not ask him to make a recommendation to the Board if an exit interview is necessary. Trustee Larson said that we should be directing him. Trustee Porch said that her point was to let Administrator Probst research it and come back to them with a recommendation.

Trustee Pierce said that he spoke with Clerk Rowe earlier today and she did have her exit interview today. He said that he conveyed the Mayor’s wishes for her to stay on and her input was provided to the Mayor. Trustee Larson said that she thinks the rest of the Board should be privy to exit interview information so we can better serve the citizens of the community. Mayor Maravelas said that he didn’t think so. He said “there’s other more important things than worrying about employees leaving or coming.”

TRUSTEE PORCH Trustee Porch said that she didn’t agree with the statement the Mayor just made, she thinks the more educated our board is regarding employee satisfaction concerning their jobs, the better job we can do representing the village.
LORI DAVIS A motion was made by Trustee Caulfield, seconded by Trustee Porch to appoint Lori Davis, Payroll Clerk, as the Authorized Agent for IMRF. On roll call, the vote was:
YES: 6; Pierce, Larson, Caulfield, Porch, Hanson and Turner.
NO: 0.
THE MOTION CARRIED.
AUTHORIZE PAYMENT A motion was made by Trustee Caulfield, seconded by Trustee Larson to authorize payment of accounts payable in the amount of $18,533.34 as prepared by the Village Treasurer. On roll call, the vote was:
YES: 6; Pierce, Larson, Caulfield, Porch, Hanson and Turner.
NO: 0.
THE MOTION CARRIED.
MANUAL CHECKS A motion was made by Trustee Caulfield, seconded by Trustee Porch to approve the manual checks written to date for the water and sewer account in the amount of $42,252.33, the payroll account in the amount of $25,190.78, the Dolly Spiering Fund in the amount of $3,219.69, the general account in the amount of $167,432.01 and the police pension fund in the amount of $1,747.13. On roll call, the vote was:
YES: 6; Pierce, Larson, Caulfield, Porch, Hanson and Turner.
NO: 0.
THE MOTION CARRIED.
TIA CHINN After Trustee Hanson reviewed the letter dated December 19, 2003 a motion was made by Trustee Hanson, seconded by Trustee Pierce to place Dispatcher Tia Chinn on full time status. On roll call, the vote was:
YES: 6; Pierce, Larson, Caulfield, Porch, Hanson and Turner.
NO: 0.
THE MOTION CARRIED.
INTERGOVERNMENTAL AGREEMENT After reviewing the Intergovernmental Agreement creating the Antioch Township Parks Cooperative, a motion was made by Trustee Larson, seconded by Trustee Porch to approve the agreement as reviewed and authorizes the Mayor to sign the agreement. On roll call, the vote was:
YES: 6; Pierce, Larson, Caulfield, Porch, Hanson and Turner.
NO: 0.
THE MOTION CARRIED.
ST. PETER’S CHURCH A motion was made by Trustee Larson, seconded by Trustee Pierce to issue a one-day liquor license to St. Peter’s Church for St. Peter’s Casino Night on January 31, 2004, waiving the fee. On roll call, the vote was:
YES: 6; Pierce, Larson, Caulfield, Porch, Hanson and Turner.
NO: 0.
THE MOTION CARRIED.
TRUSTEE PIERCE Trustee Pierce said that senior council meeting has rescheduled their meeting to 10:00 a.m. on Monday, January 12, 2004. He asked that meeting be properly posted.

Trustee Pierce also said that he will be attending the SMC meeting scheduled on January 8, 2004 in Libertyville. The purpose of the meeting is to review the watershed studies process. Trustee Pierce also said that he is saddened to see Clerk Rowe leave.

ATTORNEY Village Attorney Bob Long reviewed the following ordinances:
04-01-01 A motion was made by Trustee Pierce, seconded by Trustee Turner to waive the second reading and approve Ordinance 04-01-01, entitled, ORDINANCE APPROVING AN AMENDMENT OF THE ANTIOCH COMPREHENSIVE PLAN RELATIVE TO THE EAST ROUTE 173 CORRIDOR FROM GRIMM ROAD TO I-94; PZB03-14. On roll call, the vote was:
YES: 6; Pierce, Larson, Caulfield, Porch, Hanson and Turner.
NO: 0.
THE MOTION CARRIED.
04-01-02 A motion was made by Trustee Pierce, seconded by Trustee Caulfield to waive the second reading and approve Ordinance 04-01-02, entitled, AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 8 OF TITLE 1 OF THE MUNICIPAL CODE OF ANTIOCH. On roll call, the vote was:
YES: 6; Pierce, Larson, Caulfield, Porch, Hanson and Turner.
NO: 0.
THE MOTION CARRIED.
LAKE STREET SIDEWALK There was a brief discussion regarding the sidewalks on Lake Street. The attorney representing one of the owners is asking for a copy of an ordinance passed in 1998. Trustee Porch will bring a copy of the ordinance to the attorney’s office tomorrow morning. There also was a discussion regarding the feasibility of placing temporary barricades to create a walkway on Lake Street.
 
Respectfully submitted,

____________________

Candi L. Rowe, Clerk
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