VILLAGE OF ANTIOCH

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

March 10, 2003
7:30 p.m.

 

CALL TO ORDER The special meeting of the Board of Trustees was called to order by Mayor Maravelas at 7:00 p.m. in the Municipal Building: 874 Main Street, Antioch, IL.
ROLL CALL Roll call indicated the following Trustees were present: Pierce, Caulfield, Foresta, Porch and Hanson. Also present were Mayor Maravelas, Village Attorney Robert Long, and Village Administrator Michael Haley. Absent: Trustee Larson and Clerk Rowe.
ACTING CLERK A motion was made by Trustee Porch, seconded by Trustee Caulfield to appoint Administrator Michael Haley as acting clerk for tonight’s meeting. On roll call, the vote was:

YES: 4; Pierce, Caulfield, Foresta, Porch and Hanson.

NO: 0.

ABSENT: 1; Larson

THE MOTION CARRIED.

RT. 173 CORRIDOR Trustee Pierce said the Smith Engineering/Kretchmer proposal for the Route 173 Corridor has been received. The cost of the proposal is $76,000. Trustee Pierce said that he’s had discussions with Mayor Maravelas and Trustee Caulfield and that he would like to table this matter to the April 7, 2003 regular meeting in order to provide staff with the time to send out a request for proposal from other consultants so we can verify the accuracy of the figures in this proposal.

Trustee Porch said she spoke with the Friedman Study Group this past week and they said it would take them two weeks from time they got to sit down with Mr. Silhan, Director of Planning, Zoning and Building to draft a proposal.

A motion was made by Trustee Pierce, seconded by Trustee Caulfield to table the proposal from Smith Engineering, SEC Planning, and Valerie S. Kretchmer Associates to the April 7, 2003 regular meeting. On roll call, the vote was:

YES: 4; Pierce, Caulfield, Foresta, Porch and Hanson.

NO: 0.

ABSENT: 1; Larson

THE MOTION CARRIED.

Trustee Pierce asked Senior Planner George Sakas to draft an outline for request for proposal for the Route 173 Corridor Plan to send out to consultants. The draft outline was distributed to the Board.

Robert Silhan, Director of Planning, Zoning and Building said that the outline that has been prepared is basically the outline that Smith and Kretchmer were working off of. He said, “so, if we want a comparative proposal from another consulting group, he believes the Village Board would want it from the same basic outline.” Trustee Porch asked Mr. Silhan if we should be proposing all the phases at one time so it would not be piecemeal. Mayor Maravelas said we may not do the other corridors or we might not get there, so we do six months at a time, why spend the money? Trustee Porch said why not have for the future a full package rather than one section and then years later or whatever do another section? Robert Silhan suggested we keep it separate only from the stand point that if we are not pleased with the consultant we choose for East Route 173, or if you think there is a better consultant to use for the downtown area, go out for a request for proposal just for that. He went on to say, “there’s no reason why we can’t be talking about that request for proposal while we’re doing the Route 173 Corridor Plan; prepare a proposal for the downtown area. You may want the same consultants or you may want a different consultant.” Trustee Porch asked Mr. Silhan if he thought it would be advantageous to have an overall master plan. Mr. Silhan said that eventually this will evolve into an overall master plan but we have a three-phase moratorium before us. As we divide it up, this basic project is an awful lot to do and dividing into manageable pieces makes a lot of sense. The consultants that we will speak to are professionals that are very well aware that Antioch is concerned about their downtown area. So, if we’re doing a Route 173 Corridor Study, he certainly would expect that the consultants are going to ask us, when they meet with staff, what is going on with the downtown area and other business areas in the community.

Trustee Hanson asked Mr. Darryl May, present in the audience and who has been involved from the initial corridor study, what his opinion regarding tying that plan into the downtown? He asked, “Was it a main concern that all along in order for this plan to work it has to tie into the downtown?” Mr. May responded, “Absolutely, in my mind, I’m an amateur of course, but that’s the one thing in my mind that’s important and it seems to me that Kretchmer and Smith both are very concerned about that. It has not become a separate entity from the downtown and therefore, work out to be something that would bleed business and destroy the downtown. It would have to be tied in.” Trustee Caulfield said that he believes there wouldn’t be anything wrong to include language in the request to indicate that this is the first of three steps and that eventually these will all tie together. He doesn’t believe there is anything wrong with sending out for bids and letting them know the whole plan. Attorney Long suggested that could be done in the cover letter sent along with the request for proposals. Trustee Pierce said that he asked Valerie Kretchmer for a name of another consultant firm. He was given the name of Tuska Associates, Inc. out of Evanston, IL. He said, “So we have a list of three consultants and the overall idea is to get the best consultant at the best time. It will be our job all along to drive this plan whether we use one consultant on one part and another consultant on another part.” Trustee Porch asked Mr. Silhan if he knew of Tuska Associates. Mr. Silhan said that he’s had experience working with Tuska Associates; they were consultants planners for the Village of Barrington. He said, “They are a very competent group and they have a spin-off agency that specifically is used for downtown areas and corridor plans.” Trustee Porch asked if he’s worked with Kretchmer and Associates previously to Wal-Mart. Mr. Silhan said that he is familiar with Kretchmer and Associates from some of the contract work that they did with Metra and he’s familiar with one of their associates who worked with the City of Des Plaines about the same time he was working for the Village of Barrington.

AGENDA Trustee Porch asked why an item that she requested be placed on the agenda isn’t there. Mayor Maravelas said that he removed the item from agenda because we have other things we have to do. Attorney Long said that agenda’s are up to corporate authorities to set. Trustee Porch asked if there is currently a contractor involved with the high school and the methane plant? Attorney Long stated that there is and after he realized it wasn’t on the agenda this afternoon, he talked to the high school Attorney. They are renting machines that is costing them a significant amount of money on daily basis and they’ve asked us to consider, if at all possible, to call another special meeting on Wednesday to explain the draft agreement between the high school and village. There was a brief discussion regarding the availability of the Board to call a special meeting.
EXECUTIVE SESSION A motion was made by Trustee Hanson, seconded by Trustee Caulfield for the Mayor and Board of Trustees to go into executive session at 7:15 p.m. to discuss pending litigation. On roll call the vote was:

YES: 4; Pierce, Caulfield, Foresta, Porch and Hanson.

NO: 0.

ABSENT: 1; Larson

THE MOTION CARRIED.

RETURN A motion was made by Trustee Hanson, seconded by Trustee Porch for the Mayor and Board of Trustees to return from executive session and resume the special meeting at 7:31 p.m. with no action taken. On roll call the vote was:

YES: 5; Pierce, Caulfield, Foresta, Porch and Hanson.

NO: 0.

ABSENT: 1; Larson.

THE MOTION CARRIED.

ADJOURN A motion was made by Trustee Hanson, seconded by Trustee Pierce to adjourn the special meeting of the Board of Trustees at 7:32 p.m.
 
Respectfully submitted,

____________________

Candi L. Rowe, Clerk
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