Kendall County Times

Village of Oswego Committee of the Whole met Dec. 10.

Here are the minutes provided by the committee:

CALL TO ORDER

President Ryan Kauffman called the meeting to order at 6:02 p.m.

ROLL CALL

Board Members Physically Present: President Ryan Kauffman; Trustees Tom Guist, Kit Kuhrt, Karin McCarthy Lange, Karen Novy, and Jennifer Jones Sinnott.

Board Members Attended Electronically: Trustee Andrew Torres

Staff Physically Present: Dan Di Santo, Village Administrator; Jean Bueche, Asst. Village Administrator; Tina Touchette, Village Clerk; Jason Bastin, Police Chief; Chris Biggs, Deputy Chief; Jennifer Hughes, Public Works Director; Curt Cassidy, Incoming Public Works Director; Andrea Lamberg, Finance Director; Rod Zenner, Development Services Director; Joe Renzetti, IT Director; Kevin Leighty, Economic Development Director; Maddie Upham, Management Analyst; Bridget Bittman, Communications Manager; Dave Silverman, Village Attorney; and Greg Jones, Village Attorney.

CONSIDERATION OF AND POSSIBLE ACTIONS ON ANY REQUESTS FOR ELECTRONIC PARTICIPATION IN MEETING

President Kauffman noted that Trustee Torres would like to electronically attend tonight’s Committee of the Whole meeting. He submitted the necessary documents to the Village Clerk.

A motion was made by Trustee McCarthy-Lange and seconded by Trustee Jones Sinnott to approve Trustee Andrew Torres to electronically attend the December 10, 2024 Committee of the Whole Meeting.

Aye: Tom Guist Karin McCarthy-Lange

Karen Novy Jennifer Jones Sinnott

Nay: Kit Kuhrt

Absent: Andrew Torres

The motion was declared carried by a roll call vote with four (4) aye votes and one (1) nay vote. Trustee Andrew Torres attended electronically at 6:03 p.m.

PUBLIC FORUM

Public Forum was opened at 6:04 p.m. There was no one who requested to speak. The public forum was closed at 6:04 p.m.

OLD BUSINESS

There was no old business.

NEW BUSINESS

F.1 Retirement - Deputy Chief Chris Biggs

Chief Bastin asked Deputy Chief Biggs to come to the front. He noted that Deputy Chief Biggs’ wife and son were here, but his daughter could not be here; he briefly spoke about Deputy Chief Biggs’ history and accomplishments with the Police Department; he read the retirement letter that Deputy Chief Biggs’ submitted; he thanked him for his service, his big heart, and how much he will be missed. President Kauffman stated the love for Chris is

palpable and read the retirement proclamation. Pictures were taken and Deputy Chief Biggs shook hands and hugged everyone at the dais.

F.2 Presentation by Oswego Catalyst Group, LLC regarding the Oswego Unity Fields Concept. The presenter did not attend.

F.3 Tax Increment Financing Fund Financial Update

Director Lamberg addressed the Board regarding the TIF Fund financial update. She presented the following and noted that our TIF Attorney, Greg Jones and TIF Consultant, Zoran Milutinovic are in attendance and available to answer questions.

Board and staff discussion focused on original budget from 2016 was $24 million; reimbursements; improvements that are TIF eligible can transfer to the General, Garbage or other Funds; transfers can happen at any time; don’t have to wait 23 years to do transfers; $3 million was not taken as revenue because we have been using for capital projects; could take funds multiple times, but it’s usually during the second half of the TIF; numbers came from future costs; future projects not happening anytime soon; staff looked out 23 years to see what a fully developed downtown would look like; understanding why we have projects in the TIF; numbers keep getting bigger; at what point can an assessment be made on the progress of the TIF; how will the increment look; difficult to predict future development; the magnitude of the Reserve at Hudson Crossing project was not known; amendments to a TIF once development is spurred; need to look at budget and expenses that could occur; can fine tune projections; $500,000 was not projected from the Senior Living development; like to have a high number so we don’t have to do another amendment to the TIF; we have an outlined TIF area; we should have an idea of what is and could be developed; could better identify down the road; could project property tax increment; could do an annual basis for projections; no concerns with expenses and increment coming in now; taxes are not to cover bonds; Shodeen is making direct payments to the Village; first two years not enough, but at some point it will flip by the end of the TIF; if we didn’t have the TIF, then we wouldn’t have the $1 million and this in only one project; Shodeen north building will not have the same impact because it’s smaller and the bond is smaller; still need to bring the Shodeen north building to the Board for approval; will ask for updated numbers for the increment; all the TIF budget has been on one building, the parking garage, and Adams Street; we have other big projects, such as water, that we could be issuing bonds for; at what point should we adjust the TIF budget; whether other communities exceed the budget; need to look at the big picture; would prefer a one-time budget amendment to the TIF; it’s a long process and it costs money; amendments to TIF’s are not something you want to do every year; want to come up with a far reaching number so we don’t have to amend the TIF again; will be difficult for future Boards to grasp a TIF; be mindful of projections and what is reasonable or not realistic; whether we are ok with how we are with our TIF; at the beginning of a TIF, you need to make an investment to spur development; increase budget to the wish list of $51 million; could increase in the future if another large development comes in; tend to stay conservative when you first start the TIF; if staff gets direction to do an amendment, we can get started on it, or we can wait a couple years; Zoran can run the models to see the increment; large undeveloped parcels; whether it becomes easier as parcels develop and expenses go away; can predict or develop incentives; get to the point where you don’t have to give incentives; have a discussion on the comprehensive plan and discuss a TIF budget amendment afterwards; comprehensive plan discussion is scheduled for 2025 and will be finalized in 2026. There was no further discussion.

CLOSED SESSION

There was no closed session.

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting adjourned at 6:54 p.m.

https://legistarweb-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/attachment/pdf/3048690/2024.12.10_Committee_of_the_Whole_Minutes.pdf