City Council

MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING OF THE ZION CITY COUNCIL HELD ON TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2025 AT 7:00 P.M. IN THE CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS, CITY HALL, 2828 SHERIDAN ROAD, ZION, ILLINOIS Mayor McKinney called the meeting to order. On call of the roll the following answered present: Commissioners Fischer, Stackhouse, Frierson, and Mayor McKinney. Commissioner McDowell was absent. A quorum was present. Also present: Fire Chief Justin Stried, Police Chief Eric Barden, Public Works Director Vic Ransom, City Administrator David Knabel and City Attorney James Vasselli. Building & Zoning Director Rich Ianson, Finance Director Kris Conway and Economic Development Director Sonolito Bronson were absent. William Bremner led in the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. AGENDA CHANGES It was moved by Commissioner Frierson, seconded by Commissioner Fischer to accept the City Council meeting agenda as presented. The vote on roll call was: Commissioner Fischer, aye; Stackhouse, aye; Frierson, aye; and Mayor McKinney, aye. Motion carried. CITIZEN COMMENTS Mary Lou Hiltibran, ESDA Director, gave a monthly report of the recent activities that ESDA performed in assistance to the City. Those interested in becoming a volunteer can go to the City’s website for an application or by calling to inquire at 847-872-5511. Mayor McKinney thanked ESDA for all they do for the City. Kenneth Anderson, Zion resident, thanked the Council for what they do. Additionally, he voiced his concerns over City snow removal. He noted that the plows plow in the handicap accessibility sidewalk and he takes it upon himself to clear it out. He is concerned if there is a medical emergency those areas are blocked off. CONSENT AGENDA It was moved by Commissioner Fischer, seconded by Commissioner Stackhouse that the Minutes be approved as follows: (a) APPROVAL OF MINUTES: a Regular Meeting held on November 18, 2025 at 7:00 p.m.; approval but not release of Closed Session Minutes of a meeting held on November 4, 2025 at 7:35 p.m. and Closed Session Minutes of a meeting held on November 18, 2025 at 7:45 p.m. The vote on roll call was: Commissioners Fischer, aye; Stackhouse, aye; Frierson, aye; and Mayor McKinney, aye. Motion carried. RESOLUTION/TRUTH IN TAXATION A memo (25-DOC-95) was received from Administrator Knabel requesting approval of the Truth in Taxation Resolution. Administrator Knabel stated the City is required to pass an estimate of levy in advance of the adoption of the 2025 property tax levy. Additionally, if that amount is more than 105% of the preceding year, they are required to hold a public hearing. The Truth in Taxation Resolution establishes the estimate and also serves as notice of the date of the public hearing as the proposed increase is 8.77%. The reason for the increase is the way the CEJA legislation for tax reduction is written. In the 2024 levy they decreased the levy roughly $1 million from where it normally would have been under PTELL limits. However, the CEJA funds stipulate that the reimbursement is based on funds abated, not reduced. Therefore, they have to establish the levy at the normal level and then abate the funds under the grant to be eligible for reimbursement. The prior year extension (or tax funds collected) were $8,308,723. The current estimate of levy is $9,037,238. However, after the $1,5385,876.56 abatement under the CEJA grant, they expect an extension of $7,498,361. Even though the prior year levy was down by roughly $1 million, they will expect to see an additional $810,362 reduction once they finish with all the abatements. This brings the City property taxes collected from the residents and businesses down by 15% from the high in 2023.  12/2/25 There will be a public hearing for the levy at the next Council meeting as required, then they will have a special meeting subsequent to that for the actual adoption of the levy due to the timing requirements of the postings. He noted as of today, they still have not received a notice of funding opportunity or the rules and requirements on how the third round of funding is going to work but will still need file the levy with the County by the last Tuesday in December. Therefore, being backed into a corner timing wise. Although he noted that they did receive a letter saying what they needed to and what they were going to guarantee in funding trying to give them some guidance while they work on the notice of funding opportunity. It was moved by Commissioner Fischer, seconded by Commissioner Stackhouse that a Resolution (25-R-19) be passed estimating that the proposed corporate and special purpose property taxes to be levied for 2025 are $9,037,238 which represents an 8.77% increase over the previous year. The vote on roll call was: Commissioners Fischer, aye; Stackhouse, aye; Frierson, aye; and Mayor McKinney, aye. Motion carried. Resolution passed. DEPARTMENTAL COMMENTARY Director Ransom stated the following: The last week of October 2025 the server that stores all of the City of Zion’s water meter readings had a catastrophic failure. The result of this is all meter readings between October of 2022 and November 19th of 2025 were lost. This server only stored the readings, all meters that are in the distribution system are working properly, but once they sent the daily readings they were not stored. The system was moved to a new server on 11/19/2025. On or about that date readings were being stored again and the bill tabulation process began. The typical billing cycle is 90 days due to the fact we were not able to start collecting readings again until around the 19th of the month this cycle will be closer to 120 days. This will result in the next cycle being closer to 70 days. This being said the November 30th mailing of water bills for section 1 has not happened as of yet. The new time line for billing is as follows: • New Mailing/Billing Date: 12/15/25 • New Due Date: 01/05/26 • Shut-off Date: 01/21/26 This new schedule is only for the affected area which is section 1 of the billing cycle. The businesses and residences in section 1 are all addresses on: Edina Ave, Elizabeth Ave, Elim Ave, Sheridan Rd, Elisha Ave, Emmaus Ave, Enoch Ave, Eshcol Ave, Bethel Blvd, and Ezekiel Ave. The entire subdivisions of Harbor Ridge, Sunset Ridge, Countrywood Hills, and Butterfield Place Chief Stried shared the following; • He asked that residents keep their sidewalks and front door areas clear for EMS if necessary. • He asked that residents also try and keep the fire hydrants clear. • He reminded residents to keep their Christmas trees watered. Chief Barden noted the following: • He reminded everyone about Shop with a Cop and that they are still asking for donations. He invited people to go the PD Facebook page and look for the QR code to make a donation. • He noted that there were a lot of vehicles left on the street during the recent snow storm. The snow ordinance goes into effect after 2 inches of snow. He noted during a snow storm, there is no parking permitted at all on streets as the snow plows cannot get the roads clean with cars in the way. He announced that they will be issuing citations. Mayor McKinney asked if they will be trying to find ways to communicate this with the residents. Chief Barden stated that they will come up with ways to share the parking restrictions with the residents. Administrator Knabel noted that if residents want to know if they have been affected by the delayed water bills they can check their bills to see if their bill begins with an 01. Commissioner Frierson stated that in addition to getting the cars off the street, they are also requesting that people not park on the City property of the parkway in front of their residence as well. Additionally, asking that they also try and keep the walkways and sidewalks as clear as possible, noting it is a courtesy thing.  12/2/25 Commissioner Stackhouse thanked all the City workers for the work they do to help keep the City safe. Mayor McKinney noted that they City is always trying to find ways to improve things regarding snow. ANNOUNCEMENTS December 16 6:00 p.m. Zion Township Board Meeting 7:00 p.m. Zion City Council Meeting CLOSED SESSION It was moved by Commissioner Frierson, seconded by Commissioner Stackhouse that the Council recess to Closed Session at 7:26 p.m., pursuant to 5 ILCS 120/2 “Open Meetings”, for the discussion of filed, pending, possible and/or probable or imminent litigation, personnel, purchase or sale of real estate, collective bargaining, legal counsel and personnel. The vote on roll call was: Commissioners Fischer, aye; Stackhouse, aye; Frierson, aye; and Mayor McKinney, aye. Motion carried. It was moved by Commissioner Frierson seconded by Commissioner Fischer to reconvene the Regular Council meeting at 8:06 p.m. with all members present. The vote on roll call was: Commissioners Fischer, aye; Stackhouse, aye; Frierson, aye; and Mayor McKinney, aye. Motion carried. HIRING OF PATROL OFFICER It was moved by Commissioner Stackhouse, seconded by Commissioner Fischer to approve hiring one (1) patrol officer and requesting the name of the next qualified candidate from the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners Patrol Officer Eligibility list. The vote on roll call was: Commissioners Fischer, aye; Stackhouse, aye; Frierson, aye; and Mayor McKinney, aye. Motion carried RESOLUTION/SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT/MONSANTO COMPANY It was moved by Commissioner Fischer, seconded by Commissioner Stackhouse that a Resolution (25-R-20) be passed approving a Settlement Agreement with Monsanto Company, Solutia Inc., and Pharmacia LLC regarding Polychlorinated Biphenyl (PCB) Contamination of Stormwater. The vote on roll call was: Commissioners Fischer, aye; Stackhouse, aye; Frierson, aye; and Mayor McKinney, aye. Motion carried. Resolution passed. ADJOURN There being no further business to come before the Council at this time, it was moved by Commissioner Frierson, seconded by Commissioner Fischer and unanimously approved the meeting be adjourned at 8:10 p.m. Motion carried. _____________________________________________ City Clerk