12549 MINUTES OF THE RESCHEDULED REGULAR MEETING OF THE VILLAGE BOARD OF THE VILLAGE OF BUFFALO GROVE HELD IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS, 50 RAUPP BOULEVARD, BUFFALO GROVE, ILLINOIS ON MONDAY, AUGUST 8, 2011 CALL TO ORDER President Braiman called the meeting to order at 7:30 P.M. Those present stood and pledged allegiance to the Flag. ROLL CALL Roll call indicated the following present: President Braiman; Trustees Berman, Trilling, Sussman, Terson, Stein and Ottenheimer. Also present were: Dane Bragg, Village Manager; William Raysa, Village Attorney; Ghida Neukirch, Deputy Village Manager; Scott Anderson, Director of Finance; Art Malinowski, Director of Human Resources; Gregory Boysen, Director of Public Works; Brian Sheehan, Deputy Building Commissioner - Operations; Carol Berman, Deputy Building Commissioner-Administration; Robert Pfeil, Village Planner; Fire Chief Vavra; and Police Chief Balinski. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Moved by Ottenheimer, seconded by Sussman, to approve the minutes of the July 25, 2011 Rescheduled Regular Meeting. Upon roll, Trustees voted as follows: AYES: 6 Berman, Trilling, Sussman, Terson, Stein, Ottenheimer Moved by Berman, seconded by Sussman, to approve the minutes of the July 18, 2011 Committee of the Whole Meeting. Upon roll, Trustees voted as follows: AYES: 6 Berman, Trilling, Sussman, Terson, Stein, Ottenheimer WARRANT #1171 Mr. Anderson read Warrant #1171. Moved by Sussman, seconded by Trilling, to approve Warrant #1171 in the amount of $3,338,031.53, authorizing payment of bills listed. Upon roll call, Trustees voted as follows: AYES: 6 Berman, Trilling, Sussman, Terson, Stein, Ottenheimer BUFFALO GROVE FIRE DEPARTMENT AMERICAN FLAG PRESENTATION An American Flag that was flown over the Base Defense Operation Center, 3 rd Battalion 25 th Marines Forward Camp Leatherneck in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan on February 20, 2011 was presented to the Buffalo Grove Fire Department by Sgt. William Adam Chapman. Sgt. Chapman s uncles, Jim and Kevin Hauber, are members of the Buffalo Grove Fire Department, and this flag was flown in their honor. Chief Vavra noted that Sgt. Chapman s actions touched those in the Department who hold the military in the highest esteem, and demonstrated his dedication by thinking of the Fire Department and his uncles. Chief Vavra thanked Sgt. Chapman and the Marines for this honor.
12550 The Flag will be proudly displayed in a case at one of the Buffalo Grove Fire Stations. President Braiman thanked Sgt. Chapman for his efforts in securing this honor, and he thanked him for his service and noted how much we appreciate his service. VILLAGE PRESIDENT S REPORT President Braiman noted that the Illinois Tollway Authority will be holding a public meeting regarding the proposed Capital Plan at Village Hall on August 23, 2011 at 7:00 P.M. The Illinois House Committee on Public Utilities will be holding a special hearing on power outages on August 16, 2011 at Highland Park Country Club, and President Braiman urged residents to attend and take advantage of this opportunity to speak. President Braiman stated that he had previously noted that on July 14, 2011, Land & Lakes filed their amendment to the post-closure petition as required by the IEPA. This amendment is now posted on the home page of the Village website. There have been no hits and no one has accessed the report, so it will now be moved to another location on the website. President Braiman reported that our long time Village Treasurer and Buffalo Grove Days Parade Chairman, Joe Tenerelli, passed away this past week. Mr. Tenerelli was a great asset to the Village, and will be missed by all who knew him, and condolences go out to his friends and family. VILLAGE MANAGER S REPORT Mr. Bragg noted that Art Barsema and Diane Emerson, representing ComEd, Chris Nelson, representing Comcast, and David Strahl, representing AT&T, are present tonight to talk about their responses to the storms that occurred during the month of July within the Village. Diane Emerson, External Affairs Manager for ComEd, thanked the staff and residents of Buffalo Grove for their support and patience as they all faced the challenges that the devastating storms caused. ComEd realizes that power outages are extremely frustrating to customers, and they regret the disruption that these outages have caused. Art Barsema, External Affairs Director for the North Region of ComEd, reviewed this summer s storm restoration efforts. Mr. Barsema stated that they are present tonight to make a brief presentation, but also to listen to customers. ComEd is reviewing what has happened this summer, why it happened and what they can do to improve. During a PowerPoint presentation, Mr. Barsema addressed the reason for the duration of the outages, the damage that occurred, prioritization of restoration, communications, and ComEd's plans and proposals for a smart grid upgrade and modernization intended to reduce the extent of future outages, and other opportunities for improvement. President Braiman stated that his request to have ComEd address the Board tonight is to get information and answers; he is concerned with the number of outages; he is concerned with the amount of time that residents were without power, some for four to five days; and he is concerned with the communication aspect, which was virtually non-existent. Trustee Berman thanked Ms. Emerson and Mr. Barsema for being here tonight, noting he realizes that they are the representatives and not the ultimate decision makers. Trustee Berman stated that he has some strong comments to make and wanted to be sure that they understand that they are directed to ComEd as an institution and not at them personally. Trustee Berman then presented a prepared statement expressing the frustration of the Village as to the number of outages, the length of the outages, poor communications, and ComEd's lack of effort to enhance its capability to respond to adverse circumstances so as to improve its performance in the future. From his perspective, the existing ComEd infrastructure either was not well constructed or has not been well maintained, and it is now incapable of withstanding even ordinary conditions and circumstances. Reliability problems are caused by ComEd's
12551 neglected, out of date, and overused network. Trustee Berman questions whether ComEd has focused enough resources on service reliability. Figuratively speaking, if a system is built out of balsa and chewing gum, and it is repaired with duct tape and Kleenex, there is no credibility to complain that the wind and the rain caused it to break down. The emphasis on the Smart Grid only contributes to a general aura of cynicism, and he cannot accept ComEd s suggestion that the proposed Smart Grid is the entire answer to the questions that have been asked or the problems that have been seen this summer. Trustee Berman then read a letter from a resident who was without power for several days, noting that his outage was just a matter of extreme inconvenience, and acknowledging that he believed the ComEd crews were working very hard, but expressing that ComEd's poor communication of information was what he found most problematic. Trustee Berman stated his observation that the substantial increase in the number and severity of outages in the Village in the past few years seems to coincide with changes made by ComEd to the Aptakisic Road substation. Given that a large area involved in those outages is served by underground utility wires, it is very difficult to understand why outages are now occurring more frequently. Trustee Berman would like to see ComEd provide specific data on outages that took place both before and after the changes to the Aptakisic Road substation, and conduct a bona fide investigation as to whether those modifications have played a role in the increase and in the number and severity of the outages suffered in this community. Mr. Barsema stated that all of the information received is being discussed within the top levels of ComEd, and communication aspects identified is one of the key factors. They will work with Village staff and keep them apprised. President Braiman asked if there is any time table at all for ComEd to deal with at least the communication aspect. Mr. Barsema stated that they do not have a time table at this point, but they will keep in close contact with Village staff. Trustee Sussman noted that it is very important to remember that many residents suffer from medical conditions that are affected when they do not have electricity; power loss does much more than cause frustration for them, it directly impacts their health. Trustee Ottenheimer asked who makes the determination as to when power will be restored when a resident calls ComEd to report an outage. He noted that the information is very often incorrect, and the customer might prefer to be told that ComEd does not know when restoration will take place rather than to be provided with incorrect information. Mr. Barsema responded to Trustee Ottenheimer, noting that it is often very difficult to predict project restoration times because of what is taking place in the field. Jerry Cooper, 479 Satinwood Terrace, agreed with Trustee Berman and stated that many residents of the Woodlands of Fiore have been out of power five or six times, and he believes that there is something intrinsically wrong. After the last storm, Mr. Cooper needed to stay in a hotel for five days. There is an issue with the Woodlands of Fiore subdivision that goes beyond the July storm. In addition, ComEd's communication is poor. He would like to know what is going on and what the plans are to fix the problem. President Braiman asked if ComEd could check into the issue of the Aptakisic substation, as well as the Discover property on Lake Cook Road. Mark Elias, 664 White Pine, stated that he does not believe ComEd, however, he does believe the Board, and he asked that the Board request that ComEd send a decision-maker to the meeting, rather than the public relations people. Jeff Parker, 1020 Plum Grove Circle, stated that he is speaking on behalf of the elderly who lose power, since they might not have the ability to replace food that is spoiled.
12552 Mark Epton, 1144 Franklin, stated that he is a ComEd retiree, and he supports Mr. Barsema; he noted that ComEd practices and trains for incidents that occur during the summer; he believes that it is difficult to separate ComEd s reliability issues, ComEd s storm performance, and the Smart Grid of the future. Mr. Barsema and Ms. Emerson represent ComEd, but there needs to be a dialog to make suggestions and recommendations. Also, since 9/11/2001, ComEd has made changes in how they release and share information with communities and large customers. Edward Kaplan, 2108 Brandywyn, is also a resident of Woodlands of Fiore, and he has experienced four outages this past July, even though he has not had four outages in the past 17 years that he has lived here, and he believes there is something affecting power service in his neighborhood. Fred Stein, 690 Aberdeen Lane, stated that they have had four or five outages in the last four years, and it has always been the same problems; he asked questions of ComEd, which were answered by Mr. Barsema. Mr. Stein stated that he spoke to the ComEd crew, who told him that the problem is that there is a major cable fault in that area. Daniel Rebolt, 293 Stonegate Road; stated that ComEd needs to provide more accurate information; he believes the crews do a good job, but communication needs to improve. With regard to food safety, when residents are told that the power will be restored in a few hours, they do not necessarily make accommodations to store frozen food, but when the few hours turns into several days, then that food is destroyed when it could have been saved with proper information. Mr. Barsema reviewed the procedure for filing damage claims. State Representatives Sente and Mathias reviewed what is being done at the State Legislature level. They noted that they are here tonight to listen to constituents, as they also have done throughout their respective Districts, and they will bring that information back to Springfield. There was further discussion with regard to the process for filing claims and the parameters for whether or not a claim is due to weather or negligence. It was also noted that there needs to be better communication to residents as to the reason that a claim will or will not be honored. Chris Nelson, Comcast Manager of Government Affairs, described the Comcast response to the July storms. Trustee Stein stated that Comcast did a wonderful job in the Columbian Garden subdivision. Representative Mathias stated that his Comcast service did go out, and when he called, he was told that there was a large volume of calls and that Comcast would call him back, and he was pleasantly surprised that they actually did call him back. David Strahl, AT&T, stated that there is no way to anticipate and prevent service disruptions caused by nature, but they strive to restore services as quickly as possible. Service is restored within 24 hours or less 96% of the time. Mr. Strahl reviewed the process undertaken when a trouble call is received. Mr. Bragg stated that staff will follow up as requested and will have responses back from ComEd on several of the items discussed tonight. QUESTIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE President Braiman asked if there were any questions from the audience on items not on tonight s agenda; there were none.
12553 TRUSTEE REPORTS Trustee Trilling reported on the CUB (Citizen s Utility Board) Energy Saver Program. Trustee Stein reported on the Farmer s Market that is held each Sunday morning from 8:00 A.M. until 12:30 P.M. in the Spray & Play parking lot on Route 83. Trustee Stein reported that the Prescription Drug Disposal Program has been extended, and medications may be dropped off at the Village Hall. Trustee Sussman reported on the plans for Buffalo Grove Days during Labor Day weekend. CONSENT AGENDA President Braiman explained the Consent Agenda, stating that any member of the audience or the Board could request that an item be removed for full discussion. There were no such requests. The Village Clerk read a brief synopsis of each of the items on the Consent Agenda. Ordinance #2011-38 1020 Plum Grove Circle Motion to pass Ordinance #2011-38, granting a variation to the Buffalo Grove Zoning Ordinance, Section 17.20.030 for 1020 Plum Grove Circle. Ordinance #2011-39 LG Electronics Motion to pass Ordinance #2011-39, granting variations to the Buffalo Grove Sign Code, Sections 14.20.020, 14.20.070, and 14.20.080 for LG Electronics, 1001 Johnson Drive. Resolution #2011-27 Traffic Control Devices Motion to pass Resolution #2011-27, authorizing the execution of a Master Agreement between the State of Illinois, through its Department of Transportation and the Village of Buffalo Grove for the Energy Costs, Maintenance Costs and Future Costs associated with the State-Owned Traffic Control Devices. Moved by Sussman, seconded by Ottenheimer, to approve the Consent Agenda. Upon roll call, Trustees voted as follows on the Consent Agenda: AYES: 6 Berman, Trilling, Sussman, Terson, Stein, Ottenheimer LICENSES AND PERMITS Moved by Berman, seconded by Trilling, to pass Ordinance #2011-40, amending Chapter 1.12, Suspension and Revocation of Licenses and permits, of the Buffalo Grove Municipal Code, in accordance with the revised draft contained in Board packets dated 8/3/2011. Mr. Bragg reviewed the proposed ordinance, details of which are contained in the Village Board Meeting Agenda Item Overview. Mr. Raysa stated that a time limit for fines and penalties was omitted because they are currently noted in the Municipal Code.
12554 Upon roll call, Trustees voted as follows: AYES: 6 Berman, Trilling, Sussman, Terson, Stein, Ottenheimer ADJOURNMENT Moved by Berman, seconded by Sussman, to adjourn the meeting. Upon voice vote, the motion was unanimously declared carried. The meeting was adjourned at 9:40 P.M. Janet M. Sirabian, Village Clerk APPROVED BY ME THIS 22 nd DAY OF August, 2011 Village President