Town of Cicero to Develop Storm Management Master Plan After Historic Floods
The Town of Cicero trustees during their bi-weekly board meeting on Tuesday, August 22, 2023. April Alonso/Cicero Independiente.
By Efrain Soriano
The Town of Cicero Board of Trustees and President Larry Dominick met twice in August, 2023 to discuss various ordinances and resolutions.
The agenda items included accepting grant funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Assistance to Firefighters program, creating a Stormwater Advisory Board for the town, approving service agreements for implementing a Stormwater Master Plan and more.
You can find all the documents used for this recap of the August 8 and August 22, 2023 board meetings by clicking the respective links. If you prefer to watch the board meetings you can view the video recording at our Facebook where we stream the meetings live.
Here is a summary of the approved items:
FEMA Grant Funds
The town began by accepting $996,718.90 in grant funds from FEMA as part of their Assistance to Firefighters grant program. This funding is not related to the FEMA Disaster assistance being offered to Cicero residents affected by the July 2 storms.
The grant agreement assigns all the granted funds to purchasing emergency management and communication equipment, such as radios.
Code Of Ordinances
The board approved a change to the code of ordinances that created a Stormwater Advisory Board:
(a) “Created. There is hereby created the Stormwater Advisory Board. The Stormwater Advisory Board shall consist of the Director of the Water Department serving as chair, and four Town residents.”
(b) “Compensation and Meeting Space. The members of the Stormwater Advisory Board shall serve without compensation or health insurance, retirement or any other benefits. The Town shall provide the Stormwater Advisory Board with meeting space, supplies and equipment as may be suitable for the operation of the Stormwater Advisory Board.”
(c) “Powers and Duties of the Stormwater Advisory Board. The purpose of the Stormwater Advisory Board is to study the stormwater flow within the Town and provide non-binding recommendations to the Town President and Board of Trustees concerning potential short-term and long-term solutions and improvements regarding such stormwater management. The Stormwater Advisory Board shall conduct meetings as deemed necessary with Town officials, residents, members of the community and/or such other persons as may be necessary to gather information regarding stormwater management. Members of the Stormwater Advisory Board shall perform such other duties as may be provided for in this Code or by the Town President and/or the Board of Trustees.”
The board also approved the appointment of two vacant positions on the Planning and Zoning Commission.
Kelly Giovanelli is appointed to the Planning and Zoning Commission.
Lisa Gianakopoulos is appointed to the Planning and Zoning Commission.
Spending and Service Agreements
The board approved three invoices, totaling $39,755.25, from Legacy Fire Apparatus for maintenance and repairs to fire truck #2 of the Cicero Fire Department. They also allowed the purchase of a firehose at $18,034, from Air One Equipment, to be placed on their newest fire truck.
During the second meeting in August, the board approved a service agreement with Joanna Klonsky, media strategist , to provide media and communications services from August 22, 2023 to July 31, 2024 at $12,000 per month. The services include but are not limited to:
Media relations support
Development of talking points
Preparation of principals/spokesperson and surrogates
Rapid response communications
From September 15-17, the Town of Cicero hosted its annual Mexican Independence Day Festival. In August, the town approved an agreement with Viva JV LLC for $35,000 to book and provide entertainment services for the festival which featured acts such as Los Yonics, Los Caminantes and Bertin y Lalo.
Town Projects
In response to the July 2 storms and flooding, the Town of Cicero has approved Novotny Engineering to partner with Engineering Resource Associates to create a master plan that outlines the potential water flood control improvements and flood mitigation strategies for Cicero. This master plan aims to analyze Cicero’s current landscape regarding flooding and suggestions for improvements that could set Cicero up to better deal with flooding for the next 10-20 years.
According to the agreement, involved organizations should meet monthly to discuss their findings and other matters.
The board also approved a project that was agreed upon earlier in July of this year as part of the 2024 USACE Water Main Improvement Project. Two new water mains will be designed and constructed with the assistance of the Department of The Army on 31st Street from Laramie Avenue to 49th Avenue and on 34th Street from Laramie Avenue to the west ally of Bobby Hull Ice Rink.
*This article was corrected on October 20, 2023, for typos.
Efrain Soriano is a contributing reporter for Cicero Independiente.
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