Clerk pay, a $1,329 back-charge and $95 porta-potties: an 80-minute committee morning with no action taken.

Both sets of minutes list Mayor LaMore and Trustees Barry, Zimbelman, Gesky and Boudreau present, and Trustees Crockett and Vaughn absent. Staff present: Administrator Chris LaRocque, Public Works Superintendent Jim Hanley, Treasurer Sheila Martin, Police Chief Al Swinford, Community Relations Director Ashley Peterson, Village Clerk Steven Orth, and engineer Bruce Hill of HR Green.

Trustee Zimbelman chaired General Government and, as the recording and minutes both say, opened Public Works too because its chairman, Crockett, was not there (⚠ "Mr. Crockett's not here this morning, so I'll go ahead and open his meeting"). The votes:
General Government, June 30 minutes: moved by Boudreau, seconded by Gesky, 4–0, per the minutes.
General Government adjournment: Gesky, seconded by Boudreau, at 7:45 a.m., per the minutes.
Public Works, June 30 minutes: moved by Gesky, seconded by Boudreau, 4–0, per the minutes.
Public Works adjournment: Gesky, seconded by Boudreau, at 8:20 a.m., voice vote, per the minutes.

Movers and seconders are the minutes'. On the recording the motions are made by unidentified voices (⚠ "I'll make that motion." "Second."), and the ayes are a voice vote. Nothing else was voted on. Every substantive item was discussion, with several sent on to the full board.

Sources: recording, 8:00–9:00, 53:30–54:00, 1:28:00; General Government minutes; Public Works minutes.

The speaker named himself, ⚠ "My name is Paul Zens" (the minutes spell it Zen), and said he had emailed the board and the mayor about the project. He said seven or eight families had signed up, that the group had already bought gloves, and that crews would start at the square and fan out to whichever parks Superintendent Hanley picked. He said he wanted to do the work ⚠ "that can be done safely" and to put residents' differences aside: ⚠ "something good that has no political recourse." A trustee suggested running it under the Village's town-cleanup-day umbrella, so volunteers are covered while working in the parks. Hanley said the parks are ⚠ "a never-ending battle of weeds and garbage."

Asked by the chair to describe the crew's summer, Hanley listed the square's pavilion bathrooms and turf, a soccer shed at Heritage Park, and routine garbage, chipping, weeding and watering.

Context. August 9, 2026 was a Sunday, as he said. The minutes record the plan, including "select a park/location each month." Whether the cleanups happened is outside this recording.

Sources: recording, 9:00–16:00; General Government minutes, p. 1.

Chair Zimbelman opened the item. A trustee said the clerk does more work than the trustees and mayor ⚠ "but they get paid less." Asked the current figures, a voice answered ⚠ "4,000 a year for the clerk, 1,500 for deputy clerk." Trustees noted they are paid $100 a meeting, capped (they believed) at four meetings a month, while the clerk must attend every meeting. The proposal that drew agreement: ⚠ "whatever meeting they show up to, whether it's the clerk or the deputy clerk, they get $100 per meeting." With up to six regular meetings a month, a trustee put the ceiling at about $600 a month, more with special meetings, and called it ⚠ "about 30 bucks an hour" once minutes and paperwork are counted. Asked who would draft it, a voice at the table said ⚠ "I'll have Joe Canard write it up," the captions' rendering of Village attorney Joe Cainkar.

Clerk Steven Orth, called on by name, said it would help to do a job analysis to see who carries the work, ⚠ "because right now all the weight is right here." A trustee said a young resident had expressed interest in serving as deputy clerk, but that Orth, who is leaving, did not feel comfortable making the appointment. (The deputy is the clerk's appointment. We are not naming the resident, whose name the captions render inconsistently.)

Context. The $4,000 clerk salary is fixed in Village code § 1-8-4, as our September 21 page quotes it. The minutes do not record the $100 figure; they say only that "a proposal would be drafted for a future Board meeting." Two weeks later the number changed: on August 12, per those minutes, Trustee Boudreau offered $75 per meeting, "about $8000 per year." Orth gave notice in June and served through August 28 (see the main record); at this meeting someone noted that the deadline for clerk applicants was August 14.

Sources: recording, 16:00–24:45; General Government minutes, p. 1; July 8 committees; August 12 Planning & Zoning minutes, p. 2.

A trustee said this at about 17:00, adding the election ⚠ "would be in uh April." State law backs the point for the elected clerk. The Illinois Municipal Code says: "Salaries or other compensation shall not be increased or diminished so as to take effect during the term of any officer holding an elective office" (65 ILCS 5/3.1-50-5).

Two details the committee did not mention. First, timing: salaries for officers "who hold elective office for a definite term ... shall be fixed at least 180 days before the beginning of the terms of the officers whose compensation is to be fixed" (65 ILCS 5/3.1-50-10). New terms begin at the first board meeting after the county clerk's official results arrive, unless an ordinance fixes a date no later than the first meeting in June (3.1-10-15). If the new clerk's term starts in early May 2027, 180 days earlier falls in early November 2026. We have not found Manteno's inauguration date in its code. Second, the deputy clerk is appointed, and an appointed officer's pay "may be increased but not diminished" during the appointment (3.1-50-5), so a deputy raise is not tied to the election.

Sources: recording, 17:00–17:30; 65 ILCS 5/3.1-50-5, 3.1-50-10 and 3.1-10-15, read November 3, 2026.

A trustee asked to put it on the next board meeting, and a voice answered ⚠ "Yeah, we'll have it on the agenda." It was not on the August 3 agenda. We checked the posted board agendas for August 3, August 17, September 8, September 21, October 5, October 19 and November 2: none lists a clerk or deputy clerk compensation ordinance. (The October 19 and November 2 agendas list "Compensation for FOIA Officer," a different item.) As of November 3 we have found no vote changing § 1-8-4.

Why it matters now. If the 180-day rule in the card above runs from an early-May start, the window for setting the next clerk's pay is closing. The Daily Journal reported in September that the administration wants to raise the clerk's pay to $8,000 after the spring election (see September 21).

Sources: recording, 23:30; Village board agendas, August 3 through November 2, 2026; Village meetings index, November 3, 2026.

A trustee read comparisons for Bradley, Bourbonnais, Momence, Kankakee and Frankfort. The captions garble them (Bradley is given as six thousand, then ⚠ "11,200"), and the speaker summarized ⚠ "5,000 to 7,400 looks like the the range" for a part-time clerk. The minutes say only that the committee "discussed comparisons with other Villages." We have not checked other towns' ordinances.

Sources: recording, 16:30–17:45; General Government minutes, p. 1.

A staff member said the treasurer had tallied her time to close all the accounts and open new ones, the printing of new checks, and ⚠ "the attorney's time for his review." The accounts were changed, staff said, because of how the auditors presented on May 20: ⚠ "they put all of our accounts up on the uh up on the screen." A staff member addressing the mayor said annual audits are handed out on paper and ⚠ "We've never had it um exposed the way that this auditor did that." Someone answered that the numbers on screen were blurred: ⚠ "You couldn't even read them." On the legal fee, a staff voice said the auditor had advised getting the attorney's view on the treasurer's banking issue, and ⚠ "it came back that it was legal."

Trustee Barry, per the minutes, argued the Village pays its contracts as signed: ⚠ "we have a contract signed with the guy. We should stick to the what the contract is," recalling that Trustee Crockett had said the Village should not be one ⚠ "that does not pay their bills to the vendors." Another trustee would drop the legal fees but keep the ⚠ "1329", adding: ⚠ "If they want to sue us over $1,300 that they cause, let them sue us. ... We got a lot of lawsuits going on. What's one more." A voice closed it: ⚠ "this will have to come to a vote on the board so the public can see how we all feel about it."

The figures are as spoken. They came from a packet handout that is not posted; the minutes name the categories (bank-account changes and "review charges for Attorney Cainkar") but no amounts. What happened next: on August 3 the full bills, with the Greene and Lee's Rentals invoices folded in, failed 2–4 (August 3, a23). On August 12 Trustee Boudreau proposed paying Greene's final invoice "minus the amount that was needed to change the Village's bank account numbers," per those minutes; the special meeting agenda that day listed the final invoice at $12,270.92. Whether the attorney's opinion was requested by the auditor is the speaker's account; we have not seen the request.

Sources: recording, 24:45–30:15; General Government minutes, pp. 1–2; August 12 Planning & Zoning minutes; August 12 special meeting agenda; The Forensic Audit.

Chair Zimbelman said the Village charges vendors $50 for a background check, that Bourbonnais and Bradley do not, and that the check covers the business owner, who is often not the person working the booth. Ms. Peterson, called on by name, said vendor coordinators get pushback over the fee on top of event fees and insurance, that the Village earns nothing from it, and that Oktoberfest vendors are not background-checked; they pay the event fee, carry a certificate of insurance, and food vendors go through the health department.

One trustee asked what the Village would be exposed to without checks, raising sex offenders. Chief Swinford, asked to weigh in, said ⚠ "I get Mike's concern," but that the current process does not prevent that either, since it checks the owner, not every worker, and police ⚠ "know them by face." Clerk Orth, thanked by name afterward, said dropping the check would reduce his office's burden and warned: ⚠ "what we've all discussed is not consistent with our current ordinance ... you're setting the clerk's office up for failure and the village." The minutes put it the same way: practices by the Village and the Chamber "do not conform to Village codes and ordinances."

What we have not done. We have not read the itinerant merchant chapter of the Village code, so we cannot confirm the $50 figure or which practices fall outside it. No ordinance change on this has appeared on a board agenda through November 2.

Sources: recording, 30:15–38:45; General Government minutes, p. 2.

Administrator LaRocque said the Village's new three-year agreement with the tourism agency added representation for each member town, that he holds the current two-year seat with about a year left, and that the agency allows only one elected official per town. The board meets monthly, typically a Thursday morning. A voice answered ⚠ "I'll make sure to do that." The minutes: "Mayor LaMore agreed to make an addition[al] appointment."

Context. LaRocque retired in late August, so the Village's existing seat would need filling too. We have not seen a Visit Kankakee County appointment on a board agenda since.

Sources: recording, 38:45–40:15; General Government minutes, p. 2; August 17 Finance minutes.

Mr. LaRocque said the draft came by email from the fire department, that ⚠ "I had Joe Canar review it" (Cainkar), and that it had ⚠ "some inconsistencies ... basically saying that they have authority over the fire code." His account: the Village is in charge of its codes, including the fire code; the fire district has authority over existing buildings, while permitting, fining and new construction run through the Village; and the only ordinance is a fire prevention bureau ⚠ "adopted in 1956." He said the fire district is not part of the Village and covers one of the largest areas in the state, and that the Village has always worked well with it. He said ⚠ "with the whole go thing" (Gotion) everything is being looked at.

A trustee said the firefighters are the ones who go into a fire, and the Village should give them what they need within reason; he tied it to the Gotion fire brigade terms the Village had sent, saying the fire district would be checking certifications and he wanted ⚠ "no he said, she said going forward." Staff said they would bring recommendations to a later committee meeting. The minutes: "Committee agreed that codes need to be updated."

Context. The 1956 date checks out: Village code § 2-2-1 creates the fire prevention bureau and is marked "1956 Code" (quoted on our September 21 page). Whether the draft's wording overstated the district's powers is the administrator's reading; the draft is not public. What happened next: six days later the board approved the Gotion fire-brigade MOU 6–0 (August 3). On August 17 the fire chief presented an intergovernmental agreement under which the fire department could "independently conduct inspections and issue violations/fines," per the Finance minutes, and on October 5 the board approved an inspection agreement with the Manteno Fire Protection District through April 30, 2027, 6–0 (October 5). The fire district's size claim is unchecked.

Sources: recording, 40:15–44:45; General Government minutes, p. 2; August 3 and August 17 minutes; Village code § 2-2-1.

Raising it as an item not on the agenda, a speaker said Harbor House had come to the board several times and is getting help from other towns in the county: ⚠ "$4 a person, which amounts to $36,000. It's not a lot, but we need to move on that." The minutes attribute the item to Mayor LaMore and record that she would put it on the next board agenda.

Context. Manteno's 2020 Census population is 9,210, so $4 a person is $36,840, the figure the August 3 minutes use. On August 3 the board voted unanimously to send it to the August 17 Finance Committee (August 3, a31). There, a resident and the Village Clerk "cautioned that donating taxpayer funds to charities may result in legal issues," per the minutes. We have not seen a vote on the donation since. The claim that other towns pay was not independently confirmed.

Sources: recording, 44:45–45:30; General Government minutes, p. 2; August 3 and August 17 minutes.

Trustee Boudreau, per the minutes, reported on a meeting with the Kankakee County Economic Alliance, whose question for him was what Manteno wants. He proposed a survey of residents, drafted with the Plan Commission, asking about things like a data center, restaurants, big-box stores and growth of 1,000 or 2,000 people, and called it ⚠ "a better first step and money more spent than a comprehensive plan." He said the Alliance wants to set up a meeting with a national homebuilder, and cited CSL's ⚠ "1.5 billion" investment as a chance to house its workers. Another voice said surveys would have to make the trade-offs clear (a wanted chain needs more rooftops; staying small could mean higher taxes). Another said the land-use map in the 2006 comprehensive plan is still largely realistic.

Context. CSL announced a $1.5 billion expansion of its plasma-therapy plant on March 9, 2026; the plant is in Bourbonnais Township near Kankakee (Daily Journal; CSL). The comprehensive plan on the Village's website is dated June 2006 (July 14). Boudreau gave the same survey update at the August 3 board meeting.

Sources: recording, 45:30–53:15; General Government minutes, p. 2; August 3 minutes.

Both figures were relayed from the Economic Alliance (⚠ "they say"), and the 20 projects were described as ⚠ "20 major submission projects within a three mile radius." We have not seen the Alliance's housing study or project list.

Sources: recording, 47:00 and 50:30.

Trustee Barry, who had questioned the proposal at the July 20 board meeting, where it was tabled 6–0, asked engineer Bruce Hill to explain it: location maps, specifications for removal and planting, wider planting beds, an arborist checking trees at the nursery, and construction inspection. Barry said he was ⚠ "shocked looking at this at 900 bucks a tree for 19 trees" and argued for a plan covering all 108 trees in phases, smaller ornamental trees that might not need concrete cut, and hydro-excavation (vacuuming the soil out) because of the low-voltage wiring under the sidewalks. Hill agreed and said he could cut his proposal ⚠ "in half easily" if the Village's own arborist handled inspection. Barry also asked the arborist to prune dead branches now.

Outcome, on the recording and in the minutes: Hill will map the trees on an hourly basis under the Village's existing agreement with HR Green, with no new proposal, and Superintendent Hanley will get a price from a contractor (⚠ "Aries Inc.") to hydro-vac the first nine trees.

The math. $17,500 ÷ 19 is about $921 a tree, so "900 bucks" is fair. The July 20 board minutes record the PSA tabled 6–0. See July 20 committees and June 30.

Sources: recording, 54:00–1:07:30; Public Works minutes, p. 1; July 20 board minutes, p. 4.

Staff said the contract for rented volleyball, bocce, bean bag and pickleball gear was up and that the Village had received ⚠ "like 12 or 15 bucks maybe in the last year." Members said the lending closet is working and residents have donated to it. The minutes: the vendor at Thies Park "services are no longer needed."

Sources: recording, 1:07:30–1:08:45; Public Works minutes, p. 1.

Staff said the township had asked for signs to keep golf carts off the overpass. A member said a slow vehicle there ⚠ "could get wiped out by a car going 50 55 miles an hour." Others said signs will not stop anyone but at least the Village tried. The minutes record Hanley showing the signs for the north end of Spruce and near Legacy Park on 10000 Road. A member said the overpass is a county road; we have not checked jurisdiction.

Sources: recording, 1:08:45–1:11:00; Public Works minutes, p. 1.

Staff said Eagles Landing Drive and North Spruce would be closed at different times, never both; that the project was delayed six or seven months waiting on utilities (the minutes name Aqua, Nicor and AT&T); and that it would probably run into ⚠ "early part of next year," ending with ⚠ "a new road with five lanes on it."

What IDOT says. The state's announcement for the $9.5 million project describes widening Manteno-Deselm Road "from two to three lanes" with a bi-directional turn lane, staged closures at Eagles Landing Drive and Spruce Street (not at the same time), paving starting August 5, and completion by "the end of August 2027." The closures and utility delays match. "Five lanes" and an early-2027 finish do not match the state's description.

Sources: recording, 1:11:00–1:13:00; Public Works minutes, p. 2; IDOT, "Kankakee County Highway 9 work in Manteno begins Aug. 5".

In his project updates Hanley said the 2008 International was in the shop and needed about $2,000 more in rusted parts, ⚠ "pretty rough shape there." The minutes record the same increase. Other updates: MFT street work about 90 percent done (Hill); the Ley storm sewer complete and paid; Heritage Park and Legacy Park storm work down to punch lists; the square's electric connection, turf and bathroom mini-split close; the Heritage Park soccer shed getting siding and a garage door; landscaping and weeding downtown before Oktoberfest.

Context. On June 30 the committee chose to repair the truck, keeping it as a backup, for a transmission estimate of about $16,000 per the minutes (June 30). With the $2,000, the repair is about $18,000.

Sources: recording, 1:13:00–1:18:45; Public Works minutes, p. 2; June 30 Public Works minutes.

Trustee Zimbelman, per the minutes, raised the chipped wooden tables near the jumping pillow and showed square all-weather tables that she said were ⚠ "$849 if you ordered three or more." Hanley asked whether the board wanted four; members agreed, and the minutes say "Mr. Hanley will order four additional tables." Later, in the porta-potty exchange, a voice said ⚠ "we're replacing picnic tables for 7,500 bucks."

The numbers. Four tables at $849 is $3,396. The $7,500 figure may include the separate pavilion tables Hanley said had already been ordered (a check had gone out), but the recording does not say. No price for those was given.

Sources: recording, 1:18:45–1:20:45 and 1:26:45; Public Works minutes, p. 2.

Trustee Barry, per the minutes, questioned why the Village was not paying for portable toilets still out in the parks. The voice pressing the point on the recording said they are being used and ⚠ "we're talking about $95 a month here." A staff member said the board decided during budget meetings not to keep them in every park, Lee's Rentals agreed by email to pull all but those at the square and St. Joe's by the end of April, and ⚠ "it sounds like the mayor called them and said and overruled the board." A member said ⚠ "I don't remember us voting on that," and staff replied ⚠ "I don't know that there was a vote." One voice said ⚠ "I talked to Lee and told him not to pull them because it was April and the baseball program had started." Others said parks with new permanent bathrooms do not need them, and one put the savings at up to $600 a month, about $7,200 a year. It went to a board vote.

Why Mixed. Both sides agree there was no recorded board vote to remove the units, so "overruled the board" describes a discussion and a staff email, not a vote. The captions do not identify who talked to Lee's; on August 3, Mayor LaMore said on the record that she made the decision (August 3, a24), and on August 12, per those minutes, she said "the Board had not authorized the final decision." The August 12 special meeting agenda listed the remaining Lee's Rentals balance at $1,095. The $95 figure is per unit as spoken; we have not seen the invoices.

Sources: recording, 1:21:00–1:27:15; Public Works minutes, p. 2; August 3 and August 12 minutes; August 12 special meeting agenda.

The Open Meetings Act applies to committees of a village board (5 ILCS 120/1.02 defines "public body" to include "committees and subcommittees"). It says: "A public body shall approve the minutes of its open meeting within 30 days after that meeting or at the public body's second subsequent regular meeting, whichever is later. The minutes of meetings open to the public shall be available for public inspection within 10 days after the approval of such minutes by the public body" (5 ILCS 120/2.06(b)).

Thirty days from July 28 was August 27. The committees' next two scheduled meetings, August 25 and September 22, were both posted as cancelled. The October 27 agenda listed both sets of July 28 minutes for approval. The Village's server gives both minutes files a last-modified time of 10:53 a.m. Central on October 27, the morning of that meeting; the files' internal creation date is October 5.

Why Mixed. If a cancelled meeting does not count as a "regular meeting," October 27 was the first subsequent meeting held, and approval there falls inside the "second subsequent regular meeting" option, which the Act makes the deadline when it is later than 30 days. If the cancelled meetings count, the second subsequent meeting was September 22, and the deadline passed. The statute does not address cancelled meetings, and we know of no ruling on that point. Either way, the public waited three months for any written record of this meeting. The Act's separate 10-day website-posting rule covers the governing body's regular meetings, which for Manteno is the Village Board, not its committees; the 10-day public-inspection rule does apply, and if the minutes were approved that morning, posting them the same day meets it. We have not reviewed the October 27 recording to confirm the approval vote.

Sources: 5 ILCS 120/1.02 and 2.06(b), read November 3, 2026; Village meetings index; August 25 and September 22 cancellation notices; October 27 agenda; minutes files, server and file metadata, checked November 3, 2026.