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Agenda summary and non-discretionary review.

City Council discretionary agenda highlights for November 2, 2026

Agenda Summary

West Chicago City Council Agenda Review — November 2, 2026

This table summarizes each City Council agenda action, the money involved, and whether the action appears non-discretionary under the review rubric.

View the PDF text extraction table

Item Short description Money involved Non-discretionary evaluation
4 — Remote participation Discuss and potentially allow Council members to participate remotely; no particular request identified. No direct City expenditure identified. Likely non-discretionary / procedural: meeting-participation administration.
5.A — City Attorney presentation Receive City Attorney response to an aldermanic request; no presentation text or specific motion supplied. No amount stated. Informational: no defined new policy action or spending request is supplied.
5.B — AAIM Award presentation Presentation of AAIM Award to Officer William Chapman and K9 Officer Justin Rigler. No amount stated. Informational / ceremonial presentation: no separately requested award decision or expenditure identified.
5.C — Moratorium presentation Receive presentation titled “Battery and Data Centers on Moratorium.” No amount stated. Informational: presentation alone is not a vote to extend or repeal the moratorium. Distinct from item 6.F.
6.A — October 19 minutes Discuss and possibly approve October 19, 2026 City Council meeting minutes. No direct City expenditure identified. Likely non-discretionary / administrative: approval of the prior meeting record.
6.B — Corporate Disbursement Report Discuss and possibly approve the November 2 report. $1,876,365.60 total, reconciled to nine funds and the supplemental $15,000 check. Likely non-discretionary / administrative: payment approval of listed obligations, not new project authorizations.
6.C — Property Tax Levy Estimate Approve the proposed 2026 levy estimate; later levy ordinance adoption is separate. Corporate $5,429,909 and SSA #2 $14,081; each stated as a 4.9% increase. Staff estimates about $30 more annually in the City portion for an example $375,000 property. Discretionary: Council chooses the estimated tax request within a required statutory process; the amount is not mandated.
6.D — Police pension certification Receive and place on file annual tax levy certification and municipal compliance report with a requested contribution for inclusion in the proposed 2027 budget. Requested $3,804,137 from available General Fund revenues; City does not levy separately for police pensions. Annual reporting is compliance-oriented; staff describes an existing transition plan, but the calculation and extent of discretion over the requested contribution cannot be independently verified without the missing actuarial/supporting reports. Preserve the receive/file and requested-budget-contribution posture; final budget adoption is later.
6.E — Proposed 2027 budget Discuss and provide recommendations on the proposed budget, not final adoption. About $3.4 million bonds; about $8.7 million IEPA loan proceeds; $2 million fund transfer; $75,000 incentives, $25,000 advertising, $50,000 incubator initiatives; $50,000 park plan and $200,000 underpass design. Summary proposes a 5% water/sewer rate increase; no full budget total enclosed. Mixed with substantial discretionary policy choices: core services/infrastructure alongside staffing, business support and community projects; current action is discussion/recommendations.
6.F — Ordinance No. 26-O-0024 Consider a hardship exception to the data-center/BESS moratorium for TPE IL DU200, LLC's proposed BESS near Kress Road and Western Drive. No direct City expenditure or project price stated. Discretionary: property-specific exception under Section 9 of Ordinance No. 26-O-0011; not approval of the BESS or development plan.
7 — Establish consent agenda Motion to establish which items remain on the consent agenda. No additional amount beyond underlying items. Administrative / procedural: establishes the voting package.
8 — Approve established consent agenda Motion to approve items actually retained in the consent agenda. Underlying amounts above; no separate added expenditure. Mixed procedural action: inherits the character of retained items.
9 — Removed consent items Consider any items removed from the consent agenda. Depends on any removed item; none identified in advance. Contingent procedure: no removed item or outcome invented.
10 — Committee reports Receive reports; no particular motion supplied. No amount stated. Informational / administrative.
13 — City Administrator's Report Receive numbered report; no defined request supplied. No amount stated. Informational / administrative.
14 — Correspondence and announcements Receive correspondence and meeting announcements, including the November 5 Infrastructure cancellation. No expenditure requested. Informational / administrative.
15 — Mayor's Comments Receive comments; no particular action supplied. No amount stated. Informational.

Detailed analysis of substantive topics

6.C — Proposed property-tax levy estimate

Pages 33–34 ask for announcement and approval of the levy estimate at least 20 days before ordinance adoption. The proposed Corporate levy is $5,429,909 versus the 2025 extended $5,176,271.27. SSA #2 is $14,081 versus $13,423.42. Both increases are stated as 4.9%. These are levy amounts, not a 4.9% increase in every homeowner's total tax bill. SSA #2 is a separate service-area levy, not an extra citywide charge on every property.

Staff's example estimates approximately $30 annually in the City portion for a $375,000 home. The summary says no Truth in Taxation hearing is required because the increases are below 5%; that is distinct from the proposed December 7 budget hearing. New construction broadens the tax base, while staff expressly says the proposed Corporate increase will affect current taxpayers.

The levy and General Obligation bond abatement are expected to return December 7, 2026. Staff says home rule sales tax will pay debt service on the March 2026 bonds and the entire property-tax debt-service levy will be abated in 2027. No abatement amount is supplied. November 2 estimate approval is not December ordinance adoption, nor a verified same-day Finance Committee recommendation.

6.E — Draft budget choices affecting services, bills and public places

Pages 36–37 describe a draft, subject to revision before the anticipated December 7 hearing/adoption. Staff anticipates publishing hearing notice November 6 and making the draft available online and at City Hall. The packet contains the staff summary, not the full budget schedules or an appropriation ordinance.

Council is asked to discuss and provide recommendations, not adopt these allocations now. The Finance summary's proposed action is to review/discuss, identify modifications and advance the draft for consideration and public inspection. Its recommendation field is blank. Tax, rate, staffing and project choices remain subject to the actual later actions required.

  • Revenues: increased home rule sales tax effective January 1, 2027, described as split 50% between General and Water/Sewer funds depending on annual need; increased package liquor tax effective the same date; a proposed 5% water and sewer rate increase described by staff as recommended October 19. No precise sales/liquor tax rates are supplied here.
  • Financing: approximately $3.4 million in bonds for industrial roads and approximately $8.7 million in IEPA loan draws for lead service line replacement. Loans are financing, not grants or unrestricted revenue.
  • Spending direction: $2 million transfer from Downtown Revitalization to Capital for Downtown Modernization and Beautification; four part-time and two full-time positions; $75,000 in new business incentives, $25,000 advertising to offset construction effects, and $50,000 for incubator initiatives.
  • Public places: $50,000 Community Park master-plan refresh and $200,000 underpass-restoration preliminary design. These are planning/design amounts, not a full construction appropriation.
  • The summary cites the 35% General Fund reserve policy and continuation of industrial road improvements. These do not establish the missing overall budget total.

6.F — BESS moratorium exception, not project approval

Pages 38–40 concern TPE IL DU200, LLC (TurningPoint Energy), three DuPage Airport Authority parcels at the northwest corner of Kress Road and Western Drive, PINs 04-06-400-020, 04-06-300-016 and 04-06-400-016. The proposed leased site is undeveloped and the BESS would disturb less than three acres. Staff says it is not associated with a data center.

The October 20 exception request invokes Section 9 of Ordinance No. 26-O-0011, adopted July 20, 2026. Staff records prior notice March 9 and a June 19 City confirmation that BESS is a permitted Public Utility use in the A Airport District. The applicant reports a ComEd interconnection application and risk of losing its queue position from delay; that is the applicant's stated hardship, not a guaranteed outcome.

Ordinance No. 26-O-0024 would grant an exception subject to compliance with other applicable ordinances/rules and standard development-plan review. It would not approve the BESS, its construction or its development plan, and it would not repeal the moratorium generally. Staff says no special use permit is required for the permitted use, but both DuPage Airport Authority and City Council site-plan approval must be secured. Complete plans would return for Council consideration after staff review. The draft ordinance's unsigned passage/approval blanks are not evidence of adoption. The item goes directly to Council, not through a committee.

6.D — Police pension filing and requested 2027 contribution

Page 35 links annual certification to Pension Code Sections 3-143, 3-125 and 3-127. The $3,804,137 request is said to follow the previously agreed transition plan. The City uses available General Fund revenues rather than a separate pension property-tax levy.

The supporting summary proposes recommending Council approval of the contribution and receiving/filing the reports. The controlling Council agenda instead says receive and place on file with a requested contribution for inclusion in the proposed budget. Accordingly this review does not convert November 2 into final budget adoption or payment authorization. Referenced annual/compliance and actuarial reports are absent, preventing independent verification of their calculations or findings.

6.B — Disbursement reconciliation

Agenda page 2 and cover page 7 state $1,876,365.60. Nine cover funds sum to that amount: General $116,337.14; Capital Equipment Replacement $154,963.14; Sewer $50,910.33; Water $79,211.92; Capital Projects $1,063,242.50; Community Park $155,741.40; Motor Fuel Tax $228,915.47; Miscellaneous Deposits $14,000.00; Commuter Parking $13,043.70.

The main check register ends on page 17 at $1,861,365.60, matching the cash-requirements report on page 32. Page 28 separately records $15,000.00, check 104391 dated October 23, 2026, to HERNANDEZ, EDUARDO from Capital Projects, description “TEMPORARY CONSTRUCT.” Adding it reconciles the cover; Capital Projects likewise reconciles $1,048,242.50 plus $15,000.00 to $1,063,242.50. The check-register and cash-requirements views describe the same underlying main batch and must not be added together.

Last generated: November 1, 2026 at 12:03 PM CST