OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Oswego Committee of the Whole Meeting – May 5, 2026

Village Board & Commissions — Tuesday, May 5, 2026
BodyOswego, Illinois
SessionVillage Board & Commissions
DateTuesday, May 5, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 31:48

Transcript — Verbatim
0:11

Evening everybody.

0:12

We're going to call our community of the hold order.

0:14

Roll call, please.

0:16

President Coffin.

0:17

I'm here.

0:18

Trustee Cooper.

0:19

Here.

0:19

Trustee Hughes.

0:21

Trustee Koenig.

0:22

Here.

0:23

Trust him McCarthy and Lang.

0:27

Here.

0:28

Trusty Novi.

0:29

Here.

0:30

Trustee Torres.

0:31

Here.

0:32

All right.

0:33

First up, we're going to open the public forum.

0:35

If there's anyone wishing to address the board and the public this evening, please feel free to come forward now.

0:39

And I do not have any green slips.

0:40

So first come, first serve.

0:51

Seeing nobody, we'll close the public forum and move on this evening.

0:55

We have no old business.

0:56

So we're going to move right along to our new business.

0:59

And under new business, we have our first item, F1.

1:02

Jean.

1:04

Thank you, President Kaufman.

1:06

Tonight we are here to talk about the America 250th birthday celebration and how we as a village plan to commemorate this historic event.

1:14

Assistant to the administrator, Maddie Upham and I are gonna are co-chairing uh what we're calling the SBO 250 team, and we'll be co-presenting to you all tonight.

1:27

All right.

1:28

So is everybody aware of what the America 250 is?

1:33

I'm gonna put it on the record just in case you don't.

1:36

Um America 250 is the celebration of the 250th uh anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

1:42

Uh America in 2016 established a con uh Congress established a um nonpartisan commission that is composed of members from all three branches of the federal government and its independent agencies to develop a program to celebrate this historic milestone.

2:00

Based on that, we have Illinois to or America Illinois 250, which is um the Illinois prerogative, and uh they have a commission that was established in order to do statewide uh put it together an inclusive statewide effort that uplifts local stories, places, and programs.

2:18

It tries to, it has reached each local municipality, county, some nonprofits, they have their uh hand in a lot to try and bolster the background of the um educational outreach and inform people of what this milestone means.

2:34

As of today, we are uh 59 days until 4th of July 2026, so we have less than 60 days until the big day.

2:44

How many dates how many times can you say day in one sentence?

2:49

We're also part of uh Keno County, it has a semi-quincentennial team as well, so we are a part of that committee.

2:56

Um sharing what we're doing, but then also hearing what other communities in the county are doing.

3:02

Uh so uh how did we get here, right?

3:04

How did we plan for this?

3:06

A certain former employee had the foresight to budget 100,000 in the CIP for the village to commemorate the semi-quincentennial.

3:15

Uh it was originally budgeted into the CIP because the original vision was for some kind of infrastructure project.

3:21

Uh however, when we ultimately uh put it up to the team to decide what we were gonna do with the funding, um, and we'll talk about that in a little bit here.

3:30

We decided to move more towards an event with a smaller emphasis on infrastructure.

3:35

But it still remains in the CIP fund.

3:40

Um at the bottom, we also noted that we are part of the uh Illinois Municipal League resolution, so we are a participating community.

3:46

We did adopt a resolution back at the end of last year.

3:50

So if you don't remember, that's what that was about.

3:54

So we have many people on this committee.

3:56

Uh we have about 12 staffers uh who make up the team as well as many other community members, and thank you, uh former trustee Lori West for attending.

4:04

We appreciate that tonight.

4:07

Um so we have members from the uh park district, we have members from the fire district, um library, we've got a couple of our different commission chairs who are on the uh team as well.

4:21

Let's see.

4:25

Yeah, other organizations and committees.

4:27

We were lucky to have a daughter of the revolution, um, to who is also a member um an employee of District 308 who's able to uh participate on this commission or this team as well, and we've had some really good luck with the people who are participating and and donating their time to help process everything.

4:44

Very well rounded.

4:46

Uh so when we uh had our initial meetings, um we talked about the original budget of 100,000 and what we wanted to do, and from there the team decided to break out into sub teams.

5:00

So there was an overwhelming response for an event sub-team.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Historic Preservation███████████████████████████████████████39%
Environmental Protection████████████████████20%
Public Engagement███████████11%
Water And Wastewater Management██████████10%
Procedural█████████9%
Engineering And Infrastructure██████6%
Technology and Innovation█████5%
Summary of Proceedings

Oswego Committee of the Whole Meeting – May 5, 2026

The Village of Oswego Committee of the Whole met on May 5, 2026, at 6:00 PM to receive presentations on the Oswego250 celebration plans and the annual National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit update. No public comments were made, and no formal actions were taken.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • No members of the public addressed the board.

Discussion Items

  • Oswego250 Team Update (F1): Assistant to the Administrator Jean and Assistant to the Administrator Maddie Upham presented the village's plans to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Key initiatives included:

    • A budget of $100,000 allocated to sub-teams: $50,000 for the July 4th event, $10,000 for marketing, $15,000 for educational outreach, and $25,000 for infrastructure.
    • Educational outreach: A Goose Chase scavenger hunt app with three campaigns so far, attracting 100–150 teams and approximately 2,000 submissions.
    • Infrastructure: Special manhole covers with the Oswego250 logo to be installed on new or resurfaced streets in 2026 (estimated 500 covers); a "Liberty Grove" of 50 trees (one per state) at Prairie Point Park, each with a plaque and QR code possibility.
    • Marketing: A logo contest won by Valerie Anderson; branded merchandise available at Imagination Print; challenge coins; clear bags for Prairie Fest.
    • Concrete eagle sculptures by Lion Concrete placed at police, public works, and village hall, with additional eagles available for local businesses.
    • July 4th event schedule: Opening ceremony, performances by American Legion Band, Superfly Symphony, and DJ Suave Smooth; choreographed fireworks; food trucks; kid zone with laser tag and archery; car show by Fox Valley Cruisers; roaming entertainment; and a video wall of interviews with longtime residents.
    • Special thanks to various donors and volunteers.
    • Trustees expressed appreciation and suggested additions (e.g., QR codes on tree plaques, tree identification quiz, inviting Billy Bricks restaurant). No formal vote was taken.

  • National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Annual Update (F2): Alejandro presented the annual update on the village's compliance with the Illinois statewide permit (ILR 40) under the Federal Clean Water Act. The village addresses six minimum control measures: public education and outreach, public participation, illicit discharge detection, construction runoff control, post-construction runoff control, and pollution prevention. Recent activities included participation in the Spark Career Expo and use of the My Civic 311 app for reporting stormwater issues. Trustees noted the importance of the program and suggested a social media campaign to promote the app and resident stewardship. No formal action was taken.

Key Outcomes

  • No resolutions or ordinances were adopted. The committee received both presentations for informational purposes. No votes were taken.

Meeting Transcript

Evening everybody. We're going to call our community of the hold order. Roll call, please. President Coffin. I'm here. Trustee Cooper. Here. Trustee Hughes. Trustee Koenig. Here. Trust him McCarthy and Lang. Here. Trusty Novi. Here. Trustee Torres. Here. All right. First up, we're going to open the public forum. If there's anyone wishing to address the board and the public this evening, please feel free to come forward now. And I do not have any green slips. So first come, first serve. Seeing nobody, we'll close the public forum and move on this evening. We have no old business. So we're going to move right along to our new business. And under new business, we have our first item, F1. Jean. Thank you, President Kaufman. Tonight we are here to talk about the America 250th birthday celebration and how we as a village plan to commemorate this historic event. Assistant to the administrator, Maddie Upham and I are gonna are co-chairing uh what we're calling the SBO 250 team, and we'll be co-presenting to you all tonight. All right. So is everybody aware of what the America 250 is? I'm gonna put it on the record just in case you don't. Um America 250 is the celebration of the 250th uh anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Uh America in 2016 established a con uh Congress established a um nonpartisan commission that is composed of members from all three branches of the federal government and its independent agencies to develop a program to celebrate this historic milestone. Based on that, we have Illinois to or America Illinois 250, which is um the Illinois prerogative, and uh they have a commission that was established in order to do statewide uh put it together an inclusive statewide effort that uplifts local stories, places, and programs. It tries to, it has reached each local municipality, county, some nonprofits, they have their uh hand in a lot to try and bolster the background of the um educational outreach and inform people of what this milestone means. As of today, we are uh 59 days until 4th of July 2026, so we have less than 60 days until the big day. How many dates how many times can you say day in one sentence? We're also part of uh Keno County, it has a semi-quincentennial team as well, so we are a part of that committee. Um sharing what we're doing, but then also hearing what other communities in the county are doing. Uh so uh how did we get here, right? How did we plan for this? A certain former employee had the foresight to budget 100,000 in the CIP for the village to commemorate the semi-quincentennial. Uh it was originally budgeted into the CIP because the original vision was for some kind of infrastructure project. Uh however, when we ultimately uh put it up to the team to decide what we were gonna do with the funding, um, and we'll talk about that in a little bit here. We decided to move more towards an event with a smaller emphasis on infrastructure. But it still remains in the CIP fund. Um at the bottom, we also noted that we are part of the uh Illinois Municipal League resolution, so we are a participating community. We did adopt a resolution back at the end of last year. So if you don't remember, that's what that was about.

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