Woodstock City Council Meeting Summary – March 18, 2026
Woodstock City Council Meeting Summary – March 18, 2026
The Woodstock City Council met on Wednesday, March 18, 2026, at 7:00 p.m. in City Council Chambers. The meeting was moved to Wednesday due to state law prohibiting meetings on election days. Six of the seven council members were present. The meeting included a swearing-in ceremony for a new police officer, a public hearing on hotel/motel tax amendments, public comments, and discussion of the FY26/27 budget.
Consent Calendar
- Approved unanimously: minutes of March 3, 2026; warrants #4188 and #4189; Board of Police Commissioners Minutes (March 2, 2026); Opera House Advisory Commission Minutes (February 5 and 17, 2026) and 2025 Annual Report; and Public Library Board of Trustees Minutes (February 12, 2026).
- Item D1 (Manager’s Report No. 289 – Change Order #1 for Fehr Graham) was removed for separate consideration and later postponed to time non-specific.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Swearing-in Ceremony: Officer Roberto Landeros was ceremonially sworn in after completing training and achieving solo patrol in January 2026. Mayor Turner and Police Chief praised his service and the support of his family.
- Public Hearing on Hotel/Motel Tax (Chapter 3.2.8): No members of the public spoke. Council members then discussed proposed amendments, debating scope and exemptions.
- Public Comments:
- Chuck Currier (address on Austin Trail, Woodstock) expressed opposition to the city’s Flock camera system without sufficient oversight, transparency, or accountability. He cited a 40% error rate in Oak Park and examples of misuse in other cities. He urged adoption of local policies, audits, and independent oversight.
- John (Lions Club member, from Union) announced a fundraising event for the Gavers Cancer Fund and sought awareness to form new service organizations. Mayor Turner noted a Facebook page “What’s Happening in Woodstock” as a resource.
Discussion Items
- Hotel/Motel Occupancy Tax Amendments: Councilman Hansen raised concerns about the tax exemption for nonprofit/government emergency housing, stating neighboring communities (Crystal Lake, McHenry, Huntley) have stricter policies, and that Woodstock may be disproportionately housing people. He requested staff investigate and said exemptions should be tightened. Councilman Seegers supported taxing all short-term rentals (Airbnbs). Councilman Nearman supported removing all exemptions for hotels, except for actual nonprofit-owned facilities like Turning Point. Councilwoman Ziemba suggested requiring registration for agencies in emergencies. Mayor Turner summarized unanimous direction: (1) extend the tax to short-term rentals; (2) remove exemptions for hotels entering into emergency housing agreements with nonprofits or government, but keep the exemption for properties owned and operated by nonprofits (e.g., Turning Point); (3) consider a registration system for agencies in disaster situations to allow potential refunds. Staff will draft revised language.
- Manager’s Report No. 289 (Change Order #1): Councilman Hansen questioned the $41,000 increase on an $80,000 contract with Fehr Graham for the water/sewer rate study. Staff explained that previous data provided to the consultant was inaccurate, requiring rework. After discussion, Council moved to postpone item D1 to time non-specific, allowing further staff review.
- Transmittal of FY26/27 Budget: City Manager Roscoe Stelford III presented the budget — over 600 pages, with total expenses exceeding $90 million. The operating budget is balanced, but there is a planned $12 million deficit funded through bond proceeds. Capital spending includes Route 47 projects, supported by grants. A public hearing will be held April 7, a budget workshop on April 8, and final approval on April 21, 2026. Mayor Turner encouraged council to bring individual questions to staff beforehand.
Key Outcomes
- Consent calendar items A through C5 approved unanimously.
- Item D1 (Fehr Graham Change Order #1) postponed to time non-specific.
- Council gave clear direction on hotel/motel tax modifications: tax short-term rentals, eliminate most exemptions except for brick-and-mortar nonprofit shelters, and develop emergency housing policies.
- Budget process timeline set: public hearing April 7, budget workshop April 8, final vote on April 21.
Meeting Transcript
Well, good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I'd like to welcome you to this evening's meeting of the uh Woodstock City Council. It's a bit out of sorts for us because it's on a Wednesday, which is really weird. Um but because of changes in state law, uh, we were required to not have the meeting on uh the day of uh an election or including primary uh election. So here we are on Wednesday. Uh a couple of brief announcements before we get started. The agenda this evening and all materials will be shown on the uh on the screens in uh throughout the room. Uh there are two opportunities for public comment this evening, the first being at the start of the meeting uh under floor discussion public comment. Uh members of the public may come forward to the podium in the middle of the room if they're willing to do so, state their name and address for purpose of the record and feel free to make comments to the Woodstock City Council on any items not on this evening's agenda. Second opportunity for public comment will be during um items for action. We will offer the opportunity for uh public to make a comment as well. City of uh Woodstock operates in what's c uh called a consent format. Consent format means that all items for action this evening will be considered in a single motion or a single vote. If a member of the public wishes to have an item removed for separate consideration and voting, they may make that request, and that item can be removed if agreed to by a member of council. That item can be removed for separate consideration and voting. And if a member of council wishes to remove an item as well, member of council may do that. It will be removed and separately considered and voted upon. Any questions on those brief announcements before we get started? All right, hearing none, I'll go ahead and officially call to order this March 18th, 2026 meeting of the Woodstock City Council to order and ask Jane to please call the roll. Councilman Flynn. Here councilman Hansen. Here. Councilwoman McMahon. Councilman Nearman. Here. Councilman Seegers. Here. Councilwoman Ziemba. Here. Mayor Turner. Here. The record reflect that six of the seven members of the Woodstock City Council are present for this evening's meeting. Jane, I would ask you to please uh confirm that the agenda this evening is the same as the true and published agenda. Yes, it is. All right, thank you, Jane. Ladies and gentlemen of the council, that being the case, the people's business is duly and appropriately before us. Uh the first item on the agenda this evening is floor discussion. And under floor discussion, uh we have a fantastic opportunity to uh do a swearing in of a blank brand new uh Woodstock police officer. And we're joined this evening um by the chief and also Ron Giordano, the uh commission commissioner of our um uh Woodstock Police and uh police and fire commission. So chief, uh with pleasure, I'll turn that over to you. Thank you, Mayor. Um and along with Officer Landeros, we have his wife Karen who is also a police officer at a nearby agency to uh pin his badge on in just a moment. You know, this is one of those exciting moments where um it's been almost a year uh since Officer Landeras joined Woodstock Police Department. And uh in today's world, it just takes a ton of training to um select well it takes a lot of effort to select somebody and then hire them, put them through the training, and then once they go through the academy, they uh come back to us and go through a 90 working day field training process. Uh Officer Landeros went through all of that uh with uh high honors and uh achieved solo patrol back in uh January. Uh and so now we're finally getting to ready to do his uh ceremonial swearing in. You know, it's one of those and when we do these, not only do we invite our Woodstock PD family, but we invite his uh blood family, again his his wife Karen and Serenity Serenity over there that's just hanging out. Hi Serenity Um because when we do this to get through, as I've said before, um law enforcement career is not an easy one, and it takes both families, uh your Woodstock family and your family at home to get through this. And I can't even imagine what it's like to have a double law enforcement uh house when it when it comes to the stresses of the job and uh uh raising children at the same time. So kudos to both of you.
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