An idea to have Plainfield become a sister city to Nisporeni, a town in the Eastern European country of Moldova, caused debate at the Monday Plainfield Village Board meeting.

The majority of the Village Board, including trustees Siv Panicker, Tom Ruane, Vanessa Sula and Brian Wojowski, voted in favor of a resolution investigating such an agreement.

Voting no was Village Trustee Margie Bonuchi. Village Trustee Richard Kiefer abstained from voting.

Bonuchi wanted more discussion on the matter.

“We’ve never discussed this beyond making this resolution,” she said.

Plainfield Mayor John Argoudelis noted the Village Board was not approving a resolution creating a sister city agreement with Nisporeni.

“The motion today is not to establish a sister city,” he said. “It’s simply to start the process. Before we formalize that, that would have to come back before the board. So there will be plenty of time to give this more thought.”

In abstaining from the vote, Kiefer said he didn’t want to weigh in on the resolution.

“I don’t mind if you want to investigate this, but I don’t want to weigh in this right now,” he said.

Earlier in the evening, Kiefer had voiced concerns about such an agreement.

“I just feel like with the political climate we’re in now, I don’t think we should be weighing in and forming ties like this,” he said.

The idea for Plainfield to become a sister city to Nisporeni was proposed by Anton Lungu, Consul General of the Republic of Moldova in Chicago.

“We see this as an opportunity to build bridges,” he said, in addressing the Village Board prior to the vote. “I hope you will support this idea.”

Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east and south.

“Plainfield, along with Naperville, has the largest population of Moldovan immigrants in maybe the United States,” Argoudelis said. “Certainly quite a few residents are Moldovan. There are businesses in Plainfield that are owned by Moldovan residents of Plainfield.”