Before you rush the discussion. Would you like to add something to discussion? Yes, I would.


Okay. Yeah, but the point of matter is, let's everybody else chime in, you know, it's not just a one-off thing here.


and John. I wanted to table this or suspend this thing, but I'm just going to table it for now because my colleagues are not in a, is not on a court with anything that we're discussing tonight, especially in areas that's costing millions of dollars. The concern should and the City of New York.


So there should be millions of dollars that should be concerning folks to evaluate and study why it is that we're considering adopting any of this thing without consulting with Council and talking about it.


We're talking millions of dollars right now at this moment. We're moving into that area, whether we know it or not.


and if we can debate that, discuss that, see where we're at financially with it and where the financing is gonna come from, these things need to not be rushed through council.


So anyway, I just wanted to stay on topic about the whole way that we're processing this and how we come to the data or the project and the data or the project of testing storms, storm and water out at the Albertus Airport.


And what brought that matter up? What I'm saying is if there was no problem out there, and it definitely doesn't describe as a problem that I'm looking at, what is the implementation of this study?


Have we had a problem out there with the storm and sewer, whatever the case is that we're looking at?


Has there been a problem that prompted City Manager to look into these matters? What did we discover?


Was there a discovery with the storm and water program on this item? Was there an issue there?


that issue should be brought to the council where we can understand why it is that we're hiring someone to do a study if we have not even talked about the study and the reason why that study should be even relevant at this time.


So Mike, that's what I'm trying to do, that's the reason why I've tried to pause for council to inject their viewpoints as well as my own.


So my thing is, are we engaged to just let things happen? That's, that's, that's my point of view of things.


Okay, so you're, you want to make a motion to table? Is that correct, what I'm hearing?


No, I'm not going to table this. I thought I would, but I'm not going to do it.


Okay, and just for a point of clarification, we're not talking about millions of dollars, we're talking about $7,300.


I, I know on that particular one, but I, I said, as we go along, it's going to get into the millions.


You didn't hear that part. So. Darren, did you want to? Yeah. So this is a stormwater inspection that's required by the EPA and the airport due to the jet fuels that are used out at the airport.


There's nothing suspicious about this. This is an annual contract that we do every year.


It's time and material and usually this is worst case scenario. It's usually much cheaper than this by the end of the year.


It depends on if there's anything found in the water or not, there hasn't been anything found for the last year and a half, to my knowledge.


And we do quarterly inspections, you have to do a wet inspection and you have to do a dry inspection.


So and the paperwork's all reported up to the EPA and to the airport managers.


The better job that they do at the airport, the less work needs to be done.


Thank you. Madam Clerk, please take the roll. Shadle? Sanders, Sellers, Klemm, Johnson, Simmons, Parker, and Stacy. The resolution is adopted 8-0. Item number 21 is the adoption of Resolution 2025-150. Please read this. Resolution approving an agreement with Cinegro Central for the loading, transporting, and land application of biosolids generated by The City's Hancock Wastewater Treatment Plant.


Manager Boyer. Thank you, Your Honor. The treatment plant, wastewater treatment plant, as a byproduct, creates two end products.


One of those is clean water, and the other one is biosolids. The biosolids is a solid matter.


After it's gone through the treatment process, it has been dewatered and stored in a biosolid building at the wastewater treatment plant.


Once the storage area is full, staff Call a contracted hauler, Cinegro, to land apply that biosolid. Cinegro contracts and coordinates with farmers in the area so that the biosolids can be land applied to agricultural fields and used as natural fertilizer. Cinegro is then responsible for keeping records and contracts with the participating farmers as well as records on the amount of fertilizer that it applied to each field, on which days and where the biosolids came from. Laws regulate with the amount of biosolids that can be field applied within specific amounts of time, and Centro keeps all the legally required documentation and provides quarterly reports that staff then use to complete and file additional EPE reports in the compliance and during our permitting process. Centro services are a key component of keeping the wastewater treatment plant running efficiently and effectively, maintaining regulatory compliance. The contract between Centegro, and the City of Freeport is set to expire December of 2025. The new contract ensures continued compliance with our National Pollution Discharge permit and Biosolid Land Application is a special service. It's very difficult to find qualified bio application companies. Staff solicited bids from four Midwest companies that perform these land applications and no one else Schroeder.


This is required for the municipality. The current contract was signed, it said, it expires on December.


The original contract price was $46.99 a cubic yard for an estimated 3,300 cubic yards.


The amendment would adjust the price to 48.21 per cubic yard effective January 1st to 26 through December 31st to 28 when the contract expires.


and Staff recommends moving forward with the resolution to approve of Cinegro for hollage of biosolids.


Is there a motion to adopt? So moved. Second. A motion made by Alderman Shadle, seconded by Alderman Sellers.


Discussion on the resolution. I'm coming, Mayor. I'm looking at you. Yeah, I'm coming because like I said, I wanted to pause, let my colleagues chime in and see where they're at.


That's what I'm trying to do. Be respectful. Alderman Sanders, did you have some discussion?


Yeah, I do. I do. Well, any Well, anyway, by any chance, Manager Boyer, how many people contract, I mean, how many employees working for CentroGro to do the hauling for the City of Freeport and who is maintaining the program, who's taking care of the whole project and are these people Staff at the City Waste Treatment Plant.


Cinegro is a private entity that is contracted for services for land application of biosolids.


Okay, give me more. You're leaving things out. Give me more. I don't know how many people work for Cinegro.


Yeah, it's more than that. There's no way I could know what their payroll is or how many people work there.


And you can't know how much we're paying them for the year of their services.


That, you didn't ask. No, I didn't, but that's the reason why I'm trying to encourage you to give more detail.


Essentially, it depends on our wastewater. Essentially, we're talking about our averages, 3,300 tons per year.


Director Richter has some I do have a number for 20 in 2024 we paid Cinegro hundred and twenty three thousand this so it's last year okay so how long we've been in business with this contractor very long time ever since I've been here we have so we put the bid out to four other places we only got one bid back Okay, okay. Darren? So one of the issues with finding waste haulers is people that spread biosolids contract fields and if they contract they you know it's hard to bring a contractor from a long ways out of the area to contract land around here to spread it and then do all the paperwork requirements and I believe CineGrow they've done it for at least the last eight years that I know of maybe B. Longer. They've done a great job. Part of the cost here that has really changed things is the prevailing wage, which the state weighed in on it and said this is a prevailing wage function and we must do certified payrolls for this job. That's changed the spreading business and it's put a lot of the small haulers that would have ever thought about doing this out of business.


Second question. How much, well Director Richter already stated how much per year that this service is costing the city, but what financial obligation does this contract have with the and the State of Biosolids to be formulated to be put out on the field because that's a cost within itself throughout the year.


So I don't know. I know it's a cost factor. The city has all the chemical costs in our own bids and it's part of our process.


They just haul the biosluds, they rent the fields and they spread it. That's their service.


Okay, so it's by the ton. So because our tonnage changes. So now we were talking about the chemical that actually Creates the bio solid how that's the cost how much are we spending to do that?


For contractors to come in to make sure that these solids make it out to the field it takes a chemical it takes chemical We have no material to create this type of form for that.


Do we have a cost factor for the chemicals that are going in there? Because that's a major cost to transform sewage into a biosolid, you know, that's a serious change in the financial impact on the sewer department or the city itself.


Deren? It has nothing to do with this contract so it's no not the contract i'm talking about the chemical base for the haulers to be able to haul it city has to be able to break that solid break it down to uh so it can be uh hauled what chemicals are we what we're kind of what chemicals are being financed to do that and how much is it costing well like Deren said this has nothing to Alderman, Stacy, but I'm I'm with Alderman Sanders on this there is another fee and what is that fee attorney Zito if I think I'm understanding the question right and so I'll pose this as a question to you Darren because I think they're asking I think they're asking the question right and so I'll pose this as a question to you Darren about when the chemicals right to create the biosolids right that's our normal treatment process right our normal waste treatment process the end result is this biosolids are through our normal treatment process now it's just a matter of every time we treat waste there's always going to be this residue what do we do with that residue Cinegro hauls it away and spreads it on farm fields so it's our normal treatment process anytime we treat sewer waste so there's nothing that's our that cost is the cost of us treating waste. Madam Clerk please take


the role. Shadle. Aye. Sanders. Aye. Sellers. Aye. Klemm. Aye. Johnson. Aye. Simmons is absent.


and Parker. Aye. She's here. Oh and your vote. Aye. Parker said aye. Aye. And Stacy. Aye.


The resolution is adopted 8 to 0. Sorry about that. We'll move on to department head reports.


Finance. Nothing your honor. Thank you. Community Development. No. Public Works. Nothing tonight. Thank you. Fire. Thank you. No report this evening. Thank you. Police. Nothing from the Police Department, Mayor, Library, Nothing, Thank you, and IT, thank you, City Manager, Nothing tonight, your Honor, and I don't have anything to add either, so we'll move on to Council Announcements, Alderman Shadle, I just would like to thank all of our city employees, Police, Fire, and Street Department especially for handling a very trying weekend in a very fine manner. Thank you.


Alderman Sanders? Nothing. Alderman Sellers? Nothing. Alderman Klemm? If I could Mayor, Chief, at our neighborhood watch the other night, it came up about the shop with a cop, and there were some people interested in giving, and we passed the information on. Is there anything that you can tell that if somebody wants to give, how they could contact you guys, or who would be the person?


Sure, so we'll be doing shop with a cop on Saturday morning. We'll be taking donations any time, particularly this week.


Donations can be made to the Fraternal Order of Police. That's who ultimately funds the shop with a cop.


So they can come down to the police department and give it to dispatch or any officer, really, that's available.


And they'll turn it over to the FOP and go straight to the kids, so.


Appreciate it. Thank you. Welcome. Johnson, nothing tonight mayor, Alderman Simmons, Parker, just a couple one is a shot with a cop is a great program we've been doing it for years that's good the other is want to just echo what Alder and Shadle said about the employees for this past weekend had to be a whole so thank you woman Stacy yes to the many Any cause and constituents who called me pertaining to leaf pickup, Tuesday night and Wednesday, I did the best I knew to do.


I don't know where we go from here because now the leaves are in the snow.


and I do wish we could have been more productive Wednesday with the leafs being picked up in areas where they had never been touched, however, they were already flipped over to snow plows.


Snowplows. So, I don't know, City Manager Boyer, how many phone calls you received, you gave me permission to give them your number and I did. But I don't know where we go from here come spring because the leaves, they're going to be there.


and John. Okay. Move on to public comments. Tommy? I wanted to tell you, you know about World Siding and Freeport, it's empty buildings.


You know what they're going to do with it? No, not yet. and so you know you do a good job and so Stacy we want to tell you uh i i got a new house at the at the solar program in Freeport and uh i want to tell Tom Quinn he does a good job of Alderman in Freeport and he knows everything thank you Any other public comments? I will entertain a motion to adjourn. I move. Second. I have a motion made by Alderman Shadle, seconded by Alderman Sellers. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed?