We got two, huh? What's going on? Working through their permit time. Good evening. Evelyn, could you please give the invocation?


Father God, we thank you for being who you are in all areas of our government.


Thank you for leading and guiding this city council meeting tonight. Father, please lead and guide every council member in all the discussions that are discussed tonight.


Let there be no division between any council member. Psalms 3312 says, blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.


We thank you for the city of Freeport and for the leaders you have put in place to lead us.


In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Thank you, Evelyn. Now we'll officially call this meeting to order.


Mayor Miller, Alderpersons, Klemm, Monroe, Simmons, Absent, Parker, Stacy, Shadle, Sanders, Sellers, and Alderpersons, Simmons, are you present?


If you could please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance led by Alderman Sellers. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty.


Alderman Sellers, the meeting is yours. Thank you. At this time, can I have a motion to approve the agenda?


So moved. Second. It was approved by, first by Greg, well Shadle, Shadle, thank you, Shadle and Klemm, let me see, let me put that on here, Shadle, second Klemm, okay, all those in favor?


Aye Any opposed? Motion passes. Approval of minutes from the Committee of a Whole meeting held on December 9th, 2024.


So moved. Second. Okay, it was first by Shadle. Okay, first, Shadle. Okay, and second, Klemm.


Okay, all in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion passed. at this time we'll have public comments and there are three names the first name is Diane Yocum hello my name is Diane Yocum and I'm a citizen of Freeport and I noticed on the and the agenda number 15 that is coming up again about some of these ordinance changes that one wants to do I think to some of the meeting principles that go on here in particular fines and so forth.


One part of that that I especially want to speak against is section 20, I believe it's and others.


This is part four, where it states, any member present when her name is called to vote on any question during a meeting of the City Council or any of its committees and who shall refuse or neglect to vote shall forfeit $100 of their compensation for the current month unless he or she has a conflict of interest in subject matter of the question and discloses and others.


This is the nature of the conflict of the City Council and the City Council by majority of vote excuses said member from voting at his or her request prior to the commencement of the roll call on said question.


Now it's my understanding that the Council indeed and I understand every one of you has a copy of Robert's Rules of Order and under Robert's Rules of Order it states in Section and the City Council members.


And I think that there is a right of abstention and it is not necessarily always connected to having a conflict of interest.


And so by putting this in, I think it is an unjust and unfair principle that is being added into this because for me, not only is it unjust, but it also I think is down a slippery slope and others. And heaven knows we've got concerns about that enough as it is, and that I do not think this is fair, that it's right, that it's just, and I think it's very undemocratic per se. I don't particularly like this whole ordinance as a whole, but some of these principles I think are not necessary. You already have, I understand in the ordinance, rules about what you can do and cannot do regarding this, and I think these changes are completely unnecessary and others.


If you don't have your Robert's Rules of Order, I suggest you look at 45.


3 and read that section through. There's another area where it talks about if you have a conflict of interest, which by all means, any person should indeed abstain from voting, but by right, you do have that under Robert's Rules of Order, the option to abstain whether or not, and it doesn't have to be have to be called an abstention when the vote is called, but you do by right have that freedom and that opportunity to abstain.


Thank you. Thank you. Next on the list is Akia Sanders. How y'all doing? This is my sister.


We own 404 together. I just want to state that she was never served at her address. Steve Cox used my address to serve her. My sister lives in Rockford.


They asked you where do you want the deed sent? She sent the deed to me. But that was not to be used. That's her primary address. He did that on his own.


I was also called Friday by the police to say that they are not going to press any charges on Tony. I don't know if his last name Miller, Albert, or whatever his name is.


because they would have a hard time proving intent. There was three different occasions he brought my belongings to whoever, but it's called theft after the fact or something like that, but you mean to tell me three times he didn't know he had my stolen property?


Insane. And then on another note, as this came out, I was told that Rob Boyer was asking or telling people, do you know who this is about?


This is a Kia Sanders. I don't know what he meant by that, but I just want him to know that means more says more about you than it says about me.


Okay, next on the list is Cheryl. Is it Altman? Thank you. Good evening. I owned a house at 124 Blackhawk, and I think that they did the fast-track demolition process on me. We were not served any notice, no registration. One day it was there, the next day it was gone. And we had a whole bunch of stuff in there. As a matter of fact, when they went through my house, they broke in to go through the house. The house was locked.


So now I lost not only my house, but all my building material that was in this house and that's unfair that I was not served any notice and then we have another property that we're trying to get, we have our contractor's license, we're trying to get a permit, we had to have an engineer for 16 to 422 and a half prospectors, we had the engineer come in, gave them the report that it's a sound building, we got a permit last year, but they refused to give me this year and we were two thirds of the way done with the house and now they want and try tearing that down too.


This is unfair. The city needs to take a look at some of their buildings like the Raleigh Building, which has been a very eyesore for years.


And you've guys got grants, but yet it's still standing and you've got trees growing in there, hundreds of windows that are broken.


That's the biggest eyesore in Freeport. Okay, at this time, we'll move to discussion seven, Discussing Regarding Possible Implementation of a FLOC License Plate Reader, LPR, and Video System, Presentation by Chief Shenberger.


Thank you. So the Freeport Police Department has utilized Vigilant, which is Motorola, LPR cameras at various locations in the city, and Sound Thinking Gunshot Detection Sensors.


The use of LPR cameras and Sound Thinking have significantly helped the PD staff with with Shots Fired Investigations.


LPR cameras have also benefited PD staff with investigating other crimes, including recovery of stolen vehicles, serious felonies, and retail thefts.


Staff has been working with representatives... working with representatives from FLOC with potentially expanding our technological resources that will allow officers to be more proactive and improve the response to criminal incidents.


FLOC offers a three-pronged approach, LPR cameras, live video cameras, and gunshot detection. The City of Freeport is currently under contract with Sound Thinking and Vigilant until 2027.


Staff is looking for other alternatives to improve public safety Files at FLOC can offer more alternatives under one user-friendly program.


So there is no funding at this time or any costs. This is just something we're looking to explore and looking into possibility of maybe being some grant funding out there or in the future of reallocating funds that's used towards sound thinking and Vigilant after the expiration of the contracts.


but the contract with Vigilant was paid up front, so there is no annual cost with that until the contract expires.


I also have Blaine Thomas, he's a representative from FLOC, he's just gonna give a little presentation to the council and everyone who's watching here and at home, just to give you an idea of what FLOC can do for the city.


Yes, thank you, Chief, and to the Council and everybody here. I know that you all have a packed agenda tonight, so I greatly appreciate you all giving us the time to go through this.


Yeah, absolutely. While he's pulling up the slides, I can speak a little bit to who FLOC is. My main objective for this time is really to highlight what the company, what our company does, what FLOC does. Briefly speak to our technologies. There's a lot to go into, but I'm gonna try to highlight the ones that the Chief brought up.


And then finally kind of share the vision of Flock and how all the technology works.


What does that mean, Flock? Flock's the name of our company. Huh? Just the name of the company.


Name of the company? Mm-hmm, okay. Yeah, correct. So to give you all some context, Flock is a public safety technology company.


We have a host of hardware sensors, whether that be live video, LPR cameras, gunshot detection, drones, mobile security trailers, a number of different technology assets.


We then take all of that data and put it into a public safety platform that allows the police department to make objective, data-driven decisions.


To give you a little bit of an idea of the scale of our company.


We work with approximately 1,500 law enforcement agencies in cities across the United States, have right at about 90,000 license plate reading cameras throughout the country.


For the sake of time, I'll kind of continue here, so the way that the company works is So, oh.


Thomas. Could I please get your name while we're waiting? Yeah. Blaine Thomas. Thank you.


Yep. I can go from here. Am I able to scroll down on this? Okay, great.


Yeah, so I went into this a little bit. I'll be brief on this slide. We at FLOC, we understand that public safety is a dynamic, creates dynamic challenges, and it's also a resource constraint business, whether that be manpower or financial resources, we use our technology to try to multiply the impact that a police force and a city can ultimately have while still providing safeguards to ensure and I want to make sure that the public's data is that the city is a good steward of public data.


To kind of go over this one more time, so at the top you'll see a number of different technologies.


What you see from left to right is LPR, gunshot detection, and live video. We also have a few other products, but those are the primary ones that I'll speak to this evening.


we have a three-pronged approach when it comes to the when it comes to the data that that our technology captures. We detect the data and then we decode it and then we deliver it. In that decoding layer we take AIML models and put it over the different technologies that we have whether that be over the image that a license plate reader captures or a video stream that a live video camera We'll pick up. And then we deliver that, we ultimately deliver that data in a digestible manner to law enforcement. There's a number of different ways that we do that, which I'll go into when I dive into the products a little bit more.


LPR cameras, this is something that you all already have in the city. What makes our LPR cameras a little bit different is that they are plugged into the nationwide network of flock cameras.


What that means is that if, say, a vehicle that is associated with a felony warrant out of Chicago, Bloomington, insert whatever city, you will, if one of those passes a camera in your city, the police department will get alerted to that.


The idea of that is being able to prevent crime, to go and investigate certain vehicles before a crime is committed.


and Joseph. Also, the police department has the ability to go back and look at historical data.


So if an incident happens in a given part of the city, the police department can go back and see what vehicles were in the city during that time.


I was just down visiting a customer on the eastern side of the state. They had a 911 call that somebody heard gunshots.


And that was the extent of what the police department had. They looked at their LPR cameras in the area within about a 15 minute time window of that 911 call, saw one car that had blood on it, one car that had bullet holes in it.


So the idea is being able to give the police department more data, more insights to do their job.


I always like to just spend a second on the slides, I think it's important, just really speak to what LPR is, what it isn't.


and LPR takes a LPR sorry a license plate reader takes a picture of the back of the vehicle we are going to get the license plate of that vehicle as well as some unique characteristics make model color there's a bumper sticker roof rack etc what we are not doing with these cameras is there is no facial recognition going on we are not looking for or at individuals we are simply just looking at at a vehicle next piece that I want to go into is live video live video is nothing that is is new.


What makes our live video cameras a little bit different is that they have the ability to detect people and vehicles.


So while it's not an LPR camera, it can still record characteristics of vehicles that pass it, as well as have features like pupil detection.


So let's just say that if you want to be alerted to maybe groups of people past a certain time of night, the cameras with the capability to do that.


Next, gunshot detection. Gunshot detection is also not. Detection, Gunshot Detection is also not a new technology.


We have a couple statistics on this board that we take pride in. The first one would be 90% accurate to within 90 feet.


Gunshot detection is really only as good as it is accurate. We actually slow rolled this product to market to make sure that it was as accurate as possible.


If you have a wide area that a potential gunshot could have happened, it is not as effective and others.


Holtz, and to a relatively precise area. The one thing that I do want to talk to you before I speak to how this platform works together is the things that we do to make sure that data is protected.


Ultimately, the police department, therefore the city, owns all of its data. We do not sell the data.


I personally don't have access to the data. It's not like every FLOC employee has access to the data or anything like that.


The city owns the data. The city is able to create policies around their data, and you own 100% of that data.


Also, the data is only retained for 30 days. This is not a technology that can go back and look at the movements of an individual over two years.


the idea is to get is to get this objective data for a period of time to allow law enforcement to do their jobs and then to have the data go away there also is a transparency portal which we provide if the city would like that this is a public website that anybody in the community or the really the country can have access to what this will do is it will show if the city has an LPR policy it will show that as well as how the LPR is used any agencies in the area that might have access to that data, this will all be public.


To speak a little bit about how the platform works together I use this example here to kind of illustrate how it all comes together.


LPR, live video, gunshot detection, they are products that do great on their own but together they really start to have a profound impact So if we, this is a bank robbery case here, but if we use our imaginations here, if we get a hit on a LPR camera, and you have live video cameras in town as well, you can say, if you get an alert on a LPR, you can then go into the live video cameras around there, and officers can be getting situational awareness to what is going on while they are in route, as opposed to just maybe getting a call for service and showing up to that call without a lot of context.


Same thing works with gunshot detection. If you get an alert that a gunshot was detected, police can then go and look at the cars that were in the vicinity during that time, as well as pull up live video cameras to understand what is going on on the ground while en route.


I will pause there. I think that that covers the 60,000 foot view. And more than happy to answer any questions if we are doing questions.


Are there any questions at this time? Thank you. I've got a few. So just a quick deep dive into some of your past with cameras.


seems like there's a lot of issues with cameras popping up as far as the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution.


I noticed that there was a lawsuit that was filed back in October of last year against FLOC.


How, you know, storing this data for 30 days clearly is potentially a way to track somebody who's not committed any crimes.


What is FLOC doing to protect citizens' rights and the community from that type of intrusive behavior?


Yeah, so what I will say to that is we have a legal team that I can connect you with that can answer that in depth.


What I can, because I don't want to speak out of term on public record, what I can confidently say though is there have been a number of cases where precedent was set that this technology is okay.


The state of Illinois has said that this technology is okay under certain parameters. are 30 days data retention is under the that is a that is less retention than the the the state law has but I can I can provide some some greater context as a follow-up to you have follow-up that'd be the two we wanted to we don't get to in this okay well go ahead so my second question coming back to that and I appreciate that information there are safeguards put in place so that a and John, and I'm going to start with the police officer or some official could not run your license plate multiple times to check on somebody's status, their information for no reason, just going in for random. Are there protections like that with this type of software?


» Yeah, thank you for asking that question. In the sake of trying to be timely, I breeze over that. Any time that the Thomas. I cannot go out in there and look at my wife's license plate willy-nilly. What I would have to do is I would have to put a search reason as to why, and then the system would log that myself, Blaine Thomas, searched XYZ license plate for whatever reason, and that's an audit trail that lives in the system.


Awesome. Thank you very much. Yeah. Thank you for the questions. Yeah, is that dedicated to the Police Department only? Of what Alderman Monroe was just talking about?


The ability to use the system? Yes. Yeah, so the way that it works is yes. The Police Department ultimately is the, I don't want to say owner, is the owner of the system, and what I mean by that is a bad word.


and they manage the system. So the police department ultimately can, they grant access to who they want access granted to.


Okay. So this would not be something that the public can access? Yes, correct. Okay.


What is a sound thinking, vigilant that the city is currently running? you familiar with that?


Yeah, those are competitive products to FLOC. They are what? They're competitive, those are products that our competitors have taken to market.


And the City of Freeport is affiliated or own anything of that nature? Chief, do you wanna?


Yeah, we have vigilant LPR cameras and then Sound Thinking, formerly known as ShotSpotter, We have a contract with them as well.


And we only, do we have mapping of where these cameras are located? No, we don't.


Okay, so who did the installation and then provide the locations of these devices? Well, I mean, we know where they're at.


Oh, okay. They're in fixed locations. Okay. So yeah, but the installation, I believe, I think we went to it in 2021, but it might not have been rolled out Till 22. So. Okay, but these cameras that that we're looking at, the city hasn't purchased any of those yet, have they? Yeah, you're correct. The city has not purchased any cameras. And do you sell this all over the country? Is this device sold all over the country? Yes. Okay. And who does the installation of these cameras? We do.


you do okay at the discretion of the police department yes correct we we require a permit for it we we we pull permits for every installation so whether that be on city right away or or IDOT right away so they're okay so there's books and pamphlet installations and the value of these cameras that the city May, Michael Cinder,énor me not consider purchasing so their is things that we can look at to make a determination if that's the route that we like to go. Yeah just to understand just to make sure that I understand the question correctly are you asking are there like budgetary quotes and other types of documentation. Yes, yeah. Okay, are there any other Chief, Shenberger, I really appreciate you bringing this forward. Like last year, we brought forward the drones and they were turned down, but it shows that we have some of this existing technology now, but this is a chance to upgrade it, move it around and locate it in more spots that may be more beneficial. But I appreciate the fact that you are proactive in taking to look at the different things that we can do. Needless to say, manpower is one thing that is increasing, but anything that we can do to help with, assist manpower, is really


a great thing for the City. Thanks for bringing it forward. Yes, Chief Shenberger, I would like to know are we or would we be replacing what we have already spent money on or is this in addition to what we already have?


So I mean eventually the contracts with Vigilant and Sound Thinking they expire in 2027 so So we would have to consider renewing.


I'm just exploring options on perhaps getting started with the FLOC system and possibly transitioning to that if the council is on board with that.


I'm just putting this out there just to show what's available to us. As of now, Vigilant, like I said, that was paid up front, so it doesn't cost us anything, and the Sound Thinking, we pay annually. There's two more years left on that as well.


So you're saying, Chief Shenberger, that if we add this, this will take away the other two shot spotters that we have?


It could eventually, yeah. Because, I mean, if you think about it, we have an LPR system that's one company then we have some thinking that's another company well they offer you know LPR's live video which is something we've well I've been talking about and gunshot detection all in one company one program instead of you know utilizing different programs we have we have a fixed camera you know that takes one program we have a portable camera that takes another so it's just a good and I have the option to have something that can offer all three with just one program.


So one more question. So this would be an upgrade and we paying one bill instead of paying maybe two or is that?


It could be, yeah, I see it as an upgrade and I mean he could talk more about the cost of it.


So like, for example, Vigilant, right, we paid for that up front. I've had a couple of things go wrong with them, so I had to go through the company to RMA to get them replaced.


That was quite a process. It took about three or four months for me to get the replacements and get them fixed.


With FLOC, they would come out and just do it. It's a per-camera cost, but that includes everything.


It's an all-inclusive, it's like $3,000 a camera, but it's all-inclusive. that includes cloud storage that includes replacing the camera all that stuff okay thank you any other questions oh it's Blaine right yeah Blaine I've been to a couple presentations of Blaine's and just something I wanted to bring up that I thought was really valuable other police departments in the area including I believe the county police the state police in our area and many of the Smaller. Communities are utilizing FLOC. Rockford is entirely FLOC. Yeah, in Rockford too. Yeah, forgot about Rockford. Thank you. And maybe you could speak to the ins and outs of that and what the benefit of being on the same program as the other communities around you.


Yeah, absolutely. Ms. Sellers, just just so you're aware, there's a slide in the PowerPoint in your agenda packet that goes over some of the things that are included in the in the subscription, like the the maintenance, and everything like that.


Yeah, so one of FLOC's biggest value adds to a community is the broader network of FLOC.


I briefly touched on it earlier, but when you join the FLOC network, you not only have access to the cameras that are in your city, but also the surrounding cities, and and others that suspect what was in their town.


I have one more question. So you're saying does it only have to be a flock camera or could it be any camera from any camera that takes pictures?


I mean, does it only have to be your company or could it be any camera?


Any camera that's integrated into the flock system. For example, there are some license plate readers that will be fixed to police cars.


So that would be a case where those cameras are ingested into the FLOC system.


So that would be a case that that license plate is now in the FLOC system.


So is that just in the state of Illinois? No. So the cameras are all over the country.


The reason that I use the state of Illinois is because LPR policy is different from city to city.


So it ultimately is dependent on the policy of the police department and the broader city as to what cameras you have access to as well as what other cities have access to your cameras.


So would these cameras be placed on our ComEd poles? What poles? Excuse me? Sorry?


Utility poles. Oh, utility poles. So the cameras are infrastructure free, so they run off solar power.


So we generally will put a pole in the ground ourselves. Mounting on power company poles can sometimes be costly, or I shouldn't say costly, but There can be a fee associated with that sometimes, because that's not our property.


And did you say it's $3,000 per camera? Approximately, yes, there are some differences in price based off different models, but for a standard camera, yes ma'am, $3,000.


One other comment I'll make, because I've seen this a couple times, and this was in a brief version.


One of the stats that he had at another meeting I was at that I was really taken back by was 70 percent of the crimes use a vehicle at some point within the crime.


And so that's why the LPR technology is so important to the situation of finding out who does it.


So, for instance, if somebody was targeting an area, I think you said you could actually Oh, what's the acronym to the LPR? What's the acronym to the license plate reader? License plate reader, is that what it means? Okay.


What's the acronym? It's a license plate reader. License plate reader, is that what it means? Okay.


Are there any other questions? Well, thank you so much. Thank you so much. Appreciate you all.


At this time, I would just like to know if Chief Shenberger, where do we go? Do we go to wanting to get more information or do we want to take a vote on and put it in a first reading? How do we want to do this?


this is just this is just something I've been working on for a few months you know continue talking with Blaine and his team and we'll get to the point where I'll you know get a bid or get an offer and I let the council know and then decide that you guys decide what you want to do but right now it's just kind of in its infancy you know we're in the planning stage of it trying to find the the best option that we have for the city while utilizing the technology we still have right now so and that we're using, so.


Okay, and we currently have two more years in that contract. Correct, yep. Any other questions?


If not, we'll move on to number eight, Greater Freeport Partnership Quarterly Presentation to Council presented by Andrea Schwartz-Winters.


Are you putting it in the presentation book? Okay, all right, awesome. Good evening and happy new year. Tonight's presentation, we will recover the highlights of our work in and many others, and I'm going to talk a little bit more about the report that you received in your packets.


and John. As in previous presentations, we are outlining this in order of our strategic plan key focused areas, which just to remind you all, our business retention and expansion, which involves our workforce development efforts, new business development and attraction. This includes attracting new businesses, helping businesses start and assisting small businesses to grow. Marketing the region to and the opportunities for growth and work in Stevenson County, as well as marketing the partnership services to future and existing businesses.


Visitor attraction, which encompasses our tourism attraction efforts. Advocacy and policy is related to our internal work, and we do a lot to track legislation that might affect local industries and communities.


It's been very active in the fourth quarter, and I would foresee that in the first quarter and Jodi.


We are looking to always build the partnerships capacity by increasing our membership numbers and maintaining a high retention rate.


I would like to highlight some fourth quarter wins, some positive news from the fourth quarter.


As outlined in our strategic plan, we completed a countywide and the key takeaway points in the report you have before you, but the survey was completed last quarter and 84% of the businesses that responded reported that their company was stable or expanding.


We see that as positive news. An existing ag manufacturer publicly announced last quarter that they've established a partnership to revolutionize ethanol production by capturing and converting CO2.


Now, this is not my area of expertise by any means, but I think if you see anything in conversations around what's happening in the energy sector and alternative energy, I think that this is key.


And this company is on the forefront. This project has been in the works for over two years.


Enterprise Zone benefits will be utilized to make this project come to fruition. But not only is this helping to diversify this company's existing income stream, it's also allowing them to use something with their byproduct that puts them as a competitor and entering into another market.


So they are looking at how do they continue production of ethanol and push into other markets at the same time.


They're doing something that they're one and the rest of the first in the nation.


This is outstanding work. An existing manufacturer in Freeport added jobs to support a new service that was previously outsourced.


With that has come job creation around nine new jobs. We attracted a new manufacturer to Freeport to fill an existing space and co-locate with a current manufacturer.


This is still under development and in the works. I will meet with this company later this week and the former visitor center building was sold, closed on December 31st and will open as a new business later this spring.


We were also awarded five awards from the state conference, at the state conference from the Illinois Main Street Association.


Two of those awards are in recognition of volunteers, awarded to Tim Connors and the Pretzel Pickers.


We were also able to take home some hardware in relationship to a promotional approach for our Rediscovery Your Downtown campaign.


And noteworthy was our Economic Vitality Business Startup Program Basecamp. Additionally, our organizational approach, the partnership was recognized for its merged collaborative approach to economic development, and Dr.


Jodi. Moving on to business retention and expansion. Key activities were 18 business retention visits were conducted last quarter. As always, we need to understand what the needs and difficulties of our local businesses are so that we're able to respond to them with solutions and resources.


and John. I mentioned our business survey results. We connected businesses with the Illinois WorkShare Program, which is an alternative to layoffs. As you might see in the news, and I'll allude to this a little bit later, is that there has been some upheaval. Commodity prices have been lower. That has a ripple effect into some of the Ag manufacturing or Ag sector. With that, you have some local manufacturers who are related to that sector and I'm going to talk about the business sector.


We have a lot of business sectors in the business sector and they have taken a hit.


And so understanding that there are programs available for those businesses so that they can do something in an alternative to layoff, we're trying to connect them with resources to keep as many people employed here as we can.


We worked with 11 entrepreneurs and assisted them in their business development process, the majority of which were women or minorities.


Johnson. We connected multiple Stevenson County businesses with an international business forum that was hosted by Representative Cabello.


It was an opportunity to understand what they would need to do to kind of enter the global market and what relationships they would need to build, and there was representation from multiple different countries.


Workforce solutions. As we've talked about, we can't have thriving businesses without a talented workforce.


The highlights of our workforce development effort was really around building our local workforce pipeline.


We had the honor of working with our educational partners as well as our business community and really trying to bridge that gap in the fourth quarter by playing a key role in these and I have been working on these three events here, working to coordinate, schedule, promote, help organize Manufacturing Day, the Career and Job Fair, which was co-hosted by Highland Community College and Freeport High School, and the Ag Expo.


and John. It's an opportunity for businesses or for students to understand that there are future career opportunities right here. This was they were able to secure internships and some job offers through these events. And I think maybe most importantly was the take away that employers and the community gave that helped the student to build an understanding that their community wants them to stay Coon, and some of them to be gainfully employed and contribute to the community that they have called home.


Additionally, last quarter we reported that our efforts led to a connection between the yield program and goodwill industries.


We are happy to say that that effort is paying off. This connection led to funding, which has expanded the yield program training to include education on alternative energy sector and basic electrical construction.


This is a requirement as of the CEJA grant, or that is an acronym for the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act.


So that was a key training component that needed to be involved in the yield program for them to access these funds to help fund the yield program.


Next in business attraction and development, in the last quarter we received 14 leads. We were not able to respond to three leads due to the requirement of a large acreage and or a building that met specific requirements and one opportunity what required a heavy Water user that would not it wouldn't work for the City of Freeport. Additionally there were six leads that originated from local businesses and or government agencies. There are three new businesses and three were existing or relocating businesses within the community.


I will now turn the presentation over to Nicole. We'll talk about marketing the region.


Good evening. Fourth quarter was really about trying to promote the area to existing residents to continue to help small businesses, organizations, and future events thrive, whether that was in the fourth quarter itself or in the upcoming year. We printed, it was a first-time project, a 12-month calendar because we continue to try to find new ways to help people understand and We hope that with that success, we will have even more advertising dollars to make a larger print order next year.


Shop Local for the Holidays was the campaign started in mid-November, highlighting opportunities and different small businesses.


Bates, and different small businesses so residents could learn to shop local as they purchased all of their holiday gifts.


Mistletoe Walk was part of that as well, which happened on November 23rd. From our survey to downtown businesses who participated, we've received great reviews in actually participating locations for the most part.


All of them, or a great portion of them, over 70% cited increased in pedestrian traffic and increased sales in compared to the last year and the last year was a day and a half event and this was just in one day alone and I might also say weather was not as nice this year as it was in previous years so that really goes to show how many people came out to support businesses during mistletoe walk. The photo you see here is another feature that we added this year in the lot next We actually set up a couple of different photo locations as well as a free s'mores bar for residents.


Visitor Attraction, we hosted our annual tourism partner meeting on November 14th at Lena Brewing Company.


This is our opportunity to talk to the executive directors of different nonprofits who own attractions or hotels, Files, a lot of other agencies here in town about what went well in 2024, what we're planning on for 2025, and how we can be involved and also hear their feedback on other ways that we can help their attraction or organization.


A lot of them have some issues with funding or increasing programming, so we continue and many more.


Thank you to send multiple grant opportunities for attraction funding to those parties who can apply.


The Choose Your Adventure campaign wrapped up in October with engagement that is greater than tourism industry average.


Why I recognize that is when you see the ads pop up, whether you're on social media or whether you're on Google, the amount of times that somebody will click on that ad is considered and the industry average for local tourism entities.


We actually scored almost double what that industry average is, so that's a pretty good indicator that we've been using.


Presle City Brewfest, which was held September 28th, that is one of our largest tourism events where we are really looking to attract people from outside of this area.


This year was no different, more than 50% of our attendees because all of our tickets Siseg, Ben, and T.S.


We can tell by zip code that 50 percent or more were coming from 30 miles away and I'll turn it over to Bill.


Thank you. Good evening. So membership was pretty steady in the fourth quarter. As you can see, we are still hovering around 400 members.


We added 10 members over that course of time, and we continue to retain our members at a very high rate, which we're proud of and hope to continue to do.


And really, that's all we have. If there's questions, I think we'd all be glad to entertain.


are there any questions if none oh oh I'm sorry I didn't see you okay so Andrea you did the first slides with the businesses so these questions probably should come to you so my question was with the increase in membership that That means we've gotten more businesses in Freeport?


With the increase in membership to the partnership? Yeah. Well, we hope there's a correlation between that, right?


I mean, our goal is that as we work with businesses and show our value that they become members to the partnership.


Okay. Go ahead. So, do those members pay, but my question is, do non-profit members pay to be a member?


They do, we have a non-profit rate that's $165 a year. Okay, and then, for the sale of the business center, was that to a business that you found and reached out to and convinced to come to Freeport, not you personally, but the partnership?


That was through a connection that one of the ownership group had, we worked with them, We met with them when they were going through their due diligence process and we talked about the enterprise zone that's out there, what their plans for the building were, how our organization could support their business as they moved to Stevenson County.


They're not a business that's here currently and they would be relocating their business here.


Right. So they came, they were coming anyways and you reached out to see how you could help.


Correct. Yes, they were. That was through a connection from the ownership group. Do you have any more questions, Alderman Simmons?


I do. Oh, okay. What are retention visits? What does that mean? Retention visits, sure.


Great question. It's really just a meeting. We go and we meet with the business and we talk about what's going on in their business.


We usually ask them for some information around employment numbers. Is that changed? How do they see their business growing?


Do they see their business declining? How do they see their business fitting into the larger market?


What can we do to help? Are they're having any infrastructure troubles? Are they're having workforce issues?


It's really just a meeting to talk about the health of their business. Is it okay?


Is that okay? So if in these retention visits they say, hey, I'm missing this, this, and that, then do you go out and find that for them or at least put them in touch with the people who Fowler.


And so sometimes it's not even, there are programs that we connect them with, like let's use the WorkShare program as an example.


It sat down with a business and they were talking about that they were going to be slowing down in the fourth quarter and that they looked like they were going to be running not as many days, not as many shifts per week.


and so I knew there was a potential that there could lay off or furlough workers.


And so I knew of this WorkShare program, their HR department did not currently, that's where we coordinated and had a presentation and then I invited as many businesses, I let all the businesses know that we were offering this to try to connect them with resources.


So your question is exactly, that's what we're doing is we're connecting them with the resources っていう.


And I'm just kind of looking at the slides that are being presented. All of the slides that have been presented has no pause, no gaps, or has no time to inject our resources.


I'm looking at these, this annual report, looking at the slides that are being presented.


All of the slides that have been presented has no pause, no gaps, or has no time to inject a question.


While the slides are flowing, the audience or the council has not an opportunity to elaborate on the things that you're presenting.


and my thing is, if you're presenting these types of slides, then there must be a space where questions can filter in because you're blowing over these slides, the whole crew is going over these slides, but we're not able to inject a question to open it up to the public so we can get more, not collaboration, but detail, information, and I have a lot of information in regards to all of the things that we've been hearing.


I'm subject to ask, well, I want to ask all this that you laid out in these slides, where can we find more detailed information so we can follow up?


Because there was no telephone numbers to make contact with during these slides and things of this nature.


We have no way to validate whether or not these things have taken place, it's just stuff that is thrown together and we're supposed to assume that it's relevant to the council, if we don't have further details, we just can't take things right off the surface and can't do anything about it.


to the Council. If we don't have further details, we just can't take things right off the surface and can't dig deeper into the programs that you're presenting and the slides that you're presenting.


So I think I would like to see more detailed construction of what we're doing or what you're doing because that is very relevant to us because the public needs to hear more details in the effects that the Greater Freeport is causing, creating within the city.


I mean, it's almost like we didn't slow this video tape down or this track down.


We didn't get a chance to absorb it mentally because it was just flying by us.


And so if we want to have an opportunity to come back and ask you about these things, because there's a whole lot of things that took place.


There's a whole lot of things that took place in the last quarter according to you guys but we have not had an opportunity to evaluate these things and objectively looked at it for our own satisfaction and we're just not contesting the things that you're bringing to the Council and I would like to be able to absorb more of the details of the work that you guys are doing and others, and I'm going to be talking about the annual reporting that you guys are doing because this is just surface, surface annual reporting that is not digging deep into the process of what your program is all about. So that's all I'm saying. I just needed to get more...


Alderperson, Sanders, well, first, this would be a great time if there's any questions that you'd like to ask about anything we presented, we would be happy to answer.


Sure. Second, I know I think in the agenda was linked to this and John.


This is our full fourth quarter report and we just extrapolated or took out highlights of what's in here and presented it to you tonight. So more detail is in here and I would be happy or any member of staff would be happy to sit down and we can answer any questions you have at a later time. If you want to walk through this, we would be happy to answer any questions then or and so on.


So we're all querying about what it is that Greater Freeport Partnership is actually doing.


And I just don't want you to come here and just give us these reports without giving us really analytics.


No, and understood that this would be of benefit for anyone in the public residents of Freeport Taylor, Stevenson County to know what we're doing and that is why everything that I've mentioned tonight as well as a link to this report is on our website at greaterfreeport.com.


Great. People are welcome to view that and reach out to us if they have specific questions.


Sure. All right. Thank you. Alderman Stacy. Yes. You had said something about grant funding.


who can apply who can apply for grant funding that you have we can well I think I'll let Nicole elaborate on that is that the grant that we the grant funding that we helped other organizations apply for was not grants that we were administrate administering or there were grants that we operate we were connecting those organizations to a grant opportunity that I believe the and the state had in this specific instance.


I believe I was the one who mentioned that the Illinois Office of Tourism provided two grant opportunities that closed in December.


We provided those via email. I mean, they're always available through the state, but we were just alerting the attractions and events who we thought fit the criteria to those and then offered our help in writing letters of support, helping to gather data for that.


those opportunities. Also from the Foundation for Northwest Illinois, they have a letter of intent that is soon due on February 1st. So we have alerted nonprofit organizations that can apply for those funds as well to that opportunity. So we try to be selective to really send opportunities to where they're going to fit.


Okay, I have one more question. On your hotel occupancy, this is your fourth quarter report, but it stops at September. What happened to October, November, and December? I apologize for that. When I had to send it to you guys, the last hotel had not submitted theirs. I will send out the revised report for that.


and others. I didn't want to guess at their occupancy for the fourth quarter and I hadn't heard back from them.


So thank you for noticing that. I will send, they got back to me of course the day after your agenda came out.


So I will resend that to everybody so you can see that. Thank you so much for asking.


Alderman Sanders. The visitors for site that was sold. Who does all of the real estate is governed by, I should say, and who takes care of that and when was it up for sale again?


We didn't get any reports on that and we'd like to get a report on where did the asset go that was invested in that property or sold for that property.


and the property. Where did all of those things go and where did they end up? And then not only that, the building, something else that you brought up that was supposed to be purchased. Did I hear that right?


If I can answer your first question and then if there was another question about a purchase, I'm happy to have you follow up.


The Stevenson County Visitor Center Board, which is a separate organization from the partnership, was founded to construct the visitor center.


That organization, which was a separate nonprofit, owned the visitor center and the partnership leased that building to run visitor center services from that facility.


So when it was sold, that was never an asset of the partnership. We were only leasing that space.


So what they, it was their business to sell it, you know, authorize the sale, and what they do with that money is up to that board.


That's completely separate from our organization. So that's the Stevenson County board. It is a separate nonprofit.


It has nothing to do with the actual county. It was just the name of the organization.


Oh I purchased the building. They were the ones who owned the building and sold it and sold it. Okay. All right. Thank you You had two events to raise money one was for decorations for Next year Christmas and one was to beautify Downtown mm-hmm Did I miss it or was that spoken about? It's it's outlined in the actual written report I mean I know we would love to highlight lots more but we try to be respectful of everybody's time which is why we provide so many different opportunities to read about things the first concert that you were saying was for downtown beautification actually had to be canceled that never happened so that one it is actually rescheduled I believe it's for April 5th if my memory serves me and then the second one was Christmas Wizards which was held at the Masonic Temple What? Christmas Wizards. It was a Trans-Siberian orchestra tribute. That is the one that was for future holiday decorations. Obviously, holiday decorations are an asset that, you know, don't depreciate in a year. They would be available for years to come. So we are still collecting expenses from that. But we do anticipate having a profit from that that will then be restricted for holiday decorations in the future. But you haven't made a profit yet. We are still so it has and I.


That's the way it has been. It hasn't been, or I guess just today, it's a full 30 days, so we're still collecting all of the expenses.


So I'd hate to give you a full figure right now. Are there any other questions?


I do. Thank you. This is a question that I'm not sure who would handle it.


How much city funding was used to build the visitor center? Oh. that was in 2000 and yes so very much predates this organization let alone me so so would the sale return any of that funding back to the city so the this is the my only portion of it that i know alderman monroe so i will give you what i can that um the majority of those payments have been paid by hotel motel tax i don't know if there was an any initial investment at all from the city and the City of Freeport. Again, that would have been much earlier in the construction project and that would have to go question to be asked to the nonprofit who owned the board or who owned the building.


Okay. Oh, sorry, I'd like to follow up with another question so on your slides, there were three businesses that did not.


and I have been talking about this for four years now we've put almost two million dollars into the GFP and we're still not in any better place to bring in large-scale businesses that would help a significant number of businesses in the GFP and we're still not in any better place to bring in large-scale businesses that would help a significant number of businesses in the member of Freeport residents, county residents, so on, so forth, you know, how do we fix that problem that we've got because we've been asking the same question and I know the city manager, we keep asking him, we're not getting the answers that I would like to hear, especially when we've invested $60, almost $65 million into the wastewater treatment plant.


Yeah, it would be great to use that. Yeah, it would be great to use a heavy water user that would be able to pay some of that back, right?


So, one of the key things we know, Greenfield site development, having shovel-ready sites is key, not only for attracting new businesses, but for any existing businesses that would need to expand.


Late last quarter, we submitted a grant application to the state of Illinois for a site readiness planning grant.


and others. The state said that they were going to what notice of award was in January, so we're waiting to hear.


That would help us, that grant was structured for planning, not construction, but it would help us identify key locations where we could do planning activities.


We've already met with some of the landowners, but what would it take to get infrastructure there so that it could become shovel ready?


So it's kind of the first step. We hope to get any day now hopefully a notice of award and then we would proceed with planning activities.


So. Thank you. Alderman Klemm. Yes. I think we had a little bit of misinformation there, but I'll see if I can correct some of it.


The City has zero amount of money in the Visitors Bureau. Years ago it was organized by a group of people that was a complete separate entity.


I think it ended up that there were four people that ended up owning it.


They ended up selling it, so guess what? The money's there. We can talk about several ready projects.


For years we can start out by mill race crossing. The county themselves lost about three places that were going to go in there and were voted down by the county. We still do not have water and sewer and others.


We are a big water user. Needless to say, we are reconstructing at the plant and have been, and there will be Phase II, III and IV. So it isn't as though it is something that is going to end tomorrow and it is going to continue.


But all those costs are not necessarily laid on the greater Freeport partnership. A lot of those costs are laid upon the City of Freeport, the County of Steveson. If you remember, they they went out for an estimate for water and fell far short of the dollars and cents, so the project was not completed. We still all as a group need to work to complete those projects so we can get some of those done.


We don't have an overabundance of structures that sometimes people are looking for. We know that there are two, three, four that have been sold here lately that have great and John.


We have a lot of potential for stuff, but I appreciate your work on it moving forward and we all need to work together to try and get these places shovel ready so we can do something.


Are there any yet? Alderman Simmons. I'm sorry. I have one last question for the Workforce Solutions slide with the different events or career type fairs.


and John. So I'm just wondering if you have any information about the organizations that you've been involved in, or that you've been involved in or that you've been involved in and created by GFP or something that once you found out about them, then you joined on and offered resources.


The manufacturing day has been in I think trying to evolve that event and I think next year opening it up, talking with, it's right now CareerTech and seeing how it might be expanded into other Freeport high school students that would get exposure into what manufacturing is.


and others. The career and job fair was something that I think we created in partnership with Highland and Freeport High School. Before it had been Highland had their own job fair and then about three weeks later Freeport High School did. And so this was kind of a brain child sitting together and saying this would probably be most efficient for the employers especially as both of these events had been put in the fourth quarter and we know how P. and others. That is how everyone's fourth quarter is very busy, especially if a business is on a calendar fiscal year, that if we could combine these events.


So, no, we did not create the Ag Industry Expo. Highland Community College Ag Industry Expo has been in existence for a number of years, but we continue to help provide them with information to make sure that they are reaching the right person at the right company so that they make sure that they and the Yield. Yield. We've helped promote the program as much as we can through the community. But what our key role, I think, was late last year, we knew the Yield program through board members and through other community members that we've engaged with didn't have sustainable funding. They didn't know how they were going to continue. It's such a critical, critical role.


Hicks, and more. And I think that's a really important program, especially getting people, more people into the trades.


So I saw an opportunity with the CEJA grant that maybe that would work for funding.


And so it was really connecting the dots, reaching out into our network, Goodwill Industries, the Workforce Connection, really understanding who the point person was, and then connecting some leadership within the Yield organization to connect them.


And thankfully, it worked out. Alderman Klemm If I could, just one more thing for the audience so they know.


All of these documents that were presented tonight, over a week ago we received the fourth quarter presentation, the floor packet was a slide presentation before tonight's meeting.


It was in there at least on Friday's meeting, in the packet. We're not allowed to ask questions.


Were you talking about the fourth quarter? Go ahead and talk together so you can figure it out.


No, it's figured out. I asked my questions because they were not presented in the packet.


They were presented by email. Not the questions that I asked. Okay. We're going to move on.


Okay, you guys. We've got to bring the meeting to order. You don't have to.


We have the information. You have to bring the meeting to order. Okay. Thank you, Andrea.


Thank you. We appreciate it. We had the information. We have to bring the meeting to order, okay.


Thank you, Andrea. Thank you. We appreciate it. Okay, at this time, we're going to go to question number nine, discussion regarding ordinance amending chapter 608 and 806 of the Liquor Code.


The presentation is by Attorney Cox. I know, that's what he's, he does it, I know.


Good evening. Good evening. Taylor, but just good governance generally. I'm with you. This is part of the Liquor Commission's commitment to keep our liquor ordinance up to speed and up to date, keeping track of legal developments through ILCC and conditions that we're experiencing on a regular basis, including things that Dovie and I run into in the licensing process.


I'm not going to take much time. Please stop me, ask questions, as we're going through here, I'm going to move pretty quick.


So if you look at Section 2, that's a modification of Section 608, which previously required that everybody keeps a landline phone.


Not sure how many of our establishments have a landline phone anymore, but we feel that that's probably an obsolete requirement.


As long as we can get a hold of somebody via cell phone, that's good enough, and that's taken care of through our authorized agent process and our resident manager.


Section 3 involves a modification of Section 608-18. This is actually a statement which came out from ILCC's legal division regarding retail establishments having paint and pours, things like that, to attract businesses in.


I think, you know, generally those are well received by the public, but ILCC is really putting their foot down about what's allowed and what's not.


So if you are serving free alcohol, for instance, to get people into your store, that's just not okay.


We did put a de minimis of eight or less persons there so that if it's just a social gathering, that's not going to run afoul of the provision, but if you're running a special or something open to the public, that's not allowed.


Couple modifications to the Definitional Section in 806.01. as we added a Brewer and then there's a Class BR if you look at Section 5 there as well.


This was simply added because we have, we never had somebody that fell under this category before.


Recently Generations has been upgraded in terms of their Brewer license and we just didn't have anything to track that so we're adding something that tracks almost exactly with what ILCC has for their definition.


So, Resident Manager previously required a full-time employee. That's just not the situation. and employee. That's just not the situation. You know, these managers kind of bounce around from store to store and there's no reason to require a full time. We have specific provisions that say that we have to be able to get a hold of you and we've got contact information for each of the establishments there. In 806.03, we've got tier three licenses, we've We have a caterer license. We had previously and intentionally left out the incidental part of food service that is required here. Again, this is an ILCC legal thing. Dovie is very connected with the Clerk's Network and ILCC has been pushing back on that and saying that if you are a caterer, liquor can be provided as part of a package, but it has to be incidental to food service. You can't just have a traveling Barr. And a couple more, again, just technical changes, 806.07, that's Section 6 of the ordinance. It took out the requirement of listing all owners in a publicly held corporation, Walmart, Walgreens, that sort of thing. We don't need a list of every shareholder. And they don't provide it anyway. They just tell us to go look at the website. So that doesn't South, to pick up the exchange, which is a new establishment.


And that's it. Again, nothing very exciting there, but all changes that need to be made, and the Liquor Commission has all vetted this and is recommending those changes.


So any questions for me on the? Any questions? Thank you. If not, thank you.


Thank you. Wood do we need a recommendation to move that forward to say I'll make a recommendation to move it forward to the next meeting in the second okay it was first by Clem and then second by Parker all in favor aye aye all opposed the Thank you Alderpersons, Sellers.


So at the heart of this proposed ordinance, so we're discussing it today, is to move Knapp, There's a significant amount of staff time.


Our water superintendent has to go out and physically inspect all of these connections. And there's also staff time involved in processing the pictures, the paperwork, et cetera.


And so the request has been made and gone through our building commission, has reviewed this as well, and made a recommendation to go from the $50 to $150 for a water and or for Service Install.


The other part of this that's being discussed is increasing from $30 to $100 for any standard water line that's going to be installed in a building.


The reason for this is our plumbing inspector, which is B&F Code Services out of the Chicago suburbs, they raise their rates from $80 to $100 per hour and the intent here is to help and others.


This ordinance changes went through our Building Commission. What's not being discussed is there's some technicalities with the types of connections used in our solar that will be discussed at the next when this goes to Council with recommendation for approval, but really wanted to kind of discuss and focus on the increasing the rates for our inspections or pardon me for our permits.


After this time, is there any question? Okay, Alderman Sanders. Yeah, how are you doing, Doc?


Good. Listening to the reason why the cost is increasing for homeowners, is this subject, is this a Sritamurthy, Bitch, Andres, Dr.


Weiss. How's the situation for you? Is this a strategy that we need to get you on?


What does this mean for our community? Is this an institution that is mandatory for all homeowners?


Is this a policy, ordinance or something that has not been implemented yet, but we are making the decision or wanting to do an increase on people's property or for their services for these upgrades?


The reason for discussion is this would go to council. The intent is to bring this to council at the next meeting.


I think whenever we are talking about something like raising about something like raising rates on permits.


It's a good idea to bring it to a COW, Committee of the Whole, talk about it, discuss it.


So right now, there's not actually, there's no action being taken on this today, but it's going to be moving forward to a council meeting.


So now is the time to ask questions about why there was, why was it suggested that we raise the rates for this?


So certainly, you know, you could hear this and say, this is ridiculous, no way, keep and I anticipate certain people are, and that's fair, but as a member of staff, it's important to say that the rates from our plumbing inspector, which is contracted out to BNF code services, they've raised their rates from $80 to $100, so we're trying to capture some of that money back.


The other part of this is we are doing a better job in our public works department of ensuring We've done a better we've done a better job with that I think and not I don't want to get too much into the weeds about why it wasn't done as good in the past or as efficiently but I've worked hard with the public works team to kind of look at especially with our sewer connections oftentimes there's what's known as infiltration which is basically storm water or groundwater runoff that will get Farncoe is the connection that goes on to a sewer service pipe.


And if those aren't done properly, you can't have what's known as infiltration, which is bad for your treatment plant.


You're basically treating storm water as opposed to sewage water. So we've done a better job, I've worked with the Public Works team to do a better job of making sure that, hey, when we're getting a sewer service, let's make sure this is done every time.


Yeah, and the method that you might use to determine whether or not storm water or any kind of infiltration is getting into a property owner's sewer line, you would have to do some and others.


Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. and the work done, which is part of it is photographs.


Right. Okay. Thank you. I have a question. Do you think that, I know you said from $50 to $150, correct?


That is what's being proposed. That's what will be proposed. Do you think that, you know, that's tripling it.


So do you think that there's some way that we could start off with maybe trying $100 and see how that, you know, affects, you know, different plumbers and, you know, so that price won't be put on to the consumer so much.


If we could just, since we do, you know, that the, you said the other company raised their price, you know, we have to do something, so do you think that just doing it to 50 instead, I mean, do- I think it's a reasonable compromise. I mean, this is a public service, correct? So the idea, you know, public services, which governments provide, the idea is not always to make sure you're making a profit or making money. But at the end of the day, too, you also want to be responsible with the public's money. And so you're also looking at it going, okay, we see, you know, we're increasing in this in the case of, you know, with having our inspectors do a better job documenting the service connections, you know, and making sure that we're making sure that we're making sure that we're making sure that we're making sure that we're making McAuley. So our Building Commission, we presented it to them. These were the prices that was agreed upon. However, you know, incremental increase, certainly, you know, that's your purview and something to consider. You know, you can obviously put that in ordinance if that's what you'd like to do.


Okay. Alderman Monroe. Thank you, Alderperson, Sellers. Wayne, thanks for taking my call today and returning my Cronenberg, Michael, and question for you really comes back to, you know, why are we not tying the actual cost of the inspection as opposed to setting a rate in the ordinance?


It would make sense if they charge $100 an hour and they come out for less than an hour and they're going to charge it for $100, they would pay $100, not $150.


Why would we do that? That was number one. Number two, why are we using a company out of Chicago when we probably have somebody closer that could do it for less money?


Well, the thing is, we do not have one that I'm aware of that has been on the contract to do plumbing inspections.


So believe it or not, the state license to do plumbing is a highly coveted license.


I believe it's, and again, I could be wrong on the years here, but I believe it's ten years you have to work for a licensed plumber.


So you cannot just go out and say, I want to be a plumber. It's like some people come out and say, I'm a contractor.


It's a little easier to do that than it is to be a plumber. Plumbers have a very strong grip on being a plumbing inspector.


And oftentimes, when you have that license as a plumber, you're golden for your career.


And oftentimes, so my point that I'm getting at is, in the community, to then be a plumbing inspector, that's a highly coveted designation to have.


it's not not to say somebody couldn't do it locally or not to say that we couldn't look into possibly at a next that's something you know you can task staff with I can double-check when our contract ends with BNF but we could certainly reopen it again and kind of look into that professional service so that would answer your question to answer your question is is we'd have to go out again and see when our contract with BNF ends and then we could look into entering with another another company or going for an RFP to kind of and they recommended approval have you taken advantage of GFP to see what they have what leads or direction they can lead us I work well with the greater Freeport partnership I've never known them to be plumbing experts but I I guess I could go down that path I mean by the next time I will make a comment at the council meeting what the GFP had to say can you tell me how many permits pulled in 2024? Yes, 39 for plumbing. Thank you. Darren? I sit on the Building Commission and there is a


very reputable local plumber that sits on that Commission and and he agreed that the field structure that was set was reasonable and I believe it was approved unanimously. If the council decides to make sure the connections are proper to our potable water system as well so it is something that we have worked hard with Wayne to make sure that we are doing a very good job of it and we have made it mandatory for a physical inspection of all of these connections now it's not something that somebody's taking a picture of and send us the superintendent or one of the crew members are going to verify it documenting it and recording it for our future as bill it records for the city.


Are you saying though, are you saying that there is no local inspectors to be hired?


I am saying that because I would have to look at our contract with BNF.


We entered into a contract and I do not know the deadline there and that's an easy enough ask, which I will get the deadline for BNF.


We have a contract with BNF Services to do these inspections. And so once that contract would expire, we can put an RF request for proposal for that to kind of gather and it would probably fall under request for qualifications as well since they have to have that state plumbing the proper licenses.


But once the once the contract is over with BNF, we can certainly put that out for a bit again.


Do you know how long we've been in it? I know as long as I've been here, we've been using BNF, so three years at least, but I can get that information to double check.


Wayne, sir, have we looked within our own entity, within the city ranks itself, because Everyone that works for the city has some form of qualification of doing any kind of plumbing inspections.


This is the work that they do. If they're working in this particular field and they're asked to do these types of inspections, do we have the personnel that could be qualified?


because I assume that all personnel that works in construction have that ability to do those inspections. I see Darren over there shaking his head.


And I know he's shaking his head because... Yeah, but my thing is, my thing is that before Darren, personnel, city personnel were doing those types of things, of inspection jobs and things of that nature.


Yeah, so let's back it up to kind of look at what's going on here. You're talking about, BNF is doing our plumbing inspections, so let's say you're running into your house and you just ran all new copper packs, you ran new water lines in your house, that has to be a licensed plumbing plumber.


Oh, in that respect, yeah, I can understand that. and as and I would just say that that is a highly coveted in this state that's a highly coveted a highly coveted license to have and anybody who has it is very protective of that license meaning people will go and try to get their own plumbing license and if a plumber finds out you put their name on it and they you didn't work there 10 years or the required years they'll go after you because they really protect that plumbing license so when we talking about We go to a certain point when we're evaluating whether there's infractions or any kind of intrusions or anything that is creating a problem on the city side. Who does the inspection for the property owner?


So that's where you are, see, I think, I know where you're going with it, with this. When you have a water or sewer service connection, which goes into the city's utility, that's their asset, that's where our water superintendent is going and checking, because that's, they're doing that to protect the asset of the city, to ensure that there's not that infiltration we talked about, and then when you get a building permit with the city, the city is doing its inspection, which is protecting the property owner, because if you don't have a licensed plumber, if you don't have a property, Cooper, Contractor, and you don't have inspections, work gets done, it doesn't get inspected, people can get hurt, people can get sick, etc.


So that's the liability of the city to make sure that that happens? We have to do inspections on all construction, yes.


Okay. Yes. Alright. Alright. Thank you for that. Are there any other questions? Okay. At this time, do we want to move this to a first reading?


is there. First reading. Is there a motion? Make a motion to move it to next council meeting.


Second. Okay, it's been moved and seconded by Klemm and Shadle. All in favor? Aye.


All opposed? Motion passed. Number 11, Discussion Regarding Solution 20, no, R-2025-01, Approving Memorandum of Agreement, MOA, Between the City and the American Federation and State.


City and Minnesota Employee asked me to create the position of Instrumental and Control Technician and Electrician.


Thank you Madam Chair. The City of Freeport's maintenance department, primarily the utility we're speaking of, is vital to the care and operation of the utility facilities performing high skilled tasks to support water and wastewater treatment plans.


Fins. However, one of the department's two skilled grade 17 maintenance positions has remained vacant for nearly a year due to lack of qualified candidates who are obviously not applying. This increases the strain on the team and causing a growing backlog of routine maintenance activities. Staff is proposing a new pay grade 15, so that would be two grades and others below the grade 17 just mentioned, and this would focus on routine maintenance tasks as a promotion step toward the currently vacant 17 role.


This position would be easier to fill internally, offering advancement opportunities while ensuring the maintenance crew remains adequately staffed and trained to support critical utility operations.


The approach also fosters employee growth, promotes retention, and provides budgetary Davis, helping to maintain safe and efficient operation of the utility.


I'd just like to go over a couple of the highlights in terms of the two positions here.


So on a grade 15, you would have basic knowledge of water and wastewater process, power and control circuits, and hand power tools and minimum exposure to PLC and SCADA systems.


So that would be like your motor drivers and controllers and also the software that's related to those operating those in the system.


The responsibilities would be somewhat lower than the grade 17 so that'd be routine maintenance including lubrication oil changes, general building repairs and equipment inspections, assistance to maintenance utility workers as needed and on-call duties for emergencies.


In addition, the experience required would also be less, two years of industrial, environmental, or wastewater and water systems, and that's the primary focus of the 15.


So just to give you a little bit of context, the grade 17, which is the current position that had trouble filling, that essentially would expand the responsibilities into troubleshooting, We have a number of things that we need to focus on.


So from a technical skills perspective, that would include comprehensive knowledge of water and wastewater process, advanced understanding and operational use of PLCs and SCADA system, strong troubleshooting skills for power control circuits and instrumentation, and proficiency in reading electrical schematically.


and the Grade 17 also currently requires five years of industrial environmental or water wastewater systems with at least three years focused on electrical, plumbing, HVAC, and electronics.


So staff would request that we move this on to the next meeting and that eventually approving this Grade 15 position as an intermediate step to the Grade 17 for the Water and Wastewater Miller, Maintenance Department.


Are there any questions? Yes. I'm looking at you with these query eyes. Because I don't agree with...


Did you... Well, let me say this first. AFMI, the American Federation, they entered into a meeting with you to discuss the agreement On this 15 classified upgrade for new job creation, is that what took place, has that taken place, or are we just talking about it right now, discussing this matter?


Asking is supportive of it. Okay, so the job description that you listed meet the rate, quality, does that fit the job description at the rate that you're mentioning at a 15, maybe go into a 17, but does that fit the job description criteria?


Does that fit? have we, because I'm like this here, I don't want to hire a guy that does not have these kind of technical background skills at a rate of 15, a guy that's with all of this listing of description, he has to be qualified, certified somewhere along the line, and I don't think 15, a grade 15 would be the appropriate one, and I'm just wondering, am I, is my ear, my and I have ears cleaned out or something is just not balancing right, it just don't balance right to me right now and I guess that's the reason why we'll move it to the next round so I can probably come to you again and have a full blown discussion on how did we get there and why did AFME, AFME, whatever they are, agree with that?


I have to go with the problem with, I have a problem with the balancing of the rate, the grade, the pay grade and all this other kind of stuff, I have a, I have a problem with that, okay, and so I just want to get in, get into, get in tune with it, just to see how do we get there.


Are you saying you're gonna, you want to get with Manager Boyer and talk with him later?


Yes. Okay, okay. Sure, we can set up a time. Yeah. Yes. City Manager Boyer, I had hoped to see a job description at the 15th level. So can you tell me what duties are different between the 15th level and the 17th level?


I did just touch on those. I did just touch on those. So the main changes are the technical skills and the responsibilities and then the experience required.


Overall summary, the level of complexity, the level two involves more complex systems, PLCs and SCADA, and advanced troubleshooting while the level one focuses on routine maintenance and foundational skills.


and the independence level two requires greater autonomy and decision making where the level one operates under close supervision and the experience, the level two demands more years of experience and specialized knowledge reflecting the advanced nature of the role and then administrative responsibilities level two includes administrative tasks like processing invoices and managing subcontractors and that's not included in the level one.


So I hope that covers some of the main differences there. yeah I just was handed them they're both hyperlinked to that you ever saw the 15 okay forgive me you are correct um how long have this job when it was filled how How many years have someone been in this position that was not qualified?


When this job became available, the person that had it before, it became available, was not qualified, did not have these qualifications.


A young man did it on this job and now things are changing and he's being asked to accept the position at a lower level and why not bring him in at the level everybody else came in at and give him the needed training or schooling like we do everybody else to to get him prepared.


to get him prepared for the position. I believe that's that's kind of what we're doing.


We're trying to make a permanent change here, similar to like a street trainee. We don't hire people in as street maintenance workers.


We hire them in a street trainee. So I think we're making a you know, we're really improving this this particular case by providing that stair step.


So I think we're as you noted, there's there's been times and I have had a lot of conversations in the past when folks get promoted into a position based on their background and experience and their resume and I think that this is a necessary change that will allow our staff to graduate into more complex roles.


So will he be getting training from his supervisor, the person that held this position before he did?


Well I mean we've had several people promoted or hired in and promoted we had one gentleman who is no longer with the city so obviously he won't be here we've got two other gentlemen one is now the foreman and the other one is instrument controls technician currently spent a lot of time on the wastewater side and he'll be doing a lot of the mentoring and training yes and he's qualified yes he's when you when you have as many years in grade as this individual had, yes, he is qualified. Is there a motion to move this for first reading? So moved. Second. Okay, it was first by Klemm and second by Shadle. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Aye. Okay, motion passed.


discussion regarding our 2025-4 approving memorandum of understanding with the Fraternal Order of Police regarding post-employment health plan by Chief Shenberger. Thank you. This was presented last week to the council. The intent of this is to enter in MOU with the Fraternal Order of Police Labor Council regarding three individuals who either have or will reach the years of retirement during this next contract.


This was something that was part of the negotiations to get rid of the post-employment health care Mayor, Plan, but yet offer these three individuals an opportunity to have their sick time paid out if they chose to retire during these next three years of this contract.


Are there any questions? Alderman Murrah, you have a question? Yes I do. Thank you.


So Chief, was this taken out during the negotiations or was it just overlooked? I mean, Attorney Zito probably can elaborate something he's got to say.


So, the PEP plan was negotiated out of the contract there. So that's something that is in this current contract.


The FOP negotiated it out. It wasn't something that they were willing to give it up as a part of the contract.


However, what they negotiated as a part of that will give it up. But there are three particular employees, they're the only three, and Richard, and all of these three that are going to qualify for under the original plan, because they're going to hit their, within these next three years they would hit the 20 years and they would have the requisite number of hours of days that could be cashed in.


So they asked, we'll give up PEP, but could you grandfather these, just these three people in?


So we've already approved the agreement. And now we're coming back to memorialize the, 3, because it wouldn't be appropriate to write the three of them into the overall contract there.


So that's why you would handle this separately as a side MOU, just with regards to these three people, to grandfather these people in.


Again, there's no payment to them if they don't choose to retire in the next, within the term of this, this, this CBA.


So if they don't require in the next retire, excuse me, in the next three years or in 27, then this goes away.


And then, and then PEP's gone for everybody at that point. Are there any other questions? If not, do we have a motion to move this to the first reading by Parker and Klemm? All in favor? All opposed? Motion passed.


The next status update of the street light at the intersection of Iroquois and State. Presentation Manager Boyer.


Thank you, Madam Chair. I would like to invite Representative George Galrapp to do this kind of touch base on this.


I think he's pretty well handled this already. Good evening. George Galrapp, President of Freeport, of ComEd. So, as I was asked, I started in the Fifth Ward. I did a survey of Fifth Ward for all the lights there. Looking at them, they're all functional. They don't have any foliage in front of them. Of course, here we are in January. It would be good to go through this again in the spring when there are trees and things like that. I continue to work with City Manager Rob Boyer and Darren Steekle, Public Works. I went north of the and the 5th Ward and the 3rd Ward, and went to the corner of Ottawa and State Street, ComEd installed a light there today, it went from a 40 watt to a 70 watt, which is 75% brighter, and actually encompasses a little bit of Shalom Park, that's the correct pronunciation.


I asked them to tilt it a little bit, I called three aldermen up that were within the area, told him that the left messages for him, and I talked directly to Alderman Sanders about the light, asked him to drive by it, see what he thought about it. It's quite a bit brighter.


It's a big difference from when I was there last week. Okay. Any questions or concerns?


Yeah, I did have a question. As I looked at the park, I didn't think it was illuminated No, it's not.


And because anybody that wants to peddle anything in that area can conceal any evidence, even though there's a little lighting there, but it does not cast off enough to eliminate the for the possibility of someone either bringing illegal alcohols, drugs, weapons, whatever, country bands or whatever the situation is.


I don't think it's bright enough to deter individuals that they just can't just show up at this park and try to conceal their actions and things like that.


I would like for it to be so bright over there that they wouldn't even want to come back.


And I agree. I agree 100%. But if you want to do that, it's private property, so you're going to have to go to the property owners.


Right. And they're going to have to call a new business to install a light, and they're going to have to pay for it.


All right. Okay. I don't believe that City Council or the administration would approve using tax breaks.


What about a lamp? What about just a lamp, a little property lamp? and one that stands up in the yard and that there to be up to the property owner how they want to do that they don't want okay okay I don't know who owns that property me neither I don't I don't anybody else on the council I know you do okay so it's really up to the property owner and I'm sure this it's very supportive by the city of Freeport but it's it's something that would have to be done with the property owner and a new business the ComEd and I'd be happy to walk them I would like to thank you for that. I, too, on the way here tonight drove through and it is a little better.


Okay, 75% better. You said we went from a 40, a 70, we went from a 40 to a 70. Yes, yes, so 75% more Lumen. It looks much better. It does look better. Hopefully we can work together as I'd like to drive through the fifth board with you like I did today and we can take a look.


I have a list that I received from Chief Shenberger, the concerned areas where crime happens and take place.


And I would like to do that this week if possible. Let me check my schedule and get a hold of you. The cell number I called today is the best one to reach you at?


You didn't call me today. I called the 908 number yeah Fred that I got the Freeport website is that an office number no sir okay I got it on my phone the number I called I'll let you know what is it nine zero eight nine eight one four okay I'll check my phone please and thank you okay all right any other questions any other questions Any other questions?


Alderman? Not so much a question, just a comment. Yes. I do appreciate that it was done and handled in a very timely manner.


Oh, you're welcome. Anytime. Thank you. Well, I'd like you to get to the corner of Oak and Empire.


Oak and Empire. I'll do that on the way home. Do La Cresta out there where Monroe lived.


Okay, as we move on, regarding resolution approving the transfer property commonly known as 431 and 437 South Adams Avenue from Stevenson County to City of Freeport presented by Manager Boyer.


Thank you, Madam Chair. Eric, could you put the map up? Yeah, thanks, Wayne. So, over the last several months, we've been working with the county, discussing several topics. This property is one of them.


Currently, the county owns this property and has come to the city asking if we'd have any interest in taking this property off their hands.


I am favorable toward that since it is so close to some of the other community facilities and it would fit in close with our existing.


we have some lots in that area. We're investigating some infill housing possibilities and I know we've worked with GFP a couple of years ago on a concept for this.


So I think it makes a lot of sense for the city to take over this property from the county.


And it would be an opportunity for us to also control it and make sure it is maintained in the interim till we are able to move forward with any residential or commercial opportunities with it.


So, I guess I will open the floor for any questions or discussion. What would it cost us to take this property off the county's hands?


I believe the county is just willing to deed it over to the city, so at zero or minimal cost.


A dollar. A dollar. It's in your packet. And what does the city plan to do with this property?


well as I just mentioned we're looking at a couple of infill projects along this corridor being that we've just redone it and we've also investigated some other commercial activity or potential for development there so I would say either one of those would fall under the category of what we would be looking at Would the city consider a third Ward Park?


Well, that would be up for discussion and that would have to involve the Park District, but I'd definitely put that yes.


So the answer would be yes, we could have further conversations about that. Any other discussion? Yeah. Yeah, just FYI Alderman Stacey, the Park District was the original owners.


The Park District was the original? Yes, and it was deeded over to the county as a part of West Block when they acquired it.


So I would find it hard to believe that the Park District would want to get back in that, but there's a possibility, I don't know.


Well, I'm a little surprised because I just had a conversation with a gentleman on Saturday, and I will be having another one with him tomorrow.


Alderman. Yeah, Freeport Park District covers a lot of areas in Freeport and their locations has not been, what I want to say, conveyed or revealed of why they have this jurisdiction under their government, under their jurisdiction.


I just like to know where does the city factor in? Why is it that the Freeport Park District has so much territory, land, property here in the city of Freeport?


Did they inherit it or did the city give it over to them, parked it into their possession to create parks and things of this nature?


I just like to know how it originated that the Park District was able to cover much land base here in the City of Freeport and we don't have that because I'm trying to get it all out right now because I may not get another chance.


So I like to get more details about it, I would like to have a conversation, I would I would love to have more than just, what I want to say, I want to talk about it more with other individuals, understanding the whole magnet to all of it, and so I would like to create a meeting that we can, some form of way that everybody can get involved and talk about it, I'm talking about the whole council, I'm talking about everybody to talk about the thing, and see what we come up with. I think we can work on that, but I would suggest maybe we start with a one-on-one with the Park District Director. Okay.


Okay. Are there, Alderman Klemm? I just have a question I agree with is not a problem. I just want to ask about the corner at the top of the drawing there.


You show four lots that are equal and then you show a fifth one and I'm just Cronenberg.


I'm just wondering if that creates a headache down the line or what that is?


My guess is that would be like a driveway or something that somebody had at one time and somehow got orphaned in the data.


Eric, I don't know if you can overlay the city-owned parcels. Do we own any of the other adjacent parcels there?


Sure. I may be staying corrected here, but I believe we actually currently own a couple of parcels Fowler. We have a lot of materials there as well from previous demolitions. So that would allow us to kind of accumulate that piece and perhaps move forward with another project there, whether that be infill housing or recreational related. But I think it makes sense in it because we have our, we already have an established crew that's taken care of lots. The only maintenance related to it besides cleaning it up is mowing it. So since we are kind of in a good and Tom, and I think it's a good opportunity to pick that up and be able to control that moving forward.


I just, oh, go ahead Tom, I can wait. Go ahead. I was just going to make a motion to move it forward.


Oh no, I just wanted to know, at one time, I know as a little girl I lived in that area, so at one time that used to be a park, it was called Tutty Baker Park, and that's what that was.


So I know that. Okay. Fantastic. make a motion to discuss it at the next meeting do I get a second excuse me motion first by Clem second by Parker are there oh I thought he was pointing I I just went blank. All in favor? All in favor? All opposed? Motion passed. Number 16, discussion regarding electric bill provider of kilowatt hours, distribute fees and process for residents to switch to a different provider.


Discussion regarding Ordinance, Amending Chapter 220, Council Section 220.10, Rule of Council, presentation by Alderman Stacey and Monroe.


Yes, on November 12th, there was an ordinance that was brought to the council. Mayor Miller was not present, Attorney Zito presented, and it was voted on and moved to Supposedly the December 16th Agenda, however, it never showed up and I want to know who have that power to take something from an agenda when it's been voted on.


John. What right and why did it happen? Why was it removed? That's what I would like to know. Please and thank you.


I can answer the question. So this ordinance was originally there along with my understanding with some other Alderpersons to present this.


with some other Alderpersons to present this ordinance here. It was scheduled to be placed on the November COW.


There at that November COW, the mayor was not absent, so I presented the, or the mayor was absent, excuse me, so I presented the ordinance at that meeting.


Then this item was laid over. There was a motion a second to lay this over to the following COW for further discussion there.


So that would have been the December COW. Prior to the December COW, the mayor contacted me and said, Aaron, the group of Alderman and I, we talked that we're proponents of this, I've put this forward, you know what, we don't want to, we're not ready, we think we've got to look at this more, so, you know, we want it removed from the agenda, we're not pushing it forward anymore, there, so, that's happened before in the past, when someone who proposes an item, whether it be a property owner who says that, hey, I'm applying for a text amendment to the zoning code or whatever, and it starts to move its way forward and then when that applicant says you know what change of mind I don't want to move this forward anymore the item just gets removed so that's why I relate when the mayor contacted me and said hey the people that were proponents of this were withdrawing it so I said okay following past practice I reached out to Dovie and said hey the people that wanted this no longer want it you know they don't they don't want to put these changes for it and Stacey, and I'm the one that's been asked to take it off.


I'm not the one that's been asked to take it off anymore. So that's why it was taken off the agenda.


Attorney Zito, once it was asked to be moved forward by myself and seconded by Alderwoman Simmons, shouldn't it have come to us if you were going to question or decide to just take it off?


I think the only thing about this Alderman, Stacy, was the fact that normally, yes, it would be on the agenda, right, for further discussion.


The only reason why the difference here was because the people that were pushing it, that wanted it in the first place, that asked for it to be on the agenda, basically withdrew it.