WEBVTT

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Motion passes. We do have one public comment. Jim Blackburn.

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Members of the City Council, Mayor Miller and Mr. Boyer, I thank you for the opportunity to address you tonight on an item that is near and dear to my heart and that is number 14 on your agenda for this evening.

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That would be the water main extension to Open Bible.

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It feels like I'm finally going to get the opportunity to scratch an itch that's been there for about 25 years.

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And I thank you for addressing the issue now rather than later.

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It should have been done 20 years ago, but here we are tonight.

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A little history on that if I could please.

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Police. They originally submitted plans about 2000, or about 1999. Yeah, it's been that

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long. And they were granted a variance at that time by community development. They put

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a sprinkler system in as required under the building code, required by the fire department.

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They were granted a variance then by community development because quite simply they couldn't

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and Hook it up to anything.

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At that time United Water was in charge of water and sewer, Director Trueblood I believe

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at the time.

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We talked at quite length about it and he thought that that would fit into their three

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to five year plan.

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I guess it didn't quite make it.

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So it does my heart good to see that it's finally getting addressed.

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I guess this is a case of better late than never

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but if you want to try and find a situation that requires it more

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I think you'd be hard pressed to do so.

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That is a daycare center, that is very young children,

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maybe some of our own children or in my case grandchildren might be out there.

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And that is to me the purpose of what city government, state government, national government does.

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is there here to take care of people who can't take care of themselves

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and I think that's exactly many of the children that are housed

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do their education, do daycare at Open Bible

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I realize this issue is going to be terribly expensive

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as is most everything else except for maybe my hourly wage

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but so be it. I would

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Gravel I would beg I would plead don't let this opportunity go by you've got it

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front and center it needs to be taken care of and I commend you for the

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courage to look into it now to address the issue and to not push it down the

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road and let somebody else deal with it do I have leave to answer any questions

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or how would you like to proceed no all right then I'll sit down and shut up

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Next, we have the Proclamation for the Recognizing October as Manufacturing Month, presented

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by Mayor Miller Okay, so on behalf of the City, the Proclamation

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B. Killing Manufacturing Month, whereas the City of Freeport acknowledges the importance

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of manufacturing industry as a key driver for local, state, and national economy, contributing

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to innovation, job creation, and sustainable economic growth.

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And whereas Illinois is home to over 18,000 manufacturing firms representing a diverse

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range of industries, including advanced machinery, food processing, plastics, and metal, positioning

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Illinois as one of the leading manufacturing states in the nation, and whereas manufacturing

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accounts for over 12 percent of Illinois' total economic output, contributing to nearly

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$107 billion annually to the state's economy, supporting over 550,000 jobs and indirectly

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generating many more in logistics, supply chain management, and business services.

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And whereas in Freeport and Stevenson County, the manufacturing industry provides more than

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Fripport is proud of its rich manufacturing heritage and continues to foster innovation

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through educational and workforce development initiatives that help prepare local students

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and workers for careers in manufacturing.

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And whereas the designation of October as Manufacturing Month in Illinois as part of

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and others. The importance of modern manufacturing and its critical role in rebuilding and growing

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resilient local economies. And whereas Manufacturing Month provides an opportunity to celebrate

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the achievements of the manufacturing sector, recognize the contributions of manufacturers

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in Freeport's economic success, and promote awareness of careers in this dynamic industry.

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and so on. Therefore, I, Jodi Miller, Mayor of the City, declare October 2024 as Manufacturing

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Month and encourage all of our citizens to recognize the importance of this vital industry

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and its contribution to our community. Thank you.

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Thank you very much. And as I stand before you this evening, you obviously can see that

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and I am not a manufacturer, but we do interface with many manufacturers as an economic development

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organization, and I just want to highlight Manufacturing Month to bring to light the

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importance of that sector here.

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It supplies over 5,000 jobs, good paying jobs, and that is one of the largest employment

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sectors that we have in Stevenson County.

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So thank you very much for your time and I look forward to the next agenda item.

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Our next agenda item, Greater Freeport Partnership Quarterly Presentation to Council, presented

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by Andrea Schultz-Winter.

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Thank you very much, sorry as I get situated here.

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Tonight's presentation will highlight the activities in the third quarter and again these are going

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to be organized.

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My presentation this evening will be organized in relationship to the key focused areas that

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were outlined in our strategic plan.

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That is also how the third quarter report that was included in the packet is also organized.

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and those are business retention and expansion, new business development and attraction, marketing

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the region, visitor attraction, advocacy and policy, and building the partnerships capacity.

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In the last quarter, we've been on 14 business retention visits.

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These are key for the partnership to understand what is happening with our businesses, what

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their strengths, what their weaknesses, what their current hurdles are.

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and as we continually hear, workforce is their number one issue. Primarily workforce attraction

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is the issue that they're having. There are generally a limited number of workers to pool

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from. Our population has not increased in some time. Oftentimes when they're attracting

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new talent to the area, it is difficult to do so because child care, one of the key things

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and

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the

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next

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one is

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the

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quality

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housing

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that

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many

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families

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need

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is

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not

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abundant

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here.

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Also looking at quality housing, it's difficult to find housing that meets their price range.

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Oftentimes, employers are saying that they are losing candidates to positions because of those key factors.

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Additionally, specifically maintenance technicians is a key position that many manufacturers, many

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and John. We do know, luckily, Highland Community College has many courses that speak to and

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train manufacturing technicians, but it's just finding enough students to enroll in

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those programs so that there's enough output to fill all these positions. Okay. The next

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is, we continually hear that Greenfield site development is a priority, not only for attracting

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new businesses to our area, but also that existing businesses have a place to expand.

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That is why the partnership will be submitting a grant application to the state of Illinois

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for the regional site readiness grant opportunity.

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McEvoy.

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If awarded, this grant would pay for studies and preparation for future site development

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along key corridors.

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So more to come.

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We will be submitting this application at the end of this week.

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We continue to work on enterprise zone boundary expansion for a future development and investment

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that will happen outside of LENA.

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Again, the enterprise zone is an incentive zone that the partnership administers.

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of this zone span within City of Freeport, rural Stevenson County and stretch over to

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Joe Davis County and encompass areas of Hanover and East Dubuque.

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We are currently...

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We are currently conducting a Stevenson County Business Survey. This is to understand the challenges that businesses here are facing both locally and within their industry.

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The survey has been open since late September and will close the end of October where we will analyze results and report out.

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The beginning of October we hosted Upstairs Downtown Workshop with Illinois Main Street to understand upper story residential opportunities.

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We understand that this is a key redevelopment strategy in downtown Freeport for multiple reasons.

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Quality apartments or condos are needed. That is a housing typology that is needed here.

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Miller. More people living in downtown will support downtown businesses and reinvestment

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in businesses will increase property values which will correlate to increase tax revenue

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and it will ensure that buildings are being maintained. Our next steps coming out of this

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workshop will be working with the City of Freeport to assemble property owners to discuss

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their buildings on a case-by-case business, case-by-case basis. This was a very well attended

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Workshop. We had a cross-reference or cross-section of real estate agents,

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bankers, building owners, city officials, county officials, small-scale developers.

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It was a productive afternoon. Last, we continue to market our services to

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entrepreneurs and small business to help with their business development process.

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In the last quarter, we met with 12 entrepreneurs. Eight of these

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and others.

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These individuals were either women or persons of color and they represented various businesses

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from many different sectors in all stages of development.

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As mentioned before, some of the workforce challenges that we heard from our business

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retention visits are child care and housing.

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So how are we addressing those and what is the activity that the partnership has done

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in the last quarter to try to meet those needs?

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So we do understand that fortunately and unfortunately that the child care, the lack of child care

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is not a unique issue to Freeport.

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We're not alone in this struggle.

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But what we do know is that there are other communities in this region that is also struggling

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with this, but they've come up with some creative solutions.

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So we're talking with those communities, most specifically Dubuque and Mount Carroll.

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and

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I will be attending a tour of Dubuque's Bright Minds campus

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with two child care providers. The Bright Minds campus is a

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collaborative effort both public and private between the YMCA,

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Dubuque public schools and other organizations to provide

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wraparound child care services, includes preschool as well as

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before and after school care. Additionally, with the

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redevelopment of what was formerly Shimer College, there

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and

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Jodi.

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The project is being developed. We hope to tour that facility

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and talk with the developers and stakeholders in that community

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to understand how they're bringing that project to

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fruition, what things we can extract from both those

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communities, both those projects and what would work here in

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Freeport and Stevenson County. As mentioned before

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manufacturing is a key sector in Stevenson County.

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We have residential areas in the city of Freeport that are also in the enterprise zone, which is a great incentive tool to help lower the cost of new construction of homes in that area.

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In the last quarter, we've met with two developers looking to purchase sites in two different areas.

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They're currently in the process working through the acquisition of those properties with the intent to build single-family homes.

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Homes. We're continually to connect them with bankers, city officials, utility companies, anything we can do to move that process along. Next, as mentioned, manufacturing is a key sector here. So it's critical that we understand or our children understand that there are great opportunities and great places to work right here in Freeport and Stevenson County. One of the key ways that we're doing this is helping coordinate Manufacturing Day, which happens every October.

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Miller.

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This is an opportunity for Freeport and other area high school students to tour local facilities,

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get in the plant, really understand that the new age of manufacturing is not your parents

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or your grandparents' manufacturing.

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It's clean facilities, we're working with a lot of technology and robotics and automation.

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These are successful, very highly technical careers that can be very rewarding and there's

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Lennon, and a lot of career ladder opportunities within local companies.

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High school students will have an opportunity to tour the facility and then end the day

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at Highland Community College where there will be a career expo and a keynote address

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from the CEO of New Way Strokeso, Mark Braun.

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Lastly, we were really proud to work with the Yield Program and form a partnership with

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and I have been working with Goodwill Industries that has led to funding for two more years of the Yield program.

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Now we're all familiar with the Goodwill Industry in terms of things that you donate or you purchase there,

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but Goodwill Industries, and this is maybe not known to everyone, they do have a workforce development component that they do.

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A lot of that is based out of Rockford.

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And they became a hub, or they received grant dollars from the State of Illinois to administer,

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I'm going to get this program name wrong if I don't read it. Illinois Climate Works pre-apprenticeship program in our area.

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So it's a pre-apprenticeship program and understanding that and the goals of the program has and the goals of the yield program

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we were able to make the connection and

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say that the yield program can be a service provider and receive grant dollars from the state through Goodwill Industries to help

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fund their program.

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So they hope to the the partnership has been established and they that will lead to funding for the next two years

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In business attraction in the last quarter, we've received 29 economic development leads

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19 of those leads have come from Intersect, Illinois or the state's

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business attraction arm

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From those 19, we were able to respond to five leads because we had sites or existing buildings that met the company's needs.

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14 of those, unfortunately, we were not able to meet because of some combination of what's listed.

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They were heavy water user, heavier water user than the City of Freeport could support.

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We lacked sites that were large enough or buildings that met certain characteristics,

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Taylor, самые, 8, 12, 20, 26, 29, 30, 40, 60, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 36, 3, 2, 1.

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And in our next paragraph, we're going to focus on the

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McColl, who's going to talk about marketing the region.

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Good evening.

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So to continue to talk about some of the work that we're doing under those focus areas,

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one, in marketing the region, that is a three-faceted approach.

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It talks about how we are marketing for future investment from developers and businesses,

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how we're marketing to future residents or people who could live or move here, and then

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and also how we are marketing the partnership and the services and resources that we can

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provide to people who are here or could come here.

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That middle one that I talked about was about reaching people who can come here.

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And through that initiative and another local business owner, we came up with the Stevenson

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County Area Advocate Program because we already have ambassadors, so now we have to have advocates

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just to separate the two.

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This program gets a list of deeds from the county on a monthly basis.

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And then we reach out to those new property owners and send them a postcard with a welcome

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to the area.

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They can scan that QR code to set up a coffee meeting with myself or future advocates to

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talk about what's going on in Freeport, answer questions, ask them why they moved here.

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Where are they working?

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Why did they come here?

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Are they looking for employment, childcare, and answer those questions?

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We've been running this program since March.

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We've sent out about 500 postcards so far, and we've had about 12 meetings.

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We had one kind of in-person meeting at our office, and then we have been able to meet

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with other ones one-on-one.

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So far, we've met with people who have moved from fairly local places like Winnebago or

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Savannah, and then people who moved from North Carolina, New Jersey, who I really had a hard

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time understanding that guy, and then Florida as well.

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All moving here for various reasons and talk about the jobs they have, talk about the jobs

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maybe that they're looking for, and just to hear the enthusiasm they have about living

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here is contagious.

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And I invite anybody who is interested in becoming an advocate to let me know because

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because we are always looking for more people to reach out.

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We are also creating a 12-month printed calendar while we as an organization and so many other

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people continue to try to find...

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and so many other people continue to try to find other ways to let people know of all of the amazing things that happen here.

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We're still missing a segment of population who don't get online and who don't get on social media.

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So instead, we are doing a 12-month printed calendar. It's going to be available for the first time at the Senior Expo next Thursday.

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And there'll be 800 of them printed and they will be available for free to anybody who wishes to pick one up.

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Music on Chicago and Cruise Night were two, well there were two Music on Chicago's in third quarter and then of course Cruise Night continued to be great opportunities for our residents to feel a connection to the community a lot of people come out whether you're a car enthusiast or music enthusiast or you just need to get out and enjoy those opportunities it's a really both of the events that we're talking about here are great to see for all ages interests it's such a cross section of the community

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and it's been fantastic to see all of those continue to grow.

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The partnership was awarded the Matthew Marvin Community Impact Award from the Foundation

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for Northwest Illinois for our work in economic development.

00:21:09.039 --> 00:21:13.279
If you'll remember, over the past two years, we have been fortunate to have funding from

00:21:13.279 --> 00:21:17.880
the Community Foundation to support local businesses during the holiday season and then

00:21:17.880 --> 00:21:21.079
also through our Basecamp program.

00:21:21.079 --> 00:21:27.240
and then our rebranding campaign focuses on the strategic initiatives that Andrea talked

00:21:27.240 --> 00:21:32.000
about earlier and I'm going to see if technology is going to be my friend tonight and see if

00:21:32.000 --> 00:21:54.400
Fiddle, let me play this video and oh you can see it but we might not have sound and if you

00:21:54.400 --> 00:22:00.000
can't hear it I'll send it to everybody tomorrow if you haven't been able to see it.

00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:26.000
We're really highlighting our mission, vision, and inclusion statement that the partnership adopted earlier this year, as well as our board members and some great footage from different places within the community, just kind of showing that the partnership is here for all, and our services continue to be a benefit to various audiences across the county and the city.

00:22:26.000 --> 00:22:38.000
No, apologize, no sound. You get to look at great pictures. And then I'll send that out so you can hear it in its entirety tomorrow. It's only a minute, so hopefully it won't take up too much of your time.

00:22:43.000 --> 00:22:52.000
All right, visitor attraction. Our tourism season is heavy in second quarter, third quarter, holy cow.

00:22:52.000 --> 00:22:59.039
the state's tourism attraction numbers as is everything with the state are lagged

00:22:59.039 --> 00:23:06.880
so we found out about our 2023 visitor spending numbers in august of this year and for a third

00:23:06.880 --> 00:23:12.319
year in a row so ever since covid we have seen tourism spending in stevenson county continue to

00:23:12.319 --> 00:23:19.200
grow and continue to break new records this year at 52 million dollars when we talk about visitor

00:23:19.200 --> 00:23:23.200
It's not just sales tax dollars or hotel motel tax dollars.

00:23:23.200 --> 00:23:31.200
This is also what visitors are spending at local restaurants, in boutiques, in our gas stations, in our grocery stores.

00:23:31.200 --> 00:23:39.200
So this is also a study that comes out of Longwoods International who is hired by the state of Illinois to create these independent studies.

00:23:39.200 --> 00:23:43.200
Our campaign this year is called Choose Your Adventure.

00:23:43.200 --> 00:23:47.200
Hopefully you, well, maybe I'll include that in the email tomorrow too.

00:23:47.200 --> 00:23:49.360
Brown too, we'll just send you all the videos.

00:23:49.360 --> 00:23:54.360
We've had a great response from our videos this year

00:23:54.860 --> 00:23:57.860
that highlighted a number of attractions, restaurants,

00:23:57.860 --> 00:24:01.579
and shopping destinations between multiple digital platforms.

00:24:01.579 --> 00:24:03.779
It's been viewed over 500,000 times

00:24:03.779 --> 00:24:06.240
across YouTube, Meta, and Google.

00:24:07.240 --> 00:24:09.360
And using those and so many other tools,

00:24:09.360 --> 00:24:12.500
we continue to promote our tourism partners

00:24:12.500 --> 00:24:14.539
while also sending them grant opportunities

00:24:14.539 --> 00:24:18.259
so they can be as productive as possible

00:24:18.259 --> 00:24:19.579
with the funds that they have

00:24:19.579 --> 00:24:22.099
because we know most of them are nonprofit as well.

00:24:24.220 --> 00:24:26.259
Since Bill is not able to join us tonight,

00:24:26.259 --> 00:24:29.019
I'm also gonna touch on partnership membership.

00:24:29.019 --> 00:24:33.420
This falls within the partnership capacity key focus area.

00:24:33.420 --> 00:24:36.960
We were able to gain 15 new members to the partnership

00:24:36.960 --> 00:24:40.579
in the third quarter, the breakdown shown there.

00:24:40.579 --> 00:24:44.059
And we continue to have a really fantastic retention rates

00:24:44.539 --> 00:24:47.099
of nearly 95% again in the third quarter,

00:24:47.099 --> 00:24:50.740
but overall 96.5% in the year.

00:24:50.740 --> 00:24:53.099
So we're very proud of those numbers on people

00:24:53.099 --> 00:24:55.259
who just goes to show the value

00:24:55.259 --> 00:24:56.740
that they place on their membership

00:24:56.740 --> 00:24:59.340
and they continue to renew once they have joined.

00:25:04.220 --> 00:25:05.420
Thank you for your attention

00:25:05.420 --> 00:25:08.019
and we're happy to take any questions you might have.

00:25:14.539 --> 00:25:28.099
Madam Mayor, excuse me, Stacy, still yours, if I could make a comment. I was able to attend

00:25:28.099 --> 00:25:34.259
your Upstairs Downtown presentation along with Rob. The Mayor was there, there were

00:25:34.259 --> 00:25:41.380
a couple other people from Community Development were there. It was a very good program. I

00:25:41.380 --> 00:25:48.139
I talked to the Fire Chief next day, and one of the things I was happy that the two presenters

00:25:48.139 --> 00:25:54.420
brought up, especially the one that was the building person, was what is required for

00:25:54.420 --> 00:26:00.139
that upstairs use, because it's so difficult to fill because of square foot, access to

00:26:00.139 --> 00:26:05.700
get in and out of the building, all that kind of stuff, and the new ways that they had to

00:26:05.700 --> 00:26:11.700
and take a look at how they could make something fire safe and still maybe not have a sprinkler

00:26:11.700 --> 00:26:15.700
system in it, but have another means of access and other stuff.

00:26:15.700 --> 00:26:21.380
I thought it was great that way because they not only presented the really good things

00:26:21.380 --> 00:26:26.420
about it, but they presented that before you start into this, you know, take a look at

00:26:26.420 --> 00:26:30.700
these things and here's where you can get them at.

00:26:30.700 --> 00:26:32.220
Thank you for that comment.

00:26:32.220 --> 00:26:36.820
and I think it kind of the afternoon got into the weeds a little bit, but I think when you're

00:26:36.820 --> 00:26:41.259
looking at figuring out how to make these projects work, it comes into the devil really

00:26:41.259 --> 00:26:45.619
is in the details and understanding like fire exiting.

00:26:45.619 --> 00:26:47.539
Can you do that without having sprinklers?

00:26:47.539 --> 00:26:49.380
What does the code say?

00:26:49.380 --> 00:26:50.539
Is there a change of use?

00:26:50.539 --> 00:26:52.420
What other materials are there?

00:26:52.420 --> 00:26:54.920
What's your travel distance, time and to an exit?

00:26:54.920 --> 00:27:00.380
So all of those things are really specific and project to project.

00:27:00.380 --> 00:27:13.380
I think that that is kind of when we have interviews and kind of meetings with individual building owners, those are the types of questions we're going to get to pretty quickly to see how their project could work.

00:27:13.380 --> 00:27:16.380
Could I add something, Casey?

00:27:16.380 --> 00:27:17.380
Sure.

00:27:17.380 --> 00:27:36.380
The other thing that I just want to note, and I know I noted it last time and stuff, one of the things that you guys do and have to do that costs you or takes up a whole amount of time is all the requests that you get from the state of Illinois for new businesses that are coming to the state.

00:27:36.380 --> 00:27:49.380
You know, right off the bat, there's many of them that you can't do, but you have to go through everything to make sure that a business does or doesn't qualify for something we have. I know that's a lot of work.

00:27:49.380 --> 00:28:01.380
Thank you. Yes, we do. I mean, we vet each opportunity that comes to us. We really think critically about the spaces, the buildings we have. Could any of them fit the criteria? Could they be retrofitted? What sites might work?

00:28:01.380 --> 00:28:02.380
and others.

00:28:02.380 --> 00:28:03.380
Thank you.

00:28:03.380 --> 00:28:04.380
Thank you.

00:28:04.380 --> 00:28:05.380
Thank you.

00:28:05.380 --> 00:28:20.380
and others that have water and sewer and all the infrastructure to them, that's another reason why we're writing the grant to pursue planning for future sites, so thank you, I mean it is, yeah, it is work, and we're continuing to dedicate it to it.

00:28:20.380 --> 00:28:29.380
Thank you.

00:28:29.380 --> 00:28:30.380
Thank you.

00:28:30.380 --> 00:28:57.380
Do you? Okay. If this doesn't work out, I'll let you know. Thank you. Thank you. Item number nine, discussion regarding placing an order for a replacement fire engine. Presented by Chief Miller.

00:28:57.380 --> 00:29:03.820
Yes, thank you Madam Chair. So this year when we were working on preparing our budget for

00:29:03.820 --> 00:29:10.139
a presentation to council, part of the planning process is looking at medium range planning.

00:29:10.139 --> 00:29:16.340
What are needs going to be going forward in the future? What do we have right now that

00:29:16.340 --> 00:29:24.659
is in good shape, okay shape, or bad shape? So staff and myself got together and we were

00:29:24.659 --> 00:29:26.980
we're doing this medium range planning

00:29:26.980 --> 00:29:31.980
and we looked at our vehicle replacement schedule

00:29:31.980 --> 00:29:36.219
that was presented to council about two and a half years ago

00:29:36.219 --> 00:29:38.659
and was lacking prior to that.

00:29:38.659 --> 00:29:40.000
And that's how we got into trouble

00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:45.000
with old outdated vehicles that were in disrepair.

00:29:46.400 --> 00:29:50.159
So with the support of council, we've come a long ways

00:29:50.159 --> 00:29:53.220
and I'm very proud of the decisions

00:29:53.220 --> 00:30:01.019
Council has made thus far. So looking at our replacement cycle, we recognized

00:30:01.019 --> 00:30:17.019
We recognized Engine 1, which is located at Park Boulevard, the short aerial truck, is 14 years old right now and would be due for replacement and downgraded into reserve status in 4 years.

00:30:17.019 --> 00:30:25.019
So looking at the new pumper or fire engine we just received, we ordered that two years ago.

00:30:25.019 --> 00:30:34.019
Talking with the folks who are on that piece of equipment or assigned there, guys that are on our truck committee,

00:30:34.019 --> 00:30:42.019
we discussed instead of going with a small aerial device, just replacing that one with a pumper.

00:30:42.019 --> 00:30:59.019
So we looked at the exact same pumper that we just took delivery on, and I reached out to the salesmen that worked with us on that, and I said, for that exact truck, how long would it take to provide that to go to manufacturing?

00:30:59.019 --> 00:31:06.019
He shocked me by saying four years. Their building schedule right now is four years out.

00:31:06.019 --> 00:31:23.019
So if we placed an order today, we would not see it for anywhere between 46 and a half to 49 and a half months, so let's just call it four years.

00:31:23.019 --> 00:31:31.019
So it's okay, so that's quite a distance. You have to do some really accurate planning for the future with those bill times.

00:31:31.019 --> 00:31:39.019
So then I went further to ask, what is the cost for replacing that same exact vehicle we just took delivery on?

00:31:39.019 --> 00:31:48.019
And not only was I shocked with the built times of four years, I was even more shocked with the cost that has escalated in two years.

00:31:48.019 --> 00:31:54.019
We placed the order for our new engine two years ago and it came in just under $900,000.

00:31:54.019 --> 00:32:07.019
Ordering one today, at today's money, that same exact vehicle is $1.2 million, so it's gone up 16.5% per year for the last two years, $300,000.

00:32:07.019 --> 00:32:13.019
Like, oh my God, if it's gone up that much in these past two years, how much is it going to go up going forward?

00:32:13.019 --> 00:32:19.019
So if we continue to wait longer, it's going to be exponentially more expensive.

00:32:19.019 --> 00:32:29.019
So then, digging deeper, what are the scheduled price increases? What are we looking at for those timeframes?

00:32:29.019 --> 00:32:38.019
Historically, they used to do a large, somewhat large price increase after the first of the year, January, February-ish.

00:32:38.019 --> 00:32:41.019
It'd be five to seven percent.

00:32:41.019 --> 00:32:47.380
speaking with the salesman there was one September which we've missed but the next

00:32:47.380 --> 00:32:51.420
scheduled one is November 1st that's a one and a half percent price increase

00:32:51.420 --> 00:32:57.059
and there's another one February of 25 all these will be 1.5 percent price

00:32:57.059 --> 00:33:02.420
increases so there's one November 1st another one scheduled for February

00:33:02.420 --> 00:33:10.119
another one in May August and November I'm like this is just crazy economics

00:33:10.119 --> 00:33:19.799
here. So looking at avoiding price increases just from now in calendar year 2025, those 1.5 percent

00:33:19.799 --> 00:33:30.759
increases compounded on top of each other comes out to $92,000. So this is a huge acquisition for

00:33:30.759 --> 00:33:36.920
the city, for the fire department. So I thought, you know, this warrants bringing to the council and

00:33:36.920 --> 00:33:41.920
and having a discussion on what the desire of council is

00:33:42.059 --> 00:33:45.420
in terms of a long-term replacement,

00:33:45.420 --> 00:33:47.740
making a four-year commitment,

00:33:47.740 --> 00:33:50.859
or at least placing an order for this vehicle

00:33:51.799 --> 00:33:54.400
and looking four years into the future.

00:33:55.539 --> 00:34:00.539
So each of those 1.5% increases equals $18,405,

00:34:30.539 --> 00:34:38.300
and many more, and they take about six to eight months to once it goes to production

00:34:38.300 --> 00:34:43.579
to actually deliver a finished product.

00:34:43.579 --> 00:34:51.000
Also placing that order, we don't have to commit any money to it at this time.

00:34:51.000 --> 00:34:56.420
It's just a written purchase order signed by myself and the City Manager and we get

00:34:56.420 --> 00:34:58.340
on that build list.

00:34:58.340 --> 00:35:04.380
So going through the Fire Capital Improvement Fund, we would have the opportunity to allocate

00:35:04.380 --> 00:35:12.139
$300,000 a year for the next four years, so when that vehicle is ready for delivery, Michelle

00:35:12.139 --> 00:35:15.940
can write them a check and pay for it.

00:35:15.940 --> 00:35:19.099
So no money commitment right now.

00:35:19.099 --> 00:35:22.460
We avoid any subsequent price increases.

00:35:22.460 --> 00:35:28.800
We lock in the price at today's dollars instead of future dollars and we are on that build

00:35:28.800 --> 00:35:33.699
list for delivery in four years.

00:35:33.699 --> 00:35:38.340
So and then one last area I want to touch upon is the vehicle that we're speaking about

00:35:38.340 --> 00:35:39.340
replacing.

00:35:39.340 --> 00:35:43.840
Again, it's a 2010 short aerial.

00:35:43.840 --> 00:35:47.699
It has 86,498 miles on it.

00:35:47.699 --> 00:35:49.380
That's of last week.

00:35:49.380 --> 00:35:53.980
With commercial trucks like this, I'm sure most of you are aware, they also come with

00:35:53.980 --> 00:35:59.500
hour meters because there's so much idle time sitting on the street, sitting at fire scenes,

00:35:59.500 --> 00:36:08.500
sitting on various calls. Those hours are calculated at, for each hour, it equals 61

00:36:08.500 --> 00:36:15.500
travel miles. And this is a commercial vehicle standard. It's not something I came up with.

00:36:15.500 --> 00:36:21.500
This is what Helm uses, this is what other commercial truck dealers and repair shops

00:36:21.500 --> 00:36:23.400
calculate at.

00:36:23.400 --> 00:36:27.980
So that vehicle has 9,027 hours on it.

00:36:27.980 --> 00:36:39.539
So doing the math, 9,027 times 61 miles, the equivalent of that, that equals 550,647 miles.

00:36:39.539 --> 00:36:49.340
Getting the two together equals 637,145 combined miles.

00:36:49.340 --> 00:36:53.779
So by virtue of a good maintenance program, taking care of our vehicles, washing them,

00:36:53.779 --> 00:37:00.500
keeping the salt off of them, we look to get anywhere between 12 to 15 years in a frontline

00:37:00.500 --> 00:37:06.819
service and then another 5 to 7 years in reserve status, depending on the condition of the

00:37:06.820 --> 00:37:14.340
Hall, and its usage. So I'm confident that this engine one that we're looking to replace

00:37:14.340 --> 00:37:21.519
will fill in that five to seven years at least at a minimum in reserve status. So after ordering,

00:37:21.519 --> 00:37:27.139
if it's counsel's will, after ordering this one, we're going to be set up well into the

00:37:27.139 --> 00:37:30.659
future with our emergency response vehicles, the large trucks.

00:37:30.659 --> 00:38:00.559
May I ask you to make a comment? Chief, I understand where you're going. Sorry about that. You're requesting that we give the clearance to sign off on it right now at the current price.

00:38:00.559 --> 00:38:01.559
and others.

00:38:01.559 --> 00:38:02.559
Thank you.

00:38:02.559 --> 00:38:09.639
We're talking about earlier before the costs start escalating each year.

00:38:09.639 --> 00:38:14.440
That's the reason for this discussion, yes, and if council agrees that this represents

00:38:14.440 --> 00:38:22.119
a cost savings, this would be up to you to desire to move it to the next council meeting

00:38:22.119 --> 00:38:27.119
or you could approve a resolution and the next day we could place this order and avoid

00:38:27.119 --> 00:38:28.119
the November 1st pricing.

00:38:28.119 --> 00:38:29.920
And this locks it in, right?

00:38:29.920 --> 00:38:30.920
Yes, it does.

00:38:30.920 --> 00:38:37.680
and the Councilor. I was hoping you were talking about that, that any procedures that we follow

00:38:37.680 --> 00:38:50.680
with locking it in, we'll get status reports on the report on the product that we're purchasing.

00:38:50.680 --> 00:38:59.079
Absolutely. So, if there would be any changes between now and just prior to assembly meeting,

00:38:59.079 --> 00:39:01.400
and certainly I would communicate to the council.

00:39:02.340 --> 00:39:07.340
But quite honestly, about three years and two months,

00:39:09.300 --> 00:39:11.780
pending there's no changes in that,

00:39:11.780 --> 00:39:13.800
there won't be a whole lot of activity on that.

00:39:13.800 --> 00:39:17.840
So what happens with these is about eight to nine months

00:39:17.840 --> 00:39:20.239
prior to going to assembly,

00:39:20.239 --> 00:39:23.900
the truck committee will meet with the manufacturer

00:39:23.900 --> 00:39:28.800
and they'll go over about a 19 two-sided page

00:39:28.800 --> 00:39:34.319
Build List and going line by line by line through every single thing to make sure the

00:39:34.319 --> 00:39:41.559
needs are covered, the features are anticipated and planned for.

00:39:41.559 --> 00:39:47.359
And then once it goes past that, then it goes to engineering, then it goes to production.

00:39:47.359 --> 00:39:49.279
At that point, we're kind of locked in.

00:39:49.279 --> 00:39:51.159
But until then...

00:39:51.159 --> 00:39:54.400
And what was the estimation cost again, about a million?

00:39:54.400 --> 00:40:00.960
Point, it's on the, on the notes, the precise.

00:40:00.960 --> 00:40:05.960
the precise cost at this time is $1,227,000.

00:40:11.280 --> 00:40:15.380
There are options for some prepayment discounts.

00:40:15.380 --> 00:40:17.840
So we did this actually with the aerial truck,

00:40:17.840 --> 00:40:21.159
the ladder truck and the engine, we prepaid it.

00:40:21.159 --> 00:40:23.199
But in this particular vehicle,

00:40:23.199 --> 00:40:28.199
100% prepayment upfront would save $122,913.

00:40:30.960 --> 00:40:40.519
but a 50 percent prepayment option which would represent $613,500 would reduce the overall

00:40:40.519 --> 00:40:50.639
cost of the vehicle by $61,456. So in some cases, the prepayment discounts have exceeded

00:40:50.639 --> 00:40:55.880
what interest accrual would be on that kind of capital, that kind of money.

00:40:55.880 --> 00:41:02.199
We'd be actually paying it off with the interest.

00:41:02.199 --> 00:41:10.800
We'd be paying it down, getting, I think they said somewhere around 20% return on our prepayment

00:41:10.800 --> 00:41:11.800
amount.

00:41:11.800 --> 00:41:12.800
Yeah.

00:41:12.800 --> 00:41:13.800
Yeah.

00:41:13.800 --> 00:41:14.800
Okay.

00:41:14.800 --> 00:41:21.840
Chief Miller, did you say that we could budget $30,000 a year for four years?

00:41:21.840 --> 00:41:22.840
One more zero.

00:41:22.840 --> 00:41:23.840
$300,000.

00:41:23.840 --> 00:41:24.840
$300,000.

00:41:24.840 --> 00:41:25.840
Yeah.

00:41:25.840 --> 00:41:30.840
and is that if we can do that or are we able to do that?

00:41:39.159 --> 00:41:40.720
I would defer to Michelle but I believe

00:41:40.720 --> 00:41:45.720
are we able to budget 300,000 a year for the next four years?

00:41:48.480 --> 00:41:51.679
The funds that will be used to purchase the truck

00:41:51.679 --> 00:41:55.199
come out of the Fire Cap Improvement Fund,

00:41:55.199 --> 00:41:59.159
which is mostly ambulance revenues that are generated.

00:41:59.159 --> 00:42:03.920
And that fund currently has like $2 million in it.

00:42:03.920 --> 00:42:06.039
So it would just be a matter of calculating,

00:42:06.039 --> 00:42:10.280
like Chief said, you know, the prepayment,

00:42:10.280 --> 00:42:11.119
is the money there?

00:42:11.119 --> 00:42:12.579
Yes, the money is there.

00:42:13.880 --> 00:42:16.039
Is the prepayment worth it?

00:42:16.039 --> 00:42:19.199
Could I make more than that if I invested it in the bank

00:42:19.199 --> 00:42:21.400
or do we pay it?

00:42:21.400 --> 00:42:22.960
Right.

00:42:22.960 --> 00:42:23.800
We wait to pay it.

00:42:23.800 --> 00:42:24.639
Wait right out, yeah.

00:42:24.639 --> 00:42:28.920
We just have to do the math, which it sounds like they already did the math.

00:42:28.920 --> 00:42:36.880
Okay, so the city would be willing to allow this purchase to go forth paid in full and

00:42:36.880 --> 00:42:51.159
not finance it, but pay it off in full at the end of the four years.

00:42:51.159 --> 00:42:57.680
We could do it either way.

00:42:57.680 --> 00:43:02.860
This fund happens to have a fund balance that is dedicated, the majority of it is dedicated

00:43:02.860 --> 00:43:07.119
to the fire department.

00:43:07.119 --> 00:43:10.240
And the funds are available there.

00:43:10.240 --> 00:43:15.760
It's just a matter of seeing if this is how you'd like to proceed and also evaluating

00:43:15.760 --> 00:43:19.920
if the prepayment discount is worth it financially.

00:43:19.920 --> 00:43:36.920
Will that be pay as we go with the purchase of this item? I mean, will we be able to retain this item as our property as we pay the payments per year?

00:43:36.920 --> 00:43:46.280
So, again, as we outlined, there's three different options that we could do to consider this.

00:43:46.280 --> 00:43:57.119
We could pay the full amount, the $1.27 million, and save that $300,000 over four years, which

00:43:57.119 --> 00:44:05.559
would give us $1.2-ish, or we could take advantage of some of these prepayment discounts, again,

00:44:05.559 --> 00:44:08.480
to pay the whole thing in full.

00:44:08.480 --> 00:44:13.119
And I don't know if finance would be comfortable

00:44:13.119 --> 00:44:16.199
depleting that fund that much.

00:44:16.199 --> 00:44:19.079
But if we prepay the entire amount

00:44:19.079 --> 00:44:24.000
that would represent a savings of $122,913.

00:44:25.639 --> 00:44:29.039
If we wanted to be conservative and pay half of it

00:44:29.039 --> 00:44:32.079
at the time we signed the purchase order

00:44:32.079 --> 00:44:37.079
that would represent a savings of $61,456

00:44:38.519 --> 00:44:43.519
and still leaving a good amount within that account.

00:44:46.000 --> 00:44:48.840
So again, those are three options.

00:44:50.440 --> 00:44:53.760
The saving the 300,000 per year,

00:44:53.760 --> 00:44:58.559
that would cover the full amount due at delivery.

00:44:58.559 --> 00:45:01.119
So we wouldn't have to put anything down till then.

00:45:01.119 --> 00:45:04.119
but once they say, hey, your truck is done,

00:45:04.119 --> 00:45:07.280
Michelle has to write a real large check.

00:45:07.280 --> 00:45:11.320
Okay, because what I'm hearing is that

00:45:12.240 --> 00:45:15.240
we will pay in increments,

00:45:15.240 --> 00:45:18.579
but the product is not completed until after four years?

00:45:18.579 --> 00:45:19.420
That's correct.

00:45:19.420 --> 00:45:20.240
Okay.

00:45:20.240 --> 00:45:22.119
That's the reason why I'm bringing it up to the council now

00:45:22.119 --> 00:45:26.760
because it's such a projected purchase and acquisition.

00:45:26.760 --> 00:45:27.599
Right, okay.

00:45:27.599 --> 00:45:31.199
Chief Miller, what would be your first choice

00:45:31.199 --> 00:45:35.940
for us to choose the option?

00:45:35.940 --> 00:45:38.039
The payment option?

00:45:38.039 --> 00:45:41.440
Again, my subject matter expertise

00:45:41.440 --> 00:45:43.500
is in the vehicle and fire suppression,

00:45:43.500 --> 00:45:47.159
and I would certainly like to get with the finance director

00:45:47.159 --> 00:45:51.079
and see what that fund looks like.

00:45:51.079 --> 00:45:54.400
And certainly, I would not be enthusiastic

00:45:54.400 --> 00:45:59.400
about financing a large portion of it, perhaps part of it,

00:46:00.639 --> 00:46:03.760
some of it, depending on where that fund balance lies.

00:46:04.720 --> 00:46:08.039
But that's certainly something we could have prepared

00:46:08.039 --> 00:46:13.039
for council next meeting if it's the desire to go forward

00:46:13.400 --> 00:46:18.400
and avoid price increases and lock in at today's dollars,

00:46:20.159 --> 00:46:21.000
dollar amount.

00:46:21.000 --> 00:46:45.000
and Michelle you might have to answer this one. So if it was paid off in full, the benefit in doing that or the advantage to doing that, would that monies be put back into that same account?

00:46:45.000 --> 00:46:53.639
Holt. The money's gained from paying it off. It just wouldn't be expended at the higher

00:46:53.639 --> 00:47:04.079
level. We would retain those funds. Retain. Okay. And so do I understand the city to be

00:47:04.079 --> 00:47:12.000
saying that you can't really give us an answer tonight. You need next week to determine if

00:47:12.000 --> 00:47:23.500
We could purchase this and pay it off in full.

00:47:23.500 --> 00:47:27.760
I guess I would like to confer with Chief and find out.

00:47:27.760 --> 00:47:33.000
I mean, my comfort just giving him half, but I would like to run the numbers because there

00:47:33.000 --> 00:47:38.639
is a value to having the money in our account if we, you know, if an emergency repair comes

00:47:38.639 --> 00:47:46.280
We don't want to run that fund too low.

00:47:46.280 --> 00:47:52.420
So I would like the opportunity to talk to Chief, and this would need to come back to

00:47:52.420 --> 00:47:57.880
Council for a regular approval anyway, anyway, besides tonight.

00:47:57.880 --> 00:48:01.360
Sounds good, sounds good.

00:48:01.360 --> 00:48:02.480
Yes.

00:48:02.480 --> 00:48:10.119
I would like a motion, make a motion to bring to the next meeting the options on purchasing

00:48:10.119 --> 00:48:16.000
the fire truck and the financing available for it. That way Michelle and like the Chief

00:48:16.000 --> 00:48:20.800
said they would have time to get together to get what they believe to be the best options

00:48:20.800 --> 00:48:21.800
at this time.

00:48:21.800 --> 00:48:23.800
Yes, second that.

00:48:23.800 --> 00:48:30.920
Could you also think, add to, because this is really about the authorization of placing

00:48:30.920 --> 00:48:31.720
and

00:48:31.720 --> 00:48:35.079
it's not so much the financial end of it but are we going to place an order

00:48:35.079 --> 00:48:38.360
so that would have actually have to be on the next council meeting

00:48:38.360 --> 00:48:42.320
in order to make that November deadline.

00:48:42.320 --> 00:48:44.039
I would make that

00:48:44.039 --> 00:48:46.440
alteration that

00:48:46.440 --> 00:48:47.860
we bring forward

00:48:47.860 --> 00:48:52.460
the option to commit to purchase of

00:48:52.460 --> 00:48:53.860
firetruck for

00:48:53.860 --> 00:48:56.119
Park Boulevard station

00:48:56.119 --> 00:49:00.400
and move the other one into reserve when it comes and the financing

00:49:00.400 --> 00:49:04.400
to be figured out between the Chief and the Finance Department.

00:49:04.400 --> 00:49:05.800
I second that.

00:49:05.800 --> 00:49:06.480
I second that.

00:49:09.480 --> 00:49:10.480
We have a motion.

00:49:10.480 --> 00:49:11.600
We have a second.

00:49:11.600 --> 00:49:12.880
All in favor?

00:49:12.880 --> 00:49:13.760
Aye.

00:49:13.760 --> 00:49:14.860
Aye.

00:49:14.860 --> 00:49:15.360
Nay.

00:49:18.240 --> 00:49:18.960
Motion passes.

00:49:22.039 --> 00:49:22.539
Thank you.

00:49:22.539 --> 00:49:39.140
Item number 10, discussion regarding 2025 Street Project presented by Mayor Boyer, I'm sorry,

00:49:39.140 --> 00:49:40.140
City Manager Boyer.

00:49:40.140 --> 00:50:00.900
Thank you, Mrs. Chairman, and I'll take the promotion. Anyway, just kind of reviewing 2025, we went over the five-year plan, and each year we're going to bring back.

00:50:00.900 --> 00:50:30.900
H. year we're going to bring back that plan for discussion and review with council. So I'd like to take a moment tonight and just kind of discuss the 2025 year street program and then I'm going to ask Darren to jump in on any questions or additional information that's important to the subject. So I'm going to kind of start from right and move left across the map here. So the main one of the main projects for next year is Carroll Avenue. That would be from

00:50:30.900 --> 00:50:41.900
South Adams to East Empire, approximately 3,000 feet at a cost of about $1.6 million.

00:50:41.900 --> 00:50:47.019
So on Carroll, the water main I think is the oldest in the city, is that what you mentioned

00:50:47.019 --> 00:50:48.019
to me?

00:50:48.019 --> 00:50:49.019
Yep.

00:50:49.019 --> 00:50:50.019
1880 Water Main.

00:50:50.019 --> 00:50:51.019
Yes.

00:50:51.019 --> 00:50:52.019
Yep.

00:50:52.019 --> 00:50:57.780
And so the water main will be replaced and that is an area with railroad ties buried

00:50:57.780 --> 00:51:00.740
causing the washboarding down the middle of it.

00:51:00.740 --> 00:51:04.940
and so those will be removed when we do the reconstruction to make sure that it lasts.

00:51:04.940 --> 00:51:10.099
Darren, did you have any comments on, you wanted to add on the Carroll Reconstruct for

00:51:10.099 --> 00:51:12.099
next year?

00:51:12.099 --> 00:51:17.820
No, just the reconstruct will be curb to curb and ADA ramps.

00:51:17.820 --> 00:51:20.380
We will not be going right away to right away.

00:51:20.380 --> 00:51:24.860
The money that's shown there is just water main and pavement replacement and some curb

00:51:24.860 --> 00:51:25.860
patching.

00:51:25.860 --> 00:51:30.059
It will not be blowing up the entire section like we did on Adams.

00:51:30.059 --> 00:51:53.059
I just want to clarify that, and that would be the largest project of next year, and it would likely be a contractor-led project due to the difficulty of the street, and it's wider than our equipment can handle for paving, so that would be similar to what we're doing on Ridge and Westwood this year, where we'd be hiring that out as one completed project from start to finish by a contractor.

00:51:53.059 --> 00:52:22.059
Anyway, in addition to Carol, we'll be doing South Black Hawk from West Empire to West Dewey Street. That will not be the entire section. It'll just be that primary section from the school. That's looking at about 1,300 feet and that would include new water main and any kind of repair, base repairs at an estimate of about $615,000. Do you have any comments on that one?

00:52:22.059 --> 00:52:26.140
Blackhawk is one of the streets that we've had the most water main breaks on in

00:52:26.140 --> 00:52:31.619
the last 12 months. Last year I think we had six or seven breaks in a matter of

00:52:31.619 --> 00:52:39.220
two months there. It's a 1954 spun cast and it's been a problem for the school

00:52:39.220 --> 00:52:43.659
district there and a problem for the residents. So what you see there is

00:52:43.659 --> 00:52:48.619
basically about two full blocks of replacement and that that era of pipe is

00:52:48.619 --> 00:52:52.420
is kind of limited to those two blocks on Blackhawk.

00:52:52.420 --> 00:52:56.900
Can I ask this question?

00:52:56.900 --> 00:52:57.860
We're not there yet.

00:52:57.860 --> 00:53:00.539
In the process of replacing those manes,

00:53:00.539 --> 00:53:05.460
are we targeting the areas where you repaired them,

00:53:05.460 --> 00:53:08.460
made repairs to be replaced?

00:53:08.460 --> 00:53:09.260
Fully replaced.

00:53:09.260 --> 00:53:10.460
OK, got you.

00:53:10.460 --> 00:53:11.460
OK.

00:53:11.460 --> 00:53:13.539
I believe the question was, I think Larry was saying,

00:53:13.539 --> 00:53:14.820
hey, are we going to take out the pipe that

00:53:14.820 --> 00:53:15.980
has the band clamps in it?

00:53:15.980 --> 00:53:16.619
Yes.

00:53:16.619 --> 00:53:17.740
Yes, we'll be removing it.

00:53:17.740 --> 00:53:47.740
I'm going to skip over to Hans. So Hans, South Hans from Meadows to South Street is scheduled for repaving next year. That'll be a mill and overlay at about 1,400 feet and about $370,000. It'll work pretty much just like this last year with Dirk Drive. If anybody's driven down Dirk, it'll be very similar to Dirk. So in addition to that, we've got West

00:53:47.740 --> 00:53:54.940
Cleveland Avenue, so from South Berchard to Locust Avenue, approximately 2,600 feet.

00:53:54.940 --> 00:54:00.260
Again, that'll just be a mill and overlay, and we're estimating that about 500,000.

00:54:00.260 --> 00:54:04.860
And I think that includes where we had installed new water main several years ago

00:54:04.860 --> 00:54:11.099
for the new water treatment plant, and also a bad section between West and Locust

00:54:11.099 --> 00:54:14.599
that's also falling apart there.

00:54:14.599 --> 00:54:38.600
A couple other priorities, North Greenfield from West Stevenson to Laurel, that's approximately 2400 feet, and it should cost about $550,000. That's a heavily traveled area through that neighborhood, and then we'll also be working on and resurfacing West Stevenson from North Greenfield to Park Boulevard.

00:54:38.599 --> 00:54:44.440
just a point of information here once we complete the Greenfield section that'll

00:54:44.440 --> 00:54:52.440
from Laurel all the way to Pearl City Road will be easily traveled very nice

00:54:52.440 --> 00:54:57.159
pavement there and then on Stevenson you've got a lot of tree canopy that's

00:54:57.159 --> 00:55:01.320
very difficult very hard on the roads themselves whenever you have tree

00:55:01.320 --> 00:55:05.720
canopy you have moisture that tends to be retained and when you get moisture you

00:55:05.720 --> 00:55:11.760
You get potholes, you get problems with the pavement surface and that retains moisture.

00:55:11.760 --> 00:55:18.840
So to replace that section from Park Boulevard to Greenfield is on next year's program.

00:55:18.840 --> 00:55:20.440
I've got a few alternates.

00:55:20.440 --> 00:55:21.440
Excuse me.

00:55:21.440 --> 00:55:26.760
The lift station moves through that area, doesn't it?

00:55:26.760 --> 00:55:27.920
What's that?

00:55:27.920 --> 00:55:30.960
Waste treatment and water, is that right?

00:55:30.960 --> 00:55:32.960
Park Street lift station goes up Park Street.

00:55:32.960 --> 00:55:34.640
How about the water mains?

00:55:34.640 --> 00:55:35.640
and John.

00:55:35.640 --> 00:55:36.640
There's water main there as well.

00:55:36.640 --> 00:55:37.920
And we're talking about replacing water?

00:55:37.920 --> 00:55:42.780
No, on that section it's completely just a resurfacing project.

00:55:42.780 --> 00:55:48.800
If you've been over that way right now, there's old, about two feet below the surface, there's

00:55:48.800 --> 00:55:53.360
old railroad ties, they're buried there, there used to be rail cars that ran on Stevenson,

00:55:53.360 --> 00:55:55.599
that's why you see the rippling of the pavement.

00:55:55.599 --> 00:56:00.440
The old railroad trails ties are disintegrating under the pavement, they're actually just

00:56:00.440 --> 00:56:04.200
rotting in place and that creates the ripples from the stops and starts.

00:56:04.200 --> 00:56:34.200
Well the lift station goes up through there as well right? Force Main? Force Main, that's correct. So the Force Main is on Park Boulevard? Yeah, that's what I know and are we have we been doing any repairs on that Force Main lately? No, about five years ago we had a large break on Park Street that was south towards the Laurel but we haven't had any repairs.

00:56:34.200 --> 00:56:43.360
as alternates and as budget allows for things are going smoothly and we can

00:56:43.360 --> 00:56:48.519
afford to do so we've added three potential streets here South Harvey that

00:56:48.519 --> 00:56:55.039
one was added it needs water main it is a dead end and that's created a lot of

00:56:55.039 --> 00:57:00.519
accumulation of sediment in that pipe and it creates constant water quality

00:57:00.519 --> 00:57:30.519
and many other issues for the residents on that street. Also, we're including Willow. We have an area on Willow that needs water main replacement there. It is expected that when we are completed on Ridge, we've got the water main replaced. What happens generally is you've got the next closest areas will then start to break water main. So we're looking at replacing water main on Willow and repaving that as an alternate. And then also on Dewey Street.

00:57:30.519 --> 00:57:45.519
We're originally scheduled for 26. However, if time and resources permit, that one will need water main and driving surface, so that would need a full reconstruct there.

00:57:45.519 --> 00:57:58.519
So that is the plan for 2025. As I mentioned before, this year has been a very busy year. 2025 will also be busy, but not as busy, so that would actually be okay for a lot of the staff.

00:57:58.519 --> 00:58:09.240
Yes? Do I understand that Dewey already have the ramps? They already have the lead-free?

00:58:09.240 --> 00:58:12.740
The lead services are completed on Dewey. I don't know about the ramps. Yeah, the ramps

00:58:12.740 --> 00:58:18.800
are not done. Ramps are not? No. Okay. But they do not need a water main? They does need

00:58:18.800 --> 00:58:23.079
a water main. Dewey does not. Oh, Dewey doesn't. Okay. No, we did the lead services this year.

00:58:23.079 --> 00:58:51.079
So there's a plethora of bad pavement conditions throughout the city. However, Dewey is on here because it is really poor and what ends up happening with our water main cuts is once those services have been replaced, it creates problems during plowing and it can cause some problems and make the road condition worse and quicker.

00:58:51.079 --> 00:59:09.079
So if resources allow, Dewey will just need ramps and paving. Yeah, ramps and paving, a little bit of curb. There's only like four ramps or eight ramps. Yeah, eight ramps.

00:59:09.079 --> 00:59:14.760
but one of the biggest issues that we have on Dewey Street and you're going to see as we move around town

00:59:15.560 --> 00:59:21.240
Dewey has an extreme amount of trees that are in the parkway that need to be removed the parkway

00:59:21.240 --> 00:59:26.760
trees are killing the pavement structure because it never is allowed to dry out and so as we're

00:59:26.760 --> 00:59:34.360
going through these projects we are removing not all but a lot of the parkway trees that the city

00:59:34.360 --> 00:59:40.119
Owens to try to increase the quality of the pavement yeah are we also going to

00:59:40.119 --> 00:59:53.519
be completing curves because of runoff and property runoffs I mean when when the

00:59:53.519 --> 01:00:00.400
property the property adjacent to the street or parallel to the street when it

01:00:00.400 --> 01:00:02.400
Well, they've

01:00:02.400 --> 01:00:32.400
when it when it pours or storm or whatever you tend to get a lot of sediment in those storm sewers because of the runoff on properties that don't have curves or yeah it doesn't have the curve approachments and pavements and things like that to help funnel that water properly without the deterioration of homeowners property because of the rainwater if we're not doing anything with that

01:00:32.400 --> 01:00:36.200
that's what we're gonna end up with possibly again

01:00:36.200 --> 01:00:39.320
throughout the year when you start,

01:00:39.320 --> 01:00:43.119
when you start putting that pavement through there,

01:00:43.119 --> 01:00:45.320
we'll get a lot of sediment in those storm sewers

01:00:45.320 --> 01:00:49.940
and I hate for it to be destroying people's property

01:00:49.940 --> 01:00:53.760
because there's no drainage ditch,

01:00:53.760 --> 01:00:58.480
proper drainage ditches for the adjacent homes

01:00:58.480 --> 01:01:01.760
or the homes that are parallel to the street or the ditch.

01:01:02.400 --> 01:01:15.400
How did you get a chance to look at that and visual the fact that these types of runoff will create problems for homeowners?

01:01:15.400 --> 01:01:23.400
Darren, I'd like to just go ahead and answer that. Just to give you a back of the napkin, Larry, it's $116,000 to do new curb on Dewey.

01:01:23.400 --> 01:01:27.400
Yeah, well, I'm just thinking about the fact that we have erosion.

01:01:27.400 --> 01:01:31.400
I'm with you. We'll patch back in the stuff that's bad, but...

01:01:31.400 --> 01:01:38.440
Well, we've got a whole side of the street, some parts of the street, without the curve.

01:01:38.440 --> 01:01:47.000
And that's where, and there's homes that, erosion, there's home erosion when that water

01:01:47.000 --> 01:01:52.039
is pouring like that because it ends up in front of people's homes if the streets are

01:01:52.039 --> 01:01:57.800
not level properly, the driveways are not level property, and you get a lot of settlement,

01:01:57.800 --> 01:02:05.440
We get a lot of water settling in these driveways and then that creates insects, bugs or mosquitoes

01:02:05.440 --> 01:02:08.800
or whatever the case may be.

01:02:08.800 --> 01:02:12.200
And I'm just wondering, have you got a chance to look at that?

01:02:12.200 --> 01:02:13.800
Larry will look at it.

01:02:13.800 --> 01:02:14.800
Okay.

01:02:14.800 --> 01:02:15.800
All right.

01:02:15.800 --> 01:02:20.800
Was there ever curbs there?

01:02:20.800 --> 01:02:22.079
On Dewey?

01:02:22.079 --> 01:02:23.680
There are curbs on Dewey.

01:02:23.680 --> 01:02:26.400
They're buried because the street's been overlaid three or four times.

01:02:26.400 --> 01:02:29.900
it's going to be very similar to the other streets that we've attacked that's

01:02:29.900 --> 01:02:35.480
overlaid the curbs that are there are going to not be able to be exposed

01:02:35.480 --> 01:02:40.680
they're at the brick level I assume that's under that street and so we we

01:02:40.680 --> 01:02:44.119
will have to overlay curbs again when we go back just like we've had to do in

01:02:44.119 --> 01:02:49.960
other areas they're not exposed we can't expose them the grinding process alone

01:02:49.960 --> 01:02:54.400
will not salvage that curb yeah because you know I was brought to get to that

01:02:54.400 --> 01:02:58.400
So curbs would be added to Dewey?

01:02:58.400 --> 01:03:01.400
Curb patching would be added to be able to overlay the street.

01:03:01.400 --> 01:03:09.400
Curb patching, so we would go in and fix areas that were missing or that are destroyed, you know, 20 feet or 10 feet at a time,

01:03:09.400 --> 01:03:13.400
but there was no intent here to replace every piece of curb on Dewey.

01:03:13.400 --> 01:03:17.400
It would be theoretically impossible to do that.

01:03:17.400 --> 01:03:21.400
I mean, it's possible, but just not with the funding that we currently have.

01:03:21.400 --> 01:03:29.880
Well, I just don't want my constituents complaining about erosion on their property because we didn't

01:03:30.440 --> 01:03:37.360
We didn't put anything to prevent that. That's what I'm getting at. I don't want them calling me talking about

01:03:37.880 --> 01:03:40.659
Hey, I got water backing up in my driveway

01:03:40.840 --> 01:03:47.559
My my soil is washing away and all of these kinds of things and that's all I'm concerned about right now

01:03:47.640 --> 01:03:49.640
Will there be drainage?

01:03:49.640 --> 01:04:19.640
There already is drainage on Dewey. Like I said, the street's in such poor condition right now that the storms are filling up full of asphalt chunks and gravel and everything like that because the street is so far gone and the erosion to the street is really a homeowner issue that they should not be letting dirt come off the properties in the street. So some of that is a home maintenance issue but as improvements are made we try to improve drainage. We've tried to do that everywhere we can.

01:04:19.640 --> 01:04:24.119
but as I started out with the street program before

01:04:24.119 --> 01:04:27.960
we physically don't have the dollars to replace every piece of curb in this town

01:04:27.960 --> 01:04:28.780
I'd love to do it

01:04:28.780 --> 01:04:32.640
we just don't have the dollars and if you drive down the street and you see it

01:04:32.640 --> 01:04:33.400
overlaid

01:04:33.400 --> 01:04:36.360
when we fix it it's probably going to be overlaid again

01:04:36.360 --> 01:04:39.579
with the current funding that we have.

01:04:39.579 --> 01:04:43.519
Before the overall project is completed for us

01:04:43.519 --> 01:04:46.760
all the roads that were for this project

01:04:46.760 --> 01:04:59.159
then I guess we'll go back and take an evaluation of what needs to be implemented again or something we should take another look at and things like that.

01:04:59.159 --> 01:05:06.159
Yeah, like I said, that's part of the entire design process, figuring out there's some rough cost estimates with these streets.

01:05:06.159 --> 01:05:15.159
They're not perfect. We haven't studied them yet. We're doing the absolute best we can right now to come up with preliminary costs so we can make educated decisions

01:05:15.159 --> 01:05:23.440
As City Manager, Boyer stated, all of these streets were on the 25 or 26 list.

01:05:23.440 --> 01:05:28.760
Other than Harvey and Harvey, we have a water main quality issue there that we really need to deal with.

01:05:28.760 --> 01:05:30.260
Alright. Okay, thanks.

01:05:30.260 --> 01:05:36.760
Well, you said the biggest project on the list would be?

01:05:36.760 --> 01:05:38.760
Carroll Avenue.

01:05:38.760 --> 01:05:44.760
Carol, will that be one of the first, will that be where you start or is?

01:05:44.760 --> 01:05:55.760
We haven't made that determination yet. I mean we're going to design, the reason I wanted to bring this up tonight is we're bringing the design package forward for next council meeting to approve.

01:05:55.760 --> 01:06:02.760
We'd like to pick up topography and survey next, basically in November.

01:06:02.760 --> 01:06:03.760
and Robert.

01:06:03.760 --> 01:06:05.480
That will help us get a head start.

01:06:05.480 --> 01:06:09.599
If we wait longer, we'll be into, you know, December, winter months.

01:06:09.599 --> 01:06:13.960
It takes a lot more money and a lot more effort to pick up topography then.

01:06:13.960 --> 01:06:18.800
And Carol will go from Adams to Empire.

01:06:18.800 --> 01:06:22.800
We're ending this year all the way to Empire.

01:06:22.800 --> 01:06:27.599
Yeah, except for we will not do the Galena intersection because that's a state intersection.

01:06:27.599 --> 01:06:32.400
So we'll stop at the return radius at Galena.

01:06:32.400 --> 01:06:34.680
so we will not get into the I-DOT throwaway there.

01:06:34.680 --> 01:06:36.880
That is not controlled by the city

01:06:36.880 --> 01:06:38.800
and we don't wanna spend our local funds

01:06:38.800 --> 01:06:40.240
on that intersection.

01:06:40.240 --> 01:06:43.800
So you'll stop at Galena and pick it back up?

01:06:43.800 --> 01:06:45.180
Yep, yep.

01:06:46.159 --> 01:06:47.000
Yes.

01:06:48.840 --> 01:06:52.480
If I'm doing my math right on all this,

01:06:52.480 --> 01:06:55.280
we had about 900,000 in the motor fuel tax

01:06:55.280 --> 01:06:56.720
that we talked about earlier.

01:06:56.720 --> 01:07:12.720
The base projects without the three alternates are just under $4.2 million. That puts us, we're anticipating in the $3.3 million out of the 1% sales tax then.

01:07:12.720 --> 01:07:24.720
Yes, I will say we're always estimating on the conservative side, so we're not exactly sure how much is going to come through until we see it. So, again, that's, yes, go ahead.

01:07:24.720 --> 01:07:54.720
I just wanted to contribute that we received the first of the 1% just this past week and it was 307,000 so that would put us you know that's based on sales tax so you know it you know up be down you know holidays you know it goes up and goes down but you know we're looking at conservatively 3.6 I add my thank you I just wanted to

01:07:54.720 --> 01:08:06.280
I wanted to make that point that we are putting that 1% where it belongs and it is working.

01:08:06.280 --> 01:08:11.880
So I'll clarify the funding for you temporarily because it's been a while since we've talked

01:08:11.880 --> 01:08:14.360
about this.

01:08:14.360 --> 01:08:20.359
Not perfect numbers by any means, but the plan is to take roughly that million dollars

01:08:20.360 --> 01:08:27.400
from MFT for our city streets paving portion, estimated at the time about 3 million from

01:08:27.400 --> 01:08:31.159
the 1%, right, because we didn't want to overestimate it.

01:08:31.159 --> 01:08:36.159
And then our water main, we have a potential Sorensen grant that's coming forward that

01:08:36.159 --> 01:08:40.720
we should know by the end of the year, and that's about 1.6 million in water main.

01:08:40.720 --> 01:08:45.680
So between those funding sources, if you added these numbers up that I gave you, they're

01:08:45.680 --> 01:08:47.800
roughly about $5.3 million.

01:08:47.800 --> 01:08:51.159
That gives us about a $300,000 cushion for some contingency

01:08:51.159 --> 01:08:54.020
because again, these are concept numbers, not perfect,

01:08:54.020 --> 01:08:56.380
and it depends on what costs do next year,

01:08:56.380 --> 01:08:58.440
but I think we're in the ballpark.

01:08:58.440 --> 01:09:01.699
The one thing that I do wanna recognize is

01:09:01.699 --> 01:09:04.600
this is more streets than we had planned for next year.

01:09:04.600 --> 01:09:06.399
We got more streets done this year

01:09:06.399 --> 01:09:07.960
than we had planned last year.

01:09:09.500 --> 01:09:11.140
The guys are doing great work.

01:09:12.260 --> 01:09:15.260
One of the gives and takes is the water main

01:09:15.260 --> 01:09:18.819
that has to be done, reduces mileage that we can get done.

01:09:18.819 --> 01:09:21.159
So this package here, if we did every street on here,

01:09:21.159 --> 01:09:23.180
we'll be about three miles next year

01:09:23.180 --> 01:09:26.579
on top of the six-ish miles we did this year.

01:09:26.579 --> 01:09:28.699
And I believe we did about six last year.

01:09:28.699 --> 01:09:30.659
So we are making some ground on it

01:09:30.659 --> 01:09:33.220
and the 1% is definitely gonna help.

01:09:33.220 --> 01:09:35.779
But we do have to address the water main, Carroll.

01:09:35.779 --> 01:09:40.180
The water main, as City Manager said, is from 1882.

01:09:41.119 --> 01:09:41.960
On Carroll?

01:09:41.960 --> 01:09:42.779
On Carroll.

01:09:42.779 --> 01:09:44.819
The water main on, so I'm gonna repeat that.

01:09:44.819 --> 01:09:49.899
The water main on Carroll Avenue is from 1882.

01:09:49.899 --> 01:09:52.659
That's significantly aged.

01:09:52.659 --> 01:09:55.699
What have we been doing?

01:09:55.699 --> 01:09:57.140
Depreciating water main.

01:09:57.140 --> 01:09:58.779
Yes.

01:09:58.779 --> 01:10:00.180
The water main on.

01:10:00.180 --> 01:10:01.220
The wreckers of this.

01:10:01.220 --> 01:10:02.060
I'm sorry, Darren.

01:10:02.060 --> 01:10:02.560
Yeah.

01:10:02.560 --> 01:10:08.560
We keep records of all the main installations, yes.

01:10:08.560 --> 01:10:12.560
Do we have scheduling appointments for replacements?

01:10:12.560 --> 01:10:15.560
We do not, because we don't have the funding to do it.

01:10:15.560 --> 01:10:19.560
We don't have funding just to schedule replacement?

01:10:19.560 --> 01:10:27.560
No, we do not. We do not have. We have some funding and we've been addressing it through EPA loans, but we do not have a dedicated funding source.

01:10:27.560 --> 01:10:31.820
I just want to jump in on that and in this particular case Larry to do the

01:10:31.820 --> 01:10:35.360
water main you really got to do the road as well so if you're if you're gonna

01:10:35.360 --> 01:10:38.600
replace that water main you've got to repave the street and it's kind of what

01:10:38.600 --> 01:10:43.880
we're doing right this is it right four miles a year three miles a year you know

01:10:43.880 --> 01:10:47.620
replace the water main repave the street patch in the curb do the best you can

01:10:47.620 --> 01:10:56.960
with the driveway approaches and move on so I see that there's a motion so is it

01:10:56.960 --> 01:11:26.960
D. Jodl, and Dr. D. Jodl. And that's it. Your hopes that we... No, no. So... That's what I did. The voting thing. No, it hasn't been one made, but is that what they're hoping to gain? I gave you that voting bar in case it's needed. I meant to fill you in. I apologize. We might not always need a vote, but it's there if you need to record it. Okay. Thank you. This is for your information.

01:11:26.960 --> 01:11:36.960
Work Order is coming, you know, next week and I wanted you guys to have a preliminary blush at what's coming and have any types of discussion or questions ready.

01:11:36.960 --> 01:11:40.960
Okay. So we'll see this next week.

01:11:40.960 --> 01:11:42.960
Yes, ma'am.

01:11:42.960 --> 01:11:55.960
Okay. Item number 11. Discussion regarding adding maintenance utility worker job to work to job description.

01:11:55.960 --> 01:12:06.520
By City Manager Boyer Thank you, Ms. Chairman.

01:12:06.520 --> 01:12:11.720
The maintenance department for the City of Freeport is responsible for taking care of

01:12:11.720 --> 01:12:13.440
all of our utility facilities.

01:12:13.440 --> 01:12:20.360
So that's the wastewater plant, the various water plants, pumping stations, and so on.

01:12:20.360 --> 01:12:25.500
Those folks ensure that all the water, all the facilities are in operating order and

01:12:25.500 --> 01:12:33.080
are built, basically maintained at the proper prescribed maintenance schedule.

01:12:33.080 --> 01:12:38.580
The crews help the operators, they deliver safe, clean drinking water to the residents

01:12:38.580 --> 01:12:43.240
of Freeport and the crews also provide maintenance support to the wastewater treatment plant.

01:12:43.240 --> 01:12:49.120
Their regular responsibilities include plumbing, electrical, building, construction, mechanical,

01:12:49.120 --> 01:12:53.640
Miller, logic controllers for automated controls.

01:12:53.640 --> 01:12:56.880
All these tasks are done by a crew of four individuals,

01:12:56.880 --> 01:13:01.360
currently three of whom are in these positions.

01:13:01.360 --> 01:13:03.680
So one is an entry level position,

01:13:03.680 --> 01:13:06.640
and it is the lowest paid in the public works department.

01:13:06.640 --> 01:13:11.320
Two of these positions perform at a high skill task referred

01:13:11.320 --> 01:13:12.160
above.

01:13:12.160 --> 01:13:14.640
The final position in the current staffing

01:13:14.640 --> 01:13:17.720
of the department is a foreman position.

01:13:17.720 --> 01:13:28.720
So essentially, what we're talking about here is we have two full-time people that are maintaining all of our facilities where we have three positions available.

01:13:28.720 --> 01:13:41.720
They're grade 17. The trouble with the grade 17s is there's a lot of requirement for knowledge and experience, and we've had that job posted for over a year, and we have not been successful at filling it.

01:13:41.720 --> 01:13:49.039
and what we're asking for is a grade 15 position so someone who could come in at

01:13:49.039 --> 01:13:53.600
a lower pay grade and then learn all the ropes and learn all the skills necessary

01:13:53.600 --> 01:13:58.579
to maintain the infrastructure at the city and over a period of time they would

01:13:58.579 --> 01:14:02.840
then be moved into that grade 17 position where we've been unable to fill.

01:14:02.840 --> 01:14:07.600
So essentially what we're asking for is a new position however it is more of a

01:14:07.600 --> 01:14:33.920
and so on. So that's what we're asking for. So the grade 15 position, if filled, would

01:14:33.920 --> 01:14:37.560
move in two years to the 17.

01:14:37.560 --> 01:14:41.640
Not necessarily two years, but after the completion

01:14:41.640 --> 01:14:45.200
of a learning syllabus.

01:14:45.200 --> 01:14:50.560
This is a position through the what union?

01:14:50.560 --> 01:14:54.200
This is an AFSCME position.

01:14:54.200 --> 01:14:57.160
Do the union know about this position?

01:14:57.160 --> 01:15:01.080
Do they know about this want?

01:15:01.080 --> 01:15:01.580
Yes.

01:15:03.920 --> 01:15:09.480
So essentially tonight is for us to just open up discussion to what extent it's

01:15:09.480 --> 01:15:14.240
necessary just to let counsel know that we would like to come after an additional

01:15:14.240 --> 01:15:19.040
position with the intent being it's a stair step to a higher grade. Attorney

01:15:19.040 --> 01:15:26.000
Zito. Just to piggyback off of what manager Boyer just said so to the extent

01:15:26.000 --> 01:15:30.520
that the council through a consensus tonight indicates that it's okay with

01:15:30.520 --> 01:15:32.480
with the creation of the new position.

01:15:32.480 --> 01:15:35.360
Then we will move forward with then having

01:15:35.360 --> 01:15:37.520
the formal discussions with the union

01:15:37.520 --> 01:15:38.520
to create the position.

01:15:38.520 --> 01:15:41.000
They've been given, you know, a heads up

01:15:41.000 --> 01:15:44.760
that this is being discussed by the city council,

01:15:44.760 --> 01:15:46.640
but then we will have to memorialize

01:15:46.640 --> 01:15:51.120
the creation of the position through our MOU with the union

01:15:51.120 --> 01:15:53.840
and then formally approve the job description

01:15:53.840 --> 01:15:56.140
by the city council as well there, so.

01:15:57.120 --> 01:15:58.640
But again, tonight we're just looking to see

01:15:58.640 --> 01:16:05.640
if you guys are on board with creating position, then we'll move forward with the formal process of interacting and negotiating with the union.

01:16:05.640 --> 01:16:22.640
Would it be, would it, would the union have to be for it or against it for it to move forward?

01:16:22.640 --> 01:16:24.640
We've been collaborating with the union on it.

01:16:24.640 --> 01:16:29.480
I believe they're for it and yes they would have to be for it. Right so that

01:16:29.480 --> 01:16:33.320
would be if the council says yep we think it's a good idea to move forward

01:16:33.320 --> 01:16:36.640
with the position then we would start the discussions with the Union they

01:16:36.640 --> 01:16:40.680
would have to agree to it as well on there but that's if you guys are not in

01:16:40.680 --> 01:16:45.160
favor of it then there's no sense in talking to the Union about it so that's

01:16:45.160 --> 01:16:51.079
why we're talking about it now. I'd like to move forward with it. I would second

01:16:51.079 --> 01:17:00.440
I think we were just really kind of looking for a consensus just yeah as long

01:17:00.440 --> 01:17:03.160
as everyone no one's opposed to it right now if you're opposed to it speak up

01:17:03.160 --> 01:17:07.039
otherwise if no one speaks up then we'll just because again we have to go talk to

01:17:07.039 --> 01:17:11.120
the Union about it so but as long as everyone's okay with it then we'll go do

01:17:11.120 --> 01:17:27.200
Number 12. Discussing regarding ADA transition plan and ADA grievance policy and procedures

01:17:27.200 --> 01:17:31.920
presented by City Manager Boyer.

01:17:31.920 --> 01:17:35.720
Thank you, Your Honor. I'm going to go ahead and move it to, I'm going to have Darren go

01:17:35.720 --> 01:17:38.960
ahead and take it from here.

01:17:38.960 --> 01:17:45.060
So thank you. We've talked about the required ADA transition plan for probably the better

01:17:45.060 --> 01:17:52.720
part of a year. I've been trying to find different grants or opportunities to pay for this study,

01:17:52.720 --> 01:17:58.500
but it is something that is required by IDOT. It's required for any community that has more

01:17:58.500 --> 01:18:05.360
than 50 full-time or part-time employees and has a population of 20,000 or greater. It's

01:18:05.360 --> 01:18:16.080
to our motor fuel tax monies, and the study, it revolves around mobility challenged people

01:18:16.080 --> 01:18:20.400
within our community.

01:18:20.400 --> 01:18:27.960
Freeport and most towns, most developed towns have a larger population of mobility challenged

01:18:27.960 --> 01:18:31.400
people just due to the resources that we have available here.

01:18:31.400 --> 01:18:32.400
and many more.

01:18:32.400 --> 01:18:33.400
We have lots of mobility.

01:18:33.400 --> 01:18:35.920
People don't have vehicles or cars or transportation to get around.

01:18:35.920 --> 01:18:41.040
One of the items that the City has right now that supports them is the Pretzel City Transit.

01:18:41.040 --> 01:18:49.400
The ADA transition plan is a self-evaluation of all of our ADA ramps in Freeport.

01:18:49.400 --> 01:18:55.120
Currently we have an estimated 1,900 ramps in town.

01:18:55.120 --> 01:19:01.640
Through the last few years, the city has spent significant resources at upgrading ramps.

01:19:01.640 --> 01:19:07.440
We did a DCO project that we did about 75 ramps on, 76 I think.

01:19:07.440 --> 01:19:10.980
This last year, I think we did about 82 on the street programs.

01:19:10.980 --> 01:19:14.840
So we've made some progress towards the replacements.

01:19:14.840 --> 01:19:21.440
However, the plan requires that we do a self-inventory of every ramp, which means we have to have

01:19:21.440 --> 01:19:28.800
an engineer that's capable of understanding what the requirements are behind the ramps,

01:19:28.800 --> 01:19:37.760
grades, truncated domes. We have to not only inventory them, but we actually have to also

01:19:37.760 --> 01:19:42.320
take a survey point of them and create a map that's a living document for the City of Freeport

01:19:42.320 --> 01:19:47.520
that will be attached to our website that will be updated annually as we complete projects

01:19:47.520 --> 01:19:54.240
on our progress towards becoming more ADA-compliant.

01:19:54.240 --> 01:20:00.120
The idea behind IDOT is to put together a living document of a 20-year plan to try to

01:20:00.120 --> 01:20:01.880
help with these mobility challenges.

01:20:01.880 --> 01:20:09.840
We also have to put together a grievance policy and a committee to evaluate these grievance

01:20:09.840 --> 01:20:10.840
policies.

01:20:10.840 --> 01:20:16.359
So, in case that we have an area that is underserved, people have the right to have a grievance

01:20:16.359 --> 01:20:21.159
and file it with the city and a committee needs to evaluate that and determine how we

01:20:21.159 --> 01:20:26.159
will move forward to address those particular handicap areas.

01:20:26.159 --> 01:20:32.880
and other areas. Again, IDOT has this tied to our motor fuel tax money, which we generally

01:20:32.880 --> 01:20:39.640
get somewhere between $900,000 and $1.1 million with the motor fuel tax money to the City

01:20:39.640 --> 01:20:45.920
of Freeport annually. So this is, I guess, a requirement, but not a large requirement

01:20:45.920 --> 01:20:52.560
that they're wanting these evaluations done. Again, we have quite a few ramps that we've

01:20:52.560 --> 01:20:57.720
We've done in the last say two to three years that are compliant but we have numerous ramps

01:20:57.720 --> 01:21:04.180
that are not compliant and as we go around and fix our streets which we have been doing

01:21:04.180 --> 01:21:09.319
we have to fix these ramps and we have to update the plan and we have to work our way

01:21:09.319 --> 01:21:10.819
around town.

01:21:10.819 --> 01:21:14.940
I will tell you honestly up front there's going to be no 20 year plan that's going

01:21:14.940 --> 01:21:19.940
to fix every ADA ramp in Freeport that's not going to happen we don't have those kind

01:21:19.940 --> 01:21:25.440
We have funds right now, but this planning will also help us towards efforts to get more funds towards ramps.

01:21:25.440 --> 01:21:27.940
So that's one of the reasons they're requiring it.

01:21:27.940 --> 01:21:32.440
Right now, we've been working with ramp.

01:21:32.440 --> 01:21:36.440
Rob and I have been for approximately the last year and a half.

01:21:36.440 --> 01:21:44.440
We know, based on some survey data, that about 60% of our mobility challenged residents

01:21:44.440 --> 01:21:49.440
live between Park Street and Clark Street on Glena Avenue.

01:21:49.440 --> 01:21:51.480
that's a high concentration of them.

01:21:51.480 --> 01:21:54.480
Another area of concentration that they made us aware of

01:21:54.480 --> 01:21:56.560
was around Hans Drive,

01:21:56.560 --> 01:22:00.760
which is down around Berchard and South Street.

01:22:00.760 --> 01:22:05.159
And then 10% are various areas around the community.

01:22:05.159 --> 01:22:08.440
Currently, forgive me if I said this already,

01:22:08.440 --> 01:22:12.100
it's estimated that we have about 1,900 ramps in Freeport.

01:22:13.199 --> 01:22:16.840
I'm gonna guess that we have about 20% compliance

01:22:16.840 --> 01:22:17.720
at this point.

01:22:19.440 --> 01:22:38.440
There's five main parts to an ADA plan. It's the transition plan itself, which is usually a large planning document, the data collection, self evaluations, which we're coming up with a program, if you will, to make it so it's even at every location.

01:22:38.440 --> 01:22:48.440
There's annual updates to this program, but we don't have to update the plan, the entire plan every year. We just need to update the map on which ones are compliant or not.

01:22:48.440 --> 01:22:54.680
Again, we have to come up with a commission to evaluate any grievances and make sure that we are providing

01:22:55.239 --> 01:23:00.760
Proag, which is our standard for being compliant on ramp construction.

01:23:01.480 --> 01:23:05.079
So with that, I'll take any questions. Yeah, I'm sorry.

01:23:07.880 --> 01:23:10.119
I almost got lost in that

01:23:11.520 --> 01:23:13.520
whole discussion you was making.

01:23:13.520 --> 01:23:41.520
the previews of the drafting of the plan of the ADA ramps would you present council with a preview draft of those of that plan or those plans I should say and the mapping so of those ADA ramps in placement on maps where we can see the location of these ramps within our within the

01:24:13.520 --> 01:24:20.520
We're requiring when you go to these meetings that any basically tax money that's spent on streets needs to make the ramps compliant.

01:24:20.520 --> 01:24:30.520
It used to be years ago when we just did mill and overlays, we weren't required to do the ramps because the ramps are so expensive.

01:24:30.520 --> 01:24:35.520
We're somewhere in that $6,000 to $10,000 per ramp, so they add up pretty fast.

01:24:35.520 --> 01:24:42.720
but we don't have a choice in it anymore unless there's a technical difficulty with building one.

01:24:42.720 --> 01:24:47.680
For instance, we had one downtown that we were going to replace but it has a giant vault under it

01:24:47.680 --> 01:24:53.119
and it's going to cost probably a hundred thousand dollars to do that one corner and so we deemed it

01:24:53.119 --> 01:24:57.920
as technically unfeasible at this time. We just don't have the funds to to do that ramp.

01:24:57.920 --> 01:25:09.360
Well, excuse me for a minute. You're gonna draft the plans for this for this

01:25:09.360 --> 01:25:15.039
particular project, right? The first thing we need to do is collect the data. That's

01:25:15.039 --> 01:25:19.619
the most important because we're probably about 10 months behind the 8-ball on

01:25:19.619 --> 01:25:23.640
this one because I've been trying to find somewhere to fund this plan. So the

01:25:23.640 --> 01:25:27.319
reason I wanted to discuss it more in detail tonight is I intend to bring a

01:25:27.319 --> 01:25:35.239
Work Order for the next council meeting to review to start this plan. We're wrapping up the 2024

01:25:35.239 --> 01:25:40.760
street season and I would like to get out and get these areas all surveyed while the weather's decent

01:25:40.760 --> 01:25:45.000
and we'll make it easier and then we'll work on the plan during the winter months and then again

01:25:45.000 --> 01:25:49.800
we'll we'll create a commission. Just kind of like the library, our commission will create a

01:25:49.800 --> 01:25:54.760
commission, a review policy, all that will be adopted by the city at the end. It makes sense.

01:25:54.760 --> 01:26:04.920
Yep. That makes sense. Okay, so we look forward to getting this data here soon. How soon are you?

01:26:04.920 --> 01:26:10.840
Probably take us, if we get a signed work order next week, it'll probably take us the better part

01:26:10.840 --> 01:26:16.520
of the last two months of the year to collect just the data in the physical data in the city

01:26:16.520 --> 01:26:21.239
and then probably two to three months to create the plan and get a final version that can

01:26:21.239 --> 01:26:23.239
and

01:26:25.239 --> 01:26:27.239
the other members of the public.

01:26:29.239 --> 01:26:31.239
I'm going to ask you to come and be reviewed and adopted.

01:26:33.239 --> 01:26:35.239
Okay. All right. Thank you.

01:26:38.239 --> 01:26:40.239
What is something like this going to cost?

01:26:42.239 --> 01:26:45.239
Initially, I thought it was going to be around 95,000, but I

01:26:45.239 --> 01:26:47.239
believe that it will be cheaper than that.

01:26:47.239 --> 01:26:51.260
T, to get a better known number of ramps to figure out how many hours the data is going

01:26:51.260 --> 01:26:52.260
to take.

01:26:52.260 --> 01:26:54.720
I am hopeful that we can get it down.

01:26:54.720 --> 01:26:57.220
It won't be huge, but maybe down to about 85,000.

01:26:57.220 --> 01:27:00.619
I'm hoping by the time we can bring it next week.

01:27:00.619 --> 01:27:01.659
It is a lot of survey data.

01:27:01.659 --> 01:27:09.980
It is a lot of man hours to create this and also to create a policy that is going to be

01:27:09.980 --> 01:27:16.560
inclusive of not only the city, but ramp has to be part of this plan.

01:27:16.560 --> 01:27:22.020
and we have to make it as a plan that we can live with as far as having a commission that's

01:27:22.020 --> 01:27:23.699
reasonable, right?

01:27:23.699 --> 01:27:29.440
We don't have the funding to just, you know, do an entire area town because we have to,

01:27:29.440 --> 01:27:36.360
so we have to have some reasonability in the plan to give us time to work at areas that

01:27:36.360 --> 01:27:37.600
are challenged.

01:27:37.600 --> 01:27:46.119
If we're able to get it down to the $85,000, will that include collecting the data and...

01:27:46.119 --> 01:27:58.520
Yes, I intend to do full everything with just a review by the Council and then the City

01:27:58.520 --> 01:28:04.720
with Rob, Jodi, and the Council will have to help create a commission.

01:28:04.720 --> 01:28:10.800
Obviously, it's very hard to get people to serve on committees, so we will be looking,

01:28:10.800 --> 01:28:14.199
somebody has to be in charge of the committee, and most communities, it's the Public Works

01:28:14.199 --> 01:28:19.279
Director that is the head of this program, and then as grievances are brought in, you

01:28:19.279 --> 01:28:25.400
have meetings to decide how you're going to resolve this, and I'm not suggesting this

01:28:25.400 --> 01:28:31.739
for this cycle, this budget cycle, I'm trying to accelerate this so it doesn't lock up any

01:28:31.739 --> 01:28:33.119
of our MFT funding.

01:28:33.119 --> 01:28:35.880
That's the most important thing now.

01:28:35.880 --> 01:28:39.720
I admittedly have drugged my feet long enough and couldn't find a funding opportunity to

01:28:39.720 --> 01:28:42.720
pay for this because I didn't really want to pay for it ourselves.

01:28:42.720 --> 01:28:46.520
But at this point, I don't think we have anything but a choice to move forward with it because

01:28:46.520 --> 01:28:50.440
our MFT monies are too valuable to the projects that we're doing.

01:28:50.440 --> 01:28:54.960
And then what I would say is I think we'll be fine for next year because by the time

01:28:54.960 --> 01:28:59.199
we get this done and approved by council and get it to IDOT, we'll probably be through

01:28:59.199 --> 01:29:01.560
most of the construction season next year.

01:29:01.560 --> 01:29:06.199
and we'll start having to budget a line item for some of these grievances that may or may

01:29:06.199 --> 01:29:10.480
not come in so we have some funding to address some specific issues.

01:29:10.480 --> 01:29:11.480
Okay.

01:29:11.480 --> 01:29:12.480
Okay.

01:29:12.480 --> 01:29:22.680
All right, so again, I plan to bring a work order to the next meeting and really I've

01:29:22.680 --> 01:29:27.560
heard you say that numerous times you wanted to be educated about things prior to the work

01:29:27.560 --> 01:29:30.560
orders coming so that's the intent of these items tonight.

01:29:30.560 --> 01:29:58.800
Okay. So that would be at the October 21st meeting. Okay. And that was number 12.

01:29:58.800 --> 01:30:01.800
Moving to 13, Discussion.

01:30:01.800 --> 01:30:16.920
to 13, Discussion Regarding Ordinance Approving Amendment to Lease Amendment with Thank You

01:30:16.920 --> 01:30:25.440
for Solar Array at Landfill, presented by Director Duckman.

01:30:25.440 --> 01:30:26.440
Thank you Alderperson, Stacey.

01:30:26.440 --> 01:30:28.600
I can see that Attorney Zito has got his hand up.

01:30:28.600 --> 01:30:29.600
I'm sorry.

01:30:29.600 --> 01:30:31.159
That's all right.

01:30:31.159 --> 01:31:01.159
I can, so this item we're going to, our staff is going to ask for it to be removed from discussion tonight. It's not ready to go. I was hoping to get some some answers from Amoresco, but I have not heard back from their attorney as of today. So we're not quite ready with what the plan of what the plan go forward is going to be. So we don't even know if we need this amendment or not. So it depends on when I hear back from them. Thank you. Item number 14.

01:31:01.159 --> 01:31:14.039
Discussion regarding the Water Main Extension Project on West Stevenson Street and specifically

01:31:14.039 --> 01:31:24.880
the consideration of rescinding resolution number R2024-95 approving an agreement with

01:31:24.880 --> 01:31:33.600
Fehr Graham, to provide design engineering services related to the Open Bible Church

01:31:33.600 --> 01:31:42.520
Water Main Extension Project.

01:31:42.520 --> 01:32:08.920
Okay, so I have had discussion with Darren, Director Darren, Attorney Zito, Ms. Anderson,

01:32:08.920 --> 01:32:17.840
and because it was voted on and approved, I can't just pull it back.

01:32:17.840 --> 01:32:24.699
That's where rescinding it came in it.

01:32:24.699 --> 01:32:32.760
And it was said that it was going to take about a year to design it, but I find out

01:32:32.760 --> 01:32:46.600
that in less than three weeks it's been designed and already at the EPA for approval.

01:32:46.600 --> 01:32:48.320
I don't know how you do that.

01:32:48.320 --> 01:32:57.000
I don't know how you say something is going to take a year to design and then it's designed

01:32:57.000 --> 01:33:00.280
and completed in two weeks.

01:33:00.279 --> 01:33:06.720
but that's where we're at with this.

01:33:06.720 --> 01:33:22.720
So I just have some questions.

01:33:22.720 --> 01:33:31.800
City Clerk, Anderson, and a member to the Council for the September 3rd meeting referencing

01:33:31.800 --> 01:33:40.440
the Open Bible Water Main Extension, City Manager Boyer stated through a series of documents

01:33:40.440 --> 01:33:48.920
the information details the City agreed upon regarding the Water Main Extension in 1999

01:33:48.920 --> 01:33:52.320
to be installed between three to five years.

01:33:52.320 --> 01:34:02.280
So my question is, have you found any ordinance, variants, written agreement, resolution, council

01:34:02.280 --> 01:34:13.199
minutes or executive sessions regarding recording references to Open Bible Watermain Extension?

01:34:13.199 --> 01:34:36.400
I have I have not looked thoroughly. I have not been directed to do that thoroughly. I don't know what memo you're speaking of. Are you sure it was from me?

01:34:36.400 --> 01:34:59.440
There was a memo in the September 3rd meeting referencing the Open Bible Water main extension.

01:34:59.440 --> 01:35:06.380
City Manager Boyer stated it and he stated that through a series of documents or information

01:35:06.380 --> 01:35:11.819
Detailed, and maybe I addressed this to you, maybe I should have been addressing it to you,

01:35:11.819 --> 01:35:13.279
City Manager Boyer.

01:35:13.279 --> 01:35:24.060
Do you have any of this information, details the city agreed upon regarding the Watermain

01:35:24.060 --> 01:35:30.600
Extension in 1999 to be installed in three to five years?

01:35:30.600 --> 01:35:38.199
Have you found any ordinance variants written, agreements, resolutions, council minutes, or

01:35:38.199 --> 01:35:43.840
executive sessions regarding this matter?

01:35:43.840 --> 01:35:48.319
Former Chief Blackburn came and discussed that at public comments tonight.

01:35:48.319 --> 01:35:55.680
He said that during his conversations with, at the time, United Water, that there is agreement

01:35:55.680 --> 01:36:01.680
with him and the and the head of the water sewer commission at the time that

01:36:01.680 --> 01:36:06.720
it would be a three to five year project I think he stated as much tonight and he

01:36:06.720 --> 01:36:17.199
stated that that agreement came from the community development person at that

01:36:17.199 --> 01:36:24.319
time no he was talking about the head of the water sewer commission at the time

01:36:24.319 --> 01:36:33.920
Head of the Water Sewer Depot. Okay. Alderman, Stacy, I think one thing we're

01:36:33.920 --> 01:36:40.199
getting mixed up is it wasn't water and sewer at that time. It was United Water

01:36:40.199 --> 01:36:50.520
that handled it. Right, correct. So we know it wasn't totally handled by city. That's the only thing I want to bring.

01:36:50.520 --> 01:37:17.520
I'm very aware of what Mr. Blackburn, I think, said tonight, but let's also recap on when Mayor Goetz came to the council,

01:37:17.520 --> 01:37:33.520
who was the mayor during the 1999 year who said that nothing never came to the council.

01:37:33.520 --> 01:37:41.520
Nothing never hit the council floor. Nothing was discussed pertaining to this matter.

01:37:41.520 --> 01:37:52.699
Mayor, and so I don't expect you to have an answer as to why that is, because we was not

01:37:52.699 --> 01:38:03.199
even under a City Manager at that time, we had a full-time Mayor, but it disturbs me

01:38:03.199 --> 01:38:15.579
me that something so important could be thought that it's going to be moved forward even by

01:38:15.579 --> 01:38:27.560
open Bible and they not have the decency to even bring it to the Council.

01:38:27.560 --> 01:38:41.560
So are you telling me that there is a paper out there based upon what Mr. Blackburn said

01:38:41.560 --> 01:38:51.680
tonight that there is a signed document out there that you can produce?

01:38:51.680 --> 01:38:55.319
As far as I understand it, there was a commitment made by the head of the Water Sewer Commission

01:38:55.319 --> 01:38:59.640
at the time that a 3 and 5 year time horizon would be fine for budgeting that water main

01:38:59.640 --> 01:39:05.280
extension to the open Bible and in that area for this fire suppression system.

01:39:05.280 --> 01:39:11.520
Well, it was the handshake and the comment was made through the community development.

01:39:11.520 --> 01:39:16.440
And so the community development person have that kind of power, again, without bringing

01:39:16.440 --> 01:39:18.960
anything to the council floor.

01:39:18.960 --> 01:39:25.159
This was between the head of the Water and Sewer Commission and also the manager for

01:39:25.159 --> 01:39:31.039
United Water who ran the utility for the city of Freeport not not community

01:39:31.039 --> 01:39:35.000
development community development only required that the structure be built

01:39:35.000 --> 01:39:40.020
with the appropriate fire suppression as of code in 1998 or whenever the thing

01:39:40.020 --> 01:39:44.520
was constructed but it was said that the community development shook the hands of

01:39:44.520 --> 01:39:52.159
the principal don't know about that and made the deal I don't think that anything

01:39:52.159 --> 01:39:58.159
I think Community Development produced a waiver to allow the city time to hook up the water.

01:39:58.159 --> 01:40:00.159
Attorney Zito?

01:40:00.159 --> 01:40:08.960
Rob, correct me if my understanding is wrong, but my understanding is that where community

01:40:08.960 --> 01:40:14.119
development came in is that they granted a waiver or granted I think the term that was

01:40:14.119 --> 01:40:18.159
used that night was a variance there as far as the construction of the building because

01:40:18.159 --> 01:40:22.439
normally they would need to have constructed the building with the sprinkler system in

01:40:22.439 --> 01:40:27.119
right and then connected it right and where the waiver came in or the variance it was

01:40:27.119 --> 01:40:57.119
where Community Development signed off and said, no, you can go ahead and build the building now, operate it, use it, as long as you put in the sprinkler system and we know that it's going to be hooked up in three to five years, we'll go ahead and let you build the building. We'll issue you the building permit there, so I think that's the variance where the Community Development Director is. So then there's written statement out there pertaining to a variance and a waiver.

01:40:57.119 --> 01:41:04.199
Are you asking me? Yes. I haven't personally seen it, but I think it's out there, yeah.

01:41:04.199 --> 01:41:15.199
Okay, so can we put forth an effort to find that? Sure. Okay, thank you. My second question,

01:41:15.199 --> 01:41:23.800
City Manager Boyer, did the issue arise after Open Bible failed its mandated DCFS State

01:41:23.800 --> 01:41:30.239
Fire Inspection on May 28, 2024.

01:41:30.239 --> 01:41:36.039
I have to ask the Chief to confirm that for you.

01:41:36.039 --> 01:41:38.880
So my understanding is State Fire Marshal went out there,

01:41:38.880 --> 01:41:42.359
conducted their annual inspection,

01:41:42.359 --> 01:41:46.639
and determined that the suppression system in there

01:41:46.639 --> 01:41:52.479
was not fed by any kind of water supply.

01:41:52.479 --> 01:42:07.479
So he indicated that was a violation and also said that he would be interested in working with the facility and granted them one year in which to make arrangements to have that complied with.

01:42:07.479 --> 01:42:27.599
Okay. Can anyone tell me how did they go 25 years with yearly mandated inspections and

01:42:27.599 --> 01:42:34.599
they were past.

01:42:34.840 --> 01:42:40.420
I won't go into this whole thing now, but I happen to represent the area where Open

01:42:40.420 --> 01:42:47.099
Bible is in. So I've had discussions with Open Bible and had a lengthy discussion with

01:42:47.099 --> 01:42:54.019
Jennifer Fuller, who is the head of it. The fire inspection on that building, and Chief,

01:42:54.019 --> 01:42:59.899
Tell me if I'm wrong, it's mandated by the state every three years it has to be done.

01:42:59.899 --> 01:43:07.380
And there was a person out there, she was there from 2006, so from 2006 till this year,

01:43:07.380 --> 01:43:12.139
every three years there was a person out there to inspect the facility.

01:43:12.139 --> 01:43:16.899
They made them change fire doors at one period of time, there were swinging doors that went

01:43:16.899 --> 01:43:23.859
between the, what would be the sanctuary out into the educational wing, they had them

01:43:23.859 --> 01:43:28.059
I'm changed to regular fire doors that they had to be.

01:43:28.059 --> 01:43:31.699
And they also had them specifically put a sign

01:43:31.699 --> 01:43:34.899
on the sprinkler system that it was not connected

01:43:34.899 --> 01:43:38.739
to city water, that the system was not connected to water.

01:43:38.739 --> 01:43:41.659
And that was told to them by the fire marshal.

01:43:41.659 --> 01:43:45.720
So the city, so it had been expected every three years

01:43:45.720 --> 01:43:47.119
which was their policy.

01:43:48.079 --> 01:43:50.579
Every three years was the policy.

01:43:50.579 --> 01:43:52.079
Not every year.

01:43:52.079 --> 01:43:56.760
every three years for a childhood facility, child care facility.

01:43:56.760 --> 01:43:59.519
Alderman Sanders.

01:43:59.519 --> 01:44:02.880
Every three years, were they in compliance

01:44:02.880 --> 01:44:06.399
with that water sprinkling system with no water?

01:44:06.399 --> 01:44:08.439
Excuse me, Larry, I didn't hear your first paper.

01:44:08.439 --> 01:44:09.159
I'm sorry.

01:44:09.159 --> 01:44:09.659
That's OK.

01:44:12.720 --> 01:44:17.199
Was the open Bible study building in compliance

01:44:17.199 --> 01:44:21.800
every three years when they came out to inspect that property

01:44:21.800 --> 01:44:25.880
to make sure that it was taken,

01:44:25.880 --> 01:44:27.960
unless they just was given a pass,

01:44:27.960 --> 01:44:30.039
is that what took place?

01:44:30.039 --> 01:44:31.199
No. They was given a pass.

01:44:31.199 --> 01:44:35.159
There was no, was there a stamp saying

01:44:35.159 --> 01:44:37.439
that the inspection was completed

01:44:37.439 --> 01:44:39.359
and they was in compliance?

01:44:39.359 --> 01:44:41.039
Is that what we're saying?

01:44:41.039 --> 01:44:43.279
I would assume that would be the thing

01:44:43.279 --> 01:44:45.359
and that can surely be checked,

01:44:45.359 --> 01:44:48.439
but they had them specifically make changes

01:44:48.439 --> 01:44:51.559
and every change, everything that they suggested

01:45:21.559 --> 01:45:49.559
that has been taking place. And we must find the paper trail, see who's signing off on it, and then we can have further discussion in regards to how we got here and who's coming to keep feeding this notion that the city is liable for any parts of that, you know.

01:45:49.559 --> 01:46:16.559
I'm just having this discussion because we're spending money with no one responsible or have the rights to ask the city to help fund something that the taxpayers are paying for, especially if it's a Bible study or anything like that.

01:46:16.559 --> 01:46:46.559
because we're spending money if it's just going to sit there and the building is not in compliance or the property is not in compliance but they're getting this, there's violations going on, I'll put it like that and we got to get to the root of it, we need to get to the root of it because there's a paper trail and I like to see that paper trail because that will give us whatever it is that we're looking for to make sure that everything is

01:46:46.559 --> 01:46:54.119
and a court in to what the fire marshals in the state of Illinois wants this particular

01:46:54.119 --> 01:47:00.960
establishment to have. So we're not going to be passing any more violations every three

01:47:00.960 --> 01:47:06.960
years because I need to see that. I want to see what is that all about because we have

01:47:06.960 --> 01:47:12.559
not gotten in that area. I was told a whole different type of story and I was fed a bunch

01:47:12.559 --> 01:47:13.559
and others.

01:47:13.559 --> 01:47:17.119
And I don't appreciate that.

01:47:17.119 --> 01:47:27.840
And so my thing is we better come into order here about this particular discussion that

01:47:27.840 --> 01:47:34.760
we're having because we're not fully invested our time and efforts into discovering what

01:47:34.760 --> 01:47:42.279
it is that we're talking about until we have the paperwork to talk about it, you know.

01:47:42.279 --> 01:47:44.800
I think we're wasting a lot of time with that.

01:47:44.800 --> 01:47:49.479
Let me give you a little information I found, and this may be a little helter-skelter to

01:47:49.479 --> 01:47:54.720
you because I wrote it a couple different times, but like I said, I do represent Open

01:47:54.720 --> 01:48:05.159
Bible, Open Bible area, I want to tell you that the market in the child care facilities

01:48:05.159 --> 01:48:10.079
over the last year, last years have considerably changed.

01:48:10.079 --> 01:48:28.079
And if you're not familiar with this, I want to tell you that there's 1700 kids, 1700 children every day in Carroll, Joe Davis, and Steveson County that have absolutely no daycare, no place to go.

01:48:28.079 --> 01:48:30.079
Okay? That's one thing.

01:48:30.079 --> 01:48:31.079
and others.

01:48:31.079 --> 01:48:36.199
The second thing that is a critical problem here in this area, they even go as far as

01:48:36.199 --> 01:48:43.239
to the Y brought it up at their morning meeting a couple weeks ago, that this was really referred

01:48:43.239 --> 01:48:49.359
to these three places as a desert because there wasn't places available for them to

01:48:49.359 --> 01:48:50.359
go.

01:48:50.359 --> 01:48:58.319
Another big issue for the teaching industry is that when teachers become pregnant, many

01:48:58.319 --> 01:48:59.319
and many more.

01:48:59.319 --> 01:49:04.239
Many of them end up going out of the trade because they have no place to take their kids

01:49:04.239 --> 01:49:05.239
for daycare.

01:49:05.239 --> 01:49:11.000
There are only a couple places that even handle kids zero to two.

01:49:11.000 --> 01:49:15.559
Every daycare facility in the City of Freeport has waiting lists.

01:49:15.559 --> 01:49:16.559
Okay?

01:49:16.559 --> 01:49:18.880
I'll just give you kind of a rundown.

01:49:18.880 --> 01:49:21.800
It may take a couple minutes if you want to tell me to shut up.

01:49:21.800 --> 01:49:23.800
But that's off the topic.

01:49:23.800 --> 01:49:26.039
That's off the topic right now.

01:49:26.039 --> 01:49:27.840
No, it isn't off the topic.

01:49:27.840 --> 01:49:32.840
I'm telling you, it's a daycare facility that's got people out there that have got...

01:49:32.840 --> 01:49:39.600
It's a daycare facility that, come May 28th, its year will be up.

01:49:39.600 --> 01:49:46.319
It's a daycare facility that didn't need, didn't do what it needed to do for 25 years.

01:49:46.319 --> 01:49:52.119
It's a daycare facility that have put kids in endangerment.

01:49:52.119 --> 01:49:53.119
And that's your opinion.

01:49:53.119 --> 01:49:54.760
For 25 years.

01:49:54.760 --> 01:50:00.199
and now they expect the City of Freeport and our tax dollars to

01:50:00.199 --> 01:50:30.199
and many more. I want to talk about the tax dollars to make their situation right. City Manager Boyer, will the city force the, I don't know, 9, 10 or 11 residents in that area to connect to city water? If so, would it be at their expense or will the

01:50:30.199 --> 01:50:32.800
also bear the cost.

01:50:32.800 --> 01:50:37.679
Will Open Bible be required to pay for its hookup,

01:50:37.679 --> 01:50:39.000
yes or no?

01:50:41.199 --> 01:50:42.039
Darren?

01:50:42.039 --> 01:50:43.880
Yeah, I'd be glad to answer that.

01:50:43.880 --> 01:50:46.599
So per our codes and ordinances,

01:50:46.599 --> 01:50:50.079
every house that we would go by that is not served

01:50:50.079 --> 01:50:50.960
would be served.

01:50:50.960 --> 01:50:53.939
We've done that on every project that we've done.

01:50:53.939 --> 01:50:55.880
That is the city cost of building it,

01:50:55.880 --> 01:50:58.760
but we would only connect to their right of way

01:50:58.760 --> 01:51:00.500
like we do with everyone else.

01:51:00.500 --> 01:51:02.159
And then it's their responsibility

01:51:02.159 --> 01:51:03.679
to connect to that point.

01:51:03.679 --> 01:51:05.359
Once we run into their property,

01:51:05.359 --> 01:51:07.859
it's considered ready to serve.

01:51:07.859 --> 01:51:10.880
And so those customers would be ready to serve

01:51:10.880 --> 01:51:13.880
and get a ready to serve invoice until they connect,

01:51:13.880 --> 01:51:16.979
at which time they would just go to a normal connection fee.

01:51:16.979 --> 01:51:19.599
Open Bible per our codes and ordinances,

01:51:19.599 --> 01:51:21.760
by the way, per our codes and ordinances,

01:51:21.760 --> 01:51:25.260
we do not charge residential customers

01:51:25.260 --> 01:51:27.319
to hook up at the time of construction.

01:51:27.319 --> 01:51:28.699
That's in our codes.

01:51:28.699 --> 01:51:33.699
So if we build a new main, anybody that connects at that time does not pay the connection fee.

01:51:33.699 --> 01:51:38.380
If they choose not to do it, then they pay the connection fee at a later date if they

01:51:38.380 --> 01:51:40.779
waive that opportunity while we're there.

01:51:40.779 --> 01:51:43.500
And what is that connection fee?

01:51:43.500 --> 01:51:49.220
It depends on where the water main is, but I believe it's $1,600 for a close side and

01:51:49.220 --> 01:51:55.179
$3,200 for a long side service, they call it, I believe that's in our code.

01:51:55.179 --> 01:51:59.939
and then Open Bible is a commercial account so they would pay a commercial fee to connect

01:51:59.939 --> 01:52:03.059
but that's a different size service because they're going to probably need a six inch

01:52:03.059 --> 01:52:05.920
service to connect out there.

01:52:05.920 --> 01:52:07.939
And what is the commercial fee cost?

01:52:07.939 --> 01:52:09.859
I couldn't tell you that off top my head but

01:52:09.859 --> 01:52:12.099
Darren, I just want to jump on that.

01:52:12.099 --> 01:52:13.099
Excuse me?

01:52:13.099 --> 01:52:14.899
I'm sorry.

01:52:14.899 --> 01:52:16.300
I didn't hear what he was saying.

01:52:16.300 --> 01:52:21.779
I'm not sure what the commercial six inch connection fee is off the top my head.

01:52:21.779 --> 01:52:23.819
I've been working on some residential ones lately.

01:52:23.819 --> 01:52:51.880
As far as I know, it was installed at the same time that the building was constructed,

01:52:51.880 --> 01:53:00.680
So we inspected that, right? Because if we put a water box down there, then we would

01:53:00.680 --> 01:53:05.800
have a paper trail of that water box for a temporary possible hookup.

01:53:05.800 --> 01:53:11.859
No, there's no water box. It's just a connection pipe that's ran to the street. It's connected

01:53:11.859 --> 01:53:21.760
to nothing. Is it generating an invoice? A monthly invoice. It does not generate a monthly

01:53:21.760 --> 01:53:51.760
Invoice? No, it's not served. We can't charge for something. We're not there yet. Okay. All right. I just want to make sure that we don't stick something down there. Yeah. So could you please get me a cost for commercial? The commercial fee hookup? Yep. I can because that won't be on city's tax dollars. That'd be on open Bible. Open Bible.

01:53:51.760 --> 01:54:02.559
Ivo. Okay, City Manager Boyer or Public Works Director, Darren Stigl, isn't the average

01:54:02.559 --> 01:54:09.199
cost to connect to the city between $10,000 to $12,000? You just said it's $16,000 to

01:54:09.199 --> 01:54:18.840
$32,000. For water. For water. So the $10,000 to $12,000. That would be a whole new service

01:54:18.840 --> 01:54:34.599
Rans, and then we waive the connection fee if they connect at the time that we're building,

01:54:34.599 --> 01:54:35.599
right?

01:54:35.599 --> 01:54:40.239
So that 10 to 12,000 would be waived if they connected at the time?

01:54:40.239 --> 01:54:47.079
No, they would have to hire a plumber to pay their portion of the fee from the Buffalo

01:54:47.079 --> 01:54:49.239
and the right of way into their home.

01:54:49.239 --> 01:54:54.279
So that cost becomes their own, which they negotiate with a plumber and that depends

01:54:54.279 --> 01:54:58.359
on how far they have to go to their house, what the materials are.

01:54:58.359 --> 01:54:59.960
We don't pay that at all.

01:54:59.960 --> 01:55:07.719
Our initial connection to each house could be averaged at, I don't know, probably $5,000,

01:55:07.719 --> 01:55:12.359
maybe $6,000 to get everything set so they're ready to serve.

01:55:12.359 --> 01:55:37.000
Talking to the constituents, all over, and this is a sad situation, but I'm still going

01:55:37.000 --> 01:55:51.960
I'm going to say it's not our job to use our tax payer money and fix this issue.

01:55:51.960 --> 01:56:11.760
I have not once heard Open Bible agree to meet halfway or anything.

01:56:11.760 --> 01:56:22.319
Yes, it is unclear where would this money come from?

01:56:22.319 --> 01:56:31.840
I proposed in September that we could use it, use the Capital Improvement Fund to build

01:56:31.840 --> 01:56:38.000
it and construct it and then we could potentially repay the Capital Improvement Fund with any,

01:56:38.000 --> 01:56:44.159
with the equivalent amount of funds coming from the per-flournate compound litigation

01:56:44.159 --> 01:56:46.760
that we should be seeing some.

01:56:46.760 --> 01:56:49.319
It's the Forever Chemicals.

01:56:49.319 --> 01:56:56.039
There's a damages lawsuit between the city and 3M and BASF and DuPont.

01:56:56.039 --> 01:57:00.760
And when those funds come in, this would be an appropriate use of that.

01:57:00.760 --> 01:57:18.559
you know because what I was told was a rainy day fun I don't know what makes up a rainy

01:57:18.559 --> 01:57:29.439
day fun well we can talk about this till whenever but I think the bottom line is if we can't

01:57:29.439 --> 01:57:32.840
come up to an agreement with them we're not gonna have a say it's gonna be in

01:57:32.840 --> 01:57:37.439
the court and there'll be a judge deciding it for us I just think that

01:57:37.439 --> 01:57:42.479
there was an agreement made 25 years ago we didn't fulfill you said may have been

01:57:42.479 --> 01:57:47.319
an agreement what I'm just going by what chief Blackburn said okay okay and he

01:57:47.319 --> 01:57:52.079
the way it sounded it was agreed upon city didn't carry we don't come up with

01:57:52.079 --> 01:57:56.519
some kind of a we don't have to do it we're gonna end up in court and we're

01:57:56.519 --> 01:58:04.079
I have a solution. I have a solution. Since it is unclear where the money for the entire

01:58:04.079 --> 01:58:14.719
project will come from, I think it is necessary that we, as a council, rescind resolution number

01:58:14.719 --> 01:58:26.439
R204-95 and draft a more responsible resolution creating a binding referendum to be placed

01:58:26.439 --> 01:58:37.079
on the ballot for the April 4th, the April 1st, 2025 general election given the people,

01:58:39.479 --> 01:58:48.840
the taxpayers, our constituents who were here working on their behalf to give them the power to design.

01:58:52.039 --> 01:58:53.000
Attorney Zito.

01:58:53.000 --> 01:59:02.239
just as a point of clarification so I think what your suggestion is is that

01:59:02.239 --> 01:59:06.079
you want to put into the hands of the people the decision whether or not to run

01:59:06.079 --> 01:59:13.079
the water main out to open Bible are we gonna pay for this project yes okay that

01:59:13.079 --> 01:59:18.039
decision that is different though than rescinding the fair Graham contract

01:59:48.039 --> 02:00:00.039
Boer Referendum. Yes. Is that what you're suggesting? Yes. Okay. And I'm also making a motion to move that to the October 21st council meeting.

02:00:00.039 --> 02:00:04.340
over 21st Council meeting, that question for a vote.

02:00:05.399 --> 02:00:06.239
I second it.

02:00:08.399 --> 02:00:09.239
Darren.

02:00:09.239 --> 02:00:13.720
Yeah, so just some points of clarity.

02:00:13.720 --> 02:00:16.800
Our contract that was approved at that meeting

02:00:16.800 --> 02:00:20.920
was only for design, not to move forward to bidding, right?

02:00:20.920 --> 02:00:24.779
So our contract is just to get it to a bid ready set

02:00:24.779 --> 02:00:29.680
of plans that then can be shelved, discussed,

02:00:29.680 --> 02:00:31.920
Grant opportunities could be looked for.

02:00:31.920 --> 02:00:34.800
There was no intent from the design approval

02:00:34.800 --> 02:00:37.100
that was there to move this to a bid at that time.

02:00:37.100 --> 02:00:40.119
We took that option off when it was approved.

02:00:40.119 --> 02:00:44.000
So this contract without council approval

02:00:44.000 --> 02:00:46.319
to go to bid cannot go to bid, right?

02:00:46.319 --> 02:00:48.439
It's just a design shovel ready.

02:00:48.439 --> 02:00:50.319
Then maybe we can chase some grant money

02:00:50.319 --> 02:00:54.439
because of the children and items out there.

02:00:54.439 --> 02:00:56.579
I also wanna clarify the schedule.

02:00:56.579 --> 02:01:00.060
So we did say a year, but because it will take

02:01:00.060 --> 02:01:02.979
two to three months to get it ready,

02:01:02.979 --> 02:01:05.539
then it's gotta go to permitting for three months.

02:01:05.539 --> 02:01:07.979
And then by that time, it's gonna be like April.

02:01:07.979 --> 02:01:10.420
And this is probably a two to three month construction

02:01:10.420 --> 02:01:13.019
window, depending on when it would get fit in or bid.

02:01:13.019 --> 02:01:15.819
So by that time, we will be a full calendar year.

02:01:15.819 --> 02:01:18.359
That's generally what most projects end up taking.

02:01:20.439 --> 02:01:21.819
And you know that.

02:01:21.819 --> 02:01:22.659
Yep.

02:01:22.659 --> 02:01:24.340
But that was not said to us.

02:01:24.340 --> 02:01:28.300
so when you said it's gonna take a year to design it,

02:01:28.300 --> 02:01:30.019
that's what I thought.

02:01:30.019 --> 02:01:32.899
Well, I'm sorry, I deal with it all the time

02:01:32.899 --> 02:01:35.460
so I may have not spoke clearly

02:01:35.460 --> 02:01:37.680
but that's typically what a project can take.

02:01:37.680 --> 02:01:39.500
We were asked to accelerate this one

02:01:39.500 --> 02:01:41.140
because of the children and the nature

02:01:41.140 --> 02:01:44.260
of the liability here and so we did accelerate the design

02:01:44.260 --> 02:01:46.180
because the sooner we have it designed,

02:01:46.180 --> 02:01:49.140
the sooner we can try to look for funding opportunities

02:01:49.140 --> 02:01:51.460
that may not be solely Freeport.

02:01:51.460 --> 02:02:06.460
One other point of clarity that I want to make. I have no skin in the game. I want to be transparent. My kids went to Open Bible. I don't know anybody there that has kids anymore, but my kids went there. I never knew they didn't have a sprinkler, and it would have been during the time period.

02:02:06.460 --> 02:02:10.460
There wasn't no sign up about the sprinkler saying, not in service?

02:02:10.460 --> 02:02:19.380
I never I if it did I didn't read it right but I do think that we have to look

02:02:19.380 --> 02:02:24.579
at this at a little bit bigger game than what we are the city of Freeport has a

02:02:24.579 --> 02:02:30.420
responsibility with our water system to serve people within our municipality if

02:02:30.420 --> 02:02:35.140
they want to be served they are within the city limits as is all the other

02:02:35.140 --> 02:02:42.300
and other people that are from A to B and I will fully admit that we made a mistake calling

02:02:42.300 --> 02:02:44.800
this the Open Bible water main expansion.

02:02:44.800 --> 02:02:47.239
It's really to the west side of town.

02:02:47.239 --> 02:02:52.340
My question to you guys would be if this was in a different direction of town, if it went

02:02:52.340 --> 02:02:56.779
south, east or west, would we still be having this argument?

02:02:56.779 --> 02:02:58.180
Yes we would.

02:02:58.180 --> 02:03:03.779
Because to me, if somebody's within our city limits and wants water, we have an obligation

02:03:03.779 --> 02:03:04.779
to serve them.

02:03:04.779 --> 02:03:07.500
Ordinances say they can't have a well.

02:03:07.500 --> 02:03:09.140
Yes, you're right.

02:03:09.140 --> 02:03:16.539
Yeah, we do have to serve them if they want water.

02:03:16.539 --> 02:03:17.819
They can't use wells.

02:03:17.819 --> 02:03:21.340
But it doesn't have to be at our expense.

02:03:21.340 --> 02:03:24.659
It doesn't have to be at our tax dollars' expense.

02:03:24.659 --> 02:03:26.420
Well.

02:03:26.420 --> 02:03:28.699
But it does with everyone else.

02:03:28.699 --> 02:03:31.500
I mean, every water main that's put in is our expense.

02:03:31.500 --> 02:03:38.539
and a private church slash school and they don't pay taxes but they yes they're in the

02:03:38.539 --> 02:03:46.739
city limits so you're telling me open bible pays taxes on their their church and their

02:03:46.739 --> 02:03:55.140
school like every like the church that you go to that you go to that you go it's no different

02:03:55.140 --> 02:04:25.140
So can I add to this too, please? So it's good conversation we're having here and certainly Open Bible would be a beneficiary of this water main placement out there, but what concerns me even beyond that particular facility is that span of more than 2000 feet represents seven more city fire hydrants that would go

02:04:25.140 --> 02:04:27.300
and Joe in service in there.

02:04:27.300 --> 02:04:30.260
So right now, any kind of structure fire issue

02:04:30.260 --> 02:04:35.260
we would have between Brandmar and further west,

02:04:37.420 --> 02:04:38.939
we have no water supply.

02:04:38.939 --> 02:04:41.979
Yeah, I see, I understand what you're saying, yeah.

02:04:41.979 --> 02:04:46.579
Seven more fire hydrants, three other parts benefits

02:04:46.579 --> 02:04:49.220
the whole area, not just open viable.

02:04:49.220 --> 02:04:50.819
And the fire department as well.

02:04:50.819 --> 02:04:52.220
I understand that.

02:04:52.220 --> 02:04:56.140
Right. I can understand that right there.

02:04:56.140 --> 02:05:03.100
So, it would not just be a dedicated open Bible water main ran out to them. It would

02:05:03.100 --> 02:05:08.899
be a west side of town benefit. What's odd enough is they have city sewer out there. The

02:05:08.899 --> 02:05:17.180
earth was opened up and pipes taking material away from that facility in that area exist.

02:05:17.180 --> 02:05:23.180
Now, why can't there be pipes put in the ground that runs water to that facility?

02:05:23.180 --> 02:05:27.019
I mean, it's like a double standard we're all discussing here and recognizing.

02:05:27.019 --> 02:05:34.939
So, their waste goes to city services and runs through city, you know...

02:05:34.939 --> 02:05:35.939
Sewer mains.

02:05:35.939 --> 02:05:42.939
Sewer mains, and it gets, you know, handled by city services, but yet it's city limits

02:05:42.939 --> 02:05:44.619
and we don't have water out there.

02:05:44.619 --> 02:05:50.619
It's like if we didn't have seven fire hydrants running down Stevenson with this large gap.

02:05:50.619 --> 02:05:57.619
It's a city utility, and again, my main concern is water supply going on the west side of town.

02:05:57.619 --> 02:06:07.619
An added benefit would just be protection to open Bible and any other structure that is within those boundaries.

02:06:07.619 --> 02:06:13.619
Right, and what you're saying is all of that has to come by design.

02:06:13.619 --> 02:06:31.619
You have to really design those hydrants. If it has to go in place to be installed, Open Bible could be a recipient of that installation without paying anything. Is that what we're getting at?

02:06:31.619 --> 02:06:38.579
It would certainly be hooked up to that main, which is also providing, again, seven more

02:06:38.579 --> 02:06:40.699
fire hydrants to the west side of town.

02:06:40.699 --> 02:06:41.699
Yeah, yeah.

02:06:41.699 --> 02:06:47.699
And I'm looking at it in even a larger scope, a bigger picture, than just one particular

02:06:47.699 --> 02:06:48.699
facility.

02:06:48.699 --> 02:06:49.699
Right.

02:06:49.699 --> 02:06:53.100
I hear you loud and clear right there, Chief.

02:06:53.100 --> 02:07:11.100
Again, it is my desire to put it into the hands of the people, and that it be placed on the ballot for the April 1st, 2025 general election.

02:07:11.100 --> 02:07:13.100
Okay.

02:07:13.100 --> 02:07:15.100
Do we have a motion for that?

02:07:15.100 --> 02:07:17.100
No, it's no motion.

02:07:17.100 --> 02:07:19.100
Do we have any?

02:07:19.100 --> 02:07:21.100
I think there's an order here.

02:07:21.100 --> 02:07:48.100
that was that was to move it to the April yes okay all I want to comment is you

02:07:48.100 --> 02:07:54.739
You know, within the next, say, three months, we'll have an EPA approved set.

02:07:54.739 --> 02:07:59.159
We're not going to go to construction, but there's a lot of powerful individuals in this

02:07:59.159 --> 02:08:03.720
room having a disagreement about something that maybe if we put our efforts together,

02:08:03.720 --> 02:08:10.140
we can find a way to fund this project that has a lot of need for fire protection, for

02:08:10.140 --> 02:08:13.939
children, and find a way that it doesn't use city funds.

02:08:13.939 --> 02:08:17.100
We've had the ability to find grants before.

02:08:17.100 --> 02:08:23.500
This story would play well with constituents and state representatives and other parties.

02:08:23.500 --> 02:08:28.260
So maybe we can all, instead of have a big disagreement about it, find a way to work

02:08:28.260 --> 02:08:34.899
together to applaud or apply to agencies to find some kind of funding for this.

02:08:34.899 --> 02:08:45.779
I really think due to the early childcare aspect of this project, along with the safety needs

02:08:45.779 --> 02:08:49.539
and the fire needs of the community, this is something that a lot of people here could

02:08:49.539 --> 02:08:54.420
work together to find some kind of avenue to, you know, maybe we can find a grant to

02:08:54.420 --> 02:08:55.420
fully fund it.

02:08:55.420 --> 02:09:04.779
And hopefully the school is trying to do that and not waiting for a handout.

02:09:04.779 --> 02:09:12.699
Really they're looking for ways of getting money to help fund this.

02:09:12.699 --> 02:09:16.100
I can't speak educated on that subject.

02:09:16.100 --> 02:09:22.260
I have no idea what power that school or the demographic of that school would be to have

02:09:22.260 --> 02:09:27.460
to find a grant to place a public infrastructure.

02:09:27.460 --> 02:09:31.119
And really, you know, Open Bible isn't looking for a handout.

02:09:31.119 --> 02:09:35.699
It's the city's responsibility to provide water to every constituent.

02:09:35.699 --> 02:09:36.699
It's not a handout.

02:09:36.699 --> 02:09:38.500
It's what we need to do.

02:09:38.500 --> 02:09:39.579
We're obligated.

02:09:39.579 --> 02:09:42.460
It's just too bad that it was put in our lap and we didn't know it.

02:09:42.460 --> 02:09:44.800
So why wasn't this done 25 years ago?

02:09:44.800 --> 02:09:46.079
Well, that's the magic question.

02:09:46.079 --> 02:09:47.079
No one has that answer.

02:09:47.079 --> 02:09:48.079
I don't know it.

02:09:48.079 --> 02:09:49.079
I wasn't in it.

02:09:49.079 --> 02:09:50.079
You weren't in it.

02:09:50.079 --> 02:09:55.880
If it was our responsibility then, if you're saying it's our responsibility now, it was

02:09:55.880 --> 02:09:57.880
our responsibility then.

02:09:57.880 --> 02:10:00.039
but they didn't even have the decency to bring it.

02:10:00.039 --> 02:10:02.039
and the rest of the city.

02:10:02.039 --> 02:10:05.039
They didn't even have the decency to bring it to the Council.

02:10:05.039 --> 02:10:10.039
Mayor Getts said it never even hit the Council floor.

02:10:10.039 --> 02:10:15.039
So who are you asking for what from and through?

02:10:15.039 --> 02:10:20.039
When you don't even go through the mayor or the Council,

02:10:20.039 --> 02:10:26.039
who works on behalf of the city and the constituents

02:10:26.039 --> 02:10:28.039
and

02:10:29.039 --> 02:10:52.039
the other one is making it run and operate as it should. But you avoid that lifeline, really the only lifeline that can give this life was avoided because the community development person shook the hands of the principal.

02:10:52.039 --> 02:10:59.039
Now, that means let's shake some hands. I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

02:10:59.039 --> 02:11:08.039
Well, if the discussion is done, you should probably call for the vote.

02:11:08.039 --> 02:11:16.039
Yes, I want to call for the vote, but we don't even...

02:11:16.039 --> 02:11:19.039
Can we clarify what the vote's for?

02:11:19.039 --> 02:11:23.840
Her motion is to put a referendum question on

02:11:23.840 --> 02:11:26.840
So a yes would be in favor and a no would be against

02:11:26.840 --> 02:11:31.039
On the City Council meeting for next Monday night

02:11:34.039 --> 02:11:39.039
So if you want to have a referendum on this, then you vote yes

02:11:39.039 --> 02:11:41.039
If you don't, then you vote no

02:11:41.039 --> 02:11:43.039
I just wanted to verify it

02:11:43.039 --> 02:11:48.039
But I ask that the vote be placed on for vote

02:11:48.039 --> 02:11:50.640
for vote next week.

02:11:50.640 --> 02:11:51.640
Right.

02:11:51.640 --> 02:11:52.640
So, right.

02:11:52.640 --> 02:11:53.920
So that's your motion, right?

02:11:53.920 --> 02:12:00.560
Just so that at the next city council meeting, there will be an agenda item about authorizing

02:12:00.560 --> 02:12:02.079
a referendum question.

02:12:02.079 --> 02:12:03.079
Yes.

02:12:03.079 --> 02:12:04.079
Right.

02:12:04.079 --> 02:12:05.079
Okay.

02:12:05.079 --> 02:12:07.600
So, and I will double check because there are certain deadlines.

02:12:07.600 --> 02:12:11.279
You did mention specifically the April 1st election date.

02:12:11.279 --> 02:12:16.119
I will double check to make sure we haven't missed the deadline for putting a referendum

02:12:16.119 --> 02:12:23.359
on the April 1st there. So assuming we haven't missed that deadline, if this passes, then

02:12:23.359 --> 02:12:27.560
we can move forward as presented. Otherwise, we may have to take it to the next available

02:12:27.560 --> 02:12:28.560
election.

02:12:28.560 --> 02:12:32.520
So I thought that any two people could put anything on an agenda.

02:12:32.520 --> 02:12:40.600
But this is, you're asking about an election. You're not, that's totally different subject.

02:12:40.600 --> 02:12:46.239
Yes, but that would give Attorney Zito time to find out if we're even at...

02:12:48.279 --> 02:12:55.119
Monday will be, yeah, I'll find out by then. If this passes, right, right, if this if this is the will of the council to go

02:12:55.119 --> 02:13:00.279
to referendum then. And so if it doesn't pass then what you're just saying it's dead?

02:13:01.640 --> 02:13:03.359
You, well,

02:13:03.359 --> 02:13:09.479
you can, you, again, like you said... We could just bring it right back. Two people could put it right back on and see if, you know,

02:13:09.479 --> 02:13:10.899
We'll see if the vote changes.

02:13:10.899 --> 02:13:11.739
Okay.

02:13:15.939 --> 02:13:17.260
Could I ask a question?

02:13:21.439 --> 02:13:26.439
This would be for Aaron or for Darren, one of the two.

02:13:31.479 --> 02:13:35.899
If the contract is pulled for the design,

02:13:37.039 --> 02:13:38.939
is that what we're discussing now,

02:13:38.939 --> 02:13:40.920
Do you think he's holding it for the design also?

02:13:40.920 --> 02:13:42.680
No, the design is completed.

02:13:42.680 --> 02:13:45.520
Okay, then forget what he said.

02:13:45.520 --> 02:13:46.500
The design is done.

02:13:46.500 --> 02:13:50.260
That $69,000 is paid, whether we do anything or not.

02:13:55.079 --> 02:13:56.239
Yes?

02:13:56.239 --> 02:13:57.699
Excuse me.

02:13:57.699 --> 02:13:59.119
I have a suggestion.

02:13:59.119 --> 02:14:02.720
Rather than making a motion to put it up for referendum,

02:14:02.720 --> 02:14:05.560
how about make a motion to put it on

02:14:05.560 --> 02:14:07.680
and maybe we can discuss directing staff

02:14:07.680 --> 02:14:21.680
I have to look for grants so that we don't have to worry about the issue of the money maybe we can find, like Darren suggested, we can find an outside source that'll help get this done versus putting it on the, putting it up for vote.

02:14:21.680 --> 02:14:31.680
Well, I would like to think that that has already started happening and it hasn't been no success.

02:14:31.680 --> 02:14:32.680
Darren?

02:14:32.680 --> 02:14:39.239
I have not attempted to look for any grant opportunity on this project to this point.

02:14:40.439 --> 02:14:47.399
A, I hadn't been directed to and number two is until we have a shovel ready set the kind of

02:14:47.399 --> 02:14:54.279
funding that we would be able to get for this you know we'd just be talking about the uncertain

02:14:54.279 --> 02:15:00.519
until we have it you know designed and permitted that's when you can really chase some opportunities

02:15:00.520 --> 02:15:09.239
of People That Have Immediate Funding, like Sorensen or Caballo or somebody of that nature.

02:15:09.239 --> 02:15:13.079
I actually had a discussion with McGuire Woods just to give them a heads up that we're going

02:15:13.079 --> 02:15:17.439
to be needing some funding, so they're aware and waiting on that.

02:15:17.439 --> 02:15:18.439
Okay.

02:15:18.439 --> 02:15:19.439
McGuire, the...

02:15:19.439 --> 02:15:20.439
He's a lobbyist.

02:15:20.439 --> 02:15:25.199
The lobbyist is aware and waiting on...

02:15:25.199 --> 02:15:30.500
and what that design and the whole concept I mean you can't go looking for

02:15:30.500 --> 02:15:36.600
grant money if you don't know what you're asking for you got a which you

02:15:36.600 --> 02:15:46.439
got to put the horse before the cart well that's already happened but it's in

02:15:46.439 --> 02:15:52.399
since the design is already at the EPA that's enough information for the lobbyist

02:15:52.399 --> 02:15:54.399
and

02:15:55.520 --> 02:15:57.520
Mr.

02:15:59.520 --> 02:16:01.520
Miller.

02:16:04.319 --> 02:16:06.319
» So we sit and we wait three months?

02:16:07.800 --> 02:16:10.760
» No, you can put some feelers out, but I'm just saying the

02:16:10.760 --> 02:16:15.159
immediate money that we're looking for will be probably a

02:16:15.159 --> 02:16:17.159
greater opportunity once we actually have the money.

02:16:17.159 --> 02:16:22.760
for will be probably a greater opportunity once we actually have the

02:16:22.760 --> 02:16:29.159
permit in hand that that that's it's not shovel ready till you're permitted

02:16:29.159 --> 02:16:57.879
I would be willing to pull back my motion, however, Attorney Zito, I still would like

02:16:57.879 --> 02:17:19.600
about that information on a timeframe, and Director Stiegel, and City Manager Boyer,

02:17:19.600 --> 02:17:34.879
and Mayor Miller. If you're physically willing to look and search and see what may be out

02:17:34.879 --> 02:17:47.639
there. Now that's three people. I'm attempting to put it in your hands and see where we can

02:17:47.639 --> 02:17:58.120
can move with this, how we can move, if we can move. So under those conditions, if I

02:17:58.120 --> 02:18:18.120
If I had your commitment, I would be willing to pull back that motion, but I still do want...

02:18:18.120 --> 02:18:23.120
Well, I already told you what I was already doing, so...

02:18:23.120 --> 02:18:25.940
City Manager Boyer, do I have your commitment?

02:18:30.479 --> 02:18:32.920
Yep, we'll look for as much funding as possible.

02:18:37.200 --> 02:18:42.200
Now I hope that just wasn't an answer just to blow me off

02:18:42.680 --> 02:18:44.719
cause that's what it sounds like, city manager.

02:18:44.719 --> 02:18:46.440
In order for that to happen,

02:18:46.440 --> 02:18:49.520
we have to also have the second follow suit.

02:18:49.520 --> 02:18:50.360
Yes.

02:18:50.360 --> 02:18:54.879
Director Stecco, do we have your commitment?

02:18:54.879 --> 02:18:56.860
Always, I'm always looking for money.

02:18:59.280 --> 02:19:02.280
Alderman Sanders, would you be willing

02:19:02.280 --> 02:19:05.040
to pull back your second

02:19:05.040 --> 02:19:08.340
since I'm willing to pull back my motion?

02:19:09.319 --> 02:19:14.319
Yes, Your Highness, I'll be more,

02:19:15.239 --> 02:19:16.959
I'm just being comical.

02:19:16.959 --> 02:19:19.200
I'll do anything for you.

02:19:20.360 --> 02:19:26.840
but yes I would be willing to pull back my my motion but adding to that as you

02:19:26.840 --> 02:19:34.360
are doing we're just not gonna let it just linger let's put this thing yeah

02:19:34.360 --> 02:19:41.360
let's let's put this thing on a time schedule to meet to meet reporting

02:19:41.360 --> 02:19:50.360
updates I don't know monthly weekly weekly every meeting okay and so we need

02:19:50.360 --> 02:19:58.159
to get an update status on where we at with our project researchers and grant

02:19:58.159 --> 02:20:01.959
researchers or whatever we're research

02:20:01.959 --> 02:20:03.959
and

02:20:05.199 --> 02:20:06.500
the

02:20:06.500 --> 02:20:08.500
City Council.

02:20:09.599 --> 02:20:14.039
I just want the energy to stay in the room because there is a

02:20:14.039 --> 02:20:21.359
lack of energy that I perceived. That is what I am looking at.

02:20:21.359 --> 02:20:30.159
I want the enthusiasm from the council. Ra-ra. Cheer, cheer.

02:20:30.159 --> 02:20:38.679
God, Cheer, Cheer. We're doing this for the general public. We should have pumping stands.

02:20:38.679 --> 02:20:40.679
We should have all kinds of horns blowing.

02:20:40.679 --> 02:20:42.399
Thank you, Alderman Sanders.

02:20:42.399 --> 02:20:49.399
We have all this going on because, I mean, it looks doom and gloom in here.

02:20:49.399 --> 02:20:50.399
Thank you, Alderman Sanders.

02:20:50.399 --> 02:20:51.399
And I don't like that.

02:20:51.399 --> 02:20:54.159
Do we have any public comments?

02:20:54.159 --> 02:20:55.159
Yes.

02:20:55.159 --> 02:21:15.159
and others.

02:21:15.159 --> 02:21:20.879
Since I was told this was irrelevant during our conversation, I'd like to talk a little

02:21:20.879 --> 02:21:24.879
and a little bit about who we're talking about running water to.

02:21:24.879 --> 02:21:30.519
Another thing I'd like to bring up is it's for everybody to know it's awful easy to blame

02:21:30.519 --> 02:21:34.799
it on a guy that's dead who gave the handshake.

02:21:34.799 --> 02:21:41.439
The Community Development Director doesn't have to be around and we do have obligations

02:21:41.439 --> 02:21:46.039
from things that have been done in the past whether we like it or not.

02:21:46.039 --> 02:21:52.039
I had the pleasure of meeting with Jennifer Fuller, School Administrator at Open Bible.

02:21:52.039 --> 02:21:57.079
We had talked about two times by phone and then I got together with her so she could

02:21:57.079 --> 02:22:00.959
provide me some information on Open Bible.

02:22:00.959 --> 02:22:07.519
She started there in 2006 and was promoted to Superintendent in 2009.

02:22:07.519 --> 02:22:13.479
Open Bible has been a mainstay in the City of Freeport since the 50s and 60s when Bob

02:22:13.479 --> 02:22:18.919
Bush started and there's only been three pastors since that period of time. The

02:22:18.919 --> 02:22:24.159
church expanded out here, as we know, so they could grow. The building has been

02:22:24.159 --> 02:22:28.759
always maintained in three separate sections, the church, the childhood center,

02:22:28.759 --> 02:22:34.159
and the early development center. Open Bible does not take children under two

02:22:34.159 --> 02:22:40.759
years old and provides grades through K to 5 for education. After that,

02:22:40.759 --> 02:22:46.539
The current make up and demographics is 2024 in September.

02:22:46.539 --> 02:22:53.139
The maximum enrollment is 217 children that totally staff.

02:22:53.139 --> 02:22:54.859
This includes daycare and educational.

02:22:54.859 --> 02:22:59.899
Right now, there's 174 people there.

02:22:59.899 --> 02:23:06.659
They were the only facility that was open during COVID that people could drop off their

02:23:06.659 --> 02:23:07.659
children.

02:23:07.659 --> 02:23:23.659
Right now they have 131 children, 3-5. When these people leave it after 5th grade, let me see here, 116 of them go to other schools or home school.

02:23:23.659 --> 02:23:35.659
The facilities are inspected, like I said, every 3 years by the State Fire Marshall, which is the code that she told me they went by, and I'm sure they have figures on it.

02:23:35.659 --> 02:23:41.539
the city's authorized for Graham to do design drawings the city can go out for

02:23:41.539 --> 02:23:46.739
a shovel ready project this will give extra consideration due to the shovel

02:23:46.739 --> 02:23:51.539
ready part of it labeling the project which allows for me to start up of the

02:23:51.539 --> 02:23:58.099
project and for funding this this can also provide city water to existing

02:23:58.099 --> 02:24:03.299
houses on both sides of Stevenson Street supply water for additional housing if

02:24:03.299 --> 02:24:09.139
If it was built next to Park Hill Golf Course, and would also provide water needed for sprinklers

02:24:09.139 --> 02:24:14.500
in the daycare center, the church has water for the building because it already has a well.

02:24:14.500 --> 02:24:22.739
I thank you for your time and I have no seconds left, I appreciate it.

02:24:22.739 --> 02:24:32.259
Any other public comment?

02:24:32.259 --> 02:24:34.619
Don't forget the banquet's tomorrow.

02:24:34.619 --> 02:24:39.459
Yeah, I'm probably not going to be able to make that, Tommy, but thanks for the invitation.

02:24:39.459 --> 02:24:42.299
And did you see that the Faroo opens on Friday?

02:24:42.299 --> 02:24:43.299
Oh, it is?

02:24:43.299 --> 02:24:44.299
On Friday.

02:24:44.299 --> 02:24:46.459
Oh, you, how you find?

02:24:46.459 --> 02:24:48.539
I can't believe you don't know that.

02:24:48.539 --> 02:24:51.739
So they got it done?

02:24:51.739 --> 02:24:53.779
You can get your Cheddar Fries on Friday.

02:24:53.779 --> 02:24:56.819
Oh, they got, who's going to cut to it?

02:24:56.819 --> 02:24:57.819
There isn't one.

02:24:57.819 --> 02:25:01.219
We already did a shovel ceremony.

02:25:01.219 --> 02:25:02.219
and others.

02:25:02.219 --> 02:25:03.219
The meeting is adjourned.

02:25:03.219 --> 02:25:04.219
Is there a motion?

02:25:04.219 --> 02:25:05.219
I will make the motion.

02:25:05.219 --> 02:25:06.219
Is there a motion?

02:25:06.219 --> 02:25:31.699
if there's nothing else I make a motion to adjourn second oh it's motion did we

02:25:31.699 --> 02:25:38.699
Do we have a second? All in favor?