WEBVTT

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and then we'll be back in a couple of minutes.

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Yes, ma'am, you didn't want to throw your shoes on for a bit.

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Neither am I, I look in the camera.

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Good evening, Justin, could you please give the invocation this evening?

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Good evening, Madam Mayor, Council, everyone. Would you please pray with me?

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Lord God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, it is in you that we live and move and have our being.

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You have made us and so we are yours, not our own.

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Lord, you have provided and set in place whatever powers, governments, managements exist.

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and even as you have placed calling upon each one of our lives and gifted us with every

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ability that we have to carry out those callings, you encourage us to turn to you for wisdom

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and strength.

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And you are so kind to hear and answer prayers generously, even liberally.

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And so we pray for this council tonight and its work.

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We pray for our city workers across each department.

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We pray for first responders throughout our city and our county.

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Lord move each one to call upon your name for help and safety, for wisdom and strength,

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even as we ask those same things for them now here tonight.

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And Lord we regularly hear and say ourselves that we live in divided and divisive days.

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May we live compassionately and patiently before you and with each other.

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and enable us, Lord, to find the grace and forgiveness that you alone grant, that we

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might live lives of grace and honor in the days that you have given each one of us. And

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help us tonight, I pray, in the name of your only Son. Amen.

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Thank you. Now we'll officially call this meeting to order. Madam Clerk, could you please

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take the roll? Mayor Miller? Here. Alderpersons, Klemm? Here. Monroe? Here. Simmons? Here.

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Parker, Stacy, Shadle, Sanders, and Sellers is absent.

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Could you please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance led by Alderman Klemm?

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I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

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Item number one is the approval of the agenda. Is there such a motion?

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So moved. Second.

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A motion made by Alderman Monroe, seconded by Alderman Shadle. All those in favor, signify

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by saying aye. Aye.

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Opposed? That motion passes. Item number two is approval of the minutes from the meeting

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on September 3rd, 2024. Is there a motion to approve?

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So moved. Second.

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Motion made by Alderman Monroe, seconded by Alderman Shadle. All those in favor, signify

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by saying aye. Aye.

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& Co.

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That motion passes.

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Public comment?

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It looks like it's all non-agenda items, so we'll move on to the consent agenda, which

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is considered to be routine in nature and acted as one motion unless a member of council

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would like to have something removed for further discussion.

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None of the consent agenda consists of approving to receive and place on file from August 2024,

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the Building Permit Report, the Fire Department Report, Police Department Report, the Housing

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Authority Monthly Report, and the Greater Freeport Partnership Monthly Report.

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Also is a proclamation for the National Sea Tracks Think Train Week, September 23rd through

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the 29th.

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Also the adoption of Resolution 2024-102, which is the resolution to request temporary

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and

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John.

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The next item is the approval of the

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pre-publishing street closures for the

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High School Homecoming Parade dated

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October 9, 2024.

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The approval of the finance bills in

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the total of $2,265,039.97 and the

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approval of payroll for pay period

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ending September 7, 2024 in the total

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Silence.

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roll, Klem, Saram, Monroe, Simmons, Parker, Stacey, Shadle and Sanders.

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iada Stirrup.

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Is there a motion to approve?

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So moved.

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The motion made by Alderman Parker, seconded by Alderman Shadle. Any discussion?

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All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? That motion passes. Item number six is the

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second reading of Ordinance 2024-50. Could you please read this? Ordinance

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authorizing a lease with Matthew Van Bergen for Hangar J at Albertus Airport.

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Thank you, Manager Boyer. Thank you, Your Honor. Again, this is approval for Hangar J

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lease for the amount of $800 per month with Matthew Bergen and it will generate

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800 a month for the city and staff approves the or recommends the approval

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of this Hangar lease. Any discussion? Madam Clerk, please take the roll. Klemm? Aye.

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Monroe? Aye. Simmons? Aye. Parker? Aye. Stacy? Aye. Shadle? Aye. And Sanders? Aye. The lease is approved, 7-0. Item number 7 is the first reading of Ordinance 2024-51. Could you please read this?

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Ordinance approving financing or funding for purchase of a utility vector sewer cleaner for the utility and street departments. Thank you, Manager Boyer.

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Thank you, Your Honor. City Council approved the purchase of a utility vector sewer cleaning truck at the meeting held on September 3rd in the amount of $587,670.06.

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At that time, Council was informed that financing for the purchase would be presented at the next City Council meeting to be held today.

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The City has utilized tax-exempt government leases as a source of financing previously.

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The advantage of this type of funding is the lower rate of interest compared to regular market lending rates.

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because the Lesser does not pay federal taxes on the lease payment it receives. It can offer lower financing rates to the government agencies with a municipal lease. The intent of the leasee is to purchase and take title to the equipment.

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The quarterly payments for this lease will be paid out of the sewer fund and the finance department received proposals from tax exempt lending Corp with a rate of 5.49% for seven years and U.S. Bank Corp government leasing with a rate of 4.63% for seven years.

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Staff Request Council to approve a seven-year tax-exempt municipal lease agreement for $587,670.

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$1,670.06 with U.S. Bancorp Government Leasing and Financing at a rate of 4.36% for seven

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years. The proposal is good until November. So, staff encourage...

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Is there a motion to move this forward? So, move.

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Second. Make a motion made by Alderman Monroe, seconded

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by Alderman Shadle. Klemm.

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Sorry. Motion to spend the rolls.

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do we have a second okay so the the motion before you is the suspension which is

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non-debatable must pass by two-thirds majority ma'am clerk could you please take

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and Sanders? No. The motion fails for lack of a two-thirds vote.

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Okay. So now before you is the motion to move it forward. Is there a discussion?

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Alderman Sanders.

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Yeah. I'd like to know on this item, did we do a proper bidding for another option? Maybe, I don't know.

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If this is the only unit that's available to us that we have the opportunity to look for other alternatives.

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Alderman Sanders, this was a demo model. It's a Vactor brand, which is a very good brand.

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They brought it out to demonstrate to the crews. It's basically like our old one.

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We have a particular case, yes, and this is no different than the ladder truck we purchased last year, I guess it was, maybe two years ago, where we purchased the demo model in lieu of waiting for years for the equipment to be manufactured and delivered.

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So what's the as-is policy on making purchases of used equipment?

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I think the attorney has some insight on that.

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So the purchase of the Vactor truck, that was already approved at the last council meeting. So tonight, what's on the agenda is just how do we pay for it? And what's on the agenda is just to approve the loan with the bank.

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So it has been approved?

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Yeah, that was on the agenda at the last meeting.

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Alright, thank you.

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Deren. So the reason that we asked for the suspension of the rules tonight is

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because we, as the approval from the last meeting, sent a letter of intent to the

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factor manufacturer to purchase it and in that letter of intent we had 30 days to

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get our financing in place. So that's why it will no longer be reserved for us

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and gonna be sold out from under us if we don't suspend the rules and make a

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and I would like to make a motion because our next meeting I believe is not until October 7th.

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Alderman Stacy.

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So what are our other options for paying for this then?

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I would defer to the Finance Director on that.

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We talked about that last week, that our cash reserves have the money but we don't want to deplete them

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and we can't take this money from CIP because it's not a capital project. We do

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have enough to cover in it but the finance director didn't feel

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comfortable with some of the sewer repairs and things like that that we have

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been having happen within the utility lately to deplete that and usually a

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purchase of this size this is how we've been buying them on a lease.

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Is this the equipment that they said was the most important piece of equipment for the city, the one that came after both of the vehicles last week?

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Yes, the sewer vector equipment is used not only by water and sewer, but it's also been used by the street department.

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Will you do a lot of hydrovacking with it?

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Most days we have two of these on the street.

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Right now we only have one that's functional.

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The other one, as I told you last year, is a 2002

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and it's fully depleted.

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We can't even use it because it leaks sewer

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down the streets when we bring it out of the shop.

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So it's, there's really not much left of it,

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to be honest with you.

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It's not road worthy either.

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It doesn't, didn't pass the inspections.

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Alderman Sanders.

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So where are we at this point?

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We've already sent a letter of intent to Vactor,

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the manufacturer, the sales people that brought it out.

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This, as I explained at the last meeting,

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the only time that this has been used

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was actually in Freeport when we demoed it here.

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So we're the only ones that have used it.

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We cut the ties off of it to demo it to make sure

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it's what we wanted.

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And it's been driven to three cities since they've got it.

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So we feel confident the warranty is bumper-to-bumper full just like it was brand new and never been used and so what we're

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talking about tonight is to reinforce what we're what the last approval was on

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this item no manager where it's it's basically to approve the financing that's

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all okay which is comes back to the urgency because of the time frame of

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So, just to remind Council, we got a rate from the manufacturer sales rep and a rate

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to lease it, excuse me, over the seven year period and it was higher than we anticipated,

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so the Finance Director shopped around to banks that we normally lease equipment with

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and she found better rates, better terms for the payments, that's why we asked for some

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time at the last meeting to find the best rate for Freeport.

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Alderman, Stacy. So, would it be fair to say that you jumped a gun in sending out this letter without knowing how the Council really felt about this matter?

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No, ma'am. We sent it out after the approval at the last meeting, which was the resolution to purchase it based on financing.

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But we had not discussed how we were going to purchase it.

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That's what we're doing at this meeting. The letter of intent is to hold it until we sign the contract, nothing set in stone. It's so that they would not sell it out from under us for 30 days.

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Okay, sounds good.

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Okay, so since the vote has failed, where do we go from here?

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Attorney Zito would have to tell us that.

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So because the motion to suspend the rules failed, so this will go, if nothing else is done on this matter, it will show up on the agenda for the next, at the next council meeting as a second reading on the loan, and if you guys approve it, then you'll have a loan for it, but the problem will be potentially that the vendor may not have held the, held the truck for us anymore, because they gave us a 30-day window

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to get our financing in place there so it might be gone and if it is then

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obviously by the next meeting then they make no sense obviously to approve the

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loan because you don't need it at that point. Okay so could one of the aldermen

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that voted no on the suspension changes their mind and bring it back up for

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suspension to consider? Motion to reconsider? Motion to reconsider.

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We have a question. Sure go ahead read it. So in your minutes from the September 3rd

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meeting it breaks all this down. We had this discussion and it says a letter of

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intent and purchase order would provide for an early November delivery. I don't

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have in here specifically that it was discussed but I believe all of these

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these options were discussed and it was Council's direction to finance and that I'm pretty sure

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that was all said at the last meeting. With all due respect, I think jumping the gun was

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perhaps the motion to suspend as we probably should have had this discussion and then so

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Mayor back to bringing it back by one of the party that failed would tie that all together.

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Right. So Alderman Monroe, I think you had your hand up next.

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I did, Mayor. And the City Clerk hit the nail on the head.

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We've got a couple of gentlemen that like to tax and spend and ramrod everything through.

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And we want to have some discussion to understand what the best option is for the city.

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And, you know, that's what this is about.

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And this is why we end up in these positions because nobody wants to have a conversation.

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Nobody wants to have a discussion what's best.

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Were the financing? Could we?

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We're the financing. Could we afford to do it? There were two options here, financing

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or funding it. And I think a discussion was warranted to figure out what the right direction

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was and to ask questions of the finance director. And my concern is this. We can find a million

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dollars in the emergency fund to run a water line out to the west side of town. We can't

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for something that we desperately need I guess and that's the question that I've

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got and that's what I think really needs to be answered and asked and and I think

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we've got to be able to have a conversation about it not just ramrod

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things through. Manager Boyer. All I can say is we budgeted for equipment that we

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forego the purchase of so we can move forward with this particular item. There

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were several generators that we budgeted for we are going to postpone those

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Fowler.

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This is a critical piece of equipment.

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We were planning to purchase a new one next year, and it failed before we had a chance

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to get there.

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The equipment was 20 years old, had survived at the city for many years, and we did discuss

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the financing option coming forward at this meeting.

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Director, Director.

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I'd like to answer Alderman Monroe.

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The CIP funds, the reason why we can do projects, why we can fund a million dollar project is

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because by ordinance, CIP money can only be used on projects. I can't buy capital things

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with them like a truck. I just can't. I have to use operating money to pay for that. If

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the CIP ordinance was changed, I could do that, but I just can't do it that way.

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Do you have a follow-up?

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I do have a follow-up, and thank you for that, but the point is that we could ask the question

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and understand it better and get back to that point, and then we would understand the importance

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of getting this through the financing, and you had gone back and done the rates, but

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instead there was a motion made immediately after which stopped all conversation, and

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that's the problem, and I think we've got to get back to working together and not trying

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to block each other on every little project.

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You know, it's insane.

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And I think I will stand as one of the naysayers

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in the first round to make a second to motion

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to bring this back up for reconsideration.

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And I...

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Yes, but I...

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Okay, so...

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Yeah, and I concur.

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So are you making a motion, is that what you're telling me?

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Yes, to bring it back.

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Okay, so we have a motion on the floor

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and

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and

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the

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public.

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The

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motion to

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reconsider.

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The failure

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of the

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suspension, the

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motion to

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suspend the

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rules.

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Yes.

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You have a lot of layers here.

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And now we can have that discussion.

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We have to have a vote on that.

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Do we vote on the reconsideration?

00:23:30.080 --> 00:23:33.080
The motion has been, to reconsider, has been made and seconded.

00:23:33.080 --> 00:23:34.080
It is debatable.

00:23:34.080 --> 00:23:37.080
And it has to pass by a majority vote.

00:23:37.080 --> 00:23:39.080
Just the motion to reconsider.

00:23:39.080 --> 00:23:41.080
If that passes, now

00:23:41.080 --> 00:23:46.519
to the point of the motion to suspend the rules, which is non-debatable, and two-thirds vote.

00:23:46.519 --> 00:23:52.039
Okay. So discussion on the reconsideration portion. Is there discussion on reconsideration?

00:23:52.039 --> 00:23:52.539
Yes.

00:23:54.600 --> 00:23:55.880
Do you have something you want to say?

00:23:55.880 --> 00:24:08.279
Oh, well, yes. We wanted to understand why was it held back from debating or talking about

00:24:08.279 --> 00:24:09.279
Knapp.

00:24:09.279 --> 00:24:10.279
That's a good question.

00:24:10.279 --> 00:24:12.559
So you know that there's a lot of discussion about this new equipment and what it really

00:24:12.559 --> 00:24:18.680
means to the citizens of Freeport and why we're making this major investment.

00:24:18.680 --> 00:24:26.200
And so I think the council needs to be able to elaborate on why it is a necessity to the

00:24:26.200 --> 00:24:32.920
city and give the residents and the people of the city an opportunity to understand its

00:24:32.920 --> 00:24:33.920
will.

00:24:33.920 --> 00:24:40.360
that wouldn't have allowed us to go into the suspension motion so quick and so soon

00:24:40.360 --> 00:24:42.600
without understanding why we're there.

00:24:42.600 --> 00:24:45.880
So, this is what I wanted to just make.

00:24:45.880 --> 00:24:48.519
Okay. So, this is just about the reconsideration?

00:24:48.519 --> 00:24:50.680
Yeah.

00:24:50.680 --> 00:24:52.840
You want to talk on the reconsideration?

00:24:52.840 --> 00:24:57.039
Well, I just want to say the only reason I brought it up for suspension of the rules

00:24:57.039 --> 00:25:01.160
because it says it right here and we've had that since last Friday and I just brought it

00:25:01.160 --> 00:25:10.800
Well, the thing about it is, well, the thing about it is, it would be appreciated.

00:25:10.800 --> 00:25:11.800
I don't think you have the floor, so.

00:25:11.800 --> 00:25:12.800
I'm sorry.

00:25:12.800 --> 00:25:13.800
I'm sorry.

00:25:13.800 --> 00:25:18.280
Yeah, when I get into a discussion, I'm back and forth all the time.

00:25:18.280 --> 00:25:29.760
But my thing is, it would be a courtesy for the Council to have that opportunity to hear

00:25:29.759 --> 00:25:36.759
I'd like to hear what was proposed and what was already approved to go to elaborate on that particular subject or that discussion. That's all I'm saying.

00:25:36.759 --> 00:25:41.759
Okay, okay. So you have more on reconsideration?

00:25:41.759 --> 00:25:45.759
I'd just like to say we heard all that once two weeks ago.

00:25:45.759 --> 00:25:46.759
Does it matter?

00:25:46.759 --> 00:25:47.759
Yes, it does.

00:25:47.759 --> 00:25:48.759
Alderman, Stacy?

00:25:48.759 --> 00:25:50.759
Does it matter?

00:25:50.759 --> 00:25:57.759
We're not trying to block nothing.

00:25:57.759 --> 00:26:04.599
We're trying to get an understanding of what's happening in our faces.

00:26:04.599 --> 00:26:14.200
When the motion was made, I said, discussion, discussion, you did not hear me.

00:26:14.200 --> 00:26:21.900
So we're entitled to that as the council.

00:26:21.900 --> 00:26:27.220
We do need to look at the situation, openly speak of it, and determine what we can and

00:26:27.220 --> 00:26:39.539
cannot do as a whole. We forget we're supposed to be doing what's best for this city. And

00:26:39.539 --> 00:26:49.420
so I don't want to hear, oh, you're always trying to block something. That's not true.

00:26:49.420 --> 00:26:56.500
Now I have another question pertaining to the pay. However...

00:26:56.500 --> 00:26:59.620
that's not what's on the floor so you'll have to wait okay that's what I wanted

00:26:59.620 --> 00:27:03.700
yes so we can get back to that but right now it's the are we going to

00:27:03.700 --> 00:27:09.500
reconsider the suspension so if there's no more discussion on that and clerk would

00:27:09.500 --> 00:27:13.660
you please take the role on the reconsideration Clem all right Monroe I

00:27:13.660 --> 00:27:26.380
Simmons I Parker I Stacey I Shadel and Sanders the motion passes seven to zero

00:27:26.380 --> 00:27:56.380
So now I believe I need a motion for or do we not for suspending the rules. Still got discussion. Right. I just didn't know what the right order was. Right. So now you're back. The motion to reconsider has been brought back. So basically, now you're at the motion to suspend is on the table, but you have so you don't need another motion in a second, but you just need to discuss and then well, it's a motion to reconsider. So it's non debatable. So it's just that it's the motion to reconsider is just or the motion to suspend.

00:27:56.380 --> 00:28:00.660
is on the on the table it doesn't end the discussion it's just has it's an order

00:28:00.660 --> 00:28:07.980
it's a process right so if the motion to suspend passes then it's just like we're

00:28:07.980 --> 00:28:12.420
at second reading now and there's still discussion then on the second reading so

00:28:12.420 --> 00:28:17.220
there still will be discussion how can we how can we make a motion on whether

00:28:17.220 --> 00:28:23.579
or not we're gonna suspend when we're still not sure what we want to do

00:28:26.380 --> 00:28:38.140
yes that part only speeds it up so that you don't have to do the vote on the

00:28:38.140 --> 00:28:43.740
loan in two separate meetings right so if you vote to suspend and that's approved

00:28:43.740 --> 00:28:47.260
then you're sitting at second reading and you still have discussion on whether

00:28:47.260 --> 00:28:52.460
or not to approve the financing of the loan or not I think we're putting the

00:28:52.460 --> 00:29:03.180
Carp before the horse because we're gonna vote on waiving the rules and I mean we

00:29:03.180 --> 00:29:07.539
can do it but it's like we're voting on waiving the rules where we haven't even

00:29:07.539 --> 00:29:13.539
decided what the rules are what the payment is.

00:29:15.460 --> 00:29:22.259
The only way right now is if you wanted to talk about the item without the

00:29:22.260 --> 00:29:24.260
and

00:29:27.380 --> 00:29:29.380
John, and then there's the suspension of the rules on the

00:29:30.480 --> 00:29:33.480
table. If Alderman Klemm, I think who made the motion originally

00:29:33.480 --> 00:29:35.480
suspend the rules on Alderman Shadle, seconded the motion to

00:29:35.480 --> 00:29:39.480
suspend, if they withdraw that motion, then you can talk about

00:29:39.480 --> 00:29:43.480
the funding as if the suspension hadn't even been brought up

00:29:43.480 --> 00:29:47.480
yet. It was just a motion made to move it forward, which was

00:29:47.480 --> 00:29:51.480
seconded, then discussion. So that's if they were to do that,

00:29:51.480 --> 00:29:56.519
allow for discussion on the loan and then if it was after that discussion was took place

00:29:56.519 --> 00:29:59.920
then someone can make a motion to suspend if they wanted to.

00:29:59.920 --> 00:30:08.920
That's up to Alderman Klemm. It's on the table and Alderman Shadle because they made the motion and seconded the suspend.

00:30:08.920 --> 00:30:12.920
Can you repeat what you said?

00:30:12.920 --> 00:30:18.920
I made the motion to suspend. Excuse me, to take away the motion.

00:30:18.920 --> 00:30:23.920
You withdraw your motion. Alderman Shadle, you withdraw your second of that motion to suspend.

00:30:23.920 --> 00:30:27.920
Okay, so now it's just first reading on the table. What would you like to talk about?

00:30:27.920 --> 00:30:50.920
I would like to know what are our options of putting money down and not financing all of this, but making a down payment and financing the balance.

00:30:50.920 --> 00:30:55.920
What can we do as a city?

00:30:55.920 --> 00:30:59.200
Director Richter's, I'm sorry, is there any benefit to that?

00:31:02.640 --> 00:31:04.600
That still sounds like a loan to me

00:31:05.779 --> 00:31:10.539
by putting money down and then making more payments.

00:31:13.700 --> 00:31:14.539
Manager Boyer?

00:31:14.539 --> 00:31:16.560
Maybe, I just don't understand, I'm sorry.

00:31:18.120 --> 00:31:21.759
I would just say that Director Richter

00:31:21.759 --> 00:31:24.519
has done her homework on this.

00:31:24.519 --> 00:31:29.240
She's worked very hard to get the best possible situation for the city.

00:31:29.240 --> 00:31:35.120
And so there's reasons that she has not suggested that we put an amount down and

00:31:35.120 --> 00:31:37.320
then also gone after a loan.

00:31:37.320 --> 00:31:40.200
I'm sure that those are contemplative reasons.

00:31:40.200 --> 00:31:46.320
But at this point, what we have in front of us is basically two financing options,

00:31:46.320 --> 00:31:48.240
one less expensive than the other.

00:31:48.240 --> 00:31:52.680
And one using US Bank, which is a local institution.

00:31:52.680 --> 00:32:05.200
To help you understand what I was asking, let's say this equipment costs $10,000 and

00:32:05.200 --> 00:32:17.200
we put down 5,000 cash. That only leaves 5,000 to finance. What can we put down on this piece

00:32:17.200 --> 00:32:18.200
of equipment?

00:32:18.200 --> 00:32:24.840
I don't know if you can do a lease that way. I can talk to the U.S. Bank, but of course

00:32:24.840 --> 00:32:32.000
we're at a time crunch as well. None of our previous leases have worked that way. We've

00:32:32.000 --> 00:32:38.120
done business with U.S. government leasing before for like the camera truck as well.

00:32:38.120 --> 00:32:43.840
But have they not worked that way because it's never been asked or suggested?

00:32:43.840 --> 00:32:47.280
I can't, I don't know, Alderman, Stacy.

00:32:47.280 --> 00:32:56.400
If, if, um, if, um, you can...

00:32:56.400 --> 00:33:04.360
The reason why, as Darren explained, um, why I, I wanted to do financing is that the sewer

00:33:04.360 --> 00:33:09.200
fund and operating money only has so much money.

00:33:09.200 --> 00:33:13.160
We have other money that's sitting in CIP,

00:33:13.160 --> 00:33:16.320
but we can't touch that money for this purchase.

00:33:16.320 --> 00:33:18.680
I understand that.

00:33:18.680 --> 00:33:24.640
And putting half down, you know, $250,000 on the VAC truck

00:33:24.640 --> 00:33:27.800
also depletes our cash significantly.

00:33:27.800 --> 00:33:34.920
I honestly, I don't know if US Bank would do that,

00:33:34.920 --> 00:33:39.140
and I'm hesitant to take such a draw on the cash balance.

00:33:44.080 --> 00:33:46.759
And I wasn't even saying half,

00:33:46.759 --> 00:33:48.840
I just used that for an example.

00:33:48.840 --> 00:33:50.240
It could have been a quarter.

00:33:50.240 --> 00:33:53.420
Something down is better than nothing.

00:33:54.360 --> 00:33:58.240
I feel, if I'm buying a new vehicle,

00:33:58.240 --> 00:34:03.240
if I put something down, that's less I have to finance.

00:34:04.920 --> 00:34:20.920
If it's council's will, I can, or what they vote on, I can take any steps with U.S. Bank to try and put something down ourselves and then just finance the rest.

00:34:20.920 --> 00:34:30.880
West. I assume that, you know, instead of financing the, what, $580,000, we could put

00:34:30.880 --> 00:34:39.320
down $100,000 and then finance $480,000 if the Council would prefer something like that.

00:34:39.320 --> 00:34:40.320
Yeah.

00:34:40.320 --> 00:34:44.280
But then again, it's pushing back that deadline is what is the concern.

00:34:44.280 --> 00:34:48.320
Well, she can find out and we can have a special meeting. We have them anyway.

00:34:48.320 --> 00:34:58.680
Or we can just take our department head's word for something that she's worked hard on.

00:34:58.680 --> 00:35:01.320
It's not that I'm not taking her word.

00:35:01.320 --> 00:35:08.240
It's not that I'm depleting her hard work.

00:35:08.240 --> 00:35:13.519
I had a suggestion.

00:35:13.519 --> 00:35:18.960
and I don't think what I'm asking is out of order or asking too much.

00:35:18.960 --> 00:35:21.680
Well, weren't all these things talked about at the last meeting?

00:35:21.680 --> 00:35:22.680
Yes.

00:35:22.680 --> 00:35:23.680
Yes, that was my point.

00:35:23.680 --> 00:35:33.280
Well, apparently we didn't have the discussion that we needed.

00:35:33.280 --> 00:35:38.119
Is there any other discussion concerning the first reading of this purchase?

00:35:38.119 --> 00:35:43.119
Are we just going to let this go?

00:35:43.119 --> 00:35:46.119
I mean, because that's what's going to happen. Are we going to suspend the rules?

00:35:46.119 --> 00:35:51.119
I'm wishing to suspend the rules. If I can do that. I don't know if I can or not.

00:35:51.119 --> 00:35:54.119
Do we have a second?

00:35:54.119 --> 00:35:57.119
Can I?

00:35:57.119 --> 00:35:59.119
Second.

00:35:59.119 --> 00:36:03.119
Okay, so we have a motion made by Alderman Parker, seconded by Alderman Shadle to suspend the rules,

00:36:03.119 --> 00:36:10.119
which means all the things that we've discussed, we're moving it on so that way it goes as if we're second reading.

00:36:10.119 --> 00:36:12.119
We still have more discussion.

00:36:12.119 --> 00:36:32.119
So, that portion of it is non-debatable. So, after that vote, what can we have there? It's non-debatable. Okay, so, it's non-debatable. So, Madam Clerk, would you please take the vote on the suspension only, which means it moves to second reading.

00:36:32.119 --> 00:36:53.599
Klemm, Monroe, Simmons, Parker, Stacy, Shadle, and Sanders. Just knowing the rep dealers I'm

00:36:53.599 --> 00:37:00.240
sure that we can put a down payment on a vehicle and finance less. I'm certain that

00:37:00.240 --> 00:37:08.000
that's an option but I don't think the way the rules are that that's to our discretion so if

00:37:09.519 --> 00:37:14.720
that's the will of the council that we want to put something down we need direction on what that

00:37:14.720 --> 00:37:20.559
amount is right because I don't think we can just decide randomly what that amount is to put down.

00:37:21.519 --> 00:37:26.159
Yeah but I think it's wise to take Director Richter's input on that I mean she knows how

00:37:26.159 --> 00:37:27.159
and others.

00:37:27.159 --> 00:37:33.159
Do you know how much money would be comfortable and what is not?

00:37:33.159 --> 00:37:34.159
Well.

00:37:34.159 --> 00:37:35.159
Just a minute.

00:37:35.159 --> 00:37:38.159
She is going to answer that.

00:37:38.159 --> 00:37:42.480
Sorry, Director.

00:37:42.480 --> 00:37:51.039
My initial inclination is not to put anything down and pass it the way I presented it.

00:37:51.039 --> 00:37:53.079
Okay.

00:37:53.079 --> 00:37:54.079
Further discussion?

00:37:54.079 --> 00:37:55.079
Alderman Sanders.

00:37:55.079 --> 00:37:59.079
Are we trying to consider just outright purchasing this item?

00:37:59.079 --> 00:38:02.079
Is that what we're trying to lean to?

00:38:02.079 --> 00:38:03.079
They want to finance it.

00:38:03.079 --> 00:38:05.079
Okay, you want to finance it.

00:38:05.079 --> 00:38:11.079
And anytime that you want to finance anything, you should be able to have negotiating powers

00:38:11.079 --> 00:38:17.079
or negotiating situations where you can talk to whoever the representatives of the finance companies

00:38:17.079 --> 00:38:23.079
to work with us as opposed to just not working with us

00:38:23.079 --> 00:38:30.320
if we're not making requests or recommendations or suggestions or whatever to look at it from

00:38:30.320 --> 00:38:39.940
our perspective as Council and the citizens of Freeport, we should look at this from all

00:38:39.940 --> 00:38:46.360
spectrums to see what it is that we can utilize and I don't think we have done that and so

00:38:46.360 --> 00:38:54.119
So until we do due diligence ourselves as finance, looking into these kinds of matters

00:38:54.119 --> 00:39:00.200
and anybody else that is involved in it as opposed to just the council just voting up

00:39:00.200 --> 00:39:05.240
and down or whatever the case may be, I think we should do ourselves due diligence all across

00:39:05.240 --> 00:39:11.000
the board to make sure that we're not missing anything that could have been considered.

00:39:11.000 --> 00:39:16.240
And if anything could have been considered and we overlooked that opportunity, then it's

00:39:16.240 --> 00:39:37.240
it comes back to the Council, why is it that we had not done that, asked these certain questions, because see we're representing the people of the City of Freeport and they expect us to ask questions because they're sitting there pondering questions, why aren't we doing certain things.

00:39:37.240 --> 00:40:00.240
We're not the only ones that are sitting here with all the answers and what's best for the citizens of Freeport is for us to indulge in questioning and getting answers all at the same time so they're able to understand why we're asking questions, why we're debating on such a subject and whatever the case is.

00:40:00.240 --> 00:40:03.000
on such a subject and whatever the case is.

00:40:03.000 --> 00:40:12.220
And we just want to make sure financing is checked into clearly for defining clearly

00:40:12.220 --> 00:40:19.080
to the people that they understand why we made such a move or how serious it is or how

00:40:19.080 --> 00:40:23.800
drastic it was that we made this move without even considering other options.

00:40:23.800 --> 00:40:53.800
Okay, so that's the second time that we've heard this and that's her job and so that's part of the problem here is that the council gets into the day-to-day workings instead of just making a decision based on what the directors are giving the best possible solution so that's the point we can't get in the weeds on all of this stuff we'll never get anything done Alderman Monroe did you have something?

00:40:53.800 --> 00:40:57.800
I did, Madam Mayor, and you hit the nail on the head. I agree with you on that.

00:40:57.800 --> 00:41:05.800
What I would question is, and this goes back to the conversations we're having on the overall budgeting that we've been doing,

00:41:05.800 --> 00:41:09.800
why didn't the Public Works Director in the previous years put this on?

00:41:09.800 --> 00:41:16.800
Because this piece of equipment didn't go from functional to non-functional overnight.

00:41:16.800 --> 00:41:20.800
The Fire Chief is planning out four years.

00:41:20.800 --> 00:41:27.280
You know, these are the kinds of questions that this is why we're starting to ask questions because it wasn't done previously and

00:41:28.160 --> 00:41:30.160
these types of issues

00:41:30.680 --> 00:41:34.720
Need to be kind of looked at in order. I understand the importance of this

00:41:34.720 --> 00:41:37.800
I also understand the importance of staying within a budget and

00:41:38.440 --> 00:41:44.920
Adding another hundred thousand dollars in finance charges that go out of our community to a national bank is

00:41:45.880 --> 00:41:47.880
concerning to me because we've been

00:41:48.440 --> 00:41:50.120
basically

00:41:50.120 --> 00:41:58.620
and I are funding everything we're doing now on what's to come, and we're getting to a point where we won't have those options anymore.

00:41:58.620 --> 00:42:04.120
I mean, this is seven years, 28 payments, almost $100,000.

00:42:04.120 --> 00:42:07.620
I mean, that's two employees for the city per year.

00:42:07.620 --> 00:42:11.620
You know, that's where the consternation is.

00:42:11.620 --> 00:42:17.120
I am, you know, I support it. I get it. We need it.

00:42:17.120 --> 00:42:22.900
but we need to have conversation about it and are the things that are left in the budget right now all

00:42:23.720 --> 00:42:29.520
Important as we go through the rest of the year are there places where we could trim and not have to finance this

00:42:29.800 --> 00:42:32.040
Those are questions that aren't getting asked

00:42:32.440 --> 00:42:38.800
You know we we've bought and how many millions of dollars in fire engines the last couple of years and ambulances

00:42:39.360 --> 00:42:41.360
five million at least and

00:42:42.280 --> 00:42:46.740
We we don't look at the budget. We just immediately jump to

00:42:47.120 --> 00:42:48.120
Fowler.

00:42:48.120 --> 00:42:49.920
Well, we can't, we're going to drop the two generators.

00:42:49.920 --> 00:42:50.920
I get that.

00:42:50.920 --> 00:42:51.920
The generators are what?

00:42:51.920 --> 00:42:52.920
30K apiece about?

00:42:52.920 --> 00:42:53.920
35?

00:42:53.920 --> 00:42:54.920
What were they?

00:42:54.920 --> 00:42:55.920
How much?

00:42:55.920 --> 00:42:56.920
200 apiece.

00:42:56.920 --> 00:42:57.920
That's 400,000.

00:42:57.920 --> 00:42:58.920
600.

00:42:58.920 --> 00:43:02.280
So we had three of them that were, so it's 600,000.

00:43:02.280 --> 00:43:05.960
So we're not getting those, but yet we're still financing this.

00:43:05.960 --> 00:43:07.440
And that was in the budget last year.

00:43:07.440 --> 00:43:10.720
So put the 600,000 on this.

00:43:10.720 --> 00:43:11.720
Where's the money?

00:43:11.720 --> 00:43:13.040
I'm missing something.

00:43:13.040 --> 00:43:14.760
That's what I'm struggling with.

00:43:14.760 --> 00:43:15.760
Dieren?

00:43:15.760 --> 00:43:16.760
Okay.

00:43:16.760 --> 00:43:22.360
Well, for your first question, we missed the vector by a year. It was in next year's budget, so we missed it.

00:43:22.360 --> 00:43:27.760
I don't control the wear and tear on the vehicles. It's old. It's 22 years old.

00:43:27.760 --> 00:43:35.760
We have got every nickel out of this piece of equipment, and if we want to park it for the next three months and wait till next year's budget, we can do that.

00:43:35.760 --> 00:43:45.760
Just know that next year's model is going to cost over $100,000 more than this demo model that we found, and I'm fine with that if that's the decision of the Council.

00:43:45.760 --> 00:44:07.760
Your other questions. The reason that Director Richter thought about financing over paying any cash is because at the last meeting we told you that we had about a million thirty-two, I believe, in sewer funds that could be dedicated towards this, but that leaves us very slim pickings when we have sewer repairs.

00:44:07.760 --> 00:44:17.560
We just spent $158,000 on sewer repairs over the last two months of collapsed mains that were happening all over town that we need to address with.

00:44:17.560 --> 00:44:20.760
So she didn't feel comfortable with selecting our cash.

00:44:20.760 --> 00:44:25.160
Where we have CIP money right now, that's not an eligible expense for CIP.

00:44:25.160 --> 00:44:27.400
We investigated that to see if that was an option.

00:44:27.400 --> 00:44:29.800
It's not.

00:44:29.800 --> 00:44:36.640
The generators that were planned for this year, the reason we didn't order them is because we were concerned about the cash, even though in the budget.

00:44:36.640 --> 00:45:06.640
So we were being restrictive till we got to the end of the year here trying to make sure that we met budget and we don't try to go over budget and if if we would have ordered these in anybody that knows anything about electrical you would not have got a generator for probably a good year right because they're one of the supply chain items that just haven't come back so we're trying to make the best decisions I have to lean on what Michelle says if she doesn't think that we can spend that much cash and it's not a wise decision then financing is a wise decision

00:45:06.640 --> 00:45:07.640
and others.

00:45:07.640 --> 00:45:08.640
So, it's a good decision.

00:45:08.640 --> 00:45:12.240
A lot of these leases we could probably pay it off early if we get in a good cash position.

00:45:12.240 --> 00:45:16.880
So we don't have to finance it for seven years if we don't want to, but it gives us the option

00:45:16.880 --> 00:45:18.860
to spread cash if we need to.

00:45:18.860 --> 00:45:23.840
The other fact was her research I think cut the interest rate in just about half of what

00:45:23.840 --> 00:45:25.040
we originally got.

00:45:25.040 --> 00:45:27.660
So it wasn't that we just picked one option.

00:45:27.660 --> 00:45:30.860
We went to three different sources and picked the best option.

00:45:30.860 --> 00:45:34.680
So again, we're not telling counsel what we have to do.

00:45:34.680 --> 00:45:37.200
this is what we thought was a good recommendation.

00:45:37.200 --> 00:45:40.240
If you'd rather park it and we address it in 2025

00:45:40.240 --> 00:45:42.320
and we let this one go, we can do that.

00:45:42.320 --> 00:45:44.560
But it will cost us probably about 100,000 more

00:45:44.560 --> 00:45:47.720
because there's gonna be different emission requirements

00:45:47.720 --> 00:45:50.140
on the 2025 models.

00:45:50.140 --> 00:45:52.040
And I'm fine with that.

00:45:52.040 --> 00:45:53.520
We're trying to do this in a mode

00:45:53.520 --> 00:45:56.440
to try to save as much money as possible.

00:45:56.440 --> 00:45:59.300
So we've got about, don't quote me,

00:45:59.300 --> 00:46:02.400
but I think it was about $55,000 off of this unit

00:46:02.400 --> 00:46:04.080
because it had been demoed one time

00:46:04.080 --> 00:46:05.840
and it becomes with a full warranty

00:46:05.840 --> 00:46:09.140
and it was exactly what the crews were looking for.

00:46:09.140 --> 00:46:10.720
Alderman Stacy? Yes.

00:46:10.720 --> 00:46:14.160
We never said we was gonna park it.

00:46:14.160 --> 00:46:17.680
We never suggested parking it.

00:46:17.680 --> 00:46:21.960
So please don't put those thoughts in our heads

00:46:21.960 --> 00:46:24.080
before we have another route to go.

00:46:25.160 --> 00:46:29.360
However, what loans can you tell me

00:46:29.360 --> 00:46:33.300
were paid off sooner than later?

00:46:34.080 --> 00:46:38.080
Well, I think we just did it with the John Deere backhoe, correct?

00:46:38.080 --> 00:46:45.080
The backhoe we got, it was the end of the lease.

00:46:45.080 --> 00:46:46.080
End of the lease.

00:46:46.080 --> 00:46:49.080
That was a different kind of lease, though.

00:46:49.080 --> 00:46:53.080
That was an operating lease, which was set up a little differently.

00:46:53.080 --> 00:47:02.080
You say that, oh, we could pay it off sooner if money allow or opportunity knock.

00:47:02.080 --> 00:47:08.380
you say that but then it never happened it goes to full term and then the interest

00:47:08.380 --> 00:47:22.520
rate is just stupid crazy. I don't feel that asking for something down is asking

00:47:22.520 --> 00:47:29.040
too much that don't mean park it. Alderman Merrill. Thank You Madam Mayor so the

00:47:29.040 --> 00:47:35.040
and Stacey. So the question is, is this item the payoff in next year's budget?

00:47:35.040 --> 00:47:43.040
We had planned to purchase it in next year's budget. If we buy it now, it won't be in the

00:47:43.040 --> 00:47:47.040
budget.

00:47:47.040 --> 00:47:49.040
Alderman Stacey.

00:47:49.040 --> 00:47:57.040
So why can't we put the payoff in the budget since we were going to budget it for next year anyway?

00:47:57.040 --> 00:48:06.840
It's like we keep robbing Peter to pay Paul. Next year we're going to need these three things that you just...

00:48:06.840 --> 00:48:13.040
The generators. We budgeted... When you see the public works budget, you'll see the generators and next year's budget.

00:48:13.040 --> 00:48:18.040
And that's $600,000 that was budgeted this year for generators.

00:48:18.040 --> 00:48:19.040
Correct.

00:48:19.040 --> 00:48:25.040
So why can't we use that $600,000 since it was budgeted toward this project?

00:48:25.040 --> 00:48:31.040
We can, but it will deplete our cash to a uncomfortable level for the Sewer Department.

00:48:31.040 --> 00:48:44.039
So even though we budgeted, if we would have got those three dumps, we would have been in the same position financing.

00:48:44.039 --> 00:48:46.039
The three generators?

00:48:46.039 --> 00:48:48.039
Yes.

00:48:48.039 --> 00:48:58.039
Yes and no. We've had, and let me answer the question, we've had a lot of unexpected expenses in the Sewer Department this year.

00:48:58.039 --> 00:48:59.039
You don't say.

00:48:59.039 --> 00:49:08.039
One that I just explained, which was $158,000 in sewer repairs just in the last two months that we weren't anticipating in this year's budget.

00:49:08.039 --> 00:49:17.039
So those are expenses that come in unexpectedly, and then we have to adjust the budgets by not buying something here or there or reducing what we can.

00:49:17.040 --> 00:49:43.680
We still have something to put toward this piece of equipment that they need, the most

00:49:43.680 --> 00:49:56.400
important piece of equipment in the street department's lives that they need so bad.

00:49:56.400 --> 00:49:59.160
Why is that asking too much?

00:49:59.160 --> 00:50:00.040
It was budgeted.

00:50:00.040 --> 00:50:08.880
It was budgeted. If that's what council wants to do, then that's the direction.

00:50:08.880 --> 00:50:12.800
Your finance director is saying that that makes her uncomfortable with the

00:50:12.800 --> 00:50:17.200
way the finances sit in that department currently. That has not been the only

00:50:17.200 --> 00:50:22.440
surprise that we've had this year in the sewer department for repairs. So again, I

00:50:22.440 --> 00:50:26.760
don't think we're fighting you on whatever you it is you would like to

00:50:26.760 --> 00:50:35.760
We're not trying to push forward or move forward. We're just advising you that it might not be the greatest position for the Sewer Department and might put them in trouble long term.

00:50:35.760 --> 00:50:43.760
Okay, so back to my original question. Even though we budgeted $600,000 for these dump things.

00:50:43.760 --> 00:50:44.760
Ten years.

00:50:44.760 --> 00:50:58.760
Yes. We wasn't going to use that budget money, no way. We were going to finance it. Is that what you're telling me?

00:50:58.760 --> 00:51:02.760
I don't know the answer to that question.

00:51:02.760 --> 00:51:07.760
But if the council said, but we budgeted for it.

00:51:07.760 --> 00:51:29.760
We budget for items that we take loans on. We budget for items that we get grants on. Just because it's in the budget doesn't always mean that we have the cash to purchase it throughout that department because a lot of our large equipment is purchased over periods. We don't just spend $500,000 on one piece of equipment.

00:51:29.760 --> 00:51:42.760
The items that you're talking about more that are budgeted in one cycle are more like our pickup trucks, our police cars, those type of items that aren't a half a million or a $800,000 purchase.

00:51:42.760 --> 00:51:47.760
Some of the big equipment items like the Vector is a very large purchase.

00:51:47.760 --> 00:51:57.760
We don't have within the utility, the police department, only the fire department would rein us on this type of pricey equipment.

00:51:57.760 --> 00:52:05.920
Right? And so, again, we're not fighting you on how you want to do it, it's just somebody

00:52:05.920 --> 00:52:11.800
needs to express what the good decision is for the Sewer Department based on the finances

00:52:11.800 --> 00:52:12.800
that are there.

00:52:12.800 --> 00:52:13.800
Right.

00:52:13.800 --> 00:52:18.640
Director Richter, did you have anything else you want to add to that?

00:52:18.640 --> 00:52:19.640
No.

00:52:19.640 --> 00:52:23.200
Alderman Stacy?

00:52:23.200 --> 00:52:30.800
I am not doubting your ability, your knowledge, nor your input.

00:52:30.800 --> 00:52:44.520
I'm merely making a suggestion that we put money down on this big ticket item.

00:52:44.520 --> 00:52:48.720
And she's making the suggestion that that's not a good idea.

00:52:48.720 --> 00:52:55.440
is there anything else we need to talk about with this seeing none I believe

00:52:55.440 --> 00:52:58.100
what that means we're ready for a vote madam clerk would you please take the

00:52:58.100 --> 00:53:08.680
role Klemm Monroe aye Simmons aye Parker aye Stacy no Shadle aye Sanders the

00:53:08.680 --> 00:53:14.580
motion passes six to one hey item number eight is the first reading of ordinance

00:53:14.580 --> 00:53:23.140
Bordnance approving the City to enter into a fourth renewal to lease agreement with Peter

00:53:23.140 --> 00:53:26.860
Albert regarding 103 to 111 South Liberty Avenue.

00:53:26.860 --> 00:53:28.860
Thank you, Director Duckman.

00:53:28.860 --> 00:53:29.860
Thank you, Madam Mayor.

00:53:29.860 --> 00:53:35.100
The City of Freeport enters into a lease agreement with Peter Albert to lease the first floor

00:53:35.100 --> 00:53:40.980
of the former Raleigh Tinclad Building on September 22nd of 2020.

00:53:40.980 --> 00:53:46.840
This lease has been extended three times and go over the extensions we've had.

00:53:46.840 --> 00:53:55.660
In 2021, we extended the lease at $1,000 paid annually for rent, and that's expired on September

00:53:55.660 --> 00:53:57.700
14th of 2022.

00:53:57.700 --> 00:54:04.340
Then in 2022, it was also a one-year lease, but we increased the annual rent from $1,000

00:54:04.340 --> 00:54:06.540
to $2,000.

00:54:06.540 --> 00:54:13.220
and then in 2023 we extended the lease at the same terms at $2,000 paid annually and

00:54:13.220 --> 00:54:19.660
that lease extension has expired on September 14th of 2024.

00:54:19.660 --> 00:54:27.240
And so staff is here today recommending a fourth extension with an expiration date of

00:54:27.240 --> 00:54:35.300
September 14th, 2025 and the terms of this would be $2,000 annually paid in rent.

00:54:35.300 --> 00:54:37.620
Stap, that's staff's recommendation to move this forward.

00:54:37.620 --> 00:54:39.620
Is there a motion to move forward?

00:54:39.620 --> 00:54:40.500
So moved.

00:54:40.500 --> 00:54:41.540
Second.

00:54:41.540 --> 00:54:46.820
Motion made by Alderman Parker, seconded by Alderman Shadle.

00:54:46.820 --> 00:54:49.620
Discussion?

00:54:49.620 --> 00:54:50.780
Alderman Stacy?

00:54:50.780 --> 00:54:51.820
Yes.

00:54:51.820 --> 00:54:58.460
Is this 101 South Liberty, or is this 103 South Liberty?

00:54:58.460 --> 00:55:00.500
I'd have to get confirmation of that.

00:55:00.500 --> 00:55:02.900
I do know it's the tin-clad building.

00:55:02.900 --> 00:55:07.380
so when you're driving towards you know the Raleigh building complex it has that

00:55:07.380 --> 00:55:12.460
clad siding you know what I'm is that tracking yet for you and it's that

00:55:12.460 --> 00:55:16.620
building it's known as the ironclad building so I don't off the top my head

00:55:16.620 --> 00:55:21.380
there's several addresses I believe the 101 is his own personal building okay

00:55:21.380 --> 00:55:28.380
that's the one so he has his own personal building and he's also renting

00:55:28.380 --> 00:55:44.820
from the city. Correct. He owns the south one. The one on the north side is what he rents.

00:55:44.820 --> 00:55:56.460
And he was paying $1,000 and now he's leasing it for $2,000. Correct. Excuse me, that is

00:55:56.460 --> 00:56:10.460
Yes, correct. Yes. Why was there an increase? Well, I think at that time when we were negotiating the terms, we looked at it, look at the value of the building and it's basically more advantageous to the city.

00:56:10.460 --> 00:56:24.460
I mean, when you're breaking that down, $1,000 annually is not even $100 a month. So I think we want to be fair in what we charge. You know, I've disclosed the lease for everyone, you know, to see.

00:56:24.460 --> 00:56:33.460
And, at that time, two years ago, it was thought to be fair and reasonable between the parties to raise it to $2,000.

00:56:33.460 --> 00:56:43.460
Okay. In raising it $2,000, though, that also brought down the taxes.

00:56:43.460 --> 00:56:57.460
I actually, I can't answer that question right now because I'm not sure, I don't have in front of me what the taxes were in 2022 versus the taxes would be assessed. That information for 2023 would be available, not yet for 2024.

00:56:57.460 --> 00:57:05.460
So I don't, I'll be honest with you, I don't know that exact number in the tax assessed value between 2022 and 2023.

00:57:05.460 --> 00:57:13.460
Okay, Director Duckman, can you tell me who's paying taxes on this building?

00:57:13.460 --> 00:57:22.460
I can go around. It should be City of Freeport. That's a good point. It should be City of Freeport paying. It should be a tax-exempt building anyway, so scratch what I just said.

00:57:22.460 --> 00:57:25.460
But the assessed value, go ahead.

00:57:25.460 --> 00:57:28.460
Sorry, go ahead. You had shaking your head here.

00:57:28.460 --> 00:57:42.460
It would not be tax exempt if we're getting revenue on it and Director Richter, I'm pretty sure the last time I checked with you, he reimburses as the real estate tax, is that correct or am I wrong?

00:57:42.460 --> 00:57:44.460
Yes sir, do you want Aaron?

00:57:44.460 --> 00:57:46.460
Aaron?

00:57:46.460 --> 00:57:52.380
so I don't I don't know the exact numbers but typically city properties are tax exempt however if

00:57:53.260 --> 00:57:59.900
a city property is leased or portion of a city property is leased then we lose that portion of

00:57:59.900 --> 00:58:05.820
tax exemption so we do pay some we not right we might not get a hundred percent exemption we might

00:58:05.820 --> 00:58:10.220
have we might lose five percent ten percent depending on how much is being leased there so

00:58:10.220 --> 00:58:14.700
the state determines on how much do we have to pay in taxes then it sounds like michelle you're saying

00:58:14.700 --> 00:58:21.540
and Mr. Albert then reimburses us for that tax payment because otherwise if it was a hundred percent city being used by the city we

00:58:21.540 --> 00:58:26.620
wouldn't pay that property taxes on it and it's not 100% used I think that

00:58:26.620 --> 00:58:30.580
building is it six floors or eight floors and he just uses one he's using

00:58:30.580 --> 00:58:33.860
the lease agreement is for him to use one and we had to share that I now I'm

00:58:33.860 --> 00:58:36.600
remembering now we had to share that with the tax assessor because they were

00:58:36.600 --> 00:58:40.740
quick to note and ask us that wanted to know how much small portion it's one

00:58:40.740 --> 00:58:42.740
and

00:58:43.740 --> 00:58:45.740
Tom.

00:58:46.740 --> 00:58:48.740
So there is some tax. There is some property tax there.

00:58:48.740 --> 00:58:53.740
About $87. Yeah, if that's what you know, I appreciate it. Thank

00:58:53.740 --> 00:58:55.740
you for telling me.

00:58:59.740 --> 00:59:02.740
Okay. Well, then we're moving this on to the next regular scheduled

00:59:02.740 --> 00:59:05.740
meeting. Move on to item number nine, which is the adoption of

00:59:05.740 --> 00:59:09.740
resolution 2024-101. Could you please read this?

00:59:09.740 --> 00:59:15.860
application to IDOT's ITEP program for a pedestrian bicycle facility.

00:59:15.860 --> 00:59:22.100
It says presented by Alderman Klemm and Shadle. I don't know if either one of you wanted to

00:59:22.100 --> 00:59:26.660
say something first or just let Darren recap.

00:59:26.660 --> 00:59:35.020
This is a revision of a proposal that came to us a few weeks ago when the time for it

00:59:35.020 --> 00:59:40.860
to come up for a vote, the vote, there weren't enough people there for the vote so it couldn't

00:59:40.860 --> 00:59:47.620
be brought up again so we set up a special meeting to bring it up and the attendance

00:59:47.620 --> 00:59:53.900
for that meeting wasn't enough to have a quorum so Alderman Shadle and I brought it back to

00:59:53.900 --> 00:59:57.260
put it on the floor tonight so we can discuss it.

00:59:57.260 --> 01:00:00.060
Aaron, did you want to do a recap?

01:00:00.060 --> 01:00:07.540
Aaron did you want to do a recap or just open for questions go ahead so this is a

01:00:07.540 --> 01:00:13.160
cooperative project between City of Freeport or a proposed project excuse me

01:00:13.160 --> 01:00:18.940
between City of Freeport Highland which is just Highland the college and then

01:00:18.940 --> 01:00:24.420
the foundation as one partner and then also the Park District here in Freeport

01:00:24.420 --> 01:00:53.420
So it's about 4.7 miles of trails that would be built if we are awarded this grant. Potentially one bridge, maybe two is factored into the cost estimate. After the last meeting, City Manager Boyer and Chris out at Highland asked us to redo the cost estimate because the last time we had done it was in 2022.

01:00:53.420 --> 01:00:59.220
So we did that. We also added engineering and construction engineering into the project.

01:00:59.220 --> 01:01:08.660
So when the partners were sharing the cost of the project, it would be the, you know, the full price of the anticipated project split three ways.

01:01:08.660 --> 01:01:16.820
Doing a little bit more digging. This is an IDOT ITEP grant. So with IDOT, none of the processes go very fast.

01:01:16.820 --> 01:01:20.620
So we think that if we were awarded, it would be next year.

01:01:20.620 --> 01:01:29.620
it would be a design process of probably close to 18 months and then construction would actually take place probably in 2027.

01:01:29.620 --> 01:01:41.140
So what we asked for in memorandum of understanding with Highland and the Park District was a financial commitment of $333,000 per partner,

01:01:41.140 --> 01:01:50.340
$100,000 in fiscal year 25, $100,000 in fiscal year 26, and $133,000 in fiscal year 27 if we're awarded.

01:01:50.340 --> 01:01:57.220
Now remember that this is just a cost estimate. I think we are high here, but we're also, you know,

01:01:57.220 --> 01:02:04.420
two and a half years away from building it. So if the costs are reduced, the partner shares would

01:02:04.420 --> 01:02:12.100
also be reduced. The ITEP grant is a maximum $3 million grant, so we're asking for the max.

01:02:12.100 --> 01:02:24.020
Hicks, and the ITEP requirements require residential connection to schools, colleges, shopping

01:02:24.020 --> 01:02:26.900
of some nature, and then parks.

01:02:26.900 --> 01:02:31.220
So we have to hit all those elements within there to have a good application.

01:02:31.220 --> 01:02:36.080
So this application that's shown here is just a concept.

01:02:36.080 --> 01:02:39.040
It's not the exact spot that it's going to go.

01:02:39.040 --> 01:02:40.520
It's the beginning base.

01:02:40.520 --> 01:02:42.800
the Park District even asked for a couple

01:02:42.800 --> 01:02:47.060
of potential alternates based on what design

01:02:47.060 --> 01:02:49.880
would actually do, but we feel comfortable

01:02:49.880 --> 01:02:53.080
that it would be no more than a $4 million project.

01:02:53.080 --> 01:02:55.920
And we would work to try to eliminate the bridges as well.

01:02:55.920 --> 01:02:57.960
Cause the bridges are very expensive.

01:02:57.960 --> 01:02:59.800
We just don't know at this point

01:02:59.800 --> 01:03:01.440
cause we haven't designed anything

01:03:01.440 --> 01:03:02.880
whether that's possible or not.

01:03:03.760 --> 01:03:04.600
Alderman Stacey.

01:03:04.600 --> 01:03:33.600
Truth be told, there was enough here for a fair vote. We had a quorum, or else we could not have even have sit down to discuss anything, and it was, it did not pass by two-thirds vote, and so how it ended back here, I don't,

01:03:33.600 --> 01:03:45.480
Don't understand, however it did, but let's shame the devil and tell the truth.

01:03:45.480 --> 01:03:54.120
We had enough people here for a quorum, we voted, the vote did not pass, and I, the opposing

01:03:54.120 --> 01:03:58.060
team, did not ask for it to come back.

01:03:58.060 --> 01:04:01.700
I was given no choice in the matter.

01:04:01.700 --> 01:04:03.420
So let's just make that clear.

01:04:03.420 --> 01:04:05.860
Okay, we have a little procedure issue here.

01:04:05.860 --> 01:04:08.500
I forgot to get a motion to move this forward.

01:04:08.500 --> 01:04:09.500
To adopt.

01:04:09.500 --> 01:04:10.500
A motion to adopt.

01:04:10.500 --> 01:04:11.500
So moved.

01:04:11.500 --> 01:04:12.500
Is there such a motion?

01:04:12.500 --> 01:04:13.500
So moved.

01:04:13.500 --> 01:04:14.500
Second.

01:04:14.500 --> 01:04:23.620
A motion made by Alderman Klemm, seconded by Alderman Shadle.

01:04:23.620 --> 01:04:24.620
Alderman Simmons?

01:04:24.620 --> 01:04:25.620
Yeah.

01:04:25.620 --> 01:04:26.620
How is this back?

01:04:26.620 --> 01:04:31.260
Because it was voted on and it didn't pass.

01:04:31.260 --> 01:04:39.260
And it was enough people here, because y'all was trying to get Alderperson Stacy to bring it back to revote on it. So, how is it back?

01:04:39.260 --> 01:04:41.260
Well, he's going to answer that.

01:04:41.260 --> 01:04:48.260
So, right, procedurally at that meeting, it was voted on. There were not the requisite number of votes to adopt the resolution. You needed five.

01:04:48.260 --> 01:04:53.260
And the vote wasn't there. You didn't get at least five votes in favor of it.

01:04:53.260 --> 01:04:59.960
later during that meeting shortly right after that vote there a motion it was

01:04:59.960 --> 01:05:03.020
entertained whether or not there would be a motion to reconsider a motion to

01:05:03.020 --> 01:05:06.660
reconsider has to be made by someone on the prevailing side the prevailing side

01:05:06.660 --> 01:05:11.420
was it failed so that would have had to been Alderman Stacy arguably you could

01:05:11.420 --> 01:05:15.420
have made the motion to reconsider to you but but you guys didn't because you

01:05:15.420 --> 01:05:19.020
were gonna vote no anyways you said there so the motion to reconsider failed

01:05:19.020 --> 01:05:29.020
We also have rules in our code that say that any two Aldermen can ask for an item to be placed on an agenda.

01:05:29.020 --> 01:05:38.020
So that's what Alderman Klemm and Alderman Shadle did. They asked to have it put back on an agenda, whether it was at the special meeting or at this meeting.

01:05:38.020 --> 01:05:45.020
They can do that there. Just because something doesn't meet the requisite number of votes doesn't mean that it's dead forever.

01:05:45.020 --> 01:05:46.020
Miller.

01:05:46.020 --> 01:05:47.020
Right?

01:05:47.020 --> 01:05:48.020
Something can change.

01:05:48.020 --> 01:05:49.100
Circumstances change.

01:05:49.100 --> 01:05:53.280
So things can be brought back now.

01:05:53.280 --> 01:05:58.740
The difference being is, or the nuance is that everything, anytime anything fails, should

01:05:58.740 --> 01:06:03.420
it be brought back, well, if the vote's potentially not going to change, I would say then it's

01:06:03.420 --> 01:06:05.060
probably a waste of time.

01:06:05.060 --> 01:06:09.560
You know, if the vote's potentially not going to change, I think the difference here potentially

01:06:09.560 --> 01:06:14.700
is, you know, the vote could be different because you have different people that, there

01:06:14.700 --> 01:06:15.700
and so on.

01:06:15.700 --> 01:06:16.860
So there were people that were missing there.

01:06:16.860 --> 01:06:21.340
But let's say hypothetically you had everybody there, you know, a different topic where you

01:06:21.340 --> 01:06:24.740
had all eight members of the council there and the mayor was present there.

01:06:24.740 --> 01:06:28.340
Let's say we were talking about whether or not to do an ice cream social, right?

01:06:28.340 --> 01:06:35.460
And the vote goes down, you know, seven to one there, or let's say it goes down six,

01:06:35.460 --> 01:06:39.120
it fails, two to six, okay?

01:06:39.120 --> 01:06:42.060
Two people want it, six people don't want it, right?

01:06:42.060 --> 01:06:43.060
and so on.

01:06:43.060 --> 01:06:45.780
So those two people that wanted it, that didn't get it to pass, they could technically still

01:06:45.780 --> 01:06:47.580
put it back on the agenda.

01:06:47.580 --> 01:06:51.700
But unless you know that someone's going to flip their vote, then it's really kind of

01:06:51.700 --> 01:06:54.120
a waste of time to do that.

01:06:54.120 --> 01:07:00.340
But there's nothing that prevents an item just because it failed one time from being

01:07:00.340 --> 01:07:02.540
brought back there.

01:07:02.540 --> 01:07:07.820
So that's how it got back because two aldermen asked for it to be put back on the agenda.

01:07:07.820 --> 01:07:08.820
Alderman Sanders?

01:07:08.820 --> 01:07:17.260
Yeah, and with that statement you're making, wow, what happened to me?

01:07:17.260 --> 01:07:31.260
I feel, or the Council probably feel, the majority anyway that didn't vote on the approval

01:07:31.260 --> 01:07:38.580
should be entertained with at least an explanation for why it is brought back.

01:07:38.580 --> 01:07:44.580
You know, if it's going to be brought back seeking another approval for it, then there

01:07:44.580 --> 01:07:51.860
should be a follow-up explanation of the reason why we're entertaining this again.

01:07:51.860 --> 01:07:58.940
That's how I feel, and I think anybody else would feel that way as well.

01:07:58.940 --> 01:08:03.740
because two people decide, well, we want to put it back on there.

01:08:03.740 --> 01:08:07.540
Well, give us an explanation to why you want that back on there

01:08:07.540 --> 01:08:14.020
because there's that can be other arterial motives that

01:08:14.020 --> 01:08:15.420
is precipitating this.

01:08:15.420 --> 01:08:21.700
And we need to know why it is that someone is requesting

01:08:21.700 --> 01:08:24.660
to bring it back for another look at.

01:08:24.660 --> 01:08:27.260
So I think people had their minds made up

01:08:27.260 --> 01:08:31.740
for the very first time, and if it's brought up again,

01:08:31.740 --> 01:08:34.220
it should have some kind of explanation why.

01:08:34.220 --> 01:08:38.840
So Alderman Sanders, Attorney Zito explained

01:08:38.840 --> 01:08:40.060
the procedure part of it.

01:08:40.060 --> 01:08:42.100
So if Alderman Klemm or Alderman Shadle

01:08:42.100 --> 01:08:44.579
would like to give more insight into why they wanted

01:08:44.579 --> 01:08:48.100
to bring this back, the floor is yours.

01:08:48.100 --> 01:08:50.660
Sure, if I could have the floor.

01:08:50.660 --> 01:08:53.240
Okay, it's really pretty simple.

01:08:53.240 --> 01:08:59.480
you've got a project here that's got three partners in it it takes all three

01:08:59.480 --> 01:09:07.160
partners to make it work okay you've got Greater Downtown Freeport that supports

01:09:07.160 --> 01:09:13.840
it these trails tie into many different places okay there's 4.7 miles are

01:09:13.840 --> 01:09:17.480
basically like we said there's three million dollars worth of work we're

01:09:17.480 --> 01:09:23.480
We're paying, if it goes through, we're paying a couple hundred thousand dollars for it.

01:09:23.480 --> 01:09:25.920
Very low match on what it is.

01:09:25.920 --> 01:09:31.880
You know, we believe, we've heard from the other taxing districts, you know, what the

01:09:31.880 --> 01:09:34.200
hell are you guys thinking of?

01:09:34.200 --> 01:09:38.280
You know, there's other people involved in this that want to take part in this and it

01:09:38.280 --> 01:09:40.000
ties in different areas.

01:09:40.000 --> 01:09:47.079
It ties in his ward, it ties in my ward, it ties in your ward, it ties in many places.

01:09:47.079 --> 01:09:54.840
brings people opportunity to use 4.7 more miles worth of bike paths. So we felt as

01:09:54.840 --> 01:10:01.840
those with it being other partnerships in this, you know, let's take a look at

01:10:01.840 --> 01:10:07.039
you know let's take a look at this a second time and say is this do you want

01:10:07.039 --> 01:10:10.480
this or don't you want it if you don't want it all you gotta do is vote no

01:10:10.480 --> 01:10:15.400
pretty simple and you got to remember it's it's it's committing to the funding

01:10:15.400 --> 01:10:20.119
for a possible grant we haven't secured the grant it's just a possible funding

01:10:20.119 --> 01:10:27.279
are you gonna put behind it so actually Alderman Stacey was next have we heard

01:10:27.279 --> 01:10:40.279
from Highland or the Park District. Are they even willing to do this? Because we had no

01:10:40.279 --> 01:10:53.199
manager. Excuse me. I stopped talking so he could take the floor. I had the floor. Actually,

01:10:53.199 --> 01:10:56.880
and now you don't, it's actually Manager Boyer's floor.

01:10:56.880 --> 01:10:58.960
As I understand, I haven't spoken directly

01:10:58.960 --> 01:11:02.560
with Chris Kevister, but I believe our staff has.

01:11:02.560 --> 01:11:04.880
And I've spoken with the Park District directly,

01:11:04.880 --> 01:11:07.000
and everybody is favorable for this.

01:11:07.000 --> 01:11:09.680
It adds real amenities to the community.

01:11:09.680 --> 01:11:12.079
I talked to Highland on Friday, and they

01:11:12.079 --> 01:11:14.039
asked for the memorandum of understanding

01:11:14.039 --> 01:11:17.440
for their meeting tomorrow, if it passes tonight.

01:11:17.440 --> 01:11:22.480
And I do want to say, what was presented to the council

01:11:22.480 --> 01:11:30.940
was 200,000 for the city, 200,000 for the park district, 200,000 for Highland that have

01:11:30.940 --> 01:11:42.199
now turned into 333,000 and let the record show that the people of Freeport pays taxes

01:11:42.199 --> 01:11:49.119
on this money, the city portion and the park portion.

01:11:49.119 --> 01:11:52.119
We have to pay taxes on this.

01:11:52.119 --> 01:12:03.800
and so as far as I'm concerned, call the question.

01:12:03.800 --> 01:12:08.920
If that's a motion, then to call the question, there needs to be a second and then a vote

01:12:08.920 --> 01:12:12.079
on the calling of the question.

01:12:12.079 --> 01:12:16.319
There's a motion made by Alderman Stacey, seconded by Alderman Cronin to call the question.

01:12:16.319 --> 01:12:21.020
Cook, and I know that some folks may be disappointed. I would like to see the

01:12:21.020 --> 01:12:28.520
Chair and some Clerk take the role on ending discussion and calling the vote.

01:12:28.520 --> 01:12:29.520
Klemm?

01:12:29.520 --> 01:12:31.119
Aye.

01:12:31.119 --> 01:12:32.720
Monroe?

01:12:32.720 --> 01:12:34.119
Simmons?

01:12:34.119 --> 01:12:36.020
Aye.

01:12:36.020 --> 01:12:37.319
Parker?

01:12:37.319 --> 01:12:38.520
Aye.

01:12:38.520 --> 01:12:39.720
Stacy?

01:12:39.720 --> 01:12:41.020
No.

01:12:41.020 --> 01:12:42.119
Shadle?

01:12:42.119 --> 01:12:43.420
Aye.

01:12:43.420 --> 01:12:44.520
Sanders?

01:12:44.520 --> 01:12:46.220
No.

01:12:46.220 --> 01:12:48.220
and

01:12:49.460 --> 01:12:51.460
the other four against and that probably fails.

01:12:51.579 --> 01:12:53.579
So all that means is there is continued discussion.

01:12:53.579 --> 01:12:55.579
So Alderman Monroe.

01:12:57.579 --> 01:12:59.579
So I've got a couple of questions and this is a little bit of

01:13:00.699 --> 01:13:05.699
cart before the horse. So if we got this grant and everybody's

01:13:05.699 --> 01:13:09.699
agreement that this would move forward, what would be, who

01:13:09.699 --> 01:13:11.699
would be doing the

01:13:12.819 --> 01:13:14.819
work to do this? Would it go out to bid or would it be city and

01:13:14.819 --> 01:13:17.380
and Park District employees, how would that work?

01:13:17.380 --> 01:13:23.860
So IDOT requirements, would it have to be contracted out?

01:13:23.860 --> 01:13:31.140
Anything with IDOT money has to be bid and will have to be done by contractors on that

01:13:31.140 --> 01:13:32.140
project.

01:13:32.140 --> 01:13:42.819
That's the, I guess, the skinny of it.

01:13:42.819 --> 01:14:01.659
All the participating agencies that are participating in this investment that we're doing, especially

01:14:01.659 --> 01:14:08.739
with taxpayers dollars, a lot of the funding for this grant has to be somewhat of a matching

01:14:08.739 --> 01:14:09.739
type thing.

01:14:09.739 --> 01:14:12.060
Is that what we're talking about?

01:14:12.060 --> 01:14:19.779
and then not only that, who's making decisions and surveys to determine the extension or the

01:14:19.779 --> 01:14:27.619
expansion of this particular project and who is it serving, is it serving the whole total

01:14:27.619 --> 01:14:33.739
residential of the City of Freeport or is it just some and not others?

01:14:33.739 --> 01:14:40.500
Am I looking at it from that perspective because I know you were saying that you might have

01:14:40.500 --> 01:15:10.500
I have to make it, I'm putting it in my own words, that you, the designated areas that you were making suggestions for is for the grant purpose of being approved, and so you designated certain areas for this grant and I'm not saying you're just holding us to that, binding the city to that, but it's just to get the grant presentation presented

01:15:10.500 --> 01:15:16.699
So we can get the grant approved. Is that how I'm looking at it? But it will be extended

01:15:16.699 --> 01:15:23.020
and provided for the whole city residential areas of Freeport because they are all taxpayers

01:15:23.020 --> 01:15:28.260
and their money has been, their tax dollars are being invested into this particular grant

01:15:28.260 --> 01:15:34.199
project. And so I know, I know we, I know you can't name everything to where it's going,

01:15:34.199 --> 01:15:39.940
but the most vital areas is what the grant is going to be designed for.

01:15:39.940 --> 01:15:45.940
We're just going to leave it and cut it off there just for the sake of getting a grant, is that what we're saying?

01:15:45.940 --> 01:15:57.940
No. There's a map and a memo that was provided with this. The map shows the outline of the existing city trail system and the proposal for the expansion.

01:15:57.940 --> 01:16:06.940
Most of it is within the west side of Freeport because that's where our existing trail system is, so it's an expansion off of that trail.

01:16:06.940 --> 01:16:21.940
Again, like I said, iDOT wise, part of the process, you have to kind of come up with a basic area of the trail and you have to hit the components of schools, shopping, and residential areas to qualify.

01:16:21.940 --> 01:16:33.940
They want alternate recreational path opportunity for people from residential areas to get to parks, schools, and shopping that don't include vehicle traffic.

01:16:33.940 --> 01:17:03.940
Trapp. I agree with you. All right. This project was already submitted for in 2022 with the same three partners. And it was at that time when we weren't awarded, the three partners said at the time, because ITEP only comes around every two years. And this is a larger amount than what they usually give. They usually are I believe half of this about a million and a half. So everybody that was in the partnership said if this comes open again, we want

01:17:03.940 --> 01:17:33.940
Re-Apply. Anybody that knows anything that's going on with grants within the within the grant community, grant timelines have condensed greatly. So you you have a very short and nimble window to get these things together. This one in particular, about 30 days. A city manager, mayor, they all both know that if this does not pass tonight, it's dead because we don't have enough time to have the public meeting that's required with this. Highland and

01:17:33.940 --> 01:17:38.940
and the Park District from my conversations, which have been emails, have been very positive

01:17:38.940 --> 01:17:43.539
about this project and the outlook of it and sharing the cost of it to expand that biking

01:17:43.539 --> 01:17:44.539
network.

01:17:44.539 --> 01:17:48.300
And it's really not just a bike network, it's a walking path network.

01:17:48.300 --> 01:17:54.900
Well even if the grants, even if the grant was approved and things of that nature, who's

01:17:54.900 --> 01:17:57.819
going to be doing the oversight and overseeing?

01:17:57.819 --> 01:18:03.340
The city of Freeport will be doing the overseeing, but it is under the memorandum of understanding

01:18:03.340 --> 01:18:05.340
and I are working together on this project.

01:18:05.340 --> 01:18:10.340
So, I think it will be all three parties working together, because that's what the outline of sharing the cost means.

01:18:10.340 --> 01:18:11.340
Okay.

01:18:11.340 --> 01:18:19.340
If we submit, if it's a yes and we submit, City of Freeport is the lead agency for this project.

01:18:19.340 --> 01:18:20.340
Okay.

01:18:20.340 --> 01:18:32.340
And all rules or policies will be administered to the, will be subject to the council's overseeing of these projects?

01:18:32.340 --> 01:18:52.180
Okay, so are you telling me that the Park District and Highland have had their meeting that we

01:18:52.180 --> 01:18:53.380
were waiting on?

01:18:53.380 --> 01:18:57.100
No, their meeting is dependent upon this meeting tonight.

01:18:57.100 --> 01:19:15.100
Okay, and when contracted out, when projects like this is contracted out, we the council have no say so when choosing the contractor. Would that be a correct statement?

01:19:15.100 --> 01:19:26.100
No, it goes to the low bid procurement process. That's how an ITEP grant, when you go to a bid, when we bid something out, it goes to the low contract bid.

01:19:26.100 --> 01:19:32.980
and so whoever's the most responsible bidder with the low price can it should

01:19:32.980 --> 01:19:38.460
be recommended for that job that's that's with any project of the municipality so

01:19:38.460 --> 01:19:44.980
when is it that we don't have a choice you always have a choice that's why we

01:19:44.980 --> 01:19:50.860
there's been jobs they have come on the table so the only time you wouldn't be

01:19:50.860 --> 01:19:55.260
able to select a low bid contractor is if there's some disagreement with a

01:19:55.260 --> 01:20:02.260
and the contractor that the city has that they hadn't performed in the past, they didn't fulfill a contract, they have a bond.

01:20:02.260 --> 01:20:04.739
G companies,

01:20:04.860 --> 01:20:08.400
they have a trade deal, they have a contract, they have a bond

01:20:08.500 --> 01:20:13.140
issue. Otherwise you're legally obligated to go with the

01:20:13.239 --> 01:20:16.840
low bidder. Now it can be overrode, but if it is you

01:20:16.940 --> 01:20:21.420
could have to pay the original low bidder their profit on the

01:20:21.520 --> 01:20:25.619
project. And Eric can probably expand on that, but that's the

01:20:25.720 --> 01:20:27.920
procurement rules with government funding.

01:20:27.920 --> 01:20:47.920
So, again, just generally speaking, right, so if a project goes to public bidding, right, you put the bid request out there, contractors submit their proposals, right, you open the bid, typically then you award, as Darren said, to the lowest bidder, right, you want to take the least expensive bid there.

01:20:47.920 --> 01:20:54.300
Now that person just as you know on previous agendas right when we open bids the approval

01:20:54.300 --> 01:20:59.000
of that the selection the formal selection of that person of that low bidder still comes

01:20:59.000 --> 01:21:01.640
before the council there.

01:21:01.640 --> 01:21:05.480
So that's the general process I think you're asking though Alderman Stacey though that there

01:21:05.480 --> 01:21:10.739
are times where it's just being presented to you as oh hey we're going to go with this

01:21:10.739 --> 01:21:14.880
particular person I think that's what you're asking right a lot of times then that's where

01:21:14.880 --> 01:21:44.880
Yohear, City Manager, sometimes reference like a source well contract there. A lot of times there, a source well contract is, it's technically already gone out to bid just at a higher level, just not at the city level. It's kind of gone out, they used to call it the state bid, where the state would go through a bid process. And they would award it to a particular car dealership, right at the state bid level, it was bid. And this dealership now has hundreds

01:21:44.880 --> 01:21:50.400
of Police Cars, right? So then a municipality who wants to buy from them doesn't have to go through

01:21:50.400 --> 01:21:54.480
the bid process itself because it already went through the bid process at the state level and

01:21:54.480 --> 01:21:58.079
that's called source well. Now they changed the name of it but it used to be called the statement.

01:21:58.079 --> 01:22:03.520
So a lot of times then if something is a source well contract the city will just bring it straight

01:22:03.520 --> 01:22:07.840
to you without having to approve a bid because it was approved at the state level. So that's one

01:22:07.840 --> 01:22:13.680
reason. Another time that you might not get a choice is there's only one person that does this

01:22:13.680 --> 01:22:17.280
or maybe five people in the entire country and only one that does it

01:22:17.280 --> 01:22:21.920
anywhere remotely close to the state of Illinois so in that sense then

01:22:21.920 --> 01:22:25.119
sometimes that one is just brought straight to you guys because it wouldn't

01:22:25.119 --> 01:22:27.920
be economical to hire a contractor out of California

01:22:27.920 --> 01:22:31.440
to come do that very specialized job you know but

01:22:31.440 --> 01:22:35.680
there's one company in Illinois that does it might be six hours away but still

01:22:35.680 --> 01:22:39.039
cheaper than California, Boston, whatever it may be so

01:22:39.039 --> 01:22:43.600
those are some of the examples of when you don't get it other times

01:22:43.600 --> 01:22:49.400
There may be a situation where you guys and it's come up before where you guys you're asked to waive the formal bid process

01:22:49.400 --> 01:22:55.560
You know sometimes if it's an emergency, you know an emergency repair had to be done something broke over the weekend

01:22:55.560 --> 01:22:57.199
They had to just go

01:22:57.199 --> 01:23:03.680
Pick someone to fix the emergency water leak and then they bring it back before you guys to ratify the emergency repair

01:23:03.680 --> 01:23:04.119
Well, yes

01:23:04.119 --> 01:23:08.980
I have a choice there because they did it because the pike was you know spewing water over the weekend

01:23:08.980 --> 01:23:10.980
So those are just some of the scenarios

01:23:13.600 --> 01:23:19.159
Yeah, sure.

01:23:19.159 --> 01:23:26.800
Just one other comment that I meant to say earlier, and it's at the bottom of the memo,

01:23:26.800 --> 01:23:32.800
but our 2024 to 2026 strategic plan for the City of Freeport that was brought forward,

01:23:32.800 --> 01:23:38.579
there's three sections within that plan that talk about expanding the bike and rec path.

01:23:38.579 --> 01:23:46.820
So this project does meet that type of strategic plan and I listed those at the bottom and

01:23:46.820 --> 01:23:52.140
I went through it prior to the meeting just to make sure that, you know, those were listed

01:23:52.140 --> 01:23:57.860
within the, why the project's being brought forward.

01:23:57.860 --> 01:24:02.340
Okay, so no further discussion.

01:24:02.340 --> 01:24:07.220
Madam Clerk, please take the roll on resolution 2024-101.

01:24:07.220 --> 01:24:17.220
Mr. Mayor, just an explanation. This vote here is for a matter of if it goes through or not, if we agree with it. Is that correct?

01:24:17.220 --> 01:24:18.220
Say that again.

01:24:18.220 --> 01:24:22.220
It's approval of the resolution is what this vote's for, correct?

01:24:22.220 --> 01:24:27.220
Correct. It's saying that we're committed to the funding if we are awarded the grant.

01:24:27.220 --> 01:24:29.220
Thank you.

01:24:29.220 --> 01:24:30.220
Klemm?

01:24:30.220 --> 01:24:31.220
Aye.

01:24:31.220 --> 01:24:32.220
Monroe?

01:24:32.220 --> 01:24:33.220
Aye.

01:24:33.220 --> 01:24:34.220
Simmons?

01:24:34.220 --> 01:24:35.220
No.

01:24:35.220 --> 01:24:36.220
Parker?

01:24:36.220 --> 01:24:45.380
No. Shadle? Aye. Sanders? Aye. The motion passes for, wait, one, two, five, two, two.

01:24:45.380 --> 01:24:57.400
Okay, we'll move on to item number ten, which is the adoption of resolution 2024-103. Resolution

01:24:57.400 --> 01:25:03.460
setting the date and hours for trick-or-treating in the city for 2024. Manager Boyer? Thank you,

01:25:03.460 --> 01:25:07.960
Thank you, Your Honor. In the past, trick-or-treating has been observed on Halloween, October 31st.

01:25:07.960 --> 01:25:12.800
For the past several years, the hours have been from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. This year, Halloween

01:25:12.800 --> 01:25:17.619
falls on a Thursday. Staff is recommending keeping trick-or-treat on Thursday, October

01:25:17.619 --> 01:25:24.500
31st, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. And staff recommends moving forward with that resolution, 2024-103.

01:25:24.500 --> 01:25:26.920
Is there a motion to adopt?

01:25:26.920 --> 01:25:27.920
There is.

01:25:27.920 --> 01:25:28.920
Second.

01:25:28.920 --> 01:25:58.920
made by Alderman Parker, seconded by Alderman Shadle. Any discussion? Clerk, please take the roll. Klemm? Aye. Monroe? Aye. Simmons? Aye. Parker? Aye. Stacy? Aye. Shadle? Aye. And Sanders? Aye. The resolution is adopted 7-0. Item number 11 is the adoption of resolution 2024-104. Could you please read this? Resolution approving a proposal from OEC for repairs and upgrades to the city's fuel station

01:25:58.920 --> 01:26:03.920
and a proposal from Northwest Environmental for limited Phase 2 Environmental Site Assessment

01:26:03.920 --> 01:26:07.760
Services at the Public Works Facility on Island Avenue.

01:26:07.760 --> 01:26:08.760
Thank you.

01:26:08.760 --> 01:26:09.760
Darren?

01:26:09.760 --> 01:26:10.760
Yeah.

01:26:10.760 --> 01:26:17.640
At the last council meeting, OEC's contract was discussed for the fuel station down on

01:26:17.640 --> 01:26:19.720
Island Avenue.

01:26:19.720 --> 01:26:25.960
The project was asked to have more respondents during the week.

01:26:25.960 --> 01:26:34.360
We have asked two more contractors to get bids for this project and no one responded.

01:26:34.360 --> 01:26:41.659
At this time, staff is asking council what's their wish to move forward or not.

01:26:41.659 --> 01:26:52.280
The price will substantially go up in 2025, 2026, and 2027 for this project.

01:26:52.280 --> 01:26:55.520
we had some issues this week down at the fuel station

01:26:55.520 --> 01:27:00.520
and we're fine if this item doesn't move forward,

01:27:02.600 --> 01:27:05.239
we can address it next year.

01:27:05.239 --> 01:27:09.199
Currently, we think that negotiating this price now

01:27:09.199 --> 01:27:12.000
is in the best benefit of the city of Freeport

01:27:12.000 --> 01:27:13.699
and then the work would,

01:27:13.699 --> 01:27:15.239
we basically lock the price in now,

01:27:15.239 --> 01:27:19.000
but do the work and budget for the work in 2025.

01:27:19.000 --> 01:27:49.000
is there a motion to adopt? So moved. Second. A motion made by Alderman Parker, seconded by Alderman Shadle. Any discussion? Alderman Sanders. What's on the line here again? I couldn't quite hear you. Sorry. The fuel station down on Island Street, last meeting we brought forward a quote to rehab the fuel station. The fuel station is having problems. It's at its end of its useful life.

01:27:49.000 --> 01:27:50.000
and others.

01:27:50.000 --> 01:27:54.800
At the last meeting, you asked me to try to get some more proposals, so we did.

01:27:54.800 --> 01:27:57.960
Three different staff members, we tried to get three different companies to bid it.

01:27:57.960 --> 01:28:03.520
We got zero responses back of any interest to move forward and bid this.

01:28:03.520 --> 01:28:07.000
OEC has been our supplier for 35 years.

01:28:07.000 --> 01:28:13.079
They do all of our routine testing, which I believe is monthly down at the station,

01:28:13.079 --> 01:28:15.199
and there's other tests that are done quarterly.

01:28:15.199 --> 01:28:20.560
They installed the existing station and they're willing to work with us to have city crews

01:28:20.560 --> 01:28:25.119
and or other concrete firms do the work that they don't specialize in.

01:28:25.119 --> 01:28:28.560
But we don't have any other options at this point in time.

01:28:28.560 --> 01:28:29.560
Do not.

01:28:29.560 --> 01:28:30.560
Okay.

01:28:30.560 --> 01:28:33.119
That's all I wanted to know.

01:28:33.119 --> 01:28:35.640
All the questions.

01:28:35.640 --> 01:28:36.640
There's no further discussion.

01:28:36.640 --> 01:28:39.079
Madam Clerk, please take the roll.

01:28:39.079 --> 01:28:40.079
Klemm?

01:28:40.079 --> 01:28:41.079
Aye.

01:28:41.079 --> 01:28:42.079
Monroe?

01:28:42.079 --> 01:28:43.079
Aye.

01:28:43.079 --> 01:28:44.079
Simmons?

01:28:44.079 --> 01:28:45.079
Aye.

01:28:45.079 --> 01:28:51.960
Aye. Shadle? Aye. And Sanders? Aye. The resolution is adopted seven to zero. Item number 12 is the

01:28:51.960 --> 01:28:57.320
adoption of resolution 2024-105. Could you please read this? Resolution approving intergovernmental

01:28:57.320 --> 01:29:02.200
agreement with Stevenson County for the use of county antenna tower at the county highway department

01:29:02.200 --> 01:29:08.840
by the city for enhancement of VHF communications within city and Stevenson County. Thank you.

01:29:08.840 --> 01:29:10.119
Thank you. Chief Miller?

01:29:10.119 --> 01:29:16.640
Thank you, Your Honor. On July 8th, the ETSB Board, Emergency Telephone System Board, agreed

01:29:16.640 --> 01:29:23.079
to fund the entire replacement of our VHF radio network. In that proposal, included

01:29:23.079 --> 01:29:29.640
an additional receiver site located at the Stevenson County Highway Department garage

01:29:29.640 --> 01:29:35.800
or their building. So we're seeking tonight for you to approve a resolution to enter into

01:29:35.800 --> 01:29:41.840
to an intergovernmental agreement with Stevenson County for the installation of radio components

01:29:41.840 --> 01:29:47.480
and antennae on their existing radio tower.

01:29:47.480 --> 01:29:49.319
We're seeking your approval tonight.

01:29:49.319 --> 01:29:50.319
There are a motion to adopt.

01:29:50.319 --> 01:29:51.319
Motion to adopt.

01:29:51.319 --> 01:29:52.319
So move.

01:29:52.319 --> 01:30:00.400
We have a motion made by Alderman Parker, seconded by Alderman Klemm.

01:30:00.400 --> 01:30:01.400
Any further discussion?

01:30:01.400 --> 01:30:02.400
Alderman Sanders.

01:30:02.400 --> 01:30:04.680
Any further discussion, Alderman Sanders?

01:30:04.680 --> 01:30:15.760
Yeah. With this antenna tower, are we leasing it as the city, a free port as opposed to the county?

01:30:15.760 --> 01:30:26.520
Are we leasing it, renting it, or is there any transfer of funds happening with the connection with this?

01:30:26.520 --> 01:30:33.240
As the Intergovernmental Agreement and the Resolution states, there is no cost involved.

01:30:33.240 --> 01:30:38.480
It's just them being held harmless in case our equipment gets struck by lightning or

01:30:38.480 --> 01:30:39.480
something of that effect.

01:30:39.480 --> 01:30:44.840
Now, if one of their staff members were to tinker with it and create a short or do some

01:30:44.840 --> 01:30:47.600
damage to it, they'd be on the hook for that.

01:30:47.600 --> 01:30:54.320
But any natural causes, any failures, any maintenance, that would become the responsibility

01:30:54.320 --> 01:30:56.800
Cronkite, and

01:30:56.800 --> 01:31:02.320
Tracy, speaking of the city of my budget within the fire department. But right now, it's just

01:31:02.320 --> 01:31:09.320
them wanting assurances that we're not going to hold them accountable if there's a natural

01:31:09.320 --> 01:31:11.320
issue with our equipment.

01:31:11.320 --> 01:31:14.320
So we don't have any insurance to...

01:31:14.320 --> 01:31:17.320
It will be insured with our city insurance.

01:31:17.320 --> 01:31:22.320
It will be insurance, okay, because, like you said, if there's any failure, not due to

01:31:22.320 --> 01:31:24.760
We're not held responsible for that.

01:31:24.760 --> 01:31:25.400
That's correct.

01:31:25.400 --> 01:31:25.900
OK.

01:31:25.900 --> 01:31:26.400
All right.

01:31:26.400 --> 01:31:28.680
Thank you.

01:31:28.680 --> 01:31:30.560
There's no further discussion.

01:31:30.560 --> 01:31:32.200
Mr. Clerk, please take the roll.

01:31:32.200 --> 01:31:32.720
Klemm?

01:31:32.720 --> 01:31:33.320
Aye.

01:31:33.320 --> 01:31:34.000
Monroe?

01:31:34.000 --> 01:31:34.480
Aye.

01:31:34.480 --> 01:31:35.320
Simmons?

01:31:35.320 --> 01:31:35.800
Aye.

01:31:35.800 --> 01:31:36.360
Parker?

01:31:36.360 --> 01:31:36.880
Aye.

01:31:36.880 --> 01:31:37.760
Stacy?

01:31:37.760 --> 01:31:38.240
Aye.

01:31:38.240 --> 01:31:38.760
Shadle?

01:31:38.760 --> 01:31:39.160
Aye.

01:31:39.160 --> 01:31:40.000
And Sanders?

01:31:40.000 --> 01:31:41.040
Aye.

01:31:41.040 --> 01:31:43.760
The resolution is adopted, 7 to 0.

01:31:43.760 --> 01:31:47.840
Item number 13, could you please read this discussion?

01:31:47.840 --> 01:31:49.760
Discussion regarding compensation

01:31:49.760 --> 01:31:55.480
for Elected Officials and Appointed Commissioners under the codified ordinances, Chapter 220

01:31:55.480 --> 01:32:03.300
for Council, Chapter 226 for Mayor, Chapter 228 for City Clerk, Chapter 262 for the Board

01:32:03.300 --> 01:32:10.400
of Fire and Police Commissioners, and Chapter 260 for the Liquor Commission.

01:32:10.400 --> 01:32:11.400
Manager Boyer?

01:32:11.400 --> 01:32:12.400
Thank you, Your Honor.

01:32:12.400 --> 01:32:18.640
With the municipal elections scheduled for April 2025, City Council must set the salaries

01:32:18.640 --> 01:32:48.640
of those positions by November 19th 2024. The salaries of elected officials may not take effect during the term of any officer holding an elective office. The salaries must be adopted 180 days prior to the term of office commencing. And in the case of the city of Freeport, a new rate for Alderpersons will only be effective for those elected in 2025 and future elections. Below is a detail of the current rates. We pay for the mayor and city clerk Alderpersons,

01:32:48.640 --> 01:32:51.700
Board of Fire and Police and Liquor Commission.

01:32:51.700 --> 01:32:53.640
We'd like to discuss the rates with council

01:32:53.640 --> 01:32:55.040
in order to prepare the ordinance

01:32:55.040 --> 01:32:57.820
that will be brought forward on a later date.

01:32:57.820 --> 01:33:02.820
Currently, the mayor's history is illustrated

01:33:03.220 --> 01:33:08.220
on that table there with a 1% increase in 22, 23, 24, and 25.

01:33:11.040 --> 01:33:16.040
Also, we're including a table of potential adjustments

01:33:16.040 --> 01:33:23.040
We have a number of adjustments we could make anywhere between what it would impact in terms of 1%, 2%, 3%, or 4%.

01:33:23.040 --> 01:33:29.040
In addition, the City Clerk is on the back page there and it shows you the combined history of the City Clerk.

01:33:29.040 --> 01:33:36.040
And then also potential options if Council was to see fit to make any changes there.

01:33:36.040 --> 01:33:41.040
Alderpersons currently receive $3,800 per year.

01:33:41.040 --> 01:33:45.040
And that is divided over 12 months.

01:33:45.040 --> 01:33:48.880
and the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners.

01:33:48.880 --> 01:33:53.000
The Chairman makes $1,200 per year, that's $300 per quarter,

01:33:53.000 --> 01:33:57.920
and each member makes $700 per year or $175 per quarter.

01:33:57.920 --> 01:34:00.160
On the Liquor Commissioner's current rates,

01:34:00.160 --> 01:34:05.160
all members receive $75 per year, that's $18.75 per quarter.

01:34:06.120 --> 01:34:09.680
So the staff proposes the following increases,

01:34:09.680 --> 01:34:13.480
a 3% increase for each year for the term for Mayor,

01:34:13.480 --> 01:34:20.360
3% increase for each year of the term for the clerk and an increase in the clerk's municipal

01:34:21.000 --> 01:34:28.680
certification up to from $2,500 to $4,000, which is a professional certification that

01:34:29.800 --> 01:34:38.600
is voluntary. And then Alderpersons increase annual amount to $3,915. So total increase in

01:34:38.600 --> 01:34:44.620
Staffs recommendation is approximately $31,900. So this is brought to you for

01:34:44.620 --> 01:34:58.260
discussion and yeah that's everything I have. Any discussion? Alderman Sanders? Yeah

01:34:58.260 --> 01:35:05.840
how was the compensations scale is determined and who makes those

01:35:05.840 --> 01:35:07.840
and

01:35:09.680 --> 01:35:15.080
That be the council that would be the council so we set the terms of

01:35:16.060 --> 01:35:17.840
the scale of

01:35:17.840 --> 01:35:19.840
Compensation is that is that what I'm here?

01:35:21.440 --> 01:35:26.020
So ultimately I think what you have right now is that staff is

01:35:26.880 --> 01:35:32.640
Making a recommendation, but ultimately it's up to the council to approve whatever raises

01:35:32.640 --> 01:35:33.640
We're going to move forward with this.

01:35:33.640 --> 01:35:45.080
It's going to have to be set in an ordinance, so an ordinance is going to be brought back

01:35:45.080 --> 01:35:49.040
to you guys to vote on if that's the desire is to make increases.

01:35:49.040 --> 01:35:54.520
So there's only so many days before an election you have to put that in an ordinance?

01:35:54.520 --> 01:35:55.520
Right.

01:35:55.520 --> 01:36:01.120
For elected officials, you can only raise or decrease the compensation.

01:36:01.120 --> 01:36:09.040
You have to do it at least 180 days before the councils take their seat at the next election.

01:36:09.040 --> 01:36:13.160
So the next election is this coming April of there.

01:36:13.160 --> 01:36:17.000
So 180 days, at least 180 days before that, then you have to decide whether or not you're

01:36:17.000 --> 01:36:22.720
going to make any changes to elected officials' compensation there.

01:36:22.720 --> 01:36:27.360
So we need to bring this up again within 180 days.

01:36:27.360 --> 01:36:35.360
So I think the deadline, the absolute deadline to do this is mid-November IML, Illinois Municipal

01:36:35.360 --> 01:36:41.800
League recommends that you adopt it usually around October, sometime in October, if you

01:36:41.800 --> 01:36:43.440
guys are going to do it at all.

01:36:43.440 --> 01:36:51.760
So in other words, council needs to meet to have this discussion to make this one way

01:36:51.760 --> 01:36:54.440
or the other, up or down.

01:36:54.440 --> 01:36:55.440
That's what this is for.

01:36:55.440 --> 01:37:00.440
and so we need to come to some kind of forum or session

01:37:04.680 --> 01:37:06.640
to make this discussion happen.

01:37:06.640 --> 01:37:07.800
Yeah, that's what this is.

01:37:07.800 --> 01:37:08.640
Yeah, yeah.

01:37:08.640 --> 01:37:11.120
Well, we're doing it publicly right now.

01:37:11.120 --> 01:37:11.940
You have to.

01:37:11.940 --> 01:37:12.780
Right.

01:37:12.780 --> 01:37:13.680
You can't do it in executive.

01:37:13.680 --> 01:37:16.040
Okay, that's what I didn't know.

01:37:16.040 --> 01:37:17.160
I'm learning.

01:37:17.160 --> 01:37:18.000
No.

01:37:18.000 --> 01:37:20.240
Yep, so the staff recommendation

01:37:20.240 --> 01:37:22.880
or I suppose that's right, staff recommendation

01:37:22.880 --> 01:37:24.720
is a 3% increase.

01:37:25.440 --> 01:37:28.960
that's what the staff is that's what the yeah you have you have the graph before

01:37:28.960 --> 01:37:33.160
you what it would mean for one percent two percent three percent yeah I thought

01:37:33.160 --> 01:37:36.640
I heard I thought I heard four percent well it's in the graph so you see the

01:37:36.640 --> 01:37:44.200
numbers yeah yeah it should be noted also and this is state statute okay so

01:37:44.200 --> 01:37:50.640
that the compensation of all of an elected official cannot take place

01:38:20.640 --> 01:38:50.640
in the ordinance would be dictated to take place two years after that, you know, because no one's guaranteed, no one knows for certain if they're going to win or not, and that's why it's fair to say for the half that's going to be up for election in April, you guys would vote on it, if you guys are running for election, you may or may not win, but at least you're not voting on your own salary at that point. You might be if you win, but if you don't win, then you didn't, so.

01:38:50.640 --> 01:39:08.460
Miller, Attorney, Zito, you said something about if you choose to vote on it. In the case

01:39:08.460 --> 01:39:16.900
of the Mayor and I, our wages are only set through this term of 2025. So please vote

01:39:16.900 --> 01:39:46.900
and the Mayor's will be zero. Got it. Sorry, I apologize there. So, um, yeah, it looks like Dovie's and the Mayor's there, there was a schedule for them in the existing ordinance that only goes through 2025. So you guys have to do something with them, even if it's just, I'm not suggesting anything, you know, but you need to at least put something back in, in place, but tonight, here's the thing tonight, you're not voting. This is just on for discussion.

01:39:46.900 --> 01:39:50.260
yeah yeah so it's just do you want to direct the staff to move forward with a

01:39:50.260 --> 01:39:55.180
certain percentage not move forward with anything whatever it is we're just

01:39:55.180 --> 01:40:03.060
looking for direction sure in the memo

01:40:03.060 --> 01:40:12.260
In the memo, the last four years, so the mayor and I are set by four year chunks.

01:40:12.260 --> 01:40:20.220
The last time we would have done this would have been in 2020, no, 2021.

01:40:20.220 --> 01:40:26.080
At that time, the mayor and I were given 1% annually.

01:40:26.080 --> 01:40:43.240
Over that same course of time, non-bargaining, just general employees were given 2%, 2%, 4%, 4% while I stayed at 1%.

01:40:43.240 --> 01:40:49.280
If, and it has to, I mean that's stuck because that's the state statute and I get that.

01:40:49.280 --> 01:41:00.620
If I had had the opportunity to get the non-bargaining rate, my salary now would be about $65,000

01:41:00.620 --> 01:41:08.940
and you would be considering $65,000 plus an additional 1%, 2%, 3%, 4%.

01:41:08.940 --> 01:41:15.200
Because that didn't happen, let me turn that around.

01:41:15.200 --> 01:41:23.600
Under the 3% proposed, I wouldn't be making the $65,000. If it was 2%, 2%, 4%, 4%, I'd

01:41:23.600 --> 01:41:29.800
be making $65,000 now. Because that didn't happen under the 3% raise, I would not make

01:41:29.800 --> 01:41:38.360
that $65,000 until the last year of the term of 2028. So I am respectfully requesting 4%

01:41:38.360 --> 01:41:40.400
rather than the 3% suggested.

01:41:40.400 --> 01:41:54.240
Alderman Shadle that taking into account I would go along with the 4% for the

01:41:54.240 --> 01:42:06.760
City Clerk and a removal of chapter 220 220.06 can you specify what do you what

01:42:06.760 --> 01:42:21.800
you're talking about the liquor commissioners is council mayor I'm

01:42:21.800 --> 01:42:28.240
sorry I didn't catch them okay so you would look you're you're saying no

01:42:28.240 --> 01:42:29.240
No Increase to Council.

01:42:29.240 --> 01:42:30.240
Correct.

01:42:30.240 --> 01:42:31.240
But he doesn't speak for everybody.

01:42:31.240 --> 01:42:32.240
That's why this is a discussion.

01:42:32.240 --> 01:42:33.240
Yeah, I know.

01:42:33.240 --> 01:42:34.240
Because you're writing and I'm like...

01:42:34.240 --> 01:42:35.240
No, I just want to keep track.

01:42:35.240 --> 01:42:36.240
Oh, okay.

01:42:36.240 --> 01:42:37.240
Madam Mayor.

01:42:37.240 --> 01:42:38.240
Alderman Monroe.

01:42:38.240 --> 01:42:39.240
Thank you, ma'am.

01:42:39.240 --> 01:42:56.240
The one thing I'll also highlight is that since we've gone to the City Manager form of government,

01:42:56.240 --> 01:42:59.520
and I have gone to the City Manager form of government.

01:42:59.520 --> 01:43:02.960
The Mayor and the City Manager together make about double

01:43:02.960 --> 01:43:04.640
what we were paying previously,

01:43:06.440 --> 01:43:10.320
somewhere in the 170 to 180,000 total range.

01:43:12.040 --> 01:43:15.320
And I do understand the Mayor's importance

01:43:18.560 --> 01:43:19.640
in the role,

01:43:21.680 --> 01:43:25.560
but the one thing I've kind of had a problem with,

01:43:25.560 --> 01:43:27.560
and I'm not sure how other people feel.

01:43:27.560 --> 01:43:30.160
I know the last council felt a little differently.

01:43:31.840 --> 01:43:35.840
I have felt that the mayor's position does work more hours

01:43:35.840 --> 01:43:40.840
than what's expected per the pay that's on there.

01:43:41.000 --> 01:43:42.760
I know it's a part-time position,

01:43:43.800 --> 01:43:47.080
but I do believe that you work at least 30 hours a week,

01:43:47.080 --> 01:43:49.220
which would fall under the full-time.

01:43:49.220 --> 01:43:53.200
I do think we need to at least revisit the idea

01:43:53.200 --> 01:43:57.720
that the mayor position does get benefits along with that role.

01:43:57.720 --> 01:44:02.320
Whatever the increase in the salary is, is to be debated.

01:44:02.320 --> 01:44:06.960
I also agree that the council not get a raise.

01:44:06.960 --> 01:44:13.000
And we do look at the Board of Fire and Police and Liquor

01:44:13.000 --> 01:44:14.880
and the clerk a little bit differently

01:44:14.880 --> 01:44:16.320
than what we're looking at the council.

01:44:18.960 --> 01:44:20.080
And it's just my thoughts.

01:44:20.079 --> 01:44:24.520
I'm putting them out there kind of as a position.

01:44:24.520 --> 01:44:28.880
I know it wasn't necessarily something everybody

01:44:28.880 --> 01:44:32.079
had a stomach for because it's a part-time position for benefits.

01:44:32.079 --> 01:44:38.920
But I do believe in order to get the best candidates always,

01:44:38.920 --> 01:44:42.320
that we need to at least entice them with something

01:44:42.320 --> 01:44:43.520
to bring them to the office.

01:44:43.520 --> 01:44:49.340
Because it is a position that's not necessarily always

01:44:49.340 --> 01:44:52.740
looked upon with the amount of work that goes into it.

01:44:52.740 --> 01:44:56.700
And I know you and Rob both do a lot of work,

01:44:56.700 --> 01:44:59.700
but it does bother me that we now have two positions

01:44:59.700 --> 01:45:02.740
that we're paying double the amount to together.

01:45:02.740 --> 01:45:05.100
But that's a whole other conversation,

01:45:05.100 --> 01:45:08.780
but just putting it out there.

01:45:08.780 --> 01:45:11.500
I'm not sure that your 170, 180 is accurate.

01:45:11.500 --> 01:45:13.980
I think it's lower than that.

01:45:13.980 --> 01:45:17.780
And I appreciate your thought on the whole package kind of deal,

01:45:17.780 --> 01:45:32.780
Because the way it stands right now, according to the ordinance, the mayor doesn't get retirement or insurance or cell phone allowance or car allowance. It is just a straight wage. You do the math on it. It's less than minimum wage.

01:45:34.780 --> 01:45:35.380
Attorney Zito.

01:45:37.380 --> 01:45:45.680
And this is just broadly, as you guys go through this discussion, that I just something to keep for you guys to keep in mind there, because I think it helps aid the discussion.

01:45:45.680 --> 01:46:15.680
there is to think about just the offices don't tie a person to a particular person to it just like would you do this for the office of clerk regardless of who's in it because you're setting it for the future right so it could be and same thing for the older people same thing for the mayor don't think of who's currently holding the position just think about what would you pay whoever fills this position and whether or not that person should be compensated that particular way because I think it takes a lot of

01:46:15.680 --> 01:46:37.500
of the potential emotion or thought personal thoughts or whatever out of it because again we had an election coming up in in April, right? We don't know who's gonna win, you know, and stuff like that. So just think about when you talk about salaries and compensation, the suggestion is always to take the people out of it and just think about what you would compensate the office for. Okay.

01:46:37.500 --> 01:46:49.860
Alderman, Stacy. How many hours do a part-time mayor work a week? Well, I don't clock in

01:46:49.860 --> 01:46:56.260
if that's what you're asking me. I would say if I added the whole thing up, it's going

01:46:56.260 --> 01:47:04.940
to be at least 40. I do a lot of things in the evenings, weekends. There's no set time

01:47:04.940 --> 01:47:15.860
Frem. But then again, that's by my choice because it's technically a part-time position.

01:47:15.860 --> 01:47:23.260
And like any elected official, you can choose to put in as much work as you want to. I mean,

01:47:23.260 --> 01:47:31.820
that's obvious. In Alderman seats, you choose to how much you want to work. Alderman Sanders?

01:47:31.820 --> 01:47:40.060
Is it the council who helped to regulate or determine what a mayor pay salary should be

01:47:40.060 --> 01:47:52.020
or scale or wages should be like and the hours and the, what I want to say and.

01:47:52.020 --> 01:47:55.460
This is a wage discussion as far as hours go.

01:47:55.460 --> 01:48:01.700
I don't believe by ordinance you can tell an elected official how many hours to work.

01:48:01.700 --> 01:48:31.700
Well, I mean, we're using measures here to determine wages. And we're trying to find out who's all involved in making these determinations. Is it the council? Is it the staff of the city? Who regulates that? Who makes that determination? If it's not an ordinance per se, yet, and to, and to increase the protection of the city,

01:48:31.700 --> 01:48:50.780
and others. What part of the city agency governs what it is that determines the mayor's salary

01:48:50.780 --> 01:49:01.700
and what percentage and the hours and not only that who's keeping stats stats who's keeping

01:49:01.700 --> 01:49:09.260
the status of your of what you're what you're working and what you're worth who's keeping

01:49:09.260 --> 01:49:14.340
who determines that you know I thought I thought it was by your peers yeah I thought it was

01:49:14.340 --> 01:49:18.940
by your peers well the wage is determined by the council that's set by the council set

01:49:18.940 --> 01:49:19.940
and others.

01:49:19.940 --> 01:49:20.940
That's what I thought.

01:49:20.940 --> 01:49:24.780
And coming back to who, the stats, I mean.

01:49:24.780 --> 01:49:27.340
The status, keeping up your status.

01:49:27.340 --> 01:49:29.300
Like how much I'm working?

01:49:29.300 --> 01:49:30.300
Is that what you mean?

01:49:30.300 --> 01:49:31.300
Yes, those kinds of things.

01:49:31.300 --> 01:49:38.100
Well, that again comes back to, as an elected official, no different than the council.

01:49:38.100 --> 01:49:40.220
How much work do you choose to put in?

01:49:40.220 --> 01:49:48.300
Yeah, but I didn't know that as council that we can put our own opinions.

01:49:48.300 --> 01:49:55.980
We can influence other opinions to go along with no percentage wage increase.

01:49:55.980 --> 01:50:01.020
I didn't know Council can sit here and vote on something like that or make that determination

01:50:01.020 --> 01:50:03.020
without a full blown dissent.

01:50:03.020 --> 01:50:05.980
without a full blown discussion on it.

01:50:05.980 --> 01:50:07.420
Well, that's what the discussion is.

01:50:07.420 --> 01:50:09.040
So you have to set that by ordinance,

01:50:09.040 --> 01:50:10.540
which is what this discussion is,

01:50:10.540 --> 01:50:12.100
is to move forward with an ordinance.

01:50:12.100 --> 01:50:16.100
And the staff suggested a 3%.

01:50:16.100 --> 01:50:19.060
The clerk suggested a 4%.

01:50:19.060 --> 01:50:24.060
Alderman Shadle suggested a zero for Alderman increase.

01:50:24.140 --> 01:50:24.980
Attorney Zito?

01:50:26.460 --> 01:50:28.980
Just to answer Alderman Sanders' question.

01:50:28.980 --> 01:50:58.980
and I will say that that's probably typically pretty standard that you don't set well I said I heard an explanation from the council and I'll be all compensation for elected officials is determined by the council okay there are in our current ordinance there's no set hours you know eight to five two to six whatever it is there's no set hours for Alderman or the mayor and what's it and I will say that that's probably typically pretty standard that you don't set well I said I heard an

01:50:58.980 --> 01:50:59.980
and others.

01:50:59.980 --> 01:51:00.980
I think that's a good question.

01:51:00.980 --> 01:51:06.900
The expression of full-time collective time is put in per week or 30 hours per week.

01:51:06.900 --> 01:51:10.220
Well, that right there says a lot to me.

01:51:10.220 --> 01:51:18.140
When somebody puts that out there like that, that lets me know that something is regulated

01:51:18.140 --> 01:51:26.980
to make that increase for the mayor or any elected official, depending on what time that

01:51:26.980 --> 01:51:31.140
and I were putting in to serve the people of the city.

01:51:31.140 --> 01:51:38.380
I didn't know we were in that position or in that area to regulate each other, to make

01:51:38.380 --> 01:51:46.140
that opinion, to determine whether we were at 0%, 1%, 2% or 3% or 4%.

01:51:46.140 --> 01:51:52.860
I thought it comes collectively together that we are going to vote on it, but who's the

01:51:52.860 --> 01:51:55.500
and General Gileson who's getting on it?

01:51:55.500 --> 01:51:56.760
Who's laying the narrative?

01:51:56.760 --> 01:52:01.580
Who's narrating whether or not the subject matter should come up?

01:52:01.580 --> 01:52:03.300
Who's bringing the subject matter up?

01:52:03.300 --> 01:52:11.000
Do we all speak on it as Councils to determine what it is that the Council wages or increase

01:52:11.000 --> 01:52:13.020
the shield or should not be?

01:52:13.020 --> 01:52:14.620
Do we weigh in on that?

01:52:14.620 --> 01:52:15.620
Correct.

01:52:15.620 --> 01:52:21.220
That's why we put on the agenda for the Council to have a decision as to hey Council,

01:52:21.220 --> 01:52:26.440
Alderman, do we want to give raises to the Clerk, do we want to give raises to the Mayor,

01:52:26.440 --> 01:52:30.460
what do we want to do about the Liquor Commission people, what do we want to do about the other

01:52:30.460 --> 01:52:34.340
Commission people, this is for you guys to have the discussion, every one of you guys

01:52:34.340 --> 01:52:39.340
can chime in and say, well I think we should do this, I think we should do that, and hopefully

01:52:39.340 --> 01:52:45.340
there's going to be a consensus at least enough to direct staff to draft an ordinance that

01:52:45.340 --> 01:52:49.340
moves at least in the consensus direction there.

01:52:49.340 --> 01:53:00.300
Well, that's the whole thing. We don't have a council appointment, chairperson, or someone

01:53:00.300 --> 01:53:09.260
to help to direct or shape the narrative of what we should or should not be doing as far

01:53:09.260 --> 01:53:17.260
as how we come to our conclusions on anything that we decide to do. There's no set person.

01:53:17.260 --> 01:53:25.180
Anderson. In other words, we're all just running wild in the council, not liking your viewpoint,

01:53:25.180 --> 01:53:34.020
not liking your viewpoint. These are the viewpoints that I feel, and how we should go about determining

01:53:34.020 --> 01:53:40.340
whether or not who has the best solution and explanation for why they're saying what we're

01:53:40.340 --> 01:53:45.580
saying, we're saying what we're saying. So that's the reason why I'm asking, you know.

01:53:45.580 --> 01:53:51.060
So if you want, so if the concern is that, well, each individual council member might

01:53:51.060 --> 01:53:57.100
not know what's, you know, what's out there or what should the rate be there, well, what

01:53:57.100 --> 01:53:59.880
you guys have at your disposal is staff.

01:53:59.880 --> 01:54:04.180
You can direct as a council staff, can you go get some comparables as to what other communities

01:54:04.180 --> 01:54:09.580
our size are paying their elected officials, you know, and then they say, okay, are some

01:54:09.580 --> 01:54:14.780
of them quote-unquote part-time, you know, mayors or some of them quote-unquote full-time?

01:54:14.780 --> 01:54:21.380
That's a misnomer. I'll be the first one to tell you that how much an elected official

01:54:21.380 --> 01:54:28.340
is paid is kind of indicative of maybe what you're intending the hours to be. For example,

01:54:28.340 --> 01:54:34.580
just using the mayor position. If you're paying the mayor, let's say $25,000, that is most

01:54:34.580 --> 01:54:40.040
likely not a full-time job. So you're most likely not expecting them to put in 40 hours

01:54:40.040 --> 01:54:43.280
a week. If they choose to put in 40 hours a week, that's fine. Now other mayors get

01:54:43.280 --> 01:55:13.280
Payde, 80, 90, $100,000. At that compensation level, you're probably expecting them to be in the office at least 40 hours a week. I'll give you the absurd example, though, for whether whatever the elected official is, whether it's Alderman, Clerk, Mayor, whatever it is there, you can set all the expectations you want and compensate them there. Every one of you guys could choose to show up or not show up to any meeting for the most part. And

01:55:13.280 --> 01:55:14.280
and so on.

01:55:14.280 --> 01:55:16.400
The recourse for the most part is at the ballot box.

01:55:16.400 --> 01:55:18.360
I'm not suggesting you guys do that.

01:55:18.360 --> 01:55:24.040
You're not fulfilling your duties or obligations to your constituents.

01:55:24.040 --> 01:55:29.560
But in theory, yeah, if an elected official says, even though you're being compensated

01:55:29.560 --> 01:55:36.160
$100,000, if they say, well, I only showed up at 20% of the meetings, it doesn't change

01:55:36.160 --> 01:55:40.320
the fact that they still get paid their money to a certain extent.

01:55:40.320 --> 01:55:44.280
and I know Freeport has some rules in their ordinances that abrogates that, but for the

01:55:44.280 --> 01:55:48.680
most part, you know, if you don't think your elected official is showing up or doing the

01:55:48.680 --> 01:55:59.760
job that they're being paid for, the recourse is generally at the ballot box there, so.

01:55:59.760 --> 01:56:00.760
Manager Boyer?

01:56:00.760 --> 01:56:06.080
I just said I would like to say if it's counsel's will, I can get some comparables together.

01:56:06.080 --> 01:56:12.080
Yeah, I agree with that. I'll start in Chicago first.

01:56:19.080 --> 01:56:31.080
Mayor, I'm sorry, you said, what's the latest? My recollection is that we have to swear in officials at the second meeting in May.

01:56:31.080 --> 01:56:35.080
That's what our ordinance calls for, is swearing in at the second meeting in May.

01:56:35.080 --> 01:56:43.080
I think I backed out 180 days from that and it is, I think, mid-November is the absolute deadline.

01:56:43.080 --> 01:56:51.080
You never want to put an absolute deadline. That's why I think IML recommends that sometime in October

01:56:51.080 --> 01:56:59.080
that most communities, if you're going to do a change in compensation for elected officials, that you do it sometime in October.

01:56:59.080 --> 01:57:17.080
So given the fact that we have two meetings generally, you know, to the extent the direction could be given so that you can have the ordinance at the first meeting in October for first reading, second reading at the second meeting in October, you know, and then it's done before that November deadline.

01:57:17.080 --> 01:57:23.080
It gives you a little wiggle room if you absolutely need it because you could push it to the first meeting in November and still be okay.

01:57:23.080 --> 01:57:29.200
K. So what that basically means is we need to put something forward for the first meeting

01:57:29.200 --> 01:57:30.200
in October.

01:57:30.200 --> 01:57:31.200
Right.

01:57:31.200 --> 01:57:32.200
Right.

01:57:32.200 --> 01:57:41.400
But in the meantime, excuse me, this should be some kind of formal discussion that we

01:57:41.400 --> 01:57:48.520
should not just allow the time to elapse in desperation in order to determine where we

01:57:48.520 --> 01:57:50.560
add in our own mindset.

01:57:50.560 --> 01:57:56.400
I think that it would be nice for us to talk about this as we go along.

01:57:56.400 --> 01:57:57.640
Alderman Monroe.

01:57:57.640 --> 01:57:58.680
Thank you, Madam Mayor.

01:57:58.680 --> 01:58:09.080
City Manager, do you think you could pull something together maybe by the, you know, by the cow in October?

01:58:09.080 --> 01:58:12.680
Then that looks like we're going to have to suspend the rules in October.

01:58:12.680 --> 01:58:13.080
Yes.

01:58:13.080 --> 01:58:17.080
That'll put it back to the third meeting, the third week, and it needs to be passed.

01:58:17.080 --> 01:58:19.160
Okay. So do you think you'd pull something together?

01:58:19.160 --> 01:58:25.160
sorry I'll amend that something together by the first meeting in October. Yes. Okay, perfect. Thank you.

01:58:27.240 --> 01:58:32.120
As a discussion item? I think we're still running into the same thing of

01:58:32.120 --> 01:58:38.520
ordinances, our two readings. Right and what I think my idea would be is that gives the

01:58:38.520 --> 01:58:44.200
City Manager a chance to chat with each one of us, get our thoughts put it together into more of a

01:58:44.200 --> 01:58:49.800
and I have a comprehensive along with the results that he gets back from his comparisons, the

01:58:49.800 --> 01:58:54.240
comparables and then we can all kind of talk through it because I mean there's going to

01:58:54.240 --> 01:58:58.960
be little things that we probably don't totally agree on that we can work out but I think

01:58:58.960 --> 01:58:59.960
we can get to a place.

01:58:59.960 --> 01:59:06.520
So are you saying that he should have this discussion with each of you and bring it on

01:59:06.520 --> 01:59:13.680
as an ordinance for the first meeting in October so that way you can, as the first reading?

01:59:13.680 --> 01:59:18.760
I think that would be the goal mainly because if we get to that point we don't have to suspend

01:59:18.760 --> 01:59:23.320
the rules and we bring something in and if we don't reach an agreement then we always

01:59:23.320 --> 01:59:25.320
have that option of falling back to the cow.

01:59:25.320 --> 01:59:28.720
We still have the opportunity to change things, it's just it's getting the process.

01:59:28.720 --> 01:59:33.680
And then it has to be quick and I think I understand that but you know at the same time

01:59:33.680 --> 01:59:38.680
I mean here we are the 16th you know we don't have another meeting this month so you know

01:59:38.680 --> 01:59:43.760
we're in that position where we have to make a make it a little bit quicker but

01:59:43.760 --> 01:59:53.000
yet not crush the city manager in the process and his staff. No that's as long

01:59:53.000 --> 02:00:00.160
as I'm not hearing any objections with that direction for staff I think that's

02:00:00.160 --> 02:00:03.720
fine I think that gives us marching orders.

02:00:03.720 --> 02:00:21.480
Okay, now we'll move on to department heads reports. Finance? Nothing tonight, Madam Mayor.

02:00:21.480 --> 02:00:29.760
Thank you. Public Works? Yeah, just a few updates. City crews are working on Iroquois,

02:00:29.760 --> 02:00:59.760
Chicago and State. We have a contractor in right now grinding the streets. Should be done by Thursday at the latest. Looks like next week we'll be into paving those streets. Please keep your vehicles out of the way if you live on those streets. It greatly enhances the time we'll be able to get the work done when we're not chasing residents to move their cars. Adams Avenue, they started today

02:00:59.760 --> 02:01:01.920
doing some final shaping out there on the road.

02:01:01.920 --> 02:01:04.400
That should probably take most of this week.

02:01:04.400 --> 02:01:08.280
We should see some black binder going down pretty soon.

02:01:08.280 --> 02:01:11.800
They should just be doing a little bit of concrete work

02:01:11.800 --> 02:01:14.760
and some dirt work out there right now.

02:01:14.760 --> 02:01:17.320
Ridge and Westwood, the water main

02:01:17.320 --> 02:01:19.560
is being completed right now.

02:01:19.560 --> 02:01:22.440
I would say they're probably close to being half done

02:01:22.440 --> 02:01:23.960
with water main at this point.

02:01:23.960 --> 02:01:38.720
that project should be done by Thanksgiving water treatment plant just an update on that soils the

02:01:38.720 --> 02:01:42.740
contaminated soils most of that material has been removed from the site and hauled

02:01:42.740 --> 02:01:49.480
off they actually are installing piles that the buildings will go on on the

02:01:49.480 --> 02:01:55.760
Decept, and the UV, they've started installing the lower structure, the sump area, and more

02:01:55.760 --> 02:02:02.440
concrete to work, so it's getting fairly busy out there with a lot of contractors working.

02:02:02.440 --> 02:02:06.960
Also lead service lines, we're about two-thirds done with this package so far.

02:02:06.960 --> 02:02:10.760
I tried to get a number on how many we've completed to date, but I wasn't able to get

02:02:10.760 --> 02:02:11.840
that before the meeting.

02:02:11.840 --> 02:02:17.880
So a lot of good projects, a lot of work being done, and it's going to be a very busy fall.

02:02:17.880 --> 02:02:18.880
Thank you.

02:02:18.880 --> 02:02:19.880
Fire?

02:02:19.880 --> 02:02:20.880
Nothing this evening.

02:02:20.880 --> 02:02:21.880
Thank you.

02:02:21.880 --> 02:02:22.880
Police?

02:02:22.880 --> 02:02:23.880
I have no report.

02:02:23.880 --> 02:02:24.880
Thank you.

02:02:24.880 --> 02:02:25.880
Library?

02:02:25.880 --> 02:02:29.440
I just want to remind everybody that we're taking registration for our pumpkin decorating

02:02:29.440 --> 02:02:35.880
contest so you'll have until September 28th to register on our website and then you get

02:02:35.880 --> 02:02:43.680
a free pumpkin to decorate like a book character and the voting will happen closer to Halloween.

02:02:43.680 --> 02:02:44.680
Thank you.

02:02:44.680 --> 02:02:45.680
IT?

02:02:45.680 --> 02:02:53.280
Thank you. I don't think communication is in here, is it? Nope. City Manager. I would

02:02:53.280 --> 02:02:56.760
just like to invite anyone interested. We're having a ribbon cutting on Oak

02:02:56.760 --> 02:03:08.119
Avenue tomorrow at 745. So if you can make it, you are invited. AM. Okay, I have

02:03:08.119 --> 02:03:10.920
three events. I want to, I don't know if everyone's aware of them, so I was going

02:03:10.920 --> 02:03:13.440
and I'll have you put these on your calendar if it works.

02:03:13.440 --> 02:03:18.440
Thursday, the 333rd National Guard is being deployed

02:03:19.280 --> 02:03:21.039
and they will be heading to Alaska.

02:03:21.039 --> 02:03:23.880
They're going to be deployed out of the Masonic Temple

02:03:23.880 --> 02:03:27.159
and Governor Pritzker is expected to be in attendance.

02:03:27.159 --> 02:03:29.240
I don't have any details other than just that

02:03:29.240 --> 02:03:32.440
so when I find out timeframes I'll let you know.

02:03:32.440 --> 02:03:37.440
Also, then next weekend there is a celebration of life.

02:03:37.440 --> 02:04:07.440
it's the continuing of the piece within the community so next Friday the 27th if you are available at 10 o'clock in the morning it's going to be cleaning up debris and trash along the Frank Street between Chicago and Carroll and then on Saturday the 28th will be the block party which is music food resource tables meet and greet kind of atmosphere and then on Sunday the 29th there will be at 1130 a.m. in that same

02:04:07.440 --> 02:04:13.680
Spot will be Church in the Street. And then also put on your calendars for October 7th,

02:04:13.680 --> 02:04:20.720
which is a Monday at 2.30. Congressman Sorensen is scheduled to be here for his nearly $1

02:04:20.720 --> 02:04:27.039
million check presentation. So if you want to put that on your calendar as well. So we

02:04:27.039 --> 02:04:30.079
will move on to Council Alderman Klemm.

02:04:30.079 --> 02:04:32.640
Nothing this evening.

02:04:32.640 --> 02:04:34.159
Thank you. Alderman Monroe.

02:04:34.159 --> 02:04:39.560
Madam Mayor just a reminder this Thursday at 6 30 p.m. on Farmedale Lane we've got

02:04:39.560 --> 02:04:43.680
the country his states neighborhood watch get together almost called it a

02:04:43.680 --> 02:04:48.159
party there are cookies there if you like good cookies they have great ones

02:04:48.159 --> 02:04:53.000
that'll go until about 8 o'clock and that's all I have thank you Alderman

02:04:53.000 --> 02:04:57.920
Simmons thank you Alderman Parker nothing tonight your honor thank you

02:04:57.920 --> 02:05:07.360
Alderman, Stacy? Yes, since it wasn't mentioned, I would like to mention, Saturday the 21st,

02:05:07.360 --> 02:05:19.039
there will be an air show at the airport, gates open at 10.30, the show starts at 1.30,

02:05:19.039 --> 02:05:30.239
There is a $15 general admission, children 10 and under are free.

02:05:30.239 --> 02:05:37.400
So let's go out and support our very important airport.

02:05:37.400 --> 02:05:38.400
Thank you.

02:05:38.400 --> 02:05:39.400
Alderman Shadle?

02:05:39.400 --> 02:05:40.400
Nothing tonight.

02:05:40.400 --> 02:05:41.400
Thank you.

02:05:41.400 --> 02:05:42.400
Alderman Sanders?

02:05:42.400 --> 02:05:43.400
Nothing, Mayor.

02:05:43.400 --> 02:05:44.400
That leaves us with public comment.

02:05:44.400 --> 02:05:46.920
The first that was signed in is Jim French.

02:05:46.920 --> 02:05:50.079
if you'd like to go to the podium, and you have three minutes.

02:06:01.079 --> 02:06:04.000
Mayor Jodi Miller, City Manager Rob Boyer, City Clerk,

02:06:04.000 --> 02:06:09.000
Toby Anderson, Alderman, Don Parker, David Rowe, Tom Klemm,

02:06:10.039 --> 02:06:13.800
Cecelia, Stacy, George, Hale, is that right?

02:06:13.800 --> 02:06:26.000
I'm here tonight as a new resident of Freeport, Illinois.

02:06:26.000 --> 02:06:28.680
My wife and I moved in on April 15th.

02:06:28.680 --> 02:06:29.680
We are glad to be here.

02:06:29.680 --> 02:06:31.680
We are glad to be in Freeport.

02:06:31.680 --> 02:06:35.920
Freeport is known on the website as the jewel of the city.

02:06:35.920 --> 02:06:37.880
I don't know if you knew that or not.

02:06:37.880 --> 02:06:41.079
It's recommended as a place for people to come and retire.

02:06:41.079 --> 02:06:42.079
It's a wholesome city.

02:06:42.079 --> 02:06:49.680
The people here are friendly, they're intelligent, they're wise, they're cheerful, and energetic,

02:06:49.680 --> 02:06:51.720
and forward-looking.

02:06:51.720 --> 02:06:53.159
And we are not strangers to Dakota.

02:06:53.159 --> 02:06:58.119
We've been, I mean, Freeport, we've lived in Dakota since 1983, Freeport's been the

02:06:58.119 --> 02:07:05.280
center of our activities, our grocery shopping, our doctors, medical things, gas stations.

02:07:05.280 --> 02:07:11.039
We've been active in Highland and Winnipeg plays and musicals.

02:07:11.039 --> 02:07:17.200
Anderson right here was Wendy and the star of Peter Pan out of Highland some years ago.

02:07:17.200 --> 02:07:22.640
I worked with Don Parker. My goodness, the guy is the chief of the police while we're

02:07:22.640 --> 02:07:28.079
putting in 9-1-1. I mean, we helped pass it, but the implementation of that took a lot

02:07:28.079 --> 02:07:34.039
of work. If you want to see who put the place and got the City of Freeport Council and Center

02:07:34.039 --> 02:07:37.880
to be in the Freeport Police Station, you're to Don Parker. And so anytime you want to

02:07:37.880 --> 02:07:44.320
give that man a hand say Don we thank you for what you did to the public safety of the city of Freeport. Thank you.

02:07:44.320 --> 02:07:50.520
Yeah, you're welcome. You're welcome. And I've had a chance to meet I worked with Mark McElroy the former mayor on a

02:07:51.320 --> 02:07:53.000
county government.

02:07:53.000 --> 02:07:56.880
Jim Gitts if you'll have me my new Freeport lawyer.

02:07:57.560 --> 02:08:02.880
I know Judge Galraith. I've met him a couple times. He's a great guy. And I married Jodi Miller.

02:08:04.600 --> 02:08:06.600
Her to her husband.

02:08:07.880 --> 02:08:12.880
I was the pastor that officiated their wedding, so I've got a few credits here.

02:08:13.880 --> 02:08:16.880
Dr. Quinn-Fridge is my wife, she was a substitute.

02:08:17.880 --> 02:08:23.880
A music teacher at Carl Sandberg for a long time, she's the chairman and president of the Freeport Choral Society.

02:08:24.880 --> 02:08:31.880
She and her friends started CHOM, the Children's Hands-On Museum, and they worked there all the time.

02:08:32.880 --> 02:08:35.880
In my time I've been a substitute teacher at a lot of the Freeport schools.

02:08:35.880 --> 02:08:54.880
Schools, I got to teach for a year at Aquin. It's been a pleasure, all the students, I had students in state and local government out of Highland, been an instructor from Columbia College at nighttime, any rate, for us in Dakota, this is a fun city.

02:08:54.880 --> 02:09:24.880
I think this is a mega entertainment, good restaurants and a lot of other things. In any case, I hope they be able to talk with Rob Boyer, the manager, and Jodi Miller, the mayor, 15-20 minute discussions, and someone understands, why don't you come and talk to the city council, you can share everything you have on your mind. Well, we've only got a few minutes here. Yes, and your time has exceeded, so we appreciate all your kind words. Yes, if I could, I would like to be able to speak to both of you about some of these things.

02:09:24.880 --> 02:09:29.440
you can set up a meeting where our doors are open okay that's all i wanted to say tonight thank you very

02:09:29.440 --> 02:09:34.159
much hope you see this is not a one-off i hope to be able to come back and talk again thank you all

02:09:34.159 --> 02:09:37.440
right thank you and next on the list is josh atkinson

02:09:46.320 --> 02:09:52.400
good evening madam mayor and council joshua atkinson people are here um i apologize because i guess i

02:09:52.400 --> 02:10:01.560
I'll be as clear and direct as possible.

02:10:01.560 --> 02:10:03.680
Last week one of our neighbors came before this

02:10:03.680 --> 02:10:09.000
One of our neighbors came before this council and spoke about the 49 young men who make

02:10:09.000 --> 02:10:11.640
up the Highlands baseball team.

02:10:11.640 --> 02:10:15.480
These students were recruited from all over Central and South America leaving behind their

02:10:15.480 --> 02:10:19.480
families and homes for an education and a shot at going pro.

02:10:19.480 --> 02:10:21.060
But they're struggling here.

02:10:21.060 --> 02:10:25.780
These young men don't have the basic necessities like winter coats.

02:10:25.780 --> 02:10:31.760
Over the past week, has anyone here cared enough to reach out to any of them?

02:10:31.760 --> 02:10:32.760
Thank you.

02:10:32.760 --> 02:10:38.760
I visited these young men myself after their practice last week and what I saw was unacceptable.

02:10:38.760 --> 02:10:47.760
I joined in with the PUSH organization, represented by Frankie back there, which she was there serving food because these kids don't have enough to eat.

02:10:47.760 --> 02:10:57.760
I saw four young men crammed into a filthy two-bedroom apartment sleeping on the floor with no table, no chairs, no place to unpack their suitcases, not even an appropriate place to study.

02:10:57.760 --> 02:11:02.560
B. The appliances were rusted and the overall conditions were terrible, but despite all

02:11:02.560 --> 02:11:06.480
of this, these boys were nothing but respectful and gracious.

02:11:06.480 --> 02:11:09.680
It's embarrassing to see how Freeport and Highland are treating these young athletes

02:11:09.680 --> 02:11:13.480
who chose to join our community for a shot at a better life.

02:11:13.480 --> 02:11:15.760
We should all be ashamed of this.

02:11:15.760 --> 02:11:19.600
Now let's bring this full circle, which is why I wanted to speak ahead of time.

02:11:19.600 --> 02:11:22.159
The bike path expansion can wait.

02:11:22.159 --> 02:11:27.360
I urge you all to get a hold of Highland and let them know that there is a better use for

02:11:27.360 --> 02:11:32.860
for their $330,000 input into this plan.

02:11:32.860 --> 02:11:35.520
It would be better spent on helping these student athletes

02:11:35.520 --> 02:11:38.159
and others under their care succeed.

02:11:38.159 --> 02:11:40.280
Rather than another four miles of bike path

02:11:40.280 --> 02:11:42.920
only benefiting the west side of town,

02:11:42.920 --> 02:11:45.840
we had to hear a lot of talk about how much you all

02:11:45.840 --> 02:11:48.960
love the children when it came to possibly spending

02:11:48.960 --> 02:11:52.039
$1 million of taxpayer money on a water main extension

02:11:52.039 --> 02:11:53.840
to open Bible.

02:11:53.840 --> 02:11:55.740
So where is that heartfelt energy

02:11:55.740 --> 02:11:58.579
when it comes to these 49 kids.

02:11:58.579 --> 02:12:00.740
We cannot continue to neglect our residents,

02:12:00.740 --> 02:12:03.400
visitors, and infrastructure and expect our population

02:12:03.400 --> 02:12:05.980
to stop declining, businesses to return,

02:12:05.980 --> 02:12:08.340
and the drugs and guns to disappear.

02:12:08.340 --> 02:12:10.539
If you truly want to represent this community,

02:12:10.539 --> 02:12:12.960
now is the time to step up and take real action.

02:12:12.960 --> 02:12:13.800
Thank you.

02:12:15.060 --> 02:12:16.659
Are there any other, Wendy?

02:12:23.539 --> 02:12:25.460
Good evening, Council.

02:12:25.460 --> 02:12:30.659
My name is Wendy Pearson, for those of you that don't know, there were a couple of things

02:12:30.659 --> 02:12:35.420
that were said that I'd like to put some clarification on.

02:12:35.420 --> 02:12:39.420
First of all, when we talk about bids in this town, the question I was going to ask is how

02:12:39.420 --> 02:12:44.579
many bids, how often are there three bidders on any contract in this town, and Darren happened

02:12:44.579 --> 02:12:50.100
to answer that with a question, with an answer to the fact that they put out for three bidders

02:12:50.100 --> 02:12:52.619
and got none.

02:12:52.619 --> 02:13:00.260
How often are the bike and walking trails utilized in this town and who's utilizing them?

02:13:00.260 --> 02:13:04.500
Some of you know my background is in minority business and contracts and specifications.

02:13:04.500 --> 02:13:08.579
So when you talk this, Darren knows I know what you're talking about.

02:13:08.579 --> 02:13:13.460
As far as an increase in salaries, I think the City of Freeport citizens have the right

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to know what the exact salaries are of the mayor and the city manager because tonight

02:13:18.420 --> 02:13:28.420
what was stated that their salaries are somewhere between $170,000 to $180,000 that does not give me directs or anybody else directs as to what those individual salaries are.

02:13:28.420 --> 02:13:42.420
Finally, I wish that we saw in our neighborhoods the individual who is supposed to be the eyes, ears, and mouth of us, the people.

02:13:42.420 --> 02:13:52.420
I wish I could see persons who supposed to be that in our communities going to meetings,

02:13:52.420 --> 02:13:56.420
meeting with our children, going into our churches.

02:13:56.420 --> 02:14:00.420
I'm sorry, I don't agree on an increase for the mayor.

02:14:00.420 --> 02:14:08.420
I'd like to see our neighborhood and our mayor have an impact on what is happening in this city,

02:14:08.420 --> 02:14:12.820
What has been happening in this city for 20 years prior to her even becoming the mayor?

02:14:12.820 --> 02:14:15.619
I've not seen that impact.

02:14:15.619 --> 02:14:17.860
And this isn't personal.

02:14:17.860 --> 02:14:22.539
But I've watched too many people be put in the ground and too many of our children dead.

02:14:22.539 --> 02:14:28.060
I have a list of individuals who were shooting, were shot, and now are dead.

02:14:28.060 --> 02:14:33.820
This latest shooting shouldn't have been a walk around the block, which is what we did.

02:14:33.820 --> 02:14:36.539
It should have been in our neighborhoods.

02:14:36.539 --> 02:14:44.940
It should have been with all of you, every one of you city council meetings, walking the streets with us, and I have not seen that from any of you.

02:14:46.260 --> 02:14:56.900
It's time to change it. It's time to stop the shootings. It's time for everybody to be involved in what is happening in our community because it's not just happening in the black community. It's happening all over Freeport now.

02:14:58.100 --> 02:15:02.539
Black, white, kids, young folks, old folks being

02:15:02.539 --> 02:15:24.539
Promatized by gunfire, a chief who has had to go out on the limb to try to keep from killing one of our own and I've had those conversations with him and I'd like to say thank you because that situation is one that I have been thinking was going to happen in this town for a very long time and we've had that conversation and it has happened.

02:15:24.539 --> 02:15:26.539
Your three minutes has exceeded.

02:15:26.539 --> 02:15:29.539
We need change people and we need you all to help with the change.

02:15:29.539 --> 02:15:34.700
not sit on your butts in here get on the streets and just so you know my salary

02:15:34.700 --> 02:15:39.700
was posted in the memo so you got to do is read it I'll tell you at the beginning

02:15:39.700 --> 02:15:52.100
of the term I made twenty seven nine hundred fifteen and for yet is there any

02:15:52.100 --> 02:15:55.100
Any other public comments?

02:15:55.100 --> 02:15:57.100
We'll entertain a motion for adjournment.

02:15:57.100 --> 02:16:00.100
So moved.

02:16:00.100 --> 02:16:01.100
Second.

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We have a motion made by Alderman Shadle, seconded by Alderman Monroe.

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All those in favor?