City Council - Regular Meeting

The Aurora City Council June 9th, 2026 is hereby called to order at 6.03 p.m. I'll ask the clerk to please call the roll.

Alderman Barrero.

Here.

Alderwoman Garza. Present. Alderman Maciakos. Present. Alderman Nunez. Alderman Franco. Here. Alderman Savelle. Here. Alderman Banuelos. Here. Alderwoman Smith. Here. Alderman Bug.

Here.

Alderwoman Bade. Here. Alderman Larson. Here. Alderman White. Here. Mayor Lash is present.

Is there a motion to approve the appointment of Sergeant-in-Arms for this meeting?

So moved.

Motion was made by Alderman Seville, seconded by Alderman Garza. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries by voice vote. Next, I'll ask Alderman Maciakos please lead us in the Pledge of 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.

Thank you. Next, I'll let Tony take it away with the mayor's report.

Good evening, Mayor. Thank you. Tony Martinez, Chief Communication Marketing Officer for the city. Tonight's going to be another night of great recognition here in the city of Aurora. Tonight, we'll be giving our annual pride proclamation presented to the Aurora LGBTQ Advisory Board. Let's give them a round of applause and welcome them up to the stage to receive the proclamation. So if you're here from the LGBTQ Advisory Board and Mayor, please come down. The mayor will read the proclamation here this evening.

Good to see you guys.

Good evening. Happy Pride Month. Whereas the city of Aurora strives to be a more inclusive and equitable community for all, including our lesbian and gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual LGBTQIA plus community members, and whereas members of the LGBTQIA plus community in our city, throughout our state, across our nation, and around the world have collectively worked to overcome gender, race, sexuality, and class adversity, combating social stigma, and demanding visibility. And whereas we recognize the valuable contributions of the LGBTQIA plus community, rejoice in many of the triumphs and recalls, the continued trials and the quest for full equality. And whereas in that recognition, we salute such advocates as Aurora LGBTQ Advisory Board, Aurora Pride, Aurora Mutual Aid, local businesses in Aurora, and individuals who have gone above and beyond to advance the progress of the LGBTQIA plus community. And whereas working collaboratively and authentically with our LGBTQIA community members and advocates, allies, and organizations, we continue to make Aurora a more inclusive and equitable city. Now, therefore, I, Mayor John Lash, do hereby proclaim June as Pride Month in the city of Aurora, Illinois, and encourage all residents to recognize the resilience and determination of the many individuals who are fighting to live freely and authentically. Hang tight. I'm going to ask Luis to say just a few words. And then are we going to update everybody on our upcoming events that we have? OK, thanks.

Thank you, everyone. Oh, I'm a little short. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you, everyone, especially Mayor Lash and members of the Aurora City Council. As chair of the Aurora LGBTQ Advisory Board, I'm honored to accept this Pride Month proclamation on behalf of our board and of Aurora's LGBTQ plus broader community. Moments like this matter, especially in moments like this that are affecting our community. The message that LGBTQ plus residents are seen, they're valued, and belong in our city. I want to thank my fellow board members, our city liaison, Mike Nelson, our community partners, allies, friends, and families for their continued support and commitment to making Aurora a more welcoming and inclusive community. We look forward to celebrating Pride Month with every single one of you throughout the month of June. Thank you again and happy Pride Month, Aurora.

That's right. If you traveled around the downtown, you'll see the pride colors being displayed proudly throughout downtown. So this weekend, make sure to join the advisory board for the annual pride at the Plaza event taking place on Saturday night on Stope Avenue right here in downtown Aurora. And then we have the parade and make sure to make your way down here for Sunday for the parade. kicking off at noon right here in downtown. It's always a great time. One of our largest parades of the year. The most colorful parade and probably the most fun parade that we have throughout the year. So make sure to come out and enjoy the weekend and celebrate Pride Month here in the city of Aurora. Thank you. Let's give them another round of applause. So our final recognition here tonight goes out to a group of trailblazers who've made history here in Aurora. So late last month, the city of Aurora, in partnership with the 548 Foundation, hosted a graduation ceremony for the first ever graduates of the city's new Seja Workforce Development Hub. Let's give them a round of applause for that. So for the graduates of this first cohort with the 540 Foundation, they receive industry-recognized credentials, including the OSHA 30 Construction Certification, a National Center for Construction Education and Research Core Construction Certification, and a CPR First Aid Certification. So at this time, I know we have some graduates here, so if you could please come on up and join the mayor at the front of the stage to be recognized. Yeah, let's give a round of applause. great accomplishment here in the city the 548 foundation and the great work that they do join the mayor up on the stage I know the mayor has a few words you probably want to share for this accomplishment this is one of his goals here coming in as the 60th mayor of Aurora I know he's very proud when he got received notification of the graduation ceremony and the 548 foundation so mayor

I just wanted to say that was one of the most exciting things that I've had an opportunity to do was watch these men graduate from the CJ Workforce Development Hub, which is a partnership between us, COD, Waubonsee, the CJ Workforce Development Hub, and the 548 Foundation. So the 548 Foundation is the union side. of the green building movement these was an entry-level graduation but there are a number of coursework that will prepare these men and women who take the course to train for installing solar panels making housing more energy efficient insulating air sealing doing energy audits a lot of the coming work that's coming in a green collar economy which is necessary as ai continues to gobble up the tech jobs i think here in the city of aurora we want to prepare to have a stable workforce. And the first step of that is to put the training program in place. And it was really a historic opportunity to watch all of you graduate. And we want to recognize you with a certificate of award, but also wanted to share with our community your success and let you know that the community and the council stand with you. We're here to create the jobs. We have an agenda item tonight to put solar panels up on a city of Aurora. water tower space and it's going to be the first step. There's going to be many more as we work to employ Aurora residents and people that have fallen through the cracks in our education system who have chosen to re-educate themselves for this coming green calorie economy. So just a piece of what's coming and if we could just give it up for a round of applause for their hard work it took to get through this course.

And I don't know if any of you guys want to say a quick word. Hi, everyone. I'm Jake. I'm the instructor of the Aurora location. And we just want to say thank you to the city of Aurora for giving us this opportunity to train these young men and to be able to go out and build careers. We look forward to building partnerships with all of the residents, with the contractors, with everyone that we can build with here. So we just want to say thank you again. Y'all going to see us a lot more.

That's right. This is a perfect example of a public-private partnership. Really everyone, organizations coming together to serve our community and to serve the needs of this community. Take a photo op really quick. That's right, that's right. We're looking forward to seeing the great things they do here in the future. So thank you guys. Congratulations. Thank you to the 548 Foundation for your wonderful work here in the community.

That concludes our report here this evening.

Oh, you still have one more report after this.

Okay, I know we've got a long night tonight. I'm gonna invite the Chief of Community Services, Nicole Mullins, to come up and just give a summary of what happened at the Warming Center. And then we have part of the presentation by Community Services and part by our partner, Becoming Us We Go.

Thank you, Nicole Mullins, Chief Community Services Officer. I will go over these slides quickly, because I know that you have a long evening. The beginning of this presentation is just going over the main purposes of this presentation. First is to give a high level overview of the contract scope, just to remind everybody what was within the contract when we approved it in the fall. um then we will move to uh the contractor becoming oswego will give a presentation um based on their perspective and uh wrap up for the season and then we'll conclude with going over uh the community services internal debriefing 2026 and 27 planning um so going on to the overview of the contract I guess you could use your imagination what the next slides are. Basically the core mission was for the warming shelter to operate anytime the threshold of the temperature reached 32 Fahrenheit or below. or for six hours or more to ensure safe overnight refuge for people experiencing homelessness the we wanted to target rural residents that did not have access to other shelters as you know hesset house is nearby to that shelter and is a low barrier option however there are still instances where individuals cannot stay at Hesed House or Hesed House is at capacity. And so we wanted to make sure that we had an option for those residents to have refuge in the winter. This goes over the different operational duties of becoming Oswego. And all of these are taken directly from the contract. I will not bore you with the specifics, but you have it there before you to review it. And essentially it was just to provide overnight shelter from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., provide a light snack and water. just to make sure that people had accommodations to get out of the cold. The amount budgeted for the year for the season was $136,141. There's a breakdown of how it was allocated, staffing, security, food, administrative costs, et cetera. And so... Going on to the portion where becoming presents, I just want to preface it by saying the information that they're going to be presenting is from their perspective as they experienced being the contractor for this past season. It will include both activities that were performed within the scope of the warming center contract as well as additional activities activities that were done. And I want to make sure that it's clear to council and to the public that there is a distinction between those activities because the contract of the $136,000, I don't want anyone to have the misperception that those activities were funded outside of the scope that was agreed upon by the council. And so super grateful for those additional things that they did as humanitarians and as their church and so i want you to be aware that we have gone through all of the receipts on a regular basis as they were submitted and made sure we were doing our due diligence to ensure that the city funds allocated for those services were for what was agreed upon in the contract And then we'll conclude once they present on their slides to go over our department's next steps and 2026-27 season. I also want to emphasize that at no point has our department nor the city ever talked about the warming shelter not existing for the next season. I vetted... comments and questions from community and from alderman if there were questions as to whether or not we were going to do this again for next year. And so I just want to be very clear to council and to the public that that has not even been up for debate. So appreciate your time and the next slides will be presented by Becoming Oswego. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Mullins. I'll ask Annie Fish to come forward.

I love you, Annie. Love you, too. All right, so I'm Annie Fish, and as you met me earlier this season, and this is my brother, Pastor Pat Fish. I was the director of this year's warming center, and we are going to give our report. Thanks, Nicole. So can you do that? So we'll start with the success and impact, the gaps that we personally acknowledged, and how we get better at those, and then our future, what we as a community believe we could build together. So I want to start with the fact that I As Nicole stated, we had an amazing budget that y'all awarded us, and we took that very, very seriously and didn't overspend or anything like that. In fact, we came in under budget, so we spent $110,000, a little bit more than that, but of the $136,000, I think that's pretty incredible for all we were able to do. Um, this obviously is a service that can prevent the most expensive crisis crisis responses with average local ER costs totaling up to 5000 per night. Um, in ambulance rides are 14 times more frequent for the unsheltered. And I will say any night that we were closed, we did see that uptick in calls and in those frequent flyers who utilize emergency services if they weren't with us. Some of our impact at a glance, so some of our really, really powerful numbers are that we had 351 unique guests served, 3,454 total guests served. We averaged 40 guests per night. This was including of those who would stop in just to get snacks and food and things like that. But I would say we were averaging around 30 in cots, but 40 guests total per night. We had 57 guests on our max number. That was in the middle of January and February when we had 26 nights we were open in a row. And then this year we had 86 nights officially open, which doubled the amount from last year, which was 42, I believe, off the top of my head. And then over 6,611 meals were provided, which is know probably an un a very underestimated number um but we were serving breakfast lunch and dinner um to our guests and then now um we have eight guests now in stable and supportive housing which is incredible not only was this yes it was band-aid work but an investment in relationships and those things made it possible to make it more than band-aid work so thank you for that This, we did build a database with one of our volunteers, Bill Kubal. So, again, this is kind of one of those ways that we were taking, we inherited a paper-based process and things like that, which was awesome and got our season started. But all season long, we were working on trying to develop systems that helped us track data, that helped us kind of get those insights and things like that so that we can make those conversations with local communities. We can make those, we can understand where the gaps really are and communicate better. So that just shows you kind of our per night counts. And you can see those upticks in January and February really were where we experienced the most guests and the most need. Some of the things just beyond the cot that we added, we have collaborated with Oswego Senior and Community Center. We served 34 different individuals. We had another shower event actually last night, so that would make five, and we had eight people at that one. We've had 18 haircuts at our recent Sunday event. We had 25 extra. 19 laundry nights, we had 29 guests who are employed that gained employment while they stayed with us. We had 12 rides that we gave to work and eight bus passes given for interviews. For medical, we had seven rides to medical appointments and prescription supports, that's not like giving actual prescriptions, that was like funding support for prescriptions. We had 11 rehab visits, which has since gone up to 15. We have had 10 MCRT calls, which is mobile crisis unit response team with AID, and it was incredible. We had a nurse on site when needed, but really, realistically, what we were doing was preventative work by providing shelter and nourishing bodies. So I won't spare us with more of the details, but basically, you know, we had 15 birthday celebrations, 13 special events that created belonging, but ultimately it was a super successful season despite the roadblocks and things like that. These numbers speak for themselves. But we're really passionate about understanding what's going on in the community so that we can be a part of helping solve it.

So you want to start with this one? Yeah. So Annie and I, I'm Pastor Patrick, pastor at Becoming. Annie and I want to thank you, want to thank the folks behind us and the folks who couldn't be here. This work is a culmination of 38 paid staff, which again included, that's mainly where the money from the contract went. 204 volunteers, six faith communities, 22 organizations, 18 local businesses, And we had 85 unique donors, which allowed us to do things like birthday gifts and stuff like that. And so I want to give a round of applause to those awesome people behind us who were a part of making all this happen. Every single week we were going to Marie Wilkinson, and again, recycling food, food rescue, we were helping them with that. Hazard House and AID working with their street outreach team to ensure, again, that no one was falling through the cracks. Our goal was so that no one in our community would die due to preventable things like frostbite. And again, we are grateful that so many were a part of that work so that our most vulnerable would have a safe haven this winter. We do have Atlantis. She can come forward. Again, these are all statistics which are important as we think about, you know, how the dollars went. But again, Nicole said this. It was so much more than just a contract. And so people like Atlantis, we got to know and have relationship with. And we're going to have her share how this mattered. Because this is not about us. It's about the guests.

Just wanted to share some of the good experiences I had there. So first off, I just got my hair done the other day. It was so hot having long hair and they helped me cut it. Thank you. And also, I celebrated my birthday with them. Originally, it was just like me by myself and it made me pretty sad because, you know, you usually do pretty cool stuff on your birthday. You usually have a good day. Didn't really happen until way later on in the night when I went to the warming center. And Annie just comes up to me and she's like, happy birthday Atlantis. And I'm just like, oh my goodness, she remembered my birthday. Someone remembered my birthday. That was so sweet. It was so nice. It made me feel human. And that's happened to a couple people who have had their birthday there. They've gotten little presents and just a smile on their face for the day. So something like the Warming Center is nice to have because of that. It makes people feel human.

So I hope that touched on just like the part that we're really passionate about, which is relationships. We believe that that is what creates those impact numbers that happen beyond the COTS that we provided, that happen beyond the budget, and things like that. So we appreciate all of the support that made all of that possible, the yeses that took place in order for us to do that. It was huge, and it truly changed lives. And that changes atmosphere and creates pride in their community. And it just means a whole lot. What stretched the model? This is just some things people were asking that wanted to be shared. So the capacity pressure. We did double the nights this year with that threshold being raised to 32 degrees, as Nicole stated. That meant double the guests per night, double the nights, and it was actually almost like triple the amount. for guests per night. And then local shelter wait lists. We were ongoing working against a season with all of our local shelters being on wait lists and not being able to fully offer the low threshold type experience for the unhoused. it became our issue to try to help fill that gap. And that gap became bigger and bigger throughout the season. I will say families becoming unhoused made really quick, flexible support really hard. And that is something that I would love to improve next year is our care for families. Because there are so many people that reached out to me all season long in need of help, almost losing their house, almost in and other local shelters are at capacity. Wait lists are closed in the family shelter, and there are still dramatic needs still existing, and it's visible. Another thing is that we would have an uptick in numbers when there would be campsite sweeps. A lot of campsite sweeps, you know, people do want people to be out of the way, and while that could be understandable, there's nowhere for them to go. And that being said, they would come to us, and then they would have all of their items. So we constantly were trying to just get better, reach different solutions, and we created things like storage systems, lockers, and things like that anytime we saw a need arise. That was great. And then the season startup was, you know, of course, a little rushed. So we would hope that just next year we can try to make decisions sooner and things like that and communicate to you all throughout this whole time just to communicate the need that's ongoing and let you all know that. But you want to do that one?

Yeah, so I just want to say Becoming was a co-partner two years ago when it was at Wesley. And this year, we were the primary. We don't expect that this should be held by one church or one nonprofit. Our hope and our learnings, I think, whoever this is we want to work with them on lessons learned systems and offering them things because this isn't about becoming this is about just taking care of our neighbors who are here and so whatever that means with city council with community service we're just excited that we live in a community that wants to see our neighbors and take care of them in the hardest months And we are, I want to share this last thing, from Oswego. And it's been made clear that we are. And we want to make Oswego a part of the solution. So we are starting a nonprofit organization there so that our municipality can be a part of the solution and not just this small little thing that we call church, but that we have decision makers like yourselves at the table with us and taking care of our most vulnerable. Because we can share, we took statistics this year of how many people were from different counties. Police got smarter where they dropped them off like up the street instead of coming straight to the warming shelter. But we collected at least 13 from Oswego. So again, they're coming from other municipalities and we want to share those statistics so that they can't just say, well, it's Aurora's problem or they can figure it out. Like we want to be a part of building bridges and being a catalyst for that because it's not about us. It's about, again, taking care of our guests who don't know boundaries but are just looking for help.

Thank you. Let's give it up for Becoming Oswego. Thank you both. This concludes the mayor's report. You have more?

Okay, thanks. So just in conclusion, we're in the process of still gathering final data and receipts for the end of year reporting. We did a debrief today earlier with Becoming Oswego and various community partners. We will be doing an internal brief Debrief next. Decisions regarding 2026 and 2027 will be made after we've been able to do that debrief and gather all the final data and receipts. And it will go through the proper procurement processes at that time. So I don't know if anyone has any questions. If not, that's everything I have.

beautiful presentation from both of you guys thank you so much can you share this slide with us yeah that we can see absolutely numbers these figures is because it's very compelling sure thank you any other questions for

Community Services, Alderman Franco.

I just want to make a comment. I want to thank the Fish brother and sister because one of our concerns this last year is that Aurora was doing a lot and people weren't helping out. So thank you for including Oswego, getting them on board because we had talked about that last year because, again, this is not an Aurora problem. It's a regional problem. So getting our neighbors on board is wonderful. So thanks for pushing that effort. We really need to thank you so much.

Mr. Mayor.

Alderman White.

Yes, I have a question for the Becoming Goswego, if Pastor Pat would come up or Annie.

Take your time there.

So first, I love seeing the data. I love looking at data. So just looking at the numbers, it looks like the cost per visit per day was $31.80 per person, which you can't find housing anywhere at that cost. And then you showed the numbers of the cost for ambulance, and then the cost of individuals doing whatever they need to do to find safe space that the taxpayers pay for. So the cost that you provided is great, especially under budget. I do want to look at, I saw the slide up called Beyond the Cot. Ms. Mullins discussed additional activities or that the warming center budget was for operations. Can you go over what beyond the, are these some of this, did Beyond Becoming Gonzobigo cover costs for any of these or how was this funded?

Yeah, so Becoming Oswego did take these things on, you know, the birthday celebrations, you know, things like New Year's that came out of becoming pocket because we saw it as an investment and into the relationships that we've been talking about. And as things were You know, needs were real and everything like that. You know, we had to keep making little yeses along the way. We did increase the amount of donors and everything like that. We got some extra donations to help cover some of it. But we still, as a small church, said yes a lot and held that yes a lot on our own.

Okay. Thank you. That's the only question I had.

Alderman Borrero. Yes, I just had a clarifying question. So the warming center operates, you know, it started last year in 2025, and then it went through this year, 2026. So I just wanted to clarify that there are dollars in 2026 to start this up again beginning in October, November. Can you go through that?

i don't have final numbers yet because we still have some receipts to process um so once we do have the final numbers and everything's been um finalized i'll have the actual number for you guys there were some things that were in the contract for example like janitorial services that um it it became apparent early on that it would be better suited for the city to handle that so some of that funding needs to be attributed against the contract um and considered for next year.

Shannon Cameron, Chief of Staff. So we earmarked in this budget $250,000 to cover January through April's use, plus to give us startup money for this next year. So that's when I had presented the budget, I talked about how it's a weird thing that straddles two budgets. So that's what we had. So yes, we have startup funds.

OK, thank you for clarifying that.

Any other questions? Okay, well thank you both again for all of your hard work and dedication to our community. Okay, next I'm gonna skip ahead to mayoral appointments.

You wanna do public comments? We got a long public comment. We can do public.

Yep. I'm going to do mayoral appointments. I'll ask the clerk to please read the first agenda item under mayoral appointments.

260294, a resolution authorizing the appointment of Krisha Dahlal to the Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Advisory Board. So moved. Second.

A motion to approve this resolution, a motion made by Alderman Franco, second by Alderwoman Carza. Are there any questions or discussions regarding this resolution? Hearing none, I'll ask the clerk to please call the roll.

Ferraro? Yes. Garza? Yes. Maciakos?

Yes.

Franco? Yep. Seville? Yes. Banuelos? Yes. Smith? Yes. Bugg? Yes. Bate? Yes. Larson? Yes. White? Yes. 11 yes, 0 no.

Motion carries. This resolution is approved. Is Krisha here? Let's give her a round of applause. Thank you for your service. If you'll wait just a minute, we'll come down and take a photo with all of the appointments are through. Last clerk, please read the next item on the mayoral appointments.

26-0316, a resolution authorizing the appointment of Jennifer Hopkins, Alanetti Barajas, Guisha Wajid, and Harnik Vashu to the Aurora Planning and Zoning Commission. So moved.

So motion to approve this resolution. Motion made by Alderman Franco, seconded by Alderman Garza. Any questions or discussion? I'll ask the clerk to please call the roll.

Barrero? Yes. Garza? Yes. Maciakos? Yes. Franco? Yes. Seville? Yes. Benuelos? Yes. Smith? No. Bugg? Yes. Bade? Yes. Larson? Yes. White? Yes. 11 yes, 0 no.

Motion carries. This resolution is adopted. Is Jennifer Hopkins, Alanetti, Barajas? Point of order.

Point of clarity. I think Alderman Smith said no. I thought I heard a... 10-1.

Motion carries. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, are Jennifer Hopkins, Elnery Barajas, Lucia Wajid, and Harnick Bachu here today? And will you please stand and be recognized by the community and the council? Lucia? Hang tight, and we'll come up and take a group photo afterwards. As clerk, please read the last item under mail appointments.

260332, a resolution authorizing the reappointment of Michael Zafran to the Grand Army of the Republic Memorial Commission.

Motion made by Alderman Smith, second by Alderman Franco. Are there any questions or discussions regarding this resolution? Sorry, motion made by Alderman Seville, second by Alderman Franco. If there's no further questions, I'll ask the clerk to please call the roll.

Barrero? Yes. Garza? Yes. Maciakos? Yes. Franco? Yes. Seville? Yes. Benuevos? Yes. Smith? Yes. Bugg? Yes. Fade? Yes. Larson? Yes. White? Yes. 11 yes, 0 no.

Motion carries. Is Michael Zafran please stand and be recognized by the council. Thank you. And if any of the appointees want to meet me down in the well here real quick and we'll take a quick photograph. Thank you all for your service.

All right, here we go guys. Ready? One, two, and three.

OK, this concludes mayoral appointments. Next, we'll move to public comment. Madam Clerk, do we have any members of the public wishing to offer public comment?

We do, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you. Will you please read the rules of public comment?

Pursuant to the Open Meetings Act, all persons shall be permitted an opportunity to address public officials under the rules established and recorded by the council. Under our rules, any person may address the city council for up to three minutes with a maximum of 30 minutes allotted for all public comment. No person other than the timekeeper or the chair for the purpose of maintaining order may interrupt a person recognized for public comment during his or her comments. Members of the city council shall not engage with nor respond to a speaker during the time set aside for public comment. Staff is directed to follow up with members of the public with respect to any concerns raised during public comment within the scope of the city's authority following the adjournment of this meeting.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Will you please read the name of the first person to offer public comment?

Annie Fish. And the next is Reverend Angela Collier.

Welcome, Ms. Collier. You have three minutes beginning now.

Thank you. Good evening, Mayor and City Council. I'm here tonight because I want to address a couple things that's happening in our city. First, I want to thank all those that attended the No More Excuses. Alderman-at-Large Keith Larson, Ward 6 Alderman Michael Seville, we thank you for your support for that event. Also, Alderman Dan Barrero, Ward 1, David Deboe, Pat Shipp, Priest-Prior, and all of those that volunteer. The speakers, Ram with the IT department, Art Tiggs, Brian Levine, and also Ms. Benuelos. All the men, Benuelos, I also want to thank you for your support. and the things that you have done. I'm not even in your ward, but I want to thank you and appreciate you. Mayor, there's a couple of things that's going on in the city that I did schedule a meeting with you and your staff, because three minutes won't allow me to say what I have to say. But I have been serving in this community for the last 36 years, helping the homeless, help those in need, feeding people that I don't even know. And for the Kane County Sheriff Department to put my grandkids out in the street late last night, I am really disappointed in what's happening here. You talk about you want to help the housing. You want to help those low-income families. See, I was one of those women that was on the Section 8 programs. I was homeless. I was in the hotels. But see, the things they did to me when I was a young woman, you can't do it now because the wisdom that I have, and you're definitely not going to do it to my children. You know, I'm sick of the racism. I'm sick of the city council can't make decisions. You know, we vote for you because we believe in you. You know, not that people just don't like you. That's not about who likes who. This is about responsibility with our city council. I don't get up off my butt every day and work. and try to provide and help other people for then for my grandkids to be out in the street and nobody's helping them. I'm not hearing that foolishness. God has called all of us to be responsible and to make decisions in this city. So I've scheduled an appointment with you, Mayor, and your staff. I want to talk a little bit more about it. But just because judgment does not come speedily, it does not mean it's not coming. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Kelly. Senator Clerk, will you please read the name of the next person wishing to offer public comment?

Sun Nye.

Welcome, Sun Nye. You have three minutes beginning now.

Thank you. Here to tell the mayor of Aurora, John Lush, the opening date for the new casino is June 24, 2026. You worked so hard to block the casino from being built. And the 600 Aurora residents who signed the petition, you and your group circulating to block the casino, the opening date for the new casino is June 24, 2026. The casino is here finally. A casino is a vital economic engine. There is an economic benefit for the city. A casino is not just a place for gambling. A casino is a source of generating tax revenue. Casino taxes help community projects. The tax revenue could balance the city budgets. Why is the mayor of Aurora, John Lush, raised the unpopular property taxes? instead of using the tax revenues from a casino you burden aurora residents with property tax hikes you increase the water rates for residential water and sewer services when the state of illinois eliminated a statewide one percent grocery tax but the mayor of aurora john lush kept the one person grocery tax Why is Aurora residents paying 1% sales tax on food items? Food prices are too high. Aurora residents cannot afford paying the grocery taxes. The mayor of Aurora could use the tax revenue from the casino. Why are you burdening Aurora residents with the tax hikes instead of getting the money from the casino tax revenue? A casino is a job creator. They created a well-paying jobs ranging from food services to hotel operations and security. Casino brings employment opportunity. The casino will provide employment to unemployed Aurora residents. for plumbers, cooks, services, electricians, maintenance employees, et cetera. The casino will provide world-class restaurants and spas. Casino will provide vacation for adults. Casino will draw tourists to Aurora. The mayor of Aurora, John Lush, tried to stop the casino from being built. He tried to block city council from establishing TIF district for Penn Entertainment. The mayor tried to block the 360 million land-based casino project. Penn Entertainment is a multi-billion dollar company. It's for-profit business. It generates revenue for its owners or shareholders. If Penn Entertainment asked the city council for TIF, they should get it. They created a job in Aurora, Illinois. Penn Entertainment is a job creator in Aurora, Illinois. Here to thank the Irvine administration for fighting to build a new casino in Aurora. Here to thank Richard Mayor Irvine. Also to thank city council members, previous and current, for approving TAFE so we can build a new casino. Here to thank Penn Entertainment for helping Aurora to keep tax revenues in Aurora.

Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Last question, please read the name of the next person wishing to offer public comment.

Cassandra Echevarria.

Welcome, Ms. Echeverria. You have three minutes beginning now.

Hi, good evening, Mr. Mayor, council, and . My name is Cassandra Echeverria. I was born and raised here in Aurora. And when I was a graduate at West Aurora, I will say that my time spent there, there was one thing I loved the most, and it might scare some of you, and is its diversity. 79% of the population there identifies as non-white, which doesn't come as a surprise, being that Aurora is extremely diverse. So let's talk honestly tonight, because I'm exhausted about this debate about DEI and voices that matter being doubted and silenced. I will agree with you, Carl Franco, that DEI doesn't always work. I have seen women fail to represent their neighbors. I have seen Latino leaders silence themselves on issues affecting the community that's affecting people that's 42% Hispanic in Aurora. We have all seen how previous mayors, though they may be minorities themselves, they do not represent the will of the people. Today, we hear from amazing people, talented. We hear their commitment to the community, and they have already been bringing change actively. So I cannot imagine having the audacity to sit there and question their value as if they're not real contributing members to the society and Aurora. So thank you for showing residents that you care more about money. You said if these people can't bring in money, is that concern rooted in the fact that 70% of your campaign donations come from corporations that do business with the city of Aurora rather than people themselves? We hear officials condemn donations when it is politically convenient, yet they remain silent when those same interests receive tax abatements, subsidies, incentives, or contracts worth far more than any other campaign contribution at the expense of the Aurora taxpayer. Aurora residents are smart enough to recognize the difference between fighting corporation and performative concern. What happens tonight on this ethics ordinance will tell us something. Do you value money more than the people that spoke here tonight? Will you stand with the residents sharing their struggles or with the interests that profit while working or world families fall further behind? Show Aurora who you are. Show us how you conduct your business. And to everyone listening, please continue this fight. On June 20th at the Prisco Community Center from 12 to 2, the People's Lobby will be hosting a funder communities debrief. So let's discuss how we can fund the people the communities under real needs. No more prioritizing the interests of corporations and political insiders who put the money into the pocket, a big pack, when it should go to our hardworking people of Aurora. Thank you.

Thank you. I speak for Sandra. I'll ask the clerk to please read the name of the next person and wish now for public comment.

David Most.

Welcome, Mr. Most. You have three minutes beginning now.

Thank you very much. Appreciate the opportunity to speak here for a moment about the warming center. A little nervous, sorry. I want you to imagine it's 2 o'clock in the morning and it's January. The temperature's 10 degrees out. The wind's cutting through your coat. Your hands hurt. Your feet are numb. You've been walking for hours because there's nowhere to warm. You haven't had a hot meal today. You haven't had a shower. You're exhausted. You can't sleep because if you stop moving, you get cold. We saw some statistics. Imagine this is not a statistic. It's someone's son. It's someone's daughter. It's a veteran. It's a mother. It's a neighbor. Tonight, they're right here in our community. The Warming Center gives people something that most of us take for granted. A warm room. A meal. A safe place to sleep. A shower. A chance to breathe. Dignity. Dignity of being treated like a human being. This year alone, hundreds of people came through the doors of that warming center. Thousands of meals were served under budget. It changed people. People found housing, people found jobs, medical care, and hope. But is this really only about the winter? In a few weeks, we're gonna be talking about extreme heat. Imagine sitting in a parking lot in July where it's 95 degrees, the sun bearing down on you, no water, nowhere to cool off, nowhere to escape. It's just as deadly as the cold. A community is measured not by how it treats those who have the most, but how it treats those that have the least. Tonight I'm asking you to continue to say yes to these people. Yes to compassion. Yes to dignity. Expand that program. Keep our neighbors. Keep our neighbors alive. Remind them that they have not been forgotten. Every person deserves a place of safety when the weather outside can take their lives. I appreciate your time. Some of the aldermen and Mr. Mayor, I understand you were at the cleanup here on Sunday. It was my birthday. I was here in the hot, hot sun helping out, picking things up, doing what I could. I'm new to this community. I've only lived here two years. My company is based in this community.

Thank you, Mr. Most. Three minutes is up. Thank you.

Thank you for your time. Appreciate it.

Last clerk, please read the name of the next person to show for public comment.

Odalis Edmara.

It's Odalis. Welcome, Odalis. You have three minutes.

It's OK. That's the English. In Spanish, it's Odalis. Odalis. Hello, Mayor, City Council. My name is Odalis Ibarra. I am a lifelong rural resident, graduated from East Aurora High School in 2018, and was a volunteer at the Rural Warming Center this winter season. Even though the cold weather has come and gone away with, the need has not. If anything, they face more obstacles as their campsites have been swept. Waiting lists on Hesed are extremely long to the point where they can't get in, have no hope in getting in. And that leaves them with nowhere to go. However, they found hope and somewhere to be at 712 South River Street. So I'm here today to ask the city to continue to provide the support that they have provided so far to the warming center and the Aurora community. Please don't forget about the ones that are often forgotten, as there are people here that are willing to do the work, like myself and a lot of my colleagues behind me. However, it's a community effort. Not just a few people can do it. Everybody needs to do it. And that falls on you, city council. Okay? Thank you. And one last thing. I'd like to say, que viva la diversidad. I wore green just for you, Carl Franco.

Thank you, Ms. Isibara. All right. Last clerk, please read the name of the next person wishing to offer public comment.

Rick Lawrence.

You got a seat for you right up front. Oh, hey. Welcome, Mr. Lawrence. You have three minutes beginning now.

Thank you. I see the ethics thing is back. And as I said before, I never took the money from anybody. I paid for everything myself. I don't understand why, if you can't write a check for $5,000, $10,000 to run for office, maybe that says something. But Mr. Mayor, you did something today and the past day in posting stuff on social media. and you named a specific company and you absolutely implied they were corrupt. You didn't offer any proof, but you named them. You can be sued for that. I know you're not surrounded by the legal scholars of the world, but I'm gonna tell you that was very dangerous and you put the city in a very bad position and yourself personally in a very bad position because you publicly wrote that without any qualifications. And again, you started to allude that there were certain aldermen. In the 40 years that I've been involved in Aurora, there's been one alderman that has been convicted and it had nothing to do with campaign donations. If you're going to be corrupt, you're not taking a donation and reporting it. You're going to fly on a jet. You're going to do this. You're going to do that. You're going to do something different. You're going to get your vacations paid for. So this is a BS thing to act like a political thing to attack certain people and say, oh, look it, they took Scientel. If Scientel is so corrupt, as you allude to in your postings, your public postings on your personal site, if they're so corrupt, why'd you renew their contract this year? You put out there to the public that this is a bad company paying off politicians, but you renewed their contract this year. So if they're so bad, Why do that? It becomes political. You hurt the message. I don't think anybody disagrees with taking money from people that do contracts is kind of questionable and bad. Again, I didn't do that. But when you start attacking certain aldermen, and you have people come up here and say, oh, this person took the money, and this person took the money, and they didn't take the money, that's political. And that's BS. And when you accuse a company, man, I sure hope you have the proof for that. because they can bankrupt you. And I don't think we have the legal staff to defend ourselves. I've seen them in action. We'd be in deep trouble. But when you name a company and slander them, I think you better figure that out and fix that, because that wasn't good today, what you posted. So thank you. CHRIS JERRAMSEN.

Thank you, Mr. Lawrence. I'll ask the clerk to please read the name of the next person who should offer public comment.

DANNY SORRY.

Welcome, Mr. Sori. You have three minutes beginning now.

Good evening, everybody. It's been an interesting couple of weeks. Danny Serum here representing the Aurora for Change group. For those of you that don't know, we are the group that are circulating a petition to create a referendum question on this upcoming election as to whether or not the city of Aurora should adopt two ordinances. And they both 100% give the entire power back to the actual citizens of this town, just like that young lady was referencing, that when your elected leaders start not focusing on all the people, you can smirk all you want, bro, that don't respond to all the people, we have the ability to recall them. We are quite a few thousand petitions and signatures in, and it's been amazing knocking on doors, talking to Republicans, Democrats, Independents, and everybody agreeing that these political games that all of you play, you, the previous administration, other administrations, you guys are all ridiculous. This is the movement that's gonna be very simple to give the choice back to the people. And now what I'm gonna say to you is what you and your guys need to do is stop with the harassment, stop with the threats, stop driving by and making the slashing of the throat reference, knock that off. There is a signal group chat that is available, which is the mayor and a few other folks that drive around Whether they're going after ICE agents, which is actually, I have no issues there, do your thing. Bothering all of us. John Lash, you're in this group. Keith Larson, David Larson. There's someone in here I'm not going to mention because although I don't like her politics, I believe she's a real one. There's a Norma Hernandez in here. There's a Heidi Ermey in here. There's quite a few people, including Karina Garcia, Ruben Mars, I believe his name is, quite a few of you guys that are just going to try to harass us, knock it off. It's done. You're not going to stop the Constitution. You're not going to change it. You're not going to have your Marxist situation here that quickly. It ain't going to happen. Back off. So many incredible people in this city are just sick of all of you. Leave us alone. Knock it off with the threats. Stop with the doxing. Stop riding around your bicycle and pointing everybody out. You look ridiculous. have a good day anybody that would like to sign this petition to actually give the voice back to the people of aurora we'll see you guys outside other than that ladies and gentlemen have a good day thank you now you'll back my time thank you mr story i'll ask clerk to please read the name of the next person we start for public comment judd lofsy welcome mr lafshy

You have three minutes beginning now. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor, City Council, staff, and everyone here. I am here to speak about the ethics ordinance. And I was on the RAP committee when we pushed this in 2019. Carl Franco was the chairman, and we got a first-ever ethics ordinance passed. The thing we didn't get was a cap on contributions. But there is precedent for that. Cook County, Chicago, Arlington Heights, Some of them have had it for 30 years, okay? And their cap is $1,500 per election cycle. And there's other towns too, I'm sure, but those are the three that I remember. And I think it takes some chutzpah. So I give John and Shannon and Casey and Nick and the legal department credit for doing this. I know I've heard that there's some complications with the ordinance itself, but I think, We got it passed in 19, maybe tonight is the next step. And then if it needs to be redone, we take a third step. But I will tell you something that people are not thinking about. Not everyone here, or maybe you as an alderman thinking, well, I don't take camp campaign contributions and you know, I'm legit this or that, but from a businessman, from business standpoint, we would love to have a cap. Why? Because once we give the money, let's say it's 1500, no one's calling us again. And that's the truth. Previous administration made a lot of calls, a lot of calls, I mean, it would be a good thing. So I want you to also think about it that way, that it's not just protecting um what you're thinking that none of us think i know all of you and i don't think any of you have any issues but i think it's more the um perception of pay to play that we need to get rid of so that's it thank you thank you mr lushie let's clerk to please read the name of the next person we'll show for public comment we have eight minutes left amelia good good deal welcome amelia you have three minutes beginning now

Good evening, Council Members. Thank you for having me today. My name is Amelia. I serve as the Community Service Director for the Office of State Senator Karina Villa. I am here to offer remarks on behalf of the Senator in response to concerning comments made by Alderman Carl Franco at the Committee of the Whole meeting on Tuesday, June 2nd. So to begin, I want to say that representing a vibrant, culturally rich community such as Aurora is a privilege. Alderman Franco's remarks dismissing the value of diversity, equity, and inclusion have fostered division in our community and have raised concerns among neighbors as whether our local government is truly representative of the people. These comments not only discourage civic engagement, but undermine the contributions of entire groups that make up the city of Aurora that the alderman was elected to serve. Remarks singling out Hispanic and black residents are exclusionary and send a harmful message that some perspectives are less valuable than others. This rhetoric weakens trust in local government at a time when elected leaders have a responsibility to promote unity and strive to ensure that every voice is included. As a proud Latina and an elected official, hearing these comments was extremely discouraging to Senator Villa. We elect leaders with the expectation that they will represent their community with dignity and respect. Yet, these comments draw back to systemic barriers that have historically left communities of color out of conversations on how leaders should govern. As elected officials, our duty is to ensure proper representation, not so division. This means we must respect diverse perspectives and learn from the different lived experiences of the people that make up our beautiful city, Aurora. Elected officials must always lead with consideration for everyone we serve. I call on Alderman Franco to publicly apologize for his comments as a meaningful step toward accountability and rebuilding trust between our city government and our neighbors to ensure that the perspective of all who call Aurora home are properly represented. Thank you.

Thank you, Amelia. I'll ask the clerk to please read the name of the next person wish to offer public comment.

Kerry Rysak.

Kerry. Kerry's passing. I'll ask the clerk to please read the next name on the list.

Mercy Galicia. Mercy Galicia.

Mercy. Welcome, Mercy. You have three minutes beginning now.

Thank you. Thank you, Mayor and City Council. Just came to remind you our festival is coming up June 27th. Send a little... a package, again, for the aldermen that have kind of put it on the side because we still have time. Well, time is creeping up. So just a reminder, June 27 is around the corner. If you had good intentions of helping us out, this is the time. We really would appreciate your support. I do have a copy of our recipients. Our board of directors, our bands that we had last year, our vision and our founders and our events that we have throughout the year. Our scholarship event will be held here in Aurora and it'll be July 25th. I would like to see some of you guys go or come out and join us. I think you can see how thankful those recipients are in getting that money to help them for their education uh at the back is the sponsorship if and when you can help us out with whatever's in your budget i know that it's now towards the end of or in the middle of the year and you probably have already scheduled out your your budget but anything would be appreciated thank you again and have a wonderful evening thank you mercy let's clerk please read the name of the next person which now for public comment aurora anonymous resident

I actually like those.

Welcome, Aurora Anonymous. You have three minutes beginning now.

I actually was going to see about taking the time slot for Annie, but I think she's going to use it another way. Very rapidly here. I have been intimately involved with the Warming Center. Had it not been for that facility being open, I actually have saved one to two people's lives. And if they had not been open, they would have froze to death. And I found them unconscious in the dark. And that was a life-saving place for them to go. And we got them to safety. Otherwise, I assure you, they would have died. As far as her comments about the Casino opening, that casino also brings sex trafficking, people jumping off the building when they lose their money and increased suicide rate. You have increased traffic because of the freeway to get on with drunk drivers, etc. There's a whole extended list of negative downside of the casino as well. And yes, we fought the TIF because that money is coming out of our pockets as taxpayers. The main reason I was here tonight is regarding the ethics reform. Essentially, if you do not say yes, then what are you hiding? Because people in the federal level are losing their seats because people are tired of greed and people being self-serving and using that position to make money for themselves. And so they are getting voted out. There are too many people on here that have been lifers, that have, this is not comments for everyone up here, but those that it applies to, they know who they are. People are coming for your seats, because it is time for you to go. Because people need change, and there are people that have been here. There's too much collusion, corruption, self-serving. They make connections through their position and utilize that to their advantage. Their personal wealth has increased significantly since they've been in this position. There are people who are watching on TV, on their phone, that aren't even here. that we're going to find people to go and run against you because people have had it. And the people who are making bad decisions up here and dragging their feet on the campaign, finance reform, and ethics, and the warming center, those folks need to go. And these three minutes are flying by. People are really tired of people who are wealthy and not helping those here that are average people who are struggling and suffering. And we need those folks sitting up here to read the political room. You are out of touch and you do not understand what's going on for average people here in Aurora. If you say no to this at all, then apparently this is not just for the mayor and his staff. It's for all levels.

Thank you, Anonymous.

If anyone else has the time they're not using, let me know.

Thank you, Ms. Anonymous. Okay, we've reached the 30-minute mark. This concludes the time for public comment. Alderman Larson?

I'd like to make a motion to extend public comment to allow the rest of the speakers to have a chance to speak.

Motion on the table. Is there a second? Second. Second. Alderman Brero, second. A discussion? Yes. Sorry. OK, so I'm sure somebody is going to ask how many people we have left to speak. 14. 14? people so 13 anyway I'll leave it up to that I mean if somebody wants to a minute and allow for a few more we got a long night ahead and we got to go up into executive and come back down vote on the agenda all the woman Smith you want to say it into the microphone

yes so it's not that we don't want to hear everybody we do but we do have but we do have some people waiting for us to have a closed session so my suggestion would be for us to have the closed session and then come back and allow those who haven't spoken to speak so it still gives you the opportunity you just have to wait a little bit with us would you like to amend alderman Larson's motion mean I'll let I'll let this everybody yeah I'll go with the 14 I'll sit here I'm just any other discussion on on how other council members feel about the motion Alderman burrow are all 14 gonna speak yes just curious there's no way to tell really

i say let's hear it now let's hear mr mayor speakers that want to speak let's hear them i retract my motion alderman burrow i say just any other comments before i call the roll

It's customary. Of course, we have a 30 minute time limit. My math doesn't fail me. 14 times 3 is over 30 minutes. It's 42 minutes. Usually, it's customary that you provide another 30 minutes and allow people to take time from the other person. Somebody goes two minutes, then somebody could go four. And if there's a number of people of those 14 who are not going to speak, hopefully we could make it under an additional 30 minutes. That is customary in certain tribunals to add on an additional 30 minutes additional time that you already a lot I'm gonna ask corporate counsel a quick question are you proposing similar to what Alderwoman Smith did to have a second 30 second 30 minutes later during the agenda oh no I'm you mean now 30 minutes now just instead of 45 just just limit they just limit the total time to 30 yeah yeah an additional 30 minutes

We've had 30 do you like to amend alderman Larson's initial min to hear the next speakers or 30 minutes whichever comes first I would like to amend the the motion to provide an additional 30 minutes of public comment there's a second by alderwoman Smith any discussion on the amendment that's been made to alderman Larson's First Amendment Okay, so if not, what we'll vote on first is the amendment to limit it to 30 minutes. I'll ask the clerk to please call the roll on that amendment. So all we're voting on is the 30 minutes, and then we'll have to have a second vote on that motion to extend public comment.

Barrero? Yes. Garza? Yes. Masiakos?

No.

Franco?

Yes.

Seville? Yes. Benuelos? Yes. Smith? Yes. Bugg? Yes. Bade? Yes. Larson?

No.

White? No. 8 yes, 3 no.

Motion carries. Now, the original amendment has been modified to basically say that we will extend public comment for 30 minutes, or if the number of speakers concludes before then. If there's any further discussion, let's go ahead.

Can we just clarify what that first one was then?

So the initial amendment was to extend public comment. The initial motion. Sorry, go ahead. The initial motion.

The initial motion was to extend public comment. Alderman Bugg's amendment to that motion, seconded by Smith, was to limit the time to 30 minutes, a maximum of 30 minutes. That was 8-3 in favor. Now we have to go back to the main motion. So we voted on Larson and Burr already.

No, we voted on Bugg and Smith already.

So we have to go back to the main motion to extend it to another 30 minutes.

What's the difference? All it's doing is Alderman Larson was saying to extend it to all the speakers. Alderman Bugg amended to limit it to 30 minutes.

Well, I think some of the speakers said they're not going to be speaking, so I don't think we're going to go 30 minutes. Well, I guess we'll find out.

You can do it by voice mode, if you want to.

Do you want to have the clerk call the roll just to put it on record? Yes, sir. Ready? Will this clerk please call the roll?

Ferreiro? Yes. Garza? Yes. Maciakos?

Yes.

Franco?

What are we voting on?

You're voting on extending public comment for a maximum of 30 minutes. And we just voted on that, didn't we? No, the main motion was never voted on.

So we voted on the amend before the main motion.

Yes, you voted on amending the main motion. Then yes.

OK. Seville?

Yes.

Benuelos? Yes. Smith? Yes. Bugg? Yes. Bate? Yes. Larson? Yes. White? Yes. 11 yes, 0 no.

Motion carries. We'll extend public comment for another 30 minutes. Last clerk, please read the name of the next person who is to draw for public comment. And we'll reset the clock at 30 minutes.

Atlantis Delgado.

Welcome, Ms. Delgado. You have three minutes beginning now.

Hello. Once again, speaking on behalf of the Warming Center. So I wanted to bring up something a little sad. So how much death has been going on in the homeless community. So this has to go along with things like mental health. And when somebody is clearly like, when their state is clearly withering away from being homeless, from being outside and not having anywhere to go or anyone to talk to, It leads to things like doing drugs or things like drinking because you don't really have anything else to do. When you are homeless, it's hard to get a job. You don't have materials that other people should have. So when you're drinking and doing drugs and that's all you can do, it leads to loss of care in yourself. And once that happens, it leads to death. And we've had a lot of that lately, unfortunately. We've had three known deaths in the homeless community. And some of those being people I knew personally. So I wish people to look at more. of that and just care on it more and just probably look out for your neighbor because you never know what they're going through. That's all.

Thank you, Ms. Delgado. Last clerk, please read the name of the next person wishing to have a public comment.

Ritwick, Chetto. I can't quite read it. I apologize. So sorry. Ritwick is fine. Thank you. Ritwick.

I know my last name is a tongue twister. Thank you.

Welcome. You have three minutes beginning now.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Mr. Mayor and the aldermen and everybody in the city council for giving me the opportunity to talk about my own experience. That's what I would like to retrospect and actually draw some incidents from there to comment on the sheer need and the essence of the existence and the continued operation of the warming center. If I'm allowed to say or extend it from the warming center to an all-weather center all throughout the year, I think I would absolutely love to do that. And that's what I wanted to share some experiences from. Myself, with a background, professional and academic with science and technology and photography on the side as a passion, When I have had a life, even last year, with a job, a comfortable life, house, residence, nothing to worry about, just keep doing your job, keep, you know, focus on that. A couple of times, many a times, I have actually driven past the River Road and I even actually didn't look into the building or care about, like, oh, this building means something or what happens in there. It's actually easy to kind of look, you know, sit in the comfort of my car, going back to the home to come to the comfort of that and think about how the big sling doesn't look nice or give a call that there was a dart on the park on the parking lot or something but when the day came middle of January, frigid outside, I'm fighting for my life, afraid that I may not live another night. I came to the doorstop, I did not have the luxury to look into how the building looked like or how the parking lot or the around looked like. What I looked for is hoping for getting a shelter for the night so I can live one more day, I can live another day to see the sunrise the next day morning. As even with the photographer inside me didn't even care about how aesthetic the building is. It didn't because at that moment when you come, when the survival matters, all it matters that you get to your basic minimum need and the Aurora Warming Center gave it that with their open arms. They gave shelter, they gave food, they gave most importantly the belief in life and the dignity as a human and even though the season changes, the need doesn't go away. Everybody that was homeless in the winter, not everybody has gotten a home now. So as the winter can be as brutal and kill people, so could the summer do. So has the need gone away? I don't think so. So I would actually plead to the community to think about, hear from us, those who have actually been there, taken the benefit of the sheer existence of that building and run by the very cordial group of people the staffs and volunteers included, build a relationship, build a community in there that is something that you cannot just look from outside, judge it from outside without getting to know how it actually helps people build or give them confidence. Just like a book cannot be judged by the cover itself. Look into, talk to people, and it will be helpful for the whole community.

Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Redwood. Let's clerk to please read the name of the next person who will start for public comment.

Madden Sykes? Madden Sykes?

Is Ms. Sykes here?

I would like to thank you for the extension. Good evening, council people, Mayor Laish, and my fellow citizens. I'm Madden Sykes, a student at Waubonsie Valley High School. My generation is told that we are the future, but our future is shaped by choices made by you. I would like to say a letter that shares my personal experiences and perspectives as a student in regard to the housing crisis in Aurora. I respectfully ask that you allow me to take a few minutes of your time to read it to you. My name is Madden Sykes, I already said that, and I'm 16 years old. I'm a student at Waubonsee Valley High School, and I'm not writing as a politician or someone representing any organization, but simply as a young person who loves this city and cares deeply about its future. I see men, women, veterans, and most importantly, our peers struggling often in broad daylight. Every one of them has a story, a family, and hardships that many of us may never fully understand. Some of the people I see are not much older than I am, and it is impossible to ignore that reality. And I do not believe our community should have to. I have nothing but appreciation for what Aurora has already done for its citizens. And I know that addressing homelessness is not simple. And I recognize that efforts have been made. At the same time, I believe we still have a long way to go. The choices made regarding this crisis will affect not only the people experiencing homelessness today, but also the future of our city. They will shape the community that your children, my generation, and the generations after us will inherit. I DON'T REPRESENT ANY POLITICAL POLICY, I DO NOT, BUT I REPRESENT THE VOICE OF AURORA'S YOUTH. FOR YOUR CHILDREN AND FOR OUR FUTURE, I ASK THAT THE SITUATION CONTINUE TO BE HANDLED WITH COMPASSION, URGENCY, AND CARE. I RESPECTFULLY REQUEST THE OPPORTUNITY TO MEET WITH MAYOR JOHN LESH AND ANY MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL WHO WISH TO DISCUSS MORE IMMEDIATE RESPONSES TO OUR UNHOUSED CRISIS. I WOULD BE HONORED TO SHARE MY PERSPECTIVE AND TO HEAR YOURS AS WE WORK TOGETHER FOR A STRONGER AURORA. I once again ask that the future of our most vulnerable be handled with the utmost care, and I thank you for your time, your service to our community, and your consideration. Respectfully, Madden Sykes, Waubonsie Valley High School.

Thank you, Madden. Senator Clerk, will you please read the name of the next person with short for public comment?

Boris Williams.

Mr. Williams. Boris Williams.

I wasn't expecting to speak, sir, council. How are y'all doing? Welcome, Mr. Williams.

You have three minutes beginning now.

I'm a guest as well. Well, was a guest at the HESA. So I'm a caregiver. I still yet have found a place. I'm still on the streets. The thing is, that place is like hope there. You know, I appreciate everything that y'all have done so far. But I definitely don't want y'all to give up, honestly. I mean, deeply from my heart, I mean, I'm out there every night. And I see more than most of y'all do. And it's not pretty. I go to church. I'm a drummer. So I try to keep God first out there. It's hard. It's definitely hard, y'all. I don't know what they're expecting me to say to you guys and girls, but I'm just being honest with y'all, you know, the best way I can for these little three minutes. Sir, ma'am, honestly, I would love for y'all just to keep compassionate hearts and remind yourselves that y'all are human just like us. I'M DEFINITELY TRYING. I HAVEN'T GIVEN UP. I DON'T GO AROUND TRYING TO HURT THE COMMUNITY. I'VE ACTUALLY BEEN GETTING TO KNOW THIS COMMUNITY. I AM A LONG WAY FROM HOME, A DALLAS TEXAN. I CAME HERE ABOUT THREE YEARS BACK, AND HONESTLY, I MEAN, I'VE LOVED THIS CITY SINCE I GOT HERE. I'M JUST TRYING TO MAKE THE BEST OF IT. ONE THING I CAN SAY IS JUST GIVE US A CHANCE. I'M DEFINITELY TRYING. I DON'T WANT TO GIVE UP ON THIS SIDE OF TOWN, ON THE SOUTH RIVER. I SEE A LOT OF POTENTIAL THERE, AND I ALSO SEE THE NEGATIVE AS WELL, AND IT CAN DEFINITELY NEED SOME WORK, BUT I CAN TELL YOU NOW THAT IT'S A PROGRESS, AND WE'RE JUST DOING IT DAY BY DAY, AND THAT'S THE COMMUNITY. I'M PART OF THE COMMUNITY AS WELL, SO I SPEAK FOR IT AS WELL. Because I help clean up around the park. Don't mind. Just, you know, it's giving back to your community. You got kids. You know, I watch the kids. I watch families. They enjoy themselves. So it's a growing thing. I just don't want that part of the city to be left out. And right now, I feel like it's left out. I don't want it to be left out, y'all. So thank you for hearing me. And I thank you again. Y'all have a blessed day.

Thank you, Boris. Madam Clerk, will you please read the name of the next person to stand for public comment?

Ramona?

Ramona?

Is there a Ramona?

Welcome, Ramona. You have three minutes beginning now.

Okay. I think we should have this warmer center open because this is my second day going over there and, uh, we communicate and everything together and you know, but I'm in the house right now and I think we should have had this. The Warmer Center opened this year because there's too much stuff going on in the Hesse House that we could go and get our minds clear in the Warmer Center and have communication, fellowship, and stay out the heat and the cold. But like I said, you should give us a chance, a chance to open it up because being out there homeless, I never been homeless and I like to be around people is good to, you know, good people. Not bad people. Like everybody around me. Like my friends back there. I love to be around them. Good people. I don't like being around the wrong people. I don't get drunk. I don't get high. I just like to be with people. It's good. Not bad. That's my .

Thank you, Ramona. I'll ask the clerk to please read the name of the next person with shop for public comment.

Karen Lackland. It's pronounced Iran, by the way.

Welcome, Karan. Hi, Mayor. How are you?

I'm good. You have three minutes beginning now.

Thank you. Hello, everyone. Thank you for having us back today. My name is Karen Lackland, and I know I've presented my story to you about myself and my son becoming homeless at the beginning of the year. And our first round with it was a little difficult, but we ran into the Warman Center. It has been a peace of mind for us, and we've been able to get our lives back on track. But today I'm not going to talk a lot about that part. What I'd like to focus on specifically is having a way for proactive year round approach to our city's emergency shelter. by asking the city to help establish a protocol to utilize an existing warming center infrastructure at 712 South River Street and having it not only for warming center but cooling center also. We know it works. We know and trust its location. So we just ask. Taking care of our most vulnerable citizens during 95 degree days is just as critical as protecting them during zero degrees nights. Having a dual purpose warming and cooling framework ahead of time can protect public health, utilize existing city resources efficiently, and the biggest part for me is leading with empathy. Mr. VanClear today spoke about having structures in place, but the biggest deal is having the passion and love to do so and caring about people. When I stand up here before you all, I know that each one of you having your own families knows what it's like to care about someone and be able to help them through some things to survive. We had an event on Sunday to clean up. and we started out with service with pastor fish and then lots of things were going on some fun things um zach cut hair thank you i'm almost done there okay three minutes i'll talk to you all later thank you thank you please read the name of the next person we should offer public comment jennifer lopez is there a jennifer lopez

I'm sorry.

I represent.

Welcome, Ms. Lopez. You have three minutes.

Okay. I represent Allie. And I sleep outside in the grass, but the warm sun needs to be open. I mean, I'm dead serious. I mean, what else could I possibly say? Right. That warm sun needs to be open. I love you guys. Amen.

Thank you, Ms. Lopez. Last clerk, please read the name of the next person wishing to offer a public comment.

Maria Vasquez.

Welcome, Miss Vasquez.

You have three minutes beginning now. I came here because Annie Fish and Pastor Pat has always been there for like almost three years. And I'm also asking for you guys to continue the program with the all year round heating and cooling center for next year. They also been helping out with sheltering wise because The Hesed House was not accepting everybody at the time, and they're also banning people for stupid reasons. And also, there's people getting raped, a lot of stuff going on, people doing drugs, shooting up. And the city is really not understanding there's reasons why people are doing drugs, alcoholism, all that. Annie and Pat has been helping everybody for a minute now. A lot of people stopped doing drugs and drinking since Annie and Pat have been helping everybody. Annie has been there for me, my daughter, and my ex for three years now. She's been helpful a lot, and I just want to ask for a continuous sleep program.

last clerk please read the name of the next person which not for public comment yellow there's someone goes by yellow last clerk please read the name of the next person which not for public comment Alexis Gordon Welcome, Ms. Gordon. You have three minutes beginning now.

All right. Good evening, council. My name is Alexis Gordon, founder of Mini Markets Children's Business Fair and Talent Show, which you guys should have a copy of my flyer in front of you. I'm here today asking for support in helping us promote the event that celebrates Aurora's youngest entrepreneurs and promoter performance. I'm sorry, performers. Your social media and city coverage can help us reach thousands of families. Our first inaugural event will be held July 11th in Hometown Center that has been sponsored by David Smith and the Arms Community Center of Hometown. This unique market is ran and operated by kids age 5 years old to 18 years old. These kids have spent weeks preparing and creating their products, building out their business models, and preparing to showcase their talents. Each kid is going to receive a ribbon cutting, an award of achievements, and they're going to be celebrated by their families and friends and the members of the community. One thing that makes this program special is that we're not just teaching kids to start a business. We're teaching them how to be leaders in the community. Since launching our business, my own kids have been able to give back to the community in many ways, through cleanups, feeding the unhoused, volunteering through feeding my starving children, and just being a great example to kids their age. These experiences have taught them that success is more than just making money. It's about making a difference. So through mini markets, we want to create those same opportunities for other children, helping them to develop compassion and confidence and the heart to serve while learning very valuable entrepreneur skills. So my goal is to make this an annual event in Aurora, a tradition that inspires confidence and entrepreneurship and leadership in our youth. And I'm just asking for your help through social media, social media promotion and community support so that we can show these young business owners that their ideas do matter. And Aurora believes in them. Thank you so much for your time and investing in our youth.

Thank you, Miss Gordon. Let's please read the name of the next person, which not for public comment.

You know, Walker.

Sarah, do you know Walker?

No.

The next registered speaker is Tayla Blanc.

Is there a Tayla Blanc? Welcome, Mr. LeBlanc. You have three minutes beginning now.

All right. So I worked in the warming center, and I just came here to drive the point home that we have to keep in mind the fact that these people are human. Anything that you do to hinder us in trying to serve these people will do nothing but show the rest of the people that you are not for the people. we should have a warming center and a cooling center. Because just as everyone has said, the hot weather, you don't even have to wait for it to get 90. You can go out there right now and sit in your car and know that that isn't something that is suitable for humans. So, yeah.

That's all. Have a good one. Thank you, Mr. LeBlanc. Alessa, please read the name of the next person on the show for public comment.

So, like Khalid,

Salah Khalid let's click please read the name of the next person with a public comment the last registered speaker is Curtis Wilson Curtis Wilson here Welcome, Mr. Wilson. You have three minutes beginning now.

Thank you so much. So good evening to everyone. I am here on behalf of the African-American Heritage Advisory Board, one of the 36 boards and commissions of the city. We want to thank you all so much for the support of Juneteenth, which we are trying to celebrate throughout an entire week. JUST A QUICK REVIEW OVER THE PROGRAMS THAT WE'RE GOING TO HAVE FOR THE ENTIRE WEEK OF JUNETEENTH. FIRST UP ON THE 11TH IS MR. AND MS. BLACK AURORA. IT'S AN APPRECIATION CEREMONY AT AURORA UNIVERSITY. THEN ON THE 12TH, THE VERY NEXT DAY, IT'S A FIFTH ANNUAL Divine 9, full distribution of a drive or event at Phillips Park. We're expecting 1,000 cars. And what AHAB did this year, I appreciate the African American Heritage Board so much because I brought this idea to them, and they said yes. And then the nine organizations I went to said yes as well. We put together a resource bag. And in the resource bag, we have all the food pantries. So we have the Salvation Army. We have Loaves and Fishes. We have Marie Wilkinson Interfaith, the Financial Empowerment Center, Senior Disability Services. We have... What else do we have here? We have the Township. Township provided me some materials. And then we have... I think there was one more that I'm missing. We have Aquile County Urban League and then African American Health Coalition, the Aurora African American Health Coalition. They all said yes. And so we'll be providing these thousands of these bags to participants that come. Things will be in English and Spanish, just as a way to give back because we love our community. And then on the rest of the events, we also have, so that was the 12th. On the 13th, we have Music in the Park, which we support, which is Mr. Barry Miller. And then on the 16th, we have the Black Empowerment Coalition's quarterly report card. Then on the 19th, OUR SIGNATURE EVENT, THE YOUTH FLAG, THE YOUTH SUMMIT, AND THEN THE SHAKITA HART BURNS JUNETEENTH FLAG RAISING, BOTH AT THE ROYAL UNIVERSITY. AND THEN ON THE 20TH, WE HAVE OUR RICKY ROGERS ANNUAL CELEBRATION, 25TH ANNUAL JUNETEENTH CELEBRATION over at MLK Park. For me, it was important to bring this to the attention of our community because it shows the power of togetherness. I've been missing here for about two months traveling, and in my travels, I actually had a chance to meet with a gentleman while I was in Germany, and he cautioned me. He said, please don't be like my country as it related to the Nazis, because he said, I see a rise of things happening in your city. So here he gave me a German mark the Nazis used. This is the Wehrmacht mark. This is the mark used by the German army as currency between themselves. Here's a Hitler stamp. And then here's a penny. So I just want to share those things why hate cannot take place, cannot take root in our city. Thank you so much.

OK, this concludes the public comment portion of the meeting. At this time, the chair will entertain a motion to go into closed session pursuant to the following sections of the Open Meetings Act. Section 2C1, to discuss the appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance, or dismissal of a specific employee of the public body. Section 2C29, to discuss the meetings between internal or external auditors and governmental audit committees, finance committees, and their equivalents when the discussion involves internal control weaknesses, identification of potential fraud risk, Areas known or suspected frauds and fraud interviews conducted in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards of the United States of America Do I have a motion to enter in a closed session thereafter resume the rest of the City Council? Agenda motion was made by a woman Smith second by alderman Franco. Will the clerk please call the roll?

Yes, yes, yes Franco? Yes. Seville? Yes. Benuelos? Yes. Smith? Yes. Bugg? Yes. Bade? Yes. Larson? Yes. White? Yes. 11 yes, 0 no.

Motion carries. It is now 7.49 PM, and the council will meet in closed session on the third floor. If you want to take the elevator or stairs, we'll meet up there in five minutes. I know it's been a long meeting so far. If you want to stop and use the restroom on the way. We have restrooms upstairs as well.

Thank you.

City Council meeting for June 9, 2026 is hereby called back to order and open session at 9.30 PM. Will the clerk, first of all, let me ask if there's a motion to resume the meeting after closed session. Second. Motion made by Alderman Smith, second by Alderman Franco. Will the clerk please call the roll?

Barrero?

Is this a yes or here?

It's going to be a yes.

Yes.

Garza? Yes. Maciakos?

Yes.

Franco? Yes. Seville? Yes. Manuelos? Yes. Smith?

Yes.

Fogg?

Yes.

Bade? Yes. Larson? Yes. White? Yes. 11 yes, 0 no.

Okay, the city council meeting for June 9, 2026, hereby call back to order an open session at 9.31 p.m. Next, we will hear the consent agenda and direct to council consent agenda in full. Will the clerk please read both agendas? Nope. We didn't have to adjourn it. We just have to come back here and resume session. And then we'll adjourn this. We only do that when we do closed session at the end. All right.

251041, an ordinance establishing conditional use plan development improving the Tartaglia. No.

How would I say that? Tortilleria.

Tortilleria. Thank you. El Rey Development Plan Description for the property located at 1955 East New York Street. 251042, a resolution approving a final plan on the property located at 1955 East New York Street for a food, textiles, and related products use. 260273, a resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into an agency agreement between the City of Aurora and the State of Illinois Division of Aeronautics for the purpose of receiving aviation fuel tax funds for the reimbursement of capital or operational expenses at the Aurora Municipal Airport. 260309, an ordinance amending the annual budget for the fiscal year beginning January 1, 2025 and ending December 31, 2025, amendment number 8. 260322, a resolution extending the two-year agreement for tow firms currently on the City of Aurora tow roster that expire on June 30, 2026. as authorized by Chapter 46 of the City of Aurora Code of Ordinances until amendments to Chapter 46 can be reviewed and presented to City Council. 260330, an ordinance amending Chapter 2, Section 440, regarding the membership of the Fox Walk Overlay District Design Review Committee. 260339, a resolution authorizing the director of purchasing to enter into an agreement with TAT Enterprises of Union Illinois in the amount of $86,426.25 for the construction of an overflow parking lot at the Phillips Park Golf Course. 260353, approval of the minutes of the Tuesday, May 26, 2026 City Council meeting. So moved.

Is there a motion to approve the items on both the direct council consent and consent agenda as read? Motion was made by Alderman Franco, second by Alderwoman Garza. Are there any questions or members of the council that would like to remove any of these items from the consent agenda? Hearing none and no further questions, will the clerk please call the roll on both consent agendas?

Barrera?

Yes.

Garza? Yes. Maciakos?

Yes.

Franco? Yep. Seville? Yes. Banuelos? Yes. Smith? Yes. Bugg? Yes. Bade? Yes. Larson? Yes. White? Yes. Levin, yes. Ciro, no.

Motion carries. The consent agenda and direct counsel consent agenda are both approved. Next is unfinished business. I'll ask the clerk to please read the first item under unfinished business.

250516, an ordinance amending chapter two of the code of ordinances pertaining to the organization of the departments and divisions of the city.

Is there a motion to adapt this ordinance? A motion was made by Alderman Seville. Is there a second? Second by Alderwoman Smith. Are there any questions or discussions on this agenda item? Alderwoman Bade.

Yeah, I had an amendment I had sent to your den. I just wanted to read it into the record.

Okay.

So it is 25-0516. Based on the discussion that we had at the Committee of the Whole meeting last week, I spoke to Alderman's Chief of Staff, Rich Jacobs, and sent the amendment to the legal counsel. And I'm ready. Sorry, I'm reading the amendment now. This is 2-293 Office of Aldermen, Section C. The Chief of Staff reports directly to the Rules, Administration, and Procedure Committee. In case of inclement weather conditions or an emergency, the Chief of Staff can directly contact Chair or Vice Chair of RAP to close the office at a certain time.

Is there a motion? Is there a motion to, this is your amendment? There's a motion made by Alderman Smith. I'll second. Second by Alderman Franco. Discussion? Are there any questions or discussion regarding this amendment?

Do we have anything in writing?

um yeah i i sent it to other women but do you want me to read it again please okay just one second let me maybe in the future preparing an amendment bring a paper copy for everybody it's okay i sent it to her So the amendment will be to the, if you have the ordinance in front of you, if you would go to the last page of the ordinance. 25-0516.

Yeah, 25-0516, the last page of the ordinance, page 17.

So the very last line, 24. So line 24, it would be a deletion of the word chair. So the sentence would end after procedure committee, period. And then a new sentence added. In case of inclement weather conditions or an emergency, comma, the chief of staff can directly contact chair or vice chair of RAP to close the office at a certain time. Does anyone else need me to read it again?

OK. Are there any other questions on the amendment? There's been a motion and a second. No further questions. I'll ask the clerk to please call the roll. This is only Alderman Bugg.

Sorry. Is my light on now? It is. Yeah, thank you. Yeah, I'd like Chief Stack to come forward. Chief Stack to the audience.

Rich Jacobs, Chief of Staff, Office of Aldermen.

Thank you. To clarify for the record, there was maybe some confusion last time when we discussed this. You have been Chief of Staff of the Alderman's Office for seven years? Six and a half, seven? Five. Five, okay. All right. During that time, correct me if I'm wrong, there have been... RAP chairs, Alderman Franco, myself, Alderman Warman, and then myself. During the whole time that you were chief of staff, who did you report to?

I would report to the RAP chair. Okay. Did you report to the RAP committee? Only when presenting the updated office policy, it was presented to the entire committee.

Okay. And in your, as being the chief of staff, how would you say that worked for you and the effectiveness in your office?

Thankfully we have not in my tenure here with the city of Aurora had a major emergency or a major situation where I needed to get ahold of one of the older people. I was always able to get ahold of the RAP chair when We were given notice by our various departments that inclement weather, because we've had that in the five and a half years I've been here, that was going to hit the Aurora and that to check in to see about closing the office. Okay. And then I would proceed to text and or email everyone what was going on.

Okay. and and not just for you know just closing the office but for office matters and office procedure who did you go to i would always go to the rep chair first if it were to and have discussions if there were potential instances where something would possibly need to go before the whole committee that was of a sensitive nature okay and if by nature of the way our committees are set up if you could not reach the rap chair who would you reach out to the vice chair okay okay

thank you I don't have any further questions maybe someone else does and then have a statement Alderwoman Smith I just have a quick comment I don't know if I was the co-chair of RAP or just on RAP there were a few times when I was there and we made decisions and I think one was to go home early

It was when there was one of the festivals that were taking place, probably a first Friday or a food truck festival. So other people other than the chair have assisted and have been available for you to... And to be truthful, I knew that the RAP chair was out on vacation and... Yes, you were on, I believe, if I'm remembering correctly, you were definitely on the committee. I'm not sure if you were the vice chair.

I can't remember if I was the vice chair or not. I know I wasn't. But I know that I had, I think, twice there was a time when we had discussion being on the RAP committee. And then my last comment is, prior to right now, we had not codified this. petition or yeah late position in this way so today we're codifying it and we do have a motion in a second so I don't I don't think that any one person should be your boss because you actually unfortunately for you have 12 of us okay and I love it well let me just clarify that

The rep chair is not the boss of the chief of staff. That is a mischaracterization. For the effectiveness for the chief of staff to do his job and to do it quickly and effectively, he needs to report and has Alderman Franco, myself, Alderman Warman reported to one person. If the chief of staff was forced to report to five people on any given decision that needed to be made quickly or, you know, and say even in just one day to get hold of five aldermen going different directions in one day is almost not possible. So I believe when it was set up, when these five member boards were set up for the chief of staff to have a person to discuss things with and gain insight and direction, it just lent itself that that was going to be one person and not have he or his staff making five phone calls. We can't even get, when the chief of staff asks us for our dinner reservations or what we're gonna have for dinner, it takes us three days to get back to him. Actually more than that sometimes. He's calling on Tuesday morning, your order for dinner has to be in by noon. That's something as little as dinner. And he needs to make decisions in a matter of hours. It's not feasible or attainable to get a hold of all five members of the RAC committee and make those decisions on a day in, day out basis. So I would ask the committee and I would ask the committee to listen to our chief of staff What has worked for five years under him and before that under Ms. Struber, it's worked, it's worked well on Alderman Franco, Alderman Vorman, and myself.

Can we read the amendment?

Alderman Vorman, here's what I'm going to do. Typically, when somebody makes an amendment, it's the first person who should speak should be the person who made the amendment to rationalize and give the rationale for the amendment. So the rest of the councils, it sounds like this has been working a certain way for five years. There was also a request by Alderwoman Smith to read it again. So maybe Alderwoman Bate, if you could read it one more time and then explain to the council the rationale behind your motion.

OK. Section 2-293C, the chief of staff.

Can you give us a page and line number again, also, like your data did?

So the ordinance number is 25-0516. And it's exhibit A and page 17.

Page 17, what line number?

Page 17, line 15. And the amendment is?

In here, it's page 17, line 24.

Yeah, I'm referring to the section. So section starts on line 15, and the amendment is on line 24. So page 17, section 2-293, which is line 15. And the amendment is on the line 24. So instead of chair, we start a new line and just replace chair. So I'll read the section C again. The chief of staff reports directly to the Rules, Administrations, and Procedure Committee.

John DeGule has put it on the screen. The only thing I couldn't do when I was sending it to him is it doesn't remove the chair. So the first sentence in the original draft has chair that's been deleted, the highlighted part is the new sentence. Okay?

The rest of it. Thank you, John. In case of inclement weather conditions or an emergency, the chief of staff can directly contact chair or vice chair of RAP to close the office at a certain time. So this is the first time this is being documented. And again.

John, can you put that back up on the screen, please?

Again, I understand that Alderman Bug mentioned that it's difficult to get hold of five people. So that is why we have made an arrangement. And I spoke to Rich before I made this amendment. And it was mentioned at the last meeting, too, that mostly it is just weather condition or some other reason why they have to close the office early or at a certain time. That's when they reach out to chair. And that's what Chief of Staff Shannon had also mentioned in the previous meeting. So I asked if there are any other situations where you would need to reach out to chair. So that is the reason I have added emergency. or an emergency. If there is an emergency situation, he has the ability to reach out to the chair and vice chair and make the decision based on what they say. Other than that, I think it should be wrap committee because 12 of us are there and

You like long meetings. No. Is there a reason other than you want to see all decisions go through the committee? Has it not been working? Is there a reason it has not been working?

So I want to know if there are any other situations which we are not aware of where the chair had to make a decision on an immediate basis, because that's the first time I'm hearing. I thought that was the only time when Alderman's, Aldermanic staff, oh, chief of staff was reaching out to chair and asking for some.

Rich, do you, who do you work with on the budget?

What other situations that they can go over?

Who do you work with on the budget for the Alderman's office?

I work with on the office budget I work with my staff member Crystal Colon and this year and last year's budget and preparing for next year's budget work both with the RAP chair and the finance chair

once we get a little bit along in the process then everyone is going to be involved in but initially it is another task where you work directly with the wrap and finance chairs because they're the ones that provide direction I'm just thinking of trying to think of other instances where this change might impact the functions of your office

The only thing I can think of that may have, if it was a human resource issue, certainly would have immediately gotten direction from the chair and then worked with the appropriate city staff and then, depending on the outcome of whatever the HR issue could be involving the rest of the committee. But at that point it would be involving everyone. Even though I may go to the RAP chair to say, hey, there's a tornado coming, I'm closing the office. I immediately inform all of you by sending everyone a text. I'm just not looking for approval from 12 people

But it does sound like there are other duties where you work with the rep chair directly. One is the budget. Two is if there's an HR issue, you report to him. Are there any others?

Not that I can think of.

So I think it doesn't hurt in having five people review it, especially the budget.

if i may alderman franco i've been the ram chair so we're talking about two good things here we're talking about reality and we never codified it before but if you're going to codify it if you had a policy situation Are you going to go to a RAP chair or are we going to go to a RAP committee that's not imminent, doesn't need expeditious movement?

We're going to the committee.

Right. So I know what we're trying to do here. We want to give the RAP chair the opportunity to make expeditious decisions depending on what is occurring. But if we're going to go with something that doesn't need to be made right away, that's more of a policy decision, it should be the committee. So I know what Alderman Bate is saying. Maybe, I'm gonna say maybe the words can be, if other than a policy decision, something that needs expeditious handling, going to the RAP chair would be the way to go. I think that's kind of what we're trying to get at, because I don't think the RAP chair, any chair should be making policy decisions for anybody without their committee approval, that's why they're committees. But what we have been doing has been working, we really haven't gotten to the policy, but if we're gonna codify it, I think that needs to be in there so the RAP chair, now or in the future, just doesn't have the magic wand, I'm gonna make all policy this and that, we don't want that. But expeditious things, something like that, we can. So I don't know if that wording is going to work, but I think that's kind of what we're looking to get at. Expeditious stuff, yes. Policy things that can wait, the whole committee. So wording-wise, I would welcome any, but I think we just cannot have just the RAP chair be involved with everything carte blanche. It just can't be carte blanche. So I think we're going to have to bring it in a little bit. And that's the reality.

It sounds like, based on what you're saying, though, that really the committee's effort should be defined here as anything to deal with policy instead of shrinking the RAP chair's ability to make decisions with the chief of staff and work together. Any other questions or comments, discussion?

Yes, Mayor. Question. Alderman White. So I like Alderman Franco's suggestion. And I think about the inclement weather and emergency as being so specific. But then there are other scenarios in which the office will close early. So I'm just wondering the process of how that will work. So say first Friday's coming or there's an event taking place, you want to close early, but it's not an emergency nor inclement weather. Would the process then be for the chief of staff to reach out to each of the five RAP committee members? And would if three say yes and two say no, do you get the majority rules? I'm trying to understand the process of that.

In that, if I may, in that scenario, what I would end up doing is still informing all of you. I'm closing the office. You need to know that if you happen to want to come to the office to work with your aide, we're not going to be here and that you should reach out to me. But if I have to go to five of you to get a decision on closing the office early and we're talking maybe 30 minutes maybe 15 minutes early and again I immediately as you all know send out text messages letting you know what what is happening but I don't make that kind that decision on my own without checking with checking in with the route chair or vice chair other woman made

So for that we can add in case of inclement weather conditions or an emergency or other special events. Because other than that, I don't see. Or maybe you can say there was a smell in the office. That could be considered as an emergency.

And that happens over there. If they have to leave.

Let me get Alderman Seville. So again, inclement weather, conditions, or an emergency, or special events, the chief of staff goes directly.

I'm going to ask Alderman Seville to weigh in.

Yes, I would suggest that it's going to be hard for us to codify every scenario that could unfold or be predicted. We can't do this tonight. So I'm saying we make the language more compact and say, in certain conditions or emergencies, the chief of staff can contact the chair or vice chair. Leave it at that. And that way, any emergency or certain conditions, you know the direction that you need to go. Does that fulfill your desire? Yeah.

Certain conditions.

And again, you all will get a text message from me informing you exactly what is going on. Right. So everyone will be informed.

So what are you suggesting?

I wish I had it up.

No, I think I'm trying to. I'm sorry. So the Wi-Fi in this room apparently keeps cutting out. I can read it out. Yeah, I have it here. I think I got it.

But still, though, it might be.

So what I have is that we have before subpart C, I'm gonna read it in its entirety. The Chief of Staff reports directly to the Rules Administration and Procedure Committee. In certain conditions or emergencies, the Chief of Staff can directly, of course, now that I did that, it's telling me to click share. The Chief of Staff can directly contact, I should say the chair or vice chair, sorry. The chair, vice chair of RAP.

Anybody that hasn't spoken want to weigh in? Alderman Barrero.

Yeah, I'm trying to get my mind around this. So can you provide an example of if it was the rep committee that the chief of staff reported to, how would that look like? In what situations would the rep committee be asked to provide input on? Is there something that?

The office policies.

Just policies? I mean, can we add?

The office policy dictates how we operate our office.

So could we add that language to it? Because I just, you know, I'm just thinking that I don't want it to be too unwieldy. And every time they're trying to make a decision, they have to consult their app committee. But if it's policy, then it's a one and done, you know?

Alderman Franco. So the big thing that we did with the last, when we went from the old chief of staff to a new one, was the RAP committee interviewed all the candidates. So we wouldn't let just me interview the candidates and me make the decision. We actually had the committee do that. So there are instances where that's happening. So I think the wording in this could be the chief of staff or... basically reports to the committee for policy and situations that are not expeditious in nature, therefore he can go to the RAP chair for all others. This you get just the policy in there, anything that's not time critical, and everything else goes to the RAP chair, kind of what we're doing. So it's basically reality with wording around it, because that's really what we do. So we want to take what we do, which is working, and wrap the words around that so unless it's policy or something that's not time critical right to the rap chair done and that because that's that's what's practices and rich says it works so i i don't know we probably should go that direction because that's clean policy something that's not crime critical ultimate bug right now or all of us in the future and can we add some language on the budget

What I would suggest, overall, anything that affects the alderman's office usually takes about a month or two. We're working on a few words here. Maybe we could get it done in another meeting. I think Alderman Franco from a functional perspective has the right idea that you want it to say that the continuous report to the rap chair and except in cases of policy or hiring decisions the things that involve everybody in this but leave all the nuance mr. mayor

Alderman Bugg. I'm trying to get into this without, you know, the scenario. So first of all, the hiring of the chief of staff was not the chief of staff reporting to anyone. So it's a totally different beast. That's an HR function. It has nothing to do with who that chief of staff reports to. So it's different. It not even should have been included in this conversation. There are times where conversations need to be had with other departments asking our chief of staff for information and He might just ask advice on how to get back to that person so the office can move forward effectively. without getting to specific, because there were specific situations, one department would be HR, getting information. Another one is finance. And again, them trying to obtain information. Having that discussion, the finance director, the assistant finance director seeking information. To have that discussion with five people and try to get a consensus when he's trying to get information back to finance either that day or the next day is just not feasible. It's not doable. So it's not that we want to keep information from someone. He's trying to run the office the best, most effective way he can. And he works well with our staff, the administrators. And then there are times where, like I said, he has discussions or Call them what you want, miscommunications, or we're trying to understand what finance or HR is asking of the alderman's office. And we need to get an answer back to them or get information to them so we can move forward. that day or the next day not uh reaching five people on the phone and getting their opinions and then again as someone said over here is it three votes to two on what we should do with this conversation um if that would work i would vote for it i don't think that really works um

I've been tinkering trying to make the language more, trying to interpret what everyone's saying and make it work. So take a look, see if that solves that problem.

What I would do is just add the words Rules and Procedures Committee in Instances of Policy and Hiring.

I have that. Or HR. And then I deleted it because it sounded funny. But OK. There's a better way to word it. Specimen. I thought HR Matters, we didn't want the committee. Is that?

And budget. Budget, too, should be committee.

That'll be a nightmare. I think, Mayor, if I may.

Alderman Masiakos hasn't weighed in.

No, I have not. Thank you very much. I think we're going way off here right now. I have no issues with the original proposal by Alderwoman Schwede-Bade. In terms of budget, there is an alternative option. I have reached out to legal about looking into that as well and finding another equitable solution. an optimal solution better than what we have today to work with the mayor's office and for our chief of staff but as far as contacting our our chief of chief of staff contacting a chair or a vice chair to close the office in a timely manner I think that's very important and We even had a situation where we were doing roofing work, staff was in there working, horrendous smell, and they were still in there. I could not comprehend as a licensed architect why we still let people stay in there. And Chief of Staff, you know my sentiment, and I recommended strongly that he try to reach out to the chair to figure out how to go home, and you ended up leaving home 15 minutes early that day. But you still sat in that in that smell for five hours Contractor didn't provide a proper fan for us for the work. He was doing as well. I Really I would say I would caution before we start talking about budget including that budgetary comment in that policy at this point especially since it requires thought and with our legal counsel and conversation amongst us in regards to how that's going to work. But as far as getting legislation in here for who he's supposed to contact and making sure that that's clear, that there should be two people, either the chair or the vice chair, to be able to help him with his day-to-day duties. As far as HR policies and budget, I caution against doing that here today.

So you're saying go back to the original?

I was saying go back to the original and help just clarify things for our staff, our chief of staff.

The way his original proposal, Alderwoman Bade's original proposal is pretty much designed by committee. Every decision would go through the committee except whether.

weather, special events, and what was the third one? Emergency. Emergency situations. And emergency situations.

It was just the weather and emergency. We could add special events to that.

It's just codifying what we're already doing. Very simple. Okay. It's not a slight against any present chairperson or vice chairperson today or in the past.

hold on we're gonna go one at a time okay we have language that's up everybody take a look at the language let's just stop and take a look at the language that's up Can we just, pardon?

Alderman Franco, do you have something to say? Go ahead.

I guess, so I was tinkering with it, so Alderman Bate, I don't know if this addresses your concerns fully.

So can you read it out?

Yeah, so now, and it's actually subpart C for some reason. It screwed up the formatting, but I'll deal with that later. The chief of staff reports directly to the Rules, Administration, and Procedure Committee. Oh, wait, let me, there needs to be a... Just say in matters of policy. In matters, yeah. Including... matters including but not limited to policy in certain times sensitive matters can you add the word to there real quick where in certain time sensitive matters or emergency the chief of staff can directly contact the chair or vice chair of the rules administration and procedures committee for decision I make a motion to amend this

Why not just shorten it to in matters of policy?

Does that convey the right thing? I second.

Okay.

I see all those in favor.

This is just codifying what we already do. I think that covers it right there. Chief Jacobs, would you?

Can you see it from there?

I can. And I do serve at the pleasure of the entire council, and this certainly codifies what I've been doing for five and a half years.

rich if you need to buy coffee and somebody recommends that's not on a rap committee at all a flavor of coffee i assume you probably honor that mean without the bureaucracy of having to go through the rap chair i will take one for the team yes Do we want to read? Let's read this as a, first of all, we have to deal with the initial motion and second that was on the table. There's an initial motion by Alderwoman Bade. In a second, we can vote that down and somebody read this motion in. Well, no, no. Amendment, sorry.

So Alderwoman Bade, and I believe it was seconded by Kirk Stallings, if you can double check. It was seconded by Smith, I believe. They agreed to change it to the language that's on the screen right now, which we can read into the record. Is that it? Yes, sir. Is that accurate? That was my understanding from prior.

If the clerk can check if Alderman Smith made the motion and Alderman Franco seconded it.

Oh, I apologize. You motioned to change this. So now I created the motion? You motioned to change this. I didn't motion your first one. When you motioned to change it, I seconded it.

OK. I'll retract any motion I made prior.

OK. So now, just so we're, let's kind of start things late then. So since the second is withdrawn, would you like to move to amend the ordinance to include what's on the screen.

First of all, for the record, for the clerk, the motion and the second have been withdrawn.

Motion and the second to do what?

To amend. To amend. correct called a woman bait has I make a motion to move for this ordinance amendment do I need to read it hold on one second just the corporate council asked question do we have a main motion in second I believe the answer is yes on an agenda item no on agenda item

0516.

So Ville and Smith were the original. Okay. And then there was an amendment and a motion on the amendments were withdrawn. So now we're ready for a new amendment to this.

Okay. So I make a motion to amend section 2-293 of the ordinance 0516, is it? Yep. Yeah, 0516. Section C, the Chief of Staff reports directly to the Rules, Administrations and Procedures Committee in matters of policy. In certain time sensitive matters or emergencies, the Chief of Staff can directly contact the Chair or the Vice Chair of Rules, Administrations and Procedures Committee for a decision.

motion made by Alderwoman Bade to amend agenda item 250516 the motion was seconded by Alderwoman Smith discussion yep thank you I appreciate the sentiment trying to simplify this it's not simple though so you just uncreated the budget review policy for the alderman's office. So rightfully so, the budget review policy was with the chief of staff, his, as soon as we get this straightened out, will be his assistant chief of staff, the finance chair, and the rep chair, not the rep committee. So this effectively changes that. The finance chair rightfully should be involved in the budget review of the alderman's office. And that's the reason it was set up in that way. I don't believe, I mean, if you want to go to that extent, Should it be both the RAP committee and the finance committee? 10 people reviewing the alderman's office budget? I don't think so. Again, I think we're making something very bogged down and difficult. It doesn't have to be.

May I? What's happened right here, if we've all noticed right now, is the mayor injected himself and put in some language in regards to the word policy in matters of policy when we were working on this a few minutes ago. The key is, I think Alderwoman Schwada-Bade just wanted to get rid of the word chair and add the chief of staff can directly contact the chair or vice chair of the Rules Administration Procedures Committee for a decision. That's how simple it is. All that extra stuff in there, I don't think it's required.

It's not that simple. Pretty much Alderwoman Bade's original amendment made all decisions go through the committee except weather. That's her original weather and emergencies. That's her original thing. So what Alderman Franco then proposed was going through committee for issues of policy. So we changed that around to make it go through committee for issues of policy and everything else go to the rep chair. Although that's not entirely clear based on this language. Well, the budget is policy, so.

If it's only budget, then that can be excluded.

Rest all of... Maybe what you want to do, Alderman Bugg, is clarify that in the second section. Or add a second sentence that clarifies that the budget process will... The budget process will include the RAP chair, chief of staff, and finance chair. Budget review process.

Adding a second sentence there.

At the end. Chair, the rules, administrations, and procedures chair. The budget process, I would say that the budget process budget review process is that accurate well yes include the rules administration procedures committee chair and finance chair working directly with the chief Alderman's chief of staff twelve people doing it everybody gets a look at it eventually

So now do I have to make an amendment to the amendment, or?

Are there any other concerns as this is worded?

Wait, do you want your assistant chief of staff in there?

Are there any other concerns, all of them in bulk? Discussion before motion.

Okay, so based on the discussion with Alderman Bugg and Alderman Masiakos and the Mayor, I was trying to incorporate their concern. I did not get feedback from Alderman Masiakos or Alderman Bugg on whether or not this addresses their concern or from anyone else on the City Council if this is acceptable or if they have other feedback or from the Chief of Staff.

So this is the final?

Yeah, I was just tinkering. So if it doesn't work, we go back in.

Somehow you took out special events when it was in there.

Special events has never been in there, but I can put it in there.

Oh, I thought someone said it.

It's OK. We can put it in there.

Is there a way to table this and allow Alderwoman Bade to figure out the verbiage? that she wants, and that way we can work with what she wants, as opposed to going around and doing this, oh, what's your thought, and we're trying to put all these thoughts in, make sure that she has her thought clearly stated, and come back to a city council meeting.

So are we going to hold it here? Do we feel like we're close? I think we got everything.

Do we feel like we're close, or do you want to spend another hour or another night?

I think we got everything.

All the women?

Yeah.

You're OK with that? Are there any other concerns with the language as it currently arises?

If we're close, we should get it.

If we're going to spend the rest of the night here, we've got other things we can spend the rest of the night here doing.

So I feel comfortable with this. And if there is any issue, there is already a motion and a second. If there is an issue, we can put it on hold for two weeks and come back to it.

I'm going to ask corporate counsel. First of all, are there any other aldermen that have any problems with this as it currently reads? Or suggestions to improve it? Corporate counsel, do we need to have a motion with the new language read into the record?

No, I would recommend that. Can we just have a motion to approve it with this new language? It would just make it easier. You've got one vote if everyone's willing to proceed. Technically, but if everyone's willing to proceed with a motion as amended on the screen, we can just do it with one vote. Does that make sense to everyone?

Well, I said the words, and you typed them, so that it could be deemed a friendly amendment. If we get consensus on it, you don't have to do anything else.

If we have consensus, that's what I was checking.

I'm trying to do things quickly. So that says a friendly amendment? Sure. It's a friendly amendment. I said it. She typed it.

All in favor of supporting Alderman Bugg's friendly amendment to Alderwoman Bade's amendment?

Yes.

Do you want me to read all in favor?

Was there any objection, I guess?

Are there any objections to friendly amendment?

Do you want me to ask all in favor? No. So what you can do now is ask if there's a motion to approve item 25-0516 as amended.

You don't have to vote on the amendment?

No, as amended, because everyone's agreed to the amendment.

OK. OK, so do we have to withdraw the first and second motion?

A friendly amendment to the amendment. OK. There's no objection to it.

OK, is there a motion to approve agenda item 250516 as amended through a friendly amendment by pretty much everybody here? To adopt the words on the screen, the Chief of Staff reports directly to the Rules Administration Procedures Committee in matters of policy. In certain times, since it matters special events or emergencies, the Chief of Staff can directly contact the Chair or Vice Chair of the Rules Administration Procedures Committee for a decision. The budget review process will include the Chief of Staff, the Rules Administration Procedures Committee Chair, and the Finance Committee Chair.

Is there a motion?

Motion.

Motion made by Alderman Franco, second by Alderman White. Are there any questions or discussion regarding this amendment or motion? Hearing none, I'll ask clerk to please call the roll on agenda item 250516 as amended.

Barrero?

Yes.

Garza? Yes. Masiakos?

Pass.

Franco? Yes. Seville? Yes. Banuelos?

Yes.

Smith?

Yes.

Bugg?

Pass.

Bade?

Yes.

Larson?

Yes.

White? Yes. Masiakos?

If it's the will of my colleagues, yes.

And Bugg?

I'm sorry, I couldn't hear Alderman Masiakos.

He noted yes. yes 11 yes 0 no motion carries this ordinance is adopted and at 1026 p.m. some of our microphones are going out so we can move a little quicker unless a clerk to please read the next agenda item and I believe alderman bug is recusing himself from this vote

26-0343, an ordinance amending the Ward 9 budget for fiscal year 2026. So moved. Second.

It's a motion to adopt this ordinance, a motion made by Alderman Franco, second by Alderwoman Garza. Are there any questions or discussions regarding this ordinance? I'm going to hold the questions or discussion until Alderman Bugg recuses himself. they're being no further questions and let the record reflect that Alderman Buck has left the meeting will the clerk please call the roll yes yes yes Franco yes yes Benuelos yes Smith yeah Bade yes Larson yes wait yes Tania 0 no motion carries this ordinance is adopted old business OK, I'll ask the clerk to just start by reading agenda item. Well, first we'll bring Alderman Buck back. The record reflect Alderman Buck has returned to the dais at 10.27 PM. I'll ask clerk, please read the first agenda item under old business.

250779, an ordinance amending and adding sections 2-185, 15-1, 2130, 320, 321, 322, and 354 of the code of ordinances of the city of Aurora pertaining to the disclosure of economic interest campaign contributions lobbying in the use of city property in the city seal.

OK, before we entertain a motion, there's been a recommendation that there's been several amendments that were made. To this ordinance I can go through the history of that. I did print off a paper copy to have a discussion but at 1028 I'm thinking that we might want to move this to a new meeting and um and and recommendation by alderman seville to hold a special cow meeting uh to debate to debate the omnibus ethics ordinance uh was suggested what this would mean is that i mean on multiple occasions we've we've asked for feedback and amendments and sometimes We've gotten them, and sometimes it's been challenging to work to get those through in committee. I feel like we're close on the original agenda item, 250779. I think everybody's close on that. Alderman Masiakos made a amendment at the RAP committee meeting a little while ago which significantly alters our purchasing procedures it's missing a key piece basically this would have any business doing business with the city of aurora register with the city and maintain that registration over time and then if if you go i did print it off If you go to the end it talks about Then the business owner has to report campaign contributions to the to the Illinois State Board of Elections, but we don't have an Aurora State Board of Elections, so we still need to figure that piece of this out before we can turn it into it. What Corporate Council's recommended is that we bring these as two separate items. So it would be a new agenda item, and then work on the language for this other piece that addresses the purchasing, so that it's not an amendment to it, but it's a separate item. So I think that if we held a special COW meeting, we could address just these two items and then move it to the next city council meeting for a vote. I want to just throw that out there before we start making motions in seconds. But as we're approaching late night, that might be the best way to handle this. And then what we would need is once we can build consensus around a special COW date, And we give staff time to work on the what is now referred to as messiacos proposal one That we would be able to bring these two together as two separate agenda items and address both at the same time for a discussion So I want to get a little bit of feedback And I think the way we would build a date is work with the chief of the alderman the chief of staff of the alderman's office To get that date and Shannon Cameron and then we would work with staff on the back end of

Mayor Lesh. Alderman Barrero. It might be helpful to have three things to look at. Section 2, Section 15, and Messy Echols Proposal 1. Does that make sense?

Section 2.

Separate Section 2 and 15. Chapter 2. Chapter 2 and Chapter 15. Does that make sense?

So are you asking for two separate, to separate legislative items 25-07792, two separate legislative items? Correct. Does that make sense or not? It makes sense. I don't have a problem with it as long as it's not going to cause quick stallings of a headache. Okay. I do try to make her life easier. It may not seem like that, but...

Alderman Spill, and then I'll go to Alderman. I would just urge my colleagues that if anybody's looking to make amendments, that things are prepared before the meeting at the committee hall so we can really make everything encompassing with what we're trying to produce here before we report to the city council. And there's no questions as to what's being proposed or what the aldermen are talking about. And hopefully we can come to some kind of consensus at the next committee, the whole meeting, that we're having this special meeting so we can move this thing forward.

I'll be a little more specific than that. I think if you're working on bringing an amendment forward, it needs to be in paper so that everybody can see it. We can alert corporate councils. We can bring it up on the screen if there's going to be an extensive discussion about it. And when we talk about it, we need to talk about it as page number, line number, and be specific about the words. Alderwoman Smith.

so I have some questions and I don't know if I know other people had asked the same questions as I did and I don't know if they would want the same thing many of us said we did I have some questions about chapter 15 the language the wording I'm not saying it's right or wrong which is some things I don't understand so I don't know if it's something that we want to discuss as a group our special council and our special COW I can't talk this late at night perhaps we'd say you know this paragraph and you would explain to us the intent of the paragraph I think we need to know that but I I almost think I would like to know that before that COW meeting so is it can I reach out to you individually or is anybody else want to be in that process

I can meet with you guys two by two if you'd like or individually. I'm going to definitely do that. Yeah, I'm always available by phone to talk through something or if you want to go through it. It would be helpful if you want to get clear.

Ahead of time. yeah because I have some had some amendments but I didn't want to amend something when I didn't fully understand what was written there because it might be just fine the way it is I'm just not understanding it in its intent so okay thank you

Mayor. Alderman Masiakos, I was going to ask if you wanted to explain the intent so you could share it with the council and give them some brief as they go into it. But if you have questions on any of them, go ahead, Alderman Masiakos.

I do want to clarify something. I did ask, I did propose some legislation, and I asked legal to help with cleaning it up. never pursued it because I really do believe that this was the process of how this move forward was very unorthodox I haven't seen anything like it in about 14 years since I've been here but I appreciate the opportunity to to have had the opportunity to work with legal to present something to my colleagues here at a special COW meeting the main focus of that effort was to focus on corporate capture it's something that I brought up during the initial conversations I even subsequently brought it up using terminology of staff between influencer and influenced but nothing has been ever provide in terms of feedback about why we're focusing and what we're focusing on whether it's corporate capture or regulatory capture and are we going to be consistent with one or the other or we're doing a smorgasbord a combination of the two so I will accept that offer, and I would like to work with our legal counsel to put another option as an amendment before this committee moving forward. Amending Chapter 2, Chapter 15, or? Well, that's what I want to work with staff on and bring something forward without tying myself down right now. And I'd also like to also maybe make sure that my colleagues get to see it before COW, so staff and myself can answer some questions before then as well, so it doesn't become a long and drawn out meeting.

have a feeling that's unavoidable um the the on York do you want to give just a brief explanation of what the intent of your proposal because I did print it off just to share with the council your your thoughts on it and then maybe shed some light on how you would see I know that this was a mirror copy of what the state does but what how do you envision the How do you envision the reporting on this going?

Once I put that together, I've put the final language together, I think we'll have a better idea once I work with legal counsel. And I'll present it at COW. Now, the other thing, too, is earlier today, And we are allowed to speak politically here at this meeting. We had someone who spoke here today and said to us and challenged us, show how you conduct your business, quote unquote. and i will tell you that i do try to conduct my own personal business with a level of integrity and respect for this office and for the responsibility that third ward residents have instilled in me and my only concern is how a recent post on facebook which alludes to aurora alder persons which includes myself is reflecting how I have taken money from Scientel contracts or from Build Our Future PAC, which I've never taken money from a PAC, and I've never taken a dollar also from Scientel Solutions. And I want that record to be clear on that here today. I'm not a person to go on Facebook and start writing political things of this nature or rebuttals. So I'm choosing this venue, this forum, to correct the record for a good name my great-grandfather gave to my father, my father handed down to me, and I'm working very hard to hand down to my children. Thank you, Mayor.

OK. Any other questions or discussions on the process or thoughts about how to improve the process as we go to COW? Or things that you want to see changed in chapter 2 or chapter 15?

I'm going to reserve the right to answer that question at a later time. At an earlier time, actually, to be quite honest, because it's almost 11 o'clock.

Can we get a motion to refer this back to a special meeting of the community?

So moved. Motion by First Alderman Saville, is there a second? By Alderman Smith to a motion to move this back to a special COW meeting and to entertain any other ethics-related items.

When are we going to set that up?

We'll work with the Chief of Staff and the Alderman's Chief of Staff to schedule a special COW meeting.

Thank you.

I don't want to get out of order, but Alderman Borrero did entertain a motion to separate 2 and 15, and then we did not. get an official motion for a second and discuss it. So we kind of bypassed it.

It was a friendly, not a formal. Oh, I heard it.

If you want to make a formal motion and get a second, we can do it. OK, first let's go with a motion to create a special meeting. There's a motion and a second. Last clerk, please call the roll.

Guerrero? Yes. Garza? Yes. Masiakos? Yes. Franco? Yes. Seville? Yes. Benuelos? Yes. Smith? Yes. Fogg?

Yes.

Bates? Yes. Larson?

Yes.

White? Yes. 11 yes, 0 no.

Do you want to make a motion, Alderman Burrow, to separate Chapter 2 and Chapter 15? So there would be three agenda items at the special COW meeting. Do it. The motion would be to separate Chapter 2 and Chapter 15 into two separate agenda items to be discussed as separate chapters.

That sounds good. I'll make the motion.

I second it.

Motion made by Alderman Perrero, second by Alderwoman Smith. Any questions or discussion? Yes. Alderman Bugg.

OK. That's the reason I brought it up.

Because we're almost there, but we're going to make it hard at the end. I just wanted to ask why.

because some people may be okay with one and not the other. So it's better to have half than nothing. So I think any movement is forward progress. So let's increase our chances of adopting something.

Alderman Franco?

I wasn't done, sorry.

Sorry.

I agree with you, Alderman Barrero. But in sitting in the RAP meetings for the last three months, I don't understand why you didn't make the motion there.

OK. Let me remind you, at the last RAP meeting, I voted no. And the reason I voted no was because I wanted to discuss Alderman Masiaco's proposal. And then I was informed that we could not discuss his proposal because it was addressing different parts of the code. And we needed to get it on the agenda to discuss it. So instead of doing that, you called the question to move this whole thing out of RAP committee, and I was not satisfied with that. So here we are back to where we were at the last RAP meeting.

Okay. That still doesn't – I still don't understand why you didn't separate 2 and 15 three months ago.

Okay. Okay.

That was my original Borrero amendment did exactly that. And we were looking at chapter 15. We had a 6-6 vote. And the mayor broke the tie. You send it back to committee. Here we are again.

OK. Any other questions or discussion on the motion to separate 2 and 15? Okay, no further questions or discussion. I'll ask the clerk to please call the roll on the motion to separate Chapters 2 and Chapters 15 into separate agenda items.

Barrero? Yes. Garza? Yes. Maciakos? Yes. Franco? Yes. Seville? Yes. Venuelos? Yes. Smith? Yes. Fogg?

Yes.

Bates? Yes. Larson? Yes. White? Yes. Levinas? Zero.

Motion carries. We will bring this forward at a special COW meeting to be determined by calling through everybody and finding a day that works for everybody. OK, this concludes old business. New business, is there a motion to suspend the rules to consider items that are new business? Motion made by Alderman Seville. Second. Second by Alderman Larson. Will the clerk please call the roll?

Ferraro?

Yes.

Garza? Yes. Maciakos? Yes. Franco? Yes. Saville? Yes. Van Whalen? Yes. Smith? Yes. Bugg? Yes. Bate? Yes. Larson? Yes. White? Yes. Levinas? Zero. No.

Okay, motion carries. I'll ask the clerk to please read the first item under new business.

260134, a resolution accepting the installation of a ground-mounted solar array at Churchill Elevated Tank at 2680 Churchill Road in Ward 1, an execution of a power purchase agreement and a lease agreement with 548 Energy Technologies.

So moved. Is there a motion to approve? There was three. Let that poor man go home. That would be it. Alderman Seville made the initial motion. Is there a second? Alderman Franco? Second. Are there any questions or discussions regarding this resolution? There being no further discussion, I'll ask the clerk to please call the roll.

Guerrero? Yes. Garza? Yes. Masiakos? Yes. Franco? Yes. Seville? Yes. Benuelos? Yes. Smith?

Yes.

Fogg? Yes. Bade? Yes. Larson? Yes. White? Yes. 11 yes, 0 no.

Motion carries. This resolution is approved. Thank you for waiting all night, Arne. I'll ask clerk to please read the next item. And Allison, thank you. And Jason. Jason, thank you. OK, I'll ask clerk to please read the next item under new business.

260355, a motion authorizing and directing Corporation Council to execute the completion of a settlement agreement in Salam al-Shmawali, Athir Mazan, and Muhammad Adelphi versus City of Aurora, case number 20L000503 in the 16th Judicial Circuit, Kane County, Illinois. Is there a motion to approve this item? Second.

Motion was made by Alderman Smith, second by Alderman Franco. Are there any questions or discussions regarding this item? There being no further questions, will the clerk please call the roll? Guerrero?

Yes. Garza? Yes. Maciakos? Yes. Franco? Yes. Seville? Yes. Venuelos? Yes. Smith? Yes.

yes made yes larson yes white yes eleven yes zero motion carries this item is approved next uh there are no reports i'll ask uh we do have to pay the bills agenda item two six zero three six five the bill summary of large uh bills is there a motion approved to pay the bills motion was made by alderwoman smith second by alderman seville are there any questions or discussion on the bills Will the clerk please call the roll? Herrera? Yes.

Garza? Yes. Maciakos? Yes. Franco? Yes. Seville? Yes. Benuevos? Yes. Smith? Yes. Bugg? Yes. Bade? Yes. Larson? Yes. White? Yes. Levinas? No.

Motion carries. The bills are approved. Thank you, Stacey, for staying all night. There being no further business coming before this council, is there a motion to adjourn this meeting? Motion to adjourn. Motion made by Elliman Franco, second by Alderwoman Garza. All in favor? Aye. All opposed? None. Motion carries. This meeting is adjourned at 10.48 PM. Thanks, everybody, for so late.