City Council - Regular Meeting

I didn't get back to that after the game had started, so I just went home and watched it on TV.

Good. Now this week you're not on TV. No, we may do a few updates or something. It's going to be Rockets. Rochester Rockets. Yeah, you should be able to watch it. Rockets.

SO I'M GOING TO GO DOWN THERE AND THEN I'M GOING TO DRIVE HOME AND THAT'S ALL FOR SATURDAY FOR OUR RETREAT.

GOOD RECOVERY. Thank you. Yes? It was this one. It was that one.

But for my kid, I said, is this going to be late? That's pretty much what my whole day is like. Yeah, but no reason why it's going to be late.

I might work on it, but I know what's coming up.

Call to order the Committee of the Whole meeting for August 25th, 2026. First item on our agenda this evening is roll call.

Barraza? Here. Lancy? Absent. Beth? Here.

White?

Here.

Malone?

Here.

Wolfe?

Here.

Solfa? Is absent or not? Barron?

Here.

Lehman? Absent. Lohman? Here. Pieper? Here. Berenbach? Here. Anderson? Here. White?

Here.

11 present? Yes. Okay.

Up next would be a reminder to please speak into the microphone. If you come up to use the podium tonight, just make sure you pull the microphone over and you can hear yourself in the background while you're talking so that that gets broadcast. Up next would be approval of the minutes from August 11th, 2026. Any changes, corrections? Anybody find anything? Not? Can I get a motion to recommend counsel? So moved. Second. Okay. Motion by Malay, second by Malone. All those in favor? Aye. All right. Up next then is items to be removed, added, or changed. We do need to add an executive session on purchase of real estate. I'll make that motion that we add that to the agenda. So number 10. Okay. Second. Aye. Barron, second by White. All those in favor? Aye. Okay. Up next is item five, which is matters from the public for things not on our agenda. Is there anybody here for anything not on the agenda tonight? Okay. We will move right on then to the consent agenda. Other person, Barron?

Thank you. Consent agenda. Approvals, Resolution 2025-95-R, authorizing intervention in proceedings before the Kane and DuPage County Boards of Review and Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board. Resolution 2026-96-R, authorization to purchase a new Falcon asphalt patch trailer from Midwest Paving Equipment, Inc. of Glen Ellyn, Illinois, for an amount not to exceed $45,774. Resolution 2026-94-R, authorization to execute a contract with Electric Conduit Company to perform directional boring at 707 Branson Drive. Resolution 2026-97-R, authorization execution of contract for the demolition Blackfield Dam. back filling, grading, and seating of the building site 330 through 338 Webster Street with Fox Explicating Inc. of Batavia, Illinois. And Ordinance 2026-40, Conditional Use Permit for Massage Establishment at 8 North River Street. I move we accept the consent agenda as read.

Any comments, questions, or anything on this agenda? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. All right, we'll move on to the regular agenda. Up first is 7.1, discussion on implementing a community health improvement plan, instant physician access program.

Good evening, Wendy.

I am very excited tonight to be able to present this as a discussion topic for a community health improvement plan. Community health improvement plan is designed to improve access to health care by providing residents and participating businesses with convenient physician access through secure text messaging, phone, video consultation with an Illinois licensed physician. As you may be aware, Illinois benefit, or I'm sorry, employee benefits are probably, if not one of the largest costs to any organization, us included. Today's rising healthcare costs are outpacing the cost of living, wages and salaries, as we talked about that earlier. With the 2027 wage and salary ordinance staff, we try to continually explore cost saving options from a health care perspective. In July 1st of this year, we were able to implement this text to physician program for our employees. This is in addition to their current health plan that we have in place. This program gives city employees and their families immediate access, thus reducing avoidable ER and urgent care visits, as well as supporting our long-term savings to the city with fewer claims that end up going through our regular medical plan. The same vendor that provides the TAP program also has the ability to provide this program to our residents, to the city as a whole. So I definitely ask that you give this some consideration tonight. We have Brian here. who's going to start us off and kind of talk about them and what they do. And then I also have Kathy, my benefits and payroll supervisor, who's going to, at the end, definitely go through anything, the logistics and some questions you may have in regards to how a program like that would work for our residents.

Thank you so much. Mayor, council members, it's great to be here this evening. I want to brag on Wendy and Kathy. They have been excellent as we've worked with this program to bring it to your employees and now hopefully to bring it to the community. Just a little bit of background. For 17 years, I worked with the National League of Cities, so I'm very familiar with local government. I've If I've learned one thing, if I can't say it in five to seven minutes, you don't have time to listen to it. So I will be very brief tonight and I'll answer any questions that you might have. I'll also add that when I landed in O'Hare yesterday, it was 40 degrees cooler than where I came from. So very much appreciated. The greatest gift a doctor can give his or her patients is their cell phone number. That's the greatest gift. Our founder is very mission-driven. He's a 20-year-plus ER doc in North Texas. He's a Rockwall County Health Authority. And during COVID, he really saw a need for a boost for the ER and for local medicine in general. time and time again would see a single mom come in with two kids, and they both had strep throat. And he would write a $5 Moxicillin prescription that they could cash pay and get the medicine. But then billing would come in and charge them $1,500 per kid. And that happened all day, every day. Now, that mom is either in a medical bankruptcy or she's just not going to pay. And in neither one of those cases, that's not sustainable for the city, for the county, for the country. So Dr. Parrott said there has to be a better way. He started giving his cell phone number to these patients that he knew couldn't afford to be there. And he would say, next time, just call me. Next time, just text me. And they did. And so he got to where he had given his number to over 500 folks in Rockwall County and in Dallas County that needed care and couldn't afford it. And he goes, it's a little inconvenience for me. I listened to him. I text the prescription. And they're good to go. Now, if they say I can't breathe, then that's a different story. But this is for your acute, he calls it the itises, and the sinusitis, the tonsillitis, the pink eyes, the UTIs, all of those things that we know what we have. And we just don't have time to go to the doctor, right? There's options. And so what we have done is we've opened up a new door. We've created a new door called the pre-claim infrastructure. And so one of the things that I think is most important about what I'm presenting to you tonight I think the best example, I was recently asked by the White House to speak to the federal employees' insurance. It's their benefits. They have 8.5 million employees, and they're desperately trying to figure out how can we save money. Their claims are going up. Blue Cross Blue Shield's going up 10% every year. How can they provide better access? So I spoke on a panel. I was the only non-doctor up there. I felt wildly out of place. They asked me, what are you doing to provide access to care through your company? And I said, let me ask these 300 people that all are executives for Blue Cross, for GEHA. I said, how many of you have been sick in the past year? 300 people raised their hand. I said, how many of you have insurance? And I hope you all have insurance. And they said, yes. I said, how many of you have Teladoc with your insurance? And they all kept their hand up. And I said, how many of you used Teladoc the last time you were sick? And every hand went down but about three people. And then I found out a Teladoc executive was on the panel with me, and that was a bad look. But that really happened. And I said, so access to care, let me ask a different question. How many of you know a doctor or have a family member or friend who's a doctor? And about 60 people raised their hand. And you know what I asked next, how many of you texted them when you're sick? And they all kept their hand up. I said, so the way we provide access to care that's never before been done is we make it as easy as texting your sister, your brother, or your mom. We don't just give families access to a doctor. We put a doctor in every family, every day of the year, from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., and we respond within two minutes. And we can prescribe medication. Our average prescription cost is less than $12. We shop drugs. We can tell you that this prescription is cheaper at Walmart or it's cheaper at Cost Plus Drugs or whatever the case may be. We have the back end to do that. So that is how we have changed it. If you can't make it as easy as texting, if there is an app, if there's an ID, if there's a password, if there's a copay, people are out. If there's a claim, people are out, because then your claims go up. My family's claims could go up. This is all outside of insurance. This is all outside of Medicare, Medicaid. It has nothing to do with it. We are putting a doctor in your pocket. That's what we do. The village of Algonquin was our first city to roll this out to the community, and their council told me, they said, look, we're a pretty fluent community. So the low-income demographic isn't really the driving force for us. It's It's convenience. It's a time tax. It's when my wife, and I have permission, she recently, she's an attorney. I wish she was an attorney. She's a CPA. And she was in, you know, the October deadline's coming up. She's busy. And she woke up and had a UTI. And she texted on her phone at 7 a.m. And when CVS opened, I ran up and picked up macro bid, brought it back to her. She's fine. There is a clock that starts when you start getting sick. And the longer you wait, the longer it takes for you to get healed. And the first time I used it, I'm the most frequent flyer. I'm a self-proclaimed hypochondriac, I'll tell you. I had the flu. My son had the flu last year. We texted the number. They texted us some questions. We answered. They said, yes, you have the flu. Do you want Tamiflu or Zofluza? Have you ever heard of Zofluza? It's one pill and it knocks it out in 24 hours if you catch it early enough. But it's $200 and insurance, no insurance covers it. So I said, well, I'm interested in that if it makes me feel better tomorrow. And they go, but we have a manufacturer's coupon code that our system just found for $35. So when I get sick on a Saturday, like I had the flu, It's $204 for me to go to my urgent care, which is called Breeze. My son would have been $204. We would have spent $200 on that prescription drug each, and the whole incident cost me $70, $35 and $35 for my medicine and his, no other fees. I paid for it for the next six years just for one use because we're $9 a month for your entire family. For up to 10 people in a business, 10 people in a household, it's just $9, not per person, $9. If you're an unhoused individual that is in the community and needs help, there's no cost. If you live in a multifamily apartment complex that has a master meter bill, it's $9 for the whole unit, for the whole complex. per month, 108 bucks a year. So that is what we're doing. Our mission is to give access to people at the time they need it most. And the reason we put it on a city utility bill is because people don't think about their health until it's too late. And they're like, oh man, now I need to go to the doctor. Now I need access. I should have sent that mole in six months ago that turned out to be melanoma. It's those types of things. You constantly can be in contact with a doctor. So it is very important, and we're really changing the way that health care is being done, and we're taking the stress off of the ER. So you'll have 20% less EMS dispatch and call-outs, 20%. That's what we see across the board for our cities. You will... The ROI for this product, like I said, it was five to six years in one use. But we also give people the ability to opt out. And we will even refund their money if they don't like it. So we give them 90 days to try it, kick the tires. We work with your billing folks. We handle all of the opt outs. We put utility cards in this utility center that have a phone number, a text, an email. We put QR codes around the town. It's easy to opt out. If you ask Algonquin, they had everybody opt out in the first few weeks. And to date, the people that stayed in, and we average about 75% of the population stay in. They've had 25% of their households or businesses use it. in the first eight months, which is incredible. Or maybe it was 21%. I'm so sorry. It was either 21% or 25%. It's one of those. But people will use it some the first year. I'm not going to tell you. Everyone's not going to use it the first year because people are used to how they do health care. But when they start talking to people, people that have used it like me, they start to see it. And once you see it, and I think your HR folks here, they can't unsee it. It's just a different, and so then you'll start seeing it rise up to 40%, 50%, 75%. The last thing I'll share, and I will answer all your questions, is my daughter is a musical theater major. She just left for college. She was auditioning for a school that she really wanted to go to and could not stop coughing. And I don't know how many of you have kids, but I got the dad with the exclamation text, I can't stop coughing. And I was somewhere where I couldn't really do anything but text. And so I texted TAP. I told them about my daughter. She'd used the system before, so they knew she had a restrictive airway, and they knew that, which just for her means she coughs when she gets sick nonstop. But bromfet is the drug that will stop that for her, and they called it in within 20 minutes. She left her theater, went to Walgreens, picked it up, went back, stopped coughing, and auditioned for Texas Tech 30 minutes later. I don't care what kind of insurance you have. You can't do that. That is really, really powerful. And that's what we do. So I appreciate the time and your staff, and I'll answer any questions you have.

Do you have any questions? So this is a program that we would offer at the city level for anybody that's a resident or business that has a utility bill. Okay. Okay.

Just a few more moments. We won't go through every single slide, and we'll make sure we post this, but I want to go through just, if you're like me, I'm a visual person, so maybe if you see it on the screen, it gives you a little bit more detail of how a program like that would work. Kathy, if you want to. Kathy's done the lion's share of the work. Her and I work together.

I did forget one thing. I'm so sorry. We also, in addition to shopping for prescription drugs, we have people that will come to council meetings and say, I was using albuterol inhaler for $300 a month because I don't have insurance. And you guys found it for $6. So that type of thing. We also do GLP-1 discounts. So we started $150 a month for GLP-1 for weight loss. If if your community or staff needs that. And then we also have discounted lab work. So Quest Diagnostic, full labs, $40. So we have some cities that tell their employees, go pay $40 and get your lab work done, and then we'll pay you $100 back because it's still saving the city $300. So we have a lot of other things we do.

I know this is a weird out of the box question, but what about insulin for your animals?

I wish that we could do tap for pets. I wish we could. We would probably sell a lot more than for humans. We don't yet. And I'm not saying no forever, but we don't right now.

Kevin, did you have a question?

Maybe the slides first, and then I'll go ahead and jump back in with my question. Probably answer to those slides.

Before Kathy gets started, as you can imagine, this product is really for... really any resident. Some of the examples that Brian shared today, it's not necessarily for the underinsured. It absolutely will assist anyone who's underinsured who either doesn't have insurance or maybe doesn't have quite adequate insurance. You think about the small businesses, they have the ability to now possibly offer this to a small business. But in addition, many people at the city, we are very fortunate. We have very good insurance, and we don't necessarily always have to worry about this. But for many people, I mean, I know members of my family have high deductible plans. And when you have a high deductible plan and you think about I've got a cold or a flu or maybe it's turned into a sinus infection, you really think long and hard about do I want to go to the ER or to the walk-in care because now this is going to cost me $300, $400, where a service like this would absolutely be available to them and think about the difference in the cost savings and the ease of it. I also think from one of the things Kathy and I have spent a lot of time talking about is That should you decide this is a good program for us to roll out is I definitely would like to work with our partners, the school district, the park district, the library, those who have a lot of interaction with our residents. We do as well, but more so even with them is think about the access of them being able to get their kids back to school. so they're not having to miss more work than what's necessary. My kids are now older, but my second one, I think if you looked at him, he got sick, and I was always having to take off work. And you know when you're in daycare, it's not just one day because you've got to wait for their fever to break. It's always two days. And so something like this, I think about something like this, how amazing that would have been in my time. So some of that as far as helping kids and assisting with them and able to get the care that they need and get them back. So with that, Kathy. Yeah, sorry.

Yeah.

Yeah. Thank you for your time tonight. So I'm just going to kind of go over what the program looks like. So what is TAP? So Brian talked about a lot of this. It's just a TAP away, you know, every age, every home, and looking to build a healthier community. AND THEN BRIAN ALSO TALKED ABOUT DERK, THE FOUNDER AND ER PHYSICIAN. WE WERE FORTUNATE ENOUGH TO LISTEN TO HIS STORY DIRECTLY FROM DERK AND IT WAS PRETTY POWERFUL, THE WHY. And quality healthcare without leaving your home. You know, you can get access from care straight from home, receive prescriptions and referrals, connect with local pharmacies for pickup, and receive easy follow-up. I'll just give a quick story. To be quite honest, we've only had TAP a month, and one of the most amazing things about it is we've had so many people email and reach out to us staff to tell us how wonderful this service was how convenient it was and they were surprised at the things that they could do for them in hr that's pretty great to get POSITIVE FEEDBACK ABOUT THE PROGRAM, SO WE'RE REALLY EXCITED ABOUT THAT. BUT I WILL JUST SAY MY DAUGHTER, SHE CUT HER FINGER THIS WEEK USING A KNIFE AND CUTTING SOME VEGETABLES, AND SHE IMMEDIATELY, I HAD TOLD MY KIDS TO PUT THE NUMBER IN THEIR PHONE And she has a high deductible plan. So she's always very conscious of care. And so she also has a Teladoc. So I mean, Brian is really right about that. But she doesn't know her password. She actually didn't even know the programs that her company worked with. But she had that number in her phone. And she knew if she needed stitches, she needed to go soon. So she was able to talk with TAP within a few minutes. They were able to explain to her that she didn't need stitches. And they gave her a treatment plan. So that was such a, I think, a wonderful testimonial to what this program can do for our community as well. So... How it works. So a resident just sends a simple text and it can be as simple as, I'm not feeling good today. And they'll start the conversation with you. The resident will receive an answer in about two minutes. And there's no insurance card, copay or appointment required. They will ask your name and address and your whole family is covered. And like Brian said, up to 10 people If in-person care is needed, they will assist and to be routed to a nearby provider if necessary. And I think this is a really good question. Are we speaking to a real doctor? One of the really nice things is within that text, they tell you exactly who you're talking to. So it is medical doctors, physician's assistant and nurse practitioners. And what they treat, I have another slide that I think is really great. This is just some of the conditions and health issues that can be treated, but I'm sure there's many more. And this slide will all be provided to you. And then we talked about improved school and work attendance. So with that early intervention, hopefully we can help prevent those preventable absences for school and an office environment. And what it looks like to bring TAP telehealth to the city of Batavia. LIKE WE TALKED ABOUT, IT WOULD BE ON THE CITY UTILITY SERVICE AND USE SERVICE BILL. AND TO BE HONEST, IT REALLY WOULD BE A COMMUNITY HEALTH IMPROVEMENT PLAN IS HOW WE WOULD HAVE IT LISTED. AND THAT'S KIND OF WHAT OUR GOAL IS. ONCE AGAIN, PEOPLE CAN OPT OUT. WE ARE GOING TO WORK REALLY HARD TO MAKE THAT IF PEOPLE, YOU KNOW, THE LAST THING WE WANT TO DO IS UPSET PEOPLE. WE WANT TO PUT A REAL POSITIVE SPIN ON THIS AND TRY TO INFORM AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE. THERE'S A 23-POINT contact we will make with residents tap is really great at it this is what they do and so hopefully people will see the value in it but if if it's something they're not interested in they can certainly tap um opt out tap out so um uh once again it's completely optional and um 10 people of all ages can be covered per household for just nine dollars per month And then what every Batavia household gets. So it would be 24-7. There is hours, but they're very, I think it's 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., is that correct? Up to 7 a.m. Up to 7 a.m.? Okay, central time, yes. And a licensed physician replies within two minutes, and then there's pediatric family care in its fevers, infections, and then questions how to handle it from home, which I think is a really important... How do you know how to handle certain situations? Behavioral health triage. They will help with that first line of mental health support with warm handoffs to local providers. Prescriptions to local pharmacies. We had a staff member that was struggling to get their medication from their provider, and they were able to give them that one month so that they were not without their medication. And then chronic condition check-ins, ongoing help with blood pressure, diabetes, and staying on their medications. Local referral routing, when an in-person care is needed, they'll be routed to nearby providers if necessary. And then why use TAP telehealth? Oh, sorry. So 97, statistics show that 97% of doctor-patient interactions don't require an in-person meeting. There's a 20% reduction in emergency calls and 70% plus participate in telehealth services. And why Batavia? So the numbers are behind it. 804 uninsured residents who gain a doctor they can text. 2,200 of uninsured 2,991 EMS runs models are likely to be TAC addressable and 621 working residents with no health coverage today. And there's some, the references of where those came from, if you would like to look those up. And then we thought this was an interesting quote from a city manager in Texas that has TAP for his city. TAP is the most used service in our city offers. More than half our residents use it at least once. More than police, fire, and parks combined. And this is just some proven customer satisfaction. There is a survey that is provided. So we will always be using this data to make sure that the experience for customers is outstanding. And so as you can see right now, resident satisfaction is high. And so this is just, like I had said, our employee feedback. We've received multiple calls and emails, and TAP's been a tremendous help, saving significant time and cost savings. Once again, our employees' personal stories demonstrate the value and impact of TAP for our employees and their families. This is just some statistics from Algonquin. This is eight months of data. So for their program usage, 979 clinical interactions total to date. And that's 1.88 times encounters per patient. That means the residents are coming back and using it for multiple times, more than once. And then their patient satisfaction survey is 9.9 out of 10. COMMUNITY DOLLARS RETAINED, AS YOU CAN SEE, FOR AMBULANCE DEPLOYMENT, ER VISITS, DELAYED CARE ESCALATIONS PREVENTED, NON-EMERGENCY VISITS DIVERTED. SO THEIR TOTAL IS ALMOST 300,000. AND PRODUCTIVITY RECOVERED, WORK DAYS RECOVERED 830, SCHOOL DAYS 253, WITH ABOUT 250,000. And then we can get down, they've gotten down to the ages. There is some more information within this. And one of the things that they had said is that the ages within the workforce are their highest utilizers. It's about 61% total. But they had a, also, for their senior population, they felt that that was actually a pretty high at 16% on here as well. So it's, it's, it's within there. I can even share that with you guys too. It's very interesting study. So, um, And then this is kind of some of the Algonquin testimonials. It's all the things that we've really been discussing all night. So you can see these are just some of the things that they have provided to the village.

Any questions?

Sure. Okay.

Thank you. Yeah. First off, this sounds promising, right? I really kind of like the angle this is taking. Any way we can get cheaper, better healthcare to people, the better. Though I do have a lot of questions here. So first off, it's an opt-out model. So presumably first time around, every resident will be in. And if through our Herculean efforts, we don't get to everybody, they're going to get this mystery $9 increase.

their bill every month is that the idea okay so they would it would be an opt-out we do like we said they have 23 touch points we can choose any of them more of them as far as communicating through our communications plan through our marketing through even through the utility bills sending them additional things and so yes so people will hopefully i mean i i get it like there'll be someone who doesn't read any of that and doesn't realize it and then they see the nine dollars on their bill so there will be but hopefully we'll make every effort to notify them. And then when they see it, they can obviously still opt out of it. They can opt out at any point.

Okay, great. And then Algonquin's $6 a month. Why are we nine?

I told them that would happen. No, they were right here. We always do that for the first city in a state.

Okay, so you kind of get the hook in and then you say we're just fair.

The one thing that we didn't talk about is a dollar of that nine dollars will be coming back to the city. And then we've just, you know, we've any type of initiative that We want to use for that, for those funds. We can certainly discuss what those would be.

And that's a great lead into my next question. Certainly there's going to be some sort of ramp up build out period for us, the city. We're going to need to put in our billing mechanisms and all that. What does that look like for us if we choose to?

to go this route what sort of cost is going to come with that kind of a man hours idea of what that means so yeah we want this to be zero cost uh to the city so if there is a fee with tyler technologies or whoever you might be using we would cover that we want this to be budget neutral um the one dollar is actually a matchback program so it's uh We hold that in escrow. And so if 75% or 70% stayed in that $7,000-ish a month, every month that we would have in that escrow. So if you had a resident that couldn't pay a water bill or if you wanted to set up a heating station for extreme weather days, that's at your discretion. You tell us how you want to use it, and then we would forward the funds to the city.

All right. A couple more questions. I'm sorry here. What then relationship does TAP have to a primary care provider then? Like is that information able to then be forwarded on? Can I say like, hey, send it to Delnor, to Dr. Steve?

Yes. Council Member Malone, we keep a medical record for every person in the household that we can share with them at any time. And so What I forgot to mention is it is 10 people, but they don't have to be in your home. So if they're relatives, like I have my mom and dad, because they're always calling me with questions. And so now they just text tap. And it's great. Okay. Yeah.

Okay. I think two more questions, one more about the service and one more about our relationship to it. Let's say I call up, I shoot my text, and I've just got it way wrong. I don't have heartburn. I'm having some serious sort of incident. Will the TAP physicians reach out directly to 911 services or 988 services? Or will it be like, hey, hang up with me and call?

We actually had a council member that didn't tell us, and we don't like it when they tell us, just use it, right? And don't tell us you're going to use it because then you might think we're telling people to answer quickly. So if you're going to use it, use it. And she was having chest tightness. And she said, Brian, I used it last night. I had chest tightness. And I go, why didn't you call 911? She said, well, you guys called 911 for me. And they came and we actually called the hospital ahead of time to let them know that the ambulance was coming and that it was a patient from the city. And that was one where they diagnosed her with almost Barrett's esophagus, acid reflux. That was why she was having the chest pain, but she didn't have insurance. And imoprozole was like $200 or $300 a month, and we found it for $9.

so just another example but we do and we'll work with your fire department your ems folks whatever mechanism they want us to do but our first inclination is to call 9-1-1 and then to call the hospital yeah and then last question here um what what sort of the length of contract here that we would be getting ourselves into let's say we sign up for this turns out there's some something sneaky going on or it isn't what we thought it would be are we on the hook are our residents going to be stuck with this contract or can we get out when we need to

The residents can opt out at any time. There's no contract for them. We typically do a five-year contract for the city to lock in a price that won't exceed, it's like a 3% increase over five years. Just in case healthcare goes up like it has been, we wouldn't raise it more than like 3%. But you could, without cause, you could opt out at any time. Because we just believe in our service. So we haven't ever had a city that launched our program and stopped doing it.

Yeah, I mean, it sounds like a really cool program and there's a lot of benefits and you're selling it, but you are selling it, right? So I need to come in with a little skepticism. One thing, I mean, I like pursuing this and thinking about it. I do want to do some of my own research and I would encourage all of us to do our own research just to see has it panned out the way we're being told it would and does it hold out? Because one thing we're giving them is a captive market, right? Like that's a pretty big marketing value, right? They're the only people who are going to get this line on our, on our, billing service. So I think it's worth our time to do due diligence. But it helps our citizens. Sounds like a cool, cool thing.

I had a couple of the same questions Kevin did. But first, I wanted to say thanks for presenting this. I agree that it would be amazing to get more access to health care to individuals that really need it. And it's difficult for that. So accessibility is great. To tack on to a question that Kevin asked about the difference between the cost for Algonquin, I'm not clear the explanation. So if you can re-explain that, because I don't understand why it's, I understand that extra dollar that the city is getting, but I'm not understanding the other money.

So Algonquin was the first city in Illinois. So we gave them our every state gets an introductory price of six dollars What Algonquin is not getting is the dollar a month So we collect nine dollars from your utility customers We would then match back a dollar into an escrow account So we keep eight we put a dollar into this fund that you will have access to see at all times So you'll know how much is in there. You can call on that fund for PICK-UPS, POP-UPS, WHATEVER HAPPENS AROUND THE COMMUNITY THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO DIRECT THAT 7,000-ISH A MONTH TOWARD.

THANKS FOR CLARIFYING THAT. SURE. AND THEN WHEN YOU MENTIONED THAT THERE ARE TEN PEOPLE THAT ARE INCLUDED IN YOUR FAMILY, THAT IS RELATIVES TO, AS YOU MENTIONED, GRANDMA AND GRANDPA, RIGHT, YOUR PARENTS. What about small businesses? It was mentioned that that would include small businesses. Does it include bigger businesses? Any utility rate payer? How does that look like?

So they'll have 10. If it's a bigger business and they decide they want another 10 or another 20, they can call us, they can reach out to us, they can reach out to the city, and then the city could connect us to them, and we could set up a billing, a direct billing with them if they want to add more people.

And what would that cost look like?

It would be $9 for every 10 that they add.

And then how do you identify possible abuse of medication?

That's a great question. First of all, all of our physicians, most of them are moms that are trying to get out of the ER. AND THEY WANT TO KEEP THEIR CREDENTIALS AND THEY WANT TO PRACTICE MEDICINE WHILE THEY'RE RAISING KIDS. SO THEY HAVE MEDICAL MALPRACTICE INSURANCE. THEY DO NOT WANT TO DO ANYTHING TO GET SUED. LIKE THEY'RE GOING TO TREAT YOU JUST LIKE AN ER DOC WOULD TREAT YOU BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT THEY ARE AND THAT'S THE STANDARD THEY'RE HELD TO BUT WE DON'T We don't prescribe any controlled substances. So if it's a controlled substance, we are not, so we're not doing any opioids or anything like that. We're just, we're doing amoxicillin. We're doing things like that. If someone needed their Zoloft for an extra five days, we can do that.

Okay. And then another question about the rollout if we were okay with this and we improved it I Understand you're going to be using your 23 touch points to notify the residents When will you begin to notify the residents about this happening and then when would the program actually start We would

MEET WITH YOUR STAFF TO GET A FEEL FOR HOW THEY WANTED TO ROLL THIS OUT. SO TYPICALLY WE GET APPROVAL, WE GET THE CONTRACT SIGNED, WE THEN IMMEDIATELY GO INTO SETTING UP THE UTILITY BILL SO THAT IT'S READY. AND THAT USUALLY TAKES THREE MONTHS. SO IT WOULD BE GREAT IF WE COULD GET IT IN THE NOVEMBER TIME FRAME, DECEMBER, JANUARY, SO WE'RE STILL CATCHING COLD AND FLU SEASON WHICH IS WHEN WE SEE OUR HIGHEST spike. But we have an entire team that comes in and they draw up your launch program. So we want to cater it to whatever you do. So some cities, they call it their community health improvement program, which is what your staff is leaning towards. Some call it the CARES program or whatever it is. And we get behind that. We market that. What's great is that we handle all of the opt-outs if you want us to. the way we do that is we have a live google sheet that you can see at any time and when people yeah so like algonquin they never had anybody that came to a council meeting and complained but they had people and you will have people that come in and maybe council meeting and they'll say i don't like this i don't think the city should do it and that is that's the wonderful democracy we live in and they can give them a little card that they call a number They can text a number. They can email an address. But the phone number is what we push people to because it will say, you have reached the TAP opt-out line. Please state the city or village or township that you live in. And it takes them and says, oh, you're in the Batavia Community Health Improvement Program. Would you like to opt out now or hear more about the program? And so the fine balance that we have to play is, Educating people about how great the service is, but making it super easy to opt out. And that is not easy. And we do a really good job. Ask Algonquin. We do a really good job. But that's how we do it. And I will say this, is that Council Member Malone brought up the biggest... The most difficult question for me to answer is, does it have to be on a utility bill? For our mission to have a low-cost access to care, it has to be everybody that then opts out. I wish to the high heavens we could do it as an opt-in. I really do. But we need the cities and the townships and the villages that see our vision of health care for everybody for $9 a month. WE GIVE THEM THE ABILITY TO OPT OUT AND WE GIVE THEM THE ABILITY TO GET THEIR MONEY BACK FOR THREE MONTHS. SO YOU CAN TRY IT. IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT, YOU GET $27 CREDIT BACK ON YOUR NEXT BILL.

SO TO BE CLEAR, everyone will be charged. There is no way to opt out before you get charged.

Oh, no, no, you can opt out. You can opt out at any time. You could, if we approve this next month, we could turn the line on and have people, and that Google Sheet's just populating with people that are not going to get it on their bill.

My question, I guess, is a two-part. So if this was approved today, which I know it can't be, but if it was today, I guess this question might be for Wendy. What is the timeline that you're thinking of, you know, from the time that you send letters notifying our utility rate payers, this program is starting, you can opt out. What would be the timeline that the program would actually start? Like how much of a window would they have to opt out before it starts?

So my initial thought is three months, 120 days. So, or sorry, 90 days, because obviously we need to really get deeper in the weeds of the implementation process to understand. We've had some preliminary conversations, obviously is the effect to the utility billing, you know, what we're going to need, how that's going to work, but we're going to obviously understand that a lot better. And once we have a better handle of how long that process is going to take, then we're going to be able to back into when we start the process. There's other things I would just add is that Kathy and I have also had a lot of additional conversation in regards to we're more than willing Additionally, to go into our senior centers, go into some other places to help educate and to share what exactly, because obviously getting a piece of paper doesn't always, isn't always as effective. So for the success of the program, for people to understand how easy and how simple it is, we definitely, we kind of want to add that layer into it as we look at, if you guys were to consider doing something like this. THANKS.

I HAVE TWO MORE QUESTIONS. THE SECOND ONE IS ARE THERE OTHER COMMUNITIES ASIDE FROM ALGONQUIN IN ILLINOIS THAT ARE USING THIS PROGRAM?

SO WE HAVE There's eight or nine communities in Illinois that are similar to Batavia. They've started with their employees and Now they're seeing the benefits and so they're going to start bringing us forward like this We're at this same time. We're in Rolling Meadows tonight at their at their council meeting The city of Chicago is placing us on an October agenda not for the entire community, but they're actually going to roll it out for their employees and and then they want to buy the program for 115,000 uninsured residents, uninsured households. And one thing I forgot to clarify is on the 10 people, it can be your relatives. But if you have friends in town from another country and they're staying with you and you only have four people and they get sick, you can use it. So we don't discriminate. We say we don't have to ask if you're a U.S. citizen. We don't have to ask any questions. We just if you have 10 people, then that's the max. You can opt someone out and put someone else in.

Okay, and then the last question is for Kathy. When you had your daughter call about the finger, the cut in the finger, I'm just curious, was she asked to send a picture? I think, like, when you have cuts, you know, that's something I think about when I'm getting examined by a doctor. I want them to look at it. Is that...

asked her so she was asked she was asked to send pictures and she was asked numerous questions about the cut and pain and could she feel the tip of her finger there there was she actually sent me the text so I could I asked her just because I was curious too and it was very thorough um they also did say if she wanted to she could go to urgent care but they would just glue it like that's you know there it there was no need for stitches so um then i asked her to send me the her follow-up like exactly what she needed to do and she's like oh i don't think they sent that and so she went back on her text and sure enough i was there so It was actually very thorough, and yeah, she did send numerous pictures, different angles, so yeah.

Okay, thanks. And one more for you. I'm sorry for your name.

Brian.

Brian. When you were talking about the eight other communities in Illinois, you mentioned a couple, Rolling Meadows and Chicago, but you said that you're having meetings and talks out of those eight. Are there any that are actually implementing it, aside from Algonquin?

Algonquin is the first and only right now that has it for their community. But we work throughout the nation. We have 780 cities that have partnered with us. A large majority are starting with the employees first, like you did.

Thank you. Mayor Mack. A couple questions. So first off, based on what I heard so far, so we have 12,224 utility customers, both residential and commercial. times nine dollars a month times 12 months so we're looking at you're looking at one point three one million three hundred twenty thousand one hundred ninety two dollars in revenue from us if nobody opted out okay If somebody got in trouble with Columbia House back in the 1990s, whenever I hear about a negative option subscription model, my antennas go up, right? So just a couple questions around that. So first off, to Oliver and Malone's point, you'd walk in and get a significant amount of revenue if nobody opted out, right? So my question to staff is, did we contact Algonquin directly to confirm how many opted out and any complaints that it generated?

No, but I did meet with Mayor Debbie Sosine, who was in Metro West meeting with her, and I asked her what the experience has been, and she couldn't say enough positive things about the program, and they also sent us their six-month report that had the statistics that Kathy shared in her presentation, but that was just some select statistics from that report. It was a multi-page report that demonstrated the value of that to their community.

And then one thing I'd be curious, how many customers Algonquin never use it but pay for it? Like what's the activation percentage, right?

They had mentioned the 21% penetration rate.

And then so the 79% of those folks, they're just paying for the service. They're not using it, right?

So the obvious- In the first six months, but what he said over the, if he looks at all of their customers, the typical penetration rate is over 70%, correct?

A lot, okay. And then, so you mentioned a lot of towns that you're ramping up. I'm assuming these doctors are located overseas. I mean, do you have the capacity to ramp up all these additional communities?

We have doctors, NPs, PAs in line waiting to, so as, it's just similar to an Uber model, right? So the more customers we have, the more physicians we bring on, and our physicians are paid on retainer. They're not throughput. They're not trying to get people off the phone. We employ them for 12-month contracts. And so right now, we have enough Illinois physicians to handle Algonquin and the cities that are using it for employees. But we could tomorrow turn on Chicago. And we could get Chicago for their 100,000 employees within two months. We would have all the physicians needed for that.

I'll mention they are Illinois-based physicians, so they are specific to that. Another example is you can also use this program when you're traveling. And so, for example, if you are out of state, you can also text and utilize them. And then if you're going to be speaking with an Illinois-based physician, but if there is a need for wherever you're located for prescription or something to that effect, they have the ability to do that for you. If you've ever had to do that when my kids were little, I'd One kid with croup, and we were in Washington, D.C., and I was trying to figure out how I was going to get her albuterol, and trying to do that through the doctor was frustrating. So they have the ability to do that if you're traveling. final question is any of that nine dollars going back to the city yes one dollar so i had done some very rough math like for example if we had um about again 25 opt out it would be approximately a hundred thousand dollars um that would come back to the city per year and then ultimately you know um kathy and i've had lots of conversations but we'd Ultimately, it's your guys' decision as to how you would spend that money. I think there's a lot of, whether it's underinsured, other types of health initiatives within the community. I think it would be great to put those back into the community, but ultimately you guys can decide what to do with those funds.

Yeah, one last comment on that. So first off, I love the idea of the service. I'm not challenging the service at all. What I'm challenging is a negative option subscription, right? When you have to opt out of something by default, but you're going to get charged regardless, that does change the impression, right? And the impression is going to be, hey, if the city is going to get a dollar out of that $9, and if I'm opted in, regardless of whether I even know I'm using the service or that I signed up for the service, then people are going to accuse us of a stealth tax, right? That's what's going to happen.

They can opt out, so they don't have to pay that at all. They can just say, take me out.

I understand that, but just speaking from just my experience, how often do I look at my utility bill?

The only thing I would say, just to play devil's advocate to that, is that I think how as individuals or as a community or even as a country we think about health care is that health care is a vital part of who we are and what we need, and it's just as important as leaf pickup. And as a community, and if you decide not, but as a community, we decide that this is an important initiative that we want to make available to our residents, then this is a service, it's a city service. Believe me, I understand. I know that, I mean, I had long conversations with our utility billing, I think, They're still traumatized by the group change. So I believe we've had a lot of those conversations. We're going to do, Kathy and I, we're going to do everything to make the transition. We realize we're realistic in knowing that you're right. There are going to be individuals that are not going to be happy no matter how many times we attempt to reach out to them.

I'll just add.

That was perfect. And yes, I am here to promote this program. But I live in a city, as you do, that I wake up every day and I'll drive on streets that are great but there's streets in my town that i never drive in there's schools my kids never went to and there's parks that they've never played in but i gladly pay my taxes for those luxuries to live in the community that i live in but i have no say and we get a common question is Why is the city getting involved in medicine or, you know, health care? And my response is you already are with ambulance services and EMS and fire. I mean, in 1968, the first 911 charge went on a bill and people went crazy about it. But now you wouldn't live in a city without it. And when I say we are looking for cities that are ready to change the way that healthcare is done, I am serious. And that's what our mission is. And so with all of that, it can be very difficult to always get consensus on what we're doing. I mean, you pointed it out. I mean, it's like, Gosh, if I'm in it, can we put everybody in it? But our commitment is, and if you ask the cities that have done it, that we do such a good job of getting the word out. As Algonquin said, it's a nothing burger. That's the way they described it. But I understand. I've worked with cities for 25 years. I've been in 3,000 city halls in my career. If you want the easiest way to opt everybody out of this that doesn't want to be in it, I'll ask your fire or police chief, do you have an outbound 911? Because that's what Algonquin did. They launched a phone call, a voicemail, a text, and an email to everybody in their 911 system to say, we're launching this chip, this community health improvement plan. If you don't want it, dial this number or go to this email address and send us your your name and your address and your water account number and he said over the weekend 30 opted out so that's the it's almost like too good like too many people opt out but that's the the gold standard i think um a couple questions um

So each household can have 10 people participate. Is that predetermined? Do the residents have to announce who those 10 are, or you just... As you get sick, you sign up. And then when you get to 10, okay. Yep. Then you've got to kick somebody out. You've got to kick somebody out. You haven't been sick in a while.

Which kid's your favorite?

I'M THE 14TH BORN IN MY FAMILY.

I'VE GOT 14 BROTHERS AND SISTERS. IN TERMS OF AGE, IS THERE AN AGE LIMIT THAT CAN ACCESS IT?

AND HOW IS THAT VERIFIED? So we don't want anybody under 18 texting it, right, and using it. So we always will verify what's your name, what's your date of birth, and that's how we verify that.

So so this is a basically a service like you've said, you know, we offer other numerous other services Sometimes things go wrong with services is the city do you indemnify the city of that and have our Reviewed I'm assuming that's an obvious question, but an important one to ask. Yeah, very so Yeah, I just No more questions, just kind of comment. I definitely want to dig deeper and look at this. I find this very interesting and, you know, almost like first steps of single payer in a way. You know, I'm taking my wife. She's from Norway. My wife and daughter are going to Norway tomorrow. Their health care system is, everyone's got health care. They don't deal with that. And so I like that kind of thing that's, You know, we can reach people that are suffering when they don't have to. I think it's, you know, this can be very powerful, but it's new to me here. I want to learn more, but thanks for bringing us forward.

To your point, I actually flew in to O'Hare a couple weeks ago to go to Chicago, and I couldn't get a rent car, so I Ubered. My Uber driver was from Brazil, and his wife was from Serbia, and they were both had no health care. couldn't do the marketplace, couldn't afford it with all the increases. And I gave him the number. I said, hey, this is my gift to you today. I want you to use it. And he was like, he couldn't believe it. He goes, wait, I just texted. How much do I pay? And I go, you don't. It's just, you have it. And the guy in Chicago that was meeting me saw me pull up and he goes, this Uber driver gets out and starts hugging Brian.

And I said,

This is just, this is what we do. And it's a great thing. I mean, and I, again, I'm here to promote it, but you get it. It's just healthcare is better other places. And we're trying to change the way it's done.

I saw on your website that if people opt out, they can opt back in once they hear how great it is. And they're like, that was a mistake.

So it's a lot.

Okay. And then, For the household, the members, I'm thinking about like college students, if they're out of state, is this something that they can use?

One's already at college, the other one this weekend, and I have this in their contacts.

Absolutely. And then when we were talking about like small businesses, all small businesses in town are opted in up to 10 people? Yeah, it's actually usually about Okay. But if, you know, my small business, you know, my members who already live in Batavia, they would be opted in. Okay.

Yeah, exactly. So they would have the service themselves or if you wanted to as far as.

Okay. And then what about rentals, people who are renting homes, like depending on how utilities are paid?

Yes. As long as they're paying that water bill, they would have access to it. If the landlord is paying the water bill, They could opt out. If they texted us and said, hey, I live at this address and I'm renting, we would likely just let them use it. We have a policy. Again, we're very mission-driven, so people could take advantage of this. But if you texted us tonight, we would service you for the first time without any questions and just treat you. But then we'd say, you've got to get in a city that has it. Right.

So if somebody was renting but not paying their own utility, would they then try to contact the city to opt in? I'm not sure there's going to be that many people.

They could contact the city. They'll get all the notifications as well. But yeah, we try to make it as easy as possible for anybody to have access to it.

JUST A LAST QUESTION. SO HAVING HEARD YOUR PRESENTATION, AND AGAIN, I LOVE THE IDEA OF THE SERVICE. I THINK IT'S A GREAT CONCEPT. I THINK IT PROVIDES A VALUABLE SERVICE FOR THOSE WHO DON'T HAVE HEALTH COVERAGE, HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE, SO DON'T THINK IT'S SOMETHING NEGATIVE AGAINST THE SERVICE. WHERE I'M HAVING A REALLY HARD TIME IS WE'RE GOING TO OPT IN THE WHOLE TOWN, JUST OUT OF THE GATE, BECAUSE I KNOW WHAT THAT'S GOING TO GENERATE FROM A CONVERSATIONAL PERSPECTIVE. from a challenging perspective. So my question is, is it possible for Batavia just to start with an opt-in model? Like we don't have to opt out, we can just opt in out of the gate and then kind of go from there.

Yeah, we don't have that model, unfortunately. It doesn't, people don't think about these things until, so then we'd have the adverse selection. We would have anybody that needed it, they would all of a sudden just opt in and get treated. And so way that we can offer it at such a low price I mean if any of you try to shop concierge medicine right now I challenge you to find it under 200 250 dollars for access with instantly right you're not going to find it and so that model is what allows the people that need it the most to have it um but it it is again once you and I know they've used it so they've seen it and you can't unsee it the the uses are are endless I mean it's um uh I had a golf buddy that had this ring on his leg and I, he said, I think I might have melanoma. And I said, I said, well, he goes, can I use your, your, your text? I said, of course. So I took a picture of it and they came back and they said, have you been outside with lime or lemon juice? And I was like, that's weird. And he was like, uh, yeah. And he, I spilled some on my leg and he said, well, it, it, there's a condition where it can kind of stain your skin and then it eventually goes away. But he felt so much better. He's like, I thought I'd, he goes, my wife's pregnant. I thought I had cancer. But like, he didn't go, you know, he wouldn't go to the doctor because he was afraid to. But when it's just a text and you can just send it off and have a medical professional look at it, those are the benefits. And believe me, I know the mechanism is difficult. And I completely respect what you're saying. And it's not for... It's not for everybody, but it is going to be the way medicine is done. I truly believe it.

Rosa?

Just one comment on that also. If we started with an opt-in, or I mean, as Alderman Fehrenbach was saying, if people had to opt in, then wouldn't it be really challenging to be able to staff for that? I mean, I would think that's why the model would really have trouble working.

There's a list of reasons why we can't do it, but that is one of them. We just don't know the volume, and we couldn't keep our two-minute time.

Two-minute time is really a big selling point.

Yeah, just the last comment on that is, yeah, we'll get the pushback, and people will yell at us in emails, and we just kind of got to ask ourselves, is it going to be worth it? And right now, it's sounding really good, though I remain skeptical, just because I know when I'm being sold, but sometimes the sale is good. But that's part of it, right? We don't want to sort of... trap our residents trap it's not a trap right you can opt out at any point but there will be we won't pay attention who will new residents who move in and get signed up and we want to make sure that their interests are served as well so we do want to think is that is the juice going to be worth the squeeze on that so i think that's kind of at the end of the day where it ends up i spent a lot of time in my foreclosure mediation program arguing about opt-in versus opt-out we in kane county did an opt-out program everybody was in until they were out and our participation rates or five times those of every other county with this state program to avoid foreclosure. Those who are opt-in, people just don't call. They just don't. They get the postcard. They throw it away. They don't do it. Even when it's court-ordered and mandated and you have to do it, they still don't do it if it's opt-in. When it's opt-out, when you're in until you do something else, it just works that way. So we've just got to be careful, do our homework, and ask ourselves are we going to be able to weather that storm if and when it comes.

Yeah, I hear you're concerned, Jim, but I don't think this system would work without that, just like Medicare wouldn't work. We wouldn't have Medicare if it was opt-in. A single payer doesn't work like that. But with that, I heard you say earlier that if someone opted out, they could get a refund if they, say, a couple months in. What's the window for that?

So they can opt out at any time for the five-year period, whenever they want, but we will give a full refund for the first 90 days. So three months, $27.

Someone didn't see it on their bill until the third month and they're like, holy cow, what's this? Oh, I didn't want that. Then get them right back. No harm, no foul.

Healthy dose of skepticism as well on my side. At the same time, I really like the direction you're going. I'll consider myself a wee bit more talented than some. I have done telehealth. It is not in two minutes. It is a minimum of $75. There's six months right there in one visit. No medicine, nothing. I would like to see as we continue these discussions and as if it moves forward to get some additional statistical data as well. You guys did a really good job of adding that into the presentation. But I think that's the kind of information we want to be able to take to our constituents and say, this is why we are going down this path. And this is why you have to take an opt out if you're going to be cranky about it, which there's certainly going to be people that will. But this is why it's better for the community and this is why we should go this way. I think those statistics are really critical to that. And I think, Wendy, to the folks on the city staff, I think good, if there are good examples to be able to share with the community and say, hey, no, this isn't from Texas. This isn't from New Jersey. This isn't from, this is from the city of Batavia. That's a city employee. And that's a good example of what I include as well. So, yeah.

Just a month in, but we can definitely share that data. And I'll be honest, I mean, I've been doing healthcare for a very long time. 90s. So this, even for myself, is a little bit foreign of how you receive your healthcare. It takes a little bit of a change. So We get that the education to our community, to our residents, to changing how you reach out for health care is just different. It's different. But once you do it once and you're like, holy cow, was this easy, convenient, helpful, met the needs that I had, hopefully the residents will see it that way.

The stats that you provided as far as the age groups did not surprise me at all on who's using it the most. And unfortunately, that's the group that's going to be used to using this type of thing. I have a 21-year-old that does her therapy through online. She meets with her therapist, and she's back in school, and she stays with the same therapist. Well, I think she has to change therapists because now she's in Michigan for that. But that is what these people are used to. They're used to doing their care online. And so those... statistics didn't surprise me at all on the numbers. We're not going to see our parents go that they're going to be like, Nope, I need to see somebody but definitely the younger generations, they're going to be looking for different ways of doing their health care.

You send us this presentation.

And I think it would be really important, too, to be able to have some statistics from the city employees, how many opted out, how many use it, how many have used it.

So for our city employees, the city's paying for it, so we did not opt anyone out.

So it's fully paid for by the city.

Or just who's used it, because I think that's important to say, okay, this is our experience with it already. YOU KNOW, WE WANT TO PROVIDE THIS TO THE COMMUNITY, AND, YOU KNOW, YES, WE'LL GET PUSHBACK. THERE ARE PEOPLE THAT CONSTANTLY EVERY YEAR GET AN EMAIL FROM SOMEBODY THAT SAYS, I DON'T HAVE ANY TREES IN MY YARD, I DIDN'T HAVE ANY LEAVES, WHY DO I HAVE TO PAY FOR PICKUP? RIGHT, I DON'T HAVE ANY TREES IN MY YARD, BUT I PAY FOR PICKUP. OR WHY DO I HAVE TO HAVE BRUSH PICKUP? I DON'T HAVE A TREE IN MY YARD, I LIVE IN A TOWNHOUSE. YOU KNOW, SO THAT TYPE OF STUFF IS ALWAYS GOING TO BE THERE. Again, this is one of those things that I think we have to sell with the fact that this is one of those things that you live in an affluent community that can provide this type of service. And it gives, to me, better care. I've dealt with, over the past few years, a lot of televisits, a lot of calls, a lot of texts back and forth for... NOT INSTANT, BUT IN SOME RESPECTS, A QUICK RESPONSE AND SIMPLE THINGS FOR SINUS INFECTION OR WHATEVER WHEN YOU HAVE NO IMMUNITY, YOU NEED TO HAVE A QUICK RESPONSE TO THAT. AND THIS WOULD BE A PERFECT EXAMPLE OF WHERE I WOULD USE THIS TIME AND TIME AGAIN. SO I SEE THE BENEFIT IN THAT, AND I THINK IT'S JUST OUR JOB TO SELL THAT TO THE PUBLIC THAT THAT'S WHY IT'S A GOOD THING TO DO. $9 A MONTH, YOU CAN EAT THAT UP IN ONE PRESCRIPTION EASILY.

I just want to challenge about maybe getting the number of employees because that may put some of the employees off knowing, not necessarily knowing of who's using it, but the fact that we're saying we have this number of employees.

I think it's an important thing. I mean, if we're going to talk about, we're going to think about having 70%.

It might break the trust with the employees if they're like, well, if they have our data, if we're using it or not, I think that there's a fine line there.

Yeah, we can get the statistics of use. We wouldn't get anyone's personal names or anything along that line. I will have to say, just on the other side, is we are fortunate and we have very, very good insurance. So some of the reasons that... above and beyond that some other individuals within the community, like we had mentioned, the high deductible plans, the uninsured or underinsured groups of people may be more apt to use a program like this. We have a very, we absolutely, there's a use to us, but obviously there's not as strong of a need for that type of thing.

So the current program with the employees, is that for employees' families as well?

Up to 10 employees with their family.

All right. And then what's the cost for that? Is that similar?

It would be free, though, if we rolled it out.

Exactly. So if we roll it out to the city, then our employees are free.

So just that program alone, you know, I negotiate insurance for school districts around here. I know the cost and what's happening with it. I imagine there's going to be some cost savings that we're going to see as a sit on our policy. That's a huge piece to this.

Absolutely. That was probably, as you know, I mean, as we talked about, it's one of our biggest drivers is looking at, I mean, obviously easy access and convenience, but I mean, the reality is looking at that bottom line of how can we save some costs in the claims dollars and those things add up quickly. else okay thank you very much and thank you everybody it's great great to be here so we can definitely send you the powerpoint i guess as far as next steps um do you guys want me to bring this back to another meeting to discuss or what proposal back to the proposal all right the whole and then we'll have that time to do our

and make up our minds how we would like to proceed.

And obviously, if you have any questions, please feel free to email us and we can definitely get those answers ahead of time too.

Okay.

Thank you. Thank you. Now we'll move on to item 7.2, Ordinance 202639, Certificate of Appropriateness for Building Demolition at 14 to 18 North Batavia Avenue.

All right. The Historic Preservation Commission conducted two public meetings on October 7th and October 27th of I apologize, that should be 2025, to consider a certificate of appropriateness application submitted by Robert Walter, who is representing Batavia United Methodist Church for the demolition of the primary structure located at 14 through 18 North Batavia Avenue. The applicant in their application proposed to restore the site to grass surface following demolition with no other improvements or redevelopment currently proposed. Additional information is available in that staff report. The subject property is designated as a non-contributing structure within the historic district for Batavia. The Historic Preservation Commission reviewed the requested demolition and recommended approval of the COA, subject to the conditions incorporated into Ordinance 2026-039. A little bit of background on this. The structure at 14 through 18 North Batavia Avenue As I said, it is designated non-contributing as it consists of a combination of six buildings and or additions dating from the 1880s through the 1970s. The oldest portion, which in the plans that were attached is identified as Building 1 on the survey, has been substantially altered over time, including the construction of the later additions in the front of the original structure. That generally is why the non-contributing status is designated for the building, just due to the significant changes over time. If there were more historic components of it, the commission in their designations and prior city councils likely would have made it at least contributing. But those changes are why it holds that designation. The property was owned by the Hubbard family for much of its history from approximately 1910 up until about 2013. And then it was subsequently acquired by Batavia United Methodist around 2015. Over the years, the property has accommodated a variety of uses, including a gymnasium for Batavia High School Boys State Championship teams, and several furniture businesses, including Hubbard's Home Furnishings, Ethan Allen, and most recently, Acosta's. The property has not had a commercial tenant since 2019 and has most recently been utilized for storage by charitable organizations and for limited training exercises by the Batavia Fire Department. Following Historic Preservation Commission's October 27, 2025 meeting, staff at the direction of the city attorney advised Batavia United Methodist Church that we need to work out a hold harmless and indemnification agreement related to the proposed demolition. The agreement addresses potential liability associated with the removal of the buildings, particularly due to the significant grade change between the subject property and the adjacent parking lot at 24 North Batavia Avenue. Staff advised the property owner that the matter would not, you know, the demolition would not be scheduled for the Committee of the Whole until that agreement was executed. We did receive, on earlier August 17th of this month, a signed agreement, so that has been satisfied. Staff has reviewed the submitted certificate appropriate application and recognizes that the subject structure is classified as non-contributing within the historic district. From a historic preservation perspective, the building has been substantially altered over time and staff acknowledges that the removal of the non-contributing structure would have a lesser impact on the overall historic character of the district than a demolition of a contributing or significant structure. That being said, staff does have several primary concerns related to the request of demolition. Generally broader policy maker decisions with planning implications. That would be that the downtown plan identifies the importance of maintaining an active street wall and supporting an environment that encourages continued commercial activity and reinvestment within the downtown. If approved, the demolition would result in the creation of additional vacant parcels along North Batavia Avenue. While Batavia United Methodist Church has indicated that the demolition is intended to facilitate a future expansion of its operations, no specific building plans or development timelines have been provided or approved by the city. Based upon this information currently available, the property is expected to remain vacant in the foreseeable future following the demolition. Staff also notes that the existing condition of the building is identified by the applicant as a factor supporting demolition. While some deterioration is present, staff believes that the continued routine maintenance and occupancy could have mitigated some of the existing conditions. The property, again, has not really been maintained since 2019 when the last commercial tenant did leave. Demolition would permanently eliminate this structure as a commercial building from the overall district, the TIF district, and property taxes associated with that. So there would no longer be property taxes funding into TIF 3. There would be no future sales tax associated or generated from this property in the downtown or commercial activity. Staff in our report and within the ordinance does have five recommendations, conditions for the first one is that a landscape plan shall be prepared utilizing a combination of shrubs, ornamental grasses, perennials, and decorative field stones along the North Batavia Avenue sidewalk. Staff is open to creativity by the church on this. This is intended to be a five to ten foot in depth landscaped area. They represented interest in this and suggested that the field stones in lieu of an originally suggested fence, decorative fence to accommodate this during the hearings with the Historic Preservation Commission. So that is something that is included in the ordinance. And we have a one year timeline following the demolition just because we don't know when, if this is approved, when the demolition would occur in terms of the time of the year. The second being is that the applicant shall discontinue and remove the driveway providing access to the property from North Batavia Avenue. This is between the building and the existing church. With redevelopment of the site, there is a depressed curb and apron on the sidewalk. We've asked that with redevelopment, meaning a structure is built on the property, that that be a true barrier curb and corrected as approved by IDOT and the city engineer. And then condition number three, at the time of application for demolition permit, the applicant shall provide a bond sufficient to cover the cost of sidewalk replacement along North Batavia Avenue in the event that the sidewalk is damaged. Members of the council may be aware that we did replace sidewalk, I believe, last year, so it is rather new and we want to ensure that the sidewalk does not get damaged. That is common with any project that does go over a public sidewalk of this size. Number four is the building footprint shall be restored to grass and include a physical barrier to prevent vehicles from parking or maneuvering on grass or gravel surfaces. And the physical barrier is subject to the approval by the community economic development director. This was included in their 23 north water demolition that was already approved by the city council. That's the Quonset hut that is on the rear of the property behind this building and to the immediate north. That's standard language. We don't allow parking on gravel or grass surfaces. So we just put that in there as a precaution. And then prior to issuance of a demolition permit, the applicant shall provide the city with written correspondence between the owners of 14 through 18 North Batavia Avenue and 24 North Batavia Avenue, just making them aware of any potential liability if additional parking blocks are needed in their parking block. From a city's perspective, a record of a letter being provided to them, to that property owner or sent to them, would be sufficient. In staff's recommendation, we are recommending denial based on the fact that this is not in alignment with the downtown plan. It does take it off the tax rolls, and it does have impacts to the overall TIF 3 district and the revenue associated with that. That being said, it is... you as the policymakers a decision to weigh out staff's recommendation versus the Historic Preservation Commission's recommendation. And you can make three different options. You can either proceed with approving and recommending approval of this. You can recommend denial. Or if you feel additional information is necessary to make a determination, you can request a continuation to a date certain with the ask for certain information being provided. Certain information being provided would be maybe pertaining to long-term plans, property tax implications over hit time, what we have generated and what we may lose. But that is essentially staff's recommendation on this matter. I am available for questions. The applicant is present here as are members of the congregation.

Does anybody have any questions?

Just one very quick question. In the diagram provided in the packet on page 20, building one is the old part? Yes, that's correct. Okay. All right.

Thank you. and if i may just add one thing um it is important uh just to add to the record that preservation partners did draft a letter date dated august 24 2026 in that letter they they stated some follow-up to their prior letters which were included in the packet You know, the letter reads, as stated in our letter of October 27th, 2025 to the Historic Preservation Commission, we know that the demolition request for 14 through 18 Batavia Avenue appeared to meet the requirements for demolition as detailed in the City of Batavia IL Code of Ordinances, and then it lists our specific municipal code. in our letter we neglected to clarify that demolition without a plan for redevelopment however can be detrimental to a historic district in a 2024 study by place economics a leading economics consulting firm found that 59.5 of properties demolished between 2010 and 2013 in san antonio were still undeveloped a decade later batavia has a similar experience the staff report presented to this committee explains that the downtown plan identifies importance of maintaining an active street wall WHICH WILL BE DISRUPTED BECAUSE NO SPECIFIC BUILDING PLANS OR DEVELOPMENT HAVE BEEN PROVIDED OR APPROVED. A SIZABLE VACANT LOT ON THE NORTH ENTRANCE OF THE HISTORIC DOWNTOWN DISTRICT COULD EXIST FOR A FORESEEABLE FUTURE. THIS COULD NEGATIVELY IMPACT OTHER PROPERTY OWNERS IN THE HISTORIC DISTRICT. SOLUTIONS SUCH AS SOME SUGGESTED IN THE STAFF REPORT COULD AFFORDABLY MITIGATE THIS CHALLENGE. AND THEN IT'S SIGNED AL WATTS, HERITAGE MANAGER PRESERVATION PARTNERS OF THE FOX VALLEY. THIS LETTER WAS PROVIDED TO The elected officials as part of the community the whole as well as the applicant ahead of this meeting So I just want to add that for the record on the sofa You have a question?

No, I don't have a question I just think this is a great idea. I think that the green space is gonna be real nice, you know open up the north side of that historic church community to be able to see it coming down. It'll be a beautification of the community, I believe. I think that unless anybody else has any more discussion, I would make a motion to pass this. I think it's a great idea. It's the best we can do. I understand nobody likes to knock down a building, but this building needs to go.

Ms. Fehrenbach? I think, Leah, do you want to go?

Sure. So,

Sorry, I'm trying to dig around on the City of Batavia zoning map also. Can you tell me how the buildings 14 through 18 are currently zoned?

They're zoned DMU, so Downtown Mixed Use.

Okay, and then the church is?

PFI. Their holdings are mixed between DMU and PFI. That's... And Mr. Hinder-Long, who's in attendance, has been working with Drew Rakow for probably five to 10 years on rezoning several of the parcels to PFI. So as they've acquired or as they have plans, they have proceeded with rezoning of properties and trying to consolidate their holdings.

Because you had mentioned that if this is demoed, that the property falls off the tax rolls.

It would be only assessed as a vacant lot. So right now, in 2024, for example, it did generate about $23,000 in property tax to the various taxing bodies. They did, I believe, get... They have sought waivers, but they did get a reduced property tax, which I think for 2025 was around $8,000. Because it still had, you know, in the eyes of the tax assessor, some commercial activity occurring there. Whether that was because of the storage related to some of the other organizations, I'm unsure on that matter.

You know, there is some...

concern, I mean, even with the staff's concern about the downtown plan and it not, like if this is demoed and it's not aligns necessarily with the downtown plan, with having the storefronts that align Batavia Avenue, is it possible to keep building one and demo the rest of it? Is that something that's been looked at or discussed?

You know, the overall condition of the buildings, you know, they are, and Jeff Albertson also was in this building, haphazardly kind of connected. If you remove one, it may, there may not be any, you know, it's kind of like Jenga. They're kind of all needed to keep it together. If you start removing and trying to preserve, that's a kind of Pandora's box. There also is, you know, going from the west, frontage of the structure to the rear end of the structure based on the document submitted by the APCA and I believe there's a 10-foot grade change. So as you start removing buildings, if you were to try to preserve one, that doesn't necessarily align with their long-term plan that has not been proposed or approved by this body. They still have their goals and their plans and that would make grading even a more challenging feat.

So like the plan, I mean, once Acosta's left and the church's plan, and I know maybe Pastor Melissa can share more about this in a little bit, but like the plan was never for this to go back to mixed use retail. This was always going to be, the future was going to be church property.

Yeah. So when the church acquired it, that's been since around 2015, that has been their mission, their goal. You know, it has been, you know, The Community Economic Development's position, though, for any property, when it comes off the tax rolls within a TIF district, we typically are not supportive of that because that is essentially reducing the overall increment generated by the TIF, and that does have impacts on our project. So from a policy standpoint, that is something we've been consistent on. you know, that being said, you as the city council are the policy makers, you are the decision makers on this matter, and if you feel that the demolition is appropriate, you know, that is your prerogative. You know, we wanted to make sure that we conveyed our concerns, the downtown plan's concerns, so that the public can look at this and have, you know, have the facts and know that it was discussed and weighed out. You know, The church, if they can get the funding, they'll be in here tomorrow. But I don't know what their funding situation is for their project. They have their goals, and they want to construct that. It's based on the funding and the overall needs for the church.

And then I think one last question. I'm sure the church representatives can speak to this too. So is the plan then, when I'm looking at this on Google Maps, to turn that entire lot, all those buildings, into... grassy parkway or just curious.

Are you talking specifically about the former Hubbard building or all their holdings?

Well, whatever is being demolitioned.

Yeah, so the demolition with this and Laura, do you mind if I pull up? Oh, sure. Awesome. And Chris, let me know if you can see this or can't see anything.

I can't see it, but it's okay.

So as far as the overall property goes, it's just... It's 33. Thank you. It's just the main structure in this one that's under consideration. So it's only going to be these structures. They do have other holdings. Again, the city council did approve the Kwanzaa Hut, which is approximately right here on the property, I believe, or right here at 23 North Water. They approved the demolition of that. That's a Kwanzaa Hut, for everybody's knowledge. It's just a World War II era metal rounded building. There's no historical significance to that. It's really an accessory structure. These structures are coming down from the front to the back. That's where there is about a 10-foot grade change. So they are going to demo the building and seed and or sod this and make sure that it's maintained as grass. up here along Batavia Avenue and the sidewalk. That's where that five to 10 foot area of landscaping, it could be bigger if they want, would be. And again, the church has represented that they're receptive to that and they've engaged some preliminary discussions with the landscape architect to design that. And staff would just administratively approve that landscape plan if the council were to grant this ordinance.

A COUPLE THINGS ON THIS. JUST A NOTE ON THE PRESERVATION PARTNERS LETTER, AND I HAVE A LOT OF RESPECT FOR THEIR ORGANIZATION. I THINK THEY DO A LOT OF GREAT THINGS, BUT I DON'T KNOW THAT SAN ANTONIO IS REALLY THE COMPARABLE TOWN FOR VITABIA. THAT SEEMS A LITTLE BIT of a stretch. The other piece is, if we're talking about a decade, we're almost heading into a decade of an empty, extremely unattractive building sitting there on a gateway to the city. really important group in town that wants to make use of this. And I think a grassy area would be a lot more attractive. And most of us drive through this. I drive through here every day. And those buildings have been sitting there now around seven years and no other plan in sight for these buildings. So I'm definitely in favor of approving tearing them down.

Has his hand up again too.

I'm definitely for demolition. You know, we dramatically underestimate the impact of dilapidated buildings in our downtown core. And we definitely overestimate the value of these dilapidated buildings to historical preservation. These buildings are long gone. We have multiple buildings now in our downtown core that are in very deep vacancy with landlords who are either unable or unwilling to afford the cost of remediation. So they will stay in their current state for the foreseeable future and for always until they eventually fall down due to demolition by neglect. SO THAT'S KIND OF WHAT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT HERE. IN ADDITION, THE CITY, WE HELPED FACILITATE THIS WITH A PRIOR CITY COUNCIL DIRECTION TO GO LIGHT ON CODE ENFORCEMENT, WHICH IS NOW CATCHING UP WITH US. IN ADDITION, WE HAVE EMPTY LOTS IN OUR DOWNTOWN CORE, WHICH HAVE REMAINED BOTH UNLOVED AND UNUSED FOR YEARS. I MEAN, WE ARE THE ONLY city with this level of income wealth and with home values this high that has large empty lots in their downtown core, right? So to say there's lack of interest would be putting it mildly. And that lack of interest can be seen in the number of dilapidated buildings that we have that are currently vacant in addition to the level of empty lots that currently exist. This building is unarguably an eyesore and it's disappointing that we still have to have this conversation over and over and not acknowledge reality.

And I'd just like to add that the municipal code requires demolition to go through this process within the historic district. So I just want to make that clear process that there is no way that we can circumvent this within the historic district.

A quick follow-up question to that. So I'm hearing that there's a plan, a secret plan that we'll find out about. Does municipal code also require in the historic downtown district for new programs to be brought before the city council?

Are you speaking in terms of their development?

It's grassy field. It's a year from now. They want to build whatever on this piece of property. Is that just a building permit? or is that a comeback to City Council? I just want that clarity.

Yeah, so this is a development of that size and scope is a little unique for any property in the downtown. Not only does it require Historic Preservation Commission approval, it also has zoning approvals through the Planning Commission. In the case of this property, there would be a zoning map amendment likely needed to rezone to PFI based on our current zoning code requirements. So that would be a trigger in itself for it to come to city council. So city council would have some review authority and final say over that final product and application. The design review and the design elements really are the Planning Commission and the HPCs, Historic Preservation Commission's prerogative. But as far as whether it's appropriate to rezone and build that structure and how it's being used, that would be the City Council's overall policymaking. The church, since they've purchased, they have met with Laura Newman and Scott Buning on several occasions to discuss future plans, kind of fine-tune their plans, and they have plans ready subject to funding.

It's my understanding that in the green area, they have put together a they've worked with a local company to put together a green space plan. I'm just curious on where with this, why that couldn't be submitted. And I know that wasn't necessary for this type of permit to allow this to be taken down. But if they had it, I feel like they could be like, yes, we're taking it down, but here's what our next plan is. I know that everyone's talking about if there's another plan to build something up, why didn't we encourage them to include that? Because it's just coming and saying, it's just going to be a green space, but there's a little bit more to the story that I feel like it should be encompassed, but help me to understand maybe

Yeah, and part of that was we're trying to be accommodating to the applicant in terms of financial costs with the Historic Preservation Commission and their purview. that component not isn't necessarily the restoration aspect it really isn't after demolition isn't their purview it's more the city council um so we we're working with the applicant trying to facilitate you know a staff level approval of that i understand where you know seeing uh those plans may help uh sway an opinion um and i fully recognize that um but you know staff uh has been working with them to allow creativity so that they can utilize the space. And, you know, Mr. Hina Long, who's been working with that, you know, as part of their committee, has represented that they'll incorporate field stones that tie in or mimic what's on the historic church. They'll put some bushes, some perennials, and some ornamental grasses along there. So it will provide a tasteful landscaped area. that's maintained by the church moving forward. And staff, in most cases, we do review quite a bit of landscape plans. So we felt comfortable making that recommendation contingent on staff level approval if this was approved as the ordinance. So I do understand that the visual would assist, but we were trying to be accommodating to the applicant from a financial cost and time cost when the original request was made.

I'LL NOTE THAT I DEFINITELY SEE THE UTILITY OF DEMOLITION FOR THESE BUILDINGS AND I UNDERSTAND THE LONG-TERM PLANS OF THE CHURCH. I DO WANT TO EMPHASIZE THAT THE EXISTING STREET SCAPE PROVIDED BY THIS BUILDING, EVEN THOUGH I AGREE IT'S NOT VERY ATTRACTIVE AND HAS BEEN VACANT FOR A PERIOD OF TIME, does still provide a important element to the use of that street. In planning parlance, Zach mentioned something called a street wall effect. This is kind of a very important element in maintaining Comfortable walking standards in this area see when you remove a building like that What is often called having missing teeth in your development? Which is about as attractive as it sounds in some ways you have the problem for pedestrians here of kind of opening up a large space to them which kind of it creates a sense of kind of being out in the open all of a sudden sort of like being stuck in the middle of an open field and you have an exposure to yourself. This has been very well documented in urban planning in creating very comfortable, welcoming spaces. So my main concern mostly applies to that loss of that street wall effect, especially in an area which already doesn't get a lot of foot traffic. guess what I'm trying to emphasize here is this landscape plan if it can recover some of that it would give me a lot more ease towards approving of the stimulation because right now I'm afraid that this will look like another open empty lot in town I know we have a lot of them already to me that's like saying I'm already fat I'll have another donut if we can help fix that and not just have an empty lot but something that still gives people, I guess, comfort in that area and hope. That would, again, make me feel a lot more comfortable and help emphasize the investment in our downtown area. And hopefully, instead of just being open space, spur more interest in that location and I'd love to see the long-term plan for as well if you can even just sort of give an idea of what that will be obviously you don't have physical plans necessarily in front of us but again just providing comfort that there is a plan a long-term plan here and how that will impact how this lot will interact with the public space.

And it's important to note that the downtown plan does say that the use of attractive landscaping and or combinations of decorative fencing does help soften and offset the loss of street wall. So that would be the rationale for staff's original inclusion of a decorative fence and the landscaping. The applicant in their application two meetings with HPC, indicated that they would rather utilize funds not on a fence, but towards the landscaping, because landscaping could be ultimately relocated or repurposed or retained with any future development. A fence would be a cost that, you know, it's there, and then if in five years they're developing, it's a lost fence. So they proposed using some decorative rocks within the landscape design, and staff was amenable to that just because it would architecturally you know aesthetically kind of appeal to the original you know church building so the downtown plan does recognize that there is ways to soften and mitigate the loss of street wall that is from a built environment and that is the rationale for the landscaped area request okay just making sure that's being emphasized in that request thank you thank you first yeah

I wanted to second what Alderman Pieper just brought up. And I have a number of questions for the applicant once you come up as well and say that overall, I was very sad as a child that my church left downtown Batavia. And so the idea of providing the Methodist church with the space to grow and space to stay, because I do think that churches play a very vital role in community fabric, in bringing people to downtown. So I wanna preface it with that. I also wanna thank staff for providing all the context and the downtown plan as part, as reference for your rationale. Our downtown plan was a vision that we approved unanimously with the help of consultants that provided guidance on what makes a successful downtown in terms of vitality and livability and economic health and the economic health that we need because it's the downtown heart of our whole city's economy. I keep watching these catalyst sites on the screen out on the monitor out there pop up. and how we put a lot of focus on big projects being the savior for our downtown, when it's often the little things and the little decisions that go by in decisions to create more missing teeth in our landscape, to remove street walls, to stuff off of the tax roll and out of our TIF fund. Maintenance and aesthetics are certainly part of that and part of the problem that we keep coming back to with some of our downtown properties. And so while I do believe that the removal of this property and the plans that hopefully come to fruition that allow you to grow there, my focus is on the walkability factors that Alderperson Pieper just brought up. It's in what this property will do to bring people downtown frequently throughout the week and at all hours of the time, which is something we also need to be considerate of, what this is going to do for that street life. What is it going to do for the economies of the buildings next door? Is it going to bring people that are going to go shopping around the corner and go to brunch across the street? Or is it going to sit and be another vacant parcel that is vacant then for decades that we have to go? Now we lost another building and now we've got another vacant lot and nothing seems to be happening. So I have a lot of questions once you come up. I have one question for you, Zach, though, before you leave the podium is, other potential not exciting uses for this space? Is there anything in our code and in our processes that would prevent it from saying becoming a giant parking lot on our main gateway into town?

So as far as parking goes, that would require approvals. As part of the downtown plan, there's quite a few design guidelines and recommendations associated with parking lots. Staff is, as an action item within the downtown plan, is working on updates to the downtown zoning code. PART OF THAT WOULD BE PROPOSING PARAMETERS FOR PUBLIC AND PRIVATE PARKING LOTS, SURFACE LOTS, BECAUSE THE DOWNTOWN PLAN GENERALLY DISCOURAGES THE ADDITION OF SURFACE PARKING LOTS EXPANDING AND FOCUSING ON CENTRALIZING OUR PARKING FACILITIES, WHETHER IT BE WITH DECKS OR SHARED PARKING AGREEMENTS. while the church may have upticks in volume of parking needs on Sundays and certain times during the week, a lot of times their parking needs are not the same as a business that's going on. Same thing with the banks. The banks, after 5 o'clock, generally don't generate quite a bit of parking needs. So that's one thing that the downtown plan does call for, and I think a good example of how the city's kind of Taking that to heart is Laura was able to negotiate a partnership with the library for a parking agreement so people in the downtown could utilize their parking without the worry of being towed after hours. Yes, it's another government body, but that is always a concern because there is conflict. The city council and the budget for this year did include a parking study, which will hopefully go out this fall, and that will be data that we can utilize to also target more agreements, more centralized parking to avoid the expansion of parking in the downtown. or target where we can put parking decks. So the downtown plan, future updates to zoning code and some of the other policies that the city's pursuing really do discourage additional surface parking because additional surface parking doesn't provide activation to the downtown. More buildings and more households do.

Alderman Salfa, did you have a question?

I saw your hand up.

uh yeah i'm sorry so i don't really have a question but i do have more of a robert's rules thing i mean i did make a motion like half an hour ago to pass this ordinance i think that we are talking about a lot of stuff that we've talked about that is not related to this particular ordinance which is just demolition of the building i don't think anybody wants the building there So that's what this discussion is about. I think we've gotten a bit long winded. And so I would renew my motion that we pass this ordinance.

I don't think we had a second. So at that point, we're still in discussion.

I'd just like to say we haven't heard yet from the representatives. Right.

I think there is still more discussion here, Chris. Alderman Malay? I'm sorry. That's fine. That's fine.

Yeah, I just... I hear what you're saying, Dustin, about the continuous street wall. I would point out that that block currently does not have a continuous street wall. That building, the subject property there is the end of the line, so it's not like a missing tooth in the middle of something. Something Chris said earlier that stuck with me, taking that building down exposes the north side of that beautiful church, and I think it would be a much better sight to see coming into our town than five buildings that are, you know, vacant. Kevin Fehrenbach.

Yeah, just endorsing what Tony just mentioned there. There's value in having this building torn down, right? So it goes church, alley, Well, it's a left-handed building, right? It's been seven years since it's been occupied. It's decrepit. They're not going to, they don't have any money to go ahead and remake it a commercial property. So the ask here is, do we want to let it fall down on its own, or do we want it demolished and then have some landscaping and a park put in? RIGHT, CORRECT? AND THEY'LL TALK ABOUT IT RIGHT THERE. DOING SO, WE'LL MAKE SURE OUR ENTRANCE SOUTH ON 31 GIVES US GREEN SPACE WITH A LANDMARK CHURCH BUILT OF FIELD STONES THAT IS AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL THAT'S NOW HIDDEN BY THIS DECREPID PROPERTY. We get too virtual sometimes when we have these conversations, and I don't, I want to be respectful, but I'm like, you know, I drive by this thing multiple times a day. I'm like, you know, I even know, so anyways, I'll come down. The ask is, let's just make a decision in the context of what it is today, the environment it's actually in, and not any sort of plan in our head that could happen 15 years from now. Okay.

But with all due respect, plans for 15 years from now begin with decisions every day today. I promote green space all day every day as a profession. This is not the appropriate spot for open space. And I walk past that spot many times a day. I don't drive by it. I walk by it. And I can tell you walking by is more comfortable when there is a building there and not a green space. And I'm not saying I'm not going to vote for this. I do think that the context of our plans is very important. These processes are very important and these discussions are worthy of our time.

Your Honor. I wanted to wait till the end before I let everybody else speak before I did. I have some insights on this that I'd like to share just for the benefit of the council. The original church building, as it was just quoted as Stonefield, is recognized by folks in downtown Chicago, the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning and other organizations in there, as one of the true historic recognized monuments in suburban Chicago. And Batavia has several. The old Holy Cross Church building at Van Buren and Wilson, And then we have, just down the street from this, we have the original Congregational Church building that's sitting there. So we've got people now... I was just out in Rochelle this past weekend and ended up having an encounter with city officials there. And they're telling me they come to Batavia to look and see what we've done as far as restoring historic buildings and features that we put into downtown Batavia. That's another story I'll tell you some other time. But we have got some really significant situation here tonight with this building. And I think that the record will clearly show that the congregation that we now have at the Methodist Church is sincere in every direction in their heart and in their souls that they want to do the right thing to specifically preserve that old building. And, you know, we got a crown jewel there. And I've had Chicago TV out here the last year asking a lot of questions about some of the buildings in downtown Batavia. And this is one of them they point to. So I think one of these days on one of those shows in Chicago TV, you're going to see a thing about Batavia and our historic buildings that we have here. And I would certainly strongly encourage the council to approve the idea that's being put forth by the Methodist Church that they want to take this and put this, take the Hubbard building down, kind of clear out the site, which will greatly enhance the appearance of it. And then we will also then have the ability to kind of plan for the future. They've already built an addition onto the old building, but it was all at the back. and i think the addition that they may someday put on to another one at least in conversations i've had with them would be on that back building so we're not going to touch this great old building that everybody's admiring but batavia's really got a plum in its hand here that's something that we got to do to protect and i i just strongly encourage us to put this together and let the the Methodist church go forward and do what they want to do. We're not sitting here with a group of nut wackos in the audience out here. Most of them are born and raised Batavian. I went to school with several of them that are sitting out there and their hearts have always been in Batavia to do what is the right thing for this town. And I don't think anybody's trying to do something to sell land for more money or anything else. They just want to enhance the appearance of the old building and make the whole church site very usable and renewable. So I just think this is a great idea and I would encourage us to do, we have to modify it some minor way, okay, but this thing I think should be put in the forefront because we got the right people in the audience who are going to do the right thing and we've got the right ideas and we've got a whole bunch of admirers of what we got in downtown Batavia that I was blown away with the conversations I had on Sunday, or was it Friday night, you were at the, I was trying to get home to listen to the football game and I got caught in a rainstorm in downtown Rochelle. That was another one. But there's a whole bunch of people out there that are just total admirers of Batavia and what we do here. and so i'd like to keep that attitude and that recognition going forward and i would certainly strongly encourage the city council to work with the methodist church on this because this isn't some crazy idea that's going to spoil the town this is something that will really put batavia another step forward and certainly show some strong guidance and support on that part of the city council for something that will be good for this town to have for another 100 years. You got a building there now that's well over 100 years of age And it's a notable amenity and suburban Chicago is one of the places that a lot of people make a special trip out just to look at it. And like you're saying, they'd like to take a better, broader picture of it. But with the Hubbard building there and the Hubbard building is now gone, they've all sold off and moved. We have a lot to go for here. So I strongly encourage us to do what we need to do. Thank you.

Yes, a lot of good discussion tonight. I'm happy to hear you know, all the different point of views that everybody's given tonight. I wanted to clarify something or you to clarify something for me Zach. These buildings 14 to 18 that are zoned DMU right now, you mentioned that they will be in the process of rezoning to PFI.

If if they wish to pursue so the DMU doesn't allow by right Religious entities so they would have to rezone to PFI the public facilities and institutional zoning district Are most of our city facilities in there? Most of the churches throughout the community are in that district the church itself's in that district so with a future expansion that has been what they have been told that they would have to go through. So there would be a future zoning map amendment associated with any redevelopment.

Is it only required if it's redeveloped? Can they pursue it?

At any point in time. However, there's findings that must be met associated to a zoning map amendment. It is contiguous to their other holdings. So realistically, they can do it at any point in time. However, the city typically advises property owners, if there's any future development, that it's best to do it in hand. Because not only... SAVES STAFF TIME, APPLICANT TIME FOR MONEY, YOU KNOW, FOR APPLICATIONS. IT ALSO MAKES A STRONGER APPLICATION. SO THAT WOULD BE, YOU KNOW, TYPICALLY IT'S OUR ADVICE TO DO EVERYTHING TOGETHER BECAUSE IT DOES, RATHER THAN GOING TO MULTIPLE MEETINGS FOR APPROVAL, IT JUST, IT'S MORE EFFICIENT AND THEN IT ALSO STRENGTHENS THE APPLICATION.

SO MY QUESTION FOR THAT, THE REASON FOR MY QUESTION WAS IN DOING SO AND CHANGING THAT ZONING, THEN THAT WOULD AFFECT THE TAX ROLLS, RIGHT?

I mean, the demolition of the structure alone will reduce it to a vacant lot. And at that point, they likely can get tax exemption as a religious entity, as it is with regardless of zoning. Tax code, you know, property taxes and zoning don't always align up. It's about the use that the assessor utilizes. So the demolition of the building kind of negates any commercial aspect to it, which is why they were taxed about eight grand this last year.

With or without? changing the zoning. They're still receiving that religious exemption.

Yeah, they have to file for that and maintain that. There's rules, but yes.

Because, you know, as you mentioned in the memo, that was something that staff considered, and I appreciate all the time you guys put into this, really laid out the pros and cons, you know, for us to consider. And as this is written, I am supportive of the conditions that you put in there, the five. I know you asked us to consider having a redevelopment plan. That's something that we can discuss or have been discussing. I hear the concerns of losing the street wall in the memo and on staff comments tonight. And I agree with Alderperson Barron with her suggestion of if we had seen something visual, you know, landscape plan had been available and again understand the city's reasoning for that you did mention at the beginning of your um of this that you the three things that we could do right one of them being we could approve it we could deny it or we could ask for a continuation for more information um and when pastor melissa comes up um can ask her this too but I would be interested in seeing the landscape plan, I think some of us here are, just to ease our concerns that that would reactivate some of the street wall or restore some of the street wall that we would be losing. It sounds like that's what you plan on doing. If they already have a plan in place and it's not much more of a cost burden to you, I would be interested in that.

Yeah, and just for your knowledge, you know, a landscape plan of this size, it probably, you know, if they're using a design professional, it can range, you know, from $500 up to about $2,000. So I just, that's why staff was being cognizant. The Historic Preservation Commission applications, so our COAs, our demo COAs, there's no fee. This is a fee, a free process for our zoning, you know, our entitlement process for approvals. So that's in part why we were trying to... work with them on this because you know they are going to have some other costs associated with uh going through uh the permitting process and disconnecting utilities and some other things so we're just trying to utilize their funds best before uh you know whether they got approval or not um but yeah if if that is uh the consensus of the committee um you could request that um that plan be shown or provided prior to final action by the city council. Again, staff's pretty comfortable with administratively approving it. Scott has approved hundreds of landscape plans in his time, and we know that a robust plan is needed not only just for that spot, but, you know, I have faith in the church. You know, Jack Henry Long and Robert have emphasized their, you know, their willingness to do that landscape plan incorporate drought tolerant and native plants that will do well in that location because it is sun it is near the road so there is plants that will work so that's why they're utilizing a a professional to to help select those species so that's where you know we felt comfortable with the the condition um you probably in reading my uh draft ordinance it is um in the affirmative, meaning it is written as if the Committee of the Whole is going to recommend approval of this. Again, from staff's perspective, I would not be doing my job if I do not advise the committee members of both the pros and the cons. And part of my role as the liaison to the Historic Preservation Commission also is also to advocate against demolition. So our department is tasked with wearing multiple hats, but you as the policymakers can choose what you wish, and then you can make that additional request if that's the consensus.

So what I'm hearing is if this was approved, then Scott and his team, if they're not happy with the landscape plan, they would ask them to redesign it so that... it would restore more of that street wall that we're going to be missing.

Is that what you're saying? Yeah, and I directly work with property owners across the community on landscape plans more on a one-on-one basis. I've probably gone to Scott once in my four years of employment just based on a plan maybe lacking some information where he gave some constructive criticism. And typically it's If you can please add two or three shrubs or some additional perennials in this spot, it does enhance it. The church will likely want to convey some information. I know Robert and Jack have also said that they hope to make some changes egress pass in so they can walk in and parishioners can utilize that space how they please. And then they may have some other elements that are tied to their religious organization or nativities and other activation of the space during holidays and such. So I do feel that they will present a tasteful design In talking with them last, they were talking about working with Wasco Nursery. I don't know if they have yet, but Wasco Nursery has done quite a few plans on commercial properties in the community, and they have all been very successful.

I'm interested in hearing more from the church representatives to hear what they have planned for that space and how they plan to activate it for everybody walking by.

Very quick question for you. Is it correct in my understanding that the church owns the property from that we're talking about here all the way back to Water Street and then that Kwanzaa kind of the entire sort of from the Kwanzaa to Water Street as well. So they that central part of that block from 31 to Water Street is all sort of part of this redevelopment or development that they're kind of.

It's a part of their larger holding. So they own the property that's immediately south of the former Aquaviva restaurant. They own the Kwanzaa Hut, which is immediately up the hill to the west of that. Again, that was already approved for demolition. There is... I believe at one point it was their youth hangout kind of clubhouse. It might be used for storage or other things at this point, but it's kind of a small structure that's in the rear by their parking lot. And then obviously the main church building. Their property kind of stops at their driveway. The bank and them have an agreement for the access to the rear, but the bank owns the parking that's immediately off of Water Street and Wilson.

I guess I'll give my two cents. I've worked across the street from this property for 42 years, so I've seen a lot of change. I've seen it go from what was pretty dilapidated back in the 80s to what Ethan Allen and Hubbard's did when they refaced the building, which turned out really nice, and then it just slowly went downhill from there. I'm fine with the demolition on it. I think it's something that for anything to happen there, that's got to happen now or they're just going to keep throwing money at it, whether it be for taxes or whether it be for maintenance on it. I want to make sure all the costs to remove all the utilities and everything disconnects and all that's all on the church to pay for all of that.

That's correct. So with any demolition permit in the city, unless there's some outstanding agreement, That is the cost of the applicant. So if there's costs incurred for applications with IDOT for disconnects, if there's costs incurred for disconnects with other utility agencies such as NICOR, that is on the applicant. If approved by the city council, they would then work with Jeff Albertson and the city engineer on obtaining the demolition permit. The property will have, you know, the city engineer's involvement will be related to the site grading and storm water just to make sure it's not sheeting onto other properties such as the Popcorn Depot. Okay.

Then the other question that I have is there's a parking lot just to the north of that. I think that's part of 24 North. We know that in the past that's had contamination on it. Are they aware or are they ready for when they dig this property up, if there's contamination on their property, what they're going to do with it?

you know based on my conversations with my colleagues you know our knowledge of contamination is is more further towards Houston Street you know that is something that I'll consult with Jeff Albertson on further you know and have a we'll have a talk with the church in a game plan but we don't foresee a contamination directly on this property. There was a heating oil tank in the building that was removed successfully without issue already, but we're not aware of any other tanks or contamination associated with the Hubbard property.

I just think as long as that property's been there and how many times it's been added onto or changed or whatever, just to have some kind of contingency if the fact that they open that up and then it's contaminated and it just doesn't become a chain link fence lot until they can figure out how to pay to clean it up.

Yeah, and Jeff, I don't know if you want to touch on, you know, when demolitions are occurring, you know, Alderman Wolf was his, he doesn't want this to be a partial demolition, essentially, if a problem is found and it's sitting for an extended period of time. Do we have a bond mechanism associated with that's required for the cost of demolition or anything else? And I apologize, that's a little bit more technical question that Jeff can answer.

um there's typically not a a bond required or anything on private property um you know as you mentioned there we would be looking for a bond for the for the sidewalk and the public improvements but there's typically not a bond required on private yeah maybe some storm water storm water fees and things as part of the grading we might have um generally um We will have to keep in mind the possibility of contamination. If they run into contamination, then the EPA is the one who will kind of dictate what happens. There are many methods to You know, to mitigate it, you know, depending on the use that you're using for the property, that dictates how far you have to go with the mitigation. Sometimes it can be encapsulated. Sometimes it has to be all removed. It all depends on the EPA's guidelines and what the property is intended to be used for.

get realistic when we go into property that's had five different buildings on it built over 120 years it might be an eye-opening experience when that has come out of there it's an old community so sometimes surprises are found yeah that's correct um and then just you know i want to emphasize you mentioned the parking lot again the city did obtain a hold harmless agreement due to uh the change in grade that covers not only uh the removal um if granted of 14 through 18 but also 23 north water

Does 24 North Washington, that parking lot, does that have a curb or anything at the south end of that?

So at the south end, there is some level of curbing and a fence. The curbing is, I think, approximately maybe six inches at its lowest, and then I think it goes up to 12. That and the fence combination, we consulted with Kevin Drendel's office intensively on this. We were comfortable with the agreement and that agreement. The condition requesting that they make that property owner aware also is so that they make them aware of any liabilities that they may incur. So that property owner, which I believe is a bank, may wish to provide additional stop blocks or a guardrail on their property because they also assume potential risk. Okay.

That's really all I have. I think it's, you know, it's been an empty building for seven years, and I think it's time that it needs to move on. And if the church is serious about doing something there with a plan for it, they'll bring that back to us, and then we'll decide if that's the right thing to okay there.

Yeah. And then just, you know, before we get too far into things, I think Robert Walter does want to speak on a couple matters, and if he can come up and advocate, unless there's any other questions for me. I'm more than happy. Okay.

Okay. Come on up.

All right, I'm Robert Walter. I've been living in Batavia for 39 years, got married in the United Methodist Church back in 1986, so I've had quite a history. I'll start with a little history. Back in 2013, we started looking at the possibility of acquiring the Hubbard Building, and so we hired some firms to do a study to see how we could utilize the existing building. Through that study, it was found that essentially the Hubbard building was beyond its design life at that time. It was built using substandard construction methods and materials. And it was kind of unsightly at that point. TO RENOVATE IT, THEY PROVIDED A COST STUDY FOR THAT AND IT WAS FOUND THAT RENOVATING THE BUILDING WOULD COST MORE THAN TEARING IT DOWN AND STARTING OVER. SO ANYWAYS, WITH THAT INFORMATION, WE STILL WENT AHEAD AND PURCHASED THE BUILDING WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT THE LONG-TERM PLAN WOULD BE TO TEAR THE BUILDING DOWN AND BUILD A NEW ADDITION. SOON AFTER THAT WE HIRED AN ARCHITECT TO COME UP WITH A PLAN TO UTILIZE NOT ONLY THE HOVERED BUILDING PROPERTY BUT THE OTHER PROPERTIES THAT WERE MENTIONED EARLIER THAT WE OWNED THAT WOULD INCLUDE THE ADDITION, IT WOULD REGRADE THE BACK PARTS OF THE PROPERTIES FOR PARKING AREAS AND WE HAVE THAT PLAN, OKAY. During this time that we've owned the building, Acosta Furniture moved out in 2019. Shortly after that, we allowed the Batavia Fire Department to utilize the space for training. And we realized at that time, they're gonna have bump holes in the walls and kind of tear it up, but we were okay with that because our plan is to demolish this building. It was interesting while the fire department was using the building that we were hearing them say that this is like the most dangerous building that we have in Batavia as far as a fire risk. Hearing that several times, we realized that, okay, We might need to go with a phased approach here. Start by tearing the building down. We'll have a green space until we're ready to build the addition. And so that's where we're at. We're kind of at phase one right now. We want to tear this building down because we're at a realization that if we have a fire in the harbor building, it could burn down our building.

So anyways, that's where we're at.

We want to tear the building down to prevent a fire risk to our historic church. Let's see. There's a couple other things I wanted to bring up. You know, as far as the property taxes, for a while, our property, the Hubbard building was tax-exempt, so we were not paying any property taxes. But because we were allowing the fire department to use the space, we lost that tax-exempt status. for the 2024 year and the 2025 year of taxes. So we're trying to get that reinstated. So really the city was already not getting any property taxes for the other years. Going back to the landscaping, we do have a plan from Wasco Nursery that utilizes salt spray resistant plants and will provide that street wall effect that is being looked for.

Let's see. I don't know. Are there any questions you'd like to ask?

YEAH. FIRST OFF, AND I APOLOGIZE, WHAT WAS YOUR NAME AND WHAT'S YOUR ROLE AGAIN?

MY NAME IS ROBERT WALTER. I'M A TRUSTEE AT THE CHURCH. GREAT.

WONDERFUL. FIRST OFF, YOUR CHURCH HAS AN AMAZING REPUTATION. I WENT TO GRAD SCHOOL WITH STEVE FELT OUT IN DENVER, COLORADO, AND HE WAS, OF COURSE, A MEMBER OF THIS CHURCH BEFORE HE MOVED OUT TO DENVER TO GET HIS DEGREE IN CONFLICT RESOLUTION, SO I THINK THAT'S SPEAKING A LOT TO YOUR CHURCH THAT SOMEBODY WOULD GO DO THAT. FIRST OFF, I hear what you're saying. It makes a whole lot of sense. And I think this really would be great for your church. And I do think there are some benefits to the downtown. I hope this is a dialogue. And one thing that I hope... I can share out that I have an interest in, and I hope other folks do as well, is that our plan does mean a lot to us. We've spent a lot of time on our downtown plan. And so I do share the concerns about kind of the missing teeth, I think as Dustin shared it. And so the more we can preserve that, it sounds like you heard us on that. You addressed that straight up. From my perspective, that equally applies to the Water Street side. WATER STREET RIGHT NOW IS A LOT OF OPEN SPACE, A LOT OF PARKING, BUT WE HAVE THAT BEAUTIFUL POPCORN HUT RIGHT THERE, WHICH, YOU KNOW, IT IS BEAUTIFUL WHEN YOU GO DOWN THERE AND PEOPLE ARE PLAYING MUSIC AND THEY'RE SITTING IN THE STREET AND THEY'RE SITTING ON YOUR PROPERTY LISTENING TO THAT BEAUTIFUL MUSIC, SO I HOPE WE CAN KIND OF PRESERVE THAT. I hope that as we consider redevelopment on this, or development or reuse, whatever we want to call it, that we consider keeping that parking kind of under control. Parking is important, and I understand that in a church, the use case is sort of intense use, right? A lot of folks all at once, and then you know, then maybe they go back home and they go about their lives. And that's a lot of dead space for most of the time, but really important space for some of the time. So if we can get creative, continue our things like that so that we can have the vibrant downtown that so many of us really care about. But otherwise, this is making a lot of sense to me. And I understand the the objective and the concern here. So thank you for coming and thank you for all the emails we received. I read as many of them as I could. A lot came through and then for bringing the folks home. But again, I think I'm feeling like a yes on this, but I do want to be heard equally back that maintaining that streetscape on both sides and really helping us help you so that we can help you and kind of that give and take. So we're all part of the same community is really going to make me feel better about this. So thank you again.

All right. Thank you. ANYBODY ELSE HAVE QUESTIONS?

So you said that you do have some initial idea of what you're going to use this space for. Can you share that? Obviously, understanding that it's not binding. It's more, again, for that dialogue, as Alderman Morales said.

Yeah, the plans that we had come up with, boy, it's hard for me to kind of describe, but... Can I sneak in? Oh, yeah, sure. Do you have something? I do. I do. Okay.

I'm Melissa Myers. I'm the pastor at Batavia United Methodist Church, also a resident here in Batavia. So some of the plans that we have for that space there is we want to be a vital part of the community as well. One of our stated goals is to be a hub for the community. So removing the Hubbard building will continue to help us to do this as Batavia United Methodist Church will return the space to a worshiping space as it had been in the past. So we'll be able to have outdoor worship services there. It will allow space for our kiddos during vacation Bible school to have green space to play in or our kiddos at Parents' Day out to have space. We have a small playground currently, but this will give some more green space for them to be able to explore God's creation. And it will also provide a space for the church to have picnics or ice cream socials. If you have never eaten United Methodist food before, you should come and check it out. It'll be an opportunity for us to do that, both for our community in the church, but also the larger community. And to have spaces for folks to come and reflect and to pray, whether that's for those who may not be comfortable entering into a church sanctuary, it still gives a space that's sacred and holy for folks to encounter what they need in that space. So those are some of the pieces that we have. In addition to just being able to share to everyone who enters Batavia that this is a welcoming community. In the United Methodist Church, our motto is open hearts, open minds, open doors. And so we want to make sure that everyone knows that they are welcome, not only in our church, but also in the city of Batavia.

Just a quick follow-up question, Pastor. Any structural plans in that lot in the future? I heard a lot of green space activities, all for it. I guess the question is, is there a long-term strategy for structural improvements on that property?

Sure. As Rob indicated, there had been some plans that were made back in 2019. Something like that. In 2019. A lot in the world has changed since then. Just a few things. And so we may need to reexamine what that structure might look like. So the plans that existed in 2019 may not be relevant in 2026. or 2020, 2030, or beyond. And so while yes, there is a plan for building, I think that we are still working on dreaming on what might be needed for the community today and the future.

Fair to say then that that's probably not a 2020s plan.

Most likely.

Fair. OK. Just so everybody's clear.

Karen.

Thank you. Pastor Melissa, what you described for the space is exactly what I envisioned when we talked about knocking this down. Again, having a social area for the for the community and also kids playing in there. I mean, you hit everything that went through my mind on that. And I think that you've heard some of the concerns and we'll definitely work with the landscaper to help do that. I know, as I said, having that plan knowing in there would have been nice, but I put the trust that between you and staff, that you guys are gonna make it look nice. And wonderful. And, you know, definitely for me, I have no worries. I will completely support the demolition.

Thank you. You know, on page nine of the packet, it shows the extent of the church building, which I had no idea it actually was that big. And I'm excited, actually, I think, Alder person, Ferenbach mentioned this earlier, but like how it opens up for the community to be able to see that entire church building. Because it is a very gorgeous, sorry, are you looking for it? Page nine, yeah. Very gorgeous historic building. ONE OTHER JUST COMMENT, YOU MENTIONED THAT SINCE YOU HAD ALLOWED THE FIRE DEPARTMENT TO USE IT AS A TRAINING CENTER, THAT YOU WERE BEING, YOU LOST YOUR TAX EXCEPTION. YES. SO YOU GUYS HAVE BEEN PAYING FOR THE FIRE DEPARTMENT TO TRAIN THERE THE LAST TWO YEARS.

WELL, ESSENTIALLY, YEAH, BECAUSE WE LET THEM TRAIN THERE, NOW WE'RE KIND OF GETTING PENALIZED THROUGH PROPERTY TAXES. THAT'S ANOTHER WAY TO LOOK AT IT, YES. YOU'RE WELCOME.

YEAH, SORRY. That's unfortunate. Yeah, sorry. I mean, you thought you were doing something generous and instead you ended up being taxed for that. So that's unfortunate. Okay. Thank you.

So I guess at this point now, if we're done discussing this, we have a choice to make here. Do we want to make a motion? Does anybody want to make a motion on this?

I move we send with positive recommendation to City Council Ordinance 2026039. Second. Second. Member Malay, seconded by Barraza.

Before we vote on that, could we just clarify whether that includes the five conditions recommended by staff?

Just about to go there. Thank you. If anybody has any problems with it, I'd say we send it as is with the five conditions in it. And that also does include the landscaping plan to be approved by Community Development Director, which all of us can have a phone call with him if we want to make sure we try to get as decent a street wall in there as and if it's going to be used by you know parishioners or anybody that happens to walk by and likes it um i think it needs to have some kind of either whether it's big rocks whatever they decide in their plan to make sure that nothing comes up over the curb off of 31 and into the property that's open and the same thing is true and that's why i asked a question about the parking lot is i want to make sure that there's no not that there's no chance but there's as little chance as possible of a car going over that curb and onto that property because I think that that's important to make sure that if we're going to allow this, because it's going to be some time before they can do whatever step two is on that property, that we make sure that it's safe from the parking lot problem or possibilities.

Alderman Wolf, if I just may add, I just want to reinforce that Kevin Dreddle's office has assessed the risk and is comfortable with the current configuration.

Alderman Malone? Yeah, thank you. I'm sure much to the shock of the folks in the audience, we're now at the discussion phase, believe it or not. You do a second of motion and then it's discussion. I am now in favor of this because Those five conditions give me the comfort that we're going to reach a point where that street wall and the faithfulness to our downtown plan will be adhered to. I just kind of want to reiterate, because we have so many of the congregants here, that that is sort of a leap of faith on my part. I am taking a certain trust in your commitment to our town and to helping us meet our goal. as much as um you're asking us to do something for you so that's sort of my plea is that please seriously consider that um streetscape because it is um it may not seem like something that's important but as you're walking down streets and as you're interfacing with the town uh it's more than just this parcel it's all the parcels nearby and so um thank you for that but i think i'm going to end up being a yes on this because of those five conditions and the trust I'm placing in this congregation because of the good word from my friend, Steve, who is a very nice man. So I know that the rest of you must be as well.

Okay. Anybody else have any comments now? Roll call, please.

And we're going to start with Malay.

Aye.

Malone.

Aye.

Wolf.

Aye.

Salfa. Aye. Great. Absent. Barron. Aye. Lehman. Aye. Lohman.

Aye.

Pieper.

Aye.

Fehrenbach.

Aye.

Anderson.

Aye.

White.

Aye.

Barraza.

Aye.

Lancy is absent. Beck. Aye. 12 yes, no, no to absent.

Yeah, 90 minutes is unanimous.

One thing that I guess I would ask when we've got the prisoners here and everything is when stuff gets uncovered out of this building, because I'm sure that there's still more of the gym floor and the other things that are historical out of that building, if there's any of that stuff that can be saved.

The gym floor is gone.

All of it? I think so. I think there's some in there. I've been in there with the fire departments and seen that there's some in there, I think. Because I think that would be something, you know, that even to provide some kind of historical, you know, donation to the museum or something.

The center circle is on a wall in our church building. The free throw lines were saved and parts of the free throw circles have been given to various people. So yeah, we've cut out quite a few of it, quite a bit of it.

I took total pictures of every inch of it before that all was done, so.

Okay, thank you. Thanks for hanging out to get through all this tonight with us.

We'll now move on to- Oh wait, it still goes on City Council.

Yeah, we'll talk about it a little bit. Okay, we'll move on to city council updates, project status. Laura?

Yes, JLK, the contractor for the exterior building conditions assessment of the historic district has completed their initial field work for phase one of the project, and they'll be reviewing the information obtained and preparing an initial report that will come back early September. But also for phase two, happy to report that the department was notified that we were awarded a grant from the State of Illinois Historic Preservation Office for phase two, and the award amount of $15,300 will go toward the assessment of the contributing structures and our single local landmark, the Campana Building. So the grant is only available to certified local governments, which Batavia is only one of approximately 80 in the whole state. So we're very happy to receive that grant. We're working on getting data for the economic development consultant who is working on our strategic plan for their initial analysis and meetings with the working committee and council will be scheduled for late September. Community economic development administrative assistant is closing early due to an impressive amount of applications numbering no less than 500. So we are closing the position early, last Friday, so that we can make our way through all of those applications.

Do we think they're real, or is this a program?

Yes, we're in a different age of AI and applications, and it goes both ways. People are submitting hundreds of applications all over the place. So it's just another great aspect about artificial intelligence. In information technology, really happy to report they did a great job successfully moving everything from the old enterprise storage equipment to the new equipment and completing that project. In public works, the North River Street Plaza work is still ongoing. We've had supply delays and we're crossing our fingers for a mid-September opening. And then also there'll be some lane closures on West Wilson and North Washington. The lead service line, a hot mix out asphalt patches are going to be starting soon. That replaces the temporary asphalt patches and makes things nice and smooth. So this will be a moving operation that will have a short duration. lane closures and flagger operations. Fire on August 15th was the full-time written test to create the new list. Seven out of the 12 applicants took the test and seven passed. So we are closer to creating that list from which we can fill the three positions which were identified in last year's budget. I'm sorry, in this year's budget. Also Chief Hanson and Deputy Chief Kessler attended ESDA member Cody Fershee's EMT class graduation this past week. The police department on August 18th, Chief Flowers and Deputy Chief LaBarbera met with representatives from the Eckers Center mobile crisis response team. And that is the team that would respond to Batavia residents when calling 988 and when in-person mental health related call is required. So both organizations shared information about their operations and collaborated on how to work together to best serve the residents of Batavia. And Ecker Center also provided us with a tour of their facility to help demonstrate the mental health services that are available to area residents. And Deputy Chief LaBarbera and Public Safety Management Analyst April Morris attended the Kane County Chiefs of Police meeting on Thursday, August 20th. In addition to regular business, they had a presentation on ALPR or automated license plate reading technology. And that's all I have unless anybody has any questions for me.

i'd like to bring up a subject that everybody knows all too well that we've had just a myriad of accidents again on fabian and 31 randall road wherever whatever intersection you want to pick i'd like if the council would approve this to send a letter or communication to kane county that we would like to remove the flashing yellow lights until we do something with the intersections that we constantly have blocked because there's accidents on a weekly basis or more until we figure out what they can do to fix or change speed limits whatever angles whatever they decide is going to be the fix for it i'd like to see us remove those because i think that From my experience and what I've watched and the accidents that I've witnessed and what I've read about, that's the majority of these accidents are from that. From left-hand turn movements in traffic that constantly end up blocking the street for a day and, you know, we're going to end up with another death or something else out there if we don't do something.

Would you be interested in hearing from Batavia Police Department if the yellow lights were noted in any of the accidents that have been happening?

I'd love to know that. How many of the accidents were left-hand turn accidents? motions whether they're on the flashing light or not i'd love to know if there's a way they can figure out you know which ones were on a green arrow and which ones were on a flashing yellow i'd love to know that too i don't know if that detail is available but i think we've got to do something because it's a constant thing that you know day after day after day i mean i think we had two of them at once on fabian parkway

Can we go one higher and just get the Kane County Transportation folks to come in and speak to what they're doing for these intersections?

But I think we should start it off with a communication.

I think it would be good to talk staff to staff rather than call somebody in to call them on the carpet when it's a policy decision that was made by their board.

Right. They have done some stuff. Like, for instance, they put a mitigation computer over at the intersection on 31 and Fabian. I'd love to hear if that's been working. I mean, there's a ton of stuff that's happened that we just are not aware of it. Okay. And not to steal the limelight. I'll give it right back. Only because I'm human. And until you see something, you don't know, realize what's going on. I was driving from New York this weekend. I stopped to recharge my car. Late night, I went into the 7-Eleven right there, and this gentleman walks up. He's about 25 years old, and his legs are mangled. They are just like, and he's working behind the counter, right? He has his walker, and he's going through, and he has shorts on, and it's just busted up, legs bruising everywhere. I'm like, whoa, what happened there? And he goes, I was on my e-bike, and I got nailed by a car. So I met my first e-bike slash e-scooter accident victim. So there you go.

I think that could be put on the list too, but I'd like to do something with the left-hand turns.

Tim forwarded some emails that KDOT is in the process of working on the striping, and I believe Laura mentioned it last time along Randall Road. We had a couple of intersections there where they had looked at it, and we are going to shift some of the striping so it doesn't have as much of an offset to have it'll bring the center line just as a single, as opposed to having like islands in there. So they're working on the striping. They're currently ongoing with that and it should be here soon.

I think kind of a, any sort of up, maybe just from staff, just sort of, what do we know about what's happening at that intersection? Is there a new computer there? Are we redoing the stripes? I think that would help me. And I think I've, I, I kind of want to know what's just going on. I don't want to wait till somebody dies out there. I've heard the big plans of like expanding the bridge and re-striping and then you ask them and they say well maybe funding in 2078 or something like that, right? But what are we doing now? Any sort of update we can get that comes from KDOT through our staff if that's the appropriate way to do it.

And I will add, I know I read some of the Facebook comments And there's a lot of people out there that suggest putting the red arrow for the left turn and to put that on the Fabian side so that people cannot be making left hand turns onto 31. The county's concern is if they're coming west and turning south onto 31, that that queue will end up backing up onto the bridge, and then cause a whole nother slew of accidents there as well. So I mean, I guess you could call it lesser of two evils. They're evaluating it. They obviously know what's going on. That's a state project as well because it's Route 31, which is IDOT, but we will keep you guys abreast of anything that comes up.

Thank you.

I'll tell you what, what amazes me is the amount of people that we have on our reports that are speeding over 35 miles an hour. That's what the problem is.

And distracted drivers. I mean, I see it every day.

So we can sit every day and every accident that happens say, let's get an update, let's make this change, let's do this, because it's just going to go somewhere else. I mean, it'll be good to hear what updates are doing.

We've got to start somewhere because we've got to do something with it because, again, that's what we need to do.

Somebody's going to die. It sucks.

Maybe one of us, too, if we don't fix this.

I don't want it to be somebody I know.

Can I add another piece of business, sorry? This just came, it'll be really quick. We're going to bring a resolution or an ordinance. I'm going to rescind an ordinance and propose a new one with this whole vector truck that we have purchased. It will be delivered on Friday, but All the people that use the truck, we have the HydroVac and then we have a Vactor truck. Everybody loves the Vactor truck. The HydroVac does not get used as much because it doesn't have the jetting power. So a consensus within the Public Works staff was to see if we could trade in the HydroVac and keep the existing Vactor truck. The existing HydroVac is to be replaced in 2030. So that would be moved into the HydroVac. interchangeable. So the only thing that was different manufacturers, right? Yes. The only thing that's different is they were offering us $145,000 for the trade in on the old vector truck, the Hydra vac that we want to trade in is 127,000. So it's 18,000 difference, but it was covered. It was budgeted for so we have the money and They want to take whatever vehicle we're trading in on Friday. So I just kind of wanted to mention that to you, and then we will do it after the fact because the money is budgeted, and it's a vehicle that will be used. and they use that for every water main break and they do and sometimes it's got a backlog of people they're fighting over it yeah as to who can use it as opposed to the one that is there and sits more so i just wanted to let you know i'll bring that the next city council meeting for the ordinance that we have to do for surplus but under budget that's okay it is

for executive session to discuss sale of land.