City Council - Regular Meeting

Younger than I feel. It's pretty awesome, but...

I'd like to call to order the Tuesday, May 19th meeting of the Danville City Council. Roll call to establish quorum, please.

Mayor Ricky Williams, Jr.

Present.

Vice Mayor Eve Ludwig. Present. Alderman Ed Butler.

Here.

Carolyn Detoy. Present. James Pichard.

Present.

Tom Hightower. Barry Johnson.

Present.

Mike O'Kane.

Here.

Mike Poor. Present. Rick Strebing. Here. Sherry Pickering. Here. Tricia Teague.

Present.

Jaleel Jones.

Here.

Doug Ahrens.

Here.

John Cooper. Here. 13 present.

We have 13 present. We do have a quorum. At this time, we will have the invocation led by Pastor Tom Myers from Crusader Church, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance led by Alderman Ahrens. Please rise.

Let me just read a verse from the Apostle Paul and the reason why we're praying right now. I urge you then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be made for all people, for rulers, and for all those in authority, that we may live peacefully and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good and pleases God our Savior, said the Apostle Paul. So let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the blessings that are ours here in Danville. We are so grateful, Heavenly Father, that these men and women have chosen to be of service to this community. We pray, Lord, your blessing on them. I pray that you would direct their hearts, their minds, their speech, and their actions in all matters. May our decisions draw your praise, shape the direction of our community away from any misguided decisions, and always lead us and guide us. We pray, Lord, that you would lead us and direct us in a direction that would lead us according to your will. We appeal to you, our God, who has promised that if my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and will heal their land. Amen.

Amen.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation,

Thank you, Pastor Myers. If you'd like to share any updates about things you've had recently or you have coming up at the church, we'd be welcome to hear those.

Okay. Well, let me say, first of all, thank you for the privilege to be here. And I know that you folks have what is really honestly a thankless job.

Pastor Myers, might you raise the microphone just a bit to be sure? Is that better? Yes, thank you.

Okay. I know that it may be frustrating that it seems like the only time you have a conversation with anyone or get a phone call is to complain or criticize. But I want to say that I appreciate what you do. And I want you to know, too, that I am praying for you. And not only myself, but there are good people that are praying for you and lifting you up. And that's what we need to do for one another. I appreciate Danville. I've been here since 1981. Raised my children here. I've founded and still am the pastor at Crusaders Church. Gilbert Street across from Garfield School. It's still Garfield School to me. Maybe decommissioned but it's still there. But really my connection goes further back than that. Seventy years ago I remember my family making trips to Tilton and that's where we would see my grandparents Thomas and Fanny Johnson. They went to the Nazarene Church and just lived between that and the railroad tracks. And a little White House. So my association with Danville and my love for it is, well, it's as old as I am, and I'm 73. So that's pretty old. But again, thank you for your service. And we appreciate the opportunity to be a witness in this town. And we appreciate what you do to make that possible. So we will keep you in prayer. Thank you for the job that you're doing. And God bless you.

Thank you, Pastor. You have before you the minutes of May 5, 2026. Is there a motion to approve those?

So moved. Second.

Any discussion or debate? All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed, same sign. Thank you very much. You also have the agenda this evening. There is one small adjustment. If you would, on items 11F and G, remove the words intergovernmental. Small scrivener's error when completing this. Vermillion Advantage is a wonderful agency. However, they are not a governmental agency. So we will be striking any reference to that in the document and the ordinance. With the amendment, is there a motion to approve the agenda as amended? So moved.

Second.

It's been moved and seconded. Any discussion or debate? Seeing none, all those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed, same sign. Thank you very much. I do not have any proclamations this evening. However, I do have two appointments. Item 6B1 is I would at this time entertain a motion to concur with the appointment of Jacqueline Ward to the Human Relations Commission with the term expiring of October of 2028. Is there a motion to do so? So moved. Second. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion or debate? Seeing none, all those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? At this time also, I would entertain a motion to concur with the appointment of Tom Pruitt to the Fire and Police Commission with the term expiring of December of 2027. Is there a motion to do so? So moved.

Second. So moved and seconded. Any discussion or debate?

All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Same sign. Thank you. And Mr. Pruitt is here with us this evening. We thank you for your willingness to serve. Are there any reports of boards, agencies or commissions this evening? Seeing none, I just have one item of information. As we all know, Memorial Day is coming up on Monday. And while it's a time for us to certainly spend time with our families and barbecue and hang out and things like that, it's also a day for us to remember those who gave the ultimate sacrifice so that we can enjoy those freedoms. So please take some time out to acknowledge those who have lost loved ones, especially their families that are still living in this past year. All right. Also, one other item before we move into petitions, communications, and audience comments. Just a reminder, as the clerk will tell you, that you do have three minutes. And also, last week we got a little spirited inside. And that's OK. It's a democracy. But I just want to remind the audience to please make sure that you respect the quorum. There shouldn't be shouting out. You shouldn't be loud. At times, unfortunately, folks made it hard for people to hear the conversation that was going on. So please just be mindful of that as we move forward. Madam Clerk, at this time, are there any petitions, communications, and audience comments?

There is. When I call your name, please come to the podium. You'll have three minutes to speak. Rolonna Brown regarding her sewer bill.

I have a question about this little, I'm not sure what it really is for. I was thinking it's for the garbage. Is this for the garbage? This little bill? Well, I purchased a house sometime last year and then I received this bill. Bought the house. Hadn't started working on the house yet or no water on or anything. You aren't picking up garbage. And I don't know why this bill was $400-something. And it said previous balance. And I'm like, it's about the house. And I said, well, did somebody owe money before? And they said no. They went back from when I purchased the home and calculated, I guess, and it's $400-something. I don't understand. this for real, for real, because you aren't picking up any garbage. Can somebody clarify? I just want some understanding on this bill.

Mrs. Brown, I'll have someone follow up with you tomorrow. Thank you. You're welcome.

Carrie McKenna regarding Crime Stoppers.

OK, so last time I was here, I was a blubbering mess, so I'm going to try and make some sense of what I was trying to get across last time. In 2019, there was a story on Channel 3 concerning the low number of tips and payouts, which three tips at $450 kind of piqued my interest because I'm thinking, why so low? Well, that next year, Danville passed a resolution to give Crimestoppers $10,000. So they did. They ended that year with $10,250. I was able to find some financials online. It wasn't easy. 2021, they ended the year at $7,146. 2022, they got another $10,000 from the city. They ended the year with $12,158. 2023, they got $10,000 from county ARPA funds. They ended that year with $19,187. 2024, the city gives another 10. They ended that year with $24,751. My question is, since that bank account keeps growing, Are they receiving tips? If they are, how much are they paying out? Champaign County pays out $5,000 for any information leading to arrest on a homicide, $2,500 for any arrest for a felony, including a crime with a firearm. With the city being their main grantor of funds, The Illinois Constitution states that public funds are to be used for public purposes. Any expenditure of taxpayer funds to a private nonprofit must have a direct public benefit and the government entity must retain control over how the funds are used. You are supposed to have some sort of grant proposal, grant contract, something of the sort, lining out how they are supposed to use those funds and what's supposed to happen each year with any leftover funds. There's supposed to be an agreement. I FOIA'd all the way to over 10 years back. I got nothing showing an agreement, so I'm assuming there isn't one, which you are required by law to have one. since it is taxpayer funds funding a private nonprofit. I'm just curious that if by their average expenses of being between $4,500 and $6,500 a year, I'm going to guess in 2025, maybe they're down to about $18,000 at the end of 2025. So... It is the city's responsibility to ask them, hey, what are we doing with the funds? And I would think that it should be public knowledge how many tips they are receiving, how that money is being used, because the Vermilion County Crime Stoppers Board are the ones who decide the exact amount to pay for tips. If they're paying an abnormally low amount, that needs to be a concern and might be why we have a problem.

Thank you, Ms. McKenna.

Chris Hightower.

Mr. Mayor, City Council, my name is Chris Hightower. I am the president of the Danville Juneteenth Celebration Committee. Over the last seven years, we have either hosted or assisted in hosting a celebration for Juneteenth. This year, we will be extending our celebration to the entire weekend on a Friday, June 19th. We'll be hosting the very first Miss Juneteenth pageant at Laura Lee Fellowship House on Saturday and Sunday. We will be hosting celebrations at Lincoln Park. Flyers have already been disseminated. But if any other information is needed, you can definitely reach out to me. And I just wanted to come forward and publicly publicly. Thank Trent Shurfield and Diamonds Amongst the Rough, as well as the Danville Golden Nugget Casino for assisting in sponsorship with that. We are still seeking sponsorship and seeking donations so we can put on the biggest celebration that Vermilion County has seen yet. Once again, Friday will be a pageant which will begin at 7. It will feature five young ladies that are students here in Danville through District 118. Saturday's celebration will go from 11 until 8. We will have public speakers at all of the events. And Sunday, Father's Day, June 21st, we will be hosting a Father's Day cook-off. all in celebration of the holiday of Juneteenth. I encourage you all to do your research, find out more about the holiday, and I would love to see all of you out there throughout the weekend supporting us as we look to celebrate. And I also want to really, really stress and hope that all of you will attend the pageant so we can continue pouring into the students here within our community. These young ladies just began practice last week and will be practicing at least once to twice a week up until the pageant and uh just really hope to see you all out there and to make sure that it is known and openly stated that this is an event that is open to the entire public i know a lot of times with uh with the holiday of juneteenth some people feel as if it is not a holiday for all of us to celebrate, but it is indeed a holiday for everyone to celebrate. I have been in talks with the Danville Public Library. They will be out there offering some education as well as art for our youth to take part in. So if you have any questions, you can contact me at 217-549-3172. um i'm not a hard person to find here in the community and the flyers are out and i'm going to continue putting them out and i would love to see the city um take part enjoy um we had hoped to have a parade down fairchild street excuse me not fairchild down english leading into lincoln park hopefully i can find some aid and assistance in making that happen i think i'm talking to the right people But other than that, that's all I wanted to speak about. And thank you all very much.

Thank you, Mr. Eickhauer.

What's that phone number again? 217-549-3172. It's a Charleston number. That's where I went to college.

All right. Thank you.

No problem. Any other questions? Thank you.

That's all I have.

Is there anyone else who wishes to address the council this evening? All right. Zoning petitions, item 8A is an ordinance amending the zoning ordinance, petition number 313. Is there a motion to approve?

So moved.

Second. It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion or debate? Roll call vote, please.

Alderman Poore? Yes. Strebe? Yes. Pickering? Yes. Teague? Yes. Ludwig? Yes. Jones? Yes. Arntz? Yes. Cooper? Yes. Butler? Yes. Detoy? Yes. Pichard? Yes. Johnson?

Yes.

O'Kane? Yes. 13 yes.

13 yes. The motion carries. You also have before you the payrolls of May 8th and May 15th. Is there a motion to approve those?

So moved. Second.

It's been moved and seconded. Any discussion or debate? Roll call vote, please.

Alderman Strebing? Yes. Pickering? Yes. Teague? Yes. Ludwig? Yes. Jones? Yes. Ahrens? Yes. Cooper? Yes. Butler? Yes. Detoy? Yes. Pichard? Yes. Johnson? Yes. O'Kane? Yes. Coor?

Yes.

13 yes.

13 yes. The motion carries. You also have before you the vouchers payable. Is there a motion for May 12th and May 19th? Is there a motion to approve those?

So moved.

Second. It's been moved and seconded. Any discussion or debate? Seeing none, roll call. Whoa, whoa, whoa. I'm sorry. Yes, Alderman Tate.

I have a couple of questions. So I know that we have a schedule for the, as of our payments, I see that we have a payment of $250,000 to them on the list here. First question is what number is this in terms of the schedule of payments? And then the second question is how much is left to pay?

I do not have that information right away. Our comptroller had surgery and is out and will be back next week, but I can get that number to you Alderman.

Okay. Okay, my next question then... Make note of that. is items 266 to 273, which were for, it's not really about the voucher. It's more about just process in general. So I see that we had liens for mowing. I'm assuming that these are lots that we have mowed this season. Yes. This is really just to get a bigger picture view of the process as it relates to both the legal piece and the interventions that eventually lead to public works doing mowing on properties that are not city-owned. In other correspondence that I've had with Corporation Council regarding abating properties that have mowing concerns, it's my understanding that when we go take them through the legal process, that it takes about 30 to 45 days before they eventually end up at Public Works to be mowed. I see Administrator Cronk nodding his head yes. So I'm assuming that that is accurate.

Actually, this was just re-described to me from Corporation Counsel. It oftentimes is longer than that and it can be extended even more substantially, especially if they show up to their hearing. So you can be looking anywhere between 45 days to roughly 120 days.

So is it safe to assume that these properties were probably cited in March and that we are now, we're here now because these properties were cited in March?

That's a good assumption.

Okay. And the reason why I'm asking the question is just because all of these pieces fit together, right? And I think the public needs to be able to understand what the timeline is for when somebody makes a complaint about their neighbor's lawn not being mowed and then what the city is going to do about it and when the city might do something about it. So to me, this is an indicator that obviously the city has done something about it, but obviously there's lag time. My last question on the vouchers is concerning, I saw several charges here for something called a difference card. I'm curious to know what that is.

Alderman, that's the health insurance this year.

Oh, the health insurance card. Yes, ma'am.

Okay, thank you. Those are my questions, thank you. Thank you, Alderman. Any further questions? Roll call vote, please.

Alderman Pickering. Yes. Teague. Yes. Ludwig. Yes. Jones.

Yes.

Ahrens. Yes. Cooper. Yes. Butler.

Yes.

Detoy. Yes. Pichard. Yes. Johnson. Yes. O'Kane. Yes. Core. Yes. Strebing. Yes. 13 yes.

13 yes. The motion carries. At this time we'll receive our public works committee report. Chairman Poore.

Thank you, Mayor. 11A is a resolution approving community development block grant annual action plan for the program year 2026. I'd also like to take B, amending fiscal year 2026-27 budget for the community development block grant fund 106. Move to dispense the reading and ask for approval on A and B, and I'll need a second. Second. Who's this for? Question.

I have one on T. I've got several questions on this. I need to put my glasses on so I can see. Okay, so I read through this. On page six, It says, the city desires to further consult with the local continuum of care and be more actively involved in the continuum's development of policies, procedures, and performance measures. Unfortunately, the local consortium, which I think is obviously a typo, of care is very small in terms of individuals participating in organizations represented in regard to participating agencies. My question is what is very small? Because I've been to continuum of care meetings, I haven't been going consistently or for a long time, but I have been to more than one. And every one that I've been to, the room has been so packed you can hardly find a seat. So what are we calling very small in terms of participating organizations? Because I have counted at minimum, just off the top of my head, seven or more organizations that are participating from throughout our community.

Yep, and agreed. Actually, we just started picking up our presence there. I think you've seen a couple of staffers there here recently. likely can be changed and noted before submittal. Would agree with you. I think when this was drafted, our presence hasn't been there. And since we've been back, we would agree with your assessment. And just to be quite frank, it's repetitive language from the past that needs to be revised and will be done before submittal.

Okay. My next question is on pages is concerning the citizen participation outreach, which is on pages 16 and 17. So I'm seeing lots of things. I see newspaper ads with no comments received. I see public meetings, and we had two public meetings listed on page 17 with no public attendance and no comments received. I see, and there's another one on page 18 with no public attendance and no comments received. I'm curious to know, what HUD is looking for as it relates to outreach and particularly as it relates to outreach beyond just public meetings where we're wanting people to come here, because I know at least the public meetings that I've participated in, at least since I've been an alderman, have been come to City Hall. I do know that there, i remember in the past prior to my uh becoming an alderman and in prior administrations i remember um attending a cdbg meeting at the library um and i was just a resident like everybody else um so my question is you know has there been any thoughts to extending our outreach beyond public meetings where we expect the public to come here. And one example of that would obviously be, especially since we're talking about homeless populations, right, the continuum of care meeting where there's, you know, just as many people there as there are sitting in the audience right now.

So I guess it's kind of a it's a twofold response one is HUD We are meeting the requirements of HUD with these newspaper ads you get it in grants to the the main feedback that we do individual down to individual invites for public comment is truly on that five year comprehensive plan, because that is when these action plans are set in stone. So we do get a lot more feedback at that time. We do. This is my sixth plan now. We've been across the community from Lauralee Fellowship many years ago to library, which you attended. Unfortunately, with these annual plans, the comment back is usually roughly five to six. This is probably my first year we haven't had any attendees. We usually have one day where we have five or six show up. This is the first year we've been unsuccessful of getting really any feedback at all. So to make a long story short, usually the feedback comes on that five year plan, but obviously we publicize it and can broaden it more. But this is the first year we've ever truly had zero.

Okay. On page 31, there's something that wasn't clear to me. It talks about geographic distribution. And then it says, and then the rationale for the priority section. Most recent census data from 2023 ACS five-year estimates show that the median income level for the city of Danville is $42,424, and at least 47.4% of the number of households in the city have an income level below the median income. Over 25% of the population is living below the poverty level. Geographically, 80% of the area's median family income is below the median income, and most of these areas have been identified by the city of Danville as the most outdated infrastructures and blighted vacant structures to be addressed. So this geographically piece in this 80%, is this a city-wide number, or is this about the areas that have been identified

CDBG target area yeah it's good to be citywide I'm gonna make a general assumption on where this data of the 80% came from that would be our GIS system mm-hmm so in that map that we utilize for that data is indeed citywide okay on page 36 there is

a reference to a neighborhood wellness plan, and also another reference to policies for infield development for downtown and adjacent neighborhoods. So, I didn't highlight this, so I can't tell you exactly where it's at on this page, but it's on this page. My question, my questions are when would those actually be produced and would those be brought to council or sent to council just for our knowledge?

Yeah. So the neighborhood wellness plan, I believe, was drafted by a prior planner a couple of planners ago in 2020. That was an in-house kind of guiding document to show us more of blight and crime data. I'd be more than willing to share that, obviously. I don't believe the intent was ever to fully publish that, but it was more of an assessment tool of how our neighborhoods are doing. It's a nice plan. I'd be more than willing to share it.

Awesome. And then the infill plan as well, is that a plan that exists now?

Yeah, it's referring to that DCO grant we got a couple of years ago that had the downtown revitalization grant.

I think that got formal adoption.

I can double check, but we'll definitely share that as well.

Okay. Just a couple other things. On page 37, it says that as it relates to housing issues, that inside inspections only occur as a result of a complaint. That is obviously no longer accurate.

Outdated.

Correct. And then page 38 makes reference to a housing task force. my questions are is that a city-led task force is that a community-led task force because obviously continuum of care is not city-led organization right so if it's a city-led task force when when are those meetings can we all attend um i'm just looking for information yeah i don't i i don't think i hold the invitation list but um that's referring to what is considered as the problem properties oh um okay meeting so okay then i am aware of that yeah okay Thank you. Those are all my questions.

Anyone else? Roll call, please, on A and B. Alderman Teague?

Well, we're approving with the changes that he's about to be, that he said he will be making, correct?

Yes.

Yes.

Okay. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes.

Yes. Yes.

13S, thank you. 11C is a resolution authorizing the application to the Housing Development Authority for funds for securing, maintaining, and demolishing abandoned properties. Move dispensed to read and ask for your approval and need a second. Second. Questions?

Alderman Bunker. Yes, I got a question on that. What's that? One, two, three, the third. Whereas, could you explain that one to me a little longer? You said the city desires to prepare... and submit an application for funding through this program to assist with securing, maintaining and demolishing abandoned properties.

Yeah. Alderman Butler, this is essentially just it's boilerplate grant application request and hopeful permission to apply for application. And then it narrows it down for application for this demolition grant or grant funds.

Okay, so anyone that has a abandoned house within they can apply for this?

No, no, this is a city led effort. Properties have been identified or either city owned or we have the authority to demolish through the legal system. And the city would be responsible for utilizing these funds for demolition.

Okay, now if we back up there to the second one, you know, by you saying that, it said the Illinois Housing Development Authority opened a stronger communities program that can provide financial resources to assist communities in home rehabilitation, demolitions, and greening. Yeah, can you explain that one?

Can you narrow down what you just want a brief description of what that means?

Yeah, right there. What's that mean? It says financial resources to assist communities.

That is the identification of the actual funding source. So it's the IDA, Stronger Communities Program, is the state of Illinois funding program to allocate towards the items listed in that whereas.

Okay, so that doesn't pertain to the individuals that has that home and would like to have financial assistance? No, no. Gotcha.

No, correct. This grant has been, for the last five years, utilized only for demolitions, and then the other IDA grants you've heard about in the past are the rehabilitation grants that we utilize.

Okay.

Thank you.

Anyone else? Roll call, please, on 11C.

Vice Mayor Ledwick? Yes. Alderman Jones? Yes. Arntz? Yes. Cooper? Yes. Butler? Yes. Detoy? Yes. Pichard? Yes. Johnson? Yes. O'Kane? Yes. Hoare? Yes. Strebe? Yes. Pickering? Yes. Teague? Yes. 13Yes.

13, yes, thank you. No objection, I take D and E together. D is a resolution declaring an intent to reimburse certain redevelopment project costs. E is a resolution provided for a feasibility study on the designation of areas as redevelopment project areas. Move to spend and ask for approval. I'll need a second. Second. Questions? Alderman Arns.

Would there be any possibility or anticipation that any of these funds would be used for the relocation of the municipal building?

Don't have an answer for you. This is not...

yeah uh that at this time that hasn't in the wrong project area description um you could be let me let me double confirm in my map no you you are in the correct project area description on listed in the map in your packet um that hasn't been discussed no that's not our intent at all okay thank you yeah anyone else a roll call please on d and e alderman jones

Yes.

Ahrens? Yes. Cooper? Yes. Butler? Yes. Detoy? Yes. Pichard? Yes. Johnson? Yes. O'Kane? Yes. Poore? Yes. Strebing? Yes. Pickering? Yes. Teague? Yes. Ludwig? Yes. 13 yes.

13, yes, thank you. The next two deal with the agreement with Vermillion Advantage. I'd like to take F and G together. F is a resolution approving an intergovernmental agreement with, excuse me, approving an agreement with Vermillion Advantage for blight removal and amending Fund 310 community reinvestment budget. G is a resolution approving an agreement with Vermillion Advantage for capital improvements and amending Fund 310 community reinvestment budget. Move to dispense three and ask for approval. I'll need a second. Second. Questions? All in deed.

Even though I already know the answers to this, what is the intended use of these funds?

So first off, the hard copy that was passed around was hopefully the amended language removing IGOV from the contract. Second, the $100,000 grant would be for utilization, the proposed use would be for utilization towards the demolition of the prior Rick's Furniture. and the capital improvement grant would be the utilization of funds to go towards, we're calling it a food truck park right now, but it'll be a park that can allow for food trucks to tap into infrastructure.

Thank you.

Other questions?

Roll call please on F and G.

Alderman Arns.

Yes.

Cooper.

Yes.

Butler. Yes. Detoy. Yes. Pichard.

Yes.

Johnson. Yes. O'Kane. Yes. Moore. Yes. Strebing.

Yes.

Hickering. Yes. Teague. Yes. Quigg. Yes. Jones. Yes. 13 yes 13.

Yes. Thank you 11h is a resident, you know 11h the resolution amending the contract amount for bid 794 for environmental remuneration of properties on North million Street and North Hazel Street through the US EPA site cleanup grant and amending fund 704 budget for fiscal year 2627 There's best reading that's true approval need a second second.

I

Chairman, I move that you say that again. We used to have those short acronyms. Now it's all spelled out.

Questions? Alderman Nards.

Just a quick description. I assume we had compaction standards in the specs, but we're adding Portland cement to a rather significant depth.

yeah we are and i can't i can't tell you the depth off the top of my head right now but it's a lot of portland cement um five feet yeah since we didn't award the alternate um and reliance of the expertise of the consultant and contractor the team got together and decided that money is available let's get this right for for for redevelopment in the future for compaction purposes And not just that, but for potential movement of hazardous or petroleum substances back in, it'll just keep it out.

So, yeah, I'm going off the expertise of the consultants here. So they will be doing testing as these lifts come up to make sure we're... Oh, yeah, yeah.

They'll have to get a sign off from the sample.

It should be then developable when complete. That's exactly the purpose of this.

That's right.

And I thought, as we said last week, was it about 40 feet?

I believe it was.

The hole will be 40 to 45 feet deep. I can't tell you the depths that the cement are going at. We're going to go off of the expertise of where compaction will occur the most and the settling. There's going to be a lot of sampling and test on where that goes prior to placing it.

Alderman Butler, I think what you're referring to is the size of the hole. They have to dig down 45 feet totally to get all of that contamination out of there. I believe that's what you're referring to.

Yeah.

I had a question. I don't know if any of you have received calls, but I've received an inordinate amount of calls about what's going on in this area as they continue doing the work there. I don't know if we did anything deliberately to put an acknowledgement out there, an awareness out to the city before we start doing anything like this, or will we do that in the future, or what's the thought on that?

Alderman, we will be putting out a press release to address that, and normally we would do that ahead. We've had folks out, unfortunately, with some emergency illnesses and such, which have put us a little bit behind. But, yes, we intend to put something out, hopefully have that out tomorrow. But we have received tons of calls, too, and it seems like every other time someone stops being public, that's what they're asking about.

Okay. Thank you. Yes, sir.

Okay. Roll call, please, on 11H.

Alderman Cooper?

Yes.

Butler?

Yes.

Detoy? Yes. Bichard?

Yes.

Johnson?

Yes.

O'Kane?

Yes.

Poore?

Yes.

Strebing?

Yes.

Pickering? Yes. Teague? Yes. Ludwig? Yes. Jones? Yes. Ahrens?

Yes.

13 yes.

13 yes, thank you. 11i is a resolution awarding the contract for bid 801, community roots tree removal and pruning services. Move to spend three and ask for your approval. We'll need a second.

Second.

Alderman Teague.

What was the criteria for choosing the properties that are listed here?

So we had a tree inventory that the city's maintained. And what we did is the first wave of that is we looked at trees that had condition assessments within our inventory that had concerning either structural damages, health issues, things that had been identified in our system. And what we did is we had a certified arborist come in as per the grant was required. They had to come perform an assessment to deem them recommended for removal. We looked at... kind of did an algorithm to look at what's a sampling of trees that fits within our budget. They assessed 343 trees and of that 120 were recommended for removal. And I think about 40 to 50 had some kind of pruning to eliminate hazardous conditions with that. And it was all isolated within the grant eligible area.

Has there been any consideration as it relates to property owners who receive citations from the city to remove trees themselves? obviously with their own expense versus the trees that are listed here to actually then be removed. And the reason why I'm asking is because I know of people, particularly in my neighborhood, who have been cited to have to remove a tree at their own expense, and then I'm seeing other trees in the neighborhood. I did not drive around to look at the condition of the trees. But I'm seeing other trees in the same neighborhood that are obviously on a list, yet I know people who were cited that they had to quickly remove a tree because of code enforcement. And so it would seem to me, particularly as it pertains to, you know, We have citizens in our city who are elderly, and as the CDBG data says, 80% are low income, that we would be wanting to assist them. And I'll also add, and the other reason why I'm asking, and I didn't go through this entire list, I just looked up the addresses in my neighborhood to see who owned them. And the ones that I looked up, again, this is not a comprehensive evaluation, but of the seven I looked up, every single one of them was rental property. I know for a fact that people have had to remove trees of their own expense, because I had to do it once long before I became alderman. I got a citation to remove a tree that was dead. So I'm curious to, and so I'm sitting here going, you know, I see a bunch of properties that are owned by a corporation or... owned by businesses and the city is paying for removing their trees but then we're citing citizens to have to remove trees themselves these are all located within public right-of-way so these are all so even the ones where there are two at the same address because i know

Yes.

The address is just a reference point to get people close to where the tree is. We have an actual GIS map that has the physical exact tree location, and it's isolated to public right-of-way for this effort. The tree is eligible to work outside of public right-of-way if it's in the eligible area, but the first wave was low-hanging fruit, public-owned trees that create liability for the city that we need to manage first.

So public right-of-way meaning in a neighborhood that does not have sidewalks, what is public right-of-way?

Typically, what I would tell you is apparent public right-of-way, back of sidewalks, or typically most right-of-ways are 66 foot wide, so 33 feet off the center of roadways. That's not an exact number, but that's a good apparent right-of-way generalization.

Can you repeat that again for as it pertains to neighborhoods that don't have sidewalks?

Sure. Neighborhoods without sidewalks, a lot of typical right-of-ways are 66 feet wide. So 33 feet off center line is a good estimate to start with. That's not an exact science. It'll all depend on actual property records because that can vary. But that's a good general reference.

So when you're saying 33 feet, so I'm assuming from the center of the street, if I'm driving down Getting Street, from the center of the street, 33 feet either direction, which could go into someone's yard, it is considered right of way and not the property owner's responsibility.

Correct. Generalization, but yes.

So then do we do that with citations then?

Yeah, citations are probably limited to trees that are located on private property out of right of way.

Just in Public Works operations realm, anytime we get a call about a tree that's of concern with some, you know, from a neighbor or whatever, anybody, what we'll do as an operations staff is get on our GIS and measure the actual right-of-way of the road so that, you know, whether it be most of the time it's about 66 feet, sometimes it varies. and then we'll go out, find the center of the road, measure over and see, and if the tree is splitting the line or whatever, we'll take ownership of it and eliminate the hazard or whatever. If it's not in right-of-way, then it would be the property owner's responsibility.

Okay, so... Okay, so anybody who's got a dying tree that they think is in their yard, they should go measure that tree's distance from the middle of the road to see if they actually own it or not.

All they need to do is call Public Works and talk to our supervisor, and our supervisor can assess it and let them know.

Okay, and then you all are assessing, so any tree that's sighted,

We've already gone through the city. The assessment process. Yeah, and done an inventory and that tree inventory is done. So we're able to pull it up on a map and know what trees are already ours, but we'll come out and look if there's a question.

So as it relates to, and I want to make sure that We're clearly saying the same thing. Not that one of us is assuming the other one is saying something different. So when it relates to a code enforcement violation pertaining to a tree, that has already been through you all before we send it to the citizen.

Well, I won't say with 100% certainty, but there's a pretty good chance it has, yes.

Okay. Thank you. Alderman Arntz.

Just clarification that the policy is still, if any of the tree is in the right-of-way, it's treated as the whole tree. So the city takes care of it if it's split somehow, which a lot of them are.

Mr. Johnson?

So if it is determined that there is a violation and the city is going to send out a citation, is that explanation clearly given to the people when you send out that violation?

That it's not in the right-of-way?

I didn't hear that.

I believe so, but we can verify that for you, Alderman.

Yeah. When we issue a citation, there's an explanation that goes along with that that describes what the violation is. OK.

But does it describe the reference to right of way or not?

That's the question. That would be something, if we ran into that situation, we would consult with Public Works

Okay. Ms. Teague brought up a good idea, or what I thought was a good idea. You said this is the first phase of this. Correct. I agree with her on some of this because some of these trees, and these people can't afford it. Some of them are $5,000 and $6,000 and it goes up, believe me. I'd like to see if the grant is written in such a way that we could utilize that to help some of these people out that need the help. Spend the money where it can be put to some use.

Sure, we could work with code enforcement to see what open nuisance violations are out there and see if they fall within the grant eligible area. If they do, my understanding is this grant does cover that work. The things we would have to do with that is we would have to get temporary easements, access, and things like that signed off by the property owners so that we can actually get a contractor on there to do the work legally.

That sounds fine to me, but where is the area that you're looking at right now? I must have missed that one.

Uh, it's, I don't know exactly how much, but it's probably 60% of the city. Uh, it's got a cutoff on the Southeast side, Cleveland. Uh, I, I shouldn't speculate. I can send you guys a link to the map so you can see the full area. We've got it on the tree inventory that clearly delineates the grant eligible area.

And how much was this grant for? Is this the one we got? A million dollars. That's why I would like to see some of it going to some of these people, especially out in the East End.

Just to be clear, and I think that that will all still work out, but I just want to make 100% sure that I understand. Do you want us to finish the list that we have that the city owns of dangerous trees to ensure that that gets completed prior?

i'd rather we're gonna most of them we're gonna tear them down anyway or we're gonna go in and bulldoze them i'd like to have some of these people that are in these homes that have got trees that are so big that it's a it's a hazard to them in their homes we we could look at the the open list of issues yeah and depending on how big that list is we could even potentially just issue a change order under this exact I would just like you see to help the general public a little bit. And if we've got pieces of property that has been given to us or we've got through the courts, some of that can wait, unless it's a real hazard for the roadway or something. But I'd just like to see the money being used and utilized. I mean, we fought for it so hard, and we didn't think we were going to get it. So now let's put it to some good use.

Yeah, and we'll certainly look at what we have on open citations out there. The private trees we don't have included within our tree inventory, so they're not under our GIS map.

Well, with the inspectors, maybe they can start. It's not going to take much more to add another sentence or two. Sure.

Thank you. Alderman Jones.

So for clarification, we need the residents to call Public Works to get them to check and see if the tree is in the right of way?

Go ahead. Go ahead. That would be the easiest quick way for us to check. We can check our GIS maps to see if it's apparently in or out. You know, if it's right on the line, typically like Doug and Dave both stated, we're going to assume ownership of that. You know, if it's clearly not within that, we'll just inform them as such. And if they want to contest that, you can go further into property surveys and things like that. Okay.

Thank you.

Okay. So a property on this list that says behind the house, How is that, what is the right of way consideration for that? Is that because it could potentially be on an alley? So what is the measurement as it relates to the alley then in terms of trees?

So we do the same thing. We get on the GIS map and we measure our right of ways. Alley right of ways are typically 16 feet wide. Sometimes they vary, but the same scenario applies.

So 16 feet from the center of the alley.

Eight feet from the center.

Eight feet from the center of the alley would be considered right of way.

Typically. Those can vary around town depending on how the properties got plotted.

So Anything that is eight feet from the center of the alley is then always the city's responsibility, regardless of what it is, or if it's a dead tree or a tree that needs to be pruned?

If it's within our right-of-way. So if an alley has a platted right-of-way, those things become our responsibility. But the eight feet is kind of a generalization. Like Dave said, we'll use actual plot maps to look at that to see if it actually falls within that or not.

The reason why my face looks like this right now is because I know of citations that were right on fence lines that I know were, you know, most likely less than eight feet from the middle of the alley.

So it's still the property owner's responsibility to maintain their yards, and if they have a bush growing out and things like that, that's still their responsibility to maintain. These are just the big trees.

Right, but I'm thinking about trees on fences.

in the alley just fences aren't actually always built on property lines there's a speculation around that yeah i would say 50 or more of them encroach within the right of way so in some instances a fence could be built two feet on their property and a tree inside of that is never going to be in our alley right-of-way in some cases fences will be built all the way out to the alley and they could be two or three feet encroaching into the alley where the fence the tree everything could be within city right-of-way The tree could be our responsibility and the fence could be an encroachment that we would have to deal with.

Okay, thank you. All in arms.

Just to muddy it a little further, that's with the exception of planted rights of way that we did not accept. So there's planted rights of ways in ravines and hills all over this city. We did not improve them. Therefore, we did not accept them. And those have been challenged legally as well. The alleys, a lot of times the alleys depended upon how that first grader operator cut the groove. That's where the alley is today. So alleys are very difficult to rely upon. Other tools that as a neighbor you can use is the backside of power poles sometimes, but sometimes there's no power poles. It really is. If it's close, best just let them know they've got the equipment and they can drop a pin. And you know that. Of course, people today can drop pins, too. Yeah. I remember years ago when we had the garbage in the alleyways.

Yes. Nightmare. The city took care of it a lot better than what they do now, believe me. Yes.

And there's a lot of properties that there's no alley developed on them, but they're still right away, you know, 15 foot or 16 foot right away behind.

And so we still maintain an alley. If a customer calls that there's trees growing up in the alley, since we're not going through them now, trees happen to grow. And so if there are trees in the alley, then the customer all they have to do is just call the city and they'll come and remove the trees.

Not typically. We basically keep the alleyways passable is all we do.

Or be sighted.

Yeah.

Yeah, but if the tree is in the alley, boom, it sells. Your trees have a tendency of sprouting up wherever they want to. And if the tree is growing up in the alley, then we have to maintain that alley.

yeah so i mean it depends on what the property maps actually show but generally speaking alderman butler if we have a a platted alley that's not actually a passable maintained roadway alley and it just exists and we have no other intended use for it we should really be looking to vacate those things so that we don't let these liabilities pop up It also gives the adjacent property owners more free will with that property and not accidentally building a fence on something that we may need to come rip out someday.

Yeah, because I'm dealing with a customer now. He can't get in his garage in the back and in this alley. That they used to cut it there, but since his dad passed away, or what have you, you know, trees done grown up. So now he needs those trees removed.

So it's not an improved alley? Not what? Not an improved alley. No, it's not an improved alley. Not gravel and everything else?

Oh, you're right. It's gravel. OK. Yeah, it's gravel there. But grass, they have a tendency to want to grow as well.

I just advise them to reach out to Public Works, and we can come take a look at it. Yeah, OK.

Seeing no more questions, a roll call, please, on 11-I.

Alderman Butler?

Yes.

Detoy? Yes. Pichard? Yes. Johnson? Yes. O'Kane? Yes. Poore? Yes. Strebing? Yes. Pickering? Yes. Teague? Abstain. Ludwig? Yes. Jones?

Yes.

arns yes cooper yes 12 yes 12 yes thank you and i'm information just as an item of uh clarification for alderman arns i had a chance to take a look at the map that we put put in there uh 2 west main street is not in the uh proposed tip district that concludes our report mayor thank you very much chairman at this time we'll receive our public services committee report chairman streaming

be short and sweet uh we'll meet here next week uh tuesday may 26th at 6 p.m that's all i have thank you chairman are you sure you've got a meeting you got a holiday on monday you guys well we do know that's true we usually take yeah take another couple weeks we can do that i can i can cancel uh tuesday morning how's that uh but but under isaac information i would like to bring up a couple things, if you would. Number one, I like seeing that we're actually starting to work on, we got people working on Fairchild and Vermillion Street. A lot of equipment up there. That's a good thing. Getting a lot of questions. And the balloonist is gone. I was hoping he was going to stick around long enough. We're having the balloons out at Kennecock Park this year, June 5th and 6th. 100 acres out there we're going to utilize, and there's going to be plenty of spot for parking, food, vendors, the whole work. So we're looking forward to it.

Shouldn't have much backup because there's a mile drive in to get back to where it's going to be.

Yes. Thank you, Chairman. Any other items of information? Having satisfied the agenda, I would entertain a motion to adjourn. Oh, wait a minute.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Are you done?

I'm done.

Okay.

Go ahead, Mrs. Vickery.

I'm sorry. I didn't know if we were done with the public service. Okay, so we're done. Okay.

Item 13, items of information.

Okay, thank you. After reading the handout that Alderman Arns passed out last council meeting, I felt that there were some issues that we needed to address. And the first one was the mayor administration 2022 attempt to eliminate IMRF retiree ability to be paid as an alderman. Alderman Arndt stated that there was three separate committee chairs all told me directly, told Lawrence directly, that they were told they had no choice but to approve it by the mayor slash administration. After talking to the different committee chairs, not one acknowledged or remembered the conversation with Alderman Arns, and I did not have the conversation with him. And as far as the rest of the handout, I feel most of it was debunked by the public works chairman and our mayor at the meeting. And I have my own mayor's compensation increase clarification. Because of the increase of the mayor's salary last term, I feel our town Danville has prospered in a lot of areas. credit scores improved increased money in our reserve invested more money in our road improvements our parks and neighborhoods strengthened our financial management and long-term planning through capital improvements and tighter oversight of city finance substantially reduced our property tax rate Our police pension in 2021-22 was funded at 32.24%. In 2024-25 was increased to 38.6% and anticipated to be over 40% in 2025-26, almost an 8% increase. Our fire pension in 2021-22 was funded at 23.5% and 2024-25 increased to 30.9%. 30.96%, and is anticipated in 2025-26 to be over 33%, almost a 10% increase. Our neighborhoods have been improved, removing blight and increasing demolitions. And there are just a few, and there are other things in our town that we have prospered by. And I also called our Comptroller Sweeten and asked, If we stay on the same trajectory with our budget, can we afford the raise proposed for the mayor and the treasurer? And she said, yes. Thank you.

Thank you, Alderman. Having satisfied the agenda, a motion to adjourn? So moved. So moved. Second. So moved and seconded. Any discussion or debate? All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, same sign.