City Council - Regular Meeting

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We'll call committee of the whole meeting for the Elgin City Council for April 8th 2026 to order. Will the clerk please call the roll? Council members Alfarro? Present. Dixon? Present. Good? Here. Martinez? Here. Ortiz? [clears throat] Powell? Here. Steffen? Here. Thorn? Here. Mercado? Here. Approval of the minutes of the previous meeting of Excuse me, March 25th, 2026. So moved. Second. Moved and seconded for approval. Any corrections or additions? Hearing none, clerk please call the roll. Council members Alfarro? Yes. Dixon? Yes. Good?

Yes. Martinez? Yes. Powell? Yes. Steffen? Yes. Thorn? Yes. Mercado?

Yes. Motion's approved 8-0. That brings us to the portion of public comment. First person to sign up is Hank Carr. Is that right? Hank. Hank, I'm sorry. Hello countrymen and hello country women. Uh peace be with you, peace will be with us, and peace be with me. May God bring life to your house. Uh I'm going to speak about two things. I'm going to talk about um immigration and the women being union. Um the Statue of Liberty um give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. This thing was done by The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus. Okay. Less Not Lazarus. Less Roos. Um There's one part in scripture I don't understand it to my son there, the homeless tempest turned to me, I lift left my lamp beside the golden door. I don't understand that part. Purpose symbol of American American Ameri- America. Um you know, not just a diplomatic thing, the Statue of Liberty. Symbol of the mother of exiles. So anyway, uh immigrants when they come all to one area, it increases jacks up the prices of the homes. Uh too many people chasing too few apartments and too few homes. Um Um too many few too many people chasing few jobs. Um there's more competition. Yeah, you're going to get better work um

the lead the work for the for people. But uh you know, if we about across the border, we don't want to use farmland to put buildings in farmland cuz it can be used to make uh corn and food to people, and not only that, eventually turn into maybe fuel for cars. Uh you know, they're right across the border there, salt desert. We send them wood. We send them stones. We send them bricks. They start building places over there. Start paying taxes. Um They pay taxes. Um you know, we send them water. We send them food. Uh you know, it's it's starting the economy. It put people to work, which is, you know, people won't do it for free, but you pay them, they'll they'll do it. If you want people to move, you pay them, they'll move. Um you know, uh this could be a problem, you know, where too many people in one area just chasing few uh few necessities. Um the clerks The clerks should be paid in just as much as the uh police officers. Because uh all men are created equal. All women are created equal, meaning not everybody can run 100 yd in the same amount of time, that we all have a right to live. Uh maybe the cops have to be in the secretary. They don't want to be a secretary. They don't want to actually want to be a cop. Well, have a good day, sir. Thank you.

Have a good day, everybody.

Thank you. Marie B? Good evening. Uh members of the council, my name is Marie Bersamina, and I'm the owner of Gotta Kill Zone, a bus- a food business that has proudly served Elgin community for several years now. And I also live right here in the Elgin area for about the last 10 years. Um I I'm here tonight because I am facing a significant hurdle that threatens my ability to operate my business from within the city that I call home. For years, I parked my food truck in the city-owned lot on Crystal and Highland, where my apartment building is located. My apartment building provides no resident parking, and the current park uh the the city currently permits residents to use this lot, but only allows a 27-hour window for other vehicles. However, my vehicle is classified as a commercial vehicle, and I'm being ticketed under the ordinance that forbid- prohibits commercial vehicles in city lots. I've owned this truck for a long time, but recently it's become a little more strict when it comes to the ticketing of my my vehicle in this lot. Um I live about 5 minutes away from my commissary kitchen, and this lot has become the only place I can park while staying close to my residence and my business operations. So, without this parking access, I'm left with nowhere to legally keep my tools of trade. I'm licensed uh Elgin business. I pay taxes, and I serve our residents, and I'd like to keep my business based here. I'm asking the council for a variance or a special permit regarding the commercial vehicle parking lot ordinance for this specific lot. Now, I'm again living here for the last 10 years, and I see that this lot is not commonly used for for much uh for much parking in general. I'm not asking for a free pass um to

ignore city rules. I'm asking for a reasonable accommodation for local entrepreneur who has no other viable options due to the layout of my residence. If we want Elgin to be a place where small businesses and food trucks can thrive, then we need to ensure the infrastructure and ordinances don't unintentionally force us out. So, I would welcome the opportunity to work with the city manager or code compliance department, anybody um that would be able to help with this to find a solution that works for the city and allows me to keep my business running. Um I really appreciate um your consideration of my request tonight, and I'd be happy to answer any questions. Uh we have your contact information on the on the sheet here, and the city manager can have someone from uh code enforcement get back to you. Thank you very much. Have a great night. Jennifer C? Hello, everyone. Nice to see you again. Uh my name is Jennifer Cook. I'm the owner and operator of Cook's Ice Cream and Sprinkles and Dot Mobile Catering. Marie and I are now friends, but she was actually my first employee at Cook's Sweet Boutique, which was located in downtown Elgin on Chicago Street before a tyrannical landlord ran me out of town. Um what most of you don't know is that I am also an Elgin business licensed, and we share the same commissary that Marie has. So, technically, I operate Cook's Ice Cream, which I've owned for now 9 years, and some of you were instrumental in helping me with that. Um so, I am actually in Gilberts, where my warehouse, where I store my trucks. But as I grow in my business, it would be nice cuz now I'm limited. I only have three spots. And so, I I'm not saying that, you know, me and chat GPT could come out up with a solution in regards to municipal parking, but there are like very much many unused lots in the city. And so, Marie be living there, she was a vendor at Nightmare on Chicago Street. So, if

these you know, if you had multi-use or maybe even a revenue stream or parking permits or whatever, cuz I'm sure a lot of citizens in town with the ordinances against the commercial vehicles, cuz there's nowhere to park these trucks by the commissary, to which we're paying into. So, it is kind of problematic. It is expensive, and I know nobody wants to look at our trucks, but I think they're great. I actually sold Marie my old one and as I've expanded my business, and I just would love to see um they're ticketing your car like every 20 2 hours or something for $20 tickets, but really the solution more sustainably would be to like, you know, monetize this and to allow just people who are living here or working here um an opportunity to in the off-season. Cuz as you know, like ice cream and food trucks are very seasonal operations. So, it's more of like a part-time storage solution. And, um, you know, like I said, I know several other commissary, uh, members as well as some other food truck, uh, operators that may be interested in this. So, I would just, you know, at first just support Marie in this variation to the ordinance on commercial vehicle parking. And, you know, it's maybe think about, um, allowing some other people because, you know, if I can expand my business maybe I'll have more trucks cuz I'm I only have three parking spaces in Gilbert where I'm at currently. Uh, but thank you for so much for your support. I know you have a lot, you know, in the next meeting with, uh, immigration and whatever. These These are important to us. The economy in the local businesses are important to, uh, this this the citizens as well. So, I would, um, you know, appreciate, uh, your support and look forward to talking more about that, uh, in the future. So, contact me if you need any ideas. I have like four different, uh, businesses that do this for cities, which can kind of monetize that. But, all right, thank you. Okay, we have your information as well. Thank you. Thank you. All right, Mr. Manager. Thank you, Mayor. We have three items on both agendas. I'm going to suggest that

items B and C go through discussion earlier rather than later. We have Mr. Poobanes to provide some background information on the initiative related to both of those items. But, I will start with item A. This is a purchase agreement for personnel scheduling software from Station Wise Incorporated. This software will be replacing the fire department's outdated software with a modern system that improves staffing efficiency, streamlines payroll processing, and reduces the administrative workload. The software integrates directly with the city's Naviline payroll system, eliminating manual steps currently required to pay, uh, it for each pay cycle at this time. The current scheduling platform does not provide this level integration, and as I suggested, requires added manual processing. The new system also reduces the annual cost compared to the current platform while improving reliability and functionality for daily staffing and overtime tracking. Again, this item is on both agendas. No motions necessary at this time, so discussion will be at the regular council meeting. Thank you, Mayor. Items B and C are related to the Highland Avenue and Lyle Avenue intersection roundabout project. The first item, item B, is a joint funding agreement for federally funded construction with the Illinois Department of Transportation. And item C is a variation on the theme. It's a Illinois Department of Transportation local public agency engineering services agreement. To provide the greater context on this initiative and what the council has provided direction to staff in the past is city engineer, public services director, Mike Poobanes. Thank you, Manager Cozzol. Thank you, Mayor, City Council. Uh, I'm here tonight again, as uh, Manager Cozzol said, just to share a little bit about the Highland Lyle project, the process we went through, um, and not because in size or cost it is a

significantly large project, but given the city's history with roundabouts, traffic circles, etc., and just the general, um, uh, overwhelming acceptance of roundabouts in many communities, I wanted to come here tonight to talk a little bit about how we got here. So, this project started in 2020 2021, uh, as a parking, uh, committee uh, issue. We knew there were a number of accidents out there that were happening. So, they that group initiated the the review of it in 2021. We did an engineering analysis, and based on the types of accidents that were occurring, and I'll get into that here shortly, uh, we felt that the roundabout design was the appropriate treatment. So, uh, part of the process, not necessarily going into the decision process, but part of the process at that time was to apply for funding through the Kane Kendall Council of Mayors for federal STP funding. Uh, we were very successful in that. We initially got about 600,000. That's now up to 1.1 million out of the approximately 1.4 million dollar construction costs for the project. So, just a little background. Uh, a public information meeting was held in August of 2025. Uh, we met the public there, answered questions in person, also invited people to submit written questions. Anyone that submitted a written question, uh, received a written response back addressing the the subject of their question. And, um, so, I I brought a few slides. These were the the presentation boards that we had at the public information meeting. So, I just want to share with you what the public that evening, anyone who came, had an opportunity to see. So, we always start out with the project purpose. It's to to improve safety and reduce frequency and intensity of crashes. Uh, project need, again, reduce crash

frequency and severity, provide traffic calming, and a side benefit was to close some sidewalk gaps. Uh, there's no sidewalk on the southeast quadrant of this that connects Lyle to points east, so it's an opportunity to fix that. And again, we talked a little bit about project funding. So, the main driver, no pun intended, the the the main driver for this project is the knowledge and occurrence of, uh, traffic accidents at this intersection. It's been a four-way stop for many years, and you can see there there's a variety of descriptions and types of crashes that are used, but these are partic- These are primarily angle crashes, um, which occur when one party or the other four-way stop either does not stop completely, leaves too soon, it continues through the intersection when they don't have the right of way. Uh, almost I think 75% of the crashes were those angle type crashes. So, that is really what directed us towards this mini roundabout idea. Um, and just, uh, not as a big of an issue, but I think it's important to notice if you look in the lower right-hand corner of this slide, you'll see that almost 80% of the accidents were occurring during the daytime. They weren't at night when there might have been a sight problem. They didn't have to do with inadequate street lighting. It really has to do people are coming up to the the four-way stop, clearly able to see the other traffic, other users in that intersection, and still encountering these accidents. So, you know, had these all been at night, we might have focused more on visibility, street lighting, those types of things, but just the types of crashes, the number of them, and when they occurred again really led us towards this roundabout, uh, concept.

We'd included this, and and this really gets to the to the heart of why roundabouts are effective. Uh, in the in the use of roundabouts in the design lingo, they talk about conflict points. And you can see by the two diagrams, the one in the center of the page, there are 32 different points within a four-way intersection that vehicles can have conflict with one another, meaning they're crossing the same path, whether two are going straight, one is turning, one is going straight, both are turning. Additionally, there's 24 different spots where pedestrians and vehicles can have conflicts. The roundabout design reduces both of those to eight possible points, which are really on the four quadrants. So, just by, you know, the nature of removing all those potential conflict points, you greatly increase the safety of using, uh, a roundabout intersection. And again, for the type of the angle type accidents were happening that are happening are almost eliminated in this type of design. You may get some glancing blows, two cars trying to come into that same curve from time to time. Using this design doesn't guarantee there will be no accidents here, right? Drivers are imperfect. We're all imperfect drivers. People have misjudged speeds, etc. Those things happen. But, I'm confident it will greatly reduce the incidents of accidents. So far, we haven't had any fatal accidents out there, primarily, um, um, property damage, other people's cars, some injury accidents, but there's always that potential. I'm not trying to to scare people into this, but again, the fewer accidents we have, the fewer opportunities for fatal and serious injury. Uh, this was part of the slide deck, not really, uh, I just want to make sure everybody's aware. The Highland will be closed for about 3 months to, uh, and

we'll set up a detour. Uh, quite honestly, for the one to provide adequate space to build the roundabout for worker safety, etc. So, we'll have a marked detour, McLean to Larkin to Foothill back to Randall, or Randall back to Highland. So, and then just the timeline. Again, this was what was presented, uh, late last summer. We're actually almost upon the construction phase. This project is scheduled to be bid, uh, at the end of April, hopefully awarded in May, and construction starting, and uh, we'll have the project wrapped up this year. And then just an overall view of the aerial view of what the proposed roundabout will look like. Pretty typical. It's not a large roundabout. It's a single lane, so it's not a multi-lane, which can be sometimes more confusing for drivers. And one benefit, too, of the roundabouts, I don't know if I if I can enlarge it, but you can see the the pedestrian crossings are further back on each leg of the intersection. So, one, it gets them away from the turning movement. Two, gives them that median island as some kind of a refuge place [clears throat] for themselves in case cars drivers aren't paying attention. But again, we think that will improve the overall safety for pedestrians. And likewise, you can see the proposed sidewalk connection in the southeast quadrant. So, lower right quadrant heading back towards the east along Highland. As I said, we had you know, we were welcome the whole idea of having the public information. Well, two, wanted to give information out, but also get questions and concerns in. So, as those questions came in, some of them had the same theme. Some of them didn't. But we put together this frequently asked question sheet and sent that to the majority of the people who

asked who submitted questions. This FAQ addressed everyone's questions, but we felt let's give them all the information. Here's all the questions that came in, maybe not just the one that you had thought about or you had concerns about. We did have one uh uh one family who had some more detailed and significant questions. They did get a separate letter that got into more detail on our design process, on traffic counts, and things like that. So, this is a two-page FAQ. So, again, after that, like I said, you know, one of the challenges, I think, I'll call it a challenge with roundabouts, is some people really like them and really support them. As an engineer, someone who works in in traffic and traffic movement, I think they're they can be an excellent solution. They're not cookie-cutter. They're not for every intersection. We tried a few of them many years ago here in Elgin. Very well intended, but not built to current design standards or maybe even proper design standards. And probably most importantly, I think they were put in for the wrong reasons. They were put in to stop cut-through traffic. That's not what roundabouts are designed to do. They're designed to calm traffic. They're designed to eliminate conflict points and increase safety overall. So, some of the questions we had were performance concerns based upon those earlier applications, which we tore out a couple years ago, you may remember. Went back to four-way intersections. Uh why the intersection needed to be changed? It's just fine. I never have a problem with it. Well, we have this history of accidents and safety concerns. It seems likely that traffic will continue to rise on Highland and in that area rather than decrease. So, I think one can anticipate that there's a likelihood that more accidents will happen should we leave it in the same condition. Uh questions about the need for additional right-of-way. We didn't need

to buy any right-of-way. We didn't take anyone's property. We were able to fit this into the existing right-of-way footprint. Uh the ability for vehicles to safely navigate, especially large vehicles. And sometimes this point is a little difficult to explain, but the center of this roundabout is flat. There's no planters. There's no island. There's not going to be anything planted on it. It's flat and concrete. And because of its size and because it's somewhat of a a neighborhood type of circle, it isn't made to a diameter that would allow large trucks to stay in the lanes. It's designed for those larger vehicles to use that island if they have to to cross over. So, when I explain that to people, some feel that's I think the term ridiculous might have been used. Well, it it's really I don't feel it's ridiculous. I feel it's a balance between efficiency, cost, and getting the desired improvements. So, if if we said that our standard, our minimum standard was going to be for you know, 80,000-lb semi-trailers to go through a roundabout, they'd all be 200 ft across. Be very difficult to place them. I think we'd lose out on the benefits of this type of mini roundabout design. Uh there were discussions on speeding issues. The roundabout will help that at the intersection, and it's kind of it's forced traffic calming. We'll also discuss that with the Elgin police and see if there are other issues out there for speeding. Uh questions about parking impacts. Um not much two to three parking spaces will be lost because of the length of those islands. We They're called splitter islands. They split the traffic as you come in and exit. Um but very little because current Elgin code prohibits parking within a certain distance from a stop bar or an intersection.

So, it's not to say people haven't parked in those places, but technically, we're not really losing parking spaces or legal parking spaces. And then, quite honestly, some people just have a general dislike for the roundabout design. They prefer other traditional intersections, and we've done our best to explain why this is a benefit to the city, understanding that it can take some time to get used to driving them. First time you go through, they can be a little tricky, but again, we just share with people. Just like any yield sign you come up to, you slow down, you look to your left. If there's no traffic coming, you're free to keep moving. You don't have to stop. Likewise, if there is, you have to yield to traffic within the circle. So, just I mean, to to wrap this up, again, does everyone love the roundabout design? Certainly not. I personally, though, I know this was designed to current standards. We actually laid out a test a test track at the cul-de-sac at the end of homes. Uh painted it on the ground and drove some of the larger vehicles through it to make sure that we were deliver we could deliver on what we were promised as far as box trucks and school buses being able to navigate these. We had Elgin fire. They brought out one of their engines and drove through it. There was a semi delivery guy who we flagged down. He was willing to go through it. And it worked. It worked as we thought it would. So, he was nervous with all the city people waving him over, but he was a good sport. So, again, it's designed to all current engineering I dot standards are what we follow. Uh they're frequently based on Federal Highway Administration studies. Uh I'm confident it's going to perform much better than the current four-way stop configuration. So, more than a summary, I guess, but I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Any questions for Mike? Uh Mr. Dixon. Thank you. And thank you, Mike, for the presentation. You're welcome. Uh I do have a question. Um out of other areas other areas of the city, um how many how many four-way stop signs have been evaluated as of recent? Looking in the memo, um it was said based on existing volumes, traffic signal warrants were not satisfied. Mhm. So, you know, on the scale of need, was this intersection deemed the highest need out of another intersection? There's really no comparison for that. We don't have a regular program of analyzing every four-way stop in the city. They the four-way stops are put in. We look at, as you'd mentioned, the term warrants analysis. That's basically evidence that you need this type of improvement. So, most frequently, you'll hear that with traffic signals. There's seven or eight warrants, how much traffic is going this way, that way, etc. But that being said, many of the four-way stops are put in based on just observed performance. Uh people on the side street are having a difficult time getting out and risking accident. Uh sometimes they are used to moderate the speed of traffic within communities. It's not really the best, but uh sometimes that's a a side uh benefit of it. So, I don't really have a a list to compare it and say this was number two or number three on the list. What got us to this intersection was the the knowledge of the high number of accidents that were occurring there. That was a combined effort between our public works team who's on the parking uh committee along with Elgin PD. Yeah. Okay. Um as you mentioned, a couple of years ago, we removed uh some roundabouts for a number of different reasons, which

um hopefully in this instance, we don't encounter we've learned from, you know, what was what was happening in the past. Um I'm looking at the intersection or the roundabout on Longcommon and South Street. Mhm. You know, out out behind the Target for our west side. Mhm. That's a roundabout that I frequent often cuz I live on a far west side of town. And that roundabout works wonderfully. Mhm. Um there's a lot of room around it, and so it doesn't feel

yeah. Yeah, it doesn't feel tight at all at all. Um in comparison to probably the one that was in College Green, you know, that was very tight, you know, and so it just feels uncomfortable. And so I So, looking at the the rendering of this one, Mhm. it seems to be a combination of um it's inside of a neighborhood, of course. Mhm. Uh it's on a busy on a busy intersection. Um but I I wonder and I wonder if it's too tight of a squeeze for a roundabout, even though I think the purpose of what you're trying to what we're trying to accomplish it's admirable. Do you worry at all about the flow of traffic or about the tight squeeze of it all in that intersection? And And how does that compare to the South Street Long Common? Mhm. Uh I do not worry about the size of this. We were especially focused on making sure this was designed to the proper dimensions. Again, coming off of the recent removal um of of the two previous ones, which were significantly smaller. So, we started again using the IDOT design standards for roundabouts to determine how large does the inner diameter of the of that red island need to be? How large is the outer diameter? We were prepared to enter into land acquisition discussions if we found that we needed sometimes they call them corner cuts, you know, if the right-of-way comes down at a 90, we might have to buy a triangular piece off the corner again to get this to fit in. We did not artificially reduce any of the dimensions of this design to fit that space. It's close. I'm not You know, there's not a lot of not a lot of wiggle room. So, I wouldn't be able to squeeze between the right-of-way. Some of you might, but I would I'm sure you I'm sure you would.

All right. Well, well, thank you. I I appreciate it. Um I I Highland seems to be a little bit of a speedway in certain portions of it. Um and so, if this is going to help slow down traffic and reduce the number of accidents, um I'm definitely going to support it. So, thank you for your work and your analysis. You're very welcome. Okay. Anything else? Mr. Stefan. No, I I wanted to chime in. Mike, thank you. I asked also to have this presentation cuz I I felt it's important to for you to take the opportunity to show the effort that you've put in and your your staff has put in in trying to make sure this is done correctly and for the right reasons. And you've shown that tonight, so I appreciate that. Thanks. Okay. Anything else? Mr. Far. Hi. Thank you so much for the presentation, and I apologize um reading the memo, I know this has been happening um for a couple years now, and it's been in the works, so I'm just jumping in. So, It's um forgive me for the questions. I'm a little hesitant on on this roundabout. Um and so, I'm hoping um as you answering the questions could give me some ease. So, going back to the um August 2025 hearing, how many people attended? I don't know the exact count. I would say somewhere between 12 and 15. Okay. And then you went over most of their major concerns. Was there anything that wasn't in there that you heard during that day where that people were mostly concerned about? I had mentioned that one of the the people living in the neighborhood submitted a a much more detailed list of questions. I I feel that they did some research on roundabouts, which is excellent. I encourage that. And had some questions about uh different standards and practices that we followed. Some of those standards and practices that they were referring to were for

other states or federal standards or sometimes federal guidelines, which is a slight difference between a guideline and a standard. Here in Illinois, and especially when you're using federal funds, we have to follow the requirements of the Illinois Department of Transportation. So, we use the IDOT design standards. These agreements are IDOT agreements tonight. You can see there the bureaucracy is alive and well. Um so, yeah, some of their comments had to do with with various designs and policies and practices elsewhere. Some of them had to do with queue lengths, so how much is traffic going to line up? We For this roundabout, again, it's a relative compared to major roundabouts, it's a relatively low amount of traffic. We're having a local problem with the amount of traffic, but to do things like queue studies, uh typically are are more common with the larger roundabouts. So, our approach will be to monitor and correct if necessary if there are queuing issues. But, again, typically doesn't say there won't be instances where two or three cars are stopped at the roundabout waiting for it to clear. But, typically the flow of traffic through a roundabout is much more continual and smoother, right? Especially as people get used to using them. So, it's not a full stop. It's typically a yield and go. Kind of a which is getting a lot of yield and go out there now, even though there's a stop sign. So, can my concerns for queuing lengths is minimal. And again, we'll address that. Some questions came up about how are we going to address access during construction? Uh that process is handled through the city, but by our contractor. They have to put out notices whenever driveways are going to be closed. That's

typically the biggest one. Uh we're going to be removing and reconstructing some driveway aprons. So, we'll contact each property owner individually. We have an option. We can do the entire apron in one process, which limits the time that they're out to about 5 6 days at most. Or we can do half of it at a at a time and maintain access. Um we don't think that's as good. It's always better to have one pour, but if for whatever needs, they have medical needs or delivery needs or whatever, we can we can split that operation in half. So, a question came up about Pace parking. There's a Pace stop at the southeast corner. We're working with Pace to find a new location for that. It can't be within the limits of the roundabout. Um question came up on lighting. So, we again, we did not do do a full lighting study, but we're using the city's recently adopted lighting standards, which are modeled after the dark skies uh program. You'll remember a few years ago we did it over a few years, we did a citywide LED retrofit. And again, so, selected lighting light temperatures, right? The brightness and wattage uh appropriate to the road that they're on. So, Thank you. Um Did that I'm sorry. Did I I kind of ramble there? Did I answer your question? Okay.

right? Like, I didn't even um realize um I drive by there quite often. I And I forgot there is a Pace bus stop there, right? Um so, hopefully that Pace could keep a little a near location. Mhm.

Right? Either on one of the streets. Um just a few more questions. You had shared data on accidents, 26 car accidents in in um 4 years. Do you know what the data is for this year and last year? I do not. Okay. Some of the neighbors have have anecdotally reported they feel it's it's a better condition. We put beacons on top of the stop signs, right? It's kind of to that That's the feedback I was getting. This alert, right? Yeah. people. Um So, but I have not done another accident review. Yeah. That's what the feedback I was hearing from residents that they felt like this intersection was better now. Um and they had not seen as many crashes. Right? And so, they weren't sure if a roundabout was needed or not. So, I was curious on the data on the last 2 years. Um It It kind of gets to the the idea of when are these accidents happening? They're happening during the day when typically you can see the best. Mhm. So, and you know, how many accidents are too many accidents?

Right. Right. That's a good point. Um thank you for clarifying the large cars cuz I did have that question, and I know that came in as um an email from a resident who was concerned about large vehicles being able to go through the roundabout. So, thank you for clarifying that. Um my other question I have is um in reading the memo, and I didn't see anything about looking into a traffic light, like a red green yellow light. Is there a a at least a preliminary analysis early on, and and we talked about warrants. Again, these are points that you have to demonstrate to get approval to put in a signal. Mhm. So,

Didn't meet the warrants. one of the warrants is the amount of traffic on Highland. Another warrant is how much traffic on Lyle. Um proximity to other signals. And I apologize, I don't remember all seven or eight of them, but Yeah, they're some not that far away. Yeah. It It probably far enough, right? If all the other warrants were met, it probably wouldn't have been an issue, but uh again, based on that preliminary warrants analysis, we it's a long way from warranting a signal according to current design standards. Doesn't mean it's a prohibition to put one in, but when you the warrants are designed to optimize the effectiveness of whatever solution you're implementing. So, if you bypass all these warrants, you don't meet any of the warrants, you meet one out of eight, and you put a signal in, overall, you're it would the opinion is you are getting a worse product in the long run. You're creating better ratings. People get impatient. That's just one example. Uh traffic signals are significantly expensive. Uh traffic signal installation is 1 to 1 and 1/2 million Okay. on its own, plus regular maintenance and upkeep forever. It's another benefit of a roundabout. You don't have any of that equipment to purchase on the front end, nor maintain over time. Thank you for sharing that. Uh by any chance, do you have like an image? I I'm like super torn on this one cuz I grew up on the east side with those roundabouts that were not so well laid designed. Yeah.

Right? And so, on this one being a little smaller than other roundabouts, I'm a little concerned. Um for me anyway, I personally think it might not be the right fit right now, but um Have you driven Have you been through the roundabouts that Councilman Dixon was referring to on 90?

That one I have not. Okay, it's very large. It is probably 150 ft across. Okay. And it's a different style. Too, the roads come in on the very outside of the circle, where these come in on the inside. So, it's a different type of roundabout. Um there are some roundabouts on Route 47 west of town as you go north-south. I don't know if you've had occasion to drive through those. Those roundabouts are bigger than what we're putting in. The two roundabouts that we tore out Yeah. Are you familiar with those? Those are much smaller Okay.

than what we're putting in now. Okay. And again, we we spent a lot of time Well, we understood from the get-go we couldn't have a failure on this one if we hope to continue to promote the use of roundabouts where appropriate. So, we spent a lot of time thinking about this. Again, we set up what I call our test track. We drove vehicles through it, and I'm confident that it's the right size. Thank you.

I I say that's there's no perfect intersection cuz there's no perfect drivers. You you go down some of the industrial streets in Elgin where the roads are plenty wide for semis to do their turns, and you'll see ruts in the grass all over the place. Not every driver. So, there could be accidents there. There could be, you know, people may have some challenges, but for the most part, I think it'll be more effective and safer than what's currently there. Thank you for answering my questions. You're very welcome.

Okay. Anything else? Ms. Martinez. Thank you, Mayor. Mike, thank you for your presentation. Um [clears throat] I understand that another thing that roundabouts uh do is they lessen the more serious accidents. In other words, it prevents from having to be T-boned, which is uh something that is serious. And um I agree that there's more traffic there, and we need to do something about that. Um I was wondering when you speak to Pace with maybe a different stop, it maybe we can push that they have like uh the stop that has like a cover because it seems like for some reason they kind of skipped it on outing. I know that there's a stop there on Big Timber. And, you know, when it's raining or inclement weather, it's terrible for the people who are using that service and just have to be there in the open area. So, I was just, you know, if you can include that.

There are some issues, if I could. There's some issues with the uh shelters at stops. Pace's policy and is to use those for advertising. And that type of advertising conflicts with limitations that we put on other businesses, etc., in the community to advertise. So, we've been unable to strike an agreement with with Pace to put in shelters that don't have advertising. Um uh-huh. Cuz I guess that would be a way to pay for that, huh? That's That's their approach, yeah. It's a good approach, right? Better get some revenue for it, but it puts us in a bind with honoring our commitments and the requirements we put on many, many others who have come forward with advertising requests. And um I agree that uh previous roundabouts that were put in, you know, that was [clears throat] a different time, and like you said, for different reasons. So, I get that. Um now, you mentioned there was um I I believe a roundabout from a city south of us that is on Bolken Road. Mhm. And um that one there, would it be like that size or smaller, do you know? I would say that's a good approximation. That's county I think it's on Bolken and I can't remember the street that goes north, but

Yeah, I want to say 64, but I'm not sure. Yeah. Okay. I I'd be happy to I don't have it immediately available, but I can distribute to all of you the dimensions of this roundabout if you'd like. I'll just send out a group so you can see how large the inner circle is, what the lane widths are, etc. This uh for the neighborhood has been a tough one. And I know we've gotten a lot of emails. Mhm.

And I forward them to you because I'm not going to pretend I'm an engineer and I have the solutions. Uh besides, it's above my pay grade. But um I appreciate that you have taken um those emails, and you have um like you showed us, you have gone ahead and made um like uh the most often questions. Mhm. I think you should Yeah, so that's been from the emails and also from the presentation that you gave. It was developed after the presentation. So, people came in and gave gave verbal comments to us that we jotted down. We encouraged them to follow it up with a written, and that can either be we have a sheet of paper if you want to write it on that. We believe we had a QR code for this one, but at the very least, there's an email address that for those who prefer electronic communications to email. So, we're confident that anyone who submitted one I guess getting the input from all the emails and from the presentation to come up with something like that, I commend you because um I noticed on a lot of the emails that we got, it was kind of like the same question. So, thank you for doing that. I've never uh seen that before. So, uh thank you, and thank you for looking at this cuz we're always looking for the safety and safety of our residents. Thank you. Anything else? Anything else? Ms. Powell. And then Mr. Mr. Thor. Thank [clears throat] you, Mr. Pubentz. Um and I I really appreciate the in-depth um analysis that went into this. As some of my colleagues have already mentioned, we've obviously gotten feedback uh from residents and and folks in the community that are maybe not so excited about this. But I think a lot of that has to do with previous experience with roundabouts or traffic circles that you mentioned earlier that we've had in

other parts of the community that were not right-sized, were not built to the same standards, and and probably just quite frankly put in to the wrong areas. Um the two that you mentioned, the one out on South Street, I think functions very well. I've driven through that one uh Councilman Dixon mentioned that one um plenty of times. When I go back home to Michigan, there's a whole bunch of roundabouts there, and people seem to figured out how to how to maneuver them. Um the one out on Plato Road at the Route 47 intersection, um and obviously that's a very busy intersection, even, you know, high rate of speed intersection, that one seems to work fine, too. Um so, I I'm confident that based on the changes and the design standards um that you've looked at and analyzed with this that this is going to be very different than what people may have um experienced here in the past. I live in College Green. I could see that old roundabout from my my kitchen window. I I hated it when it went in. I loved it when it came out. Um it it was never designed for for that. Um garbage trucks, fire engines couldn't, you know, always struggle getting through that intersection, um even uh school buses struggle struggled to get through that intersection. Um just a few follow-up questions I have. Do you have traffic um traffic accident data for the roundabout on South Street at all? Or even some anecdotal information around traffic um accidents that we've seen out there? I don't. It's It's not typically one that comes to front of mind when we talk about high traffic

dangerous intersections and and high accident locations. Uh I mean, I think a review of the So, Elgin PD files all their accident reports with the state. So, there's a portal that's available to municipal governments to to gather that data, or we can get it from PD, but I would I would say it's probably a minimal number of accidents. And you mentioned that this one will be built to the Illinois design standards, um which differ a little bit from the federal design standards because of the funding that we're getting. It would be the standards of the Illinois Department of Transportation design standards, Okay.

which they may they differ some from the from the uh the standards and policies that one of our residents referenced in their request to me. Um I can't say that the IDOT design standards don't vary a lot from the federal standards. You know, kind of follow the money, right? Illinois wants federal money, they follow federal. We want state money, we follow state. And uh I say that jokingly, but they're good standards. I mean, they're not they're not done on a whim. But, to answer your question, we follow IDOT design standards.

IDOT design standards. Okay. All right. Um I think those are the only questions I have, and I really appreciate the the presentation, the feedback, and everything that's really gone into this. Thank you.

You're welcome. Okay. Mr. Thorn. Thank you, Mayor. Mike, thank you so much. Uh my compliments on one thing in particular that you've taken on with this project, and that is the mock example that you did true to size. Mhm. So, I think that that shows the wherewithal that the uh the detail that you went into for this project. Uh a couple people that I know near this that have expressed their concerns, you know what their concerns are. They're going to be inconvenienced during construction. That's it. They don't like change. People don't like change, but so they don't think it's needed, but at the bottom line is because they don't want to be inconvenienced temporarily. I think that's probably the bulk of everyone that's going to complain. Um even though they won't say that. Mhm. You know, I think that it's going to be a good thing, and uh um I my compliments to you for uh handling the project. Yeah. You're welcome. Okay. Anything else? Okay. Mike, I have a question. Yes, sir.

Um I what did you what did you find out uh have you looked at bicycle traffic and how that's impacted? I'll I know Mr. Steffin would have asked that question but it slipped his mind. But, how does that impact uh bicycle moving on Highland Avenue because there aren't really uh bike lanes nearby there and it Right. So, this project won't significantly improve bicycle facilities on Highland Avenue. Um So, when these projects are developed, we come up with a project scope. Sometimes the funding source requires certain things to be in. So, with with a bike with with bicycle upgrades to this intersection, um there's a a term called logical termini. So, they don't want you to build a bike path that goes to the end of this job and then just stops into a ditch or something. So, the expectation would be that we would design a bike route that went all the way from let's say Lyle to Street Easton Blanken McLean. Okay. Yeah. And likewise to Randall, again, because we wouldn't get approval to say, "Well, we're going to we're going to phase this bike lane." It's like sidewalks, same thing. They don't want users of those facilities to come to this this cliff kind of and not have a safe place to to continue on. So, I you know, we're we're getting very close to bringing the active mobility plan to council and to the public for review and comment, and it's kind of a monumental statement, but I think that'll be a serious look at where are bike routes, how effective are they, how do we prioritize future bike routes, how do we make funding budget decisions, and if the Highland Avenue route were

was deemed to be a priority route, we'd look into some sort of project to make those upgrades. Yeah. And I think you know, we've had conversations with uh representatives from Pingree Grove talking about roundabouts out there and increased traffic flow. So, this is the low this is the low bar right now for traffic there. We're going to see traffic increasing on Highland Avenue, so I think it's appropriate time to take a look at this. Okay. Thank you, Mike. Very much appreciate your your uh presentation. Okay. Mr. Farro. Uh we're doing B and C together, right? Or are we doing them separate? Uh there's no vote. These are both for the Yeah, but I have questions on C, so I'm like should I ask them

both of them, yes. Just real quick. Um It's a finance question on item C for the engineering cost. It's asking in uh for $157,068, but I see that the city of Elgin's construction engineering cost is only $37,068. So, I was just asking for clarification why we're asking for the 157 68. So, Mr. Araki uh wins the bet that I wouldn't be able to explain that very well in my [laughter] memo. So, so, I know over $1, you know. Okay. Sorry. So, so the way the funding works is that for you'll see in that table, we have a line for construction and then a line for construction engineering.

Yeah. And there's a column for the federal uh portion Yeah. and the city portion. Yeah. On the construction, IDOT will pay the contractor bills and then send us an invoice for our 20% share. Okay. For the construction engineering, Okay. we pay the invoices, and then I have to send reimbursement request to IDOT for that for asking for the full amount because we need to From a budget perspective, we are going to spend We'll write checks for 150 whatever thousand. we'll get money back later and only spend 37,000. The total amount will be much less. makes total sense. Okay. Thank you for clarifying that.

You're welcome. Okay. All right. Thank you, Mike. Thank you. Um at this time, I'll entertain a motion to adjourn. Uh to We'll come back with the finished Committee of the Whole after the regular Council meeting. So moved. Moved and seconded to adjourn. Clerk, please call the roll. Councilman Bruzzano? Yes. Dickson? Yes. Good? Yes. Martinez? Yes. Howe? Yes. Steffin? Yes. Thorn? Yes. Mayor Kaptain? Yes, we are conjoined. We'll adjourn. We'll reconvene the regular Council meeting at 5 minutes after 7:00.

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uh 2026 to order, will you please join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Will the clerk please call the roll? Council members Alfarro? Present. Dixon? Present. Good? Here. Martinez? Here. Ortiz? Powell? Here. Steffen? Here. Thorn? Here. Mayor Captain? Here. Approval of the minutes of the previous meeting of March 25th, 2026.

So moved. Second. Moved and seconded for approval. Any corrections or additions? Hearing none, clerk please call the roll. Council members Alfarro? Yes. Dixon? Yes. Good? Yes. Martinez? Yes. Powell? Yes. Steffen? Yes. Thorn? Yes. Mayor Captain? Yes, the motion is approved 8-0. We have a uh few communications this evening. Would uh the members of the uh Autism Hero Project meet me at the podium, please. Wrong podium. You know, one thing uh about being mayor, sometimes you learn things that uh surprise you a lot. And one of the things that surprised me, I went on a tour of a a couple of facilities here that treat young people with autism and the challenges that they and their families face. So, it's critically important that we support those young people and those people that uh suffer through those kind of things and the and the families that go with it. And uh uh really is an eye-opener for me, so personally. Whereas autism is experienced uniquely by individuals, yet together, autistic people bring innovation, resilience, creativity, extraordinary perspective that strengthens our workplaces, schools, neighborhoods, and the cultural fabric of the city of Elgin. We celebrate the achievements of neurodiverse people everywhere and affirm the equal rights, dignity, and value of all individuals on the autism spectrum.

And whereas the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, estimates autism spectrum disorder affects one in 31 children nationally, including approximately one in 42 children in Illinois, with an estimated 2.32% prevalence among adults. And whereas the number of individuals identified with autism continues to grow as awareness and diagnosis improves, autistic individuals and their families still face barriers in employment, education, health care, housing, and community life. And whereas the city of Elgin values diversity, inclusion, and belonging, recognizing that when autistic individuals are supported and understood, our entire community grows stronger. And whereas for more than 6 years, the city of Elgin has partnered with the Autism Hero Project to promote autism awareness and acceptance through education, first responder training, community events, and a citywide autism acceptance acceptance celebration that welcomes families from across the Chicagoland area. And whereas the Autism Hero Project serves as a vital bridge for families by providing medical insurance grants for therapy, education scholarships for autistic adults, first responder autism training, inclusive community events, and advocacy that uh empowers autistic individuals to live with dignity, opportunity, and independence. Now, therefore, I, David Captain, Mayor of the city of Elgin, Illinois, do hereby proclaim April 2026 as autism acceptance month in the city of Elgin and encourage all residents, businesses, schools, and community partners to deepen their understanding of autism, uplift off autistic voices, and support continued efforts to make Elgin a model of inclusion and belonging.

Congratulations. [applause]

That was awesome. Good evening, city of Elgin City Council, Mayor, and my police department volunteers and friends who are here, and my husband who flew in for this. Um today I stand here full full of gratitude, full of pride, but most of all full of love. Because this we've received five proc- proclamations in this last week, but this one, this is the one that's most special to me, because this one is very personal. My love affair for the city of Elgin didn't start It started nearly two decades ago when I was teaching in the classrooms of school district U-46 where I had the honor of serving as a teacher long before proclamations, before partnerships, before programs, and before the Autism Hero Project even existed, Elgin was already shaping my purpose. Because then, my legendary kid was diagnosed on the autism spectrum. And it was in that moment that my world changed and so did my purpose. What I didn't know then was that the city, this city, would become part of the purpose in more ways that I could have ever imagined. Elgin didn't just welcome the Autism Hero Project, you embraced us. You believed in something that we were still building, still dreaming, and still daring to imagine. And together, we built something bigger than any one of us. What started with a simple conversation with, at the time, Commander Eric Echevarria became the very first Heroes Unite Autism Acceptance Celebration 6 years ago. And in that first year, we were simply hopeful. We were grateful to have just shy of 10 10 community resource partners that served nearly 500 families, and that's where we introduced the simulated traffic stop experiences, and we were really excited because we

had Jenny McCarthy standing with us, shining a light that brought media attention and momentum. If you know, you know. And now, look at where we've grown into. Six years later, last year alone, we had over 1,200 individuals and families that we served with over 50-plus community resources and partners all from the local area. We had a full-scale sensory immersive experience rooted in dignity, safety, and belonging. And we didn't just grow our event. What we grew was trust. Spaces where families could exhale, exhale where they didn't have to explain their child. They knew that we just simply would understand. And where first responders didn't just show up, first responders who leaned in. Sorry, of course. Just when you're on a roll. First responders who didn't just show up, they leaned in is where I left off. Of course, Tamika. Sorry. You're going to cut this part in the video.

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Oh my god, where are you? Okay. Where bridges were built in real time and between community and those sworn to protect it, and none of that happens without amazing leadership. And that's where Chief Ana Lali comes in. I know you like to be in the backseat. Can you please come up here? Please, you cannot tell me no. Thank you. I often say that you never tell me no. Not because my ideas aren't big enough, but because if we're honest, they are. But you, Chief, have a way of showing up and making them even bigger because of your heart, because you understand the assignment. And what makes you extraordinary is that you don't just say yes, you expand the vision. You bring the ideas of your own to the table like the interactive artwork that now lives at the city of Elgin Police Department, created by individuals and families whose lives are touched by autism. And it serves as a permanent reminder that this work is not about programs, it's about people. You trusted us enough to say yes to creating the nation's first interactive autism vehicle that was just unveiled this week. And that's not something that simply just shows up for appearance, but something that's built with intention and with purpose and with real-world impact. A vehicle that teaches, that prepares, that creates safer outcomes in real-life interactions. And that's not just visibility. That is transformation. Because when leadership says, "This matters," the entire community rises to meet it. And that's what you did, Elgin. From city council members like Dixon who often show up at our events and show up at our movie premiere screenings and things like that to our state Senator Cristina Castro who's right here with

us, who helped me spearhead the blue envelope program that didn't just start here in Elgin, but now we've done 60 cities, and as of today, it passed the house, and it is moving on to the Senate. If you don't know that, now you know. What we do here together is carry both badges, our Heroes Unite apparel, and we carry our hearts because this partnership turned into lifelong relationships. So, Elgin, you didn't just recognize to participate, you led, and together we're expanding programming that is saving lives and building safer communities. Then, the Safer Together program started thanks to Detective Chad Benavides with individuals with disabilities who has become a trusted friend and confidant in showing that safety is proactive and not just reactive to our training documentaries, our simulated traffic stop experiences that are now used by over 60 police departments across the nation to departments that call us from near and far who are asking us, "How do we do that? How do we do what Elgin is doing?" Because they see what we see, a model, a standard, a city that shows action over awareness. So, together, we created something that will live far beyond this moment. Created with purpose, which is the name of our film that we worked on together that doesn't just tell a story, it calls for something deeper out of all of us. It reminds us that every life is intentional, every voice matters, and every person deserves to belong. And this film now is premiering in this year's 42nd annual Chicago Latino Film Festival, one of the most longest-standing and respected film festivals in the nation. So, we went from Elgin to the big screen. But if you ask me what matters most, it's the lives.

Robbie, I will never forget our first responder documentary premiere at Judson last November where a young man stood there carrying the weight of suicidal thoughts when you got the call. He was ready to give up. And it was you, Officer Robbie Sobrano, of the Elgin Police Department, who spoke life into him, who made you think about your son on the autism spectrum. You reminded him that his life has value. And in that moment, this is why we do this. That moment is what inclusion looks like. It's not policies, it's not paperwork, it's people, connection, compassion, courage. This is Elgin. This is what happened when a city chooses love over fear, understanding over assumptions, and partnerships over performative action. So, today, as you honor us, please know the Autism Hero Project is who we are, but Elgin is a part of our heartbeat. I always say when I grow up, I want to be just like you, Chief Lali. I know we're the same age.

[laughter] I love you from the bottom of my heart. I love this city, and I honor all of you for showing the world that not all heroes wear capes. Some wear blue. Thank you for being heroes in blue. [applause]

Thank you for this. Sarah and JoBeth.

[clears throat]

Whereas each day thousands of Americans dial 911 for help in emergencies, and the men and women who answer those these calls for help, gathering essential information, and dispatching the appropriate assistance can often make the difference between life and death for persons in need. And whereas the city of Elgin's public safety telecommunicators are among the more than 200,000 telecommunications specialists who work daily to protect and to promote public safety. Whereas the public safety telecommunicators are more than a calm and reassuring voice at the other end of the phone, they are knowledgeable and highly trained individuals who not only work closely with the police and fire department, but numerous other state and local agencies as well as the departments within the city. And whereas because emergencies can strike at any time, we rely on the vigilance and the preparedness of these individuals 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. And whereas the city of Elgin recognizes the need to maintain the highest standards of public safety, and we owe a great debt to the men and women who, by applying their expertise in telecommunications, helped to make the achievements possible. Now, therefore, I, David Kaptain, Mayor of the City of Elgin, Illinois, on behalf of the entire City Council and staff, do hereby proclaim April 12th to April 18th as National Public Safety Telecommunications Week, and we acknowledge the debt of appreciation and extend a heartfelt thanks to each of you.

[applause]

Hello, everybody. My name's Jobeth Robison. I've been a telecommunicator for about 10 years now, most of which have been here with Elgin Police Department. I'd first like to say thank you to the city members, the council members, and the mayor, but special thank yous to ACOs and no members seen right now from the fire department, because in the last year and a half, the Elgin telecommunications team did face a bit of critical staffing needs. So, with the help of having being able to recruit part-timers from our ACOs as well as the fire department, we were able to really live up to everything that's said here in the proclamation. Um extremely important for you guys to understand that this proclamation isn't just about having a celebratory week, but definitely understanding that we treat this as an acknowledgement of our existence, of the hard work that we do, um everything in between, the year that you see us in the next year that we come back. The average telecommunicator takes a thousand plus calls in a month, and that doesn't include all of the radio traffic and all of the tasks that they do for their fire for the fire department and the police department. So, it's extremely important that we get to stand here before you and say thank you, but also just also feel your guys' appreciation for work that we do. Um we look forward to coming back every year, and we look forward to serving you guys every single day. And like we always say, if you call us or if you need us, please call us.

[applause]

Will our animal control officers come up? Whereas the National Ana- Animal Care and Control Association designated the second full week of April as National Animal Care and Control Appreciation Week. And whereas federal, state, and local government officials throughout the country take this time to recognize, thank, and commend all all animal control officers and animal services staff for the dedicated service they provide in the to the citizens, public safety, and domestic animals and livestock across the nation. And whereas every day, animal control officers, animal control technicians put themselves in potentially dangerous situations to protect the health and welfare of all kinds of animals and the public. And whereas Elgin appreciates, recognizes, and commends the animal control division personnel who answer calls for assistance, capture roaming and potentially dangerous animals, rescue animals, investigate reports of animal abuse, educate pet owners about responsible care, and immediate and mediate disputes between neighbors regarding pets. Now, therefore, I, David Kaptain, Mayor of the City of Elgin, Illinois, do hereby proclaim the week of April 12th to April 18th as Animal Con- Care and Control Appreciation Week, and encourage all citizens to join us in expressing their sincere appreciation for the service and dedication of our animal control employees. Okay, I'm not good at talking off the

cuff like Jobeth, so I I had to prepare a couple of words cuz I always fail at this. Thank you, Mayor Kaptain, members of the City Council, Chief Lally, and members of our command staff. Accepting this proclamation is a profound profound honor for both Blake and I. We occupy a unique space in public safety here in Elgin. As a unit within the police department, we are trained to handle complex situations that require both the tactical mindset of law enforcement and the specialized compassion of animal welfare. From investigating cruelty and neglect to ensuring our streets are safe from dangerous animals, our work is an essential piece of the public safety puzzle. Mahatma Gandhi once said, "The greatness of a nation is and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated." Blake and I take that responsibility to heart. We understand that our work is a direct reflection of this of this city's values. When we respond to a call, we aren't just enforcing a code. We are protecting the vulnerable and upholding the moral standard of our community. By ensuring the safety and humane treatment of our animals, we are, in turn, fostering a safe and more compassionate environment for all our community members, two-legged and four. While this proclamation specifically recognizes Blake and I, the work is a team effort. We want to thank our fellow officers who assist us on difficult calls, especially when we're unavailable on other calls for service or even off duty. We would like to thank Golf Rose Animal Shelter, Dundee Animal Hospital, Flint Creek Wildlife, and other various veterinarian offices and rescues, wildlife rehabilitators, and other agencies we partner with every day to take the animals we rescue. We would also like to thank the citizens who call us when they see a creature in need. You are our eyes, and we appreciate you. Thank you again for recognizing the vital role animal control plays in keeping Elgin a compassionate and safe place to live. We're proud to serve you. Thank you.

[applause] [laughter]

Amber Peters. Oh, well, she'll come back. [laughter]

Give her a chance. There she comes. Whereas Enriching Partnerships for Early Learning, APPLE, and a broad network of community partners works to strengthen the early childhood system and support more than 10,000 young children and their families across Elgin. And whereas the Week of the Young Child, recognized nationally by the National Association for the Education of Young Children, is a time to celebrate the importance of early learning, young children, their families, and educators, and community partners who support them. And whereas early childhood represents a critical window of development and ensuring that children have strong, nurturing, and enriching experiences in the earliest years lays the foundation for lifelong learning, health, and success. And whereas the basics of Greater El- the basics of Greater Elgin, a community-wide initiative led by APPLE and other partners, promotes simple five simple science-based principles: maximize love, manage stress, talk, sing, and point, count, group and compare, explore through movement and play, and read and discuss stories that empower families and caregivers to support children's development through everyday interactions. Whereas through a collective impact approach, Elgin schools, healthcare providers, businesses, faith-based organizations, the library, and community groups are working together to embed these practices across the community. And as the basics of Greater Elgin celebrates its 1-year anniversary on April 24th, 2026, the city calls on all residents and partners to continue building a community where every child has the opportunity to thrive. And now, therefore, I, David Kaptain, Mayor of the City of Elgin, Illinois, do hereby

proclaim April 11th through April 17th as Week of the Young Child in Elgin, and and encourage all residents, businesses, and community partners to recognize and support the importance of early childhood development in shaping the future of our community. Congratulations, Amber. Thank you so much, um to the City of Elgin, um the councilman, Dr. Uh Dr. Mayor. Um we appreciate everybody um being here tonight, and this is really a hard time to be here because there's a lot of different groups. There's a lot going on in April, but I think what it really um shows is how special um uh Elgin is. And um we're talking about the Week of the Young Child, but we're really stretching it to the Month of the Young Child, and I would be remiss to say it's really all year long, because people really care deeply for the children and the families in this community and care for um what happens. That's the reason we brought the basics um to our community, because we know we want these moments to be everyday moments. There's learning opportunities everywhere. I'm obviously Amber and most of you already know me, but and Karen Sabios, we brought her in as our basic sub grader Elgin coordinator. And what we know is that leading this community in early childhood comes with great responsibility and I do not take that lightly. I know there's lots of parts of it. The fun parts are like week of the young child, but we work on a lot of other things around awareness and access of the importance and it takes a whole community to change and to to get us where we need to be where all families and all children are ready. I'm going to let Karen talk a little bit about what we have going on and I brought Carrie Reynolds along who is the director of the center preschool over the center of Elgin

because she really understood the assignment for the week of the young child and I think what she did really encapsulates what the basics is about. So, I want to show that. Hi. Good evening everyone and it's a pleasure to meet some of you. I know I've had the the opportunity to meet a couple of you around the community and so it's great to be here face-to-face. But what Carrie is passing out is what her center is doing for week of the young child this year. We challenged or highly encouraged our child care centers and other organizations in our community to align their week of the young child activities to the basics principles cuz believe it or not, we're all already doing the basics whether we know it or not. We really truly are. Everyone really is. And so what Carrie is passing out is a couple of things that she she put together that really shows the basics in action. So, you'll find information on our free texting program that's available to all families in the greater Elgin area with children under the age of four that sends free brain tips to directly to phones and more information on the five basics principles. And then the handout with Carrie put together a month of the young child. So, like Amber mentioned, one week is just not enough. We need a month, a year and every day to really support that early development in small children. So, we really encourage everyone in our community to check out our social media to kind of learn more about what's happening this great week and month of the young child and we invite everyone to join us on the 24th where we'll be sharing more about the data, some successes, some challenges and what's been going on in our community for the basics. We really hope on your way out. You might have already seen it when you walked in, but there's an engagement station downstairs and the engagement stations we hope you start seeing them all over town because they really embody the fact that early learning can take place anywhere at any time. Right? We don't need fancy tools and lesson plans to encourage learning. Nope, we can do it anywhere at any time. So, we invite you all to check that out before the event ends today and thank you. I just want I also want to just mention one thing is that if anybody's

interested, the basics came out of Harvard of the achievement gap and Dr. Ferguson came in last year to kick it off and we're flying him back in so that we can talk about our successes, our wins for the year and we also know there's challenges, right? And so we're talking about those and so I hope you'll join us and um thank you so much for supporting our community and loving our children so big. I'm also going to I'm also going to introduce David. David is from Birth to Five. We're really fortunate that our community is also funded by Birth to Five Illinois. Every community is not that lucky and so I appreciate him coming. He's our regional director for that. Nice. Yes.

[cough] [clears throat]

Okay. That brings us to the portion where we recognize persons present. We have one person signed up up this evening, Bob Johnson. Good evening, council members. I'm here tonight to further make the point I believe is critical to who we are as a city. We are a diverse community as reflected by our city council. This community that is made up of tens of thousands of Latino and Hispanic heritage that make up half of our population are directly threatened by our federal government. ICE and DHS among others have been directly targeting these our friends, families and neighbors. I have not heard anyone on this council say that they don't care about this, but the continuing act of delaying the action through the excuse of needing to further review the ordinance while our community remains in fear is in effect saying exactly that. I'm old enough to recall the get the lead out campaign. It happened fast. Not all of it, but some of it happened fast. That was done quickly and then amended as needed to make the law better. We didn't wait. When there is an emergency, the fire department doesn't send the request down review for 60 days to make sure that all the particulars are the best they can be. We as a city are limited in what we can do, but we need to do that now. The amendment process exists to fix the flaws that exist in an ordinance. Waiting and waiting to tell terrified residents that you will help them to your ability is cruel and despicable. I as a resident of this city demand that we act in an immediate and kind way towards so many of us that desperately need it. This current course the city is on demonstrates that paperwork

is more important than people. I find this abhorrent. Please do the right thing and move this ordinance forward posthaste. In my pocket, these were handed out at the Know Your Rights rally just what is it? Week ago? The whistle and a flyer. The flyer tells you code one, blow in short bursts, ICE is nearby. Code two, code red, blow in long blasts, ICE is detaining someone. On the streets, whistles guide people to follow ICE caravans, catch up with the crowd and alert neighbors to join in. People are living having to understand this and having to be scared out of their mind when they hear it. And that could be just some kid playing with a whistle. Right? Nothing wrong with a whistle. We can't let our people live like this. Thank you. Thank you. It brings us to bids. We have one item tonight and that's bid number 26-0077 lead service line replacements 2026 contract. Mr. Mayor, I recommend that we award this to IHC Construction Companies in the amount of $767,916. Moved and seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none, clerk please call the roll. I'm sorry, Ms. Alfaro. Thank you. Question for city staff. Just confirming cuz I did mention DCEO in the memo. Just wanted to confirm and looking at this, there is no funding for this one coming from DCEO. Just wanted to confirm that. I don't immediately know at this time, Council Member Alfaro. Let me double

check. Cuz it looked like it just came from bonds and um Yes, you are correct and so I'm going back to that section. You are correct. Okay. I just wanted to double check. Thank you.

Anything else? Clerk, please call the roll. Council Member Alfaro? Yes. Dixon? Yes. Good? Yes. Martinez? Yes. Powell? Yes. Steffin? Yes. Thorn? Yes. Mayor Captain? Yes, the motion is approved 8-0. That brings us to other business. The first item is a resolution authorizing the execution of a purchase of service agreement with Station Wise Incorporated for personnel scheduling software. Move approval. Second. Moved and seconded for approval. Any discussion? Hearing none, clerk please call the roll. Council Member Alfaro? Yes. Dixon? Yes. Good? Yes. Martinez? Yes. Powell? Yes. Steffin? Yes. Thorn? Yes. Mayor Captain? Yes, the motion is approved 8-0. Item two is a resolution authorizing execution of a joint funding agreement for the federally funded construction with the State of Illinois acting by and through its Department of Transportation in connection with the Highland Avenue and Lyle Avenue intersection project. So moved. Second. Moved and seconded for approval. Any discussion? Hearing none, clerk please call the roll. Council Member Alfaro? No. Dixon? Yes. Good? Yes. Martinez? Yes. Powell? Yes. Steffin? Yes. Thorn? Yes. Mayor Captain? Yes, the motion is approved 7-1. Item three is a resolution authorizing execution of an of a local public agency engineering services agreement with Hampton Hampton Lenzini and Renwick construction for for construction engineering services in connection with the Highland Avenue and Lyle Avenue intersection project. So moved. Second. Moved and seconded for approval. Any discussion? Hearing none, clerk please call the roll. Council Member Alfaro? No. Dixon? Yes. Good? Yes. Martinez? Yes. Powell? Yes. Steffin? Yes. Thorn? Yes. Mayor Captain? Yes, the motion's approved 7-1. Item four [clears throat] is

authorization for payment for United Door and Dock. So moved. Second. Moved and seconded for approval. Any discussion? Ms. Alfarro? Uh question for city staff. How was the door damaged? It just says the door was damaged, but it didn't say how it was damaged. I don't have specific information on that. I'm assuming it was by a vehicle. Okay. Anything else? Clerk, please call the roll. Council members Alfarro? Okay, yeah. Yes. Dixon? Yes. Good? Yes. Martinez? Yes. Powell? Yes. Steffin? Yes. Thorne? Yes. Mayor Captain?

Yes, motion's approved 8-0. Uh item five is authorization for payment for Crossroads Construction Incorporated. So moved. Second. Moved and seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none, clerk, please call the roll. Council members Alfarro? Yes. Dixon? Yes. Good?

Yes. Martinez? Yes. Powell? Yes. Steffin? Yes. Thorne? Yes. Mayor Captain? Yes, motion's approved 8-0. Item six is authorization for payment to IHC Construction Companies LLC. So moved. Second. Moved and seconded for approval. Any discussion? Ms. Alfarro? Thank you, Mayor. I had a Um the second invoice that was submitted on here on page 102, that 7,510. Um I wasn't sure how it all tied together. So, if city staff could help clarify that for me. You'll have [snorts] to give me a moment to take a look at this.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, of course. [clears throat]

So So, what it appears in this instance, there was work that was conducted by IHC Construction and addition to the invoice that you're referring to, Mid-American Water of Wauconda. So, in this instance, it's which was all part of the program, but in this instance, um it's the amount that exceeds the manager's procurement authority that requires council authorization for payment. Uh but I'm trying to get clarification. How did that seven like that's um $7,990 and 98 cents uh tie into the first invoice? Cuz the first invoice is only asking for the 27,000 um and $40.50. And so, I just want to make sure we're not going to get asked for Which one? So, I have spending There's spending authority by the city up to $25,000.

So, they just want two contractors in this instance. uh corporate council found it. It looks like there's a line item for the Mid-American Water invoice on the IHC invoice. 8260 8260 It's it's a little higher than the amount of the invoice, but I think that's rolled into the IHC amount. So, that's how I didn't match and I couldn't find it. Okay, cool. Thank you for clarifying that. Anything else? Clerk, please call the roll. Council members Alfarro? Yes. Dixon? Yes. Good? Yes. Martinez? Yes. Powell? Yes. Steffin? Yes.

Thorne? Yes. Mayor Captain? Yes, motion's approved 8-0. Item seven is authorization for payment to Mick Scott Golf Incorporated. So moved. Second. Moved and seconded for approval. Any discussion? Clerk, please call the roll. Council members Alfarro? Yes. Dixon? Yes. Good? Yes. Martinez? Yes. Powell? Yes. Steffin? Yes. Thorne? Yes. Mayor Captain? Yes, motion's approved 8-0. Consent agenda. So moved. Second. Moved and seconded for approval. Any discussion? Hearing none, clerk, please call the roll. Council members Alfarro? Yes. Dixon? Yes. Good? Yes. Martinez? Yes. Powell? Yes. Steffin? Yes.

Thorne? Yes. Mayor Captain? Yes, motion's approved 8-0. Uh miscellaneous business. Move for approval. Second. Moved and seconded for approval. Any discussion? Hearing none, clerk, please call the roll. Council members Alfarro? Yes. Dixon? Yes. Good?

Yes. Martinez? Yes. Powell? Yes. Steffin? Yes. Thorne? Yes. Mayor Captain? Yes, the motion is approved 8-0. Announcements. The next Committee of the Whole meeting will be Wednesday, April 22nd, 2026 at 6:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers. The next regular meeting of the Elgin City Council will be April 22nd, 2026 at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers. I'd entertain a motion to adjourn back to the Committee of the Whole. So moved. Second. Moved and seconded. Clerk, please call the roll. Council members Alfarro? Yes. Dixon? Yes. Good?

Yes. Martinez? Yes. Powell? Yes. Steffin? Yes. Thorne? Yes. Mayor Captain? Yes, we are adjourned. I'll entertain a motion to uh reconvene. So moved. Second. Moved and seconded. Clerk, please call the roll. Council members Alfarro? Yes. Dixon? Yes. Good? Yes. Martinez? Yes. Powell? Yes. Steffin? Yes.

Thorne? Yes. Mayor Captain? Yes, motion's approved 8-0. We're back at Committee of the Whole. I believe we're on item D. I agree, Mayor. This is the ratification of a for the city accepting a grant from the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus for its energy efficiency outreach and engagement grant program. The city received this grant just short of $23,000 from the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus to expand outreach and education for residents eligible for low-income energy assistance programs. To maintain eligibility and meet time-sensitive grant requirements, the agreement was executed in December to allow the project to proceed without delay. This item ratifies the grant agreement. So moved. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Any discussion? Ms. Alfarro? I just wanted to thank city staff for working on this. I know Kristen was working on this and others. So, thank you so much for finding this grant and making sure that it's super inclusive to be on just a a general specific um demographic, but as broad as possible. So, thank you. Anything else? Clerk, please call the roll. Council members Alfarro? Yes. Dixon? Yes. [clears throat] Good? Yes. Martinez? Yes. Powell? Yes. Steffin? Yes. Thorne? Yes. Mayor Captain? Yes, motion's approved 8-0. Item E is a contract to provide mosquito controls uh services on properties located within the Kane [clears throat] County portions of Elgin. The city provides mosquito surveillance and larval control services to residents residing within the Kane County portion to prove or to actually to reduce the risk of mosquito-borne diseases. Those residents living in the Cook County portion of Elgin receive mosquito abatement control services through the Northwest Mosquito Abatement District that operates as a separate task taxing district within Cook County. Uh this year, the city issued a request for proposals and received two qualified responses, both of which vendors have previously provided effective,

environmentally responsible services to the city in the past. This year, Clarke Environmental submitted a lower cost proposal and is being recommended for the award. So moved. Second. Moved and seconded for approval. Any discussion? Ms. Alfarro? Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to have a a suggestion in the future for something similar to this. If we could reach out to the Sustainability Commission to see if there's any environmental concerns um given that the chemicals and everything that are being used. It would be great to get their perspective on this in the future. Okay. Okay.

Well, it's been brought up a number of times about the material that's put into the catch basins and those are biological. Bacillus uh Bacillus thuringiensis is something you can use in your vegetable garden. And it's a specifically targets uh larva and things like that. So, it's very safe and uh very safe to put in those catch basins. Okay, clerk, please call the roll. Oh, I'm sorry. I I Thank you, Mayor. I just I just wanted to point out that included in this in addition to the mosquito abatement, it also provides funding for testing for West Nile virus. So, that's always a concern and always kind of gets overlooked, but I appreciate that. Thanks. Okay. Okay. Clerk, please call the roll. Council members Alfarro? Yes. Dixon? Yes. Good? Yes. Martinez? Yes. Powell? Yes. Steffin? Yes.

Thorne? Yes. Mayor Captain? Yes, motion's approved 8-0. Item F is a traffic I'm sorry. You can take it. No, no, thanks. That was too long. [laughter]

It's the first amendment to an existing professional services agreement with Hampton, Lenzini, and Renwick for traffic signal maintenance, administration, inspection, and on-call engineering services. This proposed amendment with HLR increases the 2026 not to exceed amount by $95,000 to support the expanded traffic engineering services, signal system operations, and capital improvement work HLR performs for the city. The additional scope reflects the continued growth in traffic-related initiatives, uh its coordination with internal departments, and delivery of planned infrastructure projects. Just for reference, this existing agreement has not been amended since it was first established at cost in 2017. So, this is HLR's first raise in almost 10 years. Move for approval. Second. Been moved and seconded for approval. Any discussion? Hearing none, clerk, please call the roll. Council members Alfarro? Yes. Dixon? Yes. Good? Yes. Martinez? Yes. Powell? Yes. Steffin? Yes. Thorne? Yes. Mayor Captain? Yes, motion's approved 8-0. Item G is a contract for auto collision repair services with Elgin-based All American Auto Body. The city has a fleet of about 700 vehicles plus additional equipment that annually experience about 50 repairable collision incidents each year. To ensure the city receives competitive competitive pricing and consistent service staff periodically issues request for proposals for hourly labor rates associated with collision repair services. While it is possible to solicit bids for individual repair, the extent of collision damage is often unknown until the vehicle is actually disassembled. As a result, bidding individual incidents is inefficient and creates delay in returning critical vehicles to service. Establishing a contract based on standardized labor rates allows the city to properly authorize repairs, maintain operational readiness, and control costs all while ensuring competitive pricing through this RFP process. City issued

the RFP this year, All American Auto Body of Elgin was the sole respondent. All American Auto Body is the city's current provider and has demonstrated continuing ability to deliver timely and reliable service. So moved. Second. Moved and seconded for approval. Any discussion? [clears throat] Hearing none, clerk, please call the roll. Councilmember Alfaro? Yes. Dixon? Yes. Good?

Yes. Martinez? Yes. Powell? Yes. Steffen? Yes. Thorn? Yes. Mayor Captain? Yes. Motion's approved 8-0. H and I are similar initiatives involving lift stations at different locations within the city. A item H is for lift station pump replacement at the Gifford Road lift station. This is an agreement with Flow Techniques Corporation. Move for approval. Second. Moved and seconded for approval. Any discussion? Hearing none, clerk, please call the roll. Oh, Mayor, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm I'm so sorry. I was trying to look at my notes and trying to find um I know we have to replace one. Do we know what the condition of the other one is cuz it's probably the same age, and so I'm assuming at some near point we'll have to replace it, but I was curious on that condition. Yeah, you're correct. It doesn't have information on the age in here, but if you if you call from reading the memo, these pumps are literally inspected on a daily basis. And so in this instance, there was a determination that the pump that is being recommended for replacement could have been repaired but for the additional, I think it's $7,000 or whatever, just decided to go with a new pump. So do we think the other pump might be coming in the near I I can't conjecture. There's information on there, but but again, I guess the assurance that I'm trying to provide is they only make those actions every year.

That's true. Yeah, I appreciate that. Thank you. Okay, anything else? Okay, clerk, please call the roll. Councilmember Alfaro? Yes. Dixon? Yes. Good? Yes. Martinez? Yes. Powell? Yes. Steffen? Yes. Thorn? Yes. Mayor Captain? Yes. Motion's approved 8-0. This is um item I is another agreement with Flow Techniques. This time it's for the Otter Creek lift lift station, and instead of a pump, it is for a channel monster grinder replacement. Move for approval. Second. Moved and seconded for approval. Any discussion? [clears throat]

Hearing none, clerk, please call the roll. Councilmember Alfaro? Yes. Dixon? Yes. Good? Yes. Martinez? Yes. Powell? Yes. Steffen? Yes. Thorn? Yes. Mayor Captain? Yes. The motion's approved 8-0. Announcements from the council. Mr. Thorn. Thank you, Mayor. I have three. I'll try to be quick. The first one uh will be maybe a little bit of a surprise to everyone here, but I ask everyone for their prayers. I think everyone knows John Paul of Paul's Family Restaurant. He was in Greece recently and he got sick. Uh it was notable. He had to come home early on his vacation. He is now uh receiving uh radiation treatments at Sherman Hospital. So he could certainly use everyone's prayers. Second is as the mayor put it earlier giving a proclamation how he is enlightened and he learns things that he was unaware of. That certainly happened with me as I address and help raise funds at different galas and their organizations. With it being autism awareness month I'm proud that I will be helping raise funds Saturday night for uh the Alexander Leigh Center for Autism, which is a school for autistic children in Crystal Lake. And uh I just it's uh it touches my heart as I'm sure many others, especially giving that proclamation this evening. Finally then, just a fun one. It's a wonderful weekend for fathers to enjoy and mothers spending some TV time watching the Masters golf tournament with their children. And for those that don't know the Masters does

donate hundreds of thousands of dollars to charities every year, especially for children. Thank you. Okay, anything else? Ms. Powell. Thank you, Mayor Captain. Um a few announcements. Uh first, I'd like to uh thank the Elgin Police Department and city staff that were involved in this weekend's Easter egg hunt uh that took place in Festival Park uh Saturday morning when it was cold, way too cold for it to be Easter, but um had a very good turnout, and all the kids had a great time and the parents and grandparents. Um also want to announce um the Marklund Center is having their run, walk, and roll uh 5K event um on April 26th um at 8:30 a.m. It's uh one of their fundraisers. If you are interested in getting some more information or participating, please go to go to their website their website um for the Marklund Center. And last but not least, um want to uh pay tribute to um a dear friend and a city employee who has put in 20 years here at the city that is going to be leaving at the end of the month, and that is our assistant parks and rec director uh Barb Pizzolato. I've known Barb for years, had the pleasure of working with her for a number of years, and Barb was recently sworn in as the new leisure services director for the Village of Glendale Heights. So uh we are going to miss you, Barb. Really appreciate all of your creativity and energy uh that you've brought uh to the city of Elgin, and wish you well in your future endeavors. So please keep in touch. Don't be a stranger.

Thank you. Okay, anything else from the council? Ms. Alfaro. Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to give a a shout-out to a new business in town, um Don Glaras, which is downtown Elgin. Uh they had the ribbon cutting this weekend. I was there with Councilmember Steffen. Um we were holding up the ribbon, um but if you don't know Don Glaras, um they are uh a retail store for candy and Mexican groceries. They used to be in the flea market that then got moved. They went to Spring Hill Mall, then came back. So happy that they came back to Elgin and they rooted here. Um it's family owned, and so if you are in downtown on Doug by Douglas and Highland, um please check them out, and thank you to the building owner um Don Rage, if I got the name correct, um for working with businesses and and utilizing that space to be commercial again. So thank you. Okay, yeah. Anything else? Mr. Steffen. I got two quick ones. I'll try to make them quick. First, our Kiwanis Club is having a reverse raffle next Tuesday, April 14th at the Moose Lodge starting at 6:00 p.m., and you can see any Kiwanis member, myself, or others. And enter for $100 a chance to split 50/50 whatever the proceeds are through that raffle. So uh I have tickets and other Kiwanians have tickets. That's next Tuesday, 6:00 at the Moose Lodge on South McLean. The other one I wanted to mention is the uh North End Neighborhood Association um tends to and manages the butterfly garden, the city's butterfly garden at the corner of uh Douglas, and I can't remember the cross street, kitty-corner from the Salvation Army. Uh Nina's having a um fundraiser. It is Thursday, April 30th, 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. at Kubo. The cost is $89 per ticket. You get a evening of food from Kubo and also to a chance to participate in the live

auction and free raffle. So if anybody wants those, I have a card with a QR code to take you to that event and buy tickets. That's it. Okay, anything else? Mr. Dixon. Thank you. Uh a couple of weeks ago um we um were discussing the inclusivity and diversity initiatives, um the ordinance in particular, and um the community had asked for us to provide updates. And so this is um Diana, Councilwoman Alfaro, and I providing an update. Um we made a suggestion to city staff to um place the updates on the city's website, and I would like to announce that that actually is live today. So thank you to city staff for getting this done so quickly. And what you're going to find, well, first, how you find it is you all you need to search is Engage Elgin or City of Elgin, Engage Elgin, and the link for that uh page will pop up. And what's on here is a line chart that gives exactly what city staff is doing, and it also it gives a detail of what's being analyzed specifically. And and attached to that is also a timeline for that. Also on there, there is frequently asked questions that will come up or have come up over time, and so you're going to see that. Um you're also going to see a why the analysis takes time. And which I I do want to point out that this is a little bit different than other ordinances similar to this um in that it asks for a lot more with the municipal ID and the economic development piece and the legal defense fund. So that's the the reason um that this takes a little bit longer to to completely flesh out. Um and also at the near the bottom of the page, there's a section on there called we are

listening. And so um one of the uh one of the the mayor's request um this kind of goes in line with it, which is open it up for the greater community to be able to provide feedback. So, you know, so this is the start of that. So, any and everyone can leave a comment. That comment is going to go directly, I believe, to assistant city manager Cassandra Hiller, who's taking the lead on this. Um and um and so it that will those comments won't go to city council. So, you'll still have to go, you know, email city council, call city council like you normally would in order to contact us. But if you were to place comments in this section, they would go to Cassandra, uh assistant city manager Cassandra Hiller, uh who would then, you know, include that in her analysis and or provide that information back to us as a city council. So, um so that's the update. Um that is open, that's live right now, 24/7. You'll be able to see that. And then um also there's a link for the draft ordinance uh on that page too as well. Um so, that is our update, and we'll continue to keep everyone uh abreast. And thanks again to city staff. Anything from staff? Council member Dixon took care of it for me. If you might want to add, if you sign up, you can get automatic updates when when they're posted to the website.

Fair enough. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, so there's a a link a button at the top, I'm sorry, that where you can follow, and you can get updates. So, anytime anything is updated on the page, you will receive an an email, um I believe. So, um so please click that link, sign up, uh and so that way you can stay abreast on the move. Okay. Miss Powell. Um as I'm looking at this on the website, just a a reminder to residents, uh folks remember that leaf pickup got suspended uh early last last fall due to the weather. So, um we put in a a on-street leaf collection during the spring just to kind of clean everything up again, and that starts next week. Uh so, that collection uh takes place April 13th through the 16th. There's information on the website about how we'll be conducting that. So, all of those leaves that didn't get did not get picked up last year because it snowed so early, this is your opportunity to get that done. Um shout-out to our public services team for making this happen and uh doing the fine work that they do every day in our community. Thank you. Okay. Entertain a motion to adjourn. So moved. Second. Moved and seconded to adjourn. Clerk, please call the roll. Council member Sclafani Uh yes. Dixon Yes. Goodman Yes. Martinez Yes. Powell Yes. Stefan Yes. Thorne Yes. Mayor Kaplan

Yes, we are adjourned. Have a good evening.

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