City Council - Regular Meeting

the whole meeting for the Elgin City Council for June 10th, 2026 to order. Will the clerk please call the roll?

Council Member Zafaro? Here. Dixon?

Present.

Good. Martinez? Here. Ortiz?

Here.

Powell? Here. Stephan?

Here.

Thorne?

Here.

Mayor Captain?

Here. Approval of the minutes of the previous meeting of May 27th.

So moved.

Second. Moved and seconded. Any corrections or additions? Hearing none, clerk, please call the roll.

Council Member Zafaro?

Oh, I had a comment. Sorry. Sorry, I was trying to grab my notes. It's going to be amended because I believe that meeting did not go to 7 o'clock, the time on there.

And then there was one other thing.

I can't remember where the other thing is right now, but the timing. And if it's minor, I'll email Kim.

Okay.

Thank you.

Sorry about that. Anything else? Okay. Please call the roll.

Council Member Zafaro? Yes. Dixon? Yes. Martinez? Yes. Ortiz?

Yes.

Powell? Yes. Steffen? Yes.

Yes.

Thorne.

Yes. Yes. Motion's approved to eight zero. We have a number of people signed up for a public comment this evening. Uh, first people signed up for items on the agenda. Uh, Bob Johnson.

Good evening, mayor council. I'm here tonight again to advocate for the inclusivity and diversity ordinance. We are effectively 60 days from when that timeline was established to review the 20-page document. It's been 77 calendar days. It is my opinion that it is our duty to our neighbors to do everything within our power to help them, especially when they are being oppressed by our federal government. I'm aware that a report is scheduled to be given at this council tonight and the details of it to the city staff or from the city staff for the research they did with regard to the ordinance and its components. I want to point out that while we are as a city are in a review process, our neighbors continue to be hunted by ice. Since this process started in December, there have been 77 confirmed sightings of ice in Elgin and 12 abductions. We need to stand up for our community in the face of this illegal and fascist attack on us. We must be willing to risk federal funding to do what is right. We must prioritize people over money. Families over bridges and potholes. Many of our neighbors live in fear of losing their loved ones to a system that operates outside of the law. They should be able to rely on their community for some kind of help against a powerful. and tyrannical government. We can let our residents know that while we can't stop ice. We will help. That our help is more than a whisper in a policy, but a statement made in an ordinance that says we don't believe in what ice is doing and to our ability we will help. It is obvious to me that there are two choices here. One be quiet, do nothing, hope they don't notice us. That said, in September of 25, there were 197 ICE sightings in Elgin and 40 abductions. Without due process, those are not arrests, those are abductions. In October, we had 246 sightings of ICE agents and 105 abductions. In November, we had 70 sightings and 25 abductions. That's 542 sightings and 170 abductions, not including the numbers I gave you since December. Who among us would want to live with this impending doom hanging over them? I won't go into the conditions at the various concentration camps throughout the nation, but the reports are not nice and in fact horrendous of the ones that I've heard. I'd wish it on no one. Certainly not a criminal and most of these people are not criminals. I beg that we do the right thing here and pass this ordinance without further delay to provide a small sense of hope to our targeted community by proving that we care. Thank you. Thank you.

Tracy Howell.

Mayor captain and city council. Um, I've been noticing some patterns and people are feeling left in the dark. They're feeling ignored. BY THEIR ELECTED OFFICIALS AT MANY DIFFERENT LEVELS. AND I FEEL LIKE THEY'RE REACHING OUT AT THIS LEVEL BECAUSE IT'S CLOSEST TO THEM. I HAD ANOTHER PART OF THE PATTERN. I HAD BEEN TO A SMALL BUSINESS THAT WAS TALKING ABOUT THE DIFFICULTIES OF GETTING THINGS GOING AND IN LINE. And then the business is going great and the city, I guess, celebrates and recognizes when small businesses start, like that month or something. And he felt left out because his business wasn't on that list. And I'M JUST CURIOUS, WHAT IS IT THAT DICTATES WHEN SOMEONE IS PAID ATTENTION TO AND WHEN SOMEONE IS IGNORED? AND I'M CURIOUS WHAT THE CITY SPENDS ON RESIDENTS BY DEMOGRAPHIC. BECAUSE IT SEEMS LIKE THERE'S A DISCREPANCY AND THIS ORDINANCE IS A REALLY LOUD THING THAT IS SITTING HERE, THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM, THAT PEOPLE JUST WANT TO BE HEARD, ACKNOWLEDGED, AND THEY WANT TO FEEL LIKE THEY MATTER. AND WE ALREADY KNOW THAT NOTHING CAN BE DONE TO STOP ICE. BUT WE WANT THE CITY to celebrate the people of Elgin, all of them. And I just, I can't help but see patterns and I will continue watching and trying to figure this out and bring up things as I see them. But I'd really like to see something that's more inclusive and that celebrates everyone. That's all I have to say.

Thank you. Bill Wurst.

Good evening. I came here this evening to speak out on a situation and apparently it is evolving to make sure that Elgin does not follow the path of becoming a sanctuary city. We can see what the results are in Chicago and other major cities around the country. I can sympathize with the immigrants that have come here. But I've also done a lot of work in checking how did these people come here? How were they influenced to come here? What incentives were they given to come here? What not-for-profits profited from bringing these people here? I know they've been put under a lot of duress. I know that it's been very difficult for their families. I think that we need to really do a little bit more work in establishing that. I also am upset with the fact that we are being challenged and brought to task to support all of this work. We have organizations that are out here proposing and moving these people and throwing the burden back onto us to take care of them. I was in service in the Philippines, and I had the opportunity to meet a beautiful family in the Philippines. I had three daughters and a son. And after I returned stateside, I was able to help two of the daughters come to this country. They were professional. But they also came here without any other support other than family members. And I had to sign for them and make sure they were taken care of. One was a bookkeeper and the other one was a nurse. The nurse settled in St. Louis and then the bookkeeper settled just outside of Philadelphia. And they both got married and raised families here. But they came the right way. They came through the proper immigration channels. They didn't come here looking for a handout. They didn't have any other support to take care of them. They had to come and work and be recognized before they could come. And they did it right. And I'm very proud of being able to help those individuals. to come here and raise families and do it right. Again, that takes me back to I am against having to support all these people who are coming here by outside groups trying to make it seem like we are the bad people for not accepting them and not providing things for them. I'm sorry. No, if they want to come here, they have to have their own support and be ready to go and have a job. Thank you. Thank you.

Okay, Mr. Manager.

Thank you, Mayor. The first item this evening is a presentation on the diversity and inclusivity initiatives. Assistant City Manager Cassandra Hiller will be providing information on the ways that the city is exploring to improve access to city services for all residents, including members of the undocumented immigrant community. Staff has been conducting research on the proposals, and tonight, Ms. Hiller will be providing a status update on the progress of that research and analysis. Good evening, Ms. Hiller.

Good evening. Thank you so much for having me this evening. And this is my first time in front of you, so this is fantastic. Thank you. So I have a presentation prepared for you. It is an initial analysis of what we have found to date. This is presentation one of two. There will be a second presentation given in 45 to 60 days from now that will conclude our analysis. So please just know that going into this presentation, this is only step one of two presentations. In this analysis this evening, I will cover a broad overview of what we have found that is already in practice within the organization and the gaps that also exist. This is important to note because the gaps are where the cost come in and where additional capacity or staffing or policy would be needed. So as I go through this, just keep that in mind, please. Without further ado, I wanted to recap how we got here, just in case members of the public aren't aware of where we were and how we got to where we are today. So if you recall, in December we had a discussion with the Council where members Alfaro and Dixon sponsored the initiative to bring forth an Inclusivity and Diversity Ordinance. Then in December, from December through March, we had public meetings and council discussion that further explored this inclusivity ordinance, the proposed ordinance, and corporation council drafted a proposed ordinance. On March 26th, the council gave direction to staff to complete a full analysis of the legal, financial, and operational analysis before further action would be taken by the council. FROM APRIL THROUGH JUNE, WHICH IS WHERE WE ARE TODAY, STAFF FROM MULTIPLE DEPARTMENTS HAVE BEEN CONDUCTING A COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS, LEGAL REVIEW, STATE LAW COMPLIANCE, FISCAL IMPACTS, ET CETERA, ON ALL THE ITEMS WITHIN THIS INCLUSIVITY ORDINANCE. TONIGHT IS WHERE WE ARE TODAY, JUNE 10TH, WHERE I'M PRESENTING PRESENTATION ONE OF TWO. Additionally, we do have the Engage Elgin page that did launch on April 8th, and we have been giving updates on that about every two weeks. So as a big picture overview, broad brush stroke, Elgin is already an inclusive city. In the review of departmental practices across the organization, it does confirm a consistent pattern. Many of the proposed inclusivity initiatives are already integrated into daily operations, and they are embedded in established procedures, staffing approaches, and service delivery. This is something you should celebrate. We have over 200 languages supported on our city website. Approximately 30% of our police department sworn personnel are Hispanic or Latino. And I dug into the data a little bit more, and this is kind of exciting. Since 2022, our permanent full-time employee breakdown in 2022 was 72% white and 28% minority, with 20% of that being Hispanic or Latino. Today, in 2026, we pulled the numbers today because I wanted them as close as possible. Our permanent full-time employee breakdown is 67% white and 33% minority, or 23% Hispanic or Latino, which shows from 2022 to current, we had 28% minority in 2022 and 33% today. So we are showing a continuous improvement across the organization in our permanent full-time. This does not take into account our part-timers or seasonal workers, in which case, if you looked at those numbers, the actual percentages would be even higher. And then also, all of our city services are open to all regardless of your status. We do not discriminate. So when we look at the five primary initiative areas within the ordinance, I will not be reading these definitions. I just want to highlight what they were. Resident legal defense fund, municipal identification card, procurement access, language access, and immigration enforcement limitations are the five primaries. However, civic engagement is also a very important piece that I don't want us to miss. civic engagement i didn't call it out as a primary because it is actually a central component embedded within each of these initiative areas and will be addressed within those and independently so that's important to note so when staff does an analysis of any proposed ordinance or policy we always do something that i call a gap analysis So what is a gap analysis? Well, when organizations undertake major policy initiatives, a gap analysis is a common management tool used to avoid creating unnecessary regulations or duplicative existing work. Rather than assuming every provision represents a new program, staff evaluates where the city already meets the ordinance's objectives and where an actual operational exact gap exists. This allows us then to focus our operational, legal, and cost analysis on the areas where new action would be required. This is important. This is important because if we're already doing it, that means I don't need to hire more people to do it, and I don't need to find more money to do it, right? So two really big things. If we're not already doing it, I have to look at what needs to change in the organization so that we can do it, is it going to cost us money, and does it require additional staffing? So it's really important to think about. When we went through it, we did find many of the proposed ordinance objectives are embedded in the city operations. The primary gaps identified involve creating two new programs, which were legal defense and municipal ID, as well as establishing clear administrative policies for implementation. So looking at it through that lens, this is great news as well that you should take pride in. 75% of what you have identified in this inclusivity ordinance is actually already adopted or in practice. That means the lift is much lighter. It means only 25% requires new implementation. So how is it that we already have 75% implemented or adopted? And I'm gonna go through that and you'll notice that across the top, it tells you already adopted, everything's color coded on the top right. So the first item is the ice free zones resolution. ALL OF THIS WORK STARTED BACK IN NOVEMBER WITH THE INTRODUCTION OF THE ICE-FREE ZONES RESOLUTION. OVER HALF OR 11 OF THE 20 PAGES OF THE PROPOSED ORDINANCE, THE CITY HAS IMPLEMENTED AS PART OF THE ICE-FREE ZONES RESOLUTION FORMALLY KNOWN AS PROHIBITING THE USE OF CITY PROPERTY FOR FEDERAL CIVIL IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT ACTIVITIES. IF YOU GO TO LOOK FOR THAT FOR THE PUBLIC, THAT'S WHAT YOU'RE GOING TO FIND IT CALLED ON OUR WEBSITE. This November 19th, 2025 resolution formalized how the city responds to civil immigration enforcement activities. Most notably, we have installed signs at all city owned properties, made signs free and widely available to the public. And if you still need one, we have a lot of them still here at city hall. And we have embraced this ice-free resolution across the organization and within the police department. I am not going to read everything on that slide, but we are fully implementing the ice-free zones resolution. Next, alongside the ice-free resolution, the city is compliant with the Trust Act and does not participate in civil immigration enforcement.

As previously mentioned, signage has been, which is a terminology used from the U.S. Department of Treasury, is not typical.

Property were to become available, then you could have a connection to the south. However, that has been purchased by Campton Township Open Space Program. So there is nowhere else for these folks to go except for north. And so you have the two ways to ensure appropriate divisions of traffic. And in the event one gets blocked, there's an alternate route.

Yeah, my only concern is that's a lot of homes, just with two small entrances that are near each other. They're beautiful homes, right? And I do like that some of the bedrooms had, they were sharing the bathroom, so you felt like every bedroom kind of had a bathroom and stuff. And so that's really nice, but I am concerned that there is only, so on the other sides, there is no opportunity for another entrance room.

to the west, that is also owned by Campton Township Open Space. And so we've made trail connections to the west to connect into their open space with the open space provided in this subdivision.

So in every corner of Unit 4, we're not able to have any additional entrances or access inside those two?

That's correct. And making it further complicated in terms of why did those two entrances that do go north have to be put where there are is that there's an existing water body that doesn't let you then go north. to the east side. So all things considered, it's the best possible solution in our humble opinion.

What is the standard best practice for a neighborhood, the amount of entrances and exits?

That depends upon how many homes there are, the opportunity for connectivity. I don't think there is an easy one-size-fits-all answer. The fire code will say that when you have more than 30 homes, you should begin contemplating a second point of access, and this does have two points of access on McDonald Road.

In total with Unit 4, it's going to be 503 or 503. Like they went down one, right? So 500 homes. And I'm just a little concerned with the amount of entrances and accesses, to be honest.

But thank you. Anything else for Mr. Millat or the developer? Hey clerk, please call the roll.

Well, can we, can the developer come up and speak to that on the entrances and exits? Please.

Thank you.

I'm excited about ponds. It's been a great community for us. Uh, we've been building here since 2006. So, uh, we want to continue that. We want to finish off this community strong. Uh, we felt like we built a great community so far and really just looking to finish it up and continue what we've started.

So in your work in other communities, have you had this issue? I'm just a little concerned with the two entrances and accesses. So if you could give me some info to like.

So we have dealt with this. This is unique because we do not have any access to the southeast or west. We have to go north. But this having the two entrance points is quite typical. I can defer to our engineer who.

Yeah, I agree with Dave. Two is nice to have. It gives you that emergency access if ever needed, but two is generally the most that you'll see unless you have the opportunities to connect on the other parts of the site, and obviously here we don't with Campton Hills.

Okay. Thank you.

Mr. Thorne. Thank you. It's clear that Campton Hills as a township Wasn't in favor of this Well, and what do you what's your opinion of why that is Well, I think that they

I think that town has a position where they want to keep a small country feel, and they want to limit the density. They want to increase lot sizes, and that's just how they want their community slash village to have, and that's the feel that they want. That's well within what they want to do. That's kind of been the vibe, so to speak, with that town for quite some time, and I don't think that has really changed going through recent changes codes that they have established. I don't think that has really changed very much. So this being an opportunity on the far west side in Elgin, we would just want to continue with it just because it was so limited. And then being up against Campton Hills, this is like a unicorn, so to speak.

Well, I can see the concern for even neighbors there with the additional traffic on McDonald, then it'll be additional traffic on Randall. Potential somewhat, depending on the time and the people, congestion at the entrances and exits. But the plus is it allows Elgin to grow. It's a wonderful benefit for Elgin for tax base, additional people, et cetera. I will reluctantly support it.

It seems like there may be a little question on what is actually being presented to city council. So what is being presented is a final plat. This is not a zoning petition. This is not a discretionary approval. This is a ministerial act. The preliminary plat was approved in 2018. The zoning was approved. The plan development is in place. And the developer is coming forward with this final plat that reflects what was previously approved, which does require the city council's approval. if i may at the time of all those early approvals did campton hills already own all that property surrounding they had the property to the west the property to the south was in private ownership which is why you see the stub there however campton township took subsequent action to acquire that property and further prevent suburban development

Okay, Mr. Dixon.

Thank you for the presentation and thank you guys for coming up.

My situation is probably a little bit more unique than the rest of my colleagues here because I stay in one of our newer neighborhoods being Bowes Creek. And so my family, we built our home there and we are in the second to the last phase of that community. And that community, excuse me, I have a little bit of a cold. That community has, we have two entrances and exits. And it takes you a long time to get out of the neighborhood. it really does need a third entrance or exit on that last phase which is well over 30 homes it's probably more around i don't know if i have the ballpark it may be 75 homes back there mark you might know better than me and there's a there's an accent there's the beginning of an access road that has been built there but of course there probably would have had to be more property purchase going out to, you know, the road that's on the opposite side there. So I'm saying all of that to say the two entrances and exits, the traffic for the neighborhood is good. It's not bad traffic at all. It takes a long time to get out of the neighborhood, especially if you're in that second and certainly that third phase. And so the conversation already always consistent around emergency services, how quickly can they get there and get out? Um, we do have a fire station that is located on bowls, uh, right around the corner. So that doesn't seem to be really a problem for us. Um, so in being fair traffic is okay, but I really wish we had that third exit on the backend of the community. And, And honestly, 2018, when you say we approved this, I don't even remember approving this. Maybe y'all do. I don't remember approving this. Most of them weren't here. Well, not most. Some weren't even here. But still, in fact, from personal experience as someone, probably the only person that lives in a neighborhood like this up here, it can be frustrating. the access, the entrance and exit points, and you do want that direct access to Randall Road or to some ancillary world where you can quickly get to Randall Road. And going forward in the future, even though we've already approved this, you know, I think we should probably stay away from having two exits and move more towards three or even four. And whatever that entails, I'm sure that, you know, there's a financial constraint to that and we want to, you know, We want to do what we are regulated and what we have to do as a community. And that's what the rules that the state has set forth. But, you know, I personally, I don't like it. But it works. I still don't like it. So I just want to give you guys that. Maybe the next community you build, you want three roads in and out. Maybe I'm the opportunity.

And I certainly agree with you, Councilman. at every operation, it's one of the fundamental principles in our comprehensive plan, is to promote connectivity wherever we can. But even with the southern stub that was provided, when that property to the south was in private hands, there was still no certainty that that person ever was going to develop, ever wanted to annex into the city. What we do is we we try and future proof to the best that we can we try and plan for those eventualities and at the very least we have a fallback position that will handle the traffic and that there's emergency access can get in and out with the two and and that's the the best we can do in this particular circumstance okay miss martinez

Thank you, Mayor. As I recall, Hampton, Campton Hills went out far west-west because they wanted to be away from everything. And now it's gotten to the point where Alden is getting closer to them and they say, why does Alden want to do that? Well, it's their neighbors who sell private land that sell their private land to developers. And this is why it's happening. It's something that Elgin has the infrastructure. And I think Compton Hills has been having issues with infrastructure. That's what happens when you're far away. Now back to Councilman Dixon's point, it's true that there are subdivisions in Elgin that are like that, that have only two entrances. But the people who buy, they have a choice. The ones who want to live farther away from the entrances means there's less traffic. And they don't mind traveling far, but they don't have all that traffic. But there's quite a few subdivisions in Elgin that have either one entrance, right, and they prefer that, or that's how it was built, or two entrances. This is not uncommon. One that I can think of that's fairly large is the one northwest to Brando on Route 20.

Randall Ridge?

Yes, that's the one. And that, I believe, only has two.

Yes, ma'am.

And so the busiest road in Elgin. But I'm not sure how many homes are there, but it's not uncommon to have that. And I think people have the choice of buying there or not, knowing that that's how many entrances there are going to be. But I know Williamsburg is another one, big homes and one entrance, one exit. It's not uncommon in Elgin. So, I mean, we could go on and on and name some, but those are the ones I recall right now. Thank you.

Okay. Mr. Good. I just have a question. Out of curiosity with some of this conversation going on, what was the P&Z vote on this?

I believe it was unanimous.

Let's see.

Yes. I believe there was any, sorry, typically put that at the end of your packet. It was seven to zero in favor. Okay.

Thank you. You're welcome.

Okay. Anything else? Mr. Ortiz.

I sent some developers. I have an easy question. Do you guys still do stick build or are these going to be panel homes?

What's that?

Are these going to be panel homes or are they going to be stick built?

It's all panels. Okay.

All right. Thanks.

Mr. Dixon.

I just wanted to provide a little bit of additional insight. When you go into these communities to buy these homes and you're dealing with salespeople, they're not familiar with the infrastructure of that community. So they can't really tell you how many entrances and exits. As a matter of fact, you know, we were told when purchasing that the third exit would actually turn into a road and that's not true. Right. So that's just from personal experience because you're dealing with the salespeople in the office and they don't have the information.

But not Lennar though, right?

No, no, no, no. I mean, they hired the salespeople, but I, yeah, that was, that was Toll Brothers, not Lennar. I should clarify that. But I just wanted to give that, you know, just that perspective as someone who's went through the process.

You know you just don't know what you don't know and sometimes you get bad information I've been here for 15 years and I still hear from residents of West Point Gardens that they were promised a Trader Joe's at Route 20 and Nestler Road, so Not by me Okay anything else Okay, we have a motion clerk.

Please call the roll Council members off our own No. Dixon? Yes. Good. Yes. Martinez? Yes. Ortiz? Yes. Powell? Yes. Steffen?

Yes.

Thorne?

Yes.

Mayor Captain?

Yes. Motion's approved, 8-1.

Congratulations, guys. I was here at the beginning, 24 years ago, and remember the fights that we had when that all started. It's been a long time. Consent agenda.

Move for approval. Second.

Moved and seconded for approval. Any corrections, additions, discussion? Hearing none, clerk, please call the roll.

Council Members Alfaro? Yes. Dixon?

Yes.

Good. Yes. Martinez? Yes. Ortiz? Yes. Powell? Yes. Stephan? Yes. Thorne? Yes. Mayor Captain?

Yes. Motions approved 9-0. Miscellaneous business. Move for approval. Second. Move the second for approval. Discussion? Ms. O'Farrill.

Thank you, Mayor. I have a question for staff. Is there guidelines or procedures of how minutes should be done? And I ask that because some of these minutes are very lean, and it's really hard to tell what's going on at these meetings, and they're not recorded.

You're talking about the board and commission meetings?

Yeah. Yes.

I'll take a look into it and see what it is. A lot of that is, in instances, it's a staff liaison or how it's, I'll take a look into it.

Thank you. Thank you.

Anything else? Okay. Clerk, please call the roll.

Council members Alfaro? Yes. Dixon? Yes.

Good. Yes.

Martinez? Yes. Ortiz? Yes. Powell? Yes. Stephan? Yes. Thorne? Yes. Mayor Captain?

Yes. Motions approved 9-0. Next committee of the whole meeting will be Wednesday, June 24th, 2026 at 6 p.m. in the council chambers. The next regular meeting of the Elgin City Council will be Wednesday, June 24th, 2026 at 7 p.m. in the council chambers. Entertain a motion to adjourn back to the committee of the whole. So moved. Second. Second. It's been motioned a second to adjourn. Clerk, please call the roll.

Yes. Dixon.

Yes. Good. Yes.

Martinez. Yes. Ortiz. Yes. Powell. Yes. Steffen. Yes. Thorne. Yes. Meerkat.

Yes, we are adjourned. Entertain a motion to reconvene. Committee of the Whole. So moved. Second. Move the second to reconvene. Clerk, please call the roll. Aye.

Council members Alfaro? Yes. Dixon? Yes. Good. Yes. Martinez? Yes. Ortiz? Yes. Powell? Yes. Stephan? Yes. Thorntz? Yes. Mayor Captain?

Yes. We're back in business. Mr. Manager, I believe we're on item B.

Agreed this is engineering services agreement with HR green incorporated for the bridge and culvert 2026 through 30 program to better identify bridge and culvert conditions and provide a roadmap for long-term bridge maintenance and replacement needs. And to adequately budget for future bridge construction efforts, staff recommends the separation of the inspection and construction functions. This agreement provides for the continued bridge inspection and mandated reporting of those bridges plus GIS database management. in bridge master plan technical services. Future bridge and culvert construction contracts will be brought forward separately to the city council by contract for approval.

Move approval. Second. Moved and second for approval. Any discussion? Mr. Stephan.

I just want to say I appreciate the effort made to separate the inspections from the construction. Reading this memo, it reminded me of a year or two ago when we had are an area of the city re-inspected and I'm remembering over 125 properties put into the floodplain in the Poplar Creek area on the southeast side. And I think our review of that found that a lot of that was due to blockages in these culverts in these smaller areas. underpasses and bridges and so forth. So I'm also appreciative that we're going to be studying major structures and minor structures as that is being laid out in this memo. So I appreciate it. Thanks.

it's an initiative by public services director mike movements and as we all know bridge construction rehabilitation is expensive so this provides an opportunity to identify the needs pursue grant opportunities to do what we can to minimize the costs on the community when we make these repairs thank you council members

To Councilman Steffen's point, remember a few years ago I was called to Elgin High School by Deb Perriman, and we went out and looked at the culverts under the road near Elgin High School. They were very big. They were probably 10 feet. There were three of them. They were all blocked. THE WATER WAS BACKING UP AND WE TOOK PUBLIC WORKS WENT IN AND IT TOOK THEM WEEKS TO GET THE STUFF OUT. YOU CAN IMAGINE IT'S LIKE PULLING THE LOGS AND TREE STOMPS AND EVERYTHING ELSE OUT OF A TUBE AND HAUL IT OUT OF THERE. THE COST OF THE CITY AT THAT TIME WAS IN THE EASILY PROBABLY $100,000 JUST TO GET THE MATERIAL OUT. SO IT'S A GOOD INVESTMENT AND A GOOD LONG-TERM INVESTMENT FOR THE PEOPLE THAT LIVE THERE AND FOR THE CITY IN THE COURSE OF THINGS AS WELL. MS. MARTINEZ.

Mayor, to add to what you're saying, right there on Varsity Road, there's a bridge, and everything would be clogged up in that bridge, and it would cause all the school buses that normally would take that to Elgin High or nearby areas To go all the way around, we always had to close those roads. So when the city would go ahead to clean that, you're right. Aside from that, it would take so long because you need all these permissions from the Army Corps of Engineers. It seemed like seven different organizations that you needed just to do this. So it is very costly, and I'm glad that we're seeking help elsewhere for this. Thank you. Okay.

Please call the roll.

Council Member Zafaro? Yes. Dixon?

Yes. Good. Yes.

Martinez? Yes. Ortiz? Yes. Powell? Yes. Steffen? Yes. Thorne? Yes. Mayor Captain?

Yes. Motions approved 9-0. Item C is the renewal of a consolidated subscription agreement for various Civic Plus products. This renewal consolidates multiple existing city software subscriptions into a single annual agreement. These services support the city's website, agenda management, the municipal code, Freedom of Information Act processing, accessibility compliance, and internal communications tools used by both residents and staff.

MOVE FOR APPROVAL.

SECOND. MOVE TO SECOND FOR APPROVAL.

ANY DISCUSSION? MR. ORTIZ.

I'M NOT SURE IF IT RELATES TO THIS, BUT AS MANY PEOPLE ON THIS COUNCIL KNOW, IF I WAS ON HERE, I USED TO BE THE FOIA MASTER. I USED TO FOIA EVERYTHING FROM THE CITY. AND I'VE NOTICED RECENTLY WHEN I TRY TO LOG INTO MY OLD ACCOUNT, IT DOESN'T LET ME IN ANYMORE. SO DID OUR FOIA PROCESS CHANGE OR THEIR WEBSITE CHANGE WHERE YOU HAVE TO MAKE A WHOLE NEW ACCOUNT AGAIN AND YOUR PREVIOUS FOIAS ARE NO LONGER ACCESSIBLE?

I don't know the answer off the top of my head. I'm laughing to myself because I know they used to submit a lot of FOIAs before you were elected to the council. And I don't know off the top of my head what has changed, but I'll take a look into that and I'll be able to get back to you. I'm sorry.

All right.

Thanks.

I'm not aware of any changes that are... Mr. Beck didn't have to deal with my torture. It was Mr. Conway.

I'm sorry.

And maybe Kim Dewis or the city clerk can speak to this more, but there was a change from GovQ&A to Civic Plus, but it was important that we maintained access to all the previous... There we go. For requests and documents produced. So we do still have those, but the system has changed. So you may need to do something else to log in. I don't know.

There's no login needed for the new system, but if you needed previous request information, we can certainly get that to you.

I don't need them, but somebody else told me they couldn't log in, so that's why I tried to do mine, and it's not realizing it doesn't work.

If they want to reach out to the city clerk's office, we can make sure they get that.

Okay. All right. Thank you. How's that for a quick response? You know how to get it done.

Thank you both.

Mr. Stafford. Yeah, I just want to make a quick comment. I also on this one appreciate staff. It looks like we're consolidating renewals and that should make things easier too. So I appreciate that.

Yeah, Chief Technology Officer Aaron Cosentino has been doing that since he took the position. In the past, this is more for a transparency initiative. If the City Council approved a three-year agreement, we may not come back with a renewal term on that. In this instance, we want to make sure that the City Council, the public are on board with those changes, and this is evidence of those continued efforts. So thank you again, Council Member Stephan.

Okay.

Clerk, please call the roll.

Councilmember Zafaro? Yes. Dixon?

Yes. Good. Yes.

Martinez? Yes. Ortiz?

Yes.

Powell? Yes. Steffen?

Yes.

Thorne? Yes. Mayor Kaptur? Yes.

Motion's approved 9-0.

Item D is a custom artwork agreement with Acme Design Incorporated for an Angel of Independence replica. La Fiesta de Elgin takes place each September and showcases several large-scale props, including a large MX, Elgin-specific Callejones, am I saying that right? And a replica of Mexico City's Angel of Independence. Creating a permanent decorative base for the Angel of Independence sculpture furthers the immersive experience and continues to set Elgin apart, creating a lasting memory and impression for the attendees. These props will be used for several years and continue with solidifying the community's commitment to the arts and culture represented in Elgin. For those that don't know, Acme Design Incorporated is a local Elgin-based business that provides many, many props and other work to the motion picture industry.

Move for approval. Second. Second. Moved and seconded for approval. Any discussion? Ms. O'Farrell.

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you to staff. Cultural art is important, so I appreciate that. I do wanna say, and I've mentioned this every time FIESA comes up, that we need to try and find a way to be more inclusive to all Latino communities, not just the Mexican community here in Elgin, so if we could find a way. And then also looking in the future for additional art, in case that's ever of interest during Hispanic Heritage Month, et cetera, trying to find a way of trying to do something that is focused on the Latino culture here in Elgin, for those that have been here for generations and those that have immigrated to Elgin. That's all.

Mr. Thorne. Thank you, Mayor. Just wanted to make a quick comment about the fact of Acme Design. I recall that some years ago, the mayor Dave Captain was able to present Svengoolie with a coffin on the nightmare of Chicago Street's main stage, and it was built by Acme Design. That's correct. And now it's on television.

The bar's never low enough for me.

Clerk, please call the roll.

I wanted to follow up on Steve's comment because I've actually toured this plant because I know Clinton, Elizabeth, and now Alice works there, and I've seen it, and it is quite amazing. They do some really good work. That's not In any way a problem in this memo. It's really good stuff. So Just wanted to make that clear.

Okay, miss Paul Thank You Councilman Alfaro's comment on focusing on the wide range of Latino history here in Elgin is a perfect segue into a project by the Elgin History Museum on Hispanic heritage, celebrating culture and community that debuts later this summer. I want to say it looks like it's the documentary and traveling exhibit. premier on Friday, August 21st at 6 p.m. And that's going to be at the Elgin Community College Blizzard Theater. So a lot of folks are familiar with Project 231 that was done here in Elgin about the African-American history here in Elgin. And this is a similar piece on the history of Latinos in Elgin. So looking forward to that. But your comments made me think and, you know, OPPORTUNITY FOR A SHAMELESS PLUG FOR THE ILGEN HISTORY MUSEUM PROJECT.

ANYTHING ELSE?

MS. MARTINEZ.

I DON'T KNOW WHERE WE'RE AT IT. I'M GOING TO ALSO ANNOUNCE THAT ON AUGUST 1ST, BURIQUA FEST IS GOING TO HAVE THEIR FESTIVAL AT FESTIVAL PARK. AND FOR THOSE OF YOU THAT DON'T KNOW, IT'S FOR THE PUERTO RICAN COMMUNITY. BUT LIKE ANYTHING ELSE, EVERYBODY IS WELCOME.

Okay, clerk, please call the roll.

Council Member Zafaro? Yes. Dixon? Yes. Good. Yes. Martinez? Yes. Ortiz? Yes. Powell? Yes. Steffen? Yes. Thornton? Yes. Meerkat?

Yes. Motions approve 9-0. Items ENF are initiatives from the fire department. The first is a purchase agreement with Air One Equipment for replacement fire hose and nozzles. The fire department inspects its equipment in accordance with National Fire Protection Association testing and determined that some of its existing hose no longer is meeting performance standards and requires replacement. This purchase will ensure the frontline apparatus remain fully equipped with reliable fire suppression equipment, enhance firefighter safety, maintain operational readiness, and support the fire department's ability to provide an effective emergency service.

Move for approval. Second.

Moved and second for approval. Any discussion? Hearing none, please call the roll.

Council Member Zafaro? Yes. Dixon? Yes. Good. Yes. Martinez? Yes. Ortiz? Yes. Powell? Yes. Stephan?

Yes.

Thorne?

Yes.

Mayor Captain?

Yes. Motions approve 9-0. Item F is another purchase agreement with Air One Equipment, in this instance for self-contained breathing apparatus units, commonly referred to as SCABA. Fire Department is seeking to purchase six, what are called MSA G1 self-contained breathing apparatus demo units, and six 4,500 PSI SCAVA cylinders and four G1 face pieces from Air One equipment. This equipment is needed to fully outfit both the fire department's new six full-time ambulance and to also provide services for the reserve ambulance that goes into service as a seventh response unit when staffing levels permit. Because ambulance personnel are cross-trained as firefighters and paramedics, all frontline ambulances must be equipped with SCABA equipment to perform firefighting operations safely and effectively. To reduce costs, the fire department is purchasing discounted demonstration units for its existing SCABA vendor, Air One. This purchase will ensure operational readiness, maintain firefighter safety, and once again support the fire department's ability to provide comprehensive emergency response services to the community.

So moved.

Second. Moved and second for approval. Any discussion? Hearing none, please call the roll.

Council Members Alfaro? Yes. Dixon?

Yes. Good. Yes. Martinez?

Yes. Ortiz? Yes. Powell? Yes. Steffen? Yes. Thorne? Yes. Mayor Captain?

Yes. Motions approved 9-0.

Item G is an initiative from Council Members Dixon and Steffen seeking consideration of City Council initiatives to amend City Council rules of procedure.

THANK YOU NORMALLY EVERY ELECTION CYCLE EVERY TWO YEARS WE UPDATE CITY COUNCIL RULES BUT TWO WEEKS AGO WE HAD A CONVERSATION HERE IN THE APPROVAL OF OUR MINUTES AND IT WAS BROUGHT UP SOME PURCHASES THAT WERE MADE ON CITY P CARD AND I LEARNED SOME THINGS THAT I DIDN'T KNOW. AND IN TALKING WITH SOME OF MY COUNCIL MEMBERS, THEY DIDN'T KNOW. AND ONE WAS COUNCILMAN STEFFEN, WHO IS THE LONGEST SERVING PERSON ON CITY COUNCIL, WAS NOT AWARE OF SOME OF THE UNSAID THINGS. SO WE THOUGHT IT WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA TO DO WHAT WE NORMALLY DO EVERY COUPLE OF YEARS. NOW, SINCE, THERE WERE SOME THINGS THAT OBVIOUSLY WE WERE NOT AWARE OF AS IT RELATES TO TRAVEL AND P-CARD EXPENSES. AND SO THAT'S JUST THE OPENING. I'LL PASS IT OVER TO COUNCILMAN STEFFEN AND HE CAN TAKE IT FROM THERE.

WELL, I'LL PICK UP AND SAY MY PIECE ABOUT SOME OF THE THINGS I DIDN'T KNOW. One was that there is a car available for close conferences and trips. And the example I gave to Councilman Dixon that I didn't realize it was for is two or three years ago, I went to the sustainability conference in Dubuque, one that the mayor and I went probably 15 years ago or more with Dave Lowery, who was the public works director. but I went by myself and just drove myself over there in my own car, not realizing that there was an option. And then we just went to lobby last month, or earlier, yeah, last month in May, an overnight down to Springfield, and rather than hiring a driver and bus, we were told that there was a car available that we, the three of us who decided to drive down rather than, come on our own from a different direction. We all decided that it would be cheaper just to take the car rather than pay for a rented van and a driver. So we did that and that's really when I discovered that this thing is available. The other thing is that Councilman Dixon and I talked about, first of all, I want to step back and say the first thing I did after two weeks ago, the conversation is I confronted Councilman Dixon, we actually ran into each other at a police retirement and promotion ceremony last week, and I had the opportunity to sit with him and confront him about these expenses that came up two weeks ago, and was assured and had it clarified to me that he, this is not anything unusual, this is what he does, and he cleans those up, meaning he pays for the city expenses. In fact, he told me he had dropped a check off at the office downstairs lindsay is the staff that helps coordinate that and he dropped it off right before that meeting so he clarified for me that you know one of the one of the issues that came up two weeks ago was this overweight bag charge for a conference i think in tulsa oklahoma on the way back i was dumbfounded as to why that even came up and this kind of gotcha vibe that seems to be present and he informed me that that was something he paid for and he was going to take care of i i thought maybe the the group that he went to the conference with since it was a nationwide conference and they were recognized in several different ways for their efforts maybe they had asked him to bring their rewards back i couldn't figure out why here suitcase was overweight on the way home and not on the way there but such as it is, you explained to me that you were paying that yourself and had already done so, so at that point, I no longer had any interest in finding out what that was for. So all of that is to say, and Councilman Dixon and I had a conversation, and I know he's talked to some others and tried to get some more feel for this, and it came up last, two weeks ago, I think a couple different council people said that we need some clarification because For instance, those P-card expenses were from the same month that they were reported or the month before. I suggest that we give people 30 days to, if they use the P-card and they reimburse the city, then give them the chance to do that before we start throwing those around. Last year we changed the rules and said that if any of us go to a conference or some kind of a Field trip or whatever that we should I think the ordinance currently says we should present To the council at one of these meetings. I honestly think that's too cumbersome We already saw how long it takes for one of our department heads to give us an update on just one issue of All of us were coming back from conferences and taking city meeting time to make that presentation that would overwhelm us I think I think I would my idea and I think i think i've discussed this with councilman dixon's to change that we should present information that we get from these conferences maybe in written form and get it distributed right after that was passed i went to lrs's recycling center through the metro west council of governors it was an invitation to all the city mayors and i asked our mayor if he was going to go and he had a conflict so i went to that and I brought back the materials that LRS provided us. I got nine copies and I stuck one in everybody's mail slot so everybody got it. That was my attempt to comply with that new rule. But all that's to say I think we should, again, in that one I suggested a 60 day date to give people a chance to do that. And I also suggested that we don't have people do it formally at our meetings as I understand the ordinance currently says. i think that would just overwhelm possibly overwhelm our time if everybody who goes to a conference or goes someplace has to come back and formally present at one of these so anyway all of that is to say i was just a little disappointed of the way the meeting went two weeks ago especially after taking the initiative to confront councilman dixon which i think is what should have happened before all that and ask him what is going on with these and getting a very adequate and to me satisfactory explanation as to why those charges were on the P cards and how they were gonna be cleared up and were cleared up. So that's all to say I'm picking up. I think there were other councilmen two weeks ago that said we need clarification. I agree. I think we need that. So we kind of stopped this gotcha

stuff and give people time to satisfy whatever rules we're going to have and so thank you for that john uh... so i want to say a few things i've been on council for almost going on ten years uh... and in those ten years i can count on one hand how many conferences or seminars i've been to My schedule didn't allow for it, right? Three kids, working full time. You just don't have the time to go to a lot of this stuff. So you don't. But the first conference I was able to go to overnight was in November of this past year. And I went to an Illinois mainstream conference concerning our downtown economic development. thought it was really cool. I was in Dixon, Illinois, super excited to go. I was driving my own vehicle because I didn't know a city vehicle was even an option. I get in my vehicle to drive and my car doesn't start. I end up having to take an Uber from my house to Dixon, Illinois. I go to the conference. Now, For those that don't know this, our, well for me, our administrative assistant makes all of the arrangements, right? She picks the hotel, she pays for the conference, but for this conference, there actually was no fee. It was free for elected officials. So elected officials are going, and that's mayors, city council people, senators, state reps. It just is a whole thing. City administrators. But anyways, I go to the conference. I get there. I stay at my hotel, check in. I need to get back home. They don't have Uber. They don't have Uber in Dixon, Illinois to come back to Elgin. So I had to take a cab back to Elgin, right? I get home after the conference, good deal. A few days go by. I send in all of my receipts. Some more time goes by. The holiday hits. Hey, Lindsey, what's the total tab from that? you know, conference. Okay. X amount of dollars. And I just wrote a check for it and I just paid for it myself. So that's the Uber. That's the cab. That's food. That's hotel. That's whatever it is. I felt inclined to pay for it myself, which is what, what, you know, what I felt like I should do. Right. So the other couple of times that I've been able to travel, because I have a little bit more free times these days, I cover most of the majority of the costs. So to be hit with this, you know, for this to be brought up in the way that it was brought up was very, very gotcha, very disingenuous. And I was actually still in the midst of having conversations with Lindsey and sorting out what the bills were for things. So I definitely am not one to... to use a P-card willy-nilly. I was a government employee for a long time. All those dollars count. But when you travel on city business, you should use a city card. And then you just reimburse it. That's just what happens in government or in corporate America. That's the way that it goes. And you pay for things that are outside of that realm on your own. That's just the way that I've always known it to be. That's the way that I've handled it. That's the way that I've always handled it. And I would like to say that when I first came on to city council, you know, I felt discouraged to go anywhere, to go to any conference, any seminar, when really as city council people, you need to go to these things and find out what the best practices are. You need to find out what they're doing in other communities. You need to go out there and talk to people who don't live in your community and hear about what's going on elsewhere. To be, to pat yourself on the back with, you know, you don't go to any conferences, you don't go down to Springfield to talk to the governor's office or to the elected officials that are making changes and big laws that are affecting your community is just ridiculous. You don't pat yourself on the back for that. of not having that communication and and that access you got to go out there and you got to go out there and get what you want and bring that back to the community so that your community can be satisfied with what you're doing as far as when it comes to the job that you're doing so so i love seminars and conferences and i'm going to continue to go to them i mean community events supporting our non-profits i go to as many of those as i possibly can And I'm going to continue doing all of that because I think that as elected officials is what you should be doing, spending your time building that network and talking to people about what's happening and promoting your community. So I just wanted to kind of lay all of that out. But just pulling it back, after that conversation, I said, let me go back and look at this ordinance. The ordinance does not really give any guidance or clarity to us as elected officials as far as what we can and cannot do and should and should not do. Now, you generally are going to know, but it doesn't clarify anything. So there was a few things that I felt like we needed to clarify. One of the things, which is in section 2.08.060, which is travel and expenses, section A, one of the the final lines there reads and is in council must have been kind of hit on this that you do a summary of the conference or seminar seminar eddie subsequent city council meeting subsequent doesn't really give a time frame i suggest that we give it one let it be thirty days sixty days but some type of time frame so that we can we know what the time in which were were working in That's one of the ideas. Another one of the ideas is, and Councilman Stephan kind of touched on this too as well, the presentation type. He placed, after going to a conference, he placed things in the mail, in our mail slots. I went down to Springfield to lobby with our lobbyist organization, Metro West, and I sent the information they gave us to our corporate council and he sent that out to the rest of city council. But sometimes you go to a conference or a seminar or even a lobbying act and you don't have any paperwork. so there's nothing to mail or email necessarily necessarily and maybe a presentation or speaking about it at a council meeting is necessary so i i think that we probably probably probably explicitly say all of those options just as long as people get the information i think that's the spirit of it so Those were my few things that I think we should discuss and changing as well as the the vehicle rental. Not even knowing that that's available, but putting that into writing that if it is a local event that you do have that option to rent that, because I mean. I probably spent $200 on going to that conference in Dixon. I would have just been able to take a city vehicle so. So I'll leave it up there and leave it open for discussion.

Any discussion? Oh, Ms. Alfaro.

Thank you, mayor.

I think it'd be great to clarify in the city council rules that, because I think as if we want to be equitable for people to be able to run and serve in these positions, right? Cause it's an, a part-time basis and, and most of everyone, um, unless you're retired or working full-time positions and have family, et cetera. Going to all those conferences, everything, it adds up. And I don't think any of us, or not to my knowledge, are millionaires and can't afford all this. So I think it'd be good to be clean cut. This is the amount of money things could cost. This is what you're allowed to do. This is how much you could spend on a meal, et cetera. And I think the clearer there is, the better, so everyone is fully aware. The use of a city vehicle I think is great, but I also think if city staff are taking training in how that vehicle should be used and not used, then that should be also something that council members that will use it need to do, just to be fair and make sure that they're aware of how to utilize the vehicle. Given that we're looking to revise the city council rules, I have a couple additional items I would like to propose since we're doing this, so it's all in one. The one thing is we had brought up, and I know council member Paul has brought this up first, is questioning how we were picking individuals for the CDBG subcommittee, the two council members to serve on that. And so if we could put in here like appointments to the CDBG and others and clarify how those appointments will be made and how city council members will be selected. I think that would be great if we could flush that out. And so we're all in agreement and it's completely transparent to all of us how that is being done. In addition, executive session, we had mentioned that you're not allowed to take any materials. I would like to amend that to say that we can take materials as long as it's tied to the review of personnel. That way we can look at that as we're supposed to be evaluating the personnel, et cetera. And then the last thing I would like is, um, clean, uh, flushing out when city council members can put things on the committee of the, of the whole, for many years, I know I've only been here for one year, but from my understanding for many years, the city council has operated where if two council members has asked for something to be on agenda, as long as there was two council members and they requested it on time, they were able to put something on the agenda. Well, recently, a couple weeks ago, I had asked for something to be put on the Committee of the Whole. I was seconded by Council Member Dixon, and I got pushback, and it ended up having to be put on the City Council because it indicated that this municipal ID only applies to City Council 7 o'clock, not the 6 o'clock. So I would like to add in here the rules for the 6 o'clock and how when and when we cannot add things to the Committee of the Whole. Thank you.

Okay, anything else? Ms. Martinez.

I, too, would like to add some things, but just for transparency, all of these expenses are on the website. Anybody can look at it. I'm looking at last year's, and there's a few things that I would like to amend that if we, as council members, meet with anybody in the community, I do that a lot. I just go Dutch, you know. They pay theirs, I pay mine. But I would like to amend where we should not be going and meeting people, residents in other cities. Like here is a restaurant and it doesn't even belong to Elgin, it's in South Elgin. I would rather, you know, I encourage people to meet and talk to community members, but it should at least be a restaurant in Elgin. That's one thing. And the other, I see a subscription here for, membership and it's a membership that I have and I know quite a few council members have and this is on the p-card I guess I just never would have thought I don't have guidelines but you know it's something that I want to attend that I I can attend and go if I want and not attend if I don't want to but it's something that I feel that if I want to belong to that it should be something I should pay on my own I think we all do that But, you know, I encourage you to look at this. It's there. I'm looking at, I think there's 2024, 2025, and 2026. And yeah, I think that I agree with Councilman Dixon that we should put a timeline on if you go to any type of conference, it should be 30 days because that's kind of fresh. Why do it six months later? It would just be, I think, beneficial to all of us to hear it as soon as we can. I DON'T KNOW IF IT'S BECAUSE I BELONG TO A UNION FOR 31 YEARS AND WE ALWAYS HAVE TO GIVE RECEIPTS AND STUFF, BUT I'VE ALWAYS SAID IT THAT WHEN I VOLUNTEER FOR SOMETHING, YOU KNOW, OR I'M SERVING THE PUBLIC, IT'S KNOWN THAT YOU GIVE A LOT OF TIME AND YOU END UP GIVING MONEY and that's part of the serving the community. But that's just me, it doesn't have to be everybody. Those are the things that I'd like to see changed. Thank you, Mayor. Okay, anything else?

Thank you, Mayor. So I, you know, for the public, you know, I agree with getting things formalized and transparency for transparency for those not reading the agenda. This item says review city council rules and procedures. So consideration of city council initiatives and amend city council rules for procedures. So that's kind of just a one sentence item here. And it sounds like we're expanding this to consider multiple different rule changes, which I'm okay with, but I would, I would, appreciate time to think about a what was mentioned today and then if we're gonna open the scope up for all council members to kind of throw things in the pot that's that's what I would prefer happen and I'm not saying delay this longer than even to next meeting but right now I just feel like we're kind of tossing stuff out there and I don't know if this is if the intent was to lead to a vote this evening on something or if we're just having a discussion but I don't want as a senator now I prefer that we have some time to pump breaks and things about think about what was presented tonight as well as any other items that we might be bringing to the table And I might even say, because I think we're going to be having meetings as council members and how we operate together in the near future, that maybe we take that into consideration as a revisitation, not saying we stop this. We could do this, but this could be potentially something that we work on as a group in a concentrated effort. So that's my thoughts on that item right now.

Well, just certainly it's appropriate. We can ask staff to review the video and come back with us with a summary of the comments. and send it back to us sometime in the next couple weeks or next month and give people a chance to look it over because we won't remember exactly what everybody said. I tried to write down as fast as I can. So anybody else? Ms. Powell.

Yes, thank you, Mayor. I need some clarification for some of the things that were brought up. I think Councilwoman Martinez brought up some memberships. Can you clarify what those memberships are that you're referring to? Sure.

Sure, I know that there's at least three other people that belong to Elgin Hispanic Network. It's $120, it's an annual membership, and I only see one council member that put that on the procurement card, where the rest of us have paid it on our own. I guess it's our preference to do that. But I think on a membership like that, because we have the option, I pay for it, but sometimes I don't attend, sometimes I do. But I was just surprised that that one was on there. It was just 2025, I don't see anything for 2026, but the membership should be due in a couple of months. That was the example. Okay, thank you for the clarification.

And then the other question was for Councilwoman Alfaro. You said you had an issue placing something on the Cal agenda versus the Council agenda. And I remember I've been on council, my goodness, since 2011. And I remember when we changed that policy, and it was around making sure that we got a first and a second. and correct me if i'm wrong it's my understanding that once you have that first and second you contact staff typically for i think noon on wednesday is the preferred time to place an item on the cow agenda because our items are typical any time that i've known that items have been placed on the agenda had they been placed on the college and they have not been placed on the council agenda um so i'm just what were you trying to place on and why was it on the council agenda why was

I'm suggesting Corporation Council Chris Beck. Okay landed on this Discrepancy and I think it's probably easiest for him to explain.

Okay, that'd be helpful. Thank you.

Sure the What Councilman Alfaro is talking about was the regular reports with respect to the Diversity and inclusivity initiative ordinance and so Upon review, there was discussion about wanting to do this on a regular basis versus having it as a one-time discussion item. So the municipal code provides contains a language that when there is initiative that is seconded, that can be placed on the city council agenda. It doesn't say anything in the municipal code about placing that on the committee, the whole agenda. So upon review, it was determined that this item would be placed on the city council agenda on a recurring basis. So those updates could be given.

Huh, okay.

And it was because it was a regular ongoing, is that the interpretation?

It was just based on what the municipal code provides.

Because it wasn't a one-time thing?

The municipal code only talks about the city council agenda. It doesn't say anything about the committee, the whole agenda.

Okay. So, yes, that is a loophole we need to close. But in practice, any time that we, as city council persons, myself, anyone else, has requested an item to be placed on the agenda, it's always been placed on the COW agenda. So... this is and this is why we have these conversations and ask those questions so i thank you chris for the explanation now i just now i don't remember coming up before and so on yeah i didn't realize it was read that way either until i did and yes but that's what language Not blaming you for the way city code is written, but no, thank you for the clarification. But yes, that's good to know, and that's why we have these conversations, so that we can clarify things and make changes, because I think most of the time, if we're putting items on the agenda for discussion, we want them to be on the COW agenda, because that is supposed to be our discussion meeting. So thank you for that clarification. I guess a couple of things I have. I want to begin by saying I definitely support accountability for the use of public resources. And every city council member has a responsibility to ensure taxpayer dollars are spent appropriately. And when mistakes occur, they should be corrected. However, similar to what Councilman Steffen said, I'm a little troubled by the manner in which this issue was brought up. If there was a legitimate question about an expense associated with a conference or travel, the most reasonable first step would have been to simply ask the council member involved for clarification. A phone call, an email, or a conversation could have answered a very basic question. Were you aware of the charge? And if reimbursement is required, do you intend to reimburse the city? It doesn't appear that that conversation ever occurred. Instead, we find ourselves discussing a matter publicly that may have been resolved quickly and professionally through direct communication. I think it is important that we distinguish between an administrative oversight and actual misconduct. Those are not the same things. So before we elevate an issue to the level of public controversy, we should establish the facts, determine whether an expense was appropriate, and determine whether any reimbursement is owed. Accountability begins with asking questions and gathering facts. It should not begin with assumptions, accusations, or public ambushes. What is particularly concerning to me is that the expenses being discussed tonight have either already been reimbursed, as mentioned by Councilman Dixon, or are in the process of being reimbursed before these concerns were brought forth publicly. if that's the case in the question before us is not whether the city would be made whole the city has already been made whole or will be made whole uh... and i believe it was councilman dixon that brought this up to the fact matters because it speaks directly to how the situation was handled uh... I believe we need to be careful about the precedent we set. If every questionable expense, every clerical error, every reimbursement issue is going to be handled through public accusations before a conversation occurs, then we need to be prepared to apply that same standard consistently to every elected official, every board member, and every employee. I don't believe that approach serves this organization well, nor does it serve our community well. But I would also like to address a broader concern. For years, local elected officials have faced criticism whenever public funds are used for conferences, training, or professional development. Whether that criticism is fair or not, it has created an environment where many elected officials, some of whom sit right up here with me, have become hesitant to participate in opportunities that can make them more effective public servants. The reality is that municipal conferences and professional training events provide valuable opportunities to learn from other communities, learn from other legislators, identify best practices, develop professional relationships, and bring new ideas back to the residents we serve. Many of the policies and programs we discuss today are informed by information gained through those experiences or can be. gain by the experiences that we have at these conferences. My concern is that when issues like this are elevated publicly before basic questions are asked and facts are gathered, it creates a chilling effect. Council members may begin to wonder whether attending conferences is worth the risk of becoming the subject of public criticism or political controversy over incidental expenses. And that would be unfortunate because our residents benefit when their elected officials are informed, engaged, and connected to what is happening in municipalities across the region and across the country. We should absolutely expect accountability. We should absolutely expect reimbursement when reimbursement is owed. But we should also be careful not to create an environment where good faith participation in professional development is discouraged. I think we need to ask ourselves what outcome we are seeking. If the goal is accountability, then accountability appears to have occurred or is in the process of occurring. If reimbursement was required, reimbursement has been made or is being made. If clarification was needed, clarification has been provided. At some point, we must evaluate not only the allegation, but also the outcome. The system worked, the expense was identified and explained, questions were raised, reimbursement was made or initiated, the city was protected. At the end of the day, I want us to be a council that solves problems, not one that goes looking for them. When there's a question, let's ask it. When there's a problem, let's fix it. But let's not confuse the two things. I cannot speak to anyone else's motivations, and I will not speculate about them. What I can speak to is process, and I'm big on process. In my view, the most constructive and professional process would have been to gather the facts first by speaking directly with the individual involved. We all have each other's phone numbers. And then determine whether further action is necessary. That is how accountability works. That's how professionalism works. And that is how good governance works. Those are my comments on this situation. I have a couple more things because I'm long-winded. But hey, we're here. I didn't start this. I do have a couple of recommendations since we've opened the box on our council rules. I'm definitely interested in some of the rule changes that have already been brought forward. But I remember I specifically was the council person who brought forward how travel expenses were supposed to be handled in the first place. And it was supposed to be consistent with the way we handle travel expenses for city employees. So if we need to go to the city employee handbook and just copy that as part of our council rules or reference it in our council rules, I think that would be the easiest way to do it. What's allowed, what's not allowed, what can be put on a procurement card, what's expected to be reimbursed. I think that makes it very simple. in terms of reporting back what you learned. I know Councilman Stephan said he didn't want a whole presentation, nor do I. I don't think it's necessary. I've been to other board meetings. Simply during their own council announcements, a council member says, hey, I went to this conference on such and such. It was held here. These are the highlights, the things I learned. And I think Councilman Dixon, Councilman Dixon, Councilman stuff, and even said, um, he brought back some material from LRS and put it in our mailboxes. So if there's material to be brought back, you can put it in each other's mailboxes. You could bring it to the council meeting. You can give it to one of the staff so that they can email it to us since we can't email it out to everyone. Um, It doesn't have to be a formal presentation. It's just, hey, I went, this is what I heard, this is what I found. Obviously, more conversations are going to be had with staff in particular areas where if it was economic development or if it was about something in our police department. not looking for a whole formal presentation. But I do think one of the rule changes I would like to see is that there's an administrative review before a public complaint happens so that this does not happen again. So I would like to require that questions regarding council travel expenses be first reviewed by either the finance department or the city manager's office. The same as I'm sure that takes place again with employee travel expenditures. Identify the expense, staff determines whether or not the policy was violated and the council members notified. And after the council member has been notified, they have 30 days to correct the situation. If it's not corrected,