City Council - Regular Meeting

Committee of the whole meeting for the Elgin City Council for July 8th 2026 to order will a clerk please call the roll Council members Alfaro Dixon good here Martinez here Ortiz here Powell here Stefan Here thorn here mayor captain here approval of minutes of the previous meeting of June 24 So moved second move the second and any corrections or additions Hearing none court, 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. Motion's approved 9-0. We had a couple people signed up on items they wish to address this evening. First one to sign up is Tracy Howell.

I'm here again to keep the diversity and inclusivity ordinance in the forefront of everyone's mind because it's a very important piece of work that you're working on. I'm looking forward to hearing the next presentation and I hope it is of high quality research and addresses the needs of the many because we need to stop catering to the needs of the few. I WOULD LIKE THE CITY COUNCIL TO CONSIDER INCLUDING CALCULATIONS OF THE MONEY SPENT BY THE CITY PER PERSON PER DEMOGRAPHIC AS I FEEL THIS CALCULATION IS A HIGHLY IMPORTANT ONE FOR TRANSPARENCY REASONS TO SHOW EQUITY ACROSS THE DIVERSITY OF ELGIN RESIDENTS. I think another important aspect of transparency the City Council should look into is the number of resolutions that have been overlooked during the past five years as we have learned that a resolution is enforced by the honor system rather than an ordinance that is enforced by law. After all, transparency builds trust, doesn't it? So thank you very much.

Thank you. Sam Arreth.

Hello, Council. My name is Sam Areth. I am here as the Zion Lutheran Church President of Church Council. And I'm talking on the topic of the honorary street renaming for Marlene Daubert that's on the agenda. I'm here in her stay intentionally. We are trying to keep this as an incognito event for her celebration that we're going to be having on July 19th at Zion Lutheran Church on Griswold. So anyone here in the audience or online, please refrain from texting her or congratulating her. um i'm here as a representative to acknowledge that but i'm also not going to blow up your agenda with mentioning all that marlene has done both as her wife to a pastor and her 23 years as deacon at zion so i'm not going to go through all that but there's been many awards many committees where she has helped the youth to the elderly throughout elgin and the region and the state and all the accolades If you're interested in any of that very lengthy, impressive story, please reach out to Tish or myself, or come attend Zion on the 19th at 10 a.m., and you'll get to know the woman that the street is being renamed for. um primarily i wanted to come here as president church council to thank to do two things to thank the council to tish the council and the staff for making this happen and second um while this is a symbolic gesture i want to convey the meaning that this will have for both the congregation and the community to finally give back to someone who has made their life's effort giving to a community and this will mean so much to marlene so i wanted to thank The council, the staff, thank you to Tish. This is gonna mean a lot to a lot of people.

Thank you very much. Thank you.

Mr. Manager.

Item A is the honorary street name designation for Deacon Marlene Daubert. This is on Griswold Street between Walnut Avenue and Washburn Street. This item is on both agendas, Mayor. I can go through a brief overview without trying to spend too much time talking about this. Hopefully she'll fast forward if she's watching on video afterwards. So the city received this application to designate Griswold Street between Walnut Avenue and Washington Street in honor of Deacon Marlene Daubert, as we've said. She served as the ordained deacon at Zion Lutheran for the last 23 years, and the church is located at the northwest corner of Griswold and Washburn, hence the location. Deacon Daubert has served as the church's lead administrator, leading youth groups and mission trips to Biloxi, Mississippi, Tecate, Mexico, and she's currently serving on the board of directors of the U-46 Educational Foundation. She's previously served on the board of directors for PADS and is the president of the Elgin Area branch of the American Association of University Women, who named her in 2023 as the Illinois Agent of Change, their highest honor. Council Member Powell, as we've learned, endorsed the application, and a majority of the property owners abutting the street support the designation as well the application review group consisting of mayor captain council member martinez at the city clerk and community development director and public works superintendent similarly recommend approval again this is on the regular agenda for final approval this evening thank you okay all right Next item of business is a presentation on micromobility device regulations. Micromobility devices include e-bikes, e-scooters, and e-motors. I can't get this right tonight, Gio. Senior Management Analyst Giovanni Hungo and Police Commander Scott Holmes will be presenting information on the state regulation regulating micromobility devices, along with the city's plans to educate the community during the months leading to the new law going into effect on January 1st, 2027. Good evening, Mr. Hungo. Hi, good evening, Mayor and City Council.

All right, let me just set this up. All right. So in March commander Holmes and I provided you all an overview and update on micro mobility. Why is this popping up? All right. We give you an update on micro mobility devices and Elgin and where the state was potentially heading in the spring, 2026 legislative session. So tonight we want to update you on what this, what happened in Springfield last month and where the state is heading and what the plan for Elgin is for the next upcoming five months. So in June of last month, the Illinois General Assembly approved Senate Bill 3484, which creates a statewide micro mobility framework effective January 1, 2027. On a high level, this bill updates classifications and closes gaps. There's updates for all device categories, clarifies how e-bikes, e-scooters, toy vehicles, and higher power devices are classified. It also expands operating standards. It updates age speed sidewalk equipment and location rules and it also adds retail retailer accountability. So it prohibits higher powered devices from being marketed or sold as ordinary e-bikes when they are subject to motor driven cycle requirements under state law. So currently right now you would see a lot of those e-bikes being a lot of those motor driven cycles being marketed as e-bikes. They will be prohibited from doing that. starting January 1st. So there are multiple changes coming January 1st. As you see in this image from the Secretary of State, everything that's highlighted on yellow are all the changes that are coming. Starting from the top, low-speed electric bicycles, there will still be three classes of e-bikes. There will be Class 1, Class 2, Class 3. Class 1 and 2 can go up to 20 miles per hour, while Class 3 is up to 28 miles per hour. The changes that come January 1st include, for example, Class 1 and 2, riders must be 15 years or older to ride those. Class 3 operators must be 16 years or older. And if they have any passengers, they must be 18 years or older to ride that, unless it's a sibling, step-sibling, child, or step-child of the operator. Now, high-speed electric bicycles and e-motors, those are the fast-moving devices. Those will be regulated as motor-driven cycles. So what that means, people will have to have valid driver's license, title, registration, and there will be insurance required. So basically, think of them like motorcycles, essentially. They'll be prohibited on sidewalks, bike lanes, and bike paths. Another thing to note, all of these devices now will be prohibited on sidewalks, except for toy devices, which I'll get to in a minute. The electric unicycles, they'll be regulated as electric micromobility. Operators must be 16 years or older. They'll be prohibited from operating over 28 miles per hour and on sidewalks. They're allowed on bike lanes, bike paths, and roads with speed limits up to 35 miles per hour, unless there's a bike lane. The same rules apply for electric skateboards as for the unicycles. For the low speed electric scooters, currently you must be 18 to ride. January 1st, you can be 16 or older. And in January, it includes scooters up to 15 miles an hour. And it prohibits from riding on sidewalks, but you can ride them on bike paths, bike lanes, the same as unicycles and same as skateboards. The high speed electric scooters are those considered anything above 15 miles per hour, but they can now go faster than 28 miles per hour. Same rules and regulations apply as the low speed scooter. They must be 16 years or older. and they are prohibited on sidewalks and they are allowed everywhere else, such as bike lanes, bike paths, roads with speed limits up to 35 miles an hour. The new section is the toy vehicle. Those are basically your battery powered devices such as power wheels. Those are devices that are commonly known for children under eight years of age. Those can be found at Walmart, Target. Those typically don't go fast at all. So those are the only devices that will be allowed on sidewalks. So a major point to know about the Senate bill and the new state statute is that it includes some home rule limitation language for electric micro mobility, motor driven cycles, and low speed e-bikes and low speed gas bikes. So the bill says that no unit of local governments, including a home rule unit, may regulate these devices. So the state is really honing in on municipalities and really limiting what municipalities will be able to do regarding all of these devices. And part of that is part of the uniformity that they wanted to create statewide. They wanted to avoid that entire patchwork of rules that was created in the last year. So basically, all these devices except the toy vehicle, we're not going to be able to touch. The toy vehicle, if we want to prohibit it, we would be able to do that. So right after the General Assembly approved this in June, I spoke to Corporation Counsel and I worked with Assistant Corporation Counsel Ryan on a draft ordinance. I was trying to do an interim ordinance in the meantime from now until the end of the year. But shout out to Ryan. I made him do all that work. But I do want to say it did help for us to know and realize that we were still going to create two sets of rules. It was not going to help with what the state is doing on January 1st. Basically, what the state is doing January 1st, for many of those items that you saw highlighted in yellow, we have to wait until January 1st so they can be taken into effect. One easy example, it's easy for everybody to understand, the low-speed scooters. Right now, you have to be 18 years or older to ride them. Starting January 1st, you can be 16. Those are small changes that we couldn't do right now. We would have to wait until January 1st. But as you saw in the previous slides, there's a bunch of changes, and many of those changes, we cannot make them right now. So we would still be creating two sets of rule, even though I was trying to mirror what the state is doing January 1st as much as possible, but it just wasn't possible. So what we recommend instead is to maintain the current code while the state framework is pending and goes live January 1st. The Elgin Police Department can continue to do their regular enforcement and discretion for complaints, crashes, and unsafe operations. They can continue to do that. Just a reminder, with the current ordinance, technically everything is not allowed. Micromobility is not allowed. But Elgin Police Department does use discretion. They are aware that that's an outdated ordinance. With the current ordinance, they are also able to impound, but they typically do that for typically severe cases when there's crashes or there's super reckless people using these devices. But they're still continuing to educate the people, the public, and still doing that regular enforcement. Our focus in the next upcoming five months should be on the statewide rules that are coming on January 1st. So we recommend to use these next five months to really hone in on what's coming on January 1st, all the rules and regulations so the public, the community, the schools, the riders, the parents are all aware and we're all on the same page. So the next five months, we will use this transition period as to prepare residents before the statewide rules begin. We started working with the communications department. Currently they're drafting materials for the education campaign. We would have printed materials in English and Spanish. We would have postcards and handouts for the Elgin Police Department that they can hand out at events. or when they're out with the community. Handouts for the schools, especially for the back to school coming up next month. Materials for the community partners, block captains and HOAs. Our digital communication would include a social media campaign on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and other platforms. Our website will link directly to the Secretary of State, just because they have a really nice and good page, and they will make updates if there are any future updates to these devices in the future. We will also have newsletter reminders for Christmas and in spring 2027. We will create short videos and simple public education graphics, such as before you buy this device, know the rules, so the people really understand what they're buying. Our community outreach will begin at National Night Out with the Elgin Police Department. They will have those handouts, those postcards, since they're in different neighborhoods, that will really help the community understand what's coming on January 1st. We will also share materials through schools and community partners. The Elgin Police Department will coordinate with neighborhood groups and HOAs as well. And any future bike safety events with the Elgin Police Department, they will also focus on this education campaign. And key awareness topics that we will focus on are the different types of devices, how old must the rider be, where can these devices be operated, safety and legal risk, and rules and regulations. So the next steps are pretty straightforward. The next five months would be used for a public education campaign while our current city code remains in effect and Elgin Police Department will continue enforcement using discretion and an emphasis on education. January 1st, that's when statewide Senate Bill 3484 framework takes effect. The city code will align with the Illinois Vehicle Code as amended. Formal enforcement begins under the statewide aligned rules and public messaging will shift to implementation. And then spring 2027, we'll renew education campaign ahead of the warmer weather and police will continue to the regular enforcement with these new set of rules. Other than that, that is the update that I have for all of you. At this time, I will also invite Commander Holmes up to the mic in case you guys have any questions for him. That's it. That's all I have.

Okay. Questions for Geo or Commander Holmes? Mr. Ortiz.

Mr. Hungo, Commander, appreciate you guys putting this together and coming back with the update after the General Assembly recessed. I believe I only have two questions. One is under the education, can we... I'm assuming the corporations like Walmart, Target, Best Buy, I don't know if Home Depot sells them or not. They probably got word that Illinois is changing their law on these devices. But can we also be proactive and give them some of these handouts, like tape next to where they're selling these items at, and see if they'll cooperate with us and work with us to put like this, how you said, know before you buy things. So when they pull it off the shelf, it's sitting right in front of them so they can't say, like, I didn't know. Or reach out to Amazon. I don't know if it's possible to get in contact with Jeff Bezos, but sometimes if you buy something on Amazon, it'll ask you what state you live in, and sometimes it won't even let you buy it. So maybe the state's doing that part for online sales, but I was just thinking about that.

That should be the state for the online sales. For the stores in town, we can probably work with the general managers. We can try, at least.

Yeah, the worst we could do is ask and them say no, but at least we asked.

For sure, yeah.

And then the other one you mentioned about the impounding, which I agree that somebody's being reckless and doing things they shouldn't be doing on these stores. Emo micro mobility devices. They should be impounded and flat bedded. But I also think that if it's a minor infraction, we should be throwing them in the back of our pickup trucks that our police department have. So if it's like a minor infraction of somebody get into an argument with a cop and the cops like, oh, I'm taking your stuff because now you're being unruly with this thing. Are you still going to call the flatbed or are you going to put it in the back of a pickup?

I'll let Commander Holmes answer this one.

Yeah. We're going to completely try to shift into the education part, right? And to bring some context to that, since the last time we presented, we've had 35 calls, I think, dealing with juvenile problems, traffic, crashes, reference these devices. And I think we've only written two tickets. We didn't tow any vehicles, and one of the tickets was a warning ticket. So... officers know that they don't want to do that and the majority of the calls actually come in aren't people being reckless it's people concerned for safety because they're either very young riders or people are driving and they don't they don't know that they're supposed to be following the rules of the road so um I would I'm not going to speak for officers because they have discretion but for the most part it's either probably going to be a warning ticket or you're going to be so far on the other side of being so out of control that it would be a toll I don't think there'll be too many times where We should have thick skin at this point where if you insult me, it's not really a good reason to just go ahead and throw it in the back and throw that fine on you. It's education or you're really crazy. Yes, we could. We have that ability that was clarified through legal that we could impound. Honestly, I just don't see it happening very often.

My question comes from that April 1st post on the internet.

We haven't told any since.

I thought it was a joke that the cop was in on it, but it looked ridiculous having two scooters that are worth $100 each on a $700 tow.

Yeah, and I think that was part of the legal aspect and not us understanding, because when you look at the way the ordinance is written, the ticket itself doesn't have any fine associated to it. It was actually the administrative or the impound fee that we assumed was associated to the tow. After some clarification this week, it's not necessarily associated to the towage, just associated to impounding the vehicle, which we could do, but it's honestly so very rare that I don't see very many people throwing scooters in the back of their car or even a bike because then you just open yourself up to a myriad of complaints of you damaged my pedal, you broke my brake, you did this. At this point, that's not what we're trying to do. What we're trying to do is tell people, This is what you're doing right now. This is what you're going to be allowed to do January 1st. Right now, technically, you can't do anything, but we're not going to go crazy with that enforcement. It's going to be, this is come January 1st, know what you should be doing and what you shouldn't be doing.

All right. Thank you, Commander. And then I appreciate you guys waiting to see what they did, not like other municipalities were. Now, with Mr. Hungo saying that, even home rule communities can't opt out of it. Now they're going to have to go back and rescind whatever they put in place and follow this. So I appreciate you guys having the recommendation of us waiting until January and just sliding in with the rest of the state so we don't have to do something like that. So thank you guys both.

Okay, anything else? Mr. Goodman.

thank you mayor thank you for the presentation um so i i know you're all trying to do the best in this kind of murky area and i'm going to make it more murky here so my experience and other people in elgin there's a lot of people that use these on the river path and so just for the sake of the public And for the sake of my understanding, it's predominantly Kane County's responsibility, but there is some opportunity to maybe collaborate with them. And so that's the area I'm going with this, because there's definitely people using that path, like... 40, 50 miles an hour. And it's becoming, I think, more like a motorbike pathway than it is even a bike pathway. On my average trip on there, you'll probably see more e-bikes than you will normal bikes. So I'm wondering if there's anything to do, even from an educational standpoint, if there's a plan to collaborate with King County or work on that specific area of the river path. And then just for some clarity on this presentation with the no regulation, column or the column that talked about regulation and some of the items have no regulation for the high-speed electric scooter is that something that they just decided not to cover um or what does this exactly mean what i'm looking at there so that means currently there's no regulation for high-speed e-scooters that's what it means january 1st was highlighted in jello yellow that's what's coming up and that'll be at 35 miles an hour locked in we can't do anything 28 miles they can only go up to 28 miles per hour they can be on 35 mile an hour road okay so when i'm reading this that they'll be allowed on bike lanes bike paths and roads it speeds up to 35 miles an hour correct that's not the speed limit up to 35 on a street up to 35 miles per hour is there a speed limit on the bike path Okay. So that's, I think you guys get where I'm going. It's like, if you spend any time on the bike path, it's somebody's going to get hurt. So that's what I'm just trying to figure out. Like, what's the best thing we can do in the interim?

So yeah, we are working on that. I still have to be in touch with King County and see if we can put any signage regarding all of this. And if we can, our goal is to put something in the spring of next year. I still have to clarify with the corporation council. But we've cleared up some information. And also with King County, they don't have the capacity to do enforcement on the bike path. But talking to Corporation Council, we will be able to do enforcement. That's what Scott can come in and talk about how it's not as easy like a vehicle. They can just shoot and check how fast a bike is going. That's all I'm speaking to that.

Yeah, so, I mean, just for context to maybe make it easier, anything over 28 is bad. It doesn't matter what it's labeled at. So, like, 28 is kind of the cap for bikes, scooters, all of it. Anything that goes faster than that gets automatically put into the motor-driven cycle category, which... you would have like geo said you'd have to register have a license insurance all that stuff um so as far as like enforcing speed actually on like a bike path we can do it it's just going to be a little bit more difficult right so for the most part right now we use lidars to do speed enforcement which require like a reflective surface to hit off and come back On a vehicle, it's real easy. License plate, door, whatever. On somebody riding on a bike, it's going to be a little bit more difficult. Now I'm not saying it's impossible. It's just going to be harder to do. And I think just a mere presence of education will hopefully deal with that. So that's just going to be something that we're going to have to tackle and figure out how we can do that. But to Gio's point, we're hoping, I think we'll get easy cooperation from Kane County as far as trying to put signage up or any sort of campaign that the PD can be a part of to even just be out on the bike paths and be handing stuff out. That's why we're trying to think of every different scenario and every different place where we can pass the education along so people know.

It's appreciated. Like I said, it's a murky area and I guess, you know, in talking to people who use a bike path or people who represent groups of runners or bikers um what should we tell them like if they encounter anything on the bike path because i know some people said like you know there's starting to be people yelling at other people you know as you see you know cars speed down the street somebody says slow down it's happening on the river path so i told him like hey just like try to be as safe as possible don't try to start anything on the bike path but if they do encounter a dangerous situation is there any course of action that you would suggest they take

My course of action is always call us.

Don't try to handle it yourself.

Don't do that. Call us and we can come down there. We might not be able to go down there and tell that person they were doing over 28 miles an hour or you shouldn't be here. But if they're on a bike, they're not supposed to be on it. We know it's one of these e-motos that looks like a dirt bike or something. That's something that we can handle at that point. But then that's also the point where we can educate and we're handing them like, hey, this is what it is. And sometimes it's just the... it sinks in a little bit better when it's coming from us versus, you know, citizen trying to yell at another one. I agree. And I know I've talked, I've talked to a few runners and runners generally aren't fans of the e-bikes on the bike path. Um, and that's just something we'll have to look at. I don't know if anybody's designating certain portions of the path for bike only for walking. I don't know if there's portions of the path that are big enough to do that, but that's all stuff that we'll have to look at as this continues to kind of grow and, um, create new little nuances and issues in gray areas, like you're saying.

Well, I appreciate your time and the presentation. Thank you.

Mr. Thorne.

Thank you, mayor.

A couple. Thanks so much for this, this education as you're going to be educating so many others. I'm just curious if you've looked into what other municipalities or states are doing or planning to do.

Yeah, so other municipalities, that's what happened. That's why the state is doing this. Because in the last year, other municipalities were doing their own thing. So they were creating a patchwork of local rules and regulations. That's why the state stepped in to do their own thing, to create uniformity across the entire state. Because every city around here, they were all doing different stuff. Everybody was doing something different. Other states do also completely different stuff. It all depends on the state that you live in. Others prohibit them completely. Others limit it to only e-bikes. Others don't allow them basically anywhere, just on bike lanes or bike paths. So they're all doing a little bit of different stuff, but that's why the state stepped in to do this.

And how about... With this, these things are becoming so much more mobile and faster, is the police department planning on getting some in the future?

We actually have four e-bikes already, but they would be considered in that class three range. So even though in general the ordinance allows for government workers for the police, fire, or any of the city workers to, we're exempt from that, but we didn't go crazy and buy anything that can go like 50 miles an hour. We're in that class three and right now actually we only have three officers that are kind of blessed to ride those because We know how dangerous they are too and we're just not handing them out. Even to the officers that are bike certified for pedal bikes can't just get on the e-bikes and go until they've had additional certification.

You might need a faster one to chase them though.

Try not to chase. Chases lead to crashes.

And then my last comment is that my 1960s minibike only goes 27. I hope that you won't be chasing me.

Well, you're good there. Then that would be considered probably a gas-powered bicycle.

It's gas. Okay, thanks. Ms. O'Farrell.

Thank you. And thank you for sharing. So I have a couple of questions. In regards to safety, and I haven't read the bill that passed, so forgive me there. Is there any information on like helmet and safety gear that's required?

Yes. All of those devices, obviously I can't include everything on here, but they all have helmet requirements, light requirements, a bunch of other requirements.

Perfect. And we'll include that in the education as we're sharing that. Oh, for sure.

Okay. Yeah.

Um, it was mentioned that we don't have fines right now. Are we looking to find if we have to after January 1st of 2027, when this goes through?

Yes, we will have a, a find a schedule by then.

So, so you'll come and propose something to council on what those fee structures should look like.

There'll be a fee structure. I mean, yeah. I mean, we would have to come in before it passes on January 1st with that fee structure.

Okay. If I could just interject. Yeah. Councilwoman Alfaro. For ordinances where there's no specified fine within the ordinance, there is a provision in the Elgin Municipal Code that provides when there's no specific penalty or fine structure, there's a general fine that applies. So these violations could be fined $50 to $750. That's the general fine for when no other fine is specified for an ordinance violation.

I think it would be helpful to have like specified fines so people are aware, especially again, a lot of them could be 16 year olds, right? And so they're aware. And my question with that too is like, So does everyone have to have a driver's license? Because I didn't see that in every square, but you can't fit everything. So everyone that had to be 16 and over, do all of them have to have a driver's license?

No. So it's only the motor-driven cycles, which is anything that goes above 28 miles an hour, essentially. So none of the low-speed e-scooters or any scooter that goes under 28 or bikes.

So how do we enforce tickets and fines to youth? Is that then given to their parents if that 16-year-old doesn't have a job?

Essentially, yeah. Somebody is responsible for that. That's one of the tricky things. Obviously, if you see somebody who's eight years old on something going 28, that's pretty easy, but sometimes it's hard to discern between 13 and 17. Are they old enough? Are they not? That's one of those things that more than likely you're going to have to from a police standpoint, see them violating something else, right? They not only need to look young, but they probably need to be riding somewhere where they're not, and then you can verify their age. And then those would be handled just like we do any other citations, even though we don't do much where ultimately the responsibility falls on the parents. But that's part of the reason why the tickets have come out of schools, because you don't wanna just keep finding parents.

And then was there any information in there? So it says 60 and over, right? A lot of people that bought these devices gave them to their 10-year-olds and 12-year-olds, right? Was there anything in there? Is that considered...

unsafe for the youth like people call dcfs sometimes on all sorts of things and so like would that be considered like you're not a good parent i mean your child these devices people have to think of them as mini vehicles because that's what they are they they go fast you have to know the rules of the road you have to know you have to stop at a stop sign you have to yield So, I mean, a lot of this falls back on the parents. Like, hey, your kid is 10 years old. They don't have a driver's permit or license, and yet they're riding these stuff that go 28 miles an hour, 35 miles an hour or more.

So maybe in the marketing and the education is using certain terminology to that, right? Because a lot of kids just want to go ride these devices. And so as a parent, you're like, hey, that's cool. All right, cool. You're wearing your helmet, and it's totally fine. Because there is no regulation, so technically they're fine right now in some of them, right? So I think the marketing component and the certain terminology we use will be key in that sense.

Mm-hmm.

That's all I have. Thank you.

Anything else? Ms. Powell.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you to Geo and to Commander for giving us this presentation. I had an opportunity to speak to Scott not too long ago about this very subject. And you're both correct. So many other communities around us and throughout the state jumped ahead and passed all kinds of different ordinances and different regulations that they're now going to have to backpedal on and then re-educate their residents on the state's program, which may be very different than what they adopted and have been promoting already in their community. So I appreciate the fact that staff and those of us here on the council made the decision to kind of wait for this because we knew it was going to happen and i'm glad that the state took the lead and and came up with something that i think is going to be you know that's more uniform for the entire state versus you know some different patchwork throughout you know kane county throughout cook county and you know throughout the state so um definitely concerned about safety as you know i think we've talked about here hear a lot from people business owners downtown included, if folks are coming out of their establishments or walking downtown and folks are whizzing by on the e-bikes or higher speed devices. I just want to make sure that even though this summer these regulations are not in effect, that we are actively enforcing safety-related issues and getting in front of people and making sure they understand what's expected. Yes, technically this doesn't go into effect until January 1st, but guess what? We're going to be enforcing this now. And that's the expectation. And that's what I think we have to... educate people on I'm glad to hear that you're gonna be sharing this in the schools and with our neighborhood groups and all kinds of things I agree with Councilman good our Issues with the bike path heard feedback from people about that as well So anything we can do in terms of signage, working with the county on the bike path, but also thinking about signage downtown, reminding people where they should and should not be using these devices, I think will be really important. I don't have any of these devices yet. I don't know. just a little cautious right now. But I really appreciate the work and the research and everything. So looking forward to the public education campaign as well, because I think that's really going to be important. Because as the council knows, we've been getting emails about this from residents about kids moving real fast, in the streets or on the sidewalks, you know, causing safety hazards. So, thank you.

Anything else? Okay, Ms. Martinez.

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Commander Scott and Mr. for doing this. Councilwoman Powell kind of hit on it, the education to neighborhoods. We had a couple of residents that came that belonged to an HOA and they're saying that it's just way out of hand. Is it possible for an HOA, this is like off a Toastmaster, TO HAVE LIKE A SPEED LIMIT ON THE STREET OR IS IT JUST THE SPEED LIMIT THAT THE CITY HAS WHERE THEY CAN SAY, YOU KNOW, THE SPEED LIMIT ON THESE E-BIKES IS 28 MILES PER HOUR OR MAYBE JUST NOT ALLOW ANYTHING THAT'S OVER THAT? IS THAT POSSIBLE THAT THEY CAN DO? BECAUSE I THINK THAT THIS EDUCATING THEM, I GUESS THEY MAKE THEIR OWN RULES. I WAS JUST CURIOUS. Oh, you're smiling.

Well, I'm smiling because Councilwoman Powell raised her hand and smiling.

I could answer that one as a board member of HOA for over 20 years. If it's private streets, then yes, they can regulate their own streets. Where I live, we have our own private bike path. The HOA can regulate its own private bike path. But if the HOA is... on public streets they cannot regulate anything on our streets but there are several hoas that do have private streets which they would be able to enforce different regulations on there from my understanding

Okay, that makes sense because in my HOA, I'm also a member, and we have cul-de-sacs. You know, they can probably disallow them from something like that. But I think it just gives everybody a chance to be able to control this because it's really gotten out of hand. And it's scary when you have kids who aren't thinking. You know, they're just not thinking. And then somebody else is backing out, and it's just an accident waiting to happen. Thank you.

Okay.

Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

Thank you. Okay, Mr. Manager.

Thank you, Mayor. Item C is a resolution authorizing the submittal of a grant application to the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity for the Elgin Sports Complex Expansion Project. In 2024, the city approved the Sports Complex Expansion Project. This has improved the city's inventory of athletic fields. in response to the growing demands and limited failed ability the project also includes additional parking walking trails recreational amenities and improved access to the sports complex following the city council's approval of the plans construction began in the fall of 2024. the project is now nearing completion with all remaining work anticipated to be completed within the next 30 to 60 days We're waiting for some coordination with the state of Illinois on completing the final extension of Sportsway that will provide the eastern access to Illinois 31. The state has to abandon an underground natural gas line, and we got good news where we thought that that was going to take another six months. It looks like it may be occurring in a couple weeks. staff is requesting city council authorization to submit the required application to that deal for the previously appropriated one million dollar grant for the sports complex expansion project this is through the initiative of senator karina via who listened to the uh... to the arguments for city staff, excuse me, city staff and city council during a lobbying day two years ago. Approving this grant will authorize the mayor to execute and submit on behalf of the city any applications, certifications, grant agreements, amendments, reimbursement requests, and other documents necessary to secure and administer the grant funding.

Move for approval. Second.

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

Council members Alfaro. Abstain. Dixon. Yes. Good. Yes. Martinez. Yes. Ortiz. Yes. Powell. Yes. Stephan. Yes. Thorne. Yes. Mayor Captain.

Yes. Motions approved. Date zero with one abstention. Item D is an engineering services agreement with HR Green Incorporated for the Tyler Creek Stream Assessment and Watershed Plan Update. Erosion and maintenance concerns have been an ongoing issue along Tyler Creek and the Tyler Creek tributary. Modest success in resolving those issues has been achieved through previously implemented site-specific stream bank stabilization projects, but significant erosion and stream migration concerns remain. Approving this agreement will enable the engineering analysis of the entire length of Tyler Creek, resulting in a list of prioritized recommendations and the development of a long-term maintenance plan for the rehabilitation. Data collected from this effort will also be used to update the Tyler Creek watershed based plan originally prepared by the Tyler Creek Watershed Coalition and approved by the IEPA in 1996. That plan was last updated in 2008 and revising the plan will better position the city for future stabilization projects for IEPA funded grants.

Move for approval. Second. Moved and second for approval. Any discussion? Ms. Alfaro.

Thank you. I think this is great. They were trying to update the plan. I just had a quick question. When we update the plan, how long are we hoping that plan will last us for? Because we had a huge gap between, well, 1996 to 2008, you know, an eight-year gap, and now it's been 18 years, right? And so what are we hoping how long this plan will last us?

I think the plan's viability is going to be dependent upon what the cost that's identified for the stabilization plans. And obviously, that cost, they tend to be substantial, as you can imagine, when it comes to stream stabilization. So it's going to be dependent upon how much work we can get done within that window and pull the plug and look for a revision if we can't accomplish all that. So, yeah. Okay.

Thank you.

Anything else? Clerk, 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 approve 9-0. Item E is Amendment Number 4 to the Existing Engineering Services Agreement with R.K. Johnson and Associates, and this is for the Combined Sewer Overflow National Pollution Discharge Elimination System Permit Compliance. State and federal regulations require the city to regularly inspect, monitor and report combined sewer overflow structures and events this agreement continues the ongoing engineering services that supplement city staff's abilities to meet the regulations during 2026. the work includes sewer manhole inspections regular mapping maintenance discharge monitoring reporting assistance and permit assistance move in second for approval any discussion any questions so far

Just two quick things. First, do we know the permit status? It said it was still pending. We had not heard back from the IEPA. Have we heard back? Do you know? don't know if we put it back but the fact that it's pending isn't really an issue of yes it's kind of yeah it's it's it's a feature of that regulatory okay it's a good question it's a good question and then just i know this contracts from january 2026 to december 2026 and i learned a lot i didn't realize how many manholes we had 900 like that's a lot um so i'm assuming we've done some of that work already then right and then we're continuing the rest of work to the end of the year

That is exactly correct.

Perfect, thank you.

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

Councilmember Zaffaro. Yes. Dixon.

Yes.

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

Yes. Motions approved 9-0.

Item F is the Design and Engineering Services Agreement with DLA Architects Limited for the Edward Schock Center of Elgin Streetscape Revitalization. The sidewalks, planters, and tree beds along Symphony Wayne Grove Avenue adjacent to the edward shock center of elgin the parking deck and the hemans cultural center which were originally constructed in 2000 as part of the development of the center of elgin and that parking facility after more than two decades of service these infrastructure elements have reached a state of significant deterioration key deficiencies include damaged pavers deteriorated sidewalk sections failing planter railings and compounding these issues replacement components for many of the original materials are no longer available streetscape revitalization project is intended to enhance the functionality aesthetics accessibility and overall public experience within that streetscape area preliminary design concepts were completed in 2022 and reviewed with city stakeholders based on those discussions staff identified a preferred hybrid alternative that incorporates elements of multiple design options drawings design and construction documents are expected to be finalized in the fall of this year with construction beginning in april 2027. the proposed agreement with dla includes schematic design preparation of construction documents bidding coordination assistance construction administration support services dla will serve as the lead architectural consultant while elgin based hampton lenzini and renick will provide civil engineering design and construction document services as the subcontractor move for approval second moved and second for approval any discussion

Ms. O'Farrill.

Thank you. I just had a question. What was community's input?

I don't have the specifics other than what will be coming. What's being presented to the architect is the result of that input. The final designs will be presented to the City Council ultimately for approval. This is hiring the engineer to incorporate all of the feedback that they got and propose it. I don't have the specifics. OK, so I was just curious.

Yeah, because I saw it was in 2022, so I wasn't sure if that was the last time. Seems like that was the last time it was.

OK, it was.

I think it would be great if we could try to get some community input before it comes to Council.

to give us as council members a better idea of how the community um receives the information if there's anything that we didn't catch initially so i don't believe so the work that was con that was conducted in 2022 i don't believe that there is any plan to receive more input we are taking that information from 2022 and that is going to be presented to the consultant at this time that will then come back to the council

Yeah, so when... There isn't going to be another stakeholder session between now... What I'm trying to say is like, so the architects receive that information, they draw everything up, they send it back this way. If there's a way for us to get feedback from the community, this is what they're proposing.

i will talk to i will talk to parks director jen hermanson to see whether that's something we can do thanks it's just informal doesn't have to we don't have to hold a meeting or anything just like send the word out or put it on our engage page and be like send us feedback if you want to understood and the reason i think i hope you know again plan is to begin doing this in the fall of 2026 so i didn't want to give the sense that there's a long window to connect thank you okay anything else clerk 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 approve 9-0.

Item G is a proposed agreement with Axon Enterprises Incorporated for the OSP 10 program and associated equipment and services. The police department has progressively integrated advanced technologies into its policing model in response to evolving expectations for transparency, accountability, and operational efficiency. Police Department has been using Axon for body worn cameras and digital evidence management solutions since 2016. This initial contract with Axon was renewed by the city in 2021 for a five year term and was expanded to include in-car video cameras and to consolidate the department's management of digital evidence. In 2024, the Police Department and the City approved the Axon Interview Room solution to further consolidate digital evidence management. The following year, Police Department introduced the Axon Draft 1 report writing software, automated license plate recognition for fleet mobile video systems, Axon Air, and additional fleet mobile video systems, And finally, Axon Body 4 body-worn cameras. Those are all the components that have been added to the city's suite of Axon products since 2016. The current contract with Axon is nearing expiration, and the police department has evaluated a long-term bundle technology strategy under Axon's OSP10 program. This will streamline operations, control rising costs, modernize the infrastructure, and enhance transparency, in addition to providing increasing officer safety and community trust. The police department is seeking to enter into a 10-year contract with axon to achieve budgeting certainty over the next day next decade For these critical operational tools chief Lally is here along with representatives for axon for any questions the City Council may have It's been moved to second for approval any discussion mr. Ortiz Got a few for the chief Lally

Hey, Chief.

Hello, good evening.

Well, it's questions we already asked on Tuesday, but I just want to reiterate them so people know how some of these license plate readers work and data collection and retention rates and things. So it's pretty much repetitive stuff that we're going to talk about on Tuesday.

Okay.

So there's... SOME MISCONCEPTION OF HOW WE USE OUR LICENSE PLATE READERS COMPARED TO, LIKE, HOW OTHER MUNICIPALITIES USE THEM. AND OURS ARE MORE FOR REACTIVE THAN PROACTIVE, AND THEY DON'T DO, LIKE, TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT IF SOMEBODY'S SPEEDING, CORRECT? IT'S MORE LIKE, THERE'S A MISSING PERSON. A CRIME THAT OCCURRED, THAT A POSSIBLE VEHICLE COULD HAVE BEEN INVOLVED, IT'S MORE REACTIVE LOOKING BACK AT THE CAMERAS THAN PROACTIVELY WATCHING PEOPLE, CORRECT?

YES. SO THANK YOU FOR THAT QUESTION, AND I CAN JUST CLARIFY. SO OUR LICENSE PLATE READERS THAT WE HAVE HAD IN PLACE THROUGHOUT THE CITY, WE CURRENTLY HAVE 27 LICENSE PLATE READERS THAT THE CITY COUNCIL APPROVED SEVERAL YEARS AGO. THEY ARE PLACED AT STRATEGIC LOCATIONS AT INTERSECTIONS. We use them predominantly for missing people cases, if there's some type of crime being committed. So it is more reactive. So we don't use it for traffic enforcement per se. However, let's say you have a vehicle that's speeding through an intersection that causes a crash. Maybe there's a fatality included in that crash. We would go back to try to see the way that the vehicle, the route of travel. So it may be used in the investigation. But in terms of an officer sitting there using that to then write speeding tickets, we do not use it for that. That is not the capabilities and that's not what it's meant for. So it is predominantly for investigative use, missing people, high profile cases.

Okay, thank you. And then for the data retention and policy, you emailed me a data sheet of how Axon pretty much boxes in our data. We're the only ones that have access to it. So it's more for, like, the community and the city residents to know, like, EPD is the only ones that can access it. There's no federal backdoor or federal agencies can come in and collect our data and use it. The one question I have in that, like, quick notes sheet you gave me is towards the bottom. Give me a second. I got to... Oh, here it is. For NCIC... It says our agency can use a hot list to look to ping vehicles that drive through a certain intersection. NCIC is linked to Leeds. Correct. So is that still data sharing or is that just a one-way street coming into us and not coming back out?

So there are representatives here from Axon. David and Dean, I'll ask them to step forward and just to explain the questions in terms of the data and how it's shared and not shared and who has access to it. So I think it's better coming from them. And just before they do speak, our license plate reader, the policy is online, so the community does have access to it to see what is in there, how it's used, retention periods, too. So if anyone wants to view that document, they can go on our transparency hub, look at our policies, and it's there for the community. All right. Thank you, Chief.

Hi. Thanks for having us. Good evening. My name is Dean Haggard from Axon. I'm a solutions engineer for U.S. Public Safety. To answer your question directly, it is a one-way pull for NCIC. As far as data sharing with reads and plate hits, that resides only within Elgin. And Elgin decides if and when that is shared to any other departments. There is no backdoor for federal law enforcement to be able to access that data. And if there's any... REQUESTS FROM FEDERAL ENTITIES OR, YOU KNOW, HIRE LAW ENFORCEMENT FOR THAT, THAT HAS TO BE THROUGH A SUBPOENA, AND WE ACTUALLY PROVIDE THAT SUBPOENA TO THE CITY TO BE ABLE TO COMPLY WITH THAT.

OKAY. I'M GOING TO CALL YOU MR. DEAN, BECAUSE I DIDN'T CATCH YOUR LAST NAME, SO I APOLOGIZE. FOR THE DATA STORAGE SITES, FOR THE DATA CENTERS, ARE THEY ALL LOCATED WITHIN THE CONTINENTS OF U.S.? THEY ARE. DO YOU USE AWS OR AZURE?

IT'S A MIXTURE OF BOTH.

OKAY.

PRIMARILY AZURE. ALL RIGHT.

And the reason I just asked that is because I want our stuff going over to who knows what country and stuff over there getting messed with. The other one, I guess this last one goes back to the, the last few go back to the chief. So I appreciate your answer. Thank you. We talked about the drones a little bit, Chief, and I told you I wasn't hugely excited over them, but I'll give you the opportunity to try them out and see if they're good for your department and the city. Do you know...

where are the locations you plan on putting these stations at and if there's like g7 classified not tell us but like it's the idea of where you're going to play yeah no um and we absolutely would so our we've had a drone program for almost six seven years now so when we implemented our drone program we invited the community um you know we were at the city council meter at the center And if some people may remember, we invited the community to come out and fly drones with us. We were very public about it. Our policy, making sure that people knew what we were doing and why we were doing it. So we have a drone program. This is the next evolution of that program. So the Drone as First Responder program, in essence, we would have four locations throughout the city. And basically, there would be pods where drones would be then launched from these locations to provide that real-time enhancement of intelligence gathering before an officer gets there. Now, you could by chance just have an officer at that location. So the drone may not make it there before the officer does. But in theory, let's say you have an active shooter event. We deploy the drone as first responder. It immediately comes from its pod. It goes out. It gets there before the officers get there. That situational awareness and intelligence provides a force multiplier in terms of how we respond, what strategy we use, and most importantly, safety. So where we put those four pods, we need to have a conversation to think about our calls for service. Where do we usually have some high risk incidents in the past? Where is the infrastructure that can hold what needs to be there? So that's a further conversation. And we would make that very well known to the public. There's no secret there. So I think that that's in full transparency. People know what it is, how we use it, here's our policy, go online. And that's just something where we would have to sit down and work through some of those details.

Okay, I appreciate it. And then for the body cameras, With the AI era, is it coming with the live translation feature?

Yes, which is something that I'm really excited about. So in essence, you have, so right now we have officers who speak Spanish, different languages, but sometimes, you know, officers don't. And so if you're on a call for service where someone is speaking a different language, anything, Spanish, Polish, whatever it is, the body camera will translate what the person is saying to the officer and speak back to it. So you can imagine how that helps in circumstances with victims where you're trying to establish a relationship right away. If you can't even understand what someone's saying, it's very hard to tell someone who's maybe in distress, hold on a second, wait, because that's adding to their stress. Right now what officers do is all the officers carry smartphones. There is a translation service on an app that they use right now. But there is a little bit of a delay until we can get somebody there that speaks the language. But this would give you that real-time automatic ability to communicate with someone and to be able to provide the best service.

Yeah. I think it's a great feature. I've seen demos of it. And the one I've seen is I think it was a guy speaking Russian to an officer. And we don't live in a city that has a lot of Russian population. So every now and then you'll come across languages that aren't Russian. known or officers might not know and the demo showed it was like almost instantaneously with it was translating back and forth between the languages i think it was good that's all i have for now thank you appreciate you thank you so far

Thank you. I want to touch on something that Council Member Ortiz mentioned. He mentioned those hot lists. Can you just explain what is a hot list?

So basically if you have a vehicle that you're looking for, maybe it's wanted in a homicide investigation, a stolen vehicle, so they're vehicles wanted in connection with criminal activity.

Okay, so those are what was defined as hot lists. Yes. Perfect. And then I have a couple of questions. I couldn't check, or I didn't notice in here. So is it limited by the number of users for some of the platforms? Like we have, I think, 195 police officers. Is that correct?

So our authorized strength is 195. So in terms of licensing, so we have full, this would give us full access to evidence.com. It's unlimited storage. And then the equipment pieces is based on the number of officers that we have, and we usually do an overage just to have spares on hand.

Okay. So like if we added a couple more offices or something in the next 10 years, we would be okay. Absolutely. Perfect. Um, and then similar, um, another question tied to the drone. I know the locations might not change, but like data changes in the, in 10 years, right? Um, like what might be a hotspot right now in five years is not a hotspot anymore. And then a new spot is there. So is there a possibility to change the location of the drone if that data shows that?

Yeah, and I think that's something that we would, again, it's thinking about what locations could support the infrastructure, and then if we did need to adjust, obviously we can have that conversation. If the city expands, we may look at that and say we need to move it to a different location to have more coverage.

And then this question is for the representatives. Everything that we'll be giving is put on the evidence.com, on your servers, et cetera. Super high level. Don't need to go into detail. But I'm a little concerned. You have everything. How about if you're hacked? Like, right? So can you just share a little bit of like your protections from like prohibiting getting hacked so we don't have to worry about that?

No, it's a really important question. So at the highest level, we comply with all NIST 800-4 standards, all CJIS standards, which is Criminal Justice Information System. That's the FBI's framework. as well as some industry standards like ISO and SOC 2. At a little more deeper level, all the data is encrypted with 256-bit AES encryption and FIPS 199 validated ciphers. So everything's encrypted at a level that is not essentially hackable. But any types of incidents that may occur, we have a vulnerability scan that comes out every year that we have a third-party assessor that comes in and does that as part of the multiple compliance that we have. As well, any breaches or anything like that, we haven't had that in the past, but anything would be immediately notified to each individual department that's on evidence.com, and then we work to mitigate that at the highest severity.

Thank you. And just a quick question. How many languages are included in the translation?

Currently, just over 60. Okay. By the end of the year, over 100.

Oh, nice.

It'll try more than that, but that's what we certified as a level of accuracy that we're comfortable with.

Perfect. Thank you. Okay. Anything else? Ms. Martinez.

Thank you, Mayor. Chief, just out of curiosity, we're speaking about languages. Now, the question that Councilperson Alfaro said was the body camera, what language does it speak? In your department, how many languages are there? Do you know?

Off the top of my head, I think we have Russian, we have Spanish, we have Polish, we have... yeah it was maybe from phil okay so that's off the top of my head so that that they speak fluently wow okay thank you anything else miss paul

Thank you. Councilman Ortiz asked a lot of the questions that I had. So thank you, Anthony. But can you go back a little bit to because I think at least from what I've heard from folks in the community, there's some concern about the license plate scanners. and how those are used. And I know you said that primarily, probably the key word, that they're primarily used for certain situations but not proactively being used for traffic stops or speeding or anything like that. Could you give us an example of a situation that doesn't fit the different categories that you mentioned where those license plate scanners could and have been used?

So the majority, I'm trying to think, what we use them for the majority of the time is investigative use where it's an active investigation going on like a missing person. So we're trying to track if, you know, we had one Couple weeks ago where somebody was in a vehicle, we were able to track their route and figure out, okay, they actually left Elgin. If there's an active criminal investigation that we are looking for a person who's in the community that fled a certain direction because they committed a crime. So that's our use. We're not using it for traffic enforcement. thing that kind of the explanation I gave in terms of if there's a traffic crash and there's a fatality, we may go back and look at the route of travel of the person to see where did they go, what were they doing prior to that traffic crash. But again, that's after the fact. So the use is primarily for investigative purposes, trying to solve crimes, trying to make sure that we're getting the best evidence possible for the criminal case.

Okay, so that you're saying that there isn't any, our policy prohibits using the software for profiling?

Yes, that is in our policy. And actually when we did our LPRs, we made sure to put that out publicly to the community that the policies people can see what's in there. It explains what we do, what we can't do, you know, the audits that can take place. So it is for the public should know that so that they understand why we use it. And we're using it to solve crimes. And I will tell you it has helped tremendously in cases, missing people, you know. some serious cases where the LPRs have helped us to be able to tell a victim, hey, we did make an arrest, instead of we're not really sure, there's nothing we can do. So it is absolutely a force multiplier in terms of our investigative ability.

Great. Thank you. I appreciate you clarifying that publicly. Y'all, this is a big dollar item, $17 million. But it's a 10-year... Yes, 10 years.

It's a 10... Over 10 years, yes.

Over 10 years' worth of contract services. Obviously, we've had a long and successful history with Axum. Looking forward to continuing that. I'm impressed with what I've seen so far. I know that our police department went through a very extensive process when we were testing out different body cams, and yours came out far and above a lot of the other ones that were tested. Obviously, you were the ones we went with, and we've been happy with your services. So it's nice to be able to take advantage of the other technology, knowing that they all talk to each other, and we're not piecemealing the body cams and the readers with a different company, and they don't talk to each other. And then we're using a different company for some other aspects of our public safety work. So great job, Axon. And glad to hear that you don't share the information with outside agencies. That too has also been a question that's come from our community and a valid concern. So I'll be supporting this and looking forward to us working with you for another 10 years at least.

Thank you. Mr. Good. Excuse me.

So speaking of sharing data, you know, in the event that we do part ways in the contract, there's a six year opportunity. There's a 10 year end of contract. What does that look like in terms of sharing our data back with us? Because there's a lot of different products that you're offering. A lot of those databases are going to overlap with each other. Is there a portability standard?

Very good question. So all the data really does remain with you. We have several tools that you can egress the data from Evidence.com, as well as paid services where Axon will transfer it to a system of record either on premise or in the cloud. There's several customers that also do kind of like egress testing. So in the event of like disaster recovery that a contract expires, they'll have that workflow in place prior to. So a lot of government agencies that have their own government cloud of evidence.com, they'll test that just in case there's contract problems or something in the future.

Okay. Yeah, I think a lot of the questions have already been asked. That's really impressive what you all have been doing so quickly. Some of it, you know, like the AI transcript or AI translation in addition to the transcript. I would be curious, we don't have to dive into it now, but just kind of what you're doing to evaluate. Because I know when you started testing, it wasn't just hitting it 100% of the time. Right, right.

my own curiosity i'd be curious to know what your eval standards are for that kind of technology sure sure yeah just just in very short we put everything through very rigorous qa testing and a lot of customer testing as well so we'll have beta partners that that test a lot of the equipment we also have a an ethics council within axon that reviews each product that's made to make sure that it's ethical that it's made correctly that there's no bias involved with it So that's not just AI. We do have one separately for AI, but every product that we create goes through that review process internally.

Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Dixon.

Thank you. Thank you, Chief, for the presentation and asking for being here, of course. A few questions. Some of this might sound like a duplication of source, but just to drill down a little bit more clarity. Chief, when it comes to the cost, all right, we were already paying X amount of dollars for the service. Can you talk a little bit about the price differential?

Yes, so on page nine of the memo that was provided to the city council, it breaks down the cost breakdown and what it actually costs for the contract. So in 2026, we already have X amount of dollars that's budgeted for Axon and for the services that we currently have. And we had a increase, a base budget increase in 2026 to account for the items that we added last year as the city manager had mentioned. So in 2027, from what we're paying today to what we will have to add in 2027 will be $179,000. In 2028, $82,000, I'm estimating. 2020, 2029. 79, 2030, 76, 2031, 73, 2032, 70, 2023, 67, 2034, 63, and then 2035, 60. Part of that estimated budget increase each year is added onto what's there. We are saving some money through program consolidation. So there are a few items that we currently have that we will not use because Axon and some of the programs that we're getting now will do the same exact thing. So there is a cost savings. uh... with consolidating some of those uh... programs uh... in twenty twenty eight which is the really the first year will see that it's ninety six thousand in twenty twenty nine it's ninety nine thousand in twenty thirty it's a hundred into twenty thirty one a hundred and five twenty thirty two one oh eight twenty thirty three one twelve twenty thirty four one fifteen and twenty thirty five one nineteen so over the ten years where is a program consolidation saving of eight hundred and sixty thousand so it offsets the cost that this contract has. So on face value, it is a big number, and I do recognize that, but as we look at the future of the police department, what we currently use, where we want the department to go to continue to be leaders in our profession, this was the, in our opinion, the best route to take. Also, I also want to mention that Systems Technology Supervisor Mike Baird, who's also here, along with Joey Alderson, who works in our Systems Technology Unit. They did negotiate with Axon over $7 million in negotiated discounts, and that was through their work, which I want to publicly say that and tell them thank you, because that's all them. So I think we really did our homework here and sat down and thought about the cost. What does the future look like for the department? You also wanna be ahead of some things in terms of being able to be the first to experience or to see what AI capabilities that can influence in a good way the department and us being able to have this ability to see those technologies firsthand is absolutely a benefit to the department and also to the community. And again, inviting the community in, talking about the technology that we use, make sure our policies are public and making sure that people know where they can find it and having that conversation openly. We took that all into consideration when we decided to bring this forward.

Okay. And thank you for pointing that out because when we do see that $17 million, us and anyone else, I just wanted that to be explained because it's not a total $17 million increase that we're talking about.

Yes, but thank you for that question so I can explain that.

Yeah, for sure. A couple more questions really quick. As it relates to the service storage, is all of the data from all of the devices being stored in the same server?

It's a pretty nuanced answer. Okay. So it is striped across many servers for redundancy. So in very short, we operate on something called RAGRS, which is geo-redundant storage. So in the primary data center, which right now is in Virginia, we do three copies on different servers there. It's not necessarily in what's called a RAID configuration, but we also make another three copies in our backup location, which is in Texas.

Okay.

No, but in the same environment, yes.

Okay. And you answered my second question was, is there a backup? Yes. And so there is. Thank you for that. Lots and lots. Yes. Okay. All right. And what, if any, data is temporarily stored on the city side? Some information we need to keep for a certain amount of time. So can you explain that a little bit?

Yeah, so there is data that's stored on the body cameras themselves for a short amount of time until they upload. They can hold up to 64 gigs of data. Typically, it will never reach over 10 just because of the frequency that the device needs to be charged. In-car cameras have a little bit of storage, same way, but those are uploaded through LTE. And then the third would be your interview room solution. so that it immediately stays on the device and you can dictate how long it stays on the device here locally, but that also updates and uploads to the cloud almost immediately.

WHEN YOU SAY WE DICTATE, YOU MEAN THE CITY DICTATES HOW LONG THAT INFORMATION CAN STAY? YES. SO CHIEF OR SOME DESIGNATED PERSON CAN HIT A SWITCH AND SAY, ACTUALLY, WE WANT TO KEEP THIS LONGER? AND I'M ASSUMING THIS IS WHEN THERE'S AN INVESTIGATION OF SOME SORTS, OR CAN YOU EXPLAIN WHAT SITUATIONS THAT WOULD INVOLVE?

IT WOULD JUST BE FOR REDUNDANCY.

OH, JUST FOR REDUNDANCY. JUST FOR REDUNDANCY. OH, GOTCHA. GOTCHA. OKAY. Okay. All right. Well, thank you. I appreciate that. Just out of curiosity, have you guys ever been hacked?

Never.

Okay. Just curious. Okay. And Chief, last thing. Yes. This is a layup for you. EPD has been on the cutting edge of when it comes to innovation over the years, right? So can you give a quick rundown of that history going back down to body cameras and tasers and et cetera, et cetera?

Yeah, so we've been using in-squad cameras for over three decades. So that's kind of where our technology, I guess, journey started. In 2012, we started using tasers. So we've had that for several years. 2017, we started our body-worn camera program four years before it was mandated by the state. We chose to be early adopters and to be on the cutting edge of that technology. And then as we moved into 2025, our Axon Room interview solution and then also draft one. So we also had drones in there in six years, seven years that we've had drones. So it is important to stay, in my opinion, on the cutting edge of technology because the community expects it. A lot of the evidence in cases, too, there's digital evidence. There's a footprint everywhere. So people expect, hey, I have a ring doorbell. We might have caught this person on camera. Do you have the ability to take this? Can I give this to you? The translation itself with the body cameras in real time, that is a huge benefit to the community, to be able to talk to people when it's happening online. and also to understand what is happening, but to give some reassurance. Hey, we're here, we're gonna help you, this is what's going on. So the Jonas First Responder, the next evolution here is for me to enhance that program, and I think that's something that the department is very good at, and we pride ourselves on, is to look to see what are we doing, does it make sense for our Elgin community, WHAT ARE THE NEEDS AND EXPECTATIONS OF THE COMMUNITY, AND IT'S SOMETHING THAT, YOU KNOW, IT'S A CONTINUOUS THING. SO THIS, TO ME, IS JUST THE NEXT EVOLUTION, AND THEN BEING AT THE FOREFRONT OF IT, AND ALSO, MORE IMPORTANTLY, TOO, IT SETS THE DEPARTMENT UP FOR THE NEXT 10 YEARS. So for the future generation and whoever the next police chief is and whoever the commanders are, this sets them up for at least a little bit of time so that they're not negotiating acts on contract, you know, for $17 million is one of their first feats, which I'm sure someone will appreciate.

Yeah. Okay. Well, thank you for that.

You're welcome. All right.

Anything else? Mr. Ortiz, real quick.

Have me quick. I just... appreciate you making sure axon didn't backload this contract that's steady increases because i've seen some contracts where the first five years look really cush and then the last five years is like there's gouge in the budget so i just appreciate making sure you guys just making sure that i can't think just making sure that wasn't back loaded because a lot of contracts like these get back loaded and then when the county board or the council see it like oh the first couple years look gravy and then get those later years and it's like seven million dollars a year and so i just appreciate you guys not making sure this thing wasn't back loaded okay

Brooklyn, anything else?

Yes, just one quick follow-up question regarding the license plate readers. Are those on and gathering information from license plates like on a 24-7 basis? Yes.

Okay, so they're not just turned on. When you drive by, it will collect the data, and then if there's no reason to look at it, we don't need the data. But yes, if you drive by it, it is.

Okay, but the only time that we are actively accessing and using that data is for specific investigation.

Investigative purposes, yes. Okay, thank you. You're welcome.

We have a motion. One last thing. I think there's been a lot of talk about the money that's involved here. $17 million is a lot of money. But there are some hidden savings, I think, that we get lost. This has been going on for 10 years. We've been using cameras before just about anybody else in the area. And all of us up here can tell you that when you sit in front of a camera, you act differently. And it changes the way that the city acted. And the city improved because they're on camera. It defends everybody. It defends the policemen. It defends the citizens. And we all changed when cameras became part of our lives. And I can't even think back on 10 years how many times that we had potential lawsuits that went away because people found out they were on camera. And they said, well, this is what I said. Well, no, that's not what you said. That's not how you acted. And things changed. So I think it's important that we include that as part of this. And it made us a better community and made us a safer community. And pretty hard to put a dollar value on that. So, 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 approve 9-0. We have one last item.

Thank you, Mayor. I'll be quick. This is change order number one for bid 25-047 for the Hemmons Cultural Center roof replacement. Unforeseen field conditions were encountered during the construction phase of the roof. First change involved installation of additional foam adhesive required to secure the new roof. Second change was the installation of additional fascia cleats around the roof perimeter to accommodate the new insulation. That's it. It's about $31,000.

So moved.

Second.

Moved and seconded. Any 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. Announcements from the council. Mr. Thorne?

Thank you, Mayor. I'd just like to compliment the city, employees, and the police department for a well-run 4th of July parade.

Anything else from council? Ms. Alfaro.

Thank you. I just want to say there's a lot of heavy hearts and a lot going on in our community. Council member Paul mentioned at the last city council giving her condolences to Destiny Neal's family. Today, EPD announced that Robert Baldwin was missing and was asking for information from the community. So if anyone has any information, please share it. And then Didn't happen exactly in our community, but it's happened in our country. Lorenzo Segalo was killed by ICE today. And so there's a lot of heavy hearts in our community. And so I ask that, you know, check on your neighbors, talk to each other, and let's try to keep peace among each other.

Okay.

mr mr stephan i i wanted to jump in and just announce two upcoming events quickly first uh friday july 24th up in the north end of elgin near the old sherman hospital there will be a day of bike racing it's the elgin cycling classic kicks off about 10 30 there's a bike giveaway at 10 30 there's at this point 30 bikes that will be given away first come first serve racing all day and in between the last two major races the women's and the men's races of the pros there is a half hour family fun ride that starts right around six o'clock it's up at cooper and spring street and if you want to volunteer or you want to host some bikers you can look at our website it's dennis jurors memorialrace.com And I've got flyers with a QR code if people want that. That's the first event. The second one is in August. I've mentioned this one before. It's the 50th anniversary of the LaSalle Expedition 2, and we are trying to do some kind of a recognition ceremony along with a day of crafts, prizes, and raffles. So Saturday, August 22nd, it'll kick off at noon with a ceremony. Noon to 4 in Lords Park near the... public museum there in Lords Park. We will have a celebration and ceremony for the LaSalle Expedition 2. I've got flyers for that as well if people want one. That's it. Okay, Ms. Powell, you had your hand up.

Yes, I want to echo Councilman Thorne's congratulations and thanks to city staff, police department, the entire community on another well-run Elgin Fourth of July parade. We managed to beat the weather and still have a great parade, one of the best parades, I think, in the entire state of Illinois. Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate and we had to cancel our fireworks and our 4th of July festival. But a bright side. And this is one of the reasons why I love our community. I want to thank the Elgin community for coming out and showing up for all of those food vendors. many of whom posted on social media. I know I shared a lot on my page that had invested thousands of dollars in food in anticipation of the festival at Festival Park, and then they got rained out. And a lot of these are small business owners. They're not... big conglomerates they don't have insurance to help cover those types of losses but this community showed up for a lot of those folks and bought food from them so they wouldn't have to throw you know all of it away street food kings the puerto rican restaurant downtown and dream hall was one of them I think they end up selling out of everything. They put their information out online and people showed up and bought food. And then also wanted to give a shout out to the organizers. I think it was El Patio, our Mexican restaurant downtown, who organized the Elgin World Cup watch party the following day and actually invited a couple of the food vendors that We're supposed to participate in our event on the previous day to bring their food trucks down to that event on Sunday when the weather was much better. So again, thanks to the Elgin community for just always looking out for others and supporting our small businesses. That's a bright side, a bright side to missing out on our fireworks. So thank you.

Mr. Ortiz.

i forgot what i was going to say something are you mr dixon the idea couple of comments uh... from any of the council members uh... i was able to attend destiny's funeral uh... with her family this weekend i was a really heartbreaking uh... situation i'm looking at nancy because nancy that larkin with it uh... as it pertains to the program and so teachers uh and uh city and uh school staff came out and spoke very highly of destiny and so um so my prayers uh are with her family and um same with uh lorenzo too as well um who was who was um killed um you know it's just uh you just can't believe that our country is um behaving in this way and going through the things that we're going through and so it's a really sad situation sad day um but on a brighter note uh great job city staff uh on a wonderful fourth of july parade and shout out to el patio too as well i was able to attend both of those events with my family and we had a great time so um you know so thank you to city staff for that so we're going to keep it up Mr Ortiz memory came back my brain started working.

It was a lot outside Country Club that. Kicked off the the watch party with collaboration with El Patio and when I was talking to Vito, he worked with special events. So I was going to tell Amanda her team. Thank you for working with La Raza and patio for collaborating with them and getting this thing done so. Thank you guys for doing that on Sunday.

Okay. Ms. Martinez.

Thank you, Mayor. Just very shortly, I also wanted to include in the thank yous for the 4th of July U46 as well. I'm sure people saw the buses out there. Thank you.

Okay.

Announcement from staff.

None, Mayor. Thank you. Okay. Entertain a motion to adjourn.

So moved.

Second. Moved and seconded to adjourn. 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, we are adjourned. We'll reconvene with regular council meeting in about five minutes, 735.

Thank you. Thank you.

meeting for the Elgin City Council for July 8th, 2026 to order. 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, clerk please call the roll council members Alfaro present Dixon present good here Martinez here Ortiz here Powell here Stephan here Thorne here Mayor captain here approval of the minutes of the previous meeting of June 24th so moved second moved and second for approval any discussion Corrections or additions hearing none clerk please call the roll

Councilmember Zalparo? Yes. Dixon?

Yes.

Good.

Yes.

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

Yes. Yes, the motion's approved, 9-0. We have a couple of communications this evening. The first one is a first responder internship program recognition. And I've asked Chief Sagan and Chief Lally to say a couple words. about the program that they put together and the things that they showed these young people and the things they participated in both for the fire department and the police department.

Okay, good evening everyone, Mayor, City Council, and the community. So first, we just want to say thank you to Nancy for once again letting us be part of your program and also being able to host some wonderful young adults. And so just briefly for the community, because I'm sure Nancy's probably going to give a little bit more detail. We're able to have young adults come and see what it's like to be a police officer for a week. And so we set up a program where they come in and at the police department specifically, they were able to see about our investigations division. They were able to work with our evidence response team and actually process some evidence. They spent some time with our SWAT team being role players and learned how we deescalate. They saw our drones and so just being able to be immersed into the police department, it's a mini version of a citizens police academy is basically what we do. This is our second year doing it and so we truly enjoy the opportunity for people to come and see what we do and especially people who maybe want to enter into the police career. This is just step one, so after this we have an explorer program, so young adults age 14 to 21. It's basically every week we meet, every Wednesday, and where these young adults are able to be immersed in the police department. They help out on special events, and eventually a lot of them have gone on to be police officers. So if anyone is interested in that program, it's kind of an offshoot to this, but I do want to say thank you to Nancy. Thank you for the opportunity. It's always truly a pleasure to be able to have people come in and see what we do and hopefully inspire the next generation of law enforcement officers. So hopefully the police side is where you're going to go. but that's why you wanted me to go first. But nonetheless, so we do have a great relationship with the fire department. So whatever you choose, just come to Elgin.

So very similarly, the police department had them for two weeks. We had them for two weeks, did 28 hours worth of training. And very similar to what the police department did, we put them through as much of the training that we could with our own crews. So they learned how to put up ladders, pull hose lines, extricate people from cars. They went out doing inspections. They learned how to clean a fire station. I think, to an extent. Some of you, yes. So they got what I like to think is the full picture of what it's like to be a fireman. But we also, and this is what I'm most excited about, is the thing they got to take away is they were CPR certified, which, as we all know, CPR, quick intervention in CPR in a cardiac arrest situation is the greatest chance of survival for that victim. So the more people who are trained in CPR, the better we are as a community, and I think it's great that we were able to get them certified in CPR. So I think they had a great time. They also got to ride on calls with our with our engines and our ambulances. So they got to see a wide range of what the fire department does. But Taco Chief Lally, we do have an explorer program also for 14 to 21 year olds and. I think it meets twice a week. I don't exactly know. But it meets regularly, and it's great. But the other thing that really is a strong benefit if any of the kids are truly interested in either the police department or the fire department is once they reach age. So you have to be 21 to test to get on the fire department or the police department. We allow 19 to be able to take the test. You still have to be 21 to get hired. but it gives them an opportunity to take the test, learn how the process works so they can prepare for the next test should they decide to want to pursue the career. We also give preference points. So not only do you get preference points on the eligibility list for being an eligible resident, you also get preference points for being part of the explorer posts. So those are all things that are huge helps to get help to get people into both the police and fire department so but again u46 thank you i think it's a great program i hope everybody enjoyed it i hope the kids enjoyed coming out and we look forward to doing again next year okay okay nancy you want to do some pictures and time

Well, good evening, Mayor, Captain, and Council members. It is wonderful to be here tonight to celebrate such a great program. Just to give you a little background, Dr. Todd started from Northern Kane County, Region 110. So basically, They are critical in designing career pathways so that all students graduate with a plan and a solid career pathway as they leave high school. And right now we're covering 11 high schools, so it is a busy group of people working in the region. What is important about that is Elgin is the hub of that region. So most of those 11 high schools, if they're staying in the area to work, they're gonna work in Elgin, or there's a very good chance that they will be taking jobs in Elgin. What I think is important for you to also know is that over 300 students have been out this summer, and basically 80% or more of those students were placed in Elgin business, community organizations, and the municipalities. So it's very important that Elgin be that hub for employment. It's also great to know that that many business community members want to embrace youth and giving them their first opportunity. Instead of just taking a job because you need money for the summer, this is a job and a career plan all rolled together. Students because of Northern King County region one 10 also get academic credit for their experience at all four school districts, which is you 46, three Oh one 300 and three Oh three. So that also is a very, uh, is a plus for the program. So tonight I just want to thank. both Chief Kagan and Chief Lally for their leadership in this program and the many officers that supported this program. They did a phenomenal job. Everything, even from the SWAT team at the old Chase Bank building, I had a blast. It was a lot of fun. You can't... We can't teach that in the classroom, how powerful that is for students to see this firsthand. Actually, one of the students that's going to be recognized tonight also went through the program a year before as a sophomore going into his junior year. He went through the Bartlett Hanover Park and Hanover Township. first responder internship. But I think he wants to work in Elgin. And so he called me, he says, you think since I'm a junior there's a chance that I might be able to do the Elgin program too? I said, sure, come on, we'll make it work. So those are the types of results we're getting. But just to give you an idea of what we're seeing, this program is working, okay? We have filled the ECC fire safety program. For a while, we were struggling. That program was not full. We couldn't get people. It wasn't offered at the right time. We weren't giving dual credit to students for that program while still in high school. That's all changed. And under Ron Tubal's leadership, we are seeing that all come together. We also are seeing it with our criminal justice program. at ECC. It will launch this fall and it is also looking very strong in enrollment numbers. And they have very good adjunct faculty helping with that program. So we are seeing differences there. Another incredibly positive sign is our first student that went through the first responder program has been hired. she finished the program last year and she is now hired by the bartlett police department as their community service officer because you don't have to be 21 for that position and she's doing a fabulous job she started two to three weeks ago right after she graduated from high school So we're seeing amazing results. We're excited about this program. It's a little bit unique because they get to see police and they get to see fire. And we combine the two. Normally you see one focusing on fire, one focusing on police. We combine the two. We think it's important that they each understand each other's roles And we also think that sometimes it's hard to know, do I want fire or do I want police? And this allows them to see both. So again, this is a 60 hour experience. Our students did phenomenal. There were 10 students total in the program. There were 10 students at Bartlett, Hanover Park and Hanover Township. All 20 have completed the program. I am pleased to announce that out of over 300 students, we probably had issues with a total of three that we had to sort of say, we need to end a little bit early. So I think those are pretty good results, 297. out of over 300. So we're looking really strong there. So we're excited about the program. We are thrilled to have the support of the city of Elgin. We would not be able to do this without you. So we just appreciate everything you've done.

We also want to thank the parents that are here tonight.

Absolutely critical to this internship. The chief had them at the fire department as early as 7 a.m. So again, parents had to take them, had to do other things. This was a wonderful testament to the strength of the program and the strength of these students. So I'm going to stop now and we're going to actually recognize who is most important here, which are the students that have completed this first responder program. And Mayor Captain, if you will come down and Chief Valley and Chief Kagan, if y'all will get right there, we will do all the recognitions of the students. Okay, first is Ruby Batista. And we have two students that are still on vacation and she may be one of them. We're gonna hold that. And Alexis, I saw him come in. I know he's here. Come on up. Alexis Constilla Diaz. Congratulations. Let me give you this. Perfect.

Go around, shake hands. Yes. Stay up there for a picture.

Stay up there. Maya Garcia. I'm sure they're going to want to send you around this way. You hold and they go straight that way. Perfect. Charlotte Height.

Yes, perfect.

Angel Hernandez.

Zoe Hornsby.

Gabriela Martinez. David Roman. Nathan Shanley. okay perfect so again thank you students for doing such a fabulous job thank you city of elgin fire and police we can't do this without you just can't put this in a classroom so we appreciate that mayor captain thank you for all the years of support I'm gonna let Leslie take pictures with all of you in the background did you get all the council members into okay well we want Todd in here too I'll get right here by the

Ah, yes.

Jen Hermansen please join me at the podium.

I'll give you this. Whereas parks and recreation programs are an essential and adaptable and integral part of communities throughout the country, including Elgin, and whereas parks and recreation promote health, wellness, and time spent in nature, improving both physical and mental health, increasing cognitive performance and well-being, and whereas parks and recreation encourages physical activities, by providing space for adults and children to enjoy popular sports, hiking trails, swimming pools, and many other activities designed to promote active lifestyles. And whereas parks and recreation programs include opportunities such as providing healthy and nutritious meals, out of school programming, youth sports, and environmental education activities, all of these being critical to childhood development. and whereas our 77 Elgin parks and natural recreation areas are fundamental to the environment, resilient in the face of natural disaster and climate change, improve water quality, protect groundwater, prevent flooding, improve the quality of air we breathe, provide vegetative buffers to development and produce habitat for wildlife, and whereas our parks and natural recreation areas ensure the ecological beauty of our community, increases a community's economic prosperity through increased property values, expansion of the local tax base, increased tourism, attraction and retention of businesses, reduction of crime levels. And now, therefore, I, David Captain, Mayor of the City of Elgin, Illinois, do hereby declare the month of July as Parks and Recreation Month in the City of Elgin.

Congratulations, Jim.

Good evening, Mayor, City Council, City Manager, and residents. Our department is proud to join communities across the nation in celebrating the National Parks and Recreation Month. This year's theme is the power of parks and recreation. Celebrates the incredible impact that parks and recreation have on our daily lives through connection, play, community, nature, belonging, and well-being. Here in Elgin, we are fortunate to have parks and recreation systems that truly serve as the heart of our community. From our neighborhood and community parks to regional destinations like Lord's Park, Wing Park, Jack Cook Park, and the Elgin Sports Complex, our parks reflect both the rich history of our city and the vibrant future we continue to build together. There are places where families gather, friendships are formed, traditions begin, and lifelong memories are made. The power of connection is evident every day through our programs, events, and services, whether participating in athletics, early childhood programs, camps, fitness, aquatics, culture arts, or just visiting the zoo. Residents of all ages have opportunities to connect with one another, stay active, learn new skills, and build relationships. The power of play can be found throughout our community, from Hawthorne Hill Nature Center and neighborhood playgrounds, to our pools, athletic fields, courts, golf courses, and recreational amenities and facilities. These spaces encourage children and adults alike to explore, challenge themselves, discover new passions, and simply just have fun. The power of nature is one of our community's greatest assets. With more than 1,600 acres, parks, natural areas, and green spaces, residents have countless opportunities to explore outdoors, reflect, recharge, and appreciate the beauty that surrounds us. These enhanced spaces enhance both physical and mental well-being while improving the overall quality of life. And this has been a topic in Elgin for at least the past year, and perhaps the most important, parks and recreation create a sense of belonging and well-being. We provide welcoming spaces where every resident can feel connected to their community and provide a connection with each other. That sense of belonging strengthened through the partnerships with organizations such as NISRA, which enriches the lives of individuals with disabilities through meaningful recreation experiences, to even the Elgin Parks and Recreation Foundation, who generously gives financial assistance that every child can have an opportunity to participate in our programs. The true power of recreation is found in the memories we create, the friendships we inspire, and the stronger community we build every single day. I encourage all of you to explore a new park, walk a different trail, attend a community event, try a new program, or simply just spend time outdoors. You may discover a new favorite place, a new friend, or create a memory that lasts a lifetime. On behalf of the Parks and Recreation Department, I would like to thank our mayor, our city council, our city manager, our city leadership, our dedicated Parks and Rec staff, volunteers, Park Advisory Board, and all of our community members and partners, too many to list because I'll forget some, and the residents who make Elgin's Park and Recreation System such an extraordinary community asset. Your continued support and belief in the value of our parks and recreation is an investment in the physical, emotional, social, and economic wellbeing of our community. Together, let's continue to make Elgin a vibrant, welcoming, and thriving place to live, work, and play. Thank you so much.

This brings us to the portion where we have public comments. We have one person signed up, Kiera Gavin.

Hello. Do you need name and address or I'm good to jump in? Okay, great. Hi, Mr. Mayor and City Council. My name is Kira Gavin. I wanted to come in today and introduce myself. I am the product developer for the Bose Solar Project on Bose and Nolan Road. This project you may have heard recently is having a milestone and celebrating with a ribbon cutting. Hopefully Lindsay passed along the invitation and I saw some of you have RSVP'd. So we're very excited to host you at the ribbon cutting next month. If you didn't RSVP but you'd still like to come, we'd love to have you there to sort of see the site and celebrate that milestone with us. I just wanted to not take up too much of your time but briefly share a little bit about that project and sort of our history with it. So my company Cultivate Power, we develop solar projects all over the state. I started working on this project in December of 2022. There was actually a different development company who, for those of you who may have been on the board at that time, had gotten the original permit for the project. Around the end of 2022, they realized they weren't going to be able to move forward with the project for a variety of reasons. But it had been permitted with the concept that a future developer could come in and inherit that permit and take on the same conditions and requirements and move forward. So that's where we stepped in and negotiated a contract with the landowner to purchase that property. And then from there, we worked through all the many long development steps that it took to get to this point. So we work with ComEd to connect This project connects to the local ComEd grid. So the power is staying right here in ComEd territory, powering local homes and businesses, and then also a variety of environmental reviews, real estate diligence, geotechnical studies, et cetera, throughout the past many months and years, as well as detailed design and permitting process. So the project broke ground in october of 2022 and is completing construction this month so we're really excited to be celebrating this milestone um i also wanted to thank all of the elgin staff who put in lots of work to review the project throughout that process and and the permitting process in particular i worked closely with mark and demir for my phase of the project but there's many many others who supported through the different phases um and it's been you know great to work with the city throughout I wanted just to highlight some of the things that I'm most proud of about this project. This is a community solar project. So in addition to the power staying local, there's also a local subscriber component. So members of our ComEd customers can subscribe at no cost to save on their electricity bill. in in the case of this project we have 580 low and moderate income customers who are subscribed a few small businesses and a church who are all going to be saving on their electricity bills at no cost to them because of this project in addition there's pretty significant property tax increase so it's five-fold increase compared to the farmland there now so of course that mostly will benefit um u64 school district which we're excited about And then we also really are focused on local partnerships and investments in the community, so I want to highlight a few of those. We are partnering with Elgin Community College for a few different initiatives that we're supporting and funding there, contributing to Food for Greater Elgin, as well as Friends of the Fox River. uh so that's just what i wanted to share i am happy to answer if there's any questions about the project but in general just wanted to introduce myself extend once again the invite to our ribbon cutting next month and introduce the project a little bit thank you very much we'll look forward to seeing it thank you okay brings us to bids first item is bid number 26-021 water service align hydro evacuation program move to award the bid to

IHC Construction Companies, LLC of Elgin, Illinois, in the amount of $265,330 for water service line hydro evacuation program.

Second. Second.

Been moved and seconded for approval.

Any discussion? Hearing none, clerk, 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. Motion's approved 9-0. Item two is HVAC upgrades at various locations. It's a job order contract.

Mr. Mayor, I recommend that we award the contract with Mechanical Incorporated doing business as helm service in the amount of $161,922. Second. Moved and seconded for approval. Any discussion?

So far, I have a question for staff. So we're looking to upgrade the HVAC in Spring Street parking garage. Is the HV there for and it says like the shop maintenance operators, unless I'm thinking of the wrong building. Why does the parking garage have an HVAC because of the elevator?

No, there is a workshop on the ground level of that parking garage. Oh, on the ground level.

Okay, that's why.

Where land management conducts services. There's a similar facility in the Fulton Street deck as well.

That's why. Okay, thank you.

Anything else?

Clerk, please call the roll.

Councilmember Zafaro? Yes. Dixon?

Yes. Good. Yes.

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

Yes.

Meerkat?

Yes. Motions approve 9-0. Other business. First item is a resolution authorizing execution of an agreement with Engineering Enterprises for professional services in connection with the lead service line replacement program. Are there year six improvements?

Move for approval. Second.

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

Council Members Alfaro. Abstain. Dixon.

Yes.

Good.

Yes.

Martinez. Yes. Ortiz. Yes. Powell. Yes. Stephan. Yes. Thorne.

Yes.

Mayor Captain.

Yes. Motion's approved 8-0 with one abstention. Item two is a resolution authorizing execution of an intergovernmental agreement with the County of Kane regarding the Randall Road and Big Timber Road intersection improvement project, including utility relocation and easement matters.

Move for approval. Second.

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

Council members O'Farrell. Yes. Dixon.

Yes. Good. Yes.

Martinez. Yes. Ortiz. Yes. Powell. Yes. Stephan. Yes. Thorne.

Yes. Mayor captain. Yes. Motions approved nine zero. Item three is a resolution authorizing, uh, establishing an honorary street name for Deacon Marlene Daubert for, uh, Griswold street between Walnut Avenue and wall, uh, Washburn street.

Move for approval. Second.

Move the second for approval. Any discussion? Ms. Powell.

Thank you. So whoever's watching, just a reminder, this is supposed to be a surprise. I'm not sure how we're going to pull that off, but we're going to try to hold this off until her retirement luncheon on the 19th. But I just wanted to say and just take a moment to say how honored I am to support this honorary street designation for Deacon Marlene Daubert. I've had the pleasure of knowing Marlene and her husband, Pastor Dave Daubert, personally for many years. And I can honestly say they are some of the most genuine people you'll ever meet. They are people of faith. integrity humility and service they've never sought recognition or the spotlight instead they've simply shown up consistently year after year to serve this community in their congregation to make a difference in the lives of others One of the things I've always admired most is that they are the same people in private as they are in public. They're kind, they're genuine, they're compassionate, and always willing to lend a helping hand. Those are the qualities that truly define a person's character. And so when I talk about them showing up consistently and Deacon Marlene showing up in particular, and I was just sharing this with Diana, I remember when my son was little, and he attended Vacation Bible School at Zion Lutheran Church one summer. And after the program was over, I'm at home working one day, and I get this knock on my door in the middle of the day. I was like, who's knocking on my door? And I go to my door, and it's Deacon Marlene with homemade cookies. She was delivering homemade cookies to all of the kids that they had in Vacation Bible School that year. Now, I can't say that my son got all of those cookies that she dropped off, but I did make sure he got some of them. But it's just little things like that that speak to her character and who she is as a person. We often talk about what makes Elgin a special place, and the answer is people like Marlene. Her legacy isn't just reflected in the work she's done, but in the countless lives she's touched and the examples she has set for all of us. As someone who has had the privilege of serving in this community for many years alongside so many outstanding residents and volunteers, I can honestly say it is an honor that is richly deserved. So congratulations, Marlene. Congratulations to Zion Lutheran Church and their entire congregation. And man, I hope we can keep this a secret until the 19th. Thank you.

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 approved 9-0. Consent agenda.

Move for approval. Second.

Moved and second for approval. Any discussion? hearing none clerk please call the roll council members alfaro yes dixon yes good yes martinez yes ortiz yes powell yes stephan yes thorn yes mayor captain yes motions approved nine zero uh miscellaneous business approval moved and seconded for approval any discussion hearing none clerk 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. Motion's approved 9-0. Announcements. The next committee of the whole meeting will be Wednesday, July 22nd at 6 p.m. in the City Council Chambers. The next regular meeting of the Elgin City Council will be Wednesday, July 22nd, 2026 at 7 p.m. in the Council Chambers. Entertain a motion to adjourn. So moved. Second. Moved and seconded to adjourn. Court, 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, we are adjourned. Have a good evening.