City Council - Regular Meeting

the invocation this evening.

I have two verses I'd like to share. [snorts] Um the first is 1 Timothy 2 1-2. I urge then first of all that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving is made for everyone for kings and all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. And the other one is uh from Psalm 133. Oh, how wonderful, how pleasing it is when God's people all come together as one. It's like the sweet smelling oil that is poured over the high priest's head. It's like that runs down problem here that runs down his beard flowing over his robes. It's like gentle rain from Mount Hermon falling on Mount Zion. It is there that the Lord has promised his blessing of eternal life. Let us pray. Our heavenly father, we just thank you for today. We thank you that we live in a in a community that can have government where the people can come and make decisions for the good of us. And Lord, we ask that you be with each one of our council members, with our mayor, with uh everyone of that's in authority in this room. And Lord, we ask that you give them wisdom and knowledge and common sense and good results, a plan for our city that will prosper it. And Lord, I pray for unity. I pray that this community would no longer murmur against each other, come against each other, but Lord, that we would be a praying community just like it is when we enter this building. And it says, "And God we trust. We put our trust in you and we praise you and we do what your will is and that is to love one another. And so we put aside our differences and [clears throat] we ask for the good of the community

and we ask for brotherly love to flow through Freeport and Stevenson County. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. Now we'll officially call this meeting to order. Madam clerk, please take the role. Mayor Miller here. Older persons Clem here. Johnson here. Simmons is absent. Parker here. Uh I thought I saw Stacy. She is. She's out here talking. Um she's she's not at the DES at the moment. Shadel here. Sanders here. I'm sorry. Here. And Sers here.

Thank you. If you could please stand for the pledge of allegiance led by Alderman Stacy. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. And item number four is approval of the agenda. Is there such a motion? So move. Second. Motion made by Alderman Sers, seconded by Alderman Shadel. All those in favor signify by saying I. I opposed. That motion passes. Number five is approval of the minutes from the committee of the whole meeting held on February 9th, 2026. Is there a [snorts] motion?

So move. Second. Motion made by Alderman Shadel, seconded by Alderman Sers. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed. That motion passes. Public comment.

I have two. Madame Mayor, received by email in regard to agenda number agenda item number eight. The first is from Joshua Atinson. Good evening. My name is Joshua T. Atinson, a resident of Freeport. First, I want to apologize for not being able to attend the first public comment session this evening and due to the limited number of items, I don't think I'll make it in before you adjourn. I understand that I have been critical of the city government at times, but even those who have been the target of that criticism must admit that I try to be fair. I acknowledge the good work that is done and I speak up when I believe this council can and should do better. Tonight, you are discussing amendments to chapter 660, specifically section 660.10. Under this proposal, the city would allow the director of public works either within 30 days notice or without notice in cases he deems as an emergency. What that means in reality is that this council is considering giving someone the authority to enter the private property of every resident in this city based on their own judgment instinct and unfortunately bias. The problem is that Freeport does not currently have a trusted public works director on staff. Instead, that responsibility has been outsourced to a third-party engineering firm, Fair Graham. Meaning the authority described in this ordinance is will effectively fall to Darren Stagle, who according to an email received from our own city attorney, is not a city employee, but an employee of Fair Graham. And more important importantly, this means that the city takes zero accountability or responsibility for Stagel's lack of judgment, integrity, behavior, and/or actions. A title alone does not make someone accountable to the residents of Freeport. And unfortunately, time after time, Mr. Stagel has demonstrated questionable judgment in his

interactions with members of this community. Each time, this governing body has chosen to excuse it, forgive it, or simply look the other way. So, I want to be very clear tonight. Darren Stagel is the last person in the world welcome on my property. If there is a legitimate emergency at my home, send trained emergency responders, firefighters, hazmat professionals, or police officers. And if I am suspected of violating a law, send a trained police officer from the beginning. Because if Darren Stagel ever steps foot on my property, a police officer is going to have to come anyway. This ordinance raises serious questions about property rights, accountability, and the wisdom of granting enforcement authority to someone who is not even a city employee. I urge this council to amend this provision and think carefully about the precedent it sets for the residents you represent. Thank you for your time, Joshua T. Atinson. The second is from Carol Krookkey. Dear council members and city officials regarding chapter 660 of the city code hazardous materials, I am concerned that anyone who is not an employee of the city of Freeport being given the right to enter any property for a suspected emergency more susp more specifically with the city's response to a past issue with Mr. seagull impersonating a hospital employee and harassing a citizen and there being nothing they the city could do since he wasn't an employee of Freeport, Illinois. This is not something I can agree to. I do agree, however, that in some instances there could be a need for an emergency entry to a property. But as a citizen of Freeport, I believe this should be done by a city employee where where they are governed by the laws of the city and the city is held responsible for any abuse of power,

damages done, or harassment. Thank you for reading this. Carol J. Krupkkey. Thank you, Darren. Could you look and see if anybody signed in?

[snorts] Okay. And then um madam clerk, could you please note for the record at 605, Alderman Simmons, entered. Thank you. We'll move on to item number seven, which is the discussion regarding ordinance amending chapter 1448 erosion control permits. City manager.

Uh thank you, your honor. Um, everybody's looking at this and wondering why why now are we bringing all these uh modifications to to our ordinances related to erosion control and at least illegal discharges and that kind of thing. And kind of the purpose is we we actually have to maintain a MS4 permit with the EPA and that is a municipal um drainage essentially dealing with storm water or whether that's dealing with any kind of runoff situation. So years ago, we had an exemption from this uh requirement and then in 2020 we then uh were notified they had changed the requirements and any community over 10,000 people had to have an MS4 permit. So we've abided by all those requirements at this time and we're looking to the future. We're seeing where this is going and we're just simply trying to keep pace with the challenges and uh in the ordinances that need to be updated according to um our permit moving forward. So the first item on the agenda and so we've got four items here that are um related to this in various uh forms and fashion and tonight's a cow so we have plenty of time to discuss them and also make edits to them. So I I thank the individuals who have submitted comments and we can certainly u make those adjustments as we go forward. These are by no means perfect and the reason we're talking about them tonight is so that we can make the appropriate changes that are correct for Freeport. So moving forward with that, I'd like to talk about item number seven, which is um chapter 1448, regulations, erosion control, and land uh distributing activities when the city of free in free in the city of Freeport. Uh the ordinance ensures compliance with state and federal storm water regulations including requirements of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, the MS4 permit and the NPDS that is the National Pollution Discharge Permit that regulates uh wastewater into

receiving streams. Uh since its adoption, staff have identified the need to clarify uh permit classifications, strengthen planned requirements, improve enforcement improvement um sorry provisions to better align with the uh current IEPs4 permit standards and the city's enforcement requirements. Uh the proposed amendments here tonight in for item number seven, which is chapter 1448. Uh the proposed amendments establish clear permit classifications based on uh project size and type of land disturbance. The ordinance strengthens erosion and sediment uh sediment control plans uh require uh to ensure appropriate best management practices are designed and implemented and uh in addition the ordinance expands enforcement authority including the issuance of stop work orders when necessary. These changes ensure continued compliance with IEPA and MS4 storm water obligations while improving regul regulatory clarity and environmental protection. So um at this time I'd like to invite Randy Colbar up to the podium. Um as I understand in this particular one you see quite a few changes. Primarily it kind of streamlines what we uh it would streamline our ordinances with communities who have already been through a fairly um lengthy process and uh would be uh make our ordinance a little more clear and easy to understand and enforce. But uh Randy, would you mind going through the uh the proposed changes? Sure. So Rob has asked that I kind of walk through each section of the ordinance tonight um and kind of talk about it and what the changes are. Um so the first part 144801 is scope that just kind of lays out the entire chapter. Some of the stuff in the beginning is mostly just legal jargon. to your findings um

finds that excessive quantities of soil may erode areas um undergoing development. That kind of just language there talks about what is in our MS4 permit. Um in our MS4 permit we have two sections. There is pre-construction and post construction. We are required to ensure that during pre-construction and post construction there is no soil eroding into our streams or into our system which would impact our infrastructure. Um so the purpose kind of lays that out as well. Um, then it kind of it goes into the authority of the city engineer, which I did notice that in this one and in another ordinance we missed updating it to say the city engineer and or their designate. Um, so that language will get added as well. Um, general principles talks about how a permit needs to be um, sent in for any land disturbance and that all waste discarded materials generated at the site shall be prevented from being carried off. Um, talks about the placement of concrete and asphalt and similar materials. There are a few exemptions that are in here. Things like um cemetery, grave sites, emergencies posing immediate danger to life or property. Um activity where the total area of material disturbed or stored is less than a thous. any egg or farming activities and any land lawn maintenance. Um those would just be excessive if we were trying to permit those. Then we go into the permit classes. We went from two

permit classes to three because we had some issues where contractors had a lot of questions and we felt that this system actually kind of clarified the system better and would work out better for both staff and contractors. So, we turned it into class one, which is land disturbances that require an EPA permit for more than one acre. Um, class two is land disturbances between 2,000 square ft and 1 acre. And then class three is for your utility companies and land disturbances between 2,000 square ft and an acre. Um, we went through and did manner of work. Um, basically this means that while you're doing that work, you need to make sure you're doing it in a safe way. Last thing we need is for anyone to end up buried or anything like that. We went into erosion control performance standards, which per our permit uh with the state, we have to make sure that contractors are searching out and going after the best management practices. So the BMPs for those um we updated some definitions to kind of clarify a few things there. Um we put in language for the application process and permits and documents that were needed. Um and then we did it for each class so that it would be easily understood and easily applied for. Um then we have 144817 which is the erosion and sediment control plans. This just lays out what you need in your plan. Um there had been questions and we kind of put together like a cheat sheet

originally, but by putting it in here and just kind of having a standard that everyone can see, everyone can have the same information and always have the same looking plan. That way it's easier for review and everybody's on the same page. Uh permits are good for a year, which is the same as it was previously. um renewal and extensions. Basically, after the one year, if or if you think you're going to go over, you're welcome to renew with us or extend the permit. Um uh permits can be denied if they don't meet any of the section, which is standard for most of our permits that we issue. Um it goes through standard or conditions of approval. So basically making sure that you've met everything we've asked for or everything that our permit with the state asked for. We lay out the responsibilities of the permit just to make that super clear. Um we talk about who authorizes the permit and then if you want to change your plan so your erosion control plan that you've submitted um if any revisions need to be done we now have a process for that. Um 144826 talks about inspections and supervision which just the state requires that we do inspections on site to ensure that everything is going the way you said it would go, nothing's gotten away from you, your um sil fence hasn't fallen down and you didn't take care of it and that kind of stuff. changes during construction reports are kind of the same thing. Circumstances with recommendation for corrective measures. Um that's just us telling you, hey, you've got this problem, you need to get it fixed. If it's fixed, it's not a big deal. Uh maintenance during constru during and after construction, the contractor is

responsible or whoever pulls the permit is is responsible for making sure that everything is graded and grass is coming back up or something is there to keep that from running away. Then it just goes into compliance and cost of recovery uh stop work orders which we didn't previously have. Um this just gives us the power that if there is something that's off whether it's safety wise or it doesn't meet our permit we can say hey you need to stop until this gets fixed. Then there's a section in here that talks about requirements for smallcale land disturbance. Um it talks about BMPPS. Um everything that was required by our permit to cover just additional things that wouldn't fit into one of the classes. That's kind of the quick highlights of everything.

Thank you, Mr. Tele. Yeah, I just want to give you the crib note versions. The city of Freeport is required by the Illinois EPA to regulate storm water discharges. Uh, one of the reasons these things are coming up is I asked Randy to go through our existing codes, make updates. We're getting back into construction season very shortly. Um, uh, what I want to remind everybody, so the city of Freeport is the authority for drinking water. We're also the local authority for wastewater. and since 2017 now we're the local authority for uh storm water as well. So if we don't enforce these types of policies, these fines and penalties if we get a state inspection will actually come to the city of Freeport. So we are obligated by our permits to enforce these codes and ordinances. Some of the ordinances that were done when this was originally brought in were not complete. It was getting the program started and Randy and I have worked together for the last couple years and we've been learning uh things that are good and bad about the ordinances as we have gone along. And so that's why you see these updates. We have to be able to monitor the sites. The state of Illinois has always had a program that they monitor an acre and larger during construction. So you have to get a state permit for that, which we honor those state permits if they get them. It's when you get under an acre of construction, but but we don't want to regulate a garden, right? We have to have something in the middle that we're regulating people to make sure the dirt stays on site. We're not tracking it down the roads. It's not going down the stormway. These ordinances, especially this one, allows us to effectively communicate and effectively codified uh and inspect these, which Randy does the inspections for our our city. uh give you a great example of a project that's been going on that we've been inspecting for over a year now is the landfill project with the solar panels. She goes out there on a regular basis uh and

checks their permitting and checks to see that they have all their BMPs which is the best uh management practices like the geo tubes and socks in place to make sure the runoff's not coming off. So very important to the city of Freeport that we uh remain vigilant to this for our storm water permitting. Thank you. Is there a motion to move this ordinance amendments forward to the next city council meeting? Second. Motion made by Alderman Shadel, seconded by Alderman Clem. Discussion. Alderman Johnson.

Okay. I just had a couple of questions and then just a comment. Um, chapter 1448.01 purpose on section 2A. The original ordinance states runoff can carry sediment and other pollutants and section 2B talks about managing of pollutants and un and water discharges etc. And 2B3 states we are protecting storm water, groundwater, water bodies, water courses and wetlands. The amended document 1448.03 section 2 refers to preserving and enhancing water quality by preventing silt laden water from reaching creeks, channels, streams, wetlands, and public waterways. Sediment and silt are two different things and so are pollutants. So just wondered why all three are not included on the amended document and why groundwater is not included on the 1448.03 section 2 of the amended document. Second question is I was wondering what the cost of the permits are class one class 2 class 3 if we have a cost for those. Um, and just the comment um that I wanted to make, it does appear that the amendment does give the city more leverage to stop projects they're out of compliance if I'm reading that. That's what it sounds like to me. Is that correct? So, those were the questions I have.

Does somebody And if you don't aren't prepared for that answer, you can always get back to the council at a later date, too. That's fine. I might have to get back to you because that I might need that in in writing so I can think of what everything you just said. Okay. Is there a charge? I mean, do we have a charge for the permits how much they're going to be or do we not have that? I thought it was in here, but if it's not, then it was something that was missed and needs to be added. I believe it's it's $100. I was say I believe they're going to stay the same as pre $100 for each one irregardless of the one, two, or three class.

Okay. then however you want to get back with when you've got that information that'd be great. remember there's there's still two readings so there's still time to have these discussions John sellers I'm sorry yeah I just want to ask I know um uh Darren had said you check the um solar panels are they all the solar panels that are in the area or is it just the one that's by the water plant

so the project I was talking about was just at the landfill but Randy inspects every project that pulls a permit by this requirement. So we get anybody that does a large construction. So u another new project well 12 will have a uh what they call a an a swip uh MS4 permit. So she'll have to regularly go out and do random inspections right at her schedule unless we have a tip off or a complaint that somebody's unhappy or something somebody saw something running in a storm then we do a uh like an emergency type uh uh request. But um the way the documents work is there's actually a report that's done on an inspection on these projects on a weekly basis and they have to be held on site. So not only part of her inspections are to check that things are in place but also to check that the contractors or the engineers been doing the weekly checks. So um again the answer to the question is it would be every location in the city of Freeport that's under an acre but larger than a garden let's say uh type construction.

Okay. Thank Stacy, did you have your hand up?

Yes. So, are you saying that right now where this ordinance stands that it's out of compliance? I believe we're stating that it is not out of compliance is probably not the word we we would use. I think we would say that it's not as effective as what we would like it to be able to be. We'd like to make we we what Randy explained is we did more tiers. So it was more fair to the size of project that you had what what the requirements are and then we also um made it more um I think a little bit more authoritarian so we had some uh legs to stand on as a city in case somebody's not doing it right because the last thing we want to do is have a contractor dragging mud all over down the streets or um concrete is a big thing right now. uh concrete warouts. There's a professional wash out that's required. Uh a lot of contractors used to just dump it into a gravel pile, pick up the spud, they called it later, and that concrete water just would work its way wherever. That's not legal. It has to be in a professional bend. It has to evaporate. Um there's a whole process to it. And um we want to enforce that uh the contractors that are working within the city limits are taking care of the environment. Um and you guys should know this isn't just a Freeport thing. anywhere that's an MS4 or even if you're not an MS4, it just happens to be that since we are the MS4 authoritarian, it's up to us to provide the guidance and the inspection and also the discipline on it when people don't follow it.

Alderman Sanders, uh I forgive my ignorance, but I never got an enter got an opportunity to look up what was in S4. Could you explain that part to me before I proceed on? Sure. MS4 is just a fancy term the state uses for storm water.

Yeah. And I noticed in the um I noticed that um you also specified uh erosion, but you never specify the list of erosions or the contaminants that could enter into those storm sewers by way of any for any form of waterway. whether it's sewer, whether it's somebody's dumping, whether uh it's runoffs and things of this nature. I I know those things contribute to erosion, but my question is what are what are we doing to monitor to make sure those those uh outlets are being effectively uh what I want to say monitored uh tested uh lab work all of these things to make sure these biochemicals are not getting off runoffs because we know manufacturers get in the habit of dumping ings and things of this nature. We need to know who's monitoring these these things before we start to tread down this path because we don't have data before us to to show us who's in violation. We don't have that before us. At least I don't. I'll put it like that. Maybe maybe others do, but I don't. and uh and I and I'm the one who's I'm I'm going to be the one who's going to be uh looking at who's qualified to do this type of inspection. Uh what agency, what contractors, who are the people that is going to be licensed. I I don't care about permits but they have to have license to uh check the meter data and everything else to give us a proper uh understanding of what has been accumulated in those storm sewer because we used to

know back in the day um there has been um sewer breakage contaminants entering into the waterways or the storm sewers. And have we done a have have we done a comprehensive uh exploratory on these areas to to indicate to us whether or not these things are looked into to show us some kind of data that check off list I should say that we are able to look at it for oursel as council members people of that nature and who is qualified to do that. I know you have this young lady going out doing these inspection, but I need to know whether she's licensed to handle all of the criteria of the inspections of storm water flow because you're talking about sediments. You're talking about all kinds of things that might can enter into it because one thing we have not done was as an exploratory uh group or city explore those under uh sewer lines that runs under railroad tracks and uh Yeah. Yeah. We have Yeah, we have storm sewers that runs under railroad tracks. And uh

so let me answer your questions because I I've got five of them here. I'm not sure I can keep track of program one more. I'm sorry. So currently we have nobody that has compliance issues because we really don't have active constructions at this point, right? We're getting into construction season. So there's nobody that's not in compliance at this point. Okay.

Uh there might be a couple carryover permits from last year because MS4 permits or storm water permits are only good for 12 months from the time they're submitted. Um, we do actually do storm water testing and it's required by our MS4 designation. Every outfall in Freeport has to be tested. Uh, Randy has a matrix, but they're randomly selected and then she has to go out and take a wet flow and a dry flow and we send those to labs looking for uh, chemicals, constituents, and if we find anything in those, we actually have to track it back up the storm basin to see where that stuff's going. So, that's all within our regulations and codes. Um, you asked about metering storm water. We don't meter storm water. There's nowhere for it to be metered. We only meter sewer water and we meter water, but we don't meter storm water. All the outfalls are open basins.

We don't meter storm water for the actual flows. No. Why? Why is that? Cuz it's not required by the state to monitor it. Okay. Okay. All right. Um, thank you for that. All of the testing that you asked about is all regulated by the state. So unless we get a a bad storm water sample, our testing's done for the quarter and they're reported and Randy has to report that annually. If we do find something that's out of line, then of course we got to track it back upstream into being a sanitary a business, maybe even a private party that's dumping oil, something to that nature. So we do do that effects and that's why they require dry flow and

power. Alman Sanders, you're gonna have to let him finish those five points. Go ahead. I I just wanted to get that in. So anyway, all that testing's done. Randy does that all. That's part of her, if you haven't met Randy before, she's our environmental compliance and safety officer for the city of Freeport. She actually has a degree in environmental uh science, and she actually is the person that physically goes out and does this testing, does all the reporting for the city of Freeport. That's one of the large components of her job. Um, and do we have enough staff? Yes, at this time we have enough adequate staff to do it. Okay, that's what I wanted to know. Okay, there's no f alderman Stacy.

Yes, I thought I had saw something in this ordinance that stated weekly, but how often is this test done? So, the the MS4 compliance on a site has to be done weekly. Okay, that's or anytime it rains more than a half an inch. That's the state law.

Within 24 hours. Yeah. Now, we don't inspect every site every time it rains a half an inch. That's the contractor's requirement. Uh, Miss Kobower randomly selects people to check after rainstorms to see that everything's in place. And if she finds things that are out of compliance by state law, that person has 48 hours to correct that deficiency. And if they correct it and move on, it's just a warning. If they are significantly deficient for a long time or they refuse to fix it, then she can write a compliance ticket that comes to the code hearing. That's the whole process of the way this works. Um, we don't have the manpower to check every construction site in Freeport every time it rains. Um, I'm not going to lie to you about that and nor can we afford that as the city of Freeport. So, I think that expectation would be unrealistic and that's why it's a random test. Now, if we have people call in and say, you know, uh, Gertrude's construction site has mud running down the street, then obviously we're going to send Miss Colbower out to check that um, specific situation if that's the case. We don't receive a ton of those phone calls, but occasionally we do on some of the bigger projects, especially when contractors start dragging mud out of the construction sites and down the street. That's usually where we start getting tip offs on it. Um, the reason we get behind these permits, guys, is because when we issue the permits, we enforce the permits, we don't have near as many problems with them down the road. And if we start enforcing the ordinances that we have in place, a lot of these issues go away because people realize that they need to be compliant.

Sanders, did you have another question?

Well, uh, yes, ma'am. Um when you when you say to me that there's no flow meters or any flow evaluations in storm sewers, uh the capacity of water uh flowing through these storm sewers are good indicators whether or not uh there's areas within the city of Freeport where there's too much of a of a charge coming into those storms by way of uh opening manhole. storms uh drainage or whatever the case is which increased the capacity over at the treatment plant uh with such a hit of a water line. Shouldn't we be able shouldn't we be monitoring those those meters to see how we get how is coming on rainy days and and measuring one one week uh how how much water we getting through storms as opposed of a a rainy day.

So to answer that question, we're mixing two different things here. You're talking about sanitary sewer flows. No, no, I'm talking I'm talking storm. But you're talking about storm water flows that are going into the sanitary. We monitor that at the wastewater treatment plant. Okay.

You the question you asked earlier were storm outfalls that discharge directly to the river. There is no way to meter those or account for those. We can take guesses off of rainstorm events on what's going through there, but but but they're too big a discharge to meter. We do monitor how much storm water comes into the sanitary sewer. Um, and we do that based on every time it rains, there's a computer program that's linked up that shows how much the average rainfall was and how much our inflow comes in and how many days it's projected out. And due to the all the lining that we've been doing in Freeport for many years, that has gotten significantly better. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I'm sorry, Alderman Stacey, you've already gone twice. Anyone else?

I didn't think there was a limit at the cow. There is. Okay. But so you are more than welcome to pick up the phone that we want your questions answered. It's just that's the that's the rule. Yes. Okay. Then this will be moving on to the next meeting. Thank you, Randy. And item number eight is discussion regarding ordinance uh amending part six of the general offenses code. Manager Ber.

Uh thank you, your honor. And just a a point um each one of these items on the agenda tonight are all related. So, if you have questions, we're going to have an opportunity to ask those. Um, so just uh going over this one is uh uh chapter 660, the uh MS4 storm water additional hazard uh hazardous material and chapter 660 of the city code uh regulates additional hazardous materials. staff has reviewed the existing language, has identified areas that require clarification, modernization, and administrative updates to improve consistency with current practices and the updates uh from the MS4 uh storm water requirements. Uh the proposed amendments are intended to update the code, eliminate outdated provisions, and ensure the ordinance reflects current operational procedures. Uh the proposed amendments revise specific provisions within chapter 660 to clarify regulatory requirements and improve administrative efficiency. The change updates the language for consistency within the code. And at this point I'd uh allow Randy if you would uh Kylie just kind of go take it walk us through uh the proposed changes to uh section 660.

Sure. So, part of the updates to our MS4 was to increase um enforcement opportunities for hazardous materials, elicit discharge, um a couple of the other things that you're seeing tonight. Um so, with this one, we went through and we redefined a lot of the definitions to make them more clear. Um went through and we added the layout for administrative hearings and how that looks. Um you'll see the access to premises. This also needs to have um the andor designate added to it that was missed in the uh draft. This section basically is if there's an issue um such as ones that we've had in the past that we haven't had good um enforcement measures for were people dumping sewage in their backyard. Um gentlemen dumping oil in the driveway because that's what they used to do. Um it's situations like this where we can go look at what's going on. Okay, does this like create a hazard for public health? Does this create a hazard that could get into our drinking water? Does this create a hazard? Somebody's dumping something down their drains at home and now we're killing the bacteria at the water wastewater plant. Um, so that's the intent of this. It's not really access into a home necessarily. Um, it's more so just the ability to go and look at what's happening, inspect and see just how bad it is. Um there's a notification of the discharge where we have to notify you of what's happening or you have to notify us if you have a hazardous materials discharge. Um language on notice of violation and how that happens. Uh suspension of activities for

emergency situations, non-emergency situations. Um and then language for the abatement. So the kind of the layout for how we require anything to be fixed and then who has to have bear that cost. Um again this is for anything from major hazardous material spills where we call fire department in to assist to again the people that are using a bucket instead of the bathroom and dumping it in the backyard. um different spectrums, but both have safety concerns for drinking water, waste water, and just public health in general. Um, manager Buer,

I I just wanted to also comment um this also is so that if we have any uh industrial runoff or anything like that happens to get into the sanitary or into our storm water system, then, you know, we have the ability to backtrack to those sources. Uh something similar happened years ago in a different community where a large uh industry partner was cleaning out what's called fracking tanks. They used a lot of acid to do the actual cleaning and then the contractors doing the cleaning just released all that acid into the sanitary system. In this case, it actually killed the plant for a community of approximately 150,000 people, which resulted in all kinds of u fish kill in the receiving streams and also a lot of lot of problems. So, what this is doing is it's giving us the ability to make sure that we can manage those situations when that when that come if that ever was to come to pass along those lines.

Mr. Seagull. Yeah. So, I wanted to give you some real case issues that have happened in the last two to three years with this. Um, I believe we've had two uh issues of uh people putting waste water on their property on top of the ground in their rear of their properties that we we had to deal with. And five, there's been five.

Excuse me. Okay, we'll take five. Um, that's even a better number. Uh we also had an issue in Cecilia's uh ward of a commercial contractor dumping uh sanitary waste into storm basins. So for a method of cleanout that was caught doing that. Um uh the real evidence behind this is to protect our drinking water and our waterways. That's what it's for. Um when people put oil or greases or other foreign materials into the sanitary collection systems, everybody in the city of Preport pays for that. Every gallon of clear drinking water uh or clear storm water that goes into the sewer costs two and a half times to clean at the wastewater treatment plant that drives our cost up that will come all to the end users. So these ordinances are not about Darren Stagel or somebody from public works being on our property. This won't even pertain to 99% of the issues in this town. This is for the 1enters that are creating havoc or destroying our environment within the property. Um, again, these people that have been dumping waste waters on properties, we're not asking to go into their residents per se. We're asking to look in the backyards. That's a violation of of many different codes. But um in order for us to enforce it, our codes have to be rigid enough to allow our inspectors like Randy to be able to run the enforcements.

Okay. So is there a motion to move this ordinance forward to the next meeting regarding part six? So move second. We have a motion made by Alderman Shadel, seconded by Alderman Sers. Alderman Sanders.

Yeah. Uh Mr. Stego, um, in order to be effective with what you're talk, what you just stated, um, in order to be effective, you have to be preemptive in order to do that. And you can't we can't rely on citizens of the city of Freeport to be our uh, investigators. We can't we can't put them in a situation where they snitching on their neighbors and things of this nature. we can't we can't rely on that people uh violating any ordinance as far as that is concerned and the fact of the matter is when I ask about whether or not we have enough manpower to do that uh we have to be very critical about where we're doing our inspections in order to determine whether any business formation or business company or whatever is making improper dumping and things of this nature. So, so I'm just curious, are we are we able to do that? Because we have to be preemptive. These things we it it's it we'll find out at the end of the at the end of the treatment plant that somebody had been putting bad chemicals with inside of the structure of the manholes, the sword or the storm. It's too late now. We have to do a allout investigation to determine where this flow came from. And my thing is if we do preemptive of all companies that has this type of any kind of chemical that they're discharging or putting in the waterways that they receive some kind of notification. I'm talking about any business that does that. I I know you probably got that in in your plans, but the thing about it is I I like for us to be uh more vig

vigilant about that because you are right. Uh uh my time my time here, yes, storms and sewer lines were definitely contaminated and infiltrated with all kinds of crap. And uh and so I I just want us to be cognitive of all of those things that once we start down this path, we have the right manpower to uh whether or not if if we have to inspect not just on a regular basis, but uh you know these companies, but periodically to go around and have these things checked because you can see the residue of some of these things like from Micro Switch uh that potato chip company all of those kinds of places was was spewing all kinds of contaminants within the city sewer lines and and storm sewers and and and I'm and I'm one that went out testing and monitoring these systems to validate whether or not this is going on because why it shows up at the treatment plants these things demonstrates uh comes out at the treatment plant and I know they have to do that based upon storm sewers simply because it's hitting the waterways and it is killing the the the plants and uh whatever that's going on in the rivers. It's doing the same thing. So whether it's storm or sewer, we need to have indicators that allow us to know whether or not waters that we're dumping back into the river is uh taken care of properly. And that we have and we have already notified the citizens of Freeport any kinds of uh improper uh dumping results in fines, possibly jail. Who you know that kind of thing. So, let let me break that down just a second. So, um yes, uh while you've been on council, we

we conducted a local limit study and we passed that and we've been enforced it. Uh so, we have local limits expectations for all of our commercial users. Um the significant industrial user discharges are checked regularly and they also have to report regularly and we take independent samples and send those in. So, that's part of our original process. Um, when it gets to the residential end, yes, it's much tougher, but we find evidence in manholes or storm basins, then we track those backwards to try to figure out where that's coming from. Again, um, you know, if somebody wants to affect our environment or damage or or pour something down there, it's going to be very hard for us to stop them. We're not relying on the snitchers of the world, but yes, they're helpful to stop the the damage, and we do respect people uh for their time and their investment in helping us protect the city of Freeport. And so, we take those uh uh responsibilities very seriously. And and Randy uh does the best job we can monitoring them. And I believe in the time that I've been sitting in this chair, we've done a significant job in cleaning up a lot of these issues and making this environment better. Um, finally, I'll tell you that how do we measure this? We measure it because the state requires us to do river testing before and behind um the wastewater treatment plant and then that testing's back up at other treatment facilities that are down the way to see if we are making an effect on the the amount of discharge and the items that are discharged. And we believe that we have been making a difference with our work.

Thank you. Thank you, Alderman Stacy. [clears throat] Since I'm limited to questions, I would like reports on the last week and reports on when they were spotted in my ward. And how would you have even have known that something had been put through the storm drain if it was not seen and reported?

So I can answer that for you right now. So um we likely won't have any reports for this last week because we don't test like that. We would have quarterly reports because that's how we do the storm basin testing. And you're right, in your specific instance, had somebody not have reported what happened in your ward, we would not have caught that because we can't be everywhere all the time. If people want to make illicit discharges, and they're going to do it at night, after hours, wherever, we can't be everywhere. We don't have cameras all over town. We would never be able to suspectly find that. Um we're talking about um large discharges is what we're going to catch.

So that was not a large discharge. No. And it was 10:00 in the morning, right? But again, it was at one storm basin in the middle of 139 miles of street way. That's pretty hard for us to track that down. But with the person that called us, we were able to get over there and take a sample. And we didn't code enforce that. I don't want to name the contractor, but we did code enforce them and I think we find them5 or $6,000 in damages for that dumping. So that and and that sent them a message that we weren't going to allow that to happen.

So if I get copies of reports, it would show a difference that month or that quarter compared to the most recent. [snorts]

I think it's going to show that our storm water quality in general is good. That's going out out of our basins, right? I don't I don't think you're going to see it's not like um there's a um scientific measurement. It's either the water quality is good or it's not. And we have not had any storm water quality issues because we're trying to correct these issues as we can. remember that dumping that happened that day in your ward was let's say a thousand gallons in the middle of the city of Freeport. It's it's you know like throwing a penny in a wishing well honestly. Um but it does translate that that went into the river somewhere as storm discharge flows

but we it could have been 3,000. They said it was one, right? Okay. Alderman Johnson.

Yeah. under um 60 660.05 prohibition. It looks like maybe I know this is a rough draft, but it looks to me like the first sentence there might have some repetitive statements we need to work on. Um also under 6609, it talks about injunctive relief and administrative hearing letter. Um how long do we wait for the injunctive relief or how many days of fines? I guess I just want to see what is the progression once someone is caught or we suspect that there's hazardous dumping. What is the progression? Do we find them starting on day one? Do we do the um injunctive relief um administrative [clears throat] hearing or what is the progression of what happens? And um so I want to answer to that and also um the violation fine is $250 not to exceed $750 violation each day shall constitute a separate violation. So, I'm wondering is this how much, you know, this is stating that it can be $750 up to that amount per day. What determines whether it's $ 250 or whether it's 750 or what the amount is that's charged for the violation um for that day. So, just um if you could clarify those two things for me, I would appreciate it.

So, as far as the amounts um a lot of times it we look at how many times have are you a repeat offender? this something, you know, we've talked about you, we've educated you, we find you, and you just continue to do so. Um, that will make it go up every time we talk to you. Um, we try to shoot for, you know, depending it's a lot of it's case by case. You know, what did you dump in there? What does it look like? What are the circumstances? Can I educate you first and gain compliance that way? Is it someone that just really honestly didn't know? Um, that's what we shoot for. educate compliance. Um, after that it goes into, okay, you knew better. Now you get a fine for 250 and then we work from there. Um, ideally, if it's a situation they can clean up, great. Have you clean it up and we'll mosey along. Um if it's something that we can't clean up or something that has a large impact on public health or on our drinking water or anything like that, then it's a little more serious and we look towards fines first.

So the progression is fines first and case by case. Usually I try to educate first and then go to fines. Um it just kind of depends on what the scenario is. Okay, just one more comment. Sure.

One more. Um I I appreciate all this, but I would what also what I'd like to see is some um proactive things like maybe a letter in the maybe like the water and sewer bill or something that states what can be flushed down toilets, what can be put down drains or what I should say what can't be put down toilets, what can't be put down drains. and also uh a note to the public of where they can take these hazardous ways to get rid of them cuz I know there's only certain places you can take certain things. So maybe if we did some more education of where those things go, maybe that would be helpful.

Yeah. Uh we currently have a few things in draft, but I'm hoping to get those out and out this summer so we can get those. Okay. Thank you. Okay. So we have a motion made by Alderman Shaggel, seconded by Alderman Sers to move this forward. Um, all those uh Alderman Sanders, can I ask one question? Sure. Uh, piggybacking off of what uh Sister Johnson was just saying. Um, is this an ordinance on the 660? Is that an ordinance? Yes, it's item number eight. It's it's the ordinance change on on those parts and and and it's asking us to amend it to what was discussed tonight. What we discussed tonight,

right? I think uh I think we should make sure that uh we put more into what Miss Johnson was just stating. Yeah. We've got two more sessions. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. This is this is just the call. We're not voting on anything. We're just saying do we want to move it forward. Okay. All right. I just wanted that to be noted because because there's a there's a lot lot of things that can be implemented into that so that we can bring Okay. So,

Alderman Simmons, did you want to share something? No. Alderman or Mr. Steagel?

Yeah. just as part of Ry's everyday role with the city is she's one of our education uh uh officers as well. So, she educates on water, sewer, storm water, um everything resulting in this. And we've been uh started a quarterly newsletter where we're releasing information quarterly out to everybody through their water and sewer bill trying to educate people on these different facets of our of the utility business. Um, so I would recommend that everybody look to there for information because there's lots of tidbits that we're constantly putting in there and it's usually a two to four page um, uh, pamphlet that we're putting out with education materials like this. And by the way, that's required as part of our discharge permits.

Okay, good. So, uh, we'll just take a voice vote on this. All those in favor of moving this ordinance changes forward signify by saying I. I. Opposed. And then if we can just back up to item number seven. I forgot to take a vote on that. We had um [snorts] the motion to move that ordinance forward concerning the erosion control made by Alderman Shadel, seconded by Alderman Clem. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. [clears throat]

Opposed. Okay, that moves forward as well. Also move on to item number nine which is the discussing discussion regarding ordinance amending part 10 with the streets utilities and public service code as well as section 1040.07 A as well as B. Manager Ber.

Uh thank you your honor and I I want to everybody put a put a pause on what our conversation's been. We're going to re we're going to come revisit it um with u item number 10, but we're going to get out of sequence just slightly and discuss new Julie laws uh that require new requirements from us moving forward with uh utility locates. So in 2020, the 2026 amendment to the Illinois Underground Utility Facilities Damage Prevention Act requires that all newly installed or replaced water and sewer service lines will be electronically traceable and locatable. This is now the law as of January 2026, and all communities must comply. In the past, certain private service laterals were not required to include tracer wire or any other locating technology, which creates difficulty during excavation and utility uh utility marking. Uh excavation work must uh continue to be coordinated through Julie, Inc. And the updated law expands the responsibility of private service owners to ensure that underground infrastructure is properly installed, locatable, and maintained in the ride ofway and on private property for all new installations or repairs. So the purpose of this ordinance amends and updates the city code to reflect these state requirements. Uh the ch the changes will require tracer wire to um uh tracer wire or approved locating technology for applicable water and sewer service lines and make compliance a condition of permit issuance and final inspection aligning local regulations with state law and so on. So essentially what we're looking at here is we're asking uh we're asking for you to uh consider moving this forward. Essentially, what it's going to do is require any new sewer uh service line or water service line to be marked with um electronic tape. It's it's basically a foil tape or a wire that you can hook on to a locating device and specifically

find um those utilities that are buried underground. So, um with that, I'd like to just open up with comments. I think uh Randy Ry's going to sit tight for until the next agenda item, but um yeah, any comments, I guess. So, is there a motion to move this ordinance amending part 10 forward? So, move second. We have a motion made by Alderman Clem, seconded by Alderman Shadel. Discussion. Alderman Sanders. Um, I like I like the fact that uh that they're doing that now because that was talked about years ago uh to do just what you just uh incited. M

uh but what I'd like to know is the old method of how we went about doing it. We're not pl we we still have to keep that in place, right? Yeah. We're still going to be locating city utilities. Um and if there's a house for instance that doesn't have locating wire on their service, um we'll continue doing what we normally do, which is we find where the service connection comes in the street and then we'll, you know, basically paint a tea heading toward the house. However, with all the new ones, we'll be required to locate it up to the house once that tracer wire location is is installed. And uh Norman Sanders,

I'm sorry. Uh uh uh televised uh inspections will result into the placement of connected services to the sewer main and things of that nature. Yeah, that's that is something you know you know quite a bit about. So, yes. Okay. All right. Thank you, Alderman Johnson.

Okay. Um, under section 2B, I just want to make sure I have understanding of this. Um, it's regarding ex existing houses, structures, factories, etc. that um have the ability within 200 feet I believe it is to connect to our sewage system that they're given a notice within 180 days uh that they should connect to the city water sewage and um once they're given that notice they don't have any choice in the matter they have to connect to the city sewage is that am I reading that right is that correct

well that is correct so once so this is a little bit outside of the scope of this particular discussion But yes, once uh the individuals in town are notified that they need to hook up to city sewer because maybe they weren't originally or they were originally in the county and the city annexed them in. Uh when we're doing a project, the time to get people hooked up is when we were doing the construction part of it. So, we would send them a notice saying, "Hey, we need you to hook up to the sewer." And then so so much time goes by and then they need to be hooked up. Yep. Follow-up question.

Okay. So, uh, Johnson, the language that you're asking questions about, that's existing language right now. So, it's really not on topic as to what we're talking about tonight, which is the Julie requiring the tracer line. So, the area that you're reading from is all existing language in the ordinance. It's already in the ordinance, right? It's the current ordinance. Only the stuff that's underlined and embolded is is the new language. This is adding the requirement of the Julie Tracer wire. So, I'm not saying your clients aren't aren't are valid. They're probably but not appropriate for this topic right now because they're they're existing now. All right. Thank you. Okay. So, we have a motion made by Alderman Clam, seconded by Alderman Shadel. All those in favor of moving this forward signify by saying I.

I. Opposed. That motion passes. Item number 10 is discussion regarding ordinance amending um part 10 concerning um section 1046.59 and section 1050.08. Manager Ber.

Uh thank you honor. So section uh 1046.59 prohibits storm water, groundwater, sump pumps, and other clear water sources from discharging into the sanitary sewer system. So, just to break it down a little bit, if you have your gutters connected to the sanitary, that would be a problem. If you have your sump pump from your basement connected to the sanitary, that would be a problem. These items need to be connected to uh an outflow someplace that goes to the storm. Uh section 1050.08 08 addresses el illicit discharges to the um municipal storm sewer system and is required under the city's MS4 permit by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. Recent updates to the MS4 permit require clearer ordinances requiring and strengthening uh enforcement authority. Staff uh proposes amendments to ensure the city code aligns with current regulated Freeport MS4 storm water requirements. The proposed changes in section 1046.59 clarify prohibited connections to the sanitary sewer and strengthen the city's authority to require corrective action. The amendments in uh 1050.08 update the definition of illicit discharge and reinforce the city's authority to investigate and enforce violation. And these recommendations are necessary to continue with our compliance with MS4. So Randy, if you would uh walk us through those changes.

Sure. So starting with 1046.59. So we went through and added um prohibited acts. Uh basically this says that you can't change any natural or uh man-made water flow. So you can't place or deposit any debris or fill any construction such as ditch pipe course work. It's not permitted to fill, obstruct, dam, divert or otherwise change natural or artificial flow of waters. Um it's uh prohibits excessive vegetation and debris. Uh pretty much anything that might change how water's moving. Um we did put in there correction of existing conditions. So if there's something already out there, um ideally it needs to be rectified. This ensures that water continues to flow and get out to the river instead of getting damned up and causing puddles. Um, we went through there's acts that are permitted. Um, it talks about the permitting process. There's penalties and corrective action. Um, and then we go into 10508 which is elicit discharge and connection prohibited. Um, so elicit connection prohibitations. Um so nothing can go into the storm water except for normal storm water. Um construction for continued existence of elicit connections are prohibited. Person is considered in violation of the section. Uh if a person connects a line conveying sewage to the storm water. Um, basically it's just protecting what

can go in there and what can be sent out to the rivers. Um, we do have some discharges that are exempt in here. Things like uh firefighting flows, landscape irrigation, air conditioning, condensation, that kind of stuff. stuff that won't cause or should not cause any kind of harm to the environment. Uh we then have a section in there for suspension of MS4 access, meaning if you were to violate any of this, we can say, "Hey, you're done. You're not going to send anything else to the storm water until we get this fixed." Um that's kind of the basics of the changes.

Mr. Steel.

Yeah. Um, one of the reasons this is important is because um the the putting more teeth to this, we need to prevent clear water drainage from being pumped into the sanitary sewer. Um, per uh EPA, that should be pumped back onto the ground. When it gets co-mingled in with our sanitary, again, we pay to clean that clean water at the drink at the wastewater treatment plant, which increases our user cost for everybody in the system. This these changes allow Miss Kbower to be more effective in in uh allowing checking for illicit hookups. Um we know that um they probably exist within Freeport and we are continuously looking for them. Um um it's very hard to find them um throughout, but but this ordinance allows her to make sure that clear water that we should not be sending to the wastewater treatment plant is going back on the ground as runoff to our sanitaries and back out to the waterways.

Okay. So, is there a motion regarding this ordinance change amending part 10? So moved. Second. A motion made by Alderman Shadel, seconded by Alderman Clem. Uh, Alderman Sanders.

Yeah. Um, I'm glad you you're talking about um what it is that we can't see. Uh but my problem is some sometimes when develop developers and contractors are involved uh building homes with garages, they have the propensity to want to install sewer for runoff. when people are washing cars or whatever mechanical machinery work that they're doing in their garage and they're using that by way of of of uh discharging whatever they're using and I'm not saying detergent is one of them but the fact of the matter is when you using when you drive when you have a car wash or car washes or garages private garage areas that's using storm uh insertions to discharge water from the property or whatever. You're right with there's it's there's no way to evaluate that. But here's the thing, new development, if we're going to start a amending things and uh and encouraging uh people to uh not just discharge any kind of solvent, water or whatever, clear water, whatever. We must let them know at the time of birth of a home that you have to be legal with with these new storm drains that you that you want to put in your garage in your homes or whatever the case is. I'm just putting that out there [clears throat] simply because I know these things happen. And this is the reason why we never could find who's doing a lot of the dumping, improper dumping. and uh and and and it's just just another way of saying we like to notify developers who are constructing [clears throat] new homes and things of this nature. You just can't do that.

Mr. Steagel. Yeah, that's all part of the building code and permit process now and mandatory inspection for all buildings that uh we work handinhand with community development to do. Nothing gets built anymore without full compliance. We even have resources uh from Elgen that we bring in plumbing and sewer and and other things that we need to do. So that's all insured through new construction which we don't have a lot of but hopefully that will change soon. Yeah. Thank you. Anyone else? Thank you. Alderman Johnson.

Yeah. Chapter 1046.59 letter D2 that uh line two seems to have some repetitive statements may need to be restructured. Um, and under the violations and penalties H permit one, it says permit required. No person shall do any of the acts prohibited in section in subsection D without a permit. I just want clarification. How does that happen? Section D is things that are not permitted. So, I just want that explained what that means. Would either one of you want to just get back with that?

Uh, no. I I mean I can answer. I So you're talking about um I just want to clarify. U 46 uh.59D. It's H permit and it says number one beside it. Permit required. No person shall do any of the acts prohibited in subsection D without a permit. Right. Sub. Yeah. So, this is addressing people that may already have a structure but illegally hook up without our knowledge but then are, you know, caught during code enforcement or something that was wrong. So, so obviously addressing our existing structures that are already built when we do inspections. Okay. So,

so when we do new new construction, we're in control of that all the way through, but obviously we have 11,500 homes and businesses that are already built within town. So, we have to account for people that may already be connected illegally as we figure that out or find that out. So, then they have to get a permit for that. They have to get a permit or they have to disconnect from whatever utility they're hooked up to illegally. Okay. Thank you for clarification. Stacy,

so people who runs a sunk pump out of their basement, are you saying that um they need a permit to have a sunk pump in their basement? And are you going to need a permit to wash your cars?

So, there's a difference. Uh, let me do number two first. There's a difference between a commercial car wash and somebody just washing one car or two cars at their house on their driveway. So, that effort at your house is not permitted. When we're talking about a commercial establishment like any of the car big car washes in town, they are permitted only because they have to have a rewash cycles. They have to have uh they use a lot more soap than most people do. It's not always biodegradable. and they have recycled tanks under the ground and those are all part of the codes and ordinances when those places are built. Um, your first question on sump pumps, some pumps are illegal to be hooked up to the sanitary sewer. That water is supposed to be returned to the ground and pumped outside of your home. Uh, anybody that has those connected within the city of Freeport that would already be considered by code an illegal connection for any sump pump in a house. We don't pump basement water into the sanitary. Again, that's clean water and it should be directly discharged outside of your home to run on the ground and infiltrate back into the to to the groundways, dormways. [clears throat] Okay, we have a motion made by Alderman Shadel, seconded by Alderman Clem. All those in favor of moving this forward signify by saying I.

I opposed.

That motion passes. Item number 11 is discussion regarding overview of the 2026 road work. Uh Mr. Eagle. So, uh, council members, I printed out packets for you because I didn't know how well this would show up on a big board. Um, and I want everybody to know this is just I think be done. This just be more of a general conversation. Um uh so we're anticipating a very busy construction here in Freeport this year and I just wanted to start off on this slide to remind council members because I know you guys don't do it every day. Uh the city has 140 miles of street way that we take care of. Uh just about 60 mi of alleyways. Uh five wells uh currently. Uh we're soon adding what 12 probably in about two years. The uh groundbreaking was today. Out of those five wells, two of them are in reserve. Those are the wells that we have the PAS traces in and they are not used to the water system. Currently, they are in reserve only in case we had a major fire catastrophe and we needed to have extra water supply. Um currently in our distribution system, we have 137 miles of water mane, 127 miles of sanitary sewer. Uh we have about uh 2800 sanitary manholes. We also have nine list stations with another one on walnut being uh built right now. We have one large wastewater treatment plant capable of treating 16 million gallons a day. Uh we have 50 miles of storm water within the city limits. We actually have 20

storm water basins which basins are what lead to the waterways uh that take the water out to the river. Um, we have uh almost 2,700 storm water manholes. We have one bridge, the Hancock Bridge, and we have three closed landfills right now. Um, and while I was putting this together, I wanted to remind people our staffing levels that we have currently. So, um, currently we take care of nearly 200 miles and we have 10 street employees. So, that's about, uh, 20 miles per employee. We have three forestry people and we took down nearly 300 trees last year. So that's u um you know quite an effort. That's more than a tree per day. Uh out of the 300 or I think it was like 285, we only contracted about 30 of those trees out. Our crews did the rest. We have uh two members of our crew that do painting and sweeping. Street sweeping is done very early in the morning and at night and those guys are responsible for painting the um lines that you see on the streets annually uh out of the paint budget. Uh we have one cemetery full-time employee that takes care of the grounds and maintenance also digs the cemetery plots. Um, we have two full-time mechanics that, um, is something that, uh, city manager Ber has really pushed forward that has saved the city tens of thousands of dollars in, uh, outside equipment repairs. Uh, we currently have eight construction crew members. Um, we have a a young crew, but learning. We have three service technicians. Those are part of the meter um, and water uh, uh, department. So those are shut offs, turnons, uh meters that are installed, MIUS that are installed. Um operations team, we run operations 247 365 here. We have eight members of our operation crew right now, uh running the

water plants, the sewer plants, and and everything in between. Um [clears throat] we have three full-time lab workers that do our lab sampling and our required water sampling daily. Uh we have one utility worker uh position and we have three maintenance positions right now. So our maintenance people take care of our water plants, our lift stations, our uh wastewater treatment plant uh doing the preventative maintenance schedules uh that save the city quite a bit of money from hiring that out. And then we have three summer mowers that uh I believe the number is around 80 properties uh that we have to mow. Uh uh we obviously we can't mow 80 properties weekly, but you can see why three people are having a heck of a time keeping up with all the lots that we have all over town to maintain. So we're trying to make plans to um uh move some of them uh lots over to residential people. Next slide, please. [clears throat] Um so the next map is uh pretty congested. This is the overall 2026 uh map of projects that's going to happen. Um I'm going to break that down in the next few slides, but I wanted everybody to see how much work is going to be happening all over the city of Freeport. Um we have water mane replacements, street reconstructs, milling overlays. Uh we have some additional projects that were added. We have crack sealing that's going to happen. Uh we have several ID dot streets and main corridors that are going to get paved. We have uh we call them STU streets. There's some special uh federal funding that we've been able to get uh for some streets. Um and then we have uh uh cleaning and uh lining that we're doing within our sanitary sewers. Additional projects that really couldn't show up on here is we still have about 200 remaining lead service lines after the last inventory was done

last week. Um we're working on airport terminal design for that buildout. We're also working on the papy uh light program at the airport. Um and some crack seal um and also we have various building repairs that are going to happen between the uh fire department and city hall. And then we've already contracted 31 trees to come down on top of our crews. Those trees are the large dangerous trees that our tree are our our crews don't have the equipment to to take down. Next slide, please. So, kind of trying to break this down a little bit. So, this next sheet shows the water mane replacements and street constructs and milling overlays that the city crews are planning on doing this year. U, this is a full uh complete list of everything that we've gone over. We have um bid projects A, B, and C that are currently out on uh the two of them are on the street. The other one goes out Wednesday, and those bids will all be coming to council in April for approval. Um, [clears throat] I just going to say we're doing Concord Drive, we're doing Seol Drive, we're doing South Demiter, we're doing uh the Gladewood entrances, we're doing North Stewart Drive, uh, the Police Alley, the large municipal lot downtown, uh, South Benton Avenue is getting done. Uh, South Carol is getting done, Persing is getting done, and, uh, Dwey is getting, uh, reconstructed. Um, so that's our list of city street projects for this year. And I want to remind everybody, um, this [clears throat] is probably about six.5 million worth of work. Our streets budget annually is about $3 million from our 1% and we get about uh we might be three and a half tops and we get about a million dollars from MFT that we buy materials with. Um, the next slide, please. Uh so this this shows some

additional projects that we've been able to get to Freeport. Um this summer uh they're planning to bid Valina Avenue from Park Street to Clark Street. Uh that's going to be an entire mill and overlay of the section. It's uh about 3 and 3/4 inch millan overlay. Um they're also going to replace somewhere around 75 ADA ramps in the corridor. And I was uh uh uh I found out at a meeting last week that they're also planning to replace all of the uh stop signals with the new ADA detectable signals that beep and talk to people as they as they cross because that is a hightra area of Freeport for our um uh um uh handicapped travelers.

Um and then the other project that a lot of people know about is South Street. Uh we are uh got a commitment from ID do a memorandum of understanding that if the city of Freeport replaced the ADA ramps in that corridor that they will repave that. Um and we're planning on having that done this fall as well. Um uh we're in the close stages to bidding uh the ADA ramps out now and that project supposed to go to bid in July of this year. Next slide please. Additional projects. Some of these are already under construction. Um, we're looking at the Galina Laurel and uh or Park Street some people call it uh uh lift station renovations. Uh we're also planning on doing uh Sierra tank renovations this year. That's our 2 million gallon storage tank out on the west side of town. Uh the public works department is building a new $800,000 Shalt shed uh that we've already committed to. Um, Galina Avenue, we're also doing about 87 manholes of storm and u um sanitary uh repairs to um city hall is having $100,000 worth of tuck pointing done this year. Uh the Hancock Bridge is supposed to go out to bid in July of this year. Um that will be nearly uh $2.5 million project um for renovations to the deck. um wastewater treatment plant. We're in the middle, maybe a little bit over the middle of phase one. Phase two is in design and the city crews are planning to do clarifier equipment upgrades this year uh inhouse and we're also looking at some blower building uh replacements because the old boiler there is beyond its useful life and we need to go to gas heaters in the blower building. Uh it's much cheaper uh than replacing the boiler. Um, Hancock Videuct. Uh, we're in the midst of that project. I know there hasn't been a lot of action there.

Uh, city manager Ber and I had a meeting with Helm Group last week. Uh, they're supposed to be doing test borings there tomorrow to see if the frost is out of the ground and we hope to see some action uh, there shortly. I will say that that project uh, based on the asphalt plants opening, I do not see it being completed until the end of May of this year. Uh, I know it's an inconvenience. I know we had a resident here early that is very upset about it. Um there's nothing we can do about it. I can't open the asphalt plants. Helm can't open their plant and it and they typically don't open till May season for paving. There's still underground work to do there and I know it's an inconvenience for all. Um well number eight we're doing a generator. The pad was poured there today. Um obviously we're doing the ADA ramps on South Street. Uh Meadowbrook Lane is going to get uh new sewer and street this year. Uh this will be a fall project and West Deer Drive is also looking at uh new street and storm. Um well 12 we had the groundbreaking today and the walnut lift station is already under construction and should be finished uh late summer. Um again we have the lead service lines, the work at the airport and the trees that uh were just too much to make this list. um additional streets. These are kind of bonus streets. Uh we were able to get some federal dollars to help with what the city of Freeport calls the FAU routes. And this is something that was determined by ID do many years ago. Um and so we tried to figure out a way with ID do that we could get as many miles as possible done. Um the targeted streets that are uh in approval right now is South Walnut from Empire to uh South Street. Um again, these are Milan overlays. They're not full reconstructs. That street was determined it could be Milan overlay. And then we have Lincoln

Boulevard from Locust to West this year. And then we're hoping for uh Lincoln the second part to be on next year's schedule. We don't have a commitment to that yet. and then Stevenson Street, basically from Locust all the way to where we stopped at Sunset uh on a Millan overlay. Um I can't 100% guarantee these projects will move forward this year, but it looks like in all likelihood uh they're going to um from the advanced communication that we had, there could be a slight possibility that they all push to 2027. And as a reminder, um we will not only be doing the uh surface pavement on all these streets to smoothing them out, but we'll also have to replace all the ADA ramps. Um Michelle and I went over the numbers this afternoon and that's approximately $3 million worth of work and the city has a 20% match to do that work. And it was kind of a surprise that these streets got pulled forward. Um we were kind of planning on them possibly being next year. Um, next slide, please. So, uh, this is a list of streets that we're doing crack sealing on this year. As I've told you in the past, the city of Freeport has not done a lot of crack sealing. Um, crack sealing is effective on streets after they've been constructed between 12 and 24 months. Uh, those original cracks, and just so everybody knows, all streets crack, whether they're new, whether they're old, they're going to crack. the sooner that we can crack seal them in the next season or two, the uh sooner we keep water out of them. Water's the enemy to making potholes and making streets bad. So, uh we have made it part of our platform to come back and do the crack sealing every couple years. This year is an awful large package. This is about $150,000 worth of crack seal. Um these are Alta Streets that have already been done in the last couple years. So, this kind of shows you how much work we've done in the city of Freeport over the last couple years. And so we're um making it a point to try to

maintain that so it lasts as long as possible. Um cleaning and lining. So uh sanitary sewers within the routes that we're doing. We're having an evaluation done by a company of all the sewers looking for point repairs, things that might need to be uh dug up prior to doing the streets. And then uh we have a half a million dollar budget for lining. Um, I don't think it's going to get all these streets done, but we'll prioritize them based on what the worst sewers are. And just doing inspections on Galina Avenue, we have 16 manholes on Galina that are brick, and they all need to be lined prior to ID do their project or we would uh potentially have failure in those old brick manholes. Those are probably original to that section. Um, next slide, please. So this is just the same slide as we started with and uh no changes but I wanted to end on it. Uh there's not an area of Freeport here that is not getting uh some type of work. Um there is going to be uh havoc. We're trying to make a internal communication. So fire, police, school districts on the same page as far as construction's going uh for this season. Uh and we'll do the best we can and we'll try to coordinate with the uh emergency people as much as possible.

Question. Um actually we're not done with the presentation yet. So just wait a second.

All right folks, there's a lot there's a lot up here. It's going to take every bit of our effort to get this done this year and it is going to require your complete support of council. We've got some un some items that didn't make it into the budget in August that we will have to we'll have to somehow pay for and we'll be coming back to you on those fundings that we need to do uh to complete this construction plan. I will not say that we can't reschedule some of this and we probably could but I believe this is what everybody in this council chamber wanted and we've been working very diligently to provide. So, I ask simply that if you feel that this is too ambitious, then let's let's look at it. However, if you feel like this is what we're supposed to be doing, I need your support. I need when community members have challenges driving through construction zones um when they move their barricades or they're just slowed down, just remind them that this took a tremendous amount of work to get this together logistically, funding wise, and it takes basically every bit of all of our department staff putting in 100% plus our contractors to get all this work done. So, u I would like to at this time open up this uh for questions and uh go from there.

Alderman Sanders.

Yeah, I just I just have uh uh requests I guess you might say. Uh the next time we are doing visuals up here with these projectors or with these maps that we're trying to uh illustrate to the community or to council, we got to do a better job of zooming in, zooming out with these bad boys because it's hard for us to even look at the paperwork to decipher what it is that we're reading. if you can just make enlarge these mappings so we can go along with you so we can read it for oursel because cuz a lot of us sitting here wondering whether we should bring binoculars the next time you know I'm just saying I'm just saying I I I I'm just making a request can we do better than this uh thing up here.

Okay. [clears throat] Thank you, Alman Clem. Uh yes, a couple things. Thank you for the the the maps and the overall view of this. I know one of the most important parts of this also that wasn't you didn't really mention up front here, but is the cooperation with the citizens

and getting this done. This is going to be a massive undertaking. I've been in the construction trade all my life. I've always said there's two seasons. There's winter and construction. And when it comes time for construction, you can only do so much in such amount of time. Darren or Rob, one of the things kind of fill us in on you talked about when stuff was going out for bid and that kind of stuff. My question is basically when can we really start doing some of the pre-work on the streets such as, you know, as as water and sewer, whether it be that kind of stuff, when does that work actually start? So currently we don't have any bids but uh I anticipate um with the season uh changing so to speak uh people are going to want to get moving sooner than later. Uh for instance the municipal lot we've already seen interested interest in starting that in the next couple weeks if the conditions allow. Uh you know we have to remind everybody it's still early March. We're still going to probably have a snow or two. We don't want to get going too early, but uh Rob and I strategically uh have been trying every year to move the bid cycle up a little bit farther. Um these I looked this up just recently. The bids that we took out last year were not till late April. We're um you know a good month, month and a half ahead of that. You should have approvals in April. So we would like to see construction starting in May, which is about as soon as anybody can start. Um, some of the removals and things like that can start, but the street construction is really tough before May, especially uh I know last year there was lots of complaints about why we're waiting, why we're not moving water construction. When you're replacing water manes and water valves, we have to wait till the ground's unfrozen because we're digging very large and deep holes to put that stuff in. Uh, it's not just like paving out on Route 20 where there's no utilities and you're buzzing the top off and you're

putting more pavement down. That's that's, you know, I don't want to call it simple, but that's the easiest kind of infrastructure you can do. When you get into water and sewer, we're going to have a lot of contractors and we got to figure out how to space this out so we're not tripping over each other and that, you know, we don't have Stevenson closed at the same time Lincoln's closed. So, there's going to be a lot of scheduling and a lot of discussions after we actually have contractors that are bid about what we're going to let them do and what the time frame it takes. Um the street construction we're l really limited to that say May 2. Um you know we'd like to be done by no November 1st nothing later than that especially on our street our city street stuff. We want to be done by that because we run into leaf season and we just operationally don't have enough people to do it. So that's kind of our goal is to the three and a half miles or 3.2 miles that the city has to pave. we'd like to see us actually done uh by October uh with with all that paving citywide. So, we'll push the contractors to get that some of uh these bid out projects with Galina and South that's going to be determined by ID do because we're using their dollars. So, they're going to help determine um I can't tell you that some of this might not push to next year. It just depends on how many bids go out on these big ID do contracts and what the timing is. uh we've requested for it to be done this year, but honestly, if some of it pushed, we don't want to get into a weather situation where we're trying to pave on frozen ground. So, um uh you have to remember a lot of those ID do areas as well, they're going to go faster than our typical construction because they're not taking it all the way down and removing the base and putting that all back in. Those streets have already eight, nine inches of pavement on it. They're taking three, three and a half off, putting three and three and a half back on. Um, but it it is considered a long-term fix for us. And uh um I'm not going to exaggerate. We we went to bat very hard for the city of Freeport to

get this extra work done. And I'm afraid that if we don't move forward with it um between the state and the federal government, this money might not have a second chance at it. So it would really behoove us to get as much as possibly done this year as possible while the while the funding's there. Mhm. Alderman Johnson. Um, what could the citizens of the city do to help to cooperate and keep moving this forward?

I've got mine. You can give yours. So, uh, that's a great question, Linda. One thing is be informed. We'll be working with, uh, Brian, our communications director. We'll be pushing out timely updates and and communications related to to what's going on and where. Um, but I think the main thing everybody can um do is kind of map out your week before you leave. Kind of review what's out there in terms of communications on what's under construction for the week and do your best to avoid those areas. Make your way around. I mean, we do have, as you can tell up there, a lot of uh, you know, uh, east west corridors that are going to be under construction, and we're going to do our best to stage those so that we're not impacting um, we'll be impacting at a minimum the day-to-day travel habits, but you're just going to have to keep your head in the game. Be patient, plan extra time, and and let our guys know they're out there doing a good job. They're that is their work uh, space, and we want them to be safe uh, in it. So slow it down and also be patient as you uh navigate there.

Alman Parker, I just want to thank both of you for this excellent map. We started getting phone calls from our constituents. Now we have something to relay to, show them, and tell them this is what our plan is. So thank you both. This is excellent. Alderman Sers. Yeah. I also want to say thank you for all of this, but I also want to ask, do you think it's possible? Um, I know like sometimes what Rockford does, they'll put on their on the news that this street from here to here will be closed or whatever just to, you know, some people to be informed that don't really look at their um on the internet or whatever.

Yeah. So, we have been thinking very hard about what's the best way to communicate and um honestly Freeport doesn't get as much news traffic as probably Rockford with having all the stations there. I believe this year our intent is to use Brian Bridge with the Freeport Facebook social media post. Uh we've been using that. It was very successful last year and we'd like to steer all the constituents to that because we can control that communication. Brian's really effective about getting it out quickly and we can update it quickly when things change. And as you all know, and Tom's been in construction forever, things change every day in construction and just depending on the weather, right? Um, and so I think that's the best way to do it. I would also like to mention that these these uh sheets that we put out tonight um uh they'll be available on the city website. We'll post them up there. Uh give us a couple days and they'll be all up there for people to look at. there's nothing but transparency. Um, a lot of dollars, a lot of taxpayer dollars being spent, a lot of tax dollar uh coming back to the community um to get this stuff done. Um, it's not going to be an easy season. It's not. And we're anticipating a lot of people being upset. I know there's a lot of people upset, but we can't make it uh better without making it worse first. That's construction. Um, it's going to be a pain. As Rob said, plan your routes. try to stay out of our way. Uh there is no I will guarantee you there is no town the size of Freeport doing this much work

all right in the community for this type of a season. Uh this is really a challenge for us. Uh but we're going to try to make it happen. Alderman Clen, uh just to follow up, I [clears throat] know on Deer, uh there are some areas that have people still have their own septics and and and wells and stuff. Is that gonna are we going to address that in this construction on Deer?

Um well Tom yes that's the that's the the idea here is uh when we do uh let's see what that uh deer the east to west deer by the um by the park. Uh the idea there would be prepare that area for uh connections to the sewer service. There's a lot of people on septic over there as you noted and Wells and uh we'll be sending out those notices and letting them know that the time to hook up is uh is going to be when we got the road tore up. So yes. Yeah.

Okay. Something that's different than other projects that we've done. So uh this is fully funded Freeport projects for sewer water. Um we can't use private dollars on um or excuse me public dollars on private property. So some of those other projects that we did that included connections to the house that is not something that's feasible with public dollars unless we're getting grant money and so um we've already put notices out to the residents on Metobrook and Demiter that sewer was coming so they could make plans and they could have conversations and I've actually had conversations with many of the people um uh in those areas about sewer connecting. It's it's going to be a difficult challenge for some people, but uh um ultimately uh some of the ordinance that Linda uh uh read tonight about the connections and the spacing and all that stuff has been in our ordinance and uh it behooves everybody to get as many people in Freeport on the city, water, sewer uh as possible. Um sharing the cost, fire protection that's provided is for everyone in town. So those water manes go in front of those properties whether they choose to hook up or not.

Alderman Sanders. Uh they already answered my question. Okay. Thank you. All right. Thank you gentlemen. Next we'll move on to item number 12 which is public comment. Is there any public comment this evening? Tommy who I want Stacey we you best all them we put in so sand you and they uh you said the queen is going to uh take down or so

the cleaners and uh 1719 Main Street is going to start coming down on Friday if It's not raining. All right. Any other public comments? Is that Is that a Yes. Yes.

Okay. Hi, my name is Sue Cook and I have a question about the sign that is in front of the observatory and it appears like there might be construction of a um cell phone tower directly in front of the observatory. It's going to be a very tall cell phone tower in front of the observatory which is a wonderful tourist attraction for Freeport because we are the only one that has the deep space telescope in [snorts] this area and that includes over into Chicago. Is that correct? in Chicago. Um the word observe is actually in that observatory and this is going to be built right there. The people that are tracking the sky that come out for various events um sometimes line the parking lot with their telescopes and as they're moving it across here we go. Beautiful. Beautiful. Oh, cell phone tower. Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful. Is there any place else? And I know that there's going to be some sort of meeting, but unless you can get right up on the sign, you can't really read it. Is there going to be another chance for possibly another place to place this instead of in front of the observatory? And so I just wondered if maybe there was a

possibility of placing it elsewhere as opposed to that spot just so that it would not obstruct the view there. That's it. Thank you. Thank you. I'm sure Manager Boyer can speak to you privately. Okay, that's that's Any other public comments? Okay. Excuse me. Oh, no. No problem.

Um I just have a a public announcement. Um on uh Wednesday, March 25th, uh at 5:30 in the council hall here, we will be having a public meeting for the Hancock Bridge Replacement. Uh so anybody's invited to come to that that wants. It's just a question and answer session. Uh there'll be two paper advertisements that's going out and the uh post will also be on the city's website, but I wanted to make sure that everybody knew that that uh uh public meeting is not only required, but we're going to have it here on the 25th. Thank you. Any other public com any other uh public comments this evening? I will entertain a motion to adjurnn. So move. Second.

Have a motion made by Alderman Shadel, seconded by Alderman Sers. All those in favor signify by saying