City Council - Regular Meeting

Thank you.

Good evening. Brady, could you please give the invocation?

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I'll be praying from Proverbs 1 and Ephesians 4. Father, help us to know skillful and godly wisdom and instruction. Help us to discern and comprehend the words of understanding and insight. Help us to receive instructions in wise behavior and discipline of wise thoughtfulness, righteousness, justice, and integrity. But most of all, Lord, we ask that your counsel walk worthy of its calling with which they were called, with all lowliness and gentleness and longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Amen. Thank you, Brady. Now we'll officially call this meeting to order.

Mayor Miller.

Here.

Alder Persons Clem.

Here.

Johnson? Here. Simmons is absent. Parker? Here. Stacey? Here. Shadle? Here. Sanders? Here. And Sellers? Here.

If you could please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance led by Alderman Shadle.

with liberty and justice.

Item number one is the approval of the agenda. Is there such a motion? So moved.

Second.

We have a motion made by Alderman Sellers, seconded by Alderman Shadle. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? That motion passes. Number two is approval of the minutes from the regular meeting on July 6th and the special meeting on July 13th, 2026. Is there a motion to approve? So moved. Second. We have a motion made by Alderman Shadle, seconded by Alderman Johnson. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? That motion passes. Public comment on agenda items would be John Cook.

Good evening, Mayor Miller, city council members, other officials, officers, and guests. There are ordinances and resolutions before you tonight pertaining to the Northwest Illinois Enterprise Zone. I'm formally asking the city council to table all of these items until this council can be assured that you're in compliance with Freeport ordinances and Illinois statutes. An issue I've been concerned with for some time is City Code 899.08. 8 entitled Zone Administrator. This code mirrors Illinois statutes and plainly states the zone administrator shall be an officer or employee of the city or the county. Ms. Schultz-Winter might be the most qualified zone administrator in Illinois. However, she is not an employee of the Stevenson County or the city of Freeport. researching other enterprise zones throughout Illinois. I've surmised that the reason that this is part of the statute is that if Ms. Schultz-Winter was an employee of the city or the county, the city clerk or the county clerk, respectively, would be the official to call public hearings. Hence, the county board and city council would have due and official notice of a public hearing being conducted by the Northwest Illinois Enterprise Zone. State statute also calls for public hearings to be conducted by the city or county. As a matter of fact, directions from the DCEO state that the designating units of government must conduct public hearings. Andrea Schultz Winter and the Greater Freeport Partnership is not a unit of government. As it stands, the public hearing which supported what is before the city council is legally deficient. The only official notice of the June 17th public hearing was a legal notice published in Alena Weekly with sparse circulation. The Freeport City Council and the Stevenson County Board nor their respective clerks received any official notice regarding the June 17th public hearing. No other enterprise zone in Illinois that I found conducts their own public hearings. The public hearings are called by the units of government that create a district. Therefore, all board and committee members are fully apprised that a public hearing about something they will be asked to vote on at a later date is even happening. Do some research, please, folks. It's easy in 2026. Both Manager Boyer and Stevenson County Board Member Scott Helms sit on the Enterprise Zone. These gentlemen seem content to ignore ordinances and statutes which were meant to guarantee a level of transparency for their council and board, respectively. Maybe Mr. Boyer and Mr. Helms prefer to keep you all in the dark. For the record, I've worked on this issue for a while, and I'm not going to let go. I'm sure a few here know the reason we're meeting here tonight in this most historic Illinois building is because John Samuel Cook would not let go of an issue. This could be just the beginning. Thank you very much for your time and attention. I wish everyone a deep peace. Thank you.

And then the clerk has four items to read in that were emailed.

This is from Shane Orlow. I would like to submit this for public comment on agenda item number 13. Where there is criticism, thanks is also in order when due. I appreciate that city manager Boyer provided more information about the retirement plan for the police chief in the agenda for this meeting. This included a corrected note that will mitigate a communal misconception that had people talking the last few weeks. I understand that putting this information together is not easy, but when the people in the community have it, we can digest it much easier when we are proving benefits for a position slash person that has had such a short tenure in our community. With the information provided to us, we can understand that this is a legal need and not a want, and it was done in consideration of the monetary impact for the people of the city. With that being said, I hope that there is an improved effort from our police chief and others to connect with the community. I only found out about the meeting at the library last week when I woke up the next morning and saw it on the news. It was too late for me to attend. This is similar to information about crime. We can't do anything about it if we don't. know about it or if when we find out about it, it is too late. People, me included, like to have information. One library event doesn't get the job done. We need and want to know what is going on in our city. Thank you for clarification and information, City Manager Boyer. I hope the City Council reaches a decision that solves the legal obligation of the city and keeps the people in mind. Thank you, Shane Orlow, 6th Ward Resident. Next is from Lou Ludwig. Good evening, mayor and members of the council. This is regarding item number 20. Sorry, I couldn't personally be there tonight as I have to work, but I am submitting this comment to speak out against this pathetic censure request and the straight up intimidation tactics running rampant in this room. We elected Alderwoman Simmons, Alderwoman Stacey, and Alderman Sanders to be our voices. When you use council rules to silence them, kick them out of meetings, or cook up symbolic punishments, you aren't just targeting them, you are actively trying to shut down the residents who voted for them. Decorum goes both ways, and the mayor needs to wipe the smirk off her face when certain people in this community stand up to talk. Rules of order are meant to keep meetings productive, not be weaponized by a power-tripping majority bloc whenever the mayor gets her feelings hurt by opposition. Instead of running a city, we are forced to watch a mayor and a spineless block of five yes puppets who throw massive explosive tantrums the exact second they are challenged. It is the same exact fragile, bullying, thin-skinned behavior we see from Donald Trump. You act like spoiled children who can't handle a debate, and it is a total joke. This city hall should be a place that represents everyone, not an echo chamber for politicians who cry and lash out the moment they face real accountability. I urge this council to drop this political theater, stop the tantrums, and vote no on the censure of our aldermen. Thank you. That was Lou Ludwig. Next is Carol Krupke. I am asking that my email be read and entered into public record in regards to the resolution of censor against Alderperson Simmons and Sanders by Alderpersons Clem and Johnson. Rules are rules for a reason. I happen to like rules. And I agree that order needs to be maintained, but my concern is that the rules should be applied consistently to everyone on the council, not just selectively. When certain behaviors are ignored while others are punished, it is a double standard. If you charge one Stacy, two Simmons, and three Sanders with breaking rules, then you need to address four Clem, five Parker, and six Sellers. Alderperson Clem was fighting with then-Alderperson Rowe during a meeting. Alder person Parker told a citizen to shut up during a meeting. And alder person at large sellers told other council members to shush or hush and or shut up during meetings. Why didn't any of those alder persons receive a resolution of censure? If the rules and Freeport government are to be taken seriously, then the rules have to be followed with no favoritism and with fairness. In a nutshell, if you charge one, two and three in fairness, you need to also charge four, five and six. Sincerely, Carol Krupke. The last one's also regarding item number 20 from Micaiah Stacey. Good evening, council. I am writing today concerning Alderman Shadle and Alderwoman Johnson's request for censure. This is quickly becoming an obvious race issue. And as much as you will deny it and act like you don't know what you're doing, all three black alder people who disagree with the mayor at any point are being punished. one for offering a quick explanation of the rules so the meeting can move on, and another from a few weeks ago when we had a group of people who weren't at an event put an item on the agenda to punish an alder person for hearsay even when people who attended the event confirmed that accusations were false. Alderwoman Sellers is allowed to tell people to shut up and not be out of order. Clem was allowed to put his hands on an alderman last year, and he was not out of order. It's funny how the former police chief wasn't involved in that incident. Yet Frausto began... Yet Frausto brings the entire SWAT team to meetings to intimidate the public and jumps at Jody's command like a dog waiting for a treat. The three alder people who ask questions instead of just rolling over for the mayor are always attacked. It is infuriating and blatantly, obviously biased towards the alder people who ran as the citizens party. the same people who were at the mayor's election party and were voted in by the same degenerates that drive past Mr. Atkinson's house yelling slurs. The city is tired of the clowns in this circus. July 6th was a joke, mostly because the mayor blew it out of proportion per usual. Instead of trying to be a tyrant, she should start listening and knowing when and where to get involved. She does not need to pound the gavel and say, out of order, every time somebody takes a breath she doesn't like. Also, don't think I've forgotten about you, Manager Boyer. Next time I see you, I'm pointing and laughing, and that's a promise. Thank you, Micaiah Stacy.

And then last on public comments is Wendy Pearson.

Good evening council and to the city of Freeport's citizens who I am here to address more so than this council who doesn't listen nor do they care about what is occurring in this council chamber and in our streets. I've never spoke on two items at the same time so you guys need to direct me as to how I'm to do this. But the first thing I'd like to speak on is the chief of police. I personally believe that anybody that works a job and stays on a job for a period of time is a deservant, is deservant of a pension. Legally, by law, we have to give her a pension. But she's been here six months. And there hasn't been any proof of anything that has changed in this community other than the fact that it's gotten somewhat worse. The racial tensions in this town are worse than they've been since the Department of Justice was here for three and a half years. I think that if city manager had explained to this community What the legal ramifications are based around a pension for a person who has been in a position for six months should have been explained properly to the general public. It wasn't. The second thing I'd like to speak on is censorship. It is absolutely ridiculous that every time somebody says something or walks away from this podium, they're called out of order, even if they're talking or not talking. But it's absolutely okay for the mayor to roll her eyes, to have smart remarks, for Monroe to tell citizens and other elected officials to shut up, which I happen to be. And he thinks it's funny because he puts a smirk on his face. OK, it's OK for the chief to walk us out of the door based around information. She has no idea what has been going on and has no connection to this town to the point where she knows who no one is related to in this town. Censorship has been something that has affected the black community for as long as I can remember and as long as I have lived. And one of the things that you guys need to understand is that you don't know what kind of walk you walk in here. You don't understand the trap that you're laying for yourself when you have constituents that are concerned about the manner in which you treat the people that we've elected to serve and service us. I personally think they should sue the hell out of you. But in all actuality, if that should occur, we're suing ourselves. So I would say to this community, pull together yourself, a lawyer, and sue the mayor personally, the city manager personally, and anybody else that is involved with this.

Madam Clerk, could you please let the record reflect that at 6.05, Alderman Simmons attended?

Got that. Thank you.

Item number four is the consent agenda. The consent agenda is considered to be routine in nature and acted as one motion unless there's a member of the council left something removed for further discussion. The consent agenda consists of approving to receive and place on file the minutes from the Liquor Commission on April 29th and June 18th and the Library Board of Trustees June 10th, 2026. Also is the Fire Department report for May and June 2026. The finance bills payable in the total of $1,864,991.93. And payroll for pay period ending July 11th, 2026 in the total of $741,883.55. Is there a motion to approve?

So moved.

Second.

We have a motion made by Alderman Shadle, seconded by Alderman Sellers. Madam Clerk, would you please take the roll?

Shadle?

Aye.

Sanders?

Aye.

Sellers? Aye. Plum? Aye. Johnson? Aye. Simmons? Aye. Parker?

Aye.

And Stacey?

Aye.

The motion passes eight to zero.

Item number five is the second reading of ordinance 202634. Could you please read this?

Ordinance Adopting the Purchasing Policy and Procedural Manual and Amending Sections 22404, 23904, 239.5, 830.01, and Chapter 238 of the Codified Ordinances. Thank you, Director Richter.

Thank you, Your Honor. Before you tonight is the second reading for the purchasing policy. The memo is attached to the agenda, and I did read it previously. So I just put it forward to counsel for a second reading.

Thank you. Any discussion on this ordinance? Madam Clerk, please take the roll.

Shadle.

Aye.

Sanders. Aye.

Aye.

Sellers? Aye. Clem? Aye. Johnson? Aye. Simmons? No. Parker?

Aye.

And Stacey? No. The resolution is adopted 6-2.

Item number six is the second reading of Ordinance 202637. Could you please read this?

Ordinance Amending Part 2, Administrative Code, Title VI, Administration, Chapter 242, Fire Department, Section 242.46, Charges for Ambulance Services. Thank you. Chief Cordy?

Thank you, Your Honor. Thank you, Your Honor. This is an update of an ordinance that was passed back in 2022. At that time, our rates were set at $1,200 for a resident and $1,700 for a non-resident, irregardless of the level of service provided, whether it was a basic life support or an advanced life support. In the ordinance, there was the stipulation that the rate could be raised annually based on the CPI, not to exceed 5%. The previous administrations had elected not to do that because the rates that we were charging at that time were still above what the CPI would give us and above what we needed for what's called our GEMT rate. What we're proposing at this point is to raise our fees from $1,200 for residents to $2,000 and from $1,700 for non-residents to $2,500. That also increases or includes increasing our mileage rate from $14 per loaded mile to $20 a loaded mile. If you can see the pie graph that's on the screen, when you add Medicaid, Medicare, and Medicare Advantage, approximately 88% of the patients that we haul, that's what they have for insurance. There's about 6% that's privately insured, 3.8% that are self-pay, and 1% that's government paid, which will be like VA insurance. If you want to go to the spreadsheet then. Next one. Okay, we can do this one. The GMT rate is a federal fund that is used to offset some of the costs of Medicare and Medicaid. THEY SET A PAYMENT RATE THAT THEY WILL REIMBURSE US UP TO. SO YOU WERE MISSING PART OF IT. WE CAN DO THIS ONE TOO. GO BACK TO THE FIRST ONE. THE SECOND ONE THERE. YEAH. THE BOTTOM. OKAY. WE CAN DO THIS ONE. WE DO THE SECOND ONE WITHOUT THE Anyway, our GMT rate and our CPI rates never keep up with each other. In 2023, our GMT rate was $943 for residents, $964 for non-residents. The CPI rate was $1236 and $1751, which had us above what our GMT reimbursement rate was. Those rates kind of catch up to each other and then bypass. To the point of this year, our GMT rate is $1,318 for residents, $1,322 for non-residents. The CPI rate that's set in July, I should back up here. The GMT rates are set in January of every year. So they set what they're willing to reimburse us at. The CPI rate does not set until the first of July. So we're always six months behind playing catch up. At this point right now, if we were at the CPI rate, we'd be $1,353 compared to $1,318. We'd still be above it. We'd still be ahead. But that's six months behind, six months worth of revenue that we've already lost. You never catch up. You're always behind playing catch up. So that's kind of the explanation of those. This spreadsheet... shows where we're currently at. This is a survey that was done basically Winnebago, Boone, and Stevenson counties. It lists fire department-based or fire department-associated ambulance services, and it shows what the current rates are. Again, highlighted in yellow, it shows $1,200 and $1,700 across the board for Freeport Fire, along with $14 a loaded mile, $450 and $475, which we'll get to later. The proposed rate of $2,000, $2,500, and $20 a mile is shown just a couple of steps above that. We have other agencies within the county, Tri-District and Freeport Rural that are above those rates. So basically what we're trying to do is just get ahead and stay ahead of the allowable Medicare and Medicaid rates. The city of Freeport is what's called, accepts Medicare and Medicaid payment in full. So Whatever Medicare and Medicaid pays us, we accept 100%. If we wanna charge $5,000 and Medicare's only gonna pay us 1,500, that's what we accept and we write off the difference. So for any of the lower income, indigent, or even people that are extremely sick, Whatever Medicare pays, we accept. We do not expect them to pay any more than that. We do expect some of the people that don't pay anything to kind of pay up a little bit, unfortunately. One of the gentlemen a couple of weeks ago had some good numbers. We've got, we run, last year we ran 4,550 calls. Of those, about 550 we never transported. If we don't transport you, we do not charge you. It's only if you're transported to the hospital. Okay, 88% of that is 3,520 calls. 5% for the insurance is 200 calls, 7% for the government and self-pay is 280 calls. Of that, we recovered $915,000. Okay? Again, if this was a perfect world, we had 4,000 calls that we transported. We charged them $1,200 each. That's $4.8 million. And as the gentleman said, if we raise it to $2,000, that's $8 million that the city's taking in. The only problem is that doesn't happen. That's not what we get. Out of the $4.8 million, we normally get about 1.1. If we would raise it to $2,000 a call, we would get about 1.6. Everything that we do in emergency services is expensive. Everything that's medical is expensive, unfortunately, but it's what we have to deal with. A new ambulance that we quoted recently, $458,000. A new engine, $1.3 million. A new ladder truck, $2 million. A new cardiac monitor that I'm going to be talking about later, $46,500. New turnout gear for one firefighter, $4,600. Right now we have, over the last year, $176,000 that we've turned over to collections from people that haven't paid. We also have $110,000 that we've written off of those Medicare, Medicaid, and people that we know are indigent. One of my previous bosses had told me that if this was a fair and just system, we could get away with almost being like McDonald's. you could pay for, if everybody paid a little bit, it would go around just fine. What we were talking about of 1.1 or $1.2 million, if every single one of those 4,000 people that we hauled paid $300, that's 1.2 million. But unfortunately, not everybody's able to do that. So we need to make up the difference someplace. And this is what we're trying to do at this point.

Thank you. Discussion on this ordinance? Alderman Johnson.

I'm in favor of increasing the price of an ambulance transfer since it has not been raised for four years. According to our current ordinance, this would mean increasing the rate for residents to approximately $1,360 and non-residents to approximately $1,920. This increase constitutes a 13% increase. The proposed increase is a 67% increase. While most costs are covered by Medicare, Medicaid, and insurance, who pays for the Medicaid, the Medicare, and the insurance? Whenever costs increase regarding health, et cetera, oftentimes it is reflected by increases in the insurance premiums and Medicare payments. Also, regarding the percentage of the revenue that Alderwoman Stacey had addressed at the COW, I see on the memo that in the past year, revenue was $1,803,500. Of that amount, $755,550 was transferred back to the city. So 58% went to the fire department and 42% to the city. For the month of June, the payroll for the fire department was $333,634, which the city pays every month. The city also pays the building upkeep, among other things. So the current percentage split of the revenue seems to be appropriate. Thank you.

Alderman Stacey?

Yes. Alderman Johnson, I think there was a mistake in your speaking. The city gets 54% of monies brought in, and the fireman keeps 46%.

On the memo that we got from the fire department of that $1,803,500 of that amount, the percentage that the city got was 42% in the fire department.

City Manager Boyer, can you confirm what the city gets at the end of every year from the fire department's capital fund and how much the firemen keep?

Yes, but I'll defer to Michelle. Michelle, is there any way you could look at that? Give us the correct number.

So I'm going to look up the ordinance, but the ordinance is very specific that it doesn't include certain things that flow through that fund, like the billing charges for the ambulance service gets taken off the top. And the GEMT, other 50% of the GEMT gets taken off the top. So it's a formula. But you're correct with the $54.46. Let me get you the right percentage if you give me one minute.

Is there anyone else?

Alderman Clem? Yeah, if I could. First of all, the split between how that service is divided to 54, 46, however it comes out, isn't really part of this conversation. Part of this conversation is whether we want to raise the fees to capture the amount of money that's available from insurance companies. You know, it's really down to the point it's a fact of doing business, okay? The numbers that you put out, you know, I hear from a lot of people that, look, no matter what we want to do, we want to have a professional service. We want to have a good service. We want to have everything done properly. And we know that takes funding. I think part of our problem where we got to where we got is the past X number of years where nothing did go up, as the ordinance says, it could have gone up a minor percentage. So I have no problem with meeting of raising the fees. And I can go back and just allude to the part that the numbers that the chief brought up as far as mileage and as far as the ambulance costs, I told Chief Miller at the time, my wife took a ride from, the ambulance came from Rockford to Freeport because nobody will go into Chicago from Freeport, went into Chicago and the ambulance bill was a mere $11,800 and charged far more in mileage. So it's a matter of, it's not a matter that we want to raise it that people cannot afford it or any of that. We can't Many of us can't the way it is anyway. But what we need to do is recoup what we're able to get from the insurance companies. Is that correct, basically, what you're looking to do?

And stay a little bit ahead so we don't have to do this every year is the idea.

So I would have no problem in doing that. Let me just, as we bring into this the percentage of money that's divided, I happened to be on the console for a fair period of time and I can remember back then that was just about 100% to one side and nothing to the other side and it all changed around. The other thing, keep in mind that as you enter into all these costs and what the fire department costs and everything else are the costs of longevity funds such as retirement, so on and so forth. The fees that we're asking for here, when I came on the council, the taxes that we received from the township paid for all the retirements. Keep in mind that was 20 years ago. Five, six years ago, the council borrowed $20 million to stabilize that fund. So this is a fund that's out of proportion. But like a good friend of mine told me, I used to lay awake nights thinking about this because there's no way the whole thing can work. But keep in mind, we have no control over that. You know, the state has set up a pay schedule for these people. The state has set up a schedule for the people in retirement, and we have to provide those funds. So as we look at this, we're looking at just one part of this whole funding, and it's a matter of doing nothing more than trying to recoup what the insurance companies would already pay.

Director Richter, did you have that answer?

Yes, it's Ordinance 242.53, and it says that 54% of the total amount remitted to the city in the fiscal year will be placed in the fire fund to be transferred and deposited to the corporate fund. So it's 54 to the city, 46 stays in the fire cap.

Thank you. And Alderman Clem is correct. This ordinance has nothing to do with those percentages. So if there isn't any other questions concerning this particular ordinance, Alderman Stacy.

Yes. Okay. You re you said that once and, and you just felt the need to have to restate it. The 200,000 or whatever he talked about that went into account, didn't have nothing to do with this ordinance either, but he said it. And so be fair.

Alderman Clem? I brought that percentage up because it had been brought up and it wasn't part of this conversation. I brought it up to emphasize the truth in those numbers.

That's all I brought it up for.

Madam Clerk, please take the roll.

Shadle?

Aye.

Sanders? Sellers? Aye. Clem? Aye. Johnson? No. Simmons?

Aye.

Aye. Parker?

Aye.

And Stacey? Aye. The ordinance passes six to two.

And item number seven is a second reading of ordinance 202638. Could you please read this?

Ordinance Amending Part 2, Administrative Code, Title VI, Administration, Chapter 242, Fire Department, Section 242.54, Charges for Lift Assistance. Thank you. Chief Cordy?

Thank you, Your Honor. I apologize. Earlier, I sent around a new memo. I realized that I did not provide you with a proper one initially. so that you have a new updated memo for this topic. This is basically just a little bit of housekeeping and a little bit of change. The state of Illinois has passed a law that allows municipalities to charge facilities for lift assists from fire departments and ambulance services. What that means is and what we're intending to do is if one of the nursing homes, assisted livings, hospitals or other ambulance services in the area call the fire department to pick someone up, we charge them. We have been charging them. Well, the previous charge was $145 billed in half hour increments, so $72.50 every half hour. What we're proposing is to just up that to a straight $150. The purpose behind this is that people that are in the hospital, in assisted living, in nursing homes, and even are being helped by another ambulance service, They are paying those facilities for that service. They're paying for the housekeeping, the meals. They're paying to be taken care of. These type of situations happen kind of randomly, but they run in streaks. There are individuals in the community or in a facility that have illnesses or injuries, and they end up falling a lot. And again, we'll get like a dozen a week just for residences, and we get for facilities We've gotten five in a week. We've gotten none in five weeks. Like I say, it's not a big moneymaker for us. It's just since we're in the process of updating our ordinances, we felt that we were going to go ahead and update this one also. We will not and we do not charge residents in their homes or in the public for a lift assist. It's only if you're in a facility and already paying for that service at that facility. The other side of it is for the other ambulance services, And it's usually, unfortunately, it's usually a private service that doesn't have the same staffing level as the fire department has. A lot of times there are out-of-town services that come in to do transfers and transports back to homes and different things. They either don't send the right personnel or enough personnel, and then they rely on the fire department to do all their heavy lifting for them. that again will be billed to the service and not to the resident. So at this point we're asking just for the clarification of upping it from the $145 billed every half hour to $150 straight fee regardless of the time taken.

Thank you. Discussion on the ordinance. Madam clerk, please take the role.

Shadle.

Hi.

Sanders. Sellers. Hi. Johnson. Hi. Simmons. Hi. Parker.

Hi.

And Stacy. Hi. The ordinance passes eight to zero.

Item number eight is the first reading of ordinance 202644. Could you please read this?

Ordinance amending the boundaries of the joint Northwest Illinois certified enterprise zone for expansion of auto smart incorporated.

Andrea directors. Sure. Thank you.

There's going to be a map brought up shortly on the screen to help illustrate what I'm talking about or where I'm talking about, excuse me. So tonight I am asking for approval of an ordinance and a resolution to amend the Northwest Illinois Enterprise Zone to include AutoSmart's additional territory, which will support the growth of that business. So on the map you see in front of you is the... Pink squiggly lines that are all over Stevenson and Joe Davis County is the existing Northwest Illinois Enterprise Zone. The small black dot that is over in your right-hand side is the proposed addition to the zone. I just wanted to illustrate to you our zone has to be contiguous, meaning it has to be connected. It is a two-county zone, and it can be up to 20 square miles.

Can I advance to the next slide? Where is it? Okay. Thank you.

So here's a zoomed in portion of the Enterprise Zone. And again, just to help orient yourself, you're looking, the yellow hashed area is where the existing zone is. So you'll see just east of Freeport here, Titan Tire. And then extending a little bit further east of Titan Tire is the addition we're talking about. It extends over to the existing, what was formerly the Stevenson County Visitor Center, which is now the home of AutoSmart, which is a classic car consignment dealership. And advancing to the next map, hopefully. Gotcha. OK. Here is a zoomed in portion. And again, the hashed area that's yellow is the existing enterprise zone. When the building in that land was sold to the current owner, there was an adjacent parcel that was part of that sale. That parcel, which is 0.42 acres, so just under half an acres, was not in the Northwest Illinois enterprise zone. The owner of the building and the business that's there is requesting that that parcel be added into the enterprise zone because they would like to add an additional building which will expand their showroom as you can imagine with classic cars. A showroom is ideal because they want the car to be in a building and protected. Expanding the showroom will expand their capacity to sell more vehicles, thereby enhancing sales tax revenue. This is in the process of going through all of the six units of government that comprise the Northwest Illinois Enterprise Zone. So that includes Stevenson County, City of Freeport, Lena, Joe Davis County, Village of Hanover, as well as East Dubuque. So tonight before you is the first reading, asking for approval so that we can move it on to the second reading. Happy to answer any questions you may have about this application.

Thank you, Andrea. Is there a motion to move this forward? So moved. Second. A motion made by Alderman Sellers, seconded by Alderman Shadle. Discussion on the ordinance? Thank you, Andrea. We'll move on to item number nine, which is the first reading of Ordinance 20-2645. Could you please read this?

Ordinance amending the boundaries of the Joint Northwest Illinois Certified Enterprise Zone for expansion with the village of Lena.

Thank you. Andrea?

Thank you again. So I'm moving two applications through this process simultaneously, two separate projects. And again, for orientation, I'm not showing you the large map that encompasses the two, both Stevenson and Joe Davis County. I am narrowing in on the village of Lena. So what you will see is kind of a triangular shape that's in your lower right-hand corner. That's the area of Adkins Energy. And that area, which is already, it's yellow hashed, indicating that it's already in the Enterprise Zone. The Village of Lena is requesting that three groupings of parcels that are within the village limits are added into the Enterprise Zone. All of these parcels are currently underdeveloped. There's no structure on those parcels, and they're all zoned residential. The end goal is the village would like to increase the number of residential units in the village. Adding these parcels into the enterprise zone helps spur development in two ways. Provides property tax abatement relief for a period of three years. as well as allows the builder or whoever is the purchaser purchasing building materials that are permanently affixed onto that property to do so without having to pay state sales tax, thereby decreasing the cost of that investment. So again, asking tonight for approval of the first reading to move this application forward so that this area, which is just over... 112 acres be added into the enterprise zone. And as I mentioned before, our total zone can be up to 20 square miles. With the addition of these acres, we would be sitting at 13.84 square miles. So there would be plenty of capacity in the zone for future additions.

Thank you. Is there a motion to move this forward? So moved. Second. We have a motion made by Alderman Shadle, seconded by Alderman Sellers. Any discussion on this ordinance? Thank you. Item number 10 is the first reading of ordinance 202646. Could you please read this?

ordinance granting a variance from the requirements of section 1262.03 f concerning location of driveway surface at 708 west elk street thank you director hammerdinger thank you madam mayor staff received a variance application on june 22nd 2026 for 708 west elk

uh street in r52 family residential district to seek relief from 1262.03 f in no event shall a required off street parking space or driveway surface be closer than two feet to an existing lot line the petitioner is requesting relief from this ordinance to allow a driveway up to the property line The purpose of the driveway is to allow the petitioner to access their garage. The garage, which is legal non-conforming, was built by the previous owner. And because the garage is all the way to the property line, the driveway needs to be as well. so that they can properly access the garage and use it to its full benefit. To ensure the driveway doesn't encroach onto the neighbor property, the petitioner did obtain a land survey and has located the property line so that it will not go over the property line while it might encroach the two feet. The petitioner's current driveway is gravel and overgrown with grass. Gravel is no longer an approved surface for driveways here in the City of Freeport, so they are looking to change it to concrete and they want to make sure that they can have their full driveway and get it closer than two feet away. So on July 9th, 2026, the Zoning Board of Appeals recommended the approval by a vote of five yeas and zero nays. And then on the same date, July 9th, 2026, the Planning Commission also recommended the approval by a vote of four yeas and zero nays. So we are, staff recommends approving the variance and since this is a residential and since they do have a contractor and they would like to start on their driveway, we are asking for a suspension of rules.

Thank you. Is there a motion to move this forward? Move.

Second.

We have a motion made by Alderman Clem, seconded by Alderman Johnson. Discussion on the ordinance? Alderman Parker?

I'll suspend the rules.

Second. We have a suspension of the rules made by Alderman Parker, seconded by Alderman Sellers. Suspension of the rules is non-debatable and must pass by two-thirds majority. Madam Clerk, would you please take the roll on the suspension only? Shadle? Aye.

Sanders?

No.

Sellers? Aye. Clem? Aye. Johnson? Aye. Simmons? Aye. Parker?

Aye.

And Stacy? Aye. The suspension passes seven to one.

So then before you counsel is the final passage of this ordinance. Any further questions? Alderman Shadle.

There was no mention of any comments at the zoning or planning. Any of the neighbors had no objections? Nope. Thank you.

Madam Clerk, please take the roll.

Shadle. Aye. Sanders.

Aye.

Sellers. Aye. Plum. Aye. Johnson. Aye. Simmons. Aye. Parker. Aye. And Stacey. Aye. The ordinance passes eight to zero.

Item number 11 is the adoption of resolution 202685. Could you please read this?

Resolution approving an emergency medical services and ambulance transportation joint response intercept billing reimbursement revenue sharing agreement. Thank you, Chief Cordy.

Thank you, Your Honor. This, again, is a little bit more of housekeeping. We normally, when an ambulance service is coming to the hospital and the patient that they're hauling needs advanced level of care, it's routine for them to call one of the area services whether it's us star freeport rural that have paramedics on duty what we currently have and have been doing is we charge 450 for each one of those als or advanced life support intercepts at that time we're able to go out into the county, meet the incoming ambulance. Our paramedics assess the patient and treat the patient en route then to the hospital, giving them the advanced level of care. The change is we have asked our billing company to do the billing for us for that service. We've been trying to do it on our own for years, and we get woefully behind with everything else that we have to do. One of the stipulations that the billing company says that for Medicare and Medicaid to approve it, we have to have a signed agreement with each one of those services that we may meet up with. So that's the whole gist of what this resolution is. Lots of times it's either Freeport Rural Ambulance, Leaf River Forest, and Shannon, German Valley, Star, Lanark, Lemons are some of the services that we'll meet up with. okay so basically all this is is asking to allow us to implement the billing company to do the billing and to go ahead with the written agreement that we have to get from each one of those services motion to approve second

We have a motion made by Alderman Clem, seconded by Alderman Shadle, to adopt Resolution 202686. Is there any discussion? Madam Clerk, please take the roll.

Shadle.

Aye.

Sanders. Aye. Sellers. Aye. Clem.

Aye.

Johnson. Aye. Simmons.

Aye.

Parker.

Aye.

And Stacey. Aye. The resolution is adopted 8-0.

And item number 12 is, I think I read that wrong, didn't I? I apologize. I think I said 86 instead of 85. But the next one is the adoption of Resolution 202686. Could you please read this?

Resolution approving the purchase of a cardiac monitor from Zoll for the Fire Department.

Chief Cordy.

Thank you, Your Honor. The fire department currently utilizes Zoll cardiac defibrillator monitors for all of our apparatus. We currently have seven units that we utilize. All four of our ambulances have what are called Series X Advanced. Three of our frontline engines have X Series. The X series are older models. Two of them are from 2024, one from 2026, excuse me. Two of them are from 2014, one from 2016, then the X series advanced. We have three that are from 2021 and one from 2023. The normal life expectancy of these are about 10 years. During the annual maintenance that we have done, one of them failed the maintenance requirements. We sent it in for a repair quote of approximately $6,500. So at that point we started looking into our options. They no longer, and what we sent in was one of the 2014s, one of the 12-year-old models. one of the X series. They no longer make and sell those models. They're still servicing them for a few years, but they're planning on doing away with them in the near future. The X series advanced. The new one cost $46,600. That's currently what's in all four of our ambulances. It's a cardiac monitor defibrillator and external pacer. It has four and 12 lead capabilities with remote telemetry, automatic blood pressure monitoring, oxygen, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide monitoring, And along with some online feedback, when the guys are doing CPR, it'll tell them if they're going fast enough, going deep enough, all that kind of stuff. Some traumatic brain injury management software and bag valve mask, which is the bag that they use to ventilate the patients. They also have a newer model, just came out a couple of months ago for $58,000. Pretty much all the exact same features of the advanced larger touchscreen. Their changes are, that's capable of operating with a ventilator, and it also has the ability to see the underlying cardiac rhythm while you're doing CPR, which is fairly new. We don't really feel that putting $6,500 into a 12-year-old monitor is a good use of our taxpayer dollars. Granted, $46,600 is a lot of money. We understand that. But it's one of those pieces of equipment that you want to work when you need it and isn't really negotiable. Again, the one that we're looking at repairing is 12 years old. And, you know, the other comment is, yeah, it's old. I mean, who around here has got a 12-year-old cell phone? Okay. And compare the need between the two of them. So, yeah. The money is in the capital improvement fund. So it's already been budgeted for. And next year, I plan on budgeting to replace the other two, the other 12. And at that point, it will be 11-year-old monitors. So we all have the exact same. Every vehicle has the exact same monitor, operates the exact same way. It's all interoperable for everybody.

So is there a motion to adopt so move to second motion made by Alderman Shadle, seconded by Alderman Sellers discussion on this resolution. Madam clerk, please take the role.

Shadle Sanders. Aye. Sellers? Aye. Clem? Aye. Johnson? Aye. Simmons? Aye. Parker?

Aye.

Stacey? Aye. And that resolution is adopted 8-0.

Item number 13 is the adoption of Resolution 20-2687. Could you please read this?

Resolution adopting the Qualified Retirement 401A plan for certain eligible employees.

Thank you.

Manager Boyer?

Thank you, Your Honor. As we move forward, Chief Frostow has signed a contract, and the contract it requires and the state statute requires a retirement plan to be offered to Chief Frostow. She has opted for a 401A. That is a defined contribution plan, and staff needs to move this forward so that we can then set up the 401A retirement plan as required by state law. So staff recommends moving forward with this motion.

Is there a motion to adopt?

So moved.

Second. A motion made by Alderman Shadle, seconded by Alderman Sellers. Discussion on the resolution? Alderman Stacy?

City Manager Boyer, I understand you want to move this forward. And I feel that we have moved quite hasty. I know that it's a law. I know that she's entitled to this. And I know that she's going to get it. However, the people needs to know, they deserve to know what a 401 consists of. This is a payment they will be making for the rest of her life. And we need to know what credentials, what benefits this 401 entails. before we make a final vote on saying yes to something we don't even know what we're saying yes to?

Is that a question?

Yes, how can we make a final decision today and say yes to something we don't even know what we're agreeing to?

It is required by state law, that's why.

But what's required? The details are not required. You create the details of the pay and the benefits and the things that it will consist of. Why can't we as a council Know what you're asking for. Know what it entails.

I believe what you're asking for is subject to executive session.

Excuse me?

What you're asking for is covered under executive session, and we can certainly have a conversation about it, and we can enter executive session to discuss it, but that's not something we would discuss in open session.

So we have executive session tonight?

No, we do not. We just need to create a 401A structure so that we can then begin to provide the retirement benefits that are identified in Chief Rosta's contract.

Okay, but to my understanding, once we say yes tonight, whatever you choose to create, whatever you choose to

put in that contract we've already said yes to something we don't know what we're saying yes to manager boyer um i will just comment that when this contract was brought before the council on executive session these were enumerated so this discussion has been had We're getting around to getting it all taken care of and providing it through the ordinance. So therefore, we're just creating a 401 tonight. We're not discussing Chief Frostow's benefits enumerated in our contract, which we can certainly have a follow-up discussion on.

So it will be an executive. So this is just, to my understanding, this is just that we are gonna create a 401 .

That's right.

And we will know what all it entails before it's accepted.

Alderman Sanders?

I'd like to... You won't get an answer. Yeah, you won't get an answer because council has, in some fashion or form, allowed authority and positioning to be placed in the hands of politicians instead of the people of the city of Freeport. This motion to even consider hiring a chief of police did not come from council. The power and authority and decision making of the council had no part in it because council intentionally excused their authority and their rights and the benefits of the taxpayers and the citizens of the city, relinquished their duties and authority to make those sound decisions whether we should elect anyone with a contract that we have not studied and what was imposed in this contract. We have not had an opportunity as a council to come together to make this official decision. It's not up to an individual to submit contracts of this magnitude. It is to the council and then the citizens of Freeport that makes these certain decisions and retirement plans or whatever the case. But first of all, it shouldn't have never been submitted to council and it shouldn't have never been submitted to the taxpayers of the city of electing or accepting a contract that we have no knowledge about. Council is still in the dark if we're going to relinquish all authority onto the city manager, which is the one that submitted that contract to the police chief. And if we're not doing our due diligence, my time is up already?

No, but Attorney Zito said you need to get back on track of the actual topic of the 401A.

Oh, you know what? Okay, I know exactly what you're doing. Uh, attorneys, you know, and, uh, you're supposed to be an advisory. To counsel, not a person that's showing biases to counsel. I should be able to say what I'm saying in order for us to find out how we got here. What you're saying is, what I'm saying is the 411 plan shouldn't even be in effect to even be discussing at this time. I'm talking to counsel, not Mr. Zito. I'm talking to the people that makes the decision, legislating and governing and have the authority and power to make such a decision. REQUEST OR SUGGESTING AND SIGNING CONTRACTS AND REQUESTING A CONTRACT DEAL WITH ANYONE WITHOUT THE CITIZEN'S KNOWLEDGE THAT COUNCIL IS GOING TO ACT ON SOMETHING THAT THEY HAVE NO PRIVY TO. AND THAT'S WHY I SAY WHAT I'M SAYING.

AND YOU ARE WELCOME TO TALK ABOUT ANYTHING HAVING TO DO WITH THE 401A, ALDERMAN SANDERS.

WELL, I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT IF I HAD NOT STUDIED THE PLAN. IF I HAD NOT STUDIED THE PLAN 401A, how could I discuss something intelligently and make a sound decision if that discussion had never came up before? This is the problem, and this is why we cannot just allow a city manager to make these kinds of decisions without the council admission that we have understanding, complete, clear understanding of why we're allowing such a contract to come into effect, to even consider hiring a chief of police. And that's the problem I'm having right now because council, when I'm looking at an article that says council intentionally relinquished their duties to give it right onto the citizens of, uh, to the city met manager as if though we don't have any say, so no power or authority.

Your four minutes has expired. Alderman Sanders.

Okay.

All right. Uh, manager Boyer.

Uh, it, it is the authority of the city manager to hire, uh, the chief of police. And it's also, uh, council's responsibility to approve the contract, all of which was done.

Alderman Stacy.

Yes, City Manager Boyer. It is Council's responsibility to approve the contract. But there was so much not revealed to the Council about this contract that's really an employment applicant document um... we had no knowledge that there wasn't a year or a three-year or five-year contract this is almost like a month-to-month event and we're learning citizens we're learning so much is swept under the carpet and kept hush hush we had no say so in who you chose that was your job however you should have been forthcoming with certain information that is just now coming out we could do this and we have to do this this 401 . We could do it tomorrow and she can resign next week and we will still have to pay her for the rest of her life.

Manager Boyer.

I'm sorry. That's just totally incorrect. And you also had an opportunity to review the contract. You read the contract. Everyone on council voted. I feel like we're not being clear. This has been before council. You have had access to it for a very long time. This is not controversial. This is a defined contribution plan. which is the most cost effective approach to this type of agreement versus the downstate pension plan. And so I want to just correct the record and say, you've had this agreement since probably December. In the agreement, it requires a retirement plan. The most efficient version of the retirement plan was chosen And we're just now creating that in ordinance so that we can move forward and not be in breach of our contract. That's all we're doing.

Please don't make it seem like we were given a contract. Anything that was handed to us in closed session is collected. We are not able. You don't read it. You don't read it. We skim through what we can in the time we have. But that, too, is going to change.

Alderman Sanders.

I also want to add to that, remember who hired you as a manager-boyer. It was council who hired you. It is the people of the city of Freeport that hired you. But the process of everything that took place to even- Hold on, Sanders. Wait a minute.

This has nothing to do with this resolution.

I'm speaking.

I know, but you have to get back on topic.

But you cannot inject your- But you have to be on topic.

You can talk all you want to for four minutes on the 401k.

Well, that's what I'm talking about.

No, you're aiming it at Manager Boyer.

No, I'm just talking about the fact that we did not receive this 401 plan. With clarity, that's what this is about. It was not received with clarity, and I'm going to ask questions to the reason why it wasn't. And the fact of the matter is I don't like surprises, Mayor, and I don't like the fact that you're standing behind me or sitting behind me imposing the fact that I have to stay on topic when I am on topic talking about a matter that we're talking about when it comes to the 401 a plan now you to cut into my minutes and my seconds now I have to regain those back from you because you got a clock on this whole thing and I should not be discussing this matter with you if I'm on topic that's what I'm trying to say and I'm saying stay on topic Well, you cannot be saying that, Mayor, because you're stopping progress is what's happening. You cannot continue to do that. That's all I'm saying. Just get your facts together, and then we'll stay on topic. But my point is this. We have to remind ourselves that when council has created an atmosphere for this type of discussion, thing to happen, we have to remind ourselves as council that anything that comes from the city manager's department or the staff department, then it is our job duty to make sure that we are in alignment with the people of this city. If the people of this city is saying no, then the people that elected us as councilmen, they're the ones who are instructing us on which direction we should be moving this city, not a city manager. And what gives the authority and the power to the council to legislate and government, and we're the ones that has all the power and authority to move contracts and determine whether or not these are contracts that are beneficial to the citizens of Freeport. And that's what I'm trying to say. So even with the processing of any contractual ENDEAVORS THAT ARE TAKING PLACE THAT IS IMPOSED UPON THE CITY OR ASKED TO AGREE UPON. IT HAS TO BE IN THE CONSIDERATION OF COUNCIL COLLECTIVELY HAVING A MEETING UNDERSTANDING WITH CLARITY AS IT BEGINS TO TALK IN PUBLIC REGARDING WHAT IS BEING ASKED OF THEM TO ACCEPT. THIS IS THE REASON WHY WE JUST CANNOT be casual about voting on something of this magnitude. And if it came down to the citizens of Freeport, it is no surprise that sometimes we might have to put things in a referendum and go back to that process so the people of the city have the power, the constituents of the city taxpayers have the power and authority to determine whether we should allow a chief of police in this kind of processing to be considered. Let it stand with the people and not with just the city managers who impose this thing upon the people of Freeport. That's all I'm saying. And it's a 401 plan. that first of all, you have to have so many years to retire here in Freeport. And not only that, you have to have paid, you have to have met the threshold for any retirement of the city of Freeport. Six months, you have to be here years before you meet that threshold. And that's what I wanted to say. You have to be here three years.

Thank you. Just for clarification, We were made aware of this from the beginning, that there was a plan that was going to come forward. The fact that you have no recollection of that does not mean that it didn't happen. Just for the clarification of it, we were informed of it, and it's been knowledge to many of us from that point.

If there's no further discussion, Madam Clerk, please take the roll.

Shadle?

Aye. Sanders? No.

Sellers? Aye. Clem? Aye. Johnson? Aye. Simmons?

Aye.

Parker? Aye. Stacey? No. And the resolution passes 6-2.

Item number 14 is the adoption of Resolution 2026-88. Could you please read this?

Resolution approving an agreement with fair Graham to provide Brownfield environmental assessment testing services for 17 and 19 main street. Thank you. Manager Boyer.

Uh, thank you, your honor. Uh, we are completing the, uh, wrap up on 17 and 19, which is the old cleaners building, uh, in order for us to, um, take it to the next step, we need to do an evaluation, uh, of whether or not all the constituents at issue have been removed and we need to do some soil boring. With that, I'd ask that we move this resolution forward to have the professional services performed to further inspect the site to ensure that everything has been taken care of so that we can redeploy those lots, those addresses, and to wherever we go from here, we'll bring a proposal to council when we're ready for that next step, but we just have to verify that we got it all. So staff recommends moving forward with this resolution.

Motion to adopt. Second. Motion made by Alderman Shadle, seconded by Alderman Sellers. Discussion on the resolution? Darren, did you need to bring some clarity?

I just want to put a clarification together. As part of our $1.7 million that we've received from US EPA for the brownfields, this testing is required to get our reimbursement. We're paying the funds out, and then this is a complete reimbursement grant. And we were not able to do the full testing while the building was up because the roofs were collapsed. So this is testing within the footprint of the building. and also back in the alley now that it's safer. So this is the next logical step, and then any remediation that's left will be paid for by the Brownfields grant. We still have approximately $400,000 there left to basically clean up. Alderman Stacey, did you have your hand up?

So do I understand you to be saying that this $67,000 to do this environmental testing is covered?

No, this piece is not covered. This has to be covered by the city. That's part of the US EPA agreement for the $1.7 million. We pay for the testing. They pay for the cleanup.

Alderman Sanders?

Yeah. Could you explain to me exactly... What am I thinking about here? I have not had an opportunity to exploit this whole area that you're referring to, as far as testing is concerned. Give me a visual of the location

1719 Main Street where the buildings came down.

Okay.

That was a sanitary cleaners. Most cleaners have had different kinds of solvents and compounds that have leached into the ground over years. That was a cleaner for many years. When the city took the buildings over, we originally did some solvent testing in the sidewalk and in the alley. Very... very small testing to prove that there was solvents there and compounds associated with cleaning. But because the roofs had caved in on both buildings, it was unsafe to go in the basement and drill holes within the foundation at that time. So our agreement with US EPA to get the cleanup grant, which was the largest in the state, including getting the buildings down, getting the property safe and secured, and then doing the residual ground testing that's required for the grant afterwards. And we also have a bucket of money left to do any associated cleanup that's left, whether that is injections or hauling more soil out or whatever, because we have to ensure that it's all cleaned up to get a no further... Are we talking about tearing down? They're already torn down.

They're already torn down? Yes. What intersection are we referring to?

17 and 19 Main Street downtown.

Okay.

Alderman Clem.

Yeah, just let the record show that it was Mark Nising, not sanitary. Sorry. Just a mistake, but so we're on record of being right. Thank you. Alderman Stacy?

Yes. Are you saying that there was testing, some testing done before the buildings that were tore down and we had to pay for that as well? Yep. And how much was that testing?

Honestly, I don't remember how much it was. It was minimal because we could only test in the sidewalk and in the alley pavement. We couldn't actually test within the footprints of the building.

Okay, I understand that the testing was minimal, but what did it cost?

That's what... It was part of the Brownfields grant, so I want to say...

I thought it didn't work for the testing.

We had to do the residual testing to prove that there was solvents in the ground to apply for the Brownfield grant to receive the $1.7 million. So we did minimal testing to show that there was contamination at the site to be able to get the cleanup grant. They don't just fund the demolition without there being cleanup. Since it was an unsafe site, they approved the demolition. We kind of did it in reverse order. Usually you have to do all the testing up front

as part of the grant process but we were able to get it the opposite uh way around because the buildings were unsafe to go in it would have been nice to know we knew about the 1.7 million i followed this i know the buildings are down and i know that we have agreed to accept this monies years ago yes ma'am however what we failed to include is the 67,000 that was never mentioned We knew as part of the- You know, because it's your job and you understand what all is entailed.

I guess is what I'm getting at is it has always been part of the process because we should have done it prior to getting the grant, all of the testing, right? And so our choice is we can not do this testing, but we won't get- And then you won't get the 1.7 million and then what? Right.

Okay, so all I'm saying is that- the 67,000 testing that's not included, that we the city have to pay, should from Jump Street be included in the proposal, be included in the presentation of what we're getting. Not just what we're getting, but what we've got to give out to get what we're getting.

Respectfully, I believe that those, maybe not $67,000, but the testing requirement was included in the original agreement getting signed, right? If you go back to the original proposal of getting the Brownfields grant and the award, it was identified in there that this testing would need to be done out of pocket because this is a no-match grant. We have no match in this. This is 100%.

It was, I was not seated here then.

Is there any other discussion?

Yeah.

Alderman Sanders.

Yeah. This testing, is it in a position of salvaging anything else in that location as far as the testing is concerned? Respectfully, I'm just looking at whether or not it's gonna cause any more irreparable damage or salvaging any more property in that area as far as receiving that grant and the testing processing to make sure that we're getting the full exploitation of that grant and testing to make sure that no other

no other property in that area is going to be affected by this testing there's there's nothing left to salvage the buildings have been removed six feet deep to eight feet deep below okay low grade um and uh no i don't think it will affect any buildings near it um most of the contamination as you can imagine is towards the rear of these buildings which would be towards the alley side and The city's goal here is to get a no further remediation letter, which is required by US EPA for us to ever do anything more with that property. Once that happens, we can redevelop it. We can sell it. We can do anything we want with it. If we don't receive the NFR, no further remediation, it will sit there as a vacant lot for eternity. And so that's why we pursued the Brownfields grant to complete the site, clean it up, make it a property that hopefully a joining building would want to buy or whatever can be done with it. The possibilities are endless if we can get it cleaned up.

Could you also give us a good explanation of what type of testing that is going to take place?

Yes. There is 11 borings that have to be done. There's 18 ground samples that are required for volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, eight different kinds of metals, polynucleotides, polynuclear aromic hydrocarbons, soil pH, and then there's TO15 volatiles for soil and vapors. So it's a complete remediation on all the testing that's required now to get a no further remediation. Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

If there's no further discussion, Madam Clerk, please take the roll.

Shadle.

Aye.

Sanders. Aye. Sellers. Aye. Clem. Aye. Johnson. Aye. Simmons.

Aye.

Parker.

Aye.

And Stacey. Aye. The resolution is adopted 8-0.

Item number 15 is the adoption of Resolution 2026-91. Could you please read this?

Resolution approving the final pay application to Dendler regarding 2026 crack ceiling project.

Manager Boyer.

Thank you, Your Honor. This year we had Denler was the winning bidder on the crack ceiling projects. This particular, as we completed 150,000 linear feet of cracks, we had a little bit of the 26 budget left over through MFT, and staff is requesting approval of the final invoice for Denler for the 2026 MFT project.

Is there a motion to adopt? So moved.

Second.

Motion made by Alderman Shadle, seconded by Alderman Sellers. Discussion on the resolution? Madam Clerk, please take the roll.

Shadle?

Aye.

Sanders?

Aye.

Sellers? Aye. Clem?

Aye.

Johnson? Aye. Simmons?

Aye.

Parker? Aye. And Stacey? Aye.

Aye.

The resolution is adopted, 8-0.

Item number 16 is the adoption of Resolution 20-26-92. Could you please read this?

Resolution to authorize an amendment to intergovernmental agreement for operation of an enterprise zone for AutoSmart.

Andrea?

Good evening again. Agenda item number 16 and 17 are similar and in conjunction with the earlier ordinances that were moved to second reading that you heard earlier this evening. When we amend the enterprise zone and make a change, we have to also amend the intergovernment agreement that is the agreement between the six units of government that form the Northwest Illinois Enterprise Zone. So before you is a resolution to amend The intergovernmental agreement for R.O. Smart, agenda item number 17, is the same amendment to change. Well, I can discuss that in a second, if you would prefer. Is there a motion to adopt?

Motion to adopt.

Second.

We have a motion made by Alderman Shadle, seconded by Alderman Sellers. Discussion on the resolution? Alderman Sanders?

Yeah. Who are the Intergovernmental Environment Agency or operation of this whole thing? Who are they?

So the Intergovernmental Agreement is basically an agreement between six different units of government.

That's what I thought.

Right, and the six units of government that we're mentioning here are City of Freeport, Stevenson County, the Village of Lena, Joe Davis County, Village of Hanover, and the City of East Dubuque. The reason it encompasses both municipalities in Stevenson County and Joe Davis County is because we have a two-county enterprise zone. Our enterprise zone is in both counties.

Alderman Stacey, did you have your hand?

Yes. So amendment to this consists of what?

Changing. I'm going to defer to Attorney Zito. Go ahead.

You're basically just changing the legal description to add those additional parcels into the boundary of the enterprise zone. So the intergovernmental agreement has a legal description of where the boundaries of the enterprise zone are because they're asking to add... We're changing the legal description.

Right.

That's all you're doing is adding that parcel in for the auto zone to the legal description of the enterprise zone.

Alderman Sanders?

Yeah, I think we should... postpone this particular item for further evaluation, study, and determine whether or not is it conducive for the citizens of Freeport to be involved in such an enterprise intergovernmental agreement with other communities that are not annexed part of the city of Freeport. I mean, this joint venture that we're looking at is something that we don't know whether or not it's beneficial to the taxpayers of Freeport. And before we go out and put ourselves amongst a group of governmental bodies that we have not had a chance to exploit ourselves, that is something that we should consider, I should say, for the benefit of the people of Freeport to have a clear understanding because I'm looking at this enterprise zone and things of this nature without a clear understanding why we're having this put before us and asked of us to agree upon. So we need to do another study of this. We need to bring this back again so we can talk in more depth and have a more detailed understanding of why we're doing what we're doing. If anybody is objective to that, that's your thing to do. But I'm just saying... Before we make a decision, we should have an informed decision to make such a move about everything. So I just wanted to put that out there.

Alderman Stacey?

Alderman Simmons, I think, was next. Oh, I thought you had your hand up. I did, but I think she was... Alderman Simmons?

So...

I'm just confused at why the resolutions are on here with the first reading. Why not with the second reading after we've already made the decision, then we go right into adopting the resolutions to make the changes to the contract. I feel as though we're putting the cart before the horse.

We are.

Like, they can be done the same time. Why would we do the resolutions first?

The resolutions prior to the second reading?

Yeah, and you just, once that passes, you do the resolutions.

Procedurally, Attorney Zito, I don't know. Did you hear her question? I don't know.

handled either way. It's just up to the comfort level of the council there at the end of the day, right? Because resolutions only require one read. Ordinances require two read. That's what's creating the disjunct that Alderman Simmons is bringing up. To the extent that the council is comfortable voting on the resolution, NOT KNOWING WHAT HAPPENS ON THE SECOND READ, NECESSARILY, THEY CAN DO SO, TO THE EXTENT THE COUNCIL IS MORE COMFORTABLE SAYING, YOU KNOW WHAT, LET'S HOLD OFF ON THE RESOLUTIONS, WAIT UNTIL THE SECOND READ, THAT WAY WE CAN SEE IF THE SECOND READ GETS APPROVED, THEN IT WOULD FOLLOW, THEN THE RESOLUTIONS WOULD GET APPROVED. IT'S ALL UP TO THE COUNCIL'S COMFORT LEVEL.

WHAT WOULD HAVE BEEN APPROPRIATE WOULD HAVE BEEN TO PUT THIS ON THE COW LAST WEEK AND DISCUSS IT OPENLY. But that never happens. The cow is not used what the cow is supposed to be used for. And then here we are faced tonight with something we don't have a clue about. I would like to make a motion that we put a hold on 16 and 17 to further notice.

Could you be more specific with that?

Further notice could be next year and that's going to... Well, even the first meeting in August will give us some time to do some research on this and understand what we're adding and what we're taking away. Who is it going to affect and who is it not going to affect?

OK, so your motion is for both item 16 and 17 to go to the next council meeting?

Yes.

Is there a second?

That's when the second reading will be, right?

Yeah.

Was that a second? Oh, second. So we have a motion made by Alderman Stacy, seconded by Alderman Simmons to move item 16 and item 17 to the next regularly scheduled meeting. Is there discussion on that particular motion? Alderman Simmons.

The reason I made that motion, I just feel like once we've made the decision and approved that, we can go right into adopting the resolutions. But if we adopt the resolutions, then it may put pressure on if an alder person doesn't really agree, which I do think it'll pass. We can just do it all at one time. You may get more support.

Alderman Sanders?

Yeah, scheduling. I would love to be there, but scheduling is going to prevent me from being there because of obligations that I have to attend on that first week of August. And so I don't know if it can be considered. so that I can attend or maybe I can call in. I'll just attempt to be part of the meeting.

Okay, so let's call the vote on moving 16 and 17 to the next meeting. Madam Clerk, would you please take the roll?

Shadle?

Aye.

Sanders? Aye. Sellers? Aye. Clem? Aye. Johnson? Aye. Simmons? Aye. Parker?

Aye.

And Stacey? Aye. The motion passes eight to zero.

So we'll move that to the first meeting in August, which will take us to item number 18, which is the adoption of resolution. I'm sorry.

Point of order. I had a motion and sellers had seconded that resolution. Do we need to rescind that?

Right. So you had made a motion and sellers had made a second too, so to bring it onto the floor. Right. Then there was an intervening motion to lay this over.

We don't need to.

Nope, nope, nope. Yep.

Item number 18 is the adoption of resolution.

Excuse me, since it was opened, what was the confusion there or what was being asked at that point?

If we needed to do something with the previous motion, which we don't.

Oh, okay.

Item number 18 is the adoption of resolution 202694. Could you please read this?

Resolution approving letter to the board of the Northwest Illinois Enterprise Zone requesting expansion of the boundaries of the Enterprise Zone to include additional specific parcels of land located within the city of Freeport. Director Heimerdinger.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Within the enterprise zone, qualifying projects may receive various benefits, such as sale tax exemptions on building materials and property tax abatement for a period of time. At this time, developers are facing increased construction costs and financing constraints that limit the feasibility of new residential development throughout traditional means. Expanding the enterprise zone boundaries to include identified parcels would make key development initiatives and incentives available and helping to offset the costs and improve project viability. This targeted expansion is intended to encourage private investment in residential construction that might otherwise not proceed while supporting broader neighborhood real estate But elevation goals, the proposed parcels for inclusion are attached on the map that you guys can see. Thank you, Don. It's the blue arrows. I can be a little more specific on locations. The one that's in the middle, you can see next to 26. That is the backside of Cubs, also Butchard Hills where the water tower is. Where are you at? Right in the middle.

By Culver's?

Yep. That one is the parcels that are unfinished of the development. There's a bunch of duplexes in that area and there's many to go. So you can see that cluster of blue is all the individual parcels of that Birchard Hills, that water tower that's there and the duplex right behind Cubs. If you go just down and to the left just a bit, you'll see another cluster right there. That is on the backside of Meadows Mall. That was also a development that is partially finished, but there's about three-fourths still left to be done. And we do have a developer who is looking at that site to develop that, and he would like to use these incentives to offset some of the sales tax. And then you go up and the rest of them are just sporadic bigger lots that have still, there's no homes, there's nothing available, but in the future there could be an opportunity for development and we want to provide them with the incentives to be able to cut down the building expenses with property tax abatement and also building supplies tax exemption so the spotty ones are just individual parcels that are still left to be developed that haven't been developed yet um the the resolution is only to approve a letter going indicating that we would like to consider these properties to be included in the enterprise zone that's the only thing it does is it just says we would like the northwest enterprise zone board to look at these to to then start the process, which involves a public hearing and room for public comment. And so that would be coming after this. So this resolution only approves that we are telling the Northwest Illinois Enterprise Zone that we want to look at these parcels and we want these parcels in consideration for enterprise benefits. So staff recommends the City Council to approve the submission of the attached letter and supporting materials requesting the expansion of Northwest Illinois Enterprise Zone boundary as presented. And this still keeps us way under the 20 square miles of Enterprise. So we still have plenty of room to expand, but we know that there are a few developments being talked about so we wanted to include those and where we are at it let's include the rest of them so we can go in one fall swoop with what's remaining in in fleetport to kind of aid any kind of private private development in our town in the next is there a motion to adopt second motion made by alderman sellers seconded by alderman shadle discussion on the resolution alderman sanders um

I SEE ALL THE PLANNING THAT'S CONSIDERED HERE. BUT I SEE EVERYTHING FROM THE NORTHWEST SIDE OF 26. ARE WE GOING TO EVEN CONSIDER ANY EXPANSION DEVELOPMENT ON THE EAST SIDE OF 26 FOR FURTHER DEVELOPMENT AND OPPORTUNITIES for that side of the location? I just see everything is compiled over on the west side of 26. Have we thought about expanding and exporting the east side of 26.

There is one on Chicago, if you see on the map, that is on the east side. That is where Union School is currently. And we are definitely looking into a development in that parcel. So that is one that we put in for the Enterprise Zone. The The ones that we took advantage of at this moment are ones where the lot sizes are large enough that could fit duplexes, which seem to be the number one most economic for developers and also most sought after development right now for people who are looking to buy. So we wanted to make sure that we included, you know, purses that were large enough for uh that kind of development that that we're actually seeing in in the recent time period any other discussion alderman stacy yes um when you say chicago are you talking about chicago and frank yeah yeah union school what kind of development can go up in that in that area in that anything possible once the union school goes down it would have to be demolished

I'm looking at the map here. And it seems like the east side of 26 is deserted. Doesn't look like I don't see any flags or potential opportunities of development taking place. If my eyes are deceiving me, I need to come down to your department So you can give me a complete visual on what the intents are and what you're planning are when it comes to developing and expand and expanding new projects in, uh, AND EXPANDING THE WHOLE LOCATION OF THE EAST SIDE OF 26. I'D LIKE TO COME TO YOUR OFFICE SO YOU CAN GIVE ME FURTHER VISUAL SO I CAN CLEARLY UNDERSTAND WHAT YOUR APPROACH IS. BECAUSE RIGHT NOW, IT DOES NOT WORK WITH ME AT THIS MOMENT.

CAN I PUT SOME CLARITY TO THAT? NO, MAYOR. YOU CAN'T DO THAT.

You can't do that.

Well, I'm going to interject it anyway. Almost the entire east side is in the Opportunity Zone that's already been established. And I believe July 1st, the governor was starting to review those Opportunity Zones. So we'll see what he says next. But the entire east side is in an Opportunity Zone. Alderman Clem?

Yes, I just wanted to bring up the first thing that you need in this kind of place is number one is the area to do it and number two is somebody to invest in it. In both these spots, you got those people. That's why all we're doing is approving, trying to prove the enterprise zone to give them some tax relief as projects are being built. If you've got somebody who wants to invest and you've got the land there for them to invest, it's the opportune time to do it.

Any other discussion? You've already spoken twice. Director Heimerdinger?

Yeah, I just want to clarify on the east side why you only see one place called out. That lot size is above a minimum. The minimum lot size that we have within our ordinance, a lot of lots that currently exist, a lot of the vacant lots that you do see on the east side, they don't meet the minimum anymore which the minimum was created for fire safety to make sure that homes weren't as close together as they previously were and then also we are also on the east side also seeing the you know floodway we can't we can't do anything build anything inside of a you know floodway that that the FEMA map is pointing out so I just want to clarify that as well so the Union School lot is the only lot that's sizable right now. When we have, you know, more clusters of vacant lots that are like grouped together, we can start that conversation of expanding the enterprise zone into those once we have a few lots that we actually start to be, you know, the area, the square footage is at least at our minimum so that we could put potential housing in those locations. But right now our vacant lots are a little bit more spotty. so we don't have a cluster of them.

There's no further discussion on the letter. Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Shadle.

Aye.

Sanders. Aye. I'll come back to you. Sellers? Aye. Clem? Aye. Johnson? Aye. Simmons?

Aye.

Parker? Aye. Stacey? Aye. And Sanders?

Aye.

And the resolution is adopted 8-0.

Item number 19 is the adoption of Resolution 20-26-95. Could you please read this?

Resolution authorizing an honorary street designation on Liberty Avenue for Verdine or Mama T. Wesley Allen. Director Heimerdinger?

Thank you, Madam Mayor. An honorary street name application was successfully submitted on July 9th, 2026 for the 600 and 700 block of South Liberty Avenue. The applicants are requesting the honorary street name designation of Mama T. Allen. The application included a petition demonstrating that at least 51% of all owners of record of the property adjacent to the requested street segment have signed in support. I do think, Kurt, do you have those graphics? I do have a picture of her so that we can... see not only her face but also then there's a map on the second page. So I'll read just a little bit about her so that everybody can see the accomplishments and her life story here in Freeport. Mama T. Allen moved to Freeport, Illinois in 1977. In 1978, she began employment at Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, where she worked until her retirement in 2003. She lived in Freeport for 47 years, including 42 years on Liberty Street. Known affectionately as Mama T, she consistently helped those in need by providing food, clothing, shelter, and support to individuals and families throughout the community. Mama T was an active and dedicated member of the Friendship Ministry Baptist Church, where she served in numerous capacities wherever she was needed. Her passion was music and ministry through the choir, where she served as a choir member, choir director, and president. She also dedicated her time to leading the children's choir. Throughout her life, Mama T was a source of compassion and support for the Freeport community. She was especially passionate about helping children taking time to provide meals, clothes, guidance, and encouragement. Mama's tea commitment to serving others made a lasting impact on the lives of many residents. She was a valued member of the Freeport community and a true example of kindness, generosity, and service. I think he's pulling up that. Now, so the staff recommends the city council to approve the honorary signs to be at the intersection of South Liberty and East Pleasant and at the intersection of South Liberty and East Shawnee.

Thank you. Is there a motion to adopt?

So moved. Second.

We have a motion made by Alderman Sellers, seconded by Alderman Simmons. Discussion on the resolution. Alderman Stacey.

I want to thank you. for making this happen. It has been two years plus in the making. I want to thank Wendy, three years, for her hard work, all the signatures and all the back and forth and forth and back. We finally get it. Thank you.

Madam Clerk, please take the roll.

Shadle? Aye. Sanders? Aye. Sellers? Aye. Clem? Aye. Johnson? Aye. Simmons? Aye. Parker?

Aye.

And Stacey? Aye. The resolution is adopted, 8-0.

Item number 20 is the adoption of Resolution 20-2696. Could you please read this?

Resolution imposing censure on council members. Alderman Shadle?

Thank you. Section... 2.20.10 of the Freeport City Code establishes the rules of council. During the July 6, 26 City Council meeting, Alderman Simmons and Alderman Sanders repeatedly spoke without first being recognized by the Chair in violation of Section 2.20.10 of the City Code. Pursuant to Section 2.20.10.11, the city code the chair is the authority to preserve order and decorum and decide questions of order during council meetings alderwoman stacy or excuse me alderwoman simmons and alderman sanders were each called out of order twice by the chair during the july 6 meeting and were instructed to be removed from the meeting pursuant to section 220 10 24. of the city code, which says that any person who violates the order and decorum of meetings two times at the same meeting as determined by the chair are to be removed by the chief of police or their designee. Both Alderman Simmons and Alderman Sanders had to be asked multiple times by the chief to leave the meeting. The conduct of Alderman Simmons and Alderman Sanders at the July 6th meeting disrupted the orderly transaction of council business, and violated sections 220, 10, 24, and 25 of the city code, which requires them to conduct themselves in an orderly and respectful manner and provides that failing to abide by any rule of council in such a manner that disrupts the conduct of city business at a meeting shall be deemed a violation of order and decorum. I would request that we put forth a resolution of censure on the two older persons.

Is there a motion to adopt?

So moved. Second.

We have a motion made by Alderman Sellers, seconded by Alderman Johnson. Discussion on the resolution. Alderman Stacey.

I want to make a motion that it be removed indefinitely off the agenda.

Okay, we have a motion made by Alderman Stacey for removal indefinitely. Is there a second?

I second it.

We have a second by Alderman Sanders. Any discussion on the indefinite removal? Madam Clerk, would you please take the roll on, am I correct? Is that how you, okay. On indefinite removal?

Shadle?

No.

Sanders? Yes. Sellers? No. Clem? No. Johnson? No. Simmons?

Yes.

Parker? No. And Stacey?

Yes.

One, two, three, four, five. It fails three to five.

So then before you counsel is the adoption of this resolution. Discussion on the resolution. Alderman Johnson?

Just for definition, there is a difference between censor and censure. Censor is to delete or block. We're not trying to delete or block people from speaking. Censure is disapproval of conduct. There's a big difference between the two of them. Now, I know I've heard Alderwoman Rachel speak very intelligibly and argue things very intelligibly. I know she's very capable of that. She's an intelligent young woman. However, the way that the conduct that was displayed on that meeting made it impossible for us to continue to do our business. And there are Robert's Rules of Order. There are people, whether you like them in the office or whether you don't like them in the office, they do have the authority at this meeting, and we need to respect that authority so that business can be done.

Alderman Sanders?

Yeah. You weren't supposed to talk. Oh, I'm sorry. I really, I relent myself.

Alderman Sellers?

Yes, I just want to say that I agree with Alderman Johnson. It's about your conduct, and we have just totally gotten out of hand with how we present ourselves here. It's disrespectful to the community, and there are a lot of people that feel that that was a very disrespectful and out of order meeting. And it should not have to have gone to where we could not conduct our business. We're here to conduct business and to be adults. We do not want our children to see us acting the way we act because we don't like somebody or we don't like something. And then as far as people making comments of what other people are doing, it's not— It's not respectful. And that's what respect isn't given. It's earned. And that's what we have to learn, how we're here to do business, city business. And there's a lot of people out there that thought that was very, very disrespectful. And I have to... When I sit here in this seat, I'm for the whole city. I'm not just for a certain group of people. So I do have to say that that was very out of order and we have to start doing something right now. Alderman Stacey, did you have your hand up? I sure did.

You're right with one thing you said. It was totally out of order. But more than Alderman Simmons and Alderman Sanders was out of order. For the record, you were out of order. And your name, along with two other people's names, should be on this list as well. If you're going to do it, do it right across the board and treat everybody the same. Because everybody is not treated the same. Everybody is not respected the same.

Alderman Sellers. Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you were done.

Since you did bring that up, if you can show me on tape. where I've told someone to shut up, that's not even my personality. So I know that I've never done that because I don't talk like that. I don't tell people to shut up. I might have said hush because you said something to me. But me to tell somebody to shut up, that's not even who I am. So that's not true. You show me on the record where I told somebody to shut up, and I'll go for it. Other than that, I might've said hush or you don't tell me to hush, but I've never told anyone to shut up because that is not who I am. I'm a lady and I don't talk like that. Alderman Simmons.

I did have something to say. I know this decision has already been decided and I'm fine with that. I understand and I respect the procedure, always have. I was asked to be removed for telling this gentleman, just next time make a motion before we vote. That is why I was removed. So when I'm leaving, yes, I'm going to tell the people who elected me that I can't speak for you because I'm being removed for this. And if you don't vote, it will continue to happen. You don't have to agree with it. I did not have the floor. However, if we're going to do this, let's do it. So when we bring things like this to the council, challenge accepted, Alderperson sellers. I will provide you an entire reel of you being, example number one, out of order in a meeting and not being called on it. I did not disrespect. I did not swear. I did not threaten anyone. So again, she needs to leave the meeting because I didn't shut up when you told me to. I understand procedures, but that really, really, we could have deescalated very fast. And I am not trying to justify my actions. I'm just saying. When we open this can of worms and we do this, be prepared to follow up and do this equally and fairly across the board. As we are saying, we want to enforce procedure. We need to stick to procedure. So if that's where we're at, please remain there with everyone.

I'm sorry, you spoke twice already.

I didn't speak twice.

You did. At 7.56 and at 8 o'clock.

I spoke, and then you gave Sellers the floor, and she spoke at me.

If you want to review the tape at some point, but you have spoken twice, unless the council wants to make a motion to make it a third. If there's no further discussion, Madam Clerk, please take the roll.

Shadle.

Aye.

Sanders. No. Sellers. Aye. Clem. Aye. Johnson. Aye. Simmons.

No.

Parker.

Five. Yes. Aye.

And Stacey. No. We do have five in favor. It passes five to three. Of course it does.

Item number 21 is a presentation of the Pretzel City Area Transit Fixed Drought. Director Heimerdinger.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. We have some exciting news. IDOT has allowed us to start piloting the fixed route system here within the city limits on Monday, August 3rd. The proposed system consists of one fixed route with two buses operating in opposite directions. to provide continuous service throughout the City of Freeport. Due to the existing one-ways in downtown, there are a few differences in the stop locations between the two directions of travel. However, the remaining stops are generally consistent along the route. The fare for the fixed route service will be $2 per ride. The transition from current on-demand model to the fixed route system was developed with the guidance of the Transit Advisory Committee. which provided valuable input on route planning, access to key destinations, and fair structure considerations. The City of Freeport appreciates the time, effort, and commitment of the Transit Advisory Committee members in helping guide this process and ensure the proposed system reflects the needs and priorities of the community. The fixed route pilot is anticipated to operate for approximately six months. During the pilot period, the existing on-demand service will continue to operate within the city limits as required by the Illinois Department of Transportation. Adjustments to the route, including the addition, relocation, or removal of stops, as well as potential changes to the ride fare cost, may occur during the pilot based on ridership patterns, operational needs, and community feedback. This is just for presentation. Only we don't have any action items for you. But if you notice the map, let me shut off the lights real quick so you can see a little bit.

So if you notice, we have a orange line and a blue line right now.

The reason that they are orange and blue is those are the colors, the color codes that individuals who may have some color blindness can see the most. So that's why it is this way right now. We can definitely change colors or refer to them as anything in the future. So if you follow the arrows, it's kind of like a little bit of a pretzel. If you turn your head to like 45 degrees, it does twist like a pretzel. So you start up there at a senior resource center, which is the northeast side. And then you come down and around. by Adams go all the way down to number four which would be the industrial park back up to Walmart and then you kind of flow with Meadow Mall and then up and around to the northwest side and then you snake all the way around to Highland all the way back and then you drop all the way back down to 26 back to Walmart, and then all the way back up on 26, back to Senior Resource Center. The blue line goes in the opposite direction. So then instead of coming down south, you're going to actually go west first, loop around Highland, up to Galena, back down around come back down and hit Walmart and then go back up. This one route system allows for a lot of advantages. The first one is that once you get on the bus it will take you to every single stop that the other bus would take you to so there's no transfer locations you would have to go on you can get off and transfer if you want to speed up where you want to go maybe the one coming in the opposite direction can get you where you want to go a little bit faster but you wouldn't have to it will get you where you want to go the next key advantage is that the system And you'll see more information coming on PCAT's Facebook page tomorrow that kind of lists that every five steps, there's either a grocery store of some sort. So that's Walmart, that's Sullivan's, that's Cubs. There's a grocery store every five steps. And every five stops, there's also either the hospital or the clinic. So that there's always something... very easy to get to in five stops so in a small amount of time it might not be the right grocery store you want to get to but if you're in need of food it's five stops away so that kind of thing is very helpful in addition to that every when you go around the route because it it twists like it does every Every one loop of the orange route, you get to Walmart twice. So that's two times at Walmart. So that means that you're going to stop at 4 and the 4th stop and the 22nd stop is going to be at Walmart. That increases your ability to get where you need to go and also allows people to make sure that they can get their groceries like all day, right? There's an ability to do that. Likewise, it stops at the hospital twice every single fall route. So that's why it twists like it does. It just twists like a pretzel so that we can get where we want to go and give people access to the services and the amenities in our town as they need them. The third and last best thing about this route is that if ridership increases and we realize that our buses are full, we can put one more bus on the same route. There's not a, hey, we have this new route, go and learn it. No, we can just add another bus to the route that speeds up where you can go. So we are going to be looking to add some few more stops, especially along that 26 route. In the future we are looking into that as well, just so for the sake of we kind of know that there might be some spots missing. But we want to just make sure that we have what we need right now and then we'll kind of let the ridership tell us what other services they are missing out on. So we just wanted to put this in front of you to kind of showcase that the big momentum is finally here and we get to start on August 3rd. And I'd like to thank my staff member, Sadie. She's great. She did a wonderful job with this and she kind of, she took lead and this was her baby for the last like eight months and it's finally happening. So huge shout out to her. and also to an advisory transit committee to help us get us here. And, of course, Senior Resource Center, who's always very helpful to test routes with us and put this program into place with us. So thank you.

Director Heimerdinger, is there anything you need from council at this time?

Can you repeat that real quick?

Is there anything you need from the council at this time?

No, no. There's no approval needed. All right. Thank you.

Madam Mayor, if I could ask a question, please.

Just two quick questions. Do you have a ballpark timeframe of what a loop is going to take? It's going to vary with ridership and on and off. That would be one question. The other is, Do we have an example of the signage so that people could start looking for that stop? Yes.

So at the key moment, those are great questions. I'll start with the latter one. The signage will not be in place at the beginning of the piloting period. That is in order to save us from... having to constantly move it all of the stops but you know it's it's warmer it's Cubs foods parking lot doing like very key locations so we're working on that we're also looking at you know not signage but is there something that's more temporary that we can put in place so people know that that's where the bus is going We anticipate at the beginning that the individuals who are going to be riding the bus are the riders who have been riding the bus, that we might not catch the momentum, might be a little bit slow at the beginning. And so those individuals know where PCAT usually stops in these locations. So they're very much aware. So our current ridership very much understands the stops. The first question that you had was about a route, one route. It's over an hour. It's about like, I want to say like an hour and a half. The reason... It's a long route, but with time, we hope to kind of figure out. Right now, we have ample time at every stop, so we're giving three minutes to load and unload, which is a lot more than most communities do. So then once we have a more idea of how long that stop time needs to be, that can quickly start to shrink it, because it's 25 stops on every route.

Thank you. Thank you. Alderman Stacey?

Do we have a time as far as when this will start in the a.m.? Yes. And when it will end in the p.m.?

It's 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. 6 to 6. Yes, 6 to 6, Monday through Friday. And on-demand will continue on that Saturday from the normal 6 to 1. Okay. We, of course, are looking into that. If we can gain more ridership, we're also always looking at hours. But hours also mean bus drivers. So that's always at play. But, yes, it's 6 to 6. Alderman Sanders?

Thank you. I don't know where that benefits the community at large when you put a time like 6 to 6 on there when folks are using this transit for other convenience and transportation. And that allows more people to engage into this transit so they have ample time. to do whatever shopping or appointments and things of this nature, just to lock it down into 6 p.m., majority of facilities are not closed at 6 p.m. And people need to be able to move about putting that kind of restriction when facilities are still open after that 6 o'clock p.m. Things are still moving. And I think we should look at that timetable because we have to look at the constituents of Freeport who utilize transit and would love to make more efforts To utilize it for convenience and purposes that meets whatever their needs are. And I think we should look at that. I'm just putting that out there like that.

We are looking at the time. The 6 to 6, we did not change that. That's what the current on-demand approved by IDOT time is. So we are just maintaining that during the pilot. We're just maintaining the same. Right now it's 6 to 6 within the community. But we are looking at it. We didn't shrink it at all. We didn't change it at all. We're just maintaining it.

So we can expand it if we decided to go that route.

We can absolutely expand it. Bus drivers become the key focus. But if ridership is increased because of the fixed route, then absolutely we can look at hours. and then get idot's approval so during the pilot we'll kind of notice that and there'll be surveys um within the on the bus occasionally so we can help kind of gear it towards riders and riders are able to share their voice with us about what changes we need yeah absolutely we will move on to item number 22 which is discussion regarding public works employee care and workforce support uh director stiekel uh yes thank you so

I was on vacation today, but I decided to come tonight because this is an important subject that I wanted to discuss regarding the public works staff. Originally, this was supposed to be on the meeting on the 6th, and we had six staff members that attended that meeting because it's important to them as well. I'm not going to read the whole memo, but it simply comes down to we have 51 current employees within the public works staff, And in recent years, I've noticed a significant increase in incidents involving disrespect, abusive behavior, threatening behavior towards the public works staff. These interactions are on telephone calls, in person, at public meetings, in the field, through iWorks. It is... really disengaging for our employees to be treated this way. I've said numerous times that I view our staff just as equal as fire and police. They're a necessity to the city in order for us to function daily. I think the police and the fire department would agree that We all work interchangeably together as groups when there's fires, when there's police emergencies, whether we're plowing early in the nights for people to get through. I will say that the Public Works Department welcomes and encourages residents to express concerns, ask questions, and provide constructive feedback. We're fine with that. Conduct that's abusive, intimidating, harassing, or threatening will not be accepted or tolerated any further. I have instructed all of our employees to draw a line in the sand, and if we are treated like this by anyone, we are leaving the job site. We will hang up the phone. We will not return. A supervisor will be called in. The police will be called. And we will follow up on this. We are no longer going to be the punching bag for the city of Freeport. We have 51 people that do the best they can with the dollars that we have every day to do it with. We are by no means perfect, and we are open to any advice or suggestions or iWorks messages that help improve Freeport and get things done. I've personally been out and experienced some of this with our staff members that we just remove people from the situation and it started back the very next day. And it's no longer gonna be tolerated or we just will not help the people of that area or we will not return. At some point, we have to look at the safety and the respect level of our staff members And they're just doing their job. If you don't like what they're doing, please bring it to me. Please bring it to city manager Boyer. Please bring it to your alder people and we will address it and we will follow up. Nobody's not getting served because we don't want to do it. A lot of times when complaints come in, we have to do the research to make sure it's actually a city problem. I would wager that seven out of every 10 calls that we receive have nothing to do with public works. We also realize that a lot of the calls that come in, people are having bad days and we try to tolerate it somewhat. and understand that they're just in a bad position or having a bad day with their water or sewer, and we're trying to help. But when it starts crossing the line, and most of these interactions have been crossing significantly the line of respect that would be determined from any service personnel. And just because they work for the city doesn't mean that they don't reserve the same expect than if the fire showed up to your door or the police showed up to your door. So I wanted to bring this to council. I'm willing to take any questions on it. We will not speak about any personal person that did this, but I am instructing them to leave, hang up the phone politely, move on, record it, memo it. I'm even suggesting in our budget for next year that we're going to buy a recording device for the calls because they're that deplorable that maybe the aldermen should hear them. Also, iWorks messages I'd like to address. We will no longer follow up on any iWorks message that doesn't have a name, an email address, or a phone number with it because my policy has always been when you send something in, we're going to get back to you either in one of those fashions saying we can deal with it, we will deal with it, or we dealt with it. When people just send a nasty gram, With no information, there's nobody to get back to. And in my book, that's not really a complaint. That's just somebody that wants to make the public works team feel bad about their job. We know potholes are an issue. We're happy to fill them. We can't be on every street every day. And they go on a list, and the next time we get filling, we fill potholes to the best of our ability. We're not going to be able to fill every pothole in Freeport every week. 139 miles people it's it's not going to happen Again, we're open to criticism But it's very hard to retain Public work staff with the wages that the city of Freeport can afford and I don't want to run people out the door Because we're treating them Just just above wild animals most of the time is what I've seen in the public and again I have told our staff, I've seen this going on over the last three years, and someone has to say enough's enough, and I'm the person to do it. I'm criticized all the time in public, and that's just fine. I have no problem with that. But the staff members are just doing what they're instructed to do, and I would like to see that this community raise the bar for how we treat them. Alderman Sanders?

I am very... empathetic about that suggestion and your observation. And the reporting that is coming to council, it has to come more frequently so we can gauge how really bad it is with the reporting from your perspective and the city manager's perspective. It would be a good thing to do on a probably monthly basis if we can get some kind of engagement of what the community is doing and saying to our employees. They do need the respect and the honor of the work that they're doing. They should not be put in a situation where they're badgered by just regular citizens of Freeport because they can't get accommodations done their way. And so I believe all city workers should come under that umbrella of respect and honor for the work that they are doing. But I think the things that you're inciting what we should and what we shouldn't do, council has not determined altogether what your expression and feelings are. We know that you may have mentioned it maybe once on occasion, but we need a full report on what the activities and the things that are being said to the workers here in the city of Freeport. And so we can look at it and have a discussion about it. City manager can give us a report because he gives everybody in the council a report on any event that takes place within Freeport. And this should be part of it, that we should hear about the abuse and the condescending and the remarks that are that are being made upon the employees. I feel the things that you're saying, but we also need to reciprocate back and forth so council can understand how hard it is for it to work under those conditions when people are making these accusation and remarks about our workers here in the city of Freeport. And so if you would do us a favor, and have that done for us on occasion, a monthly occasion, when you get those kind of reports, that you can bring it to us. Let's talk about it like you're doing now, but I don't want you to be under pressure to talk to counsel when it comes to these types of things. I can hear the anxiety, frustration in your voice, but the thing about it is it helps us to understand and gauge how the citizens are treating our employees here in the city.

Alderman Shadle? I'd just like to mention that I do get those reports. They're in my weekly meetings.

We'll move on to item number 23, which is discussion regarding the 2026 Street Program reconstruction of South Carroll from Empire to South Street. Manager Boyer. Okay.

I just wanted to bring this to council for resolution in stripping the asphalt and inspecting Carroll South Carroll from Empire to South Street the condition of the base material and the curb is worse than was assumed and thought and measured so staff is bringing this resolution for you we estimate it's going to be an additional three hundred thousand dollars to do it correctly, and that would include 4,600 feet, linear feet of curb, as well as several driver approaches that are crumbled beyond salvage. So staff requests moving forward with this resolution.

So will that be on the next regular meeting?

Yes.

Okay. We don't need a motion on that.

No. So this was on the agenda just for discussion. So I think City Manager Boyer is just surprising you guys as to what's going to be coming forward at a future agenda, but he's just giving you some background.

Okay. Thank you. Reports from department heads, finance?

Nothing.

Community development?

Nothing tonight. Thank you.

Public Works? Just some quick updates. Something that I was asked to bring the attention of the city of Freeport. We have had several safety incidents on the streets, Galena, South Street, with driver safety and contractor workers. Last Friday, we had two incidents, separate incidents, where we had construction workers that were nearly hit by cars. We need to slow down in the safety zones and we're asking for a increased police presence in those areas. The orange cones and the orange signs mean slow down, move away. We want everybody to go home every night. I wanted to give you a quick updates on Galena and South Street. So we are doing our storm repairs and our ADA repairs on South Street. IDOT bid their project. It came in significantly higher than estimates. The process got delayed a little bit, but the state did approve the project. It's at least a million dollars over budget. That street should still happen yet this year. They did approve it, and Helm was the awarded contractor, to my knowledge. Galena Avenue, right now we're doing the storm intake repairs that the city owns. Again, that project was significantly overbid again. I believe that was about a million and a half overbid. The state did approve it. It's going to continue. I don't know that they'll get the full pavement improvement done yet this season. They're going to try, but they have to replace 78 ADA ramps in the corridor first, which is going to take some time to do. And there's only so many paving days left in the season. So If they get close, they may push the pavement to spring. Dewey was just completed last week by the city team. Looks great. If you haven't been down it, it looks like a whole new area. Fishers and our city crews did a fantastic job on it. It really looks great. South Carroll. is under construction right now, which city manager just talked about. Demeter is also under construction right now. And the next two streets will be Benton with water, some water main and street replacement. And then North Stewart should be the final project of the year with full water main and full street replacement. I've seen several comments about Walnut downtown from Main Street to Empire. I agree. Everyone in the city agrees Walnut is a complete and utter mess. It's beyond fixing. It's beyond reconstructing. It's beyond patching. Any money that we would spend there would be totally thrown away at this point. Everything needs to be redone from curb to curb. We have been searching for money for that project for at least two years. We do not have any money currently for that project. we understand that that's the number one road reconstruct project in town but it's going to take over four million dollars to do that section correctly um so we hear it we understand the complaints We're going to have to come to council at some point after this road season and have some serious discussions about what we want to see done next year versus what the budget we have. We have really been spending a lot of money, and everybody in Freeport should know that there is not another town anywhere close to Freeport that is investing the kind of money in water, sewer, and roads that the city of Freeport is. We are paving far more miles than any town our size. Mayor?

Yes, Your Honor. I just wanted to bring up last Thursday, we had three firefighters pass their paramedic, 11-month paramedic class through Swedish American UW Hospital, Jake Depey, Nick Wyburn, and Dan Hart. We've got two of the new hires that we hired back in February. We'll be completing their EMT basic class through Swedes next week. And then next Monday, we're also hiring two more firefighters, Colton Montroy and Nick Anderson. They'll be leaving for the Romeoville Fire Academy on August 3rd. The timing didn't work out quite right, so they'll be doing a small swearing-in at City Hall. And then once they come back from the academy, then we can do the formal one here. So thank you. Police? Police?

I'd like to thank the community on my behalf and on my officer's behalf for helping us fundraise with the t-shirts for our canine dog.

Library?

Yes. Thank you. I wanted to give a few updates about some of our statistics for the month of June. So we circulated 11,194 physical and digital items. We also had our study rooms and meeting rooms used 193 times. We held 68 programs with 4,263 attendees. And the people of Freeport and those using Freeport Public Library saved a total of $228,000 in June alone with a total for the year to date from January until now of 1.13 million. IT? Yes, Mayor.

Yes. Thank you. Nice. And city manager.

Thank you, Your Honor. I would just like to thank the staff and all the directors for continuing to execute on all of our strategic goals. We're making a material difference every single day, and I thank you for all your extra effort that you put into it that no one ever sees. Thank you.

I would concur with that. We'll move on to council announcements. Alderman Shadle.

Nothing tonight. Thank you.

Alderman Sanders. Nothing. Alderman Seller.

Nothing.

Alderman Clem. I'd just like to bring up the first meeting of the new community policing committee. We'll take care, will happen in the first and sixth wards on August 12th at 6.30 at the library. The meetings will be very informative. There'll be department heads. There'll be people from the police department. There'll be the lieutenant there in the neighborhood watch people. If there's anything that you need or any questions that you have, Please don't hesitate to bring them forward. It was an excellent meeting last week. We appreciate all the people that came out for it. There was a lot of good discussion. So thank you on that. Darren and all your crews, Dewey Street does look fantastic. I know that's probably one of the biggest rebuilds you've had as far as once you got in there having problems, but it looks great. Thank you much. And thank you for bringing it forward. Like Greg Shadle had mentioned, the fact that I've been called on occasion too to different areas where there have been some problems between what's going on and what the people think ought to be going on. So they're always open for discussion, always helpful. Thank you very much for all the work you guys do. Alderman Johnson?

Yes, and as Tom talked, our neighborhood watch for Wards 2 and 4 will be August 13th at 6.30 p.m. at the library. And just as he said, they'll be very informative, and we'll get the facts of everything that's going on in our wards. So please plan to attend that. And also I wanted to let the public know, because I had some of my constituents ask me about this, if any of you want to receive alerts from the city, text to the number 91896, Freeport Alerts, all capital letters, and then respond to the message that will be sent back to you and you'll receive alerts from the city when there's things with water boilers and things like that. And also just come out to the Stevenson County Fair this week. It should be a good time. The Big Tent, under the Big Tent on Thursday, there'll be free activities for kids from 2 to 3 p.m. There'll be food, games, and stories at that time. Thank you.

Would you mind repeating the Ward 2 and 4, the date and time? Ward 2 and 4 is August 13th at 6.30 p.m. Thank you. Alderman Simmons? Yes.

Yes. Just the irony of Shado being one of the ones to bring that to council. And just so that let the record be shown. If I feel if I disagree, I will still vote no. And if I feel something is not right, I still will speak up.

Olin Parker. Nothing tonight. I was just talking about our neighborhood watch. Olin Stacey.

Yes. I would like to speak tonight in reference to violation of the Illinois Open Meetings Act. Unlawful lockout. July 13th, 2026. Background, at the July 13th meeting, a point of information was called and attorney Zito reviewed the rules of the council. Tonight I am not here to discuss rules. I am here to discuss laws. Laws that this administration continues to violate. The violation Taxpayers, are you aware that the doors to last Monday's City Council meeting were locked? Were you one of those not allowed in? Third Ward Order Woman Rachel Simmons and at least one constituent were physically locked out of a public meeting. I am directing this question to Mayor Miller to city manager Boyer and to attorney Zito who authorized this and under what legal authority? Truth be told, there is none. Illinois law violated. 5ILCS 120-2, Open Meetings Act. All meetings of public bodies must be open to the public. Locking citizens out is a direct violation. 5ILCS 120-3, Closed Session. Closed sessions are only lawful under specific conditions. exceptions, none of which apply to a regular council meeting. 5 ILC S 120-4, any action taken at an OMA, an Open Meetings Act, violating meetings may be declared null and void by a court. 65 ILCS 5 slash 3.1 dash 40 dash 30. City council meetings must be opened and accessible. No official has authority to bar the public from entering. Constitution rights, number three, citizens have a constitutional right to assemble and petition their government. Formal demands. Who authorized the locking of the doors on July 13th? One. Number two, under what legal authority was those doors locked? Number three, Was attorney Zito consulted in this? If so, what was his advice? Number four, what actions were taken at this meeting that warrant officials and constituents being locked out? Number five, will the city correct this? are real tax payers be forced to seek relief through the courts. The rules of this council can be changed by a minority vote. The Eleanor Open Meetings Act cannot. The doors to this government must remain open because this government belongs to the people, for the people, by the people. Thank you.

Next is item number 28 for public comments. We have two that have been signed in. Lynn Fulgate.

The Freeport City Fire Department, in collaboration with the Illinois National Safety Council, excuse me, a 501c3 tax-exempt nonprofit organization to campaign for fire safety and awareness and education within the Freeport community, particularly for our most vulnerable members, children and seniors. The Freeport Fire Department, develops their annual fire safety education program, and reached out for financial support from local organizations like the Freeport Moose Lodge was included. The Freeport Moose Lodge conducted bingo during the last two Teddy Baker days in Freeport. The money earned from the Moose Lodge from these past two years of bingo generated $225. Therefore, this check for $225 is being donated to the National Fire Safety Council, Inc., As requested by our free world letter from Tom coach fire chief in Rob Boyer city manager presentation of this check is presented by me, Lane Fogate of Freeport member of the Freeport Moose Lodge. The check is signed by our lodge president, Mark Veach and Kenneth Bud Cotter Bader administer. Thank you for your attention and thanks to those excuse me, who sponsored the Moose Lodge at our bingo and made this donation possible. One final note, there have been over 2,000 children cared at Moose Heart, Illinois, and Freeport Lodge, Freeport's oldest lodge in Illinois, has been a very active supporter of the Moose Lodge and their children of Freeport's Heart since we were chartered 117 years ago in 1909. Thanks for your attention.

Thank you. Madam Clerk, could you please read which you had been, had submitted?

Yes, Lou Ludwig had broken her email public comment down, and this is a non-agenda item. Good evening, Mayor and members of the council. Moving into the next point of my comment, while the police chief serves as the official master at arms, to maintain order and safety during council meetings. This role must never be weaponized to suppress public participation. Locking the doors to City Hall and bringing in an excessive officer present crosses the line from maintaining safety into outright intimidation of the community. This council room belongs to the citizens of Freeport, and using the chief's position to create a hostile, restrictive environment is an unacceptable abuse of authority meant to silence dissenting voices. Sincerely, Lou Ludwig, Freeport resident.

Are there any other public comments? Take your pick.

The first thing I'd like to address is the censoring of the elected officials that were voted in by constituents of Freeport, Illinois.

You can try to silence them, but you won't be able to silence us.

The next thing I'd like to talk about is the locked doors.

There was no disruption.

There was absolutely no reason for doors to be locked. And Cece is absolutely right when it comes down to the law. You guys are always talking about some rules, regulations, and things of that nature, but did you think about that? The fact that you locked us out of our city hall, the one that we pay taxes on, those of us that pay your part-time salaries. The next thing I'd like to talk to you about is the marginalization or the cleaners that you talked about, which at one point was called the marginalized cleaners. And at another point was called the one-hour cleaners. Now, I'm going to say this to you guys. Research. back to the day when it went on to the bid auction, researched the original people that won the bid, and then researched the people that snatched it from under them, and then decided they wanted it no longer because the building is contaminated, was contaminated, and the grounds are contaminated because there was no regulations for EPA for cleaners or funeral homes or... places like Teddy Baker, which was contaminated as well. So the fact of the matter is, is they knew it was contaminated. They didn't want it. They took it back into our laps to tear it down and get grant dollars to tear it down. That's the story of marginalized cleaners. So when you are out here talking about tearing something down, continuously using our tax dollars to cover up your fumbles, Because again, walnut is a fumble. It's something that should have been taken care of years ago. The last thing I'd like to talk about is Mama T's resolution. Three years. That's how long it took our community to get a street named after someone who is beneficial to this community. Three years of fighting people in this office, this building, to get it done. Being delayed over and over and over again over crap that wasn't true. I want to thank you for your support. I want to thank you for your help. I want to thank you for pushing it through, for carrying out what we've been trying to do for three years based around a woman. who fed this community every year, clothed this community every year, who was nearly killed on her porch by a bullet of a crime that still has not been solved in this time.

Your time has expired. And I'm talking about Mr. McGraw. Let's not forget. Is there any other public comments?

Hi, my name's Cheryl Altman, and I'd still like to talk about what happened to Stacy and Larry. It's kind of ridiculous because, Joy, you say you said, hush, that's just a nice version of saying, shut up. It's the nice version. And you know, when you talk to Mayor Miller at the end of the meetings, maybe you should make sure your mic is shut off so that when you talk about Wendy or Akia, it's not on tape. Oh, don't sit there and look stupid. I can go back and pull them up for you if you'd like. And what gets me is, Shadle, last meeting you were behind Larry going like this. But why aren't you getting in trouble? Why isn't Joy getting in trouble? Clem, you too. Sorry, Parker, but I'm going to pick on you again. And you know what really gets me is you pick on the same three people. You watch. Clem was on there. He was on there for almost four and a half minutes, but you didn't stop him, but you stopped Larry. Is it because they vote no, that they actually care for the people that they're here that elected them? The rest of you don't. I can sure tell you that one. The rest of you can cure less. The less you just want to say yes, you'd be on the good side of the mayor. And Joe, I know this, because I know you and the mayor go down to your favorite watering hole and have wine. You don't think I don't know people? Okay. There you go with the stupid face again, mayor. But I got people, and this is ridiculous that you picked on. If these guys get in trouble, then so should every single one of you that did the same freaking thing. And Rob, 401k plan? I'm a taxpayer. I want to know what the heck it is. That's my right as a taxpayer. Because as far as I remember, you get like 67.5% of your pension from Chicago, which is fine because Chicago can afford it. Us taxpayers are tired of scrimping and scraping to get by so that other people can get what they don't deserve yet. I don't have a problem with that, paying what you deserve. But you haven't earned that respect. And you're right. Respect is earned. Try it once, Joy. Next.

Next. Michelle Suave. I just keep hearing like that there was no outburst from Ms. Simmons that night, but a meeting could not be conducted. Let's not forget that. Let's not forget the hands being thrown down and things were being said disrespectfully, not only to the chief of police, to Jody, to Rob. And when you get escorted out of a building, I would think that you shouldn't come back in because it would be trespassing and you probably should have been arrested. And so I think that they were being very kind, actually, I mean, on all the things that they were doing. And to say that it wasn't a disruptance is a total, that is a lie. It is a downright lie. It was disrespectful from Sanders and from Ms. Simmons. And I was here that night, and I can contest to that, that I saw it. A meeting could not be conducted. The auditor was here, I do believe, and we couldn't even have a meeting. You not only wasted police staff, but you wasted your constituents' times because we couldn't even hold a meeting. So let's not forget that, what happened that night.

I'm Kelvin McElwain, 515 West Moseley Street. I was hoping to get here earlier, but unfortunately I got back into town well after this meeting started. Actually, I'm glad because I was at home watching the meeting, what I was able to watch, and I'm totally disgusted right now because this council as a whole is acting like you don't care about much of the community. This censure was done in the name of representing and doing something for the people who express concerns like the lady who just came up here, people who agree with the censure. There are plenty of people in this community who believe that Alderwoman Simmons was treated very unfairly during that meeting. As shown by the amount of comments made by people here now, people who emailed in, and only one person is commenting about how they agree with the censure. There was a split in this community about how that meeting went down last week. This council needs to address that split. When you have this many people feeling she was treated unfairly, that means something was not right. There was a lot that went wrong that night. There was a lot that broke down that night. Yes, there do us need to be rules agree a hundred percent, but there also needs to be flexibility in those rules. And any good leader knows that when all the woman Simmons was simply trying to explain something to all their personal Sanders, There was room for flexibility for an older woman who does not have a history of disrespectful actions. There was room for flexibility to allow her to finish that sentence before calling her out of order. If this counsel truly cared about order, you would be listening to people like myself and others who are saying we are not happy with how she's being censured or how that meeting went. There was a lot that went wrong in that meeting, not just the people who were censured. Every single one of these auto persons have said things or done things in the past that disrespected another auto person. If you're truly worried about order, everyone needs to be held accountable to the same standard.

Amen.

Another thing that needs to be addressed is how we use police in these meetings. Sitting at home watching the chief of police escorting people out, that needs to be reviewed. I understand that at some point rules have to be enforced. But there needs to be a better procedure around that because that did not look good. And probably the only thing that was done right last week was the meeting being adjourned when it did. Because what was happening between Alderman Sanders and the chief and the police officer was about to land in a nasty place. And just thank God the meeting was adjourned before that happened. So, City Council, if you truly care about all of Freeport... You need to listen to what people are telling you tonight, that we are not happy with what happened. And we want to see some change.

Your time has expired. Thank you.

Hi, my name is Erin Hoskinson, and I'm just up here to keep it short and sweet. Not really here to pick on anybody. I could pick on everybody up here, but I don't think that's beneficial for our community. So that's not what I'm up here for. Community development, I'm not often here in person. Usually I'm watching online, but housing is something that's really important to me. Looking at that map, seeing that we currently, it looks like there's not a whole lot of room or that there's any really spots for development on the east side, and You mentioned that until we had a big, clearer space, that there's not a whole lot of things that we can sell for development. But I do think that there is a worry when we wait until there's big, open spaces, until we clear people out of neighborhoods, until we're setting balances and checks and waiting for people to leave a home to do anything. I think that things should be done Now, I think we should be looking at backfill now. I think that we should be looking at some of the empty plots that we have now. I mean, you can drive to the east side and you can find plenty of spots that a perfectly nice house could go, but they don't. But then when I look at that map, it's like, oh, well, there's nowhere to develop on the east side. That's all.

My name is Akia Sanders. Like Aaron said, I could pick on everybody all night, but I won't because it's not really beneficial. I'm glad she touched on the subject of there could be houses built over there. If we can remember, Rob promised us infill housing back in the election time when he was in everybody's business in the faces. lying to us. That was him and Jody's big speech, right? They was going to get infill housing. They were going to do this, that, this, and that. I went back and looked at some of those videos. They ain't did not one thing they promised us. And this is for the constituents. Please don't be blind to the fact that they use our black faces. It came to me that Rob was inquiring about going door to door to me that was doing damage control because he know that we were on him about getting these signatures, about getting them out of here. We are not big enough to get Rob or for Rob or maybe it's not it's not none personal, but he has a water background. We need somebody that can actually do for this city and be equal about doing for this city. We don't have that here. So now it's time that he get an opportunity so we can vote and see if we can get him out here or if he deserves to be here. I don't care either way, but let us choose to make somebody legitimate enough to help us in the right way and all of us. There's also lots over there that the city owned that desperately need mowing, look tacky, could be built, anything on, any lot that got a house tore down on it is a buildable lot. That's one thing that somebody should promote. They took possession of a lot of empty lots and did nothing with them. Cecilia, babe, we begging for a park over there. You're taking things, not putting things back, justifying and lying, going around the corners in a bushel just like he did when Cecilia clearly asked you, will she know what will be in that contract before they vote on it? You didn't say a thing because you know the answer to it. You're going to sneak... and snake your way and make us pay for some things like we've been paying for things in this city all along. We keep taking punches and hits. And I'm telling you, Joy, you've got to start remembering that you are also a child of God. So you saying somebody hush is the same thing as shut up. And as far as you being a lady, that ain't ladylike either. You justifying what you're doing by trying to say it politely with a pillow cushion on it. We see the difference. And I'm thanking God to the constituents that is waking up. I hope y'all notice that we ain't taking all these punches no more. I'm going to thank Reverend Hawkins for coming because I ain't seen him come to one. But everybody waking up. His presence mean a lot here. And I hope y'all ready. I hope y'all are ready for what y'all going to endure. Y'all are a child of God first. You do right by people. And that's what you're supposed to be up here doing. We watch bullying sessions up here, not business.

Anyone else? Pastor, did you want to speak?

Yes, I'm Reverend Hawkins, and I pastor a church here in Freeport on Madison Street, and I am pleased to be here. But I've been watching this meeting on TV. And a couple of weeks ago, I was very sad about what I saw. And I said, I'm going to, I told my wife, I'm going to the meeting myself. And I'm not going to bite folks' head off because I don't believe in that. But it looks like all of you look to me like you're intelligent. I mean, you look like it. But what I was hearing, it didn't seem like all of you

was intelligent.

Now, I don't think that any of you, now, you vote. That's why you have voting. So you don't come biting and devouring one another. You come You should have things together when you come down here to address people and not come to argue with folks. And that's a sad thing. A house divided against itself can't stand. that's the fact yeah and when you come down here and you come with a bulldog spirit and you come to fuss and to fight and not to bring harmony and kindness. You don't have to come to this meeting to fuss. Why? Because you voted. And whatever comes through on the vote, that's what it's going to be. If eight folks vote, the vote is going through If one person votes, that's what it is. So you don't have to fight and try to convince folks. You've got to do it my way. Now, I would just hope that you all change the way you are doing things and kind of be nice.

You understand? Your time has expired.

You have folks all over town that's watching you. and looking for intelligent folks to build our city. Let's build our city, not destroy Freeport. Thank you.

Anyone else? Tommy?

I wanted to thank Jody Moore because she was She's nice and everything. She did a good job in the city. And I want to thank the cops came. That's a good job, too.

Any other public comments? Yes.

First of all, I just want to acknowledge Reverend Hawkins. That's a lot of wisdom in that man, a God. Known him for years. And we had a great talk at Tutty Baker Days. Reverend Hawkins, good to see you again. I want to just address a couple things. First of all, when we come to these places and we go anywhere, we don't stop being who our real identity is. And for those of us that are born again, we are Christians first before we are any other role that we have. So I want to give just a couple practical principles that go along with that that helps in this. In the Bible, it says that a laborer is worthy of their wages. Pay the police chief. She's worthy of her labor. Nobody in this room can do what she can do. Nobody's qualified. And it's the city's responsibility. Pay the people who do the jobs because the labor is worthy of their labors. There's also a little discrepancy that seems to be what the roles are with those that are elected versus those that may have been hired. And I think there needs to be some clarity on delegated authority because it seems that those boundaries are being crossed. And there's a tension, a healthy tension, that happens between being delegated to allow somebody the freedom to do their job without an overshadowing of them and always somebody looking over their shoulder versus... being accountable. And so we need accountability and we need to have discussions, but we also need to let the people who are hired to do a job, let them do their job without the pressure of seeming like there's some type of hidden agenda because there is not a hidden agenda here. The people that are around here, everybody wants Freeport to be good. Everybody wants something safe and healthy and vibrant and a lot of business. The schools, we all want a healthy environment. There's no hidden agenda, and it seems like from an observation from watching that there's this underlying that somehow there's a group of people that have some type of hidden agenda that they're trying to push forward at the expense of other people in the community. And for one, I just don't think that that is true. I think that we're all in this together as we are trying to move forward as a community. And so the final thing I want to talk about is that, you know, biblically, honor is a high virtue. In the book of Revelation, there are seven characteristics that describe what heaven is like. If you want to go there, you have to have these seven. One of them is honor. It's one of the atmospheres of heaven that you have to learn how to honor. And when you learn how to honor, you honor people not because they're honorable. you honor because you're honorable. You learn how to treat other people with respect and honor, not because they even deserve it, but because you have the virtue of honor within you. You learn how to communicate and talk and interact with people at a level of honor that is going to be common to bring peace and unity in what we want to do. Thank you.

All right. Then, if that ends public comment, I will entertain a motion to adjourn. So moved.

Second.

Motion made by Seller, seconded by Shadle.