City Council Meeting - Regular Meeting

Good evening, everyone. And welcome to the Tuesday evening, August 18th, 2026, 6 30 meeting of the Joliet city council here in council chambers. Um, the honorable Terry Darcy presiding mayor Terry Darcy, excuse me, again, invocation will be given by pastor Jacob Garcia from crossroads Christian church, 2312 Essington road, after which he will lead us in the pledge of allegiance.

Let's bow for a word of prayer. God, thank you for this opportunity to come together as a community. We are grateful for the city of Joliet, for its rich history, and for the many people who call it home. Tonight, we lift up our mayor, city council, the staff, the first responders, and everyone who serves in our community. We ask for wisdom as decisions are made, clarity as complex issues are discussed, and humility as different perspectives are shared. God, we ask that you would remind our leaders that every decision affects real people, real families, and real neighborhoods. We ask that you would give them wisdom to use the resources entrusted to them wisely to work together for the good of our entire city, especially those who need it most. May Joliet be a place where people feel valued, where neighbors care for one another, and every part of our community has an opportunity to thrive. God bless this meeting, bless each person here, and bless the city of Joliet. It's in Jesus' name we pray.

With liberty and justice for all.

We'll begin with roll call. Mayor Darcy?

Here.

Councilman Cardenas? Here. Councilman Clement?

Here.

Councilman Hugg? Here. Councilwoman Navarro? Here. Councilman Marino? Here. Councilman Mudren? Here. Councilwoman Coleman? Here. Councilwoman Burden? Here. Under Mayor is a proclamation recognizing Holy Cross Church's 125th anniversary presented by Councilman Mudren.

Accepting a proclamation for Father Thomas Silecki, who's on sabbatical right now, is Jack Korsky, longtime parishioner at Holy Cross.

Thank you.

Welcome, everyone. Happy for you to be here. Proclamation. Whereas immigrants from Poland began to settle in the Joliet area during the 1890s to find work, raise family, establish the Catholic Church that would safeguard their culture and religious faith. And whereas, on September 1893, Father Kazmir Smolenski celebrated the first Mass in the newly formed Holy Cross Catholic Church of Joliet. And whereas, in 1895, a new pastor was assigned, Father Boleslaw Smolenski, immediately began work on the present school building. And whereas in 1901, Holy Cross Paris built the current church located at 901 Elizabeth Street in the city of Joliet. And whereas in September 1901, a new pastor was assigned, Father Francis Jakinski. The church building was completed that month, and Father Lisinski had the first Mass in the new church in September of 1901. And whereas we are grateful for all the parishioners and the associate pastors and the current and past members of Holy Cross Church, that brought us to where we are today. And whereas a celebration mass for the 125th anniversary will be held on September 13th, 2026. Now therefore, I, Terry Darcy, Mayor of the City of Joya, Illinois, on behalf of the Joya City Council, do hereby recognize Holy Cross Parish and the congregation on their 125th anniversary. Signed, Terry Darcy, Mayor of the City of Joliet.

Yes, yes, yes, sir.

Speaking on behalf of Holy Cross will be Nicole Kula, who's in charge of the choir tonight.

Mayor Darcy and Council, thank you so much for just writing that beautiful proclamation for our church. I will say on behalf of Father Thomas, he is on sabbatical right now, so we appreciate Jack taking over that honor for us. I do have here our Rays of the Holy Cross Children's Choir. I've had the honor of directing them for the last six years, and we would love to share our music with you today, if you allow. We have two songs, one fully in Polish, and then the second one, first verse in Polish, second one in English. The first word, the first song, Abba Ojcze, kind of summarizing just what Jesus did for our faith and the sacrifices he makes, and the second one may be known to some of you, Lord, when you came to the seashore. So once again, thank you so much for having us. It's our pleasure to be here, and we hope you guys can sing along with us.

what do you think during the crowd so they can yeah face the crowd yeah are they centered no But it's just getting their backs. Oh, there we go. We got it.

song, Lord, when you came into the picture. First verse and chorus in Polish, second one in English.

Singers? Singers.

Move all the way back. Thank you.

Great job. Thank you.

Next is the approval of the agenda. Is there a motion to approve the agenda as written? So moved.

Second.

It's been motioned and seconded to approve. Councilman Cardenas? Aye. Councilman Clement? Aye. Councilman Hugg?

Aye.

Councilwoman Navarro? Aye. Councilman Marino?

Aye.

Councilman Mudren? Aye. Councilwoman Coleman? Aye. Councilwoman Reardon? Aye. Mayor Darcy? Aye. Motion carried. Next is citizens to be heard on agenda items. Is there anyone who would like to speak on an agenda item this evening?

Okay. Hi, my name's John Thurston, and I'm the president of the Corporate Bank at Old National Bank. Thank you for giving me time this evening to speak. Thank you for welcoming Mr. Mayor as well as the rest of the council here. I'd like to just, as you think about your decision as it relates to making a switch on the banking institution, I'd just like to point out how we have unapologetically been part of this community for over 50 years. Whether it was Union National Bank, whether it was First Midwest Bank, or whether it's current day Old National Bank, We have spent lots of time ingraining ourselves in this community. We have spent more than 7,000 volunteer hours with our team members over the last three years. We have invested over $2 million in the last couple of years. And one of our largest branch banks is here in Joliet. I'd ask you to also consider the fact that when we take your deposits, we then loan those back out to the community. We have over 175 employees in the city of Joliet, 250 in Will County. We want to be part of this community. And we can debate the different reasons why our proposal and the RFP process, we may agree or disagree on parts of that. But what I would like to leave you with is after 50 years, We'd love the opportunity to continue being your hometown bank because we view you as one of our key community partners, and we believe we've been an excellent community partner over these last 50 years. So I ask you to consider that before making a decision on changing banks. Thank you.

Is there anyone else who would like to speak on an agenda item this evening? Okay, seeing none, under appointments, the mayor is recommending Miriam Mercado be appointed to the Committee on Citizens with Disabilities. Is there a motion to approve? So moved.

Second.

It's my motion, seconded, to approve. Councilman Clement? Aye. Councilman Hugg? Aye. Councilwoman Ibarra? Aye. Councilman Moreno?

Aye.

Councilman Mudron?

Aye.

Councilwoman Coleman? Aye. Councilwoman Reardon? Aye. Councilman Cardenas? Aye. Mayor Darcy? Aye. Motion carried. Next, our council committee reports. We will start with communication, technology, and information systems.

The CTIS committee met on August 5th at 8.30 in the executive conference room. On the committee and in attendance were Councilman Moreno and Councilman Cardenas.

You know how you are.

We had five contracts under agenda items. The first one was contract to Sierra Professional Services funding not to exceed $275,000. We are kicking off a very large permitting and licensing project and are looking to bring on a contract project manager. Also part of this contract is IT for HR specialists to customize and maximize the software that we currently do own. Secondly, we have contract for CDWG for our annual renewal for Cradle Point NetCloud mobile router licensing for $49,207.09. These are the routers that we use in all the police and fire vehicles. The next was a contract for Lenovo 2026 PC lifestyle program for This is for the continuous updating of our laptops four-year cycle and our desktops five-year cycle. Staff is working currently to extend these timelines even further in the future. Contract to SHI for the three-year Microsoft Licensing Agreement for $1,278,214.47. The departments are working diligently to ensure that the appropriate licensing are assigned to employees in an effort to reduce costs. Any new licenses for the next three years will be under this rate. And then five was contract to Video Tech for $72,927 for access and surveillance at the 9 Osgoode location. The committee vetted all of these items and unanimously approved them and a recommendation to bring them to the full council.

Would you say anything else?

Good? Okay. This is our report. Thank you. Thank you.

Finance? Finance.

The Finance Committee met here at 5.30 in the chambers. On the committee is Councilwoman Reardon, Councilman Hug, and myself. All items that are on the agenda will be on the agenda to be voted on tonight. Resolution approving a grant for the Joliet Historical Museum. Same format in prior years, 25,000 towards events at the museum campus, 125,000 towards operation, and 100,000 operation and events at the museum and the rail museum. ordinance updating the city code on collecting taxes this is not a change in the pricing just a change in the paperwork that would be required coming in the future starting in january This amends the code requiring the business to submit information with their Joliet food and beverage, motor fuel tax, title vehicle tax, amusement tax to support the taxes being paid. This would be a similar piece of paper that they would be sending into the state of Illinois. This can be a copy of a correspondence from the state of Illinois, returned to report by the Secretary of State. This is a practice that many municipalities of our size have been using for some time now. Next item is the resolution approving a banking service agreement. This five year agreement is the result of a competitive request for proposals where JP Morgan Chase provided the best financial deal for the city. The agreement provided an estimated financial benefit of 277,000 annually. In addition to financial benefits, the level of service with JP Morgan Chase agreement will be enhanced compared to our current one. It's staff intended to retain, The staff intends to retain accounts with the current financial institution as long as it is financially advantageous to us, the city. A resolution that authorized surplus of three tri-county auto task force vehicles to be traded in for the purchase of three new task force. On the monthly financials, The revenues are at budget with expenses being a little bit below budget. The sewer and water fund revenues and expenses are trending according to budget. Parking fund revenues and expenditures are also trending according to budget. The museum report, this is the museum's annual report for their fiscal year ending June 30th, 2026. Highlights for the year are 17,311 Visitors at the prison, 13,358 at the museum, 5,500 at the big house ball game, 2,833 concert and programs. These visitors came from 52 different countries, 49 states. No visitor mentioned here from Delaware or North Dakota. That's a key factor, obviously. The 2027 budget. Staff has been busy working on the 2027 fiscal year budget. We are wrapping up department meetings with the city manager. Our goal is to present a balanced budget to the city council in October. While there's a lot of heavy lifting, I, meaning Kevin Singh, believes that we are on track to meet that goal. I want to thank all the city council, all the members of the staff that have been involved in working on this budget.

That would be my report, Mayor, unless Larry, Chair, thank you.

And public service.

And the Public Service Committee met yesterday at 4.30 here at City Hall in the Council Chambers. On the committee included myself, Councilwoman Reardon, and Councilman Mudren. We have a short agenda. We have four items under contracts. One item was for a technical rescue team vehicle. NAPI specialty body is referred to for the fire department's technical rescue team vehicle. This is one of a number of vehicle purchases that are already in the budget, so it is budgeted for. We looked at it for $77,600, and it looks good. We also looked at approval of a road salt sales agreement between the city of Joliet and Midwest Salt LLC. This year, a major player in the salt game called Cargill is no longer providing salt. This has impacted the State of Illinois Joint Purchase Agreement, where we normally get our salt. Of the four facilities that we store salt at, they only came through on two of them. The other two just was nothing to deliver, so we had to go on our own, our Public Works Department did. And, you know, where we used to be 85 to maybe $100 per ton. It's as high as $140, $160, $180 a ton now because of this shortage created for several reasons, the largest being the big player cargo getting out of the game, at least for now. Our staff was able to find, with Midwest Salt, our needs to be filled at $117 a ton. So we were happy to hear that. We minimized the increase. That could have been much more catastrophic, and we'll have plenty of salt in two delivery dates, prior to September and then after September. So the salt we're going to use before January, and then the salt we'll need after January. Plus a little extra to have it on hand, because the salt industry is apparently becoming a little unstable. Remember that when you're seasoning your chili. Then we looked at a water professional service agreement for the Southeast Joliet Sanitary District to Baxter and Woodman for engineering services for $65,400, all of which will be paid by the county, not by the city. And then we looked at the approval of Amendment No. 5 to the Professional Services Agreement for the Alternative Water Source Program to Stantec Consulting Services Incorporated in the amount of $34,792,000. $4 million of that is paid solely by the city because that's for city-centric improvements. The rest of it is part of the overall alternative water supply, which is governed now by the... oh what's the name of the commission i've forgotten thank you mayor the grand prairie water commission um we are a 60 partner in that we're the biggest boy on the block and uh so we'll pay 60 of the remainder and the other communities have to pay their share so we looked at it and we sent all four of those items forward with a recommendation to approve um we had no change over the past and final payments that's the first time in a long time so that was nice and then we had a resolution declaring certain city property Our Joliet property is surplus. Again, we sent that forward with recommendation to approve. And finally, we looked at an application for a drive-thru permit for a Hawaiian Brothers restaurant at 1351 Shale Road. That will be built out at what we all know as the Rock Run Collection, the Cullinan Project. So there really are no traffic concerns and things that we've had with other coffee houses in the old section of the Joliet because that's out of the new development. And we saw no problem with that. I know some people are excited about the Hawaiian Brothers. I'm a Cup of Joe guy. I went somewhere, especially Coffee House, with some people on the weekend on Saturday. I don't know, one guy ordered a twisted double backflip. He came to me and was like, what would you like? I said, Cup of Joe. A cup of coffee? Can you give me a cup of coffee? But I know a lot of people like it, especially my wife and my daughter love specialty coffees, this whole thing. So that's kind of exciting. Hawaiian Brothers will be building out there, so if you need your Hawaiian Brothers fix, you can drive out there, and there won't be a lot of traffic around it. That's it. That's all I have. Unless I missed something, Sherry or Pat?

No.

That would make it to the report then, Mayor.

Thank you. Thank you. We're going to declare no snow this year, Mr. Ruddy. The clouds are out of water. They've rained on us so much that there will be no snow this year.

Okay. It's a coffee shop. I thought it was a restaurant.

It's a restaurant. Hawaiian Brothers, are they known for their coffee? I don't know.

See, I'm not a coffee guy, so I mean, I may be completely off. I think they're a Hawaiian food type of restaurant. Okay. Yeah. The Hawaiian, please.

I stand corrected. It's a full-service restaurant, right?

I don't know.

And I'm sure they've got a great cup of coffee. Here we are. We just approved, and we're going to approve. We don't even know if they sell coffee. What the heck? Yeah, I know.

If they don't, we might not want them. Well, as long as they give me a cup of joe.

i looked up their menu i like what i see fish and poi all right thank you okay i show no other reports

Under consent agenda, approval of minutes. It is recommended the minutes of the pre-council meeting August 3rd, 2026 and the city council meeting held on August 4th, 2026 stand approved as recorded. Invoices to be paid. It is recommended this report be approved. Council memo number 407-26, approval of purchase of one NAPI specialty body for the fire department technical rescue team use in the amount of $77,600. Council memo number 408-26, approval of a bulk road salt sales agreement between the City of Joliet and Midwest Salt LLC to purchase road salt at unit price of $117.37 per ton. Council memo number 409-26, award of professional services agreement for the Southeast Joliet Sanitary District phase two water system improvements project to Baxter and Woodman Incorporated for the not to exceed amount of $65,400. Councilmember number 410-26, award of contract to Sierra ITS for professional services funding in the amount of $275,000. Councilmember number 411-26, award of contract to CDWG for the renewal of Cradle Point NetCloud mobile router licensing in the amount of $49,270.09. Councilmember number 412-26, award of contract to Lenovo for 2026 PC life cycle program in the amount of $85,000. Councilmember number 413-26, award of contract to Shai for a three year Microsoft enterprise licensing agreement in an amount not to exceed $1,278,214.47. Council memo number 414-26, award of contract to Video Tech for access control and surveillance at 9 Osgoode in the amount of $72,927. It is recommended Council memos 407-26 through 414-26 be approved. Is there a motion to approve all said consent agenda items?

So moved.

Second. Second.

It's been motioned and seconded to approve. Councilman Hugg? Aye. Councilwoman Nabarro? Aye. Councilman Marino? Aye. Councilman Mudren? Aye. Councilwoman Coleman? Aye. Councilwoman Reardon? Aye. Councilman Cardenas? Aye. Councilman Clement? Aye. Mayor Darcy? Aye. Motion carried. Under agenda items, council memo number 416-26, approval of amendment number five to the professional services agreement for the alternative water source program to Stantec Consulting Services Incorporated in the amount of $34,792,038. It is recommended council memo number 416-26 be approved. So moved. Second. Any comments or questions? Thank you. It's been motioned and seconded to approve. Councilwoman Nabarro. Aye. Councilman Marino. Aye. Councilman Mudren.

Aye.

Councilwoman Quillman. Aye. Councilwoman Ruggid. Aye. Councilman Cardenas. Aye. Councilman Clement. Aye. Councilman Hugg. Aye. Mayor Darcy.

Aye.

Motion carried. Under license and permit applications, Councilmember number 418-26, application for a drive-through permit for a Hawaiian Brothers restaurant at 1351 Shale Road. It is recommended Councilmember number 418-26 be approved. So moved.

Second.

Mayor, I'm going to try to save face here, so I did some quick research here, and I will stand corrected. Hawaiian Brothers is a restaurant that has 80 restaurants in 14 states, and of course their food, they are a restaurant, their food is based around island cuisine, or island, you know, They have such things as huli huli. I'm not sure what that is. A chicken classic, apparently. The big plate. Mixed plates. So go check it out. I'm going to go there and check out the food. It looks pretty good. Thank you, Sherry. I stand corrected. It's more than just coffee.

Well, you had a good coffee story going. I know.

I know. They'll probably have coffee by the time they open. I think we're all getting whiplash from shifting gears on that.

So, thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Hey, maybe you're helping their business model. They'll start selling coffee, too. There you go.

Aloha.

All right. Thank you.

It's a motion and seconded to approve. Councilman Marino? Aye. Councilman Mudren? Aye. Councilwoman Quillman? Aye. Councilwoman Burden? Aye. Councilman Cardenas? Aye. Councilman Clement? Aye. Councilman Hugg? Aye. Councilwoman Navarro? Aye. Mayor Darcy? Aye. Motion carried. Under ordinances. Council memo number 420-26, ordinances associated with the development of Gillette Catholic Academy subdivision, ordinances approving the final planned unit development of Gillette Catholic Academy subdivision, PUD-6-26, ordinance approving the recording plat of Gillette Catholic Academy subdivision, RP-8-26. It is recommended that ordinance be adopted. So moved. Second.

Any comments or questions?

just wanted to comment before we vote too i had voted no and i don't think i voted alone against it originally it is nothing against joe day catholic i'm the product of private school providence um it has to do with i i needed to see some restrictions in renting the program the property that will never put in which is fine it passed the majority here so i won't support it because of that but it's nothing against i'm sure it's going to be a beautiful stadium thank you anyone else thank you it's a motion seconded to approve councilman mudren all right

Councilwoman Coleman?

No.

Councilwoman Reardon? Aye. Councilman Cardenas? Aye. Councilman Clement?

Aye.

Councilman Hugg? No. Councilman Nabarro? Aye. Councilman Marino?

Aye.

Mayor Darcy?

Aye.

Motion carried. Council memo number 421-26, ordinance approving a special use permit to allow a resale boutique within an existing tenant space located at 124 North Ottawa Street, ZBA 2026-30. It is recommended said ordinance be adopted. So moved.

Second. Any comments or questions?

I just got a question real quick. I think the owner is here. Would you like to say any quick words? No, for the boutique.

Yeah. Resale shop.

Yeah.

Hi, everyone. Hi. Savannah Wilhelmi. I'll just take a moment to explain to the community what we're doing and what we're bringing to the downtown community. Mason Mariana will be an upscale resale boutique with a strong focus on bridal selections, special occasion wear, professional attire, and giftable keepsakes. We hope to become a destination for future brides, people attending weddings, events downtown, and visitors traveling along Route 66. Thanks for the consideration.

Mayor, I got a question for her.

Yes.

Is that a sample of what you're wearing? Is that a sample of what your product would be like? Yes. Okay, that's nice, very nice.

Thank you so much, guys.

All right, thank you.

Enjoy the evening.

Do you want to buy it, Larry? Because I was looking at it. Exactly.

Only if it comes with a cup of coffee.

We'll get you a cup of joe. There you go. Thank you, guys. Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, it's by motion and seconded to approve. Councilwoman Coleman? Aye. Councilwoman Reardon. Aye. Councilman Cardenas. Aye. Councilman Clement. Aye. Councilman Hugg. Aye. Councilman Navarro. Aye. Councilman Marino. Aye. Councilman Mudren.

Aye.

Mayor Darcy.

Aye.

Motion carried. Council Member number 422-26, ordinance approving the reclassification of 303 South Ottawa Street from R2, single family residential, to R3, one and two family residential zoning, Z-2-26. It is recommended that ordinance be adopted. So moved.

Second. Any comments or questions? Thank you.

I do have one. Because Larry asked me if I was in favor of this, and I am in favor of this. Thank you. We know exactly what he's trying to do.

Thank you.

It's been motioned and seconded to approve. Councilwoman Reardon. Aye. Councilman Cardenas. Aye. Councilman Clement. Aye. Councilman Hugg. Aye. Councilman Navarro. Aye. Councilman Moreno.

Aye.

Councilman Mudron.

Aye.

Councilman Coleman. Aye. Mayor Darcy.

Aye.

Motion carried. Councilmember number 423-26, ordinance authorizing an amendment to the 2026 annual budget for the city of Joliet. It is recommended that ordinance be adopted.

So moved.

Second.

Any comments or questions?

Mayor, for those that may have not tuned in last night, our residents, and a lot of them tuned in tonight, I'm just going to say what we already talked about last night. This is not a new addition to the budget in any way, shape, or form. This is a grant from the state for $26,000 to our fire department. By law, the city cannot spend money without council approval, nor can we accept money.

if you see fit to leave your uh estate to us we'd have to vote on it to accept it so there's no change in the budget it's just a formality to accept the grant thank you mayor thank you okay it's my motion a second and two approve councilman cardinus all right councilman clement hi councilman hugg councilman barra hi councilman moreno hi councilman madren hi councilman quillman hi councilman reardon hi mary darcy motion carried Under resolutions, council memo number 425-26, resolution authorizing the execution of an intergovernmental agreement with the Will County 911 Emergency Telephone System Board to accept grant funds available under the 911 surcharge grant program. It is recommended that resolution be adopted. So moved.

Second. Comments or questions? Thank you.

It's a motion and seconded to approve. Councilman Clement.

Aye.

Councilman Hugg. Aye. Councilwoman Ibarra. Aye. Councilman Moreno.

Aye.

Councilman Mudron.

Aye.

Councilwoman Quillman. Aye. Councilwoman Reardon. Aye. Councilman Cardenas. Aye. Mayor Darcy. Aye. Motion carried. Councilman number 426-26, resolution declaring certain city of Joliet property as surplus. It is recommended that resolution be adopted.

So moved. Second.

Comments or questions? Thank you.

It's a motion and seconded to approve. Councilman Hugg. Aye. Councilwoman Navarro. Aye. Councilman Marino. Aye. Councilman Mudren. Aye. Councilwoman Coleman. Aye. Councilwoman Reardon. Aye. Councilman Cardenas. Aye. Councilman Clement. Aye. Mayor Darcy. Aye. Motion carried. Councilmember number 427-26, resolution authorizing the purchase of vehicles and declaring certain vehicles as surplus for the Tri-County Auto Theft Task Force. It is recommended that resolution be adopted. So moved. Second.

Any comments or questions? Thank you.

It's been motioned and seconded to approve. Council Member Barra? Aye. Council Member Marino? Aye. Council Member Mudren? Aye. Council Member Coleman? Aye. Council Member Reardon? Aye. Council Member Cardenas? Aye. Council Member Clement?

Aye.

Council Member Hugg?

Aye.

Mayor Darcy?

Aye.

Motion carried. Council Member 428-26, resolution approving a grant to the Joliet Area Historical Museum. It is recommended that a resolution be adopted. So moved.

Second. Comments or questions?

Yes. Mr. Singh, did you discuss the FLEX?

Sorry? Did you discuss the FLEX? No, it didn't come up. And you and I should talk to him afterwards.

All right.

Okay. Are you good?

Well, I'm not good, but that's okay. We'll move on.

You sure?

Do you want to know the story? Mayor? Okay. Mr. Sopansiak, God rest his soul, a few years back, he gave $250,000 to the museum to fix it up and to do what the board wanted with. At the time, it was a he and his wife, they were always giving money and always sending money and always giving money to different charities in the city of Joliet. He just absolutely loved Joliet. And so the board at the time was myself, I'm all named here, it was Mr. Eastman, Lynn Lichtenauer, Val Rand, Jim Smith, myself, and unfortunately some other people have moved that were also on the board and they all agreed to this this big plaque that was hanging up in the bottom of the museum.

So when they did a little remodeling of the museum, they were gone.

And unfortunately, all these people that supported this thing because they wanted to honor Mr. Sopanciak, I'm sure I'm saying the name wrong, but he always gave substantial donations to a lot of the charities in Joliet. I know I'm repeating myself, but I'm very disappointed because I have been asking for many years when they remodeled the downstairs, they took and they haven't been up, and I've been asking them every year, And the last time I got a message was, oh, well, they got broken. Well, these plaques were like three by five feet or three by six feet. I don't know. And if they're broken, then why can't we fix them? Because they're a beautiful brass implant, like the one we have outside the door, except it was much bigger with everything that he had done. And it was just, and I feel bad if his wife goes to visit the museum and his name is not there. And I'm just trying to... follow up on this because I think it needs to be there. And that's, I know they want grant money, but I'm just saying I don't understand why these plaques can't get put back up. That's my thought.

So let's make that a formal request of the museum to put those back up.

Yes. I've tried to do it behind the scenes to be quiet about it, but this is it. I mean, it's been too many asks.

Things come to light here.

Okay. So that would be my request. Yes, Greg. I've talked to you several times. I don't know, can he come forward, Mayor? That's up to you.

I don't know, Robert's rules. Let's make the vote. If that's okay.

I'm here for you.

Okay, so motion to second and two approve. Councilman Marino?

Aye.

Councilman Mudren? Aye. Councilwoman Coleman?

Aye.

Council Member Reardon? Aye. Council Member Cardenas? Aye. Council Member Clement? Aye. Council Member Hugg? No. Council Member Navarro? Aye. Mayor Darcy? Aye. Motion carried. Council Member number 429-26. Resolution approving a banking services agreement. It is recommended that resolution be adopted.

So moved.

Second.

Any comments?

Mayor, you know, I do appreciate, and I didn't realize how long it was, 50 years roughly. We have to go with the recommendation to a degree, but I'm sure that the city is going to continue to do business with Old National, which used to be First Midwest, which was originally Union. You remember all this, right, Terry? Pat?

Terry, you remember Union?

Over Wharton, and so, you know, I wish that the RFP had worked out differently, and there's always a future. bring it back local, but we'll continue our relationship, correct?

Yes.

Business relationship?

Yes, that's our intention.

All right, and I'm sure you can talk to him after the meeting. Yeah. All right, thank you, Mayor.

I just want to thank them for everything they do in the greater Joliet community. It does not go unnoticed, and we do appreciate that. We are somewhat obligated to go with staff recommendations, but we appreciate everything that does not go unnoticed. Not only the money, but the time that you put into this community. Thank you.

7 000 hours of volunteer time is a lot of time that your volunteers put into the community and i appreciate that i'm sure everybody here appreciates that uh when i spoke to kevin earlier he did mention we're not gonna cut off the relationship so um supporting um using chase also i don't see it's gonna hurt our relationship with uh old national so i will support it and i i look forward to continuing that relationship with uh you guys as well so thank you

Yeah, we did talk about making sure that this relationship still continues in some forms. Some of my really good customers when I started my Oldsmobile store was Turk, Overworth, and Barker. Great guys. Thank you.

It's been motioned and seconded to approve. Councilman Mudren? Aye. Councilwoman Quillman? Aye. Councilwoman Reardon? Aye. Councilman Cardenas? Aye. Councilman Clement? Aye. Councilman Hug?

Reluctantly aye.

Councilwoman Navarro? Same, reluctantly, but aye. Councilman Marino?

Aye.

Mayor Darcy? Aye. Motion carried. Next is the city manager's report.

Good evening everybody, happy Tuesday. First piece of announcement. Great news, NASCAR's returning to Joliet. I'm so excited that they'll be here again to host NASCAR June 25th through June 27th next year for another weekend of Fast Cars family fun and excitement right here in Joliet. So great news, we'll have you here another year. City of Joliet celebrated our interns last week. It was a luncheon and Q&A session with myself, the mayor, and members of staff. We're so thankful for the work that our interns do and are proud of all the projects they were each able to be involved in. Please join me in thanking them for their service to the city. I also attended the Joliet Fire Department promotions last week. They held a ceremony where Scott Winkles, Michael Kubinski, Christopher Kinsella, Christopher O'Hara, and Christian Conroy were all promoted to various new ranks. Councilman Juan Moreno was there in attendance as well. So please join me in congratulating these first responders on their new roles. Slide three, really important, storm cleanup efforts. As everyone knows, we're hit pretty hard by severe weather last week. We had more than 200 reports of downed parkway trees that have nearly all been cleared by our public works and roadways crews. Residents with storm debris should first use their yard waste bins for disposal. Anything that doesn't fit in yard waste bins can be then placed in the parkway for pickup by the city's crews, but needs to be done by tonight. We ask residents to please be patient if crews remove only part of the debris on your street. Different types and sizes of debris require different equipment, so crews may need to make multiple passes through an area. If debris remains after an initial pickup, please allow a few days for crews to return with the appropriate equipment. And that's all I have for this evening.

Next we have public comment. Is there anyone who would like to address the council this evening on a non-agenda item?

Good evening, Councilman. My name is Trista Brown, and again, I'm from my organization. It's called Speak Up, and so my job for our organization is just really to share the voices of the people. First of all, I want to say, Ann, happy birthday. I don't know if she's here right now. Hi, hi, hi. You're doing a wonderful job in the city of Joliet, city square. Secondly, I remember when the mayor said unity. We didn't understand what that sculpture means, but now we do. Unity. Unity of people coming together of all race and culture. So I wanted to make that, say that. But for two subjects I do want to address is that, though I'm excited about all the things that are going on, and I appreciate what we did, the acknowledgement of Jesse Bernfield. Because again, that means unity. We may not have did it then, but we're doing it now. But I don't want to forget about the two things. We have a lot of laughter. We have a lot of things that's going on. But we cannot forget some of the cries that are still happening into the city of Joliet. I know I brought this to you again about the Attorney General report. Yes, things are better. But we have to take our time out and still address. Those are victims of that Attorney General report that nobody seems to care about it. We still hear about it. It still haven't been addressed. It's one thing I want to keep on the table because we continue to hear that. I know Robert Webb was here the last time. That means it's 2026. That means people need to be heard. So please do not ignore that. Those are some of the cries. Even those laughter, those are some people that are still victims of that. And I want to suggest, and I would say, when we get an officer, anybody of law enforcement, they, instead of taxing us, tax them when it comes to their pensions. Because all this money is being taken out from the taxes for these lawsuits. And so the taxpayer is the one who's, we're absorbing that. So I think if that happens, maybe they could reconsider without doing the things that they've been doing. The second part, a young lady was here again in the Riverwalk. Riverwalk is really, it's terrible there. I did suggest to speak up as that organization to bridge the gap, to come out there and speak to those young people or the people who are concerned. There is a lot of, I'm old, so I'm 66, so there's a lot of people who are seniors. They are there. They are scared. We need to make it a little bit better for them. We need to listen out. And I want to respectfully thank you for not being offended that she called me. And because you took responsibility that I'm not trying to ignore you. You're saying that you might not have been a chance to get to her. But the point is, you have 145 organizations out there. The fire department was doing a great job on Wednesdays when we come and meet. I don't know what happened to that. That was one of the visions. But go back to those organizations that sit outside there. You can't do everything. But then again, there is people such as Speak Up. That's what we're about. We will interfere. We will come in. We will come there. We will speak to them. We have a rapport with a lot of people in our community. And keep in mind, in that area, a lot of people are not from Joliet. So it's like buying a house. You don't respect the house because you're the ownership, but if you're not the owner of it, you don't care what happens to it. So keep that in mind when those things are happening. But don't forget our seniors because we all, if we're over, everybody over 60, but we are seniors. And so that's what I wanted to say. Keep that in mind, and I thank you for the respect. It takes a lot, you guys, to come up here. It takes boldness. It takes courage. It is not easy. And I thank you for the respect of others when they come here. But do follow up. Don't let them think on deaf ears. But again, I just want to address that. Please read it. I know that 800 pages of the eternity is a lot, but it's not forgotten. Please don't forget. Those are victims. So again, address that. Let them know that you care. And I'm Trista Brown. Speak up if you need our organization to intervene. We've got that for you. God bless you, and thank you for all that you do.

Is there anyone else who would like to speak on a non-agenda item this evening?

Hello. My name is Timothy Antel. I'm a resident of Joliet. Tonight I'd like to speak about the proposed data center development here in Joliet. So a little bit of background context because I'm sure we haven't heard enough about it already. But the largest currently operational completed data center in the U.S. is Colossus II owned by XAI in Shelby, Tennessee. It has a square footage of 1 million square feet and it uses 1.5 gigawatts of energy. The plans proposed by Powerhouse Hillman show the plan will be building almost 7 million square feet, and they'll have an annual energy draw of 1.8 gigawatts, meaning that this would be the largest data center in the US in both size and energy consumption. For context, one gigawatt is one billion watts, And the state of Illinois has a total energy production capacity of 46 gigawatts, meaning that this one facility will consume almost 4% of all electricity produced in the state and as much energy as half of the city of Chicago. So the reason I want to put that up front is this context is important because the energy consumption was one of the major issues raised in regards to the operation of the data center. In the memo, Describing the plan development provided by the Planning Commission to this council, the plans which this council approved, it was proposed that the development would buy its electricity from ComEd. In order to complete the requirement, Powerhouse-Hillman did sign a transmission service agreement with ComEd. A transmission service agreement, or TSA, is just a form of planning used by developers and utility providers to plan out future energy demands and protect other customers and rate payers. So just broad kind of question, is anyone aware that that TSA was actually canceled by ComEd? Just show of hands, any of our directors or council members, is anyone aware that that agreement was canceled by ComEd? I have an article talking about that cancellation. The TSA included provisions designed to protect existing rate payers from data-centered related costs. So the purpose of the TSA is to protect rate payers. It includes a quote. from the CFO of Exelon, the parent company of ComEd. What this update reflects is that we now need to wait out speculative projects and it gives us proactive insight into what is real. Jan Jones, Exelon CFO said during a earnings conference call with equity analysis. As part of the weed out of data center projects, Exelon's Commonwealth Edison subsidiaries on July 24 told the Federal Energy Regulatory Commissions, the FERC, that it canceled a previously approved TSA with Powerhouse-Hillwood Holding. So that's the details of it, but there was also a public filing by ComEd to the FERC. So this is a public document. They include their reasoning. The underlying retail service application has been canceled because Hillwood has failed to comply with certain terms and conditions of ComEd's electrical retail service tariff on file with the Illinois Commerce Commission. Additionally, Hillwood has failed to provide the required credit support, which is an essential element of the TSA framework and that facilitates the overall goal of guarding against shifting costs and risk to other customers over the term of the TSA, as well as minimizing the risk that the presence of oversized or unrealistic applications unreasonably harm other applicants waiting to interconnect to the ComEd system. The parties have exhausted the dispute resolution provided in the TSA without reaching resolution on that issue. So that was the filing by ComEd canceling their TSA that they gave to the FERC. Thank you for your time.

Is there anyone else who would like to address the council this evening on a non-agenda item?

Hello, council women and men. My name is Dominique. I stay in Riverwalk. Some of you may remember my face. I had an incident where my house had flooded with sewer and had mold in it. Once again, you guys, it is back. It is back. It is back. Now it's in my living room. The ceiling actually caved in on my son, fell on my son with molded paint and debris falling on him. We have headaches. It's a lot going on in the house. I reached out to those who I was supposed to speak to, but only so much can be done. And so I'm still in that same house where they have a fan blowing to dry the wall with the black mold on it. I also have videos and pictures with the same stuff. excuse me I'm a little nervous I got off of work just to be here early so I just want to know like what is going on with Riverwalk for the simple fact that we haven't heard anything we were promised to hear at 100 days, 90 days, 30 days of heads up on what's going on and we have not heard anything. We don't know about any, what's the next steps, we don't know how to move forward into anything because we have no one speaking to us. And when we ask, we are told, we don't know what's going on. I also do not, I had to experience right after the ceiling fell and my son hit, I stayed right where those people, that person got shot at. First floor. My children watched it through the window. Someone that they see every single day. You know. And also the shooting at the top. They were up there as well with their friends. And they have to endure that. I have to explain to my first grader what was going on. And I had to leave work because of those things. Excuse me for crying, but I'm a single parent with five kids. And I don't even want my kids to go outside. And I stayed strong and I tried to figure out how to get them out. They varsity cheerleaders as freshmen, AAU basketball team players, gymnastics. Children, and they can't even go outside, feel safe. I can't even tell you how they summer when we had to leave in order for them to enjoy the peace of their summer. Because I wouldn't allow them to hang out with their friends. I work second shift. My mom is not able to move around like she can, but she's helping me keep an eye on them. And since she can't go outside to make sure they're safe, they have to stay in. And I don't think that's fair to some growing, talented kids. Nobody should endure that. And I'm still sitting here seeking help and understanding what's my living situation. Because everybody go home to a safe bed, to a safe neighborhood. But my kids got to be fearful if they're going to be shot. I thank you, Councilwoman, for helping me the last time. I've been meaning to come back and thank you.

I wish you would have called me back. I mean, that was quite some time ago, and apparently they didn't do what they were supposed to do.

They did, but some other stuff. It's the old buildings. Right. Every building has the same problem, leaking things, mold coming out. Everybody, if y'all talk and go in those people's houses. Okay. y'all will see how they live in i done been in the office and heard about mice running around and there's children living in these apartment buildings but i thank y'all for your time dominique can you can you stay after because councilman cardenas is going to meet with you and probably jan will too i thank you for listening okay is there anyone else would like to speak on an agenda item non-agenda item this evening sorry

Good evening, Mayor, Council people, and community members. My name is Tamaya Hamer, and I'm the business community liaison at Joliet Job Corps in Councilwoman Ibarra's district. I'm here today to just kind of share a little bit about Job Corps for those who may not know what Job Corps is. We're a federally funded workforce development program under the U.S. Department of Labor. and we provide career training, education services to young people ages 16 and 24. In my role, I'm responsible for building connections that will be beneficial to our students, helping connect them with different career services. And so my goal here is just to continue to outreach and let our presence kind of be felt and say that we're here in the community and we will love everyone's support and just kind of continue to make those partnerships and those connections and we also have a community luncheon coming up on september 11th i did pass out some invitations to staff i hope you guys received it i don't want to take up too much you guys's time i'm a little nervous sorry but thank you guys so much and i hope you guys are able to attend thank you

Anyone else would like to speak on an agenda item this evening? OK, seeing none, we will move on to mayor and council comments.

No comment. I don't really have anything. I was just going to say, mayor, are you going to mention the venue? What is it, 98? We were both there. Which one? Venue 98, the Park District venue.

Okay.

Well, I just wanted to say, if you haven't seen it yet, it's the former old Portman venue by the greenhouses, and the Park District has renovated it, and now the name of it is the Venue 98. it's absolutely beautiful I mean really if you've not seen it just stop by and see it it's beautiful inside outside they have a avenue out to the greenhouse now that you can go directly from you know the inside venue and then they have a outdoor area that it's just beautiful I mean really you know my daughter's lucky she got married a couple months ago or you know she'd be living in some other venue anyways but really stop by and see it because they did a magnificent job so that's all I want to say

sure do they have do they serve more than coffee yes it was very good food actually tan yeah we had to do something to help these people at this evergreen terrace or river walk where we want to call it i mean this has been going on for a long time mayor and i know our hands are pretty much tied but there's got to be a way there's got to be a way to help these folks that's that's horrible the way they have to live If anybody's got any ideas, come forward because our hands are tied with that. That's all I have to say.

I am going to follow up on that. We're doing everything legally possible to clear this problem. Believe me, we are all sad for the living conditions over there. And we're not the operating partner. So we are doing our best to make this right. And it's, as I referred to, it's the speed of government. Nothing happens quickly and easily when you get federal authorities involved in anything. So we are working hard. We actually had a long meeting about last night with our council team. So everybody understands where we're at. So believe me, we're doing our best.

Like a number of us up here, there was a Jesse Barfield plaque dedicated a couple of weeks ago. I could thank Ann Sylvester for all her work in getting it, in the information that Jesse wanted on there, obviously, the team for bringing him down here. A number of us were at two junior high ribbon cuttings, Hufford and Gompers, and would like to congratulate. I'm sure the mayor will speak on this. It's a great school for getting this accomplished. Definitely need it, that's it.

I want to wish my kids a happy first day tomorrow, or this week, and last week, and then all of Joliet's kids a happy, safe first day. Stick up for your friends. Parents, talk to your kids about bullying, stuff like that. And police chief, make sure we get our patrols on the school days. It's been summer, so I'm sure everybody forgot how to drive by the schools. So everybody slow down, please, and have a good weekend.

Thank you, and speaking of that, thanks Councilman Marino. I wanted to let the chief know that their school has started and they're flying through Weedwood, so if you can just make a note of that, that it's only been a couple of days and I'm getting reports that they're flying through Weedwood and the neighbors there are very concerned about the kids. Also, I wanna thank Luke Cancic. I'm sorry, I always refer to people by their last name, but I'm Italian, that's what we do, so thank you, Luke Hansick, for meeting with the residents, the influencers from the Southeast Sanitary District, so they could tell you some of the things that they were, you know some of the complaints concerns and things that they were hoping for i really really appreciate that it probably just wasn't you smacking your head into the glass at the first meeting they wanted a second meeting with you so i want to thank you for that also i am asking for help City Manager, Deputy City Manager, Mayor. This is a problem I've been complaining about for two years. Every time I put in a citizen's view on this, it is almost immediately closed out. But there's a recycled tire place at, I don't know if we get sued if I give you the address.

Okay.

We'll keep you busy on this. But it's 175 South Des Plaines Street. So it's 175 South Des Plaines. It's on the corner kind of of Des Plaines and Allen. I complained about this for two entire years. I love that they recycle tires. I hate that they are littering the south end of joliet from where they do the tire recycle place which is a complete mess all the way through to mcdonough street and everywhere they go with this and halfway the other way to the police station you can see their particle tire particulate it is just completely littering the neighborhood i could go with someone walk down there we can look i come to the gym i see it every morning i've complained about it again and again every citizen's view i put in that is closed out this would never fly anywhere else in the city the residents of the south end care about what their neighborhood looks like They try very hard to keep it clean. It's a company that doesn't even really fit in this neighborhood. Nonetheless, they don't need to litter this neighborhood. And tire particulate and pieces of tire all over the street from where they start as far as it goes, that is not acceptable at all. So I do need help with that. I'm asking for help with that. Recycled rubber products. I mean, at... please somebody help me the residents of the south end do not deserve this thank you excuse me as councilman moreno said school has started you know and joliet serves about

four different districts, five different high schools, and a lot of great schools in junior highs, Plainfield, Joliet, Minooka High School, Lincoln-Way West. So, the buses are out now, the kids are back in school. Let's be aware. My mother-in-law, who passed away a couple of years ago, she was a crossing guard here in Joliet until she was 78 years old. And she would tell stories, and she was not somebody you wanted to fart around with. She was pretty tough. She was short. But people that would nudge up to the crossing guards, let's be respectful. It's our kids. And if it's not your kids, it's somebody's kids. So let's keep our eye open for the old school buses out there and for the crossing guards, and let's obey the laws and obey the crossing guards.

Thank you. I just want to take a quick moment to congratulate my daughter. Carson, you know, always been a volleyball player, and just out of the blue, she told her mom and myself, I'm going to do cross country. And today was our first meet. She did it, and she did a great job. It's just something different that she wanted to do. I just want to take a moment to say congratulations to my daughter. So thank you.

I just want to say happy birthday to Ann. She's been doing a great job with all the events that have been happening in the city the last few weeks. There's been some amazing things happening. We had Cheryl Youngblood Band play in the city square and they had an amazing turnout. A lot of people were out there having a great time. Talk about Unity out there. Henry Woods with the Legacy Entertainment also had a great event at House on the River. We attended that. You may have caught me on video dancing somewhere. I don't know if it's out there or not. We had a rainy day, but it didn't stop Joliet Unity Movements. It went five days. It was a lot of kids and families out there enjoying that, getting their stuff ready for back to school. Like you mentioned, all the kids going back to school. Can't believe the summer's technically over, but good luck to all the kids starting the new year. And then with all the storm and power outages that have been happening, You know, we were shut down. I know I got a lot of calls myself, you know, and I see that where we're talking about, you know, certain parts of the city, but it affects the entire city. I was out of power and, you know, in my business in downtown for a whole day, two days at home. But I think the city's been doing a great job and commented best they can to try to get us up and running. So thank you to everyone that's been working hard to make sure that we get back up and running as fast as possible after these storms. So thank you. Thank you.

Just a couple quick things. On Wednesday, August 12th, myself and a group of local officials, lawmakers, and leaders sat down with Senator Durbin just to discuss things about our community, areas where he could help us. We talked about the Grand Prairie Water Project, Public Safety Institute, things that he's well aware of and is continuing to work to help us get some federal dollars to help with these projects. I too attended the ribbon cuttings for the two new grade school, junior highs, and I gotta tell you, this is fantastic for the city. We're so proud to have these state-of-the-art schools for our kids to enjoy and to learn in, so they're a couple of great projects that are completed and going into this year. Also on the other day, yesterday, we attended a check presentation from Representative Underwood, Congresswoman Underwood, to Grand Prairie Water Commission for just a little over a million dollars. I would like to point out, if you look at the data on that, that's Susanna's dad's birthday.

I'm well aware of that date.

It's my birthday also. I wouldn't let you tell anybody though.

Also, you know, City Square has been a growing success in the community with many, many things going on. Ann's been doing a great job with bringing diverse crowds downtown and dancing, square dancing, wellness workouts, live music. You know, Cheryl Youngblood brought a huge crowd. So we're really continuing to grow the opportunity there and bring neighborhoods to our downtown. Fun to watch. We still have a lot coming up this rest of the season, and we hope to see everybody out there. So have a great night. Thank you, and God bless you all.

Okay.

Is there a motion to adjourn? So moved. All in favor? Aye.

Opposed?

Meeting adjourned.