Public Safety Committee - Regular Meeting

City of Joliet Public Safety Committee meeting today is August 4th 2026 here in the council chambers at 530. Can we have roll call please? Councilman Clement here Councilwoman Ibarra here Councilwoman Coleman here Okay approve all the minutes for July 7th 2026 there. We have a chance to read those review them if there are there any changes or comments I

Move to approve. Second.

We have a first and a second. All in favor?

Aye.

Okay, agenda item. Award a contract for the 2026-2027 Joliet Fire Department Medical and Fitness Evaluations RFP to Rock Valley Health for $290,376. Chief?

Yeah, this is the same company we use now. It's a two-year contract. We can add on additional years. It went out to RFP this year. They were the middle bidder. The reason the lowest bidder we didn't go with, they wouldn't be able to meet our, or they were out of state, and we couldn't find anyone around here that used them. They were from, which were they? They were from Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania. And the other one, when he reached out to them, they were just a startup. They didn't have enough doctors and that to handle our volume yet. So that's why we stayed with the company we had. They were the middle of the road.

No more med works.

No more.

Because I don't work there anymore.

They didn't even bid this year. Yeah, we went there forever.

That was fun. Oh, let me take your blood pressure.

Okay, that's in the budget, right?

Yes.

Okay, we're just doing the contract?

Yeah, so it'll be for this year and next year's, and then we can add on three or four additional years.

Okay, any questions or comments?

No.

Okay, do we have a motion and a second?

Motion approved. Second.

We got a first and a second. All in favor? Aye.

Aye.

Nice hand. All right, ordinance. Ordinance authorizing an amendment to the 2026 annual budget for the city of Joliet. Chief?

Yeah, we came about a month ago for this is that OSFM grant for small tools and equipment that we were going to purchase gear with. At that time when the grant was approved, this is just to now be able to spend the money. So we've got to change our budget to add the money into our budget so we can spend it and buy the gear.

Okay, any questions or comments? Okay. I'll make the motion approved.

Second.

We got a first and a second. All in favor? Aye.

Me.

In the resolution, 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. Chief. Hey, Chief.

This is just a yearly program that we have to come to the committee and get it approved. It's the extra money to surcharge for 911. It's just to accept the grant. That's all it is.

How much is the grant for?

This is a little over a million.

Oh, except I moved to approve. Second.

Okay, we have first and second. All in favor?

Aye.

Okay, new business, not for final action or recommendation, new or old. Anybody have anything?

Yeah, I actually do have something, Chairman. I wanted Deputy Chief Brown, or Acting Chief Brown, I don't know what to call you right now, but with all due respect, I'm definitely calling you. I've been getting complaints from the Stryker building, all of the neighborhood around there, complaining that at a certain time of the evening the cars that are not authorized to be in the parking lot they they move to the street and they're blocking some driveways and there are some disabled folks there they get like blocked in and they call the cops the cops there's been a lot of manpower used on this situation and In addition to that, there's people living in the building that are letting the homeless that live in the encampment, I'm not going to say where because I don't want to put anyone at risk, but an encampment, they're letting them in and letting them come in and take showers and stay for a night or two and then go back to the woods. And this is really, really problematic for all of the residents in this neighborhood. Many complaints have been made to Michael Simleton. Also, I've sent him to the city manager. I've filled out citizens' views. I just don't know how to get help for this problem. But the resident that consistently... One in particular got a hold of the mayor the other day, and he said this is something that you guys... that the way the building was before and then it was rehabbed and people were dispersed to get this to be a nice seniors building that it's going back to the same way it was allegedly it's their story not mine right i saw a email about a week ago and i think a bunch of us were attached to it

I did send the area lieutenant over there to check it out. We didn't see any parking on the street. That one person, I think, that is making the complaint, looking over all the complaints, a lot was focused on the building management and whoever is supposed to be running the show in the evening, that he wasn't doing what he was supposed to do. He wasn't calling people out when they need to because that's the thing. Okay, you're fired.

End of story. You're fired.

Right, yeah. And I think that's what the problem is, is this person actually isn't doing their job. Because if they're allowing people to come in there, we wouldn't know. I mean, unless someone calls us and says someone is trespassing, then we'll have to go through the process. He knows about it. He's able to watch the videos. And I think he's not doing his job. That's pretty much what this sounds like to me.

Might be sleeping during those videos. No popcorn.

Could be. So I will definitely keep an eye on that traffic, though, because if they're parking on the street, then it's a problem with us. If they're parking in the lot, obviously, I think they have a contract with Dick's. And that's the thing. The management just has to stay on top of this. Okay. Yeah, we'll follow up with it, too. I'll have Des look into it. See if we can shake him up a little. And if not, then we'll report to whoever his boss is and see if we can have him move along.

I really, really appreciate it. Thank you so much.

Chief, one thing. I know we talked six corners. Joe's Hot Dog, that whole area, I don't know what's going on the last two weeks. It's been cleaned up over there. Yeah. And there was an encampment back over there, and they were harassing the owner of Joe's and the customers and things like that. So I didn't know if we could just kick up patrol.

They went and harassed him again?

This is three weeks old now, but I know we talked about it. Yeah.

Yeah, we sent officers over there because we have another location, too, that we're looking at to see if it's city property. And it's all this thing where these guys are setting up their encampment, and they can't do it. I think Slocum has been beating this, too. Oh, yeah. I heard him again this morning. Yes.

But I guess Friday was really bad.

Yeah, we've been reaching out to him. We've issued tickets. I mean, the problem with this, as you know, is you're issuing tickets to people that are unable to pay it. Some of them don't even know that you're actually giving them a ticket. So we try to get them off the roadway. That's the biggest thing. They can't be in the roadway. They can't be in the median. The median is a part of the roadway from sidewalk to sidewalk. So they can't be in there. And I know McDonough and Larkin, we run into issues all the time. And we try to move them along. The encampment is a problem because people are popping up tents all over the place. We did just create a new ordinance for downtown, which also incorporates all city property. So we're going to be working on that with other city entities to try to move these tents out of here. But we don't know where they're going to pop up next. And just so you know, the state is already fighting many municipalities on this about tents and these things. Camp it is what they call it. Camp it. They had sent something out to tell cities, don't set up ordinances to try to combat this. Yeah. Well, until it becomes law, we're going to keep doing what we got to do. We'll follow our ordinances.

The job I have now, I work, this isn't just a Julia problem. It is all over. All over. It's in every municipality.

All over. Because they have said in direction, like, hey, leave these people alone. You're like, well, that's what you say until you see what we're seeing, where there's a pup tent on the side of the street. That's not going to work. So until they change the law, then we're just going to continue to do everything. Work within the constraints of the laws right now. So yeah, we'll get on that Any comments questions anything?

No, it's a problem.

Okay any public comment any way of any public comment? That's you anybody, okay And you need a motion to adjourn so moved second the first and a second all in favor.

I think you