City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening, everyone. We call our meeting to order here in Council Chambers at 6 p.m. Roll call, please. Alderperson Silas.

Present.

Macias.

Present.

Razak.

Present.

Timian. Present. Finch. Present. McNeil.

Present.

Castro. Present. Schmidt.

All right. We don't have any remote electronic attendance for elected officials. Is there a public comment this evening? Yep. And our remote comment is not signed in yet? Okay. So we move to board appointments. The mayor's reappointment of Jan Erickson-Roman to the Moline Commission on Youth for a three-year term to expire March 31st, 2029. Any questions? Served multiple terms. So we move to our presentation 6.1, GFOA's Distinguished Budget Award. Ms. Barnes.

Well, thank you, Your Honor. I am very excited to be back in front of you again tonight to tell you that GFOA has awarded us the Distinguished Budget Award for the fifth consecutive year. for our current budget, the 2026 budget that we just adopted. And tonight, I've got some of our staff members here that helped take a lead role in helping us win the award. Courtney Reed, she's our budget manager. We've got Andrea Bradley, our accounting manager, and then Will Tomey. He's our accountant in the office. So very pleased to have them with us. And just to kind of give you a little bit of background, the Distinguished Budget Award represents a significant achievement by the city. It reflects the commitment of the mayor, city council, and leadership staff. I'm so sorry. And the leadership staff in meeting the highest principles in governmental budgeting. In order to receive this award, the city had to satisfy nationally recognized guidelines for effective budget presentation and the guidelines include being distinguished in a policy document, a financial plan and an operations guide as well as communications device. This award is the highest form of recognition in governmental accounting and in addition to receiving this award, We have also been given special recognition for our strategic goals and strategies for the third consecutive year. So in addition to thanking the mayor, council, Bob, all of the directors, I'd also like to thank Macy McManus for all of her help, and I'm sorry she couldn't be here tonight, but she really helps pull it all together and helps with all the reporting on the strategic goals, so. Congratulations to all of us.

Yes, thank you for your wonderful work. We have pictures to take. Do we have someone who's taking pictures of you all tonight? I know Ashley usually takes them over. Carol, did you want to go with your team? Oh, I could.

Thank you for your leadership as well.

Thank you. So we'll move to our questions on the agenda. I do have one change. We are pulling item 8.2 to the applicant's withdrawal. Okay. So we'll move to our Committee of the Whole agenda items. 8.1, a resolution authorizing the Mayor and City Clerk to execute and attest to a contract with Walter D. Laud, Inc. for Project 1501, 27th Avenue A, 28th Avenue A, 30th Street reconstructions in Old Oakwood for the amount of $1,059,518.13.

Thank you, your Honor. This item before you is approval of a contract with Walter D. Laud, Inc. for project 1501, which includes reconstruction of three streets in the old Oakwood subdivision. This project is included in the 2026 capital improvement plan. and includes replacement of concrete pavement, sidewalk, and driveways on the subject streets. Work will take place one lane at a time to keep access open for residents as much as possible. Work will begin in mid-August and will be completed by the end of the year.

I would like to thank her because I...

Hang on, make a motion first.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Motion to approve. Thank you. Ms. Finch, is there a second? Second. Second by Timian. Discussion?

So I would like to thank you because I do get the phone call very frequently from the neighbor. Thank you very much. Now I have a definite answer. Okay, mid-August.

Anything further from the council? Hearing none, all in favor? Aye. Any opposed? That motion passes. Point three, an ordinance amending chapter four, alcoholic liquor of the Moline Code of Ordinances by amending section 4-3104, number of licenses, subsection in its entirety and enacting in lieu thereof one new subsection to C, to amend the cost of renewal of a Class K liquor license due to the sunset provision for Class K video gaming. Establishment liquor licenses set to take place on January 31st, 2027.

So as you all know, the Class K liquor licenses will sunset at the end of January of next year. The renewal period starts, they can start applying the first week of August, which is why this is also going to appear on the City Council agenda tonight so that it can be passed the first week of August in time for the renewal. And the effect of this is to allow for a prorated charge for that renewed license because the license won't be for the entire year. So it seemed only fair to allow them to pay only for the portion of the year that they would be allowed to have the license for. This does not apply to any other licenses. This is only for the Class K license, which is the only one that has the sunset provision. So we're asking that you pass this.

Motion to approve. Second. Motion by Finch, seconded by Castro. Discussion? Hearing none, all in favor? Aye. Any opposed? That motion passes. 8.4, an ordinance amending Chapter 4, alcoholic liquor of the Moline Code of Ordinances, Article 3, retail licenses, Division 3, privileges conferred by various classes of licenses, Section 4-3304, Class C package sales only by repealing subsection C in its entirety and enacting in lieu thereof one new subsection dealing with the same subject matter and allowing an exception for vehicular fuel stations.

So this particular revision you've discussed previously, I had circulated proposed language to all of you. This is slightly changed from what I had circulated because I did receive back from Alderperson Timian some comments that were well taken. This takes care of an issue that you will not be considered to have a refueling station if you have Simply a charging station. You will have to actually be a gas station and There was an issue with the definitions that potentially the way I had worded at what you saw originally may have included a business that simply had a an EV charging station in their parking lot. So this makes it clear that it doesn't include that. What this does is to allow for gas stations to begin operation as a packaged liquor facility within 100 feet of another packaged liquor facility. However, this particular revision requires that even if they are not at the cap, that this particular exemption still has to be authorized by a vote of the City Council. There will not be action taken without it having a vote on the floor for any type of license granted under this particular exception. So we are recommending that you approve this. Motion to approve. Second.

Motion by Timmy and seconded by Macias. Discussion?

Mr. Tameed. And just for reference, the reason I brought this up and we had a situation where we had a video gaming station that was too close to a church and And so they kind of became a restaurant by having a crock pot of chili and became a gaming parlor that serves chili. And so I just started thinking creatively, like, how could someone have a gallon of gas that they sell? And, you know, just what are the ways or would a charging station qualify as a refueling? And, you know, so I just encourage everyone to always think creatively about that. and I appreciate the updates. I think it's a good update.

Thank you. The first of the things that came out of our June roundtable, right? Or like ordinance or legislative ideas. Yes.

Got it.

Anything further from the council? Hearing none, all in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed? Motion passes. All right. Fiscal year 2026, quarter two report. Mr. Vitas. Yes.

Yes, Madam Mayor, members of council. So we had an exciting second quarter. A lot happened. We obviously have distributed the report, which, of course, the directors all contribute to and may see as symbols for you and for the public. We did receive an award from Mercado for the first time, and that was basically because we've supported them for the past 10 years since inception. So that was really fantastic, the ceremony. Our sister city visited, as you all know, back in April. Alderperson Silas had his first award meeting, and that went exceptionally well. And, of course, you know, Carol didn't mention, she mentioned the 2016 OFA Budget Award, but I think even more importantly is the Triple Crown Award that the Finance Department received for our 2024 financial reports, which is really unheard of. I mean, less than, what, 400 communities in North America, this includes Canada as well as the U.S., So, you know, financially, I mean, you couldn't ask for a better finance operation in the city. And then they moved here successfully. We had a great move. Finance is now operational here, and the residents are coming and going from City Hall with great frequency, which we never saw before. Pretty much it was just people coming here for business or for a meeting, but we are seeing quite a bit of activity. The... Bill Moline project, which was Alderman Timian's brainchild. We continue to meet on that. In fact, we just met today as we're winding down preparing the final report for the council. So there's a meeting coming up, which we're going to invite Alderman Timian to so he can at least get a firsthand view of of where we're at and how his proposal fits into what could be longer-term plans for the build Moline project Can't miss this one five millionth patron at your library five million We've had 5 million people come and go through the library system here in Moline. It speaks volumes to the work that the library board has done, but just as importantly, our soon-to-retire library director, who will be leaving us this year. So we've just advertised for his position. Riverside Park Cemetery, of course, for Parks and Recreation is now fully paved. So if you've been up there, if you haven't been up there, It's worth taking a look. The view is spectacular, but at least you can drive up without hitting potholes. So that's been taken care of. McCandless Park, the new playground installation, there was a lot of desire for that. That did get done. Chief Galt launched his purposeful policing initiative, which he reported on to Barry and I this week or last week. It really took off. Great results there. And if you have time to read the report, please do. It really speaks volumes about what the police department is doing during the course of the year. Good results. We did retain Bush Construction to be our construction manager at risk, working with Denver Schmidt and his team for the new Central Fire Station. So that should be taking off shortly. yeah i believe we've got a meeting coming up in the next week the demolition of 7th street properties for the fire station is nearing completion should be done within a short couple of weeks all the buildings are down all the foundations are removed properly and they'll just be finished grading it so that that way it can be developed uh year from now and if you were at the fire station yesterday this was something I saw five years ago the property was really and I want to say it was deplorable condition but it was in very poor condition at fire station number two that is probably a great example of a Reusing an existing building and turning it into something that is very useful. I know that the the firefighters are pleased with that improvement and Then of course we had the top ops competition to meet our challenge and utilities. I don't want to ignore them We had some great results here at the state and even nationally so There's questions about the report. I'm happy to answer them Questions

Thank you for the thoroughness.

Thank you.

All right. I'll call a regular council to order. Pledge of allegiance, please.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Is there an invocation, Mr. McNeil?

No.

Roll call, please. Alderperson Silas?

Present. Macias? Present.

Razak?

Present.

Timian?

Present.

Finch? Present. McNeil?

Present.

Castro? Present. Schmidt?

All right. We have no remote electronic attendance. Public comment at this time?

Yes, I am.

Okay. Mr. Lietz, you are on the meeting for public comment. As a reminder, you have three minutes to speak and we'll just treat it as if you were in the room. Trying to unmute you or can you unmute? Yeah. Mr. Lietz, we need you to unmute. You could try star seven, we think. To unmute. Mr. Leitz, are you with us on the call? Well, if you're able to unmute and we're doing something, I'll ask the council to... Okay, you can try star six, we've clarified, to unmute if you're on the phone. There we go.

Is that working now?

Yes, that is working. And we'll start your three minutes now.

Appreciate that. Thank you. I do appreciate the members of the council for hearing me today. And for the consideration of the request for me to attend remotely, I do appreciate that, of course. I have several things kind of all together. Kind of one thing about the city is that kind of down there by John Deere Road, We have a lot of connective roads that kind of lead from a lot of the bike trails and the shared roads for the bike trails and sidewalks and bike paths for that. Everywhere pretty much above that road, that kind of service road right off of John Deere Road, kind of in front of like Culver's and in front of Starbucks and in front of the fire station down there, I believe over in South Township. Over there, right where you cross the street onto John Deere Road, the heat in that area where basically you leave from any of the greener areas to basically the stretch of that John Deere Road gets very intense. And there is not sidewalk access. There's not good bike access through that intersection kind of. And then also when you get to the other side, kind of going towards Walmart, there is no sidewalk through that grassy patch, kind of in that area across from the car dealership. And then again, there's no shade in that area. I recall finding myself having a heat emergency, so to speak, outside, just basically coming in contact with John Deere Road. and think that the city could consider potentially some kind of shade over there where the pedestrian crosswalk begins given that there are significant temperature differences in that area should be considered also just have some concerns with respect to certain policies that the city operates just as an example around pollinator gardens. There's some correspondence that the city provides in writing and there's some correspondence on the matters of that and let's say like vegetation ordinances that seems to be posted on the website. And again other stuff that I like think I got in writing here just that's publicly available let's say that is more or less potentially not the option that the city would utilize um under such circumstances there's just a lot of confusion around really what the policy is and what's appropriate with that so just if the city could consider some clarification regarding um those matters all together it would greatly appreciate it thank you very much thank you for your time

All right, so if there's no other public comment, we move to our consent agenda.

Your Honor, I request the approval of Committee of the Whole, Council, and Executive Session Meeting Minutes of July 7, 2026, appointments made during Committee of the Whole on July 21, 2026, and consent agenda items 17.1 through 18.8 inclusively. Motion to approve. Thank you.

Motion by Finch, seconded by Castro. Roll call, please. Alderperson McNeil?

Aye.

Castro? Aye. Silas?

Aye.

Macias?

Aye.

Razak?

Aye.

Timian?

Aye.

Finch? Aye. Seven ayes, no nays. That motion carries. Non-consent agenda, first reading ordinances. Item number 20.1, an ordinance amending Chapter 20, Motor Vehicles and Traffic of the Mulling Code of Ordinances, Appendix 7 thereof, one-way streets, northbound, by adding 18th Street from 6th Avenue to 7th Avenue.

Motion to advance the second reading.

Second.

All right, motion by Finch, seconded by Macias. Discussion? Hearing none, roll call, please.

Alderperson McNeil.

Aye.

Castro. Aye. Silas.

Aye.

Macias.

Aye.

Rezac.

Aye.

Timian.

Aye.

Finch. Aye. Seven ayes, no nays. Motion to advance to second reading carries. Item number 20.2, an ordinance amending chapter 20, motor vehicles and traffic of the Mulling Code of Ordinances, appendix 18 thereof, two-hour parking restrictions in non-metered zones. by removing 16th Street on the west side from 6th Avenue south to the first alley, and amending Chapter 20, Motor Vehicles and Traffic, of the Moline Code of Ordinances, Appendix 14 thereof, 15-minute parking restrictions in non-metered zones, by adding 16th Street on the west side between 6th Avenue and 7th Avenue from alley to north, two on-street stalls. Motion to advance the second reading. Second.

Motion by Finch, seconded by Castro. Discussion? Hearing none, roll call, please.

Alderperson McNeil.

Aye.

Castro. Aye. Silas.

Aye.

Macias. Aye. Rezac.

Aye.

Timian.

Aye.

Finch. Aye. Seven ayes, no nays. Motion to advance to second reading carries. Item number 20.3, an ordinance amending Chapter 20, Motor Vehicles and Traffic of the Moline Code of Ordinances, Appendix 35 thereof, altered speed limits, 40 miles per hour speed limit by removing Avenue of the Cities from 41st Street to the East Moline border.

Motion to advance to second reading.

Second.

Motion by Finch, seconded by Silas. Discussion? Hearing none, roll call, please.

Alderperson McNeil?

Aye.

Castro? Aye. Silas?

Aye.

Macias?

Aye.

Razak?

Aye.

Timian?

Aye.

Finch? Aye. Seven ayes, no nays. Motion to advance to second reading carries. Item number 20.4 in Ordinance Amending Chapter 4, Alcoholic Liquor of the Mulling Code of Ordinances, by amending section 4-3104, number of licenses, subsection C in its entirety, and enacting in lieu thereof one new subsection C to amend the cost of renewal of a Class K liquor license due to the sunset provision for Class K video gaming establishment liquor licenses set to take place on January 31, 2027. Motion to advance the second reading.

Second.

Motion by Finch, seconded by Razak. Discussion? Hearing none, roll call, please.

Elder Person McNeil.

Aye.

Castro. Aye. Silas.

Aye.

Macias.

Aye.

Razak.

Aye.

Timian.

Aye.

Finch. Aye. Seven ayes, no nays. Motion to advance to second reading carries. And that's all I have this evening, Your Honor.

Thank you. It's been a few busy weeks of July. We've had good meetings. Thank you for your attention last week with the details of the first budget session. I have been telling folks as we've done it previously that we do do payments to agencies discussion. they should be coming forward in august so i'm hoping that they're starting to contact us um as of course you know our residents and community organizations have lots of needs and i feel like we should hear them out even if we can't fund everyone like we have done in the past so those some things should be coming forward there um I had a good update from Ryan Semph at United Way about how their programs have been going in our schools, laid out a discussion for next year along the same lines of payments to agencies, right? I reminded them the school district takes the majority of the property tax. But certainly there are non-educational benefits to the program, and they'll show us that data and all of that kind of stuff. I also reminded them that I was interested in partnering with United Way on child care and workforce issues, and they should be announcing a new CEO shortly. So we'll look forward to more of those conversations. Along the same lines, one of the other partners in the school are the parent mentors, which I don't know if you saw that they visited City Hall yesterday. They're an amazing group of parents and kids, and they really are, like, hubs for the wheel of resources for parents. And I think they're a state-funded program. So we had some good conversations about relevance and bringing their information to council and all of that kind of stuff. I think that's it, other than I want the council to know that I'm badgering CED about when we're going to see actual movement on these development deals that we have made over the last year. I want updates on Dolan Commons. I want updates on the Modern 2. I want to know that Larry Anderson's dispatch building is on track to open in December, like we were told. I went on TV saying that patience is a good thing, right, and, like, it's going to lead to good things for the riverfront. But my patience is wearing thin with seeing development deals that we've done months ago not have a utility – shovel in the ground that's the word i'm looking for so i just need updates i think this council needs updates i think that the the community needs updates and i don't know if you're prepared to share any of that today you guys or because i haven't gotten it yet yeah certainly uh

You know, we're with Dolan Commons. We've got a creative solution for them, I think, because, you know, there's a deadline of December 2026 for like the commercial portion of it. So I think we've we've kind of presented to them what if the housing could start at the same time as something we're talking about with them. I think that hopefully make the council happy, I think, on that deal. You know, there's other deals that have the possibility to get a little larger, and that's possibly why they've slowed down a little bit. And that's I don't want to get into too much detail on some of those. And yeah, I guess with modern too, that's something we need to talk about in the background. Not ready to talk about that publicly right now, but certainly we'd like to see that project start. And we've been, I guess you could trust in us that we've been communicating that to the developer and we've been not only talking to the developer, but other people tied to the project on that. And, uh, trying to think if there's any, so, and then dispatch, like I said, I mean, I know that project's moving along now, whether it's going to open, I can't comment for you right now that it's going to open by December or something. I don't know anything contrary to that, but, um, definitely you can go inside that building and you could see the progress yourself. And I'm sure, um, they'd be happy to show anybody who's interested where that building is at specifically. But, um, I know from my conversations with Chris, this is something he lives and breathes every day. And so if things aren't happening when you were told or when we were told, that's pressure that we place as well on the developer.

Also, the council doesn't know that if you hadn't seen it, Renew Moline is advertising quite a few of the apartments slash condos in Washington Square now that they have taken ownership of that. There was a lot of turnover, which allows more people to come in there. So that is one that's not a new project, but it's under new ownership with a partner or management with a partner for sure.

And like I said about Dolan, I think one of the solutions we're going to propose is, like, what if the housing was to start sooner, right? Yeah. And that everything could just happen at the set time. I mean, so.

Okay. Thank you. Yeah. All right. Mr. Silas.

Nothing today, Your Honor.

Nothing, Your Honor. No, thank you, Your Honor. Nothing, Your Honor.

I guess just to piggyback on your development discussion, Alderperson Timmy and I have been invited to a neighborhood gathering since September, but we know, as with the mayor's listening session, the number one topic will be McKinley School. It's undoubted it is, and so I think we would look forward to updates, too, on where we are, because we'll absolutely be asked.

McKinley School, if you can. Speak up, everyone. Thanks, Castro.

It's probably a good time to continue this dialogue since you've raised the question, because probably the most important project is the riverfront. And I know when we get into a discussion with the special CIP, we're going to have to address it. grants are not going to fully fund the riverfront they never were intended to fully fund it so as we as we look to the riverfront discussion and I know Chris and I have been both Chris's we've been spent we spent probably over a month working with MKSK to try and bring that project forward There was a lot of discussions and negotiations with all of the subcontractors that would be performing different parts of that project. And when we finally did see, I think I referenced that there would be, when we approved 5A worth authorization, there would be a 5B. We got the 5B authorization, and it caused us great pause because of the cost. I believe it was somewhere in the neighborhood of $1.5, $1.6 million. So as we examined that request, we decided that it would be best to revisit that request with MKSK. MKSK was looking for 42% of that $1.6 million, about $686,000 to be exact, for themselves. And that would be to just do project management as a prime and to, at the same time, do the schematic design for the landscape part because they're landscape architects. There were probably a half a dozen or more other sub-consultants in there, many of them reasonable, that probably didn't give such rise to an issue of why, why so much money and why so much time? Because as we've been advising them all along, Time is of the essence. We don't want to have this project delayed. So we did get them to come in and move demolition forward from 2027 to move it into 2026. So that did come forward on that side of the table. But it's still the lingering question was the 42% and why? Because we can't afford it. We don't have the money. And Carol will tell you the money is not in the budget for that. So we started looking at alternatives, Chris, myself, about what we can do to try and bring that cost down by more than half, which I think we've been able to do. MKSK would still have a role down the road, but they would no longer be the prime running the project for us and getting paid an exorbitant sum. So this is fresh. This is even as of today. So... What we're looking at doing is we are looking at running this project internally. Subbing out to a local and a lot of the firms by the way were out of state If they weren't out of state that were way out of the area But working with our local contractors that we've had a reputation of working with so streamline architects, for example there was a lot of jockeying between Streamline and Lake Flato Lake Flato is a company that had done a lot of business in the past with MKSK So we didn't want them to be the prime we wanted Streamline to be the prime so we succeeded in getting that done, but that did not bring the cost down It was still 1.6 million So where we sit today is is that we have MKSK is kind of sidelined at this point We're looking at and bill is working with us as well You know in terms of where we need RFPs where we don't need RFPs or RFQs, right? Right where we have existing relationships with existing vendors, we're not necessarily required to do an RFQ, RFP. We can actually negotiate with them to get a reasonable rate. So we would be looking for Streamline to be our architect of record for the demolition and for the renovations to the tower, which they're under contract to do with Hyperlift. Hyperlift has already started doing their work inside the building, and we don't want to slow them down. Somebody mentioned McKinley School. I've told Chris we need Mr. Stopulis to focus on the Spiegel Building as a priority because that's the one people talk about all the time. So focusing on the Spiegel Building as a launching point for his redevelopment here now that the River's Edge tax credits are in place, and that was a really critical part of it. So we've got that going. We've worked with Cromford or CMT in the past successfully. In fact, they actually did our stormwater management plan. So they were the top choice to be the civil engineer on the project. So that is kind of putting it together. So CMT with a civil streamline, of course, as the architect to take care of the demolition to bring those buildings down sooner than later. Because the way things were moving it would have just been delayed further and and and that's where we've been That's what we've been working on behind the scenes is to try and bring a reasonable Contract set of contracts back to council that are affordable and timely I think I don't think they understood the time in this issue very well I don't know how because we made it very clear multiple times.

So I appreciate the update. It's helpful If I missed anything Chris, please All the council needs to be prepared with information for when people ask us things, so that is very helpful. I don't think anyone on this council wants to be part of empty promises, and so we have to be very, very clear, consistent, and often with the public about the Riverfront project. And I think we could do a better job than what we have been doing.

And I would just say respectfully that at one time there was a conversation with Mr. Stappi of the projects that one project wasn't going to slow down the other, meaning McKinley School. And so I have communicated that. And I understand the priority with the Spiegel building, but that's good information to have is that it's front row, so McKinley School might not be happening for... I don't know how long.

Yeah. Thank you. Anything further from staff?

Thank you. I just wanted to draw your attention to the conclusion of the Spanish Police Academy. You might have seen a Facebook post that we made today. The graduates completed their final week and a ceremony on July 6th. This is their second year that we've done that in a fully Spanish language immersion. As you know, we also offer an English version and have for over 30 years in the Quad Cities for the Citizens Police Academy, which is an 11 week program. Several of the officers at the Moline Police Department that speak Spanish put this program together last year, and then we did it again this year. Ten graduates completed six weeks, including understanding police functions and department structure, language barriers, and public trust. additional weeks on the SWAT team, our canines, all of our canines, our full service, our therapy dog, and our electronic scent detection dog, the SWAT team, criminal investigations division, and they finished with a celebration on July 6th. So we're really proud of that program. I think it went really well. We're looking to continue that in the future and hopefully it expands with some more candidates next year. So spread the word. We'll be doing it again in 27. Thank you.

Thank you. Any other staff? Hearing none, any further public comment this evening? All right, we do have executive session.

Your Honor, I make a motion that the council convene an executive session for the purpose of discussion of appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance, or dismissal of specific employees, 5ILCS120-2C1. Second.

All right, motion by Silas, seconded by Timian. Roll call, please. Alderperson McNeil?

Aye.

Castro?

Aye. Silas?

Aye.

Macias?

Aye.

Razak?

Aye.

Timian?

Aye.

Finch? Aye. All right, we're going to close session. Thank you.