City Council - Regular Meeting

To the flag of nation, indivisible. And I would ask the clerk to please call roll. He here.

Henry here. Lachman. Oldenettle here. Pollock here. Ruben Dellis here. Scott here. Speed here. Williams. Mayor Ezard here. City Attorney Beard here. You have a quum. Thank you. Is there a reading of the minutes this evening? Make a motion to approve as circulated. Alderman Scott sent by Alderman Large Old Nettle. All those in favor of approving the minutes, please respond by saying I. I. Opposed? Any petitions orations?

I do have uh one communication from uh The Walk to End Alzheimer's. The Walk to End Alzheimer's had a very successful 2025 event for Jacksonville. Through the hard work of our committee, we are so proud of our efforts and are ready to begin planning to make our 2026 even better. We're requesting the use of Community Park on Sunday, September 27th, 2025 from 8 to 5 for the 2026 walk. And we would greatly appreciate your support. So, if everybody's okay with that, Thank you.

Very good. And the claims are in the hands of the alderman. Is there a motion to pay claims this evening? Alderman Scott, second by Alderman Pollock. All those in favor of paying claims, please respond by saying I. I.

Opposed. Mayor's report. Item number one is the appointment of Ryan Dow, Taylor Swinging, and Barbie Davidsmeer to the Jacksonville Commission on Disabilities and Human Relations terms to expire October 30th, 2028. And is there a motion? Alderman Scott sent by Alderman Heap. Voice vote. All those in favor of approving Ryan Taylor and Barbie to the Jacksonville Commission of Disabil human relations. Please respond by saying I I opposed.

Very good. And item number two is a resolution confirming the appointment of city attorney Jeffrey L. Sultterman effective February 15, 2026. And is there a motion? Alderman Scott. Second by No, no, don't motion this now. Second by alder. Be it resolved that the city council hereby gives it advice and consent the appointment of Jeffrey El Sultterman and Beard as city attorney for the city of Jacksonville. Set appointment to be effective February 15th, 2026.

Discussion. I would ask the clerk to please call RO. Yes. Henry. Yes. Olden. Yes. Yes. Ruben Delis. Yes. Scott, yes. Speed. Yes. Motion carries. Where is Jeff? Did he already disappear? He's back there hiding. I think you're the what the third city attorney in over 40 years. So little pressure, Jeffrey. No

to stay long. We're we're glad to have you, Jeff. Okay. Um we'll hear from Dan later. Uh city clerk's report.

Thank you. I have four items. Uh community development department report, city clerk's cash receipts report, city clerk's general fund budget report and revenue analysis report. All four month ending January 31st, 2026. If anyone has any questions, please give me a call. Thank you. Thank you. Um, any public comment at this time? Any public comment? Or we could I know you probably want to speak on homelessness and the uh, you know, the ordinance. Uh, we'll kind of save any public comment for that towards that. Okay. That good. Okay. Um, consent agenda items tonight. Finance, IT and personnel all Thank you. Planning and public works. Alderman Scott.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. We have one item. It's a resolution approving tax increment financing redevelopment plan and project grant agreement between the city of Jacksonville, Illinois and Hamilton Properties LLC.

Thank you. Utility Alderman Pollock. Number four, Thank you. Is there a second? Alderman Ruben Dellis, you've heard the items under the consent agenda this evening. Is there any you wish to pull for further discussion? Seeing none, I would ask the clerk to please call roll.

Heap. Yes. Henry, yes. Olden Edel, yes. Pollock, yes. Ruben Delis, yes. Scott, yes. Speed, yes. Motion carries. Very good. Committee reports tonight, finance, IT, and personnel. Thank you. Our first item tonight is resolution approving the 2026 operating budget. Is there Scott?

Be it or I'm sorry. Be it resolved that the 2026 operating budget is hereby approved. Any discussion and we'll get into a little bit if is Brian still in here? Brian N. No. Did he leave? Okay. Then I might save you a little speech there now. Any other discussion? Because I will I will invite I'll add to this after the next reading. Okay. Seeing no other discussion, I would the clerk to please call roll. Heath, yes. Henry, yes. Oldenettle, yes. Pollock, yes. Ruben Delis, yes. Scott, yes. Speed,

yes. Motion carries. The second item we have tonight. Is there a second? Alderman Henry being ordained that the city council does hereby appropriate the total sum of 65,539,381.70 for corporate purposes for fiscal year 2026.

Discussion. I would ask the clerk please call roll. Yes, Henry. Yes, yes, Pollock. Yes, Ruben Dellis. Yes, Scott. Speed. Yes. Motion carries.

Okay. What Brian was going going to tell you, we rehearsed this for probably 20 minutes before this meeting, but no, I'm joking. Um what I mean passing a budget like you know it's you go into years you look at past practices you you it's basically an educated guess. I mean there's things that happen. I think we all know that we're in a pretty good position. The alderman have kept us afloat with good decision making. Our department heads, you've heard me. Uh they they spin where necessary and they try to do the best they can. But we're gonna try this year with the budget passed, we're I Brian and I talked about this today briefly. We're gonna try to bring something to you like little facts like capital improvements. Um maybe that the public doesn't know each week. Um like for instance, we are we have been internally talking not just Brian and I but with Brett Gilbreth Lakes, with Adam Fletcher with parks about a basically a tree planter, right, Adam? I mean, it it takes existing trees and nice trees and can move them where we need trees. And this all ties in with a 4 camp and what they're trying to do. And the 4 camp is part of Jacksonville. Even though we don't maintain it and they do their thing, we do lease it to them. It's city property. So whatever things they want, if we can't provide and help them with it, they get really, really, really motivated to figure out ways to do things their way. And the their team out there right now for each camp's awesome. Um, you know, we've been talking with we've been working with JJ Richardson about, you know, he's getting active. JJ's semi-retired.

You know, JJ, he he's a mover and shaker. likes to get involved and and and that's what we need moving forward. So, discussions like this are taking place all the time. Um, you know, it's a little piece of equipment that's 22,000, but we felt it's really cool how each department's going to kind of give up some of their money because they're all going to use it. And that's those are the type of things that we're trying to look at internally on what how can each department better each department and if they have uh you know items uh to help and manpower to help we're going to look into that every avenue. So each week I'll try to bring you something you know new um and what we're discussing internally just to kind of give you um some more data today. Okay, that was under two, three minutes.

Yes, Angela.

Thank you. Um, first of all, I'd like to thank everybody for passing the budget. It was a lot of work, but um I'm glad everybody agreed. I did want to mention a couple of things. Um, we have some big expenditures coming up. So, uh, we have the fire truck, we have the rise grant for housing, um, new computer software for our office, uh, the combined dispatch has a payment that's going to have to be made till 2037. So, there are some big things and I don't know if you noticed on the top of your budget, we have where we're going to be using some of our cash reserves and that is only going toward capital improvement expenditures this time. Um, and we only draw down what we need. We don't draw the whole amount down, you know, make sure we use all. We just draw down what we need. So, um, This is partly in recommendation from our auditor as well uh to get our cash reserves kind of spent down a little bit. So hopefully we'll be able to get everything paid for.

Thank you.

And good job, Angela. And also it's it's part um you know listening to past issues that we've had, you know, past alderman that have had maybe issu an issue of how we do the budget or or past personnel. I mean, it's kind of just opening the book and letting everyone know, hey, we're not doing something here devious here. We're we're using taxpayer money that we see appropriate. That's why we're elected to do this. So, all of you were elected to do this and we're doing it. So, we'll just uh go with that. I'm sure the next time I'll even have a more interesting story hopefully uh to keep your uh audience. So, with that, um, we'll move on and, uh, committee reports tonight again. And we have a big one here now. Special studies and Aaron's not here. Or public protection. We'll skip. Sorry, Darcel. Never skip Darcela's feet.

Public protection. Alderman Speed. Well, thank you, Mr. Mayor. We have one item. First reading of an ordinance regulating the operation of lowspeed electrical bikes, bicycles, and I so move. Second. Alderman Pollock. by the city of Jacksonville that it hereby adopts the low speed electronic bicycle ordinance for the city of Jacksonville. Any discussion? I'd like to thank Alisonie putting this together. Excellent. Good job, Alison.

I would ask the clerk to please call roll. Keith, yes. Henry, yes. Edettle, yes. Pollock, yes. Ruben Dellis, yes. Scott, yes. Speed, yes. Motion carries. Okay. Special studies tonight. We'll handle it. Um, Alderman Large has it. Um, I'm the vice chair of the committee, so would I be the one? Lord, that's my intern. She can do that, too. That's my internal joke with her because we always joke that we talk, right? All righty then. Well, Mr. Mayor,

we have the second reading of an ordinance regulating public camping within corporate boundaries and other actions in connection there with for the city of Jacksonville. And I so move. Is there a second? Alderman Heath.

We have ordained that the city council does hereby adopt the ordinance regulating public camping within the boundaries. Any discussion? Okay. Now, I know there's comment and I just want to say, we understand there's I think everyone understands that this is a big vote. Um I wish Joe was here and Aaron and we had a full council and it's not taking away from what Joe's work did. He did a lot of work and Aaron has too. and let's just um you know think this through. But when you say I I listened to the public comment in the last meeting about it and these folks that comment know what they're talking about. I mean Jada and Jade and Jade didn't talk but Jada and Allen know what they're talking about. As a mayor you you try to what's the word I need? So you're you're trying to get consensus and this one's hard. This one's a hard one. Um because you think you feel like you need to move forward, but you do are sympathetic and you need some time to push the brakes and I felt like we have pushed the brakes. Um you know, we've been dealing with this a while now and we're not going to stop. That's the thing. We're not stopping just because of this vote tonight. There's things moving. So, you got to have some trust in us. Okay. So tonight, you know, I know the word table's been used and that's fine. If that's what the council sees to table it, we'll do that. But you can also amend it, too. And it's the same thing as tableabling. And it's, you know, I think everyone knows how I feel, but I'm not voting unless it's a tie. Doesn't look like it's tie. So, I'll keep my mouth quiet.

Any public comment at this time? Absolutely. Good evening, city council members. I am Jada Litzky and I have lived in Jacksonville since 2012. Um, and I'm here to speak to you about the post camping ban ordinance on tonight's agenda. Um, I know you guys have heard me speak a lot, but I don't know if you know why I'm passionate about this. Um, so I'm a certified recovery support specialist, and what that means is that I am a peer to other people that are in recovery or have mental health issues. And in the past, I worked in a living room setting, which is a free program for those that need a place to talk about any problems that they may be having. And while I was there, I helped a lot of our homeless uh population. And you know, even if they're hard to deal with, they're still people. And getting

through that tough shell sometimes really shows you who they are. Um, I can remember a time with someone that very mentally sick and used a lot of drugs, but um, sat with me in my living room and we colored and started singing a song together about recovery. I think it was a jelly roll. Um, and I actually started crying. Um, I'm not sure this person knew how touching it was to me, but being with that person for those couple hours and making sure that they were okay and seen as a person, I think really did help them. Um, but there's a lot of others that need our help. So, I just want you to know why I have this special spot in my heart. Um, I do want to urge you guys to not move forward with this tonight. Um, two weeks. Um, I think it's really is important to have Aaron here because she is in charge of the special studies and to have Joe here because he has been doing a lot in our community and he knows, you know, the issue, I would say, very, very well. Having their voices and expertise absent on this final vote, I think, would be really detrimental to the outcomes of our community. Um, and at this time, I'd like to invite Alan Bradish up to speak. Alan, would you like to come up? I'm Alan Bradish. Um, I was a former chaplain here in the police department for eight and a half years and prior to that 13 years with Salvation Army and prior to that five years with the alternative school, Lafayette. So, I've worked with a lot of the individuals that we're uh talking about here. Um my

my main concern is something that dad told me a long time ago. He I get excited about something and he said, "Now, Allan, let's don't get the cart for the horse." And uh I I think the uh no camping ordinance uh is is is something that is responsible uh for the council to do, but I think it's irresponsible to pass this ordinance without having a place for the individuals to go who are being asked to move. So I think that's getting the cart before the horse. So, what I would encourage the council to consider is bringing some of the energy and expertise that the community has shown uh recently in in addressing this concern and say we we have this ordinance that we're looking to put into place. What we need is an answer to the question that an individual who's being asked to move would would ask where do I go? And again, I feel it's irresponsible to say to that individual, that's your problem. But basically, by passing the ordinance tonight without having an alternative location for them to go, you're basically saying that's your pro problem. That's not responsible legislation and that's not humane and that's not this community. This community is responsible. This community is humane and this community has a heart for the least of these, our brothers and sisters. So, I would encourage the council not to pass the ordinance tonight, but to to uh put a the word out for the community and those who have shown an interest in addressing this to come together and find a solution. Then

once the solution is on the table and we have an alternative place for them to go, whether it's a restoration center like I suggested or a hospitality spot uh 247 and I know that uh the captain has indicated he's working on some things with volunteers and so forth to get them ready to man something like this. And and I think things the momentum is here and things are in place. I think it would be very discouraging to our community at this time to pass this ordinance without having that solution. Thank you.

Good evening. My name is Jade. I've been a resident of Jacksonville for about three or four years, but I've worked in Jacksonville since I've been 21. um especi uh young um especially in human services uh and I've had the privilege to work with kids and adults and just people of all ages that have suffered from homelessness. Um, you know, I I did uh type out a little bit. Um, if the vote on the proposed ordinance cannot be rescheduled, we urge demand council to direct city staff to call a community meeting with local service providers, advocates, people with lived experience and community partners to determine su success metrics for the proposed ordinance. Through our research, we have found that the city of Alton requests an update on the implementation and enforcement of their ordinance and seek to have the city staff report back every 12 to 18 months on the effectiveness of the ordinance based on um the to be determined success metrics by city staff and Jacksonville community. Um the current language based on first reading of the proposed ordinance does not con include any evaluation or success metrics. So you're just kind of going in blind. um you know on how it's like working and you know how successful it really is which is a detriment to the people that the ordinance is trying to help. Um, so we and then I do have uh a little bit of the Alton uh ordinance um with the uh language that they used and it's um the policy the policy shall be published and implemented no later than six months after the passage of this chapter. The policy policies shall provide for the collection of revalent data that shall be used to review and revise the manual every three years or as needed. Said revision shall be made

in the same manner the policy is developed. And then at this time I would like to invite Justin up from the Salvation Army to talk a little more. Thank you.

Hi, I'm Justin Corlos with the Salvation Army. So, one of the things I want to address is actually something that uh mayor you had stated. Uh this isn't an end. Uh and I I I think that's important for us all to recognize that this is not going to be an answer or an end to any means. Uh we have a group of individuals that are meeting together and creating a roadmap on how we want to as a community invol uh get involved and address some of the long-term issues. One of the first things that we are looking to do is to create a street outreach team to get uh data and metrics in regards to the unhoused population that exists here in Jacksonville. And that I think is a key portion of data that we do not currently have to understand who is the uh the the scope of the individuals that we're looking to assist and what are their needs and what gaps do do we as a community if any have to that need to be filled. And so I I am looking forward to working with uh the city of Jacksonville and uh this um private group of individuals as we work together to say we we know that that whether this passes or not, we know that there's there are alternative answers out there that we are working towards.

Hello folks. Most people know me as Jethro Scotty Dwolf, but my actual name is Edund Dynesuch. With a name like that, you can see why I use the show business name. Uh anyway, the reason why I'm here, it's a little bit different agenda than theirs in the sense that uh I uh have since I was saved by the Lord in December 17th uh 2017 on December 7th, 2017, he has kind of given me a directive to work with people I have a passion about, which is addicts and alcoholics who are really struggling as I did eight times before I got it. And now I'm sober this coming year for 44 years. But I have a deep empathy and passion for this subject. And what I want to do is bring public attention to the literal lethality of this problem, not only in our state, but all across our country. And I'm going to start a YouTube channel directing attention to public attention to this because a lot of people tend to think that uh uh they say, "Oh, get those alkies and drug addicts out of here. Why don't they go get a job?" Well, it isn't all that simple. I've had a chance to work with one-on-one and I do one-on-one street outreach with these people and I've had some amazing successes because I too had a traumatic childhood and I spent age age 15 till age 19 on the streets of San Francisco and it was a horror story but I got through it thanks to the Lord that was with me before I was with him. So anyway, uh uh what I found out is that literally 80% or more of these people who are drug addicts and even drug dealers had traumatic childhood experiences and a lot of them in and out of prison and so forth and so on because of these unresolved issues. And they need not just some uh you know directive not to do something, but these issues

need to be addressed on a humanistic level. And uh and and by the grace of of of God and asking on his Holy Spirit, I have been able to have amazing success. And I've heard testimonies and stories that if you heard them would bring you to tears. So the next time you think of a drug addict or an alcoholic on the street, don't just dismiss them out of hand and say, you know, get these druggies and allies out of here because, you know, blah blah blah, but try to take a more Christian approach to it because, you know, if Jesus were here, he'd be out on that street with me. and I think he's all on my side when I do this because it's it's very special work and and it's amazing what success I've been having and I've got a couple of really good successes lately. One's going into Gateway tomorrow morning. They've been on the street for two years because his mom and his twin sister died with him the last two years and he had a horrible childhood where the father would beat him and his mother and sexually abuse him and his sister. You see, I mean things like that. So, uh, once you understand this thing, I just asking people to try to shift your attitude a little bit and, uh, and pray for some of these people because they're going through things that if they don't get some one-on-one help from somebody, me or somebody else, uh, a lot of wind up being vital statistics. And I've reached out to the state and I've obtained data showing that in 2008 there were over 800 people that died in our state from alcohol abuse from various sources, a lot of overdoses, murder, suicide. And I watched the graph and I got a chart I'm going to share with people. And in it peaked in 2022, 4,000 people, most of them in their 20s and 30s expired on the streets from drugs. So I just calling for in a Christian way just a little bit more empathy and consideration for the

possibility that a lot of these people are savable because if the Lord saved us, he can save them too. And that's all I got. Amen. Any other public comment? Seeing none, I would ask the clerk to please Sorry. Sorry, pardon me. Mr. Would you like to leave it?

Uh, yeah. Yeah. Um, okay. So, so I really appreciate all the comments tonight. Um, and I think um I think it's important to establish that the purpose of this ordinance is not this ordinance wasn't motivated by a lack of empathy or um or a desire to stick it to homeless people or any of that, but really the recognition that there that we have a problem that affects that, you know, it's a multi-level problem. Um, and we're, this is just the very beginning of trying to get a handle on this with the idea of helping um, the people in need, but also helping uh, other people in the community who are being affected by it feel safe. And you know, I won't deny that there, you know, had, you know, there may have been an element of not in my backyard among some people advocating for this, but I, you know, I assure you that wasn't the primary motivation for the people writing this ordinance and working on it. Um, a lot of people with big hearts who have been involved in trying to work with all these community leaders who are who have a great deal more expertise um to get something on the books. Um, I've also heard um both from from some of the experts um both move forward with it and get something on the books so that we can have something established and amend it later or alternatively table it and fix it and sometimes I've heard it from the same people. So, so not so I mean I think there you know there's some I think not everybody is completely clear. Um, I have uh talked uh to Jada and some other people about uh for instance this provision in the Alton ordinance to collect data that Jade was talking about

and to make sure that we that we check in, you know, we have benchmarks and we check in periodically. We don't just, you know, let fly and assume everything's fine, but we we track. Um, and I've also heard from people about their worry um about um leveling levying fines on people who a don't, you know, can't um don't have any money and b don't have the bandwidth to work it off in community service. And I've talked to attorney Beard about both of those things. And what he's telling me, I believe, is that, you know, we can't amend that language tonight, but we can certainly pass if we decide to, and we don't have to, but certainly pass the ordinance and add those amendments later. And also, the city does have discretion to wave fees. I mean, the, you know, people aren't heartless and, you know, they're not going to, you know, it's, you know, this is not Denzie in London. you know, nobody's going to go to a workhouse and before, you know, so um I think that's important to establish. And then the um the overnight lodging issue that um Mr. Bradish brought up is um very important, but I also understand and maybe somebody who knows more about this can correct me if I'm wrong, that um that the uh city or at least the police department and possibly the Salvation Army have at least some vouchers available for emergency over overnight lodging. And that wouldn't be, you know, that's not the uh the full solution, but it could, you know, it's something that we would know was in place while we work on expanding um our services or, you know, make sure that we have something permanent

available as Mr. Bradish and Jada and others suggest. So, um you know, if everybody wants to table it, I'm fine with that. But I think that if we decide to pass it tonight, we need to understand that this is just the beginning and that we all really want to work together to make sure everybody in Jacksonville's taken care of and that all these competing interests are um are recognized. So, thank you, Mr. Mayor. There was an ask that we table this for at least two weeks. So, I'm in favor of tableabling it for two weeks so we can hear whatever is going to come forward.

You already had a first and a second, didn't you? Sorry.

So, I need to go ahead and make a motion. I would like to make a motion to table it. Is there a second? There's no discussion on motion. We need a second.

Second.

Then you're back to discussion. I just wanted to say to all of you who are involved with this, this is not the first time you see me, my husband, a lot of these people at your events and this will not be the last. This is not the end. Okay? I think we have shown our commitment to it and this will not be the end.

Any others? I would ask sorry um I noticed is we're talking ballpark figures but I mean you talked about getting some people together and trying to figure out some way to offer them somewhere to go. Um, we have been kind of talking about that before. Uh, but I just kind of wondering like from here on out if we focus on that, get community members, what kind of timeline are we talking when we that something like that could start. So, I can't give you an exact timeline. I can tell you that right now we are in the process of uh forming a task force and an advisory board that is working to address this issue and one of the key factors that they are looking to address is to create a roadmap which is going to be a 12 month road map with three-month increments to be able to report out on the objectives the successes uh and make any alterations to the long term that we're looking at doing. So um the first task that the group has talked about is to formulate a street outreach team. Um we have an initial funding to begin that process immediately. And so we are in the process of identifying within I'm writing a job description right now uh to hire a street outreach coordinator and uh we are I think next week that that group is meeting yet again uh to review not only that job description but also the training for 16 volunteers that we're looking to uh on board this we're looking to move quickly u but quickly is relative And uh Chief Thompson, when we talked, you you said we can't start implementing something like this immediately upon

passing. You talked about an education period. Um can you speak to that and how long that might be and what that means? In my belief, if a motion like this were to take place, I'm sorry, a motion, an ordinance like this was to pass, um, we would need two to three months in my belief of educating individuals on what that ordinance says. It would be unfair of us to expect someone that has been able to do what they've been able to do for an extended period of time for us to go in and say, "Okay, now you're in trouble." Um, and even say it's three months later and we're dealing with someone who we've only dealt with once or maybe twice, we're still going to educate them. None of this ordinance to me is just like every other law that we have in the state of Illinois or the ordinance we have. It's the officer's right and prerogative whether or not they're going to issue citation or give them a warning or help educate them or move them along. Um so for me I'm looking two to three months of education period whether it be this ordinance or the ebike ordinance. Any other questions for me? Any other public comment or discussion? Sorry.

I would ask the clerk to please call roll. And this is to approve to approve the ordinance on second. Okay. Uh Heath, yes. Henry, yes. Oldenettle, yes. Pollock, yes. Ruben Delis, yes. Scott, yes. Speed, no. Motion does carry. Any old business tonight? Any old business? Well, no. We don't have

uh No, you're talking about the building that caught fire. We are still trying to open lines of communication with the owner. Uh we are also looking at starting the process to be prepared that if the city should decide they want to demolish the building. go to court immediately to do that. That involves giving notice to the property owner and any lean holders, any mortgage banks that are involved in it. Um once that notice is given and 15 days have passed, then we can go into court very quickly and get a demolition. So that process is in the work. We're not standing still, but certainly there's not a decision made yet that you're going to take it down at your expense. And that's the expertise we're losing. Any other old business tonight? Any new business? Any new business? Any got any new business? Uh yeah,

besides

I'll just make a few comments. I don't want to take too long with this, but um they say that time flies when you're having fun. In the past 32 years have really flown by. Um it doesn't seem that long ago that Mayor Tendic approached me to see if I'd be interested in this position. No thought at all that I would still be here doing this work. Um but has been in a lot of respects a fairly easy job to do and that starts with department heads that we've worked with over the years. Um the chiefs of police and the fire chief. Uh Jacksonville has a record of having some great people involved in those positions and that's what's made Jacksonville so successful and made this job so easy. I would certainly be remiss if I didn't recognize Angela and her office for all the work that they do. Uh Skip, her predecessor, and then Angela and Sue doing that work. Um that combined with uh my staff here, if you can say it in that fashion, my legal secretary that is under the city employment. Um the most recent of those um certainly Sarah Bur Sarah now who Andy took it from me and obviously got a very good employee in that regard for a short triumph. Emily Graham was here and then Cassie Wayman is the new secretary for the legal office. um someone else or another group that I want to recognize and I think you realize how valuable they are to the city and that's the two engineering firms that you have here working with both of those Jimmy with Hutchinson and Reg and Jamie with Associates we're very lucky to have those type of

people here probably most importantly you the that I've worked with over the years. I've had great working relationships with the various city council I've had the privilege of working with just like tonight. You face a very tough decision, but you have to make those tough decisions from time to time and I commend you for that and wish you the best. Um, finally and probably most importantly, the two people who made this job the easiest I could ever Mayor Tendic and this guy right here. It's not it goes well beyond an attorney client relationship. Those are two of my best friends working through this process. And again, the city has been so lucky to have that type of professionalism in that position. And then finally, Connie, my wife, uh, putting up with me with all these years, my two daughters as well, but the number of meetings that, uh, I couldn't be home for supper or eating a cold supper or whatever. Uh, she's in more respects than that. She has the patience of the same. Really thank you for that. And that's all I have. Good luck in the future. Thank you very much.

You don't want to hear from me. We'll talk later, Dan. He knows. Any other comment? I got it. This this guy, if I don't say this, then I'll shoot myself later, but this guy is he is a good person, guys. I mean, I've worked with a lot of good people and a lot of good people in this room, everyone in this room is a good per person. This guy, man, he is I mean the times we've shared and the problems and not just sitting as a person. He's he is a you know what? I've never referred to him as one of my best friends, but he is. He is. And I'm sorry I haven't referred to you as that. And there's plenty of time that you are. And Van has done so much behind the scenes stuff for this city. It's I mean these two meetings have been tough for Jacksonville guys. Okay, Don Cook that sat over here and now Dan Beard. It's a whole different mindset now and we're going to have to pick up our game a lot. I mean it. And I it's been a pleasure working with you for 16 and well 20 and a half years now. And you know a lot we got a lot of things in common. But he's right. He's got a great wife and Connie. Uh his daughters are wonderful. He's a family guy. You just you know Eddie Carpenter was a great city attorney

before him. Steady Eddie. But this is read the room Dan. Okay. because he can read the room. He walks in, he can tell, he senses the pulse, he knows what to say, and that's invaluable. And I my hats off to you, Dan. You've done a great job. And I thank you for that. Okay. Maybe next meeting the mayor won't cry. All right. Anyway, is there a uh motion to adjurnn? Alderman Scott, second by Alderman Pollock. We are ajourned.

I'm taking it away from you. That's