Council - Regular Meeting

Thank you. What did they say? What did the doctors say?

Thank you.

I said, everybody put your seatbelts on.

Do you hear me, Tom? You don't have a report tonight.

Good evening. I'd like to welcome everyone to the East Dubuque City Council meeting. It is Monday, July 6th. I ask that you please turn your cell phones off during the meeting and please be quiet during discussions. Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. 26-0701, call the order.

Bergmeier?

Here.

Dagenhart? Here. Fleur?

Here.

Meyer?

Here.

Roby? Here. Taylor? Here. Mayor Digman? Here. Attorney Hess?

Here. 26-0702, staff reports, city manager report.

Thank you, Mayor. The... Main thing is the bridge obviously closed today, but the ads, I think, have been very successful so far, and I'm very proud of how that's brought together the business community to really think outside the box. They've gotten together. They've pooled their resources. We've got the loop effort now that a lot of the businesses are in. And I think this is really an opportunity to improve, not just survive the next month, but actually come out of this better than we've been into it.

Thank you. I just have... A couple things just to touch base on. So about three weeks ago, we had the mayor's meeting over at Chestnut. And they brought the mayor of Lena in to be like a guest speaker. And he kind of did it to bring to our attention things you know, to prepare for the worst. I mean, what they just went through with the tornado and stuff like that. And it was some really valuable information. And I think when we look at how we handle things and we talk about our flood task force and stuff like that, I think there's a need to kind of grow our, rather than just being a flood task force, to come up with some sort of emergency task force. and incorporate things for like a tornado. I mean, just some of the topics that he brought up was valuable information. And the mayor from Lena, what a great guy. You know, and he'd be willing to come and speak with us and stuff like that. But I do think in our community that we have a need to look further than just a flood task force. So that's something that we're going to be looking at moving on in the near future. Alderperson report? Bergmeier?

Nothing to report this week, Mayor.

Thank you. Dagenhart?

Nothing this time, Mayor.

Thank you. Flewer?

Nothing.

Thank you. Meyer? Nothing tonight. Thank you. Roby?

Yeah, since you brought up basically like a disaster relief type thing, what about our sirens in East Dubuque because you don't hear them anymore? And I think maybe we need to... Is the one up by St. Mary's even working, Joe?

I don't hear them.

We don't hear them either, and I know a lot of people up on...

I know one down here does. But the other thing is, is everybody's got to remember that it's only for being outdoors. A lot of people are underneath the impression that the sirens are for... They should hear them everywhere, and they're actually only for if you're outdoors.

But even I'm outdoors, and I can't hear it at my house.

I'm just saying so people are aware of that. There's a lot of people that aren't aware of that. They think that we have a storm siren... and I should be able to hear that inside my house, and that's not the case. They're made for people to be out when they're outside.

Because I can be outside and I can hear Dubuques, but I can't hear East Dubuques.

I do not know if that one works. I've been trying to listen when they do the test. Tomorrow will be the first Tuesday, so I'll make it a point to go up to St. Mary's and sit around them.

Can we coordinate with Luke and try to have a couple people maybe posted in some different areas to listen for it?

I was just wondering, is there a way we could purchase one for like up by Hiawatha and maybe one for the flats? Because...

At one time, where's the fire siren at? Is that, it is back up here?

Because at one time, Randy probably remembers this, they had it down at the city garage so that if we did have flash flooding, they could sound that siren to warn people in the flats. So I'm just wondering if we could look into some sirens for different spots just to make it, I mean, after what Lena went through, it scares the crap out of me.

It was, I'm telling you, it was eye-opening. Like, have him speak to us and tell us some of the different things. I mean, like, the one thing he talked about, and it makes total sense, is he's like, you need to find a spot to take all the debris. Like, they had two football, the length of two football fields by, was it a football field wide? 40 feet high of just debris. And he's like, those are some of the things that you need to think of ahead of time.

Because we're surrounded by all core engineer properties, so you would have to give permission and everything else.

Yeah, and that's why I think it is important that we look at all aspects. Sirens, I think we need to look at all that stuff. I think we bring him in and pick his brain. I mean, it was an eye-opener just listening to this guy because he went through everything from the start of it to the end of it. I mean, it was good, and he's a great guy. And he said he'd be willing to come and speak so I mean I definitely think we need to be proactive with this Sure Taylor nothing tonight. Thank you city attorney house nothing to report mayor. Thank you chief Kovacic Thank you chief. Hi Thank you 26-0 7 0 3 speakers from the floor We have none noted this evening Moving forward, 26-0704, consent agenda. Still move.

Seconded.

Roll call.

Bergmeier.

Aye.

Degenhardt. Aye. Fleur.

Aye.

Meyer.

Aye.

Roby.

Aye.

Taylor.

Aye. New Business 26-0705, discussion of possible action to approve an ordinance amending the boundaries of the Joint Northwest Illinois Certified Enterprise Zone.

Okay, so I'll save a little time by talking about the next four here, and then we can just touch on them briefly as we go through, if that's good. So these are minor amendments to the border of the development zone. The first one being, I think, .42 acres for an expansion of a business. So the first resolution is changing the boundaries of the zone. And the second one is changing the, amending the agreement for that change. And then the third one is another one amending the borders of the zone for housing development. And then the fourth one is amending the agreement for that. We can talk about them as we go. The first one has a specific location in the city of Freeport. And for a specific business coming in to get development zone benefits. I'm sorry, I said the free part. I meant Lena.

Any questions for discussion? If not, we need a motion.

I'll make a motion to approve.

Second. Second. I'll second. Roll call.

Dagenhart. Aye. Fleur. Aye. Meyer. Aye. Roby. Aye. Taylor. Aye. Bergmeier.

Aye. 26-0706, discussion and possible action to approve resolution to authorize an amendment to intergovernmental agreement for the operation of an enterprise zone in the city of East Dubuque.

As I mentioned, this is just changing the agreement on the Enterprise Zone, so I should back up. So the Enterprise Zone, the City of East Dubuque is a member of this Enterprise Zone area. We don't use it that much because it doesn't, where it overlaps a TIF district, the TIF district is generally the tool that gets used. So you're not allowed to use both. So we haven't had the opportunity in recent years to utilize it. We do get some funding through it. So every time that there's a change in the boundaries, it has to be approved by all the cities within the zone. And so that's why we're looking at these tonight.

Any questions? Discussion? If not, we need a motion to approve. Second. Roll call.

Fleur.

Aye.

Meyer. Aye. Roby. Aye. Taylor.

Aye.

Bergmeyer. Aye. Degenhardt.

26-0707, discussion of possible action to approve an ordinance amending the boundaries of a joint Northwest Illinois certified enterprise zone.

So this is the village of Lena. This is putting some land that they would like to bring into the enterprise zone to provide incentives for housing to offset their loss of population. And as I said, the first one is changing the boundaries of that zone.

Any questions or discussion? If not, we need a motion to approve.

I'll make a motion.

I'll second.

Roll call.

Meyer. Aye. Roby. Aye. Taylor. Aye. Bergmeyer. Aye. Dagenhart.

Aye.

Fleur.

26-0708, discussion of possible action to approve resolution to authorize an amendment to the intergovernmental agreement for the operation of an enterprise zone.

And this, again, is to change the agreement for the boundary change that you just approved. So moved, Mayor.

I'll second.

Roll call.

Roby. Aye. Taylor. Aye. Bergmeier. Aye. Degenhardt. Floor.

Aye. Meyer. 26-0709, discussion of possible action to approve special event permit application for Elena's Gaming Parlor for parking lot event motorcycle show on July 10th, 2026 from 2 p.m. till 7 p.m.

So this is the strip mall up on top of the hill north of the water tower. And these folks came in last week. They've got a significant parking lot to the north of their building between there and the barn. And they talked about how they like to do outdoor events at the location. And Wanted to do a significant calendar. I suggested that we start off with a couple of events that are kind of indicative of where they want to go, and we try things out and go from there. So this is... Similar to what we do downtown when we, you know, close off portions of Cincinnati, they would be doing it on their private property. There are drawings in there of where they want to do it. They've got kind of a little small amphitheater sort of a thing to the north of the building, and that's where they'd like to host it. and the first one is this motorcycle event, and the second one is a movie night. I think it's kind of an interesting idea, and because it ends earlier, I think it can also have benefits for other businesses in town. So that's what's before you. You've got that. You've got their insurance, liability insurance, And it's basically laid out about the same as the events downtown. I know it's a new thing, so if folks have questions or whatever, we try to tell them what things you'd be interested in.

I see it says not outdoor sales. That means they'll be selling inside and they'll be able to take it outside?

Yes.

Okay. I'd motion to approve it.

Second.

Got a motion and a second. Roll call.

Taylor.

Aye.

Bergmeyer.

Aye.

Dagenhart. Aye. Floor.

Aye.

Meyer. Aye. Roby. Aye.

26-0710, discussion and possible action to approve special event permit application for Elena's Gaming Parlor for parking lot event movie night on July 25th, 2026 from 7 p.m. till 11 p.m.

So similar thing, just something else they wanted to try on the movie night. We have made very clear to them that anything that they show outdoors would have to be a family-oriented movie and can't have anything that would be objectionable for children. Being that it could potentially be visible from places off their property. They are open to that. I don't think they told us what movie they were talking about, but

They're not for sure yet.

We will discuss that with them. And as I say, this is a try and get out. So I don't think they're going to go too far on the type of movie. So that's the idea of it.

I'll second it.

Got a motion and a second. Roll call.

Bergmaier.

Aye.

Dagenhart?

Aye.

Fleur?

Aye.

Meyer? Aye. Roby? Aye. Taylor?

Aye. In the future, they've talked about having concerts out there and things like that.

All right, 26-0711, executive session under litigation, personnel matters, and collective negotiating matters. Need a motion to go into executive session?

Motion. Second.

Roll call.

Dagenhart. Aye. Lurr.

Aye.

Meyer. Aye. Roby. Aye. Taylor.

Aye.

Bergmeyer.

Aye.

Thank you.

Your anniversary, yeah. All right, so there is no action coming out of executive session, so we'll move forward. 26-0713, we need a motion to adjourn.

So moved. Second.

Roll call.

Meyer.

Aye.

Roby. Aye. Taylor. Aye. Bergmeyer.

Aye.

Dagenhart.

We are adjourned.

All right.

We're going to go north side.