City Council - Regular Meeting

Before you all get started, I just want to remind you all

Good evening. Thank you for having us here tonight. My name is Andrea Procht. I'm with HR Green. I also have a co-worker who's been working on this project with the staff, and he is not here tonight. His name is Mark Fitz. I believe that may be in your board packet presentation. My background is water resources, and I have served as a municipal engineer in the Chicagoland and northern Illinois region for the last 20-plus years. With respect to this particular project, Mark and I both have had extensive work with various county and municipal ordinances, both writing them. enforcing them during our careers and so that is kind of some of the background on my end so you know who's in front of you tonight I'm I'm Jeremy Carter I'm the traffic and development engineer and

So we are going to talk to you tonight about the revisions to our, excuse me, proposed revisions to our stormwater ordinance. Our current stormwater ordinance was adopted in 2015 with a minor revision in 2021 that was primarily for floodplain revisions. The goals of this revision were to make the ordinance easier to interpret and to use from the people who need to use it. We had a goal of making the ordinance more business aware, and we'll talk about that a little bit during the presentation, and then also for the ordinance to continue to be consistent with federal and state regulations. So the stormwater ordinance revisions kind of started with our city's master plan. Unlike the city's stormwater master plan where we went out and did 11 public meetings, for this we chose to go with a model of bringing stakeholders in to talk about the ordinance. The stakeholder meetings consisted of developers, contractors, and consultants who are the people who really use the ordinance every day. The first meeting we had to listen to the stakeholders and their concerns was in May of 2023. And then in March of this year, we went back to the stakeholders with the revisions that we were proposing.

Andrea.

all right so i am going to go over some of the significant changes that we've made to the ordinance as part of this project i will not go into a lot of detail we're intentionally trying to keep our presentation short and we will have time for questions at the end. So I'm going to touch on some of the major changes, and then we'll open it up for questions if you have any. So with the concept of making the ordinance more user-friendly, the first thing that we did was reformatting the ordinance. We move the definitions to the end of the ordinance, which sounds pretty simple, but the current ordinance has about 15 pages of definitions right up front at the beginning of the ordinance, which can, when you pick it up and try to open it up as a user, you hit all those definitions, and it can be, like, where does it say what I need to do and whether or not I need to follow this ordinance. So we move the scope of regulations and exemptions up to the front of the ordinance. So that is the section that says, do I need to get a permit underneath this ordinance? So that is now front and center. When somebody opens the ordinance, they will be able to find that permit. hopefully very quickly The other big change that we made was we added some graphics to the floodplain portion of the ordinance the graphics visually describe where your property lies within and adjacent to and outside of the floodplain and how the elevation requirements may or may not apply to your development and So those graphics are based off of some that DNR has put out, and they're intended to simplify those requirements for visually describe them for users. We also, with the goal of user friendliness, added some flow charts to help navigate the requirements of the ordinance. There are three of them that we've put in. The first one is, do I need a permit? The second one is, what are my stormwater requirements or submittal requirements? The third one is, what are detention requirements if I have contiguous property? What I have up in front on the screen right now is a sample of one of those permits. Again, I'm not going to go into detail with it here. We're available for questions and I think you had all of them in your packets. But the they follow very closely the language of the ordinance but are intended to put it into a more clear easy-to-follow Process for a user and they also in some cases. It's not always a clear yes or no answer And so in some cases it does direct Users to go to city staff and ask for a Clara Clara or ask for clarity on the ordinance and Okay, and then in the again looking at Helping to make this more business aware with the stormwater ordinance We have clarified the language within the stormwater ordinance of when stormwater detention will be required and For a property so we have put very clear cutoffs of points in time and in a development of when a project will require stormwater detention So we have set it at 65,000 square feet of new impervious That's an acre and a half of new pavement on a site kicks in the detention requirements of the ordinance Below that, we have this green space, I guess, area of when we're above 5,000 square feet of disturbance and up to the 65,000 square feet of new impervious. In that zone, we have included requirements for green infrastructure practices on sites. The city is currently using best management practices, so we have used some new language in there, but we have better defined when they will be required. A developer of a site will be able to choose what goes on the site. Those green infrastructure practices can be things like filter strips, permeable pavement, or even rain gardens. It's their choice. The idea behind them is they will help to reduce the runoff from sites. while still minimizing the footprint required by developers to incorporate them into a project. We did consider in the review of the ordinance trying to increase the release rates from the detention facilities. When we looked at it through citywide within the various watersheds and looking at the problem areas identified in the stormwater master plan, we ended up not recommending increasing the release rates because of the concerns about flooding and stormwater problems throughout the city. So that is something that we looked at, but did not recommend changing within the ordinance. And then that final goal of ours was updating the ordinance to current federal state standards. IDNR, State Water Survey, have in the last six years given us new rainfall data within the state of Illinois to better reflect what we are seeing with flooding events and just rainfall patterns. So we have updated the ordinance to recommend or to utilize that updated rainfall from the State Water Survey. We have We've also looked at the wetland requirements in the ordinance. It's a little unclear right now how the ordinance is written. So we have clarified that the city will follow Army Corps of Engineers requirements for wetlands impacts and preservation. And then we have added some requirements into the ordinance to reflect the solar farms that we're seeing throughout the whole state of Illinois. So we have defined when solar farms will be required to provide detention, and we have given some limits and some controls, I guess, for them to put onto their site when they do not need detention on the site. to help reduce the runoff from those projects.

So our next steps will be ordinance adoption along with the stormwater master plan. We'll be coming back sometime here in the future to ask, hopefully, for approval of the ordinance and the stormwater master plan. And then as far as implementation, we are currently updating the technical guidance manual, which is what the developers and contractors and consultants can use to understand up how big of a rain garden, they might need to do for certain amount of impervious area or just general green infrastructure. That they can do or even how to design a detention base.

Other woman printing.

You indicated that there was a some guideline, like some standard that you use. What was the name of that organization again?

For the rainfall? Yeah, maybe. Illinois State Water Survey.

A little bit further than that. I thought it was more of a federal standard that you were using. I'm sorry. For guideline.

For the wetlands. So I'm not sure. I'm sorry.

I have to stop then. I have to stop because my notes don't reflect the exact name.

I mentioned Illinois DNR and the Illinois State Water Survey for the rainfall. OK. And the, yes. OK.

I thought there was some engineers that you mentioned.

No, the army Corps of engineers for wetlands and they fought.

So Illinois follows those standards.

Yes. So the, the U S army Corps of engineer regulates wetlands throughout the. Throughout the United States and where we are under the, um, rock Island district. And so the Rock Island Army Corps of Engineers district regulates the wetlands In there they are constantly changing with federal with the federal regulations are we have clarified in our ordinance that The applicants are required to follow the Army Corps regulations, which is There's no way around that

So I think that that's where I was going was, since we're following those and we know that they are constantly kind of changing, and we also know that there have been some reorganizations at some of those type operations, what are you doing to make sure that we are that we don't get caught up in a situation where perhaps there aren't as many people to do some of the work and do some of the oversight that we're seeing in some organizations

federal level So we are seeing a lot of developers when they have wetlands on a site if they are concerned Most of them will avoid the wetlands to all as as much as possible We are able to review their wetland delineations without needing to send them to the Army Corps for verification. So we can see the wetland delineations. We can generally accept them. And most of the time, the developers, what we're seeing is they try everything they can do to avoid those wetlands that are under Army Corps jurisdiction. When they have an impact, a potential impact to it, then that... That lies on the developers' shoulders to follow those procedures. As a city, we ask them to show that they have sign-off from the Army Corps and that they have everything in line. It's on the developer. So if they have an impact to the wetlands and I've had this conversation with our core representatives, um, that if it sneaks by the city somehow, um, that is still on the developers. The city does not take liability for that.

Thank you.

Are there any other questions or comments? Alderman Salgado.

Thank you for the presentation. Real quick, Jeremy, is it every five years that this gets updated, this plan? I know you said 2015, 2021, now we're in 2026.

No, it does not have to be every five years. This update is kind of coming out of some frustrations with the current ordinance. There are some things that have in my time kind of reviewing for it have been left up to interpretation and so we were was wanting to Kind of codify some of the ways that we handle this as our ordinance currently sits if someone wants to add they have a for family and they want to add one parking space and We have to require certain things of them. We wanted to get to a level where smaller impacts wouldn't necessarily trigger having to get an engineer involved. And only bigger developments would require the use of, say, a civil consultant.

So just if I may follow up just so this is more to streamline the process makes it easier for developers some of the frustration that occurs with that So and then because I noticed that you put flowcharts in there. When do I need a permanent? When do I need? certain things so that's where I'm going with this and so the question that I really have is I You know, is it going to also help out city staff? when Going through the process where it's more clarification It's going to save us some money potentially man hours if you want to call it or labor hours Intensive when like you could say hire an engineer on the outside or as a developer or whoever is trying to make changes to that so just Wanted to to see you that piece of it, right? So because I know that Some people might say more regulations like solar farms were making regulations to those so from a business perspective You know some might say oh, there's more regulations now So I just want to make sure that you know as part of the ordinance cleanup It sounds like it's some of the frustration that was kind of taken away looking obviously at kind of what all the women prunty mentioned about you know, what guidelines do we use in order to update, you know, the square footage or whatever the case may be. So I just wanted to get that, you know, clarification on that.

Yeah, I guess the way I would say is the goal of this was to make the ordinance clearer for everyone who uses it. If you're a developer and you're going to build a building and put businesses in it, at a certain size, you already have a consultant. Where I think there was a lot of frustration were on people who are just making small changes. Maybe they were expanding a driveway, adding a couple more parking spots to their parking lot and couldn't understand it. So the flow charts are going to help them be clearer and kind of understand our ordinance a little bit better. From the staff standpoint, I guess my opinion would be any time it's clearer, it's better for staff. It's going to make our time more efficient because we're not having to EDUCATE PEOPLE ON THE ORDINANCE AS MUCH. IT'S NOT FULL WITH TECHNICAL JARGON. OR SOMETIMES EVEN HAVE TO HAVE HEATED DISCUSSIONS WITH DEVELOPERS OVER WHAT THE INTERPRETATION OF THE ORDINANCE IS. THE CLEARER THE BETTER. THANK YOU.

ARE THERE ANY OTHER QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS? THANK YOU ALL.

THANK YOU.

THANK YOU. We'll now have a presentation from Andrea Carlson and Sarah Elias, economic development presentation by Community and Economic Development Department.

all right thank you i think i'm close enough yeah there we go um thank you for letting us be here tonight uh we've had many presentations over the past year from our planning our zoning and our building and code enforcement teams we also have been working to reorganize our economic development team and bring out and coordinate our programs with different planning that's been going on so we wanted to give you an update on that also So I'm going to pass it to Ana, who's going to introduce you to the team and start teeing up that information.

Thanks, Sarah. OK, so for the rest of the economic development team, we have three coordinators who are in alignment with some of our key initiatives for the city. So Megan McBride is our newest member. She's the community engagement and development coordinator. So she oversees the city programs. She works with our Main Street businesses, our small business partners, as well as our community funded agreements, our agreements for community funding. Andrea Sikolic is our economic development coordinator. She oversees our cost reduction tools, our engagement with our industrial and manufacturing companies, and then what we'll get to shortly, but what we're calling our ROC visits. And then Rob Wilhemy is our site readiness coordinator. So in addition to his efforts with our brownfields, he also is making sure that any of our sites, we know what needs to be done in order for them to be activated. He also manages our contract with Rock River Disposal, as well as the household hazardous waste site. Um, so, um, our team, um, handles pieces of our cost reduction tools. So within the city, we have 31 TIF districts, two enterprise zones, um, a river edge redevelopment zone. And then we obviously use other funding sources for our different initiatives. So for our TIF districts, we collaborate and handle our annual reporting for those TIF districts. We also handle the creation of new TIF districts. So earlier this year, went through Sydney Council for the one south of Rockford. Also, the termination of our TIF districts. So very shortly, you'll be receiving notification and ordinance would be going through to terminate our Springfield Corners TIF district, which will have served its 23 years. Um, we, um, handle any boundary modifications. So for enterprise zones, um, we have an enterprise zone that we're currently working on modifying the boundary of, um, adding in some additional land to it. Um, so that will also come to city council for approval and then to the state, um, for approval as well. Um, and then, um, for any of these, um, we handle the compliance of our development agreements, um, property tax abatements that are available through enterprise zone and river edge. and then any of the agreements or some of the agreements using other funding sources as well. So one of the things that we're really teed in on and prioritizing is the connecting actually in with our businesses and the companies that are already here within our community. So I'd mentioned our ROC visits. So those are Rockford Opportunity Conversations. So we started those with specifically focusing in on some of the TIF districts by the airport that were expiring soon. reaching out and meeting with companies there. We've also expanded that now to some of the other industrial areas within the city. We also meet with businesses when we're walking corridors or with just specific small businesses that have reached out and needing some advice or support and seeing what we can do with them. With all of these, we're looking for growth. So we might be looking for an actual project that needs public support. We might be looking to be able to refer one of these businesses to a program that the city has. But most frequently, we're actually referring them on to some of the partners that we have within the community. Um, and seeing to make sure that those questions that they have, um, are answered by, um, the right entity and getting the support that they need. Um, we also, we support site readiness. So, um, we have, um, the key greenfield sites that the city has. Um, so we promote those, um, we respond and include those in for, um, project RFIs. Um, we handle some of the cost reduction tools that might be needed in order to support, um, projects there. We also will be getting into this a little bit more later, but we reach out specifically to developers with specific sites as well. And then we also advertise the city-owned sites. So earlier this month, actually, we updated the information on the listing platform and sent out a marketing campaign for the city-owned sites that we have on there. Um, we also have Brownfield sites, um, that, um, we're currently working on 16 different projects, um, from assessments, cleanup or redevelopment, um, um, activities on those. Um, we handle a, um, 9.6 million us EPA grant portfolio for assessment, um, um, and using that as a revolving loan fund. Um, and then we also have, um, Brownfield redevelopment opportunities. So that's capital theater there. and recently spent some time focusing on sending out information on that redevelopment opportunities to developers who look for projects like that. Um, so with the site readiness and making sure that we have the information that we need for the sites available here, um, we also use, um, our, our partners who can provide us information and research, um, um, on our community. Um, so we were really fortunate that the Illinois EDC, um, reached out to Rockford to participate in what they're calling their R2P2 program, which provides economic and community research. So that's a pilot program and the city was selected to participate for this year. We also are working with Heartland Forward in their Center for Investment Readiness. And what's really neat about the research that's coming out of that program is you can not only compare yourself to the state or the nation, but you're also able to compare yourself to peer communities. So on that slide, there's one of the data points that they had provided out. And it shows that Rockford is... greatly outpacing the state. With our survival rate of our small businesses, or not just small businesses, but new businesses started within Rockford, their likelihood to stay and actually remain open.

Going back to R2P2, sorry, kids. But that is an opportunity for us to work with a statewide agency. But they're really trying to focus this kind of research on communities that are not necessarily in Chicago and not necessarily where the larger data Requests and things are available easily so how could they help develop data sets and regular tools that we can be using to promote our identity and our capabilities and what we have as far as as workforce drivability livability all of the different things and And that team is really customizing that messaging. They're working with us on that as they're developing out those dashboards. So we're one of, I believe, eight communities in Illinois that were selected for that. And then one of the advantages is there was an event last week in town. Airbus came to town for their supplier day event. And that research team, already very familiar with Rockford because of this work with them, came to that event and did an economic forecast and talked about Rockford specifically, not just Illinois, and what we provide for suppliers and manufacturing really specifically. So it's a pilot program, but it's been great to be in from the front because it's offered us already an opportunity to be positioned a little differently with our state partners. And then Heartland Forward, there's just so much data in that to come. They're really working on putting that all together. It'll be really usable data. It's, again, a pilot at this stage. They are looking at all of the Midwest. We are one of the two larger cities, though. It's us and Chattanooga, Tennessee. So they liked a lot of what they saw about Rockford, that we were a unique case in how we do development and how we structure development deals. So they're going to round that out and bring us best cases from other communities that are in the Midwest and how we could really position, again, ourselves, because we are a very livable, affordable community, and they'll help us with that kind of messaging. These type of involvements take the work that our team is doing and gives us just more to round it out, more of a voice, and brings a broader vision to it also.

So we use that information. We use the sites that we have. So we're out there. We're marketing the sites. We're reaching out to developers. The chamber does handle responding to state RFIs, but if they're not going to be responding with one of the city sites, we'll submit those responses as well. Um, we're looking at industrial revitalization and seeing what needs to be done. So thinking over on 11th street and Harrison, um, what, what, um, what, um, solutions can we start looking at there? Um, we're handling project development meetings. Um, so maybe it's prior to the project, even getting to a stage where, um, the support's needed. Um, but working with that developer, um, on coming up with that project. And then what we hope to be doing more of is more retail and commercial prospecting. So using the tools that we have, such as Placer AI, to be able to help identify great retail options for some of our commercial quarters and how we can build out that. Um, we're very fortunate within the city that we have business district associations that, um, cover a lot of our commercial areas. Um, and so we have this two, um, city programs that provide funding into those associations. Um, what's been great, um, having that structured funding is it allows us to, um, find alignment between those associations, um, set standards, um, and then. Very soon, what we're really excited is we're going to be doing more toolkits that are available then for those associations to use to implement in their programming, and then resources that they can also use and share information between. Um, one of the things that we're also looking to replicate, uh, more of is, um, you know, that we're fortunate to have a state, um, designated cultural district, our heritage district. Um, and with that, the city has been working on the framework, building on an advisory team, um, and then looking at, um, um, identity building and branding for the area that that heritage district covers. Um, but what we're looking for is we're going to be replicating that same process, um, within the other corridors within the community. So the team manages the business first. So with that, new businesses coming into the city are able to meet with city staff through different departments, so planning and zoning, construction services. And they're also able to meet with other regulatory partners, so for River Sanitation Authority, the Winnebago County Health Department, and then our small business support partners. And if you have any business that's coming into your ward, please let us know. We can reach out to them to schedule for them to be able to participate. But it's great because they're able to get feedback from those multiple agencies at one time. We also partner on events. So for example, the IMA is hosting a OSHA training in September, and the city worked with them on that. So now we're getting into the city programs. Earlier this year, the business advancement program closed. It provided up to $25,000 in forgivable loans. We ran that program competitively and selected six businesses to move forward. So we are now at that stage where we're actually going to be working with them to finalize their projects, get development agreements executed, and having those projects start. The Commercial Corridor Property Revitalization Program was run last year. We did two rounds of that program. We have two projects that have been completed and 12 that are still in progress. The TIF Commercial and Industrial Rehabilitation Program was also run last year. And we have four projects that have finished in that program and are completing six more. And then the Neighborhood Sign Program. This program is still available. So we have five neighborhoods that have had their new signs installed. And we are working with five other neighborhoods that are in various stages of the application process.

So where we go from here, we'll continue to run those programs. We'll continue to listen to businesses and offer ideas. We want to make sure we have a variety of solutions available for the different entities that we're serving, whether it's entrepreneurs, small businesses, or commercial, retail, or industrial. And a lot of that was presented tonight. We also want to make sure it's purposeful and that we're doing it alongside the plans that have been approved by city council and that we're working under. So one of the things that we've now just started is we're going back to our corridor studies that were approved at different points by various city councils. and starting to catalog first what's been achieved under each one of them and then what we are still working on. So an example would be in 2011, we put out the South Main Corridor Study. And if you were to look at it, we've done a lot of the public infrastructure improvements. We have continued to walk through that plan and work on South Main. we need to now add to it the, again, give you an addendum that says what we've completed under the plan, and then put the outline, the stuff that Ana talked about, like the Heritage District, the other small business programs, what we think we could still implement and how we need to purposely do that for South Main and produce that as an addendum. And the advantage to that is when developers are looking at areas and they're trying to get financing, It's advantageous for their financing for a community plan to have been produced within the last three years. So if a funder is to use a 2011 South Main Corridor plan, it looks old to that funding conversation. But if we have a 26 or 27 addendum that updates the plan and then is brought back to you all for you all to see, And that then gives them a newer community document to be using from. So we're consistent in our planning, and we're finishing plans that were set in motion. But we are also updating them and making sure that people know we are still focused on that corridor. So we're doing that. The corridors that we are looking at, we will be doing the addendums for are the West State Corridor Plan, North Main, South Main, Madison, 11th Street, Auburn, and Kishwaukee. And then Scott Capovilla will also be looking at the downtown revitalization strategy and seeing where we are and achieving what we decided to do there so that we can bring you updates on that also. So all of the reorganization, the programs, the way of thinking about it, all the alignment that we've done is to make sure that we're ready when we get calls from people. If they're looking to come here and they need, like, three buildings they can look at or four sites to build, we have somebody that can answer that question quickly that we know how to direct them. And then we have the small business. We have the corridor. We have the cost reduction tools. But it's all going to build and be part of these addendums that we bring back to you and continue to look and think purposefully about how we're strategizing on those corridors. OK.

And with that, thank you for your time.

I'll go ahead and open up the floor. Are there any questions or comments? Alderman Meeks?

I was just wondering, of the programs that were presented, which of these programs do you feel will generate the most revenue? If we were looking at departments and tried to identify revenue generating opportunities within departments, what would you kind of lean to to say, this is where we can put our eggs in this basket here?

So if I'm answering your question right, I first want to start with anything we're doing in economic development is aimed towards property tax base growth, sales tax growth, workforce income growth. So we're solidly in some sort of revenue conversation with anything we're trying to do. For the programs that we presented, when we're solidifying those retail spaces, so like all of the chart of the programs we've done so far, the TIF 5050s, that, those kind of programs take a small business and hopefully give it a chance to stay in the location they are, be marketable, be open, or to run their office in a way that they can hopefully grow employment. We sometimes have requirements for that. They're all in that sense, and I think that's what you're asking, but especially the, even though a TIF program that, like the ROC visits where we're going out into the TIFs and seeing how those employers are doing and if they need help with expansion and that, It might not result in property taxes for us immediately because we're generating increment in a TIF. It's part of creating the overall environment that then helps property development and helps accelerate overall development. So even though that one property will take a few years before it's extra taxes in the tax roll, that has effects on what's happening around it if we're investing in those. So it's part of why we're being purposeful with the TIFs is thinking through, who do we keep successful? Who do we help expand? It, again, brings workforce, solidifies incomes, but it gives us a longer term foundation of solid companies in the community, and eventually will be what builds our tax base in those conversations. So again, a number of things address yours, but those are a couple that come to mind as key. Thank you.

Alderman Prenti. Thank you. You used the words livable and affordable. Can you just, and that's how they have measured us. How did you, what criteria did, that's the wrong question. How are you defining livable? How are they defining livable?

So definitely the affordability of our housing. Even though we feel the pinch and we feel the inventory, like we live here and so it can be hard to find housing. When you're looking nationally and you're looking regionally and you're looking at the state level, we still have land and we have costs that are attractive to workforces that they want to recruit. So we look like a great place for that kind of And so if a company were to relocate here or something was to look to solidify and retain their employees or expand here, they're thinking about definitely our affordability. We do have a lot of great efforts in the city, though, also, when it comes to our park systems, our Rockford Promise. There's a lot of things that accumulate. that was part of why they wanted to come and get to know us we look affordable we've gotten a lot of attention Rockford has really defined itself as a community so we there's been great press about it part of what they want to do then is help draw out what are the specifics that are to your point like what is what are the things that are keeping people here and and why they're moving here, too. We did have an uptick in population. And when Heartland tracked it, it is people moving to Rockford. It's not just sometimes you can have immigration growth or growth through people having kids, stuff like that. But they were able to see in the last two years, we are having people actually choose Rockford and move to Rockford, which is different than a lot of communities. So that's part of why we're getting the attention and what we're going to be diving into.

Thank you. Alderman Salgado.

Yeah, just quick questions. I got two actually. The first one is on slide six, the US EPA grant portfolio. Do we manage that or someone else manages it for us?

So we manage that internally here.

And do you know how much we have outstanding or any of that nature balances?

I would have to get you more specifics on that.

Or how many businesses have taken advantage of it?

I don't have that number offhand. I can get that information to you, though.

But it is available as long as they meet the criteria for brownfield development opportunities? Or how does that work with the EPA?

I was going to say, they work directly with Rob Willemy. So this is the type funding we used and we had available for Barbara Coleman. We plan to use on the Essex site. So we have a yearly application that we can do to try and get assessment funds and then also some of the revolving loan funds. So as projects become available or we have a viable developer that we can work with, Rob does a great job of keeping enough of the assessment around so that if a new idea or something comes, we can help with that phase one and phase two. And then the revolving loan fund development takes a while. So by the time somebody is really ready to be in that conversation, we can be working with them through our application.

Thank you. My next question goes to slide 11, similar to a prior question that was asked by Alderwoman Meeks. So I noticed the pre-applications, applications, and projects completed, and projects in process. Like, for example, I'm just going to jump into the commercial corridor property revalidation program. We're looking pre-applications, 46, 35, and only 14 about have been completed and in progress. So how is that determination from a success, and is there additional funding in there, or has all the funding kind of been eroded from those applications and what the projects are currently in there? And I'm just asking because maybe it's going to come up again down the road. So just trying to get insight into that, not saying the success rate hasn't been horrible or whatever the case may be because we're trying to generate and spark business and obviously sales tax and so forth, property taxes on that. So I just want to get an understanding of you know is there money availability um when i'm looking at like 35 applications only 14 in that particular section um is there any money left still on the on the books and you know is that a possibility that hey you know what the commercial corridor property revitalization program was not as a successful but the neighborhood sign program is very successful on that or you know business advancement programming stuff like that so just wanted to

You know get your perspective on that Sure, so Just to remind and we've talked about this before but just a quick reminder like we get a lot of applications and then people start to get more information and realize what's required of them and sometimes they don't want to do the requirement sometimes they can't and that can include the match or The fact that they have to manage the construction projects or manage some element of it some of the CDBD program sometimes could have a job requirement so just When it goes from pre-application to application, that's part of what you're starting to see. And then from application to actual award, again, that's part of why the numbers start to lower. So where we are on funding, I think potentially, so it depends on the corridor. It depends on the TIF when you're looking at all the different programs. Some of the TIFs, we got no response. Some of the TIFs, we got response and had to have a wait list. Same thing with the corridor program. And that's part of why with the commercial corridor, we actually ran it out a second time with the ones that hadn't been responsive. We tried different kinds of outreach to see how we could get them back at the table. So as far as specific dollar amounts that are left, we could get that to you. I think we were holding out for some of these to try and get through a little bit more to complete. So I'm not sure where we are on funding in each one. But for sure in some of the TIFFs we have, we definitely have some funds.

And those were city council approved programs. So actually with the deadline, the application period has closed. So those that haven't actually been moved on to project in completed or progress, that time period since their application has elapsed anyways. So they wouldn't be able to proceed forward.

So I may follow up on that. just trying to get an understanding of how we can assess that i know it's not complete yet i get that completely understand that but from a perspective of assessment of the program success or opportunity that say hey there is additional funding still remaining you know does it go back into the general fund is there an opportunity for us to say, hey, you know what, let's give it a third attempt, right? We did it once, we did it twice, we reached out to some of these corridors, but is this something that we could say, hey, you know, maybe we need to reach out again from that perspective? Or, hey, you know, let's create another Program availability for economic development and some of these sectors areas or whatever So so that's what all I'm asking is, you know, is there an assessment? I'm assuming there is You know to to kind of allude to our successes were not failures But hey didn't work out, you know as we thought You know, but there is funding availability. And so, you know, that's all I'm asking, you know, is the assessment aspect of it. Can we use it? Does it go back into the general fund or is there opportunities for it to pop up again? Because I get a lot of requests like, hey, you know, when is that $25,000 going to come back? You know, I'd like to apply. I know the deadline occurred, like, about a year ago. So those are the questions that I also want to have from that perspective. And that's why, you know, just from an assessment perspective.

We can get you the balances. And then I think it'd be, you know... We can look at maybe what worked. We definitely have some ideas of what worked and what didn't. And then it's different in the different corridors. So we'd be happy to work with city council to understand what they're hearing from businesses. So we make sure we're aiming it correctly. But we'll definitely get the balances out.

I do have a question that kind of piggybacks off of the one he just asked. So I'll ask this one and I'll go to the others. So what's the timeline that developers have to get these projects completed then?

Are you talking about the ones in the chart?

Yes, the ones in the chart.

They have a year. A year. And that's a year from when they execute the agreement with us. It's not a year from their application.

OK, gotcha. That makes sense. Thank you. Yeah. Alderman Durkee.

Thank you, Your Honor.

I have just a couple of questions. Over the years, we've talked on and off about brownfields. Are brownfields hopeless? Is there any movement?

They are not hopeless. So brownfields can be really advantageous, honestly, for development, depending on who you are. So if we can get assessment done and there's a reasonable remediation or we have the revolving loan funds available, a brownfield was, at one point, something. So it probably has power. It probably has the other utilities. Whereas a greenfield, a lot of the cost is that, right? You're weighing out your option. We might have to do some cleanup and there's cost in that but you're not having to create something out of nothing So brownfields can there they're a key part of what we could be looking at which is why we have Rob looking at both It when we we had him round out from just from brownfields to full site development because then he's looking at somebody and picking a little lane That's best for what they're suited to do or they're trying to do but nobody's jumping up and down and banging on your door that

to develop in brownfields. So we get a lot of inquiries. Do we have to change our strategy when it relates to brownfields and just knock these buildings down and just create land?

It depends. Some of them, we're having to work through that. So there's a large building on Harrison. I'm not going to name it. But there's a large building on Harrison, very, very large. There's a portion of it with 35-foot ceilings that could fit cranes. That's a viable portion. That portion could be used. Some of the other low-level ceiling area, it's the low ceilings that are hard on those buildings for industrial. so it's a mixed solution we don't need to knock down that whole thing but maybe part of it could be something else so the buildings that we remain and still have we have to be strategically combining several conversations to make them viable i i do think there's options and we i do don't think they're hopeless and to add sometimes the redevelopment projects aren't the ones that we necessarily associate brownfields with so like for example

Sports Factory was a Brownfields project. So when we look at that now and see that as an attraction tool to our city center, that was a Brownfields success.

But that's also a government building. So government does crazy things sometimes. Where do you see the inertia in Northern Illinois for business development? Who's moving? Who's developing around here? Who's coming? Besides aerospace.

besides okay answer taken just kidding um so there's definitely movement in the full manufacturing sector i know airbus was the one that was here but there are we've met with 19 different companies as anna mentioned in tiffs there are at least three of them that are looking at expanding and choosing rockford there's one that's considering consolidating to rockford and moving out of some of their other areas because we're just It's less expensive to be here, and you don't have to deal with the traffic, right? So in the manufacturing world and trying to get an answer to some of the tariff chaos that was happening for a while, there were a lot of people looking at how we have a great distribution network. We have access to two interstates. We have a great cargo airport. We've gotten a lot of attention recently, and we continue to get that.

Yeah, but the tension is good. But do we do, I guess you'd call it an exit interview or debrief, when somebody turns us down, who's calling and asking why? Do we know the specifics why people turn us down? Is there a pattern that you have to fight when somebody don't want to come here and here's why? Is there some pattern? Is there something that we need to do different?

There are some patterns. There's no magic one thing, though. So we have to continue to watch it develop. And that's why we continue to be all the things, continue to be available, build a partnership, start to work with our regional and statewide to see what we're doing. Hillwood developing a spec building for us is extremely unusual. Most communities are not doing a spec building like that. And it's the tight building we need to attract. Because without that building, when I mentioned this building with 35 foot, often people want to come to Rockford, but we send them the buildings that are empty. And they aren't necessarily ready for today's technology, today's way of doing manufacturing, right? So we're trying to then figure out a capital stack and cost equation and all these sorts of things to get these buildings to work. So in the immediate, we know that's part of an issue. But again, because of a lot of factors and a lot of our identity and some things, someone like Hillwood said, well, we see that they don't have an end user yet, and they're going ahead and doing it. So I believe we're starting to be that tipping point where we might be able to start producing what we need to attract the people to come here.

When they've turned this down in the past, where do they seem to go? They come look around and then they go elsewhere. Is there a pattern there? Where do they go? Do they go north? Or do they go to Tennessee?

There's an actual Texas and North Carolina probably would be. But I think that's starting to change. Other states came out faster with cash, whereas Illinois offers more incentives. But that has had some blowback for those manufacturers because Illinois is central to the country. So you might save some cash up front. But you lose access in your distribution, and you lose access to Chicago and a whole set of GDP factors that are now pointing people more towards the Midwest, which is, again, why Heartland Forward is trying to take advantage of the moment and really point out center of the country is a great place to be. So.

Thanks.

Yeah.

Thank you. Alderman Meeks.

to the finance director, ironically. When should we expect the TIF analysis that breaks down the balances for the TIF projects?

That memo is a joint project between community and economic development and finance. I know that we had some hiccups with some TIF reports that we were working through, and honestly, our team that puts that together is working diligently on budget right now. So as soon as we get to a place where they can turn focus, then I would expect we'll have that within the next month or so.

Okay, so your department kind of kicks that off and then finalizes it with finance?

Yeah, I don't know who officially starts it, but it's definitely a team effort.

And we usually get it in August, September-ish time, so we might not see it until...

October-ish?

Yeah, go ahead.

So we have to wait until the TIF reports are approved by the comptroller's office. Those were submitted back in July. And we received a kickback that the seal on an Excel document wasn't readable. So we had to resubmit them with that new seal. So once those are approved, that's when we would be able to complete that memo, as well as hold the joint review board that's also required as part of that TIF process.

That's what I needed help with. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Are there any other questions or comments? I just had one final one. On slide 10, where you have the education slash information sharing, is that going to be like a informational session within these five different organizations over those two periods? Or what's kind of happening there? Or what are you conveying?

For business first? Or for the OSHA training?

I guess I was looking at the business first, and I was tying them together. Maybe I was looking at it wrong.

There's separate things. So business first is just the program here that we run with the partners about a new business or a current business who just needs some assistance. We hold that here at City Hall. And then separate from that, the Illinois Manufacturers Association reached out to the city and asked to do a training with them So that's in September and is going to be held at Think Big's office.

Thank you. Thank you for that clarification. Were there any other comments or questions? Thank you, Ms. Anna and Ms. Sarah. I'm sorry, Ms. Garrison and Ms. Labs. Next up, we will have Tim Hinkins' team with the Capital Improvement Program, CIP, presentation by Public Works. I'm definitely going to remind you three to make sure you're speaking into the mic since you guys are sharing right there.

All right. Thank you very much. All right. So today we're going to talk about the mid-year update of the Capital Improvement Program for 2026. We'll go over some projects and their progress. We're going to start with Jeremy Finley to go over our financial status. I'll get into some of the projects, roads, bridges, stormwater, and then we'll finish up with Jamie Roat, our water superintendent, talking about our water projects. So take it away, Jeremy. Perfect. Thank you.

Next slide, please.

So starting with our CIP fund revenues, our motor fuel tax and sales tax. Motor fuel tax, they're both right around where you want them to be as far as their target. Motor fuel tax is through July, whereas sales tax is through May. So that's why the targets are a little different on each of those graphs. But like I said, they're both within about 3% of where we want them to be. So all good there. Next slide. And then same thing for water. Again, through July, so 7 twelfths of the year. And as you can see there, 59.1% of what we budgeted. And that's ahead of the 58.3% of the year that we are through. So thank you.

All right. As you know, we're in our largest CIP in sales tax history, so you probably noticed a lot of heavy construction, a lot of delays, a lot of disruption and detours, and there could be a lot of frustration that goes with that. We understand. Thank you very much for being patient through this. We promise that at the end of these large projects that we're talking about, there are going to be some real big changes great transformations in our corridors. I'm gonna start with our neighborhood program. Here's a list of all of the various packages that go through. These are your ward plan dollars that are going into the various packages, especially starting with package three and on. You'll see that most of the ward plan, all of the ward plan projects are out on the streets. If they aren't completed, then they will be completed by the end of October, as you can see here. If anybody has any specific questions on a specific road and where it's at in the schedule, please feel free to reach out to staff and we can let you know what the schedule is there. And then I'll move into some of our corridor improvements, just keeping on the theme of implementing a lot of our corridor studies. Just like the last presentation, I'll start with the 11th Street corridor improvements. You may recall phase one started last year. That goes from Harrison Avenue to Broadway. That has the final layer of asphalt to be put on. That will be put on the week of September 14th. The water main is complete. What we are waiting on is the final relocation of about four more utility poles, but even with those, we're still going to be installing the multi-use path and the landscape as well. So by the end of September, around October, you should see the final product of 11th Street Phase 1. As for 11th Street Phase 2, which is under construction, as you see in the picture, right now our water main is complete. We are doing some water – well, actually, I think we're done with the services, most of the services. So we're actually starting with the concrete. You might see some concrete curbs going up on the east side of the road. Then we'll switch over to the west side. the road and asphalt there was a Program there for around October and we're hoping that the the roadway will be complete With with the exception in a multi-use path because on the side of the road the the utility poles do have to be relocated so the multi-use path will go in next year and one exception I want to I don't want to talk about is the railroad crossing at Benson stone and We're currently going through agreements with the Union Pacific Railroad. They have some terms that we're not in agreement with in regards to. They want us to maintain the rails and the signals and the gates for them if we do this work properly. We're saying no to that. We have the backing of IDOT and the ICC. So I do believe that that will reach a resolution, but it's a little too late to start that work this year. So that work at the crossing will happen next year for phase two. We have the Auburn Street corridor improvements. You can see on the map here of exactly where these extents go to. Phase one is what's being constructed this year. And you can see it's from Central to Main Street with the gap of phase two in between it. You might not see a lot of work being done because it's all underground. Most of the underground work is complete now, and we're going to be starting with the surface improvements within the next three weeks. That's when you're going to start seeing the curb and gutter, and you're going to start seeing the sidewalks being formed and the roadway itself really being formed. And once you really hit that, as I told the public during the spring meeting that we had for this, you might not, what you don't, You might not think that there's progress going on because it's all underground, but once you start with those surface improvements, it will really fly. We're about two weeks behind schedule on this, but that still means an early November completion date for this. And as the theme goes, the multi-use path may have to wait till next year as we wait for ComEd to move those poles that are in the way. But the roadway improvements will be complete by the end of this year. The Madison Street corridor improvements phase two. So the 2026 work extends the phase one work from Prairie Street to Whitman Street. That Whitman Street bridge is what you see in the picture. The water main installation is complete. Now we're going underneath the tracks with the water service lines. We're also doing our storm sewer and our sanitary sewer underground. And just like Auburn Street, it will really start flying once we do the concrete work, which is scheduled to start October 1st and be completed by the end of October, early November. So this road should be completed up to Whitman Street by the end of early November. The bridge program, as you may recall from the last presentation, is quiet this year, at least in the construction front. But as you can see, in 2027 and beyond, it's really engineering heavy right now with a lot of large bridge replacements coming up. One thing that was not scheduled for this year was the Harrison Avenue over Rock River Bridge. There's a crack that you can see there that we've been monitoring for years. So we scheduled this for 2028. Unfortunately, well, we want to move this up. There's no cause for immediate concern, but we're overly cautious. We're moving this up to a 2026 bid. They're out to bid right now with this project. So while this is budgeted for in a five-year CIP, it was not budgeted for for this year. But this is just something that we're going to move forward with. It's an expensive repair. This is the West Abutment Harrison Avenue Bridge. It's the tallest bridge by far that we have in the city of Rockford. So it's a pretty large abutment. We're also painting the steel underneath the bridge that you'll see when we come for a bid award here at Council in a couple of weeks. That also is a very large undertaking. We're painting the steel underneath. And that just isn't for beautification purposes, but that really protects the steel against the corrosion from the road salt. Something that has been planned for quite a while is the 15th Avenue over Rock River Bridge. Next week council will see in front of them a proposed joint funding agreement and this is something really to be celebrated in the fact that this joint funding agreement will show that for construction of this bridge we are using zero dollars of our transportation local funds. This is going to be federal and state funded. Now, the city of Rockford is going to have to fund the observation and the inspection of this bridge, but for a $20 million bridge, this is going to be quite the undertaking, and so we're planning for the November letting through IDOT, and construction will start as soon as this winter, and it will be a two-year construction. The Rock River, if you've traveled down the Rock River at all, you might see some beautification efforts here as well. The banks of the Rock River, both the East and West Bank, underneath the Jefferson Street Bridge. And this just isn't for beautification, but this really was addressing the erosion that was happening. As you can see in the big picture there, that erosion is about 10 feet away from that river path. So you should be seeing the construction vehicles out there right now with the big rocks, and they're working to stabilize that as we speak. The stormwater program, really good news that we received about the Keith Creek Greenway project. We finally have been able to secure funding for this project. So we have secured a $2 million grant through FEMA from Senators Durbin and Duckworth's Community Directed Spending Program. So we have that. Also waiting on the grant agreement is the pre-approved grant, the same type of grant from Representative Sorensen's office. We also received news that we should be awaiting a grant agreement for $3 million from FEMA, Hazard Mitigation Program grant we applied for due to the disaster in 2024 in this area. You can see that the flooding impact in that little framed picture there. from the neighborhood to the south of Keith Creek. What that means is we can move forward with the construction of Keith Creek Greenway. Right now, the design is complete. Now, there are two more parcels that we're working on relocating away from this widened creek and getting permits from the Army and DNR. We are expecting shovels to be in the ground next year on this. And finally, before I go over to Jamie, is the Community Enhancement and Economic Development Program's Rockford Complete Streets Revitalization, a slide that we've been showing here for quite a couple of years since I know the Biden administration. Here is when we got the grant. We are looking forward to getting that signature from the secretary's office in a couple of weeks is from what we heard from the secretary's office, which means a January letting and a first thing this spring implementation construction of this project. So with that, I'm going to hand it to Jamie. Thank you.

Thank you, Tim. 2026 has been an extremely busy construction season for the Water Division. From the water main replacement projects that Tim previously mentioned to the multiple production projects that we currently have going as well as lead service line replacement. The first project I would like to update you on is 45 Reservoir Reconstruction located at 1111 Cedar Street. The building known as Old Stanley Pumping Station has been demolished and the site has been rough graded in preparation for the new reservoir to be constructed. We also have started the work on the north end of the water division headquarters as we improve the public access to the city laboratory. And then you can also see that the playground has been relocated in the new installation and that playground is open to the public right now. In early 2027, you will start to see the new reservoir being constructed and hopefully the old reservoir being demolished next year. So quite a bit of work occurring down at our headquarters. The next project I'd like to just give you an update on is Well 46. This project is located near the intersection of 11th Street and Leonard. And the site work began several weeks ago on the new pumping station. And water main work is anticipated to begin probably early October. So next year is when you'll really start to see the new treatment facility being constructed as well as the new reservoir. So quite a large facility being built down by the airport. And finally, moving on to our lead service line replacement program. To date, we have replaced 687 services and approximately 5.3 million. And we learned in early July that we secured $20 million in funding. So over the next three to four weeks, you'll start to see several lead service line packages come out. And that'll be for the IEPA's fiscal year 2026 and 2027. So quite a bit of work occurring. And with that, any questions?

Alderman Hoffman.

Thank you. Rolling Green flood plan. When are we ever going to hear about when we can complete that? And now we have another street that's also having problems, Dakota. I think I've talked to you about that before. But do we have any idea? I'm glad we're going to get to Keith Creek finally. But what about finishing up Rolling Green? Sure.

So Rolling Green is in the master plan, the stormwater master plan. One of the reasons why Keith Creek was prioritized is because of the disaster, and we received funding for it. So we can certainly look at the Rolling Green neighborhood. The Alpine Project, the Alpine Reconstruction Project, may be able to help with some of the upstream drainage from that. But really, with our stormwater program, we really look to utilize outside dollars a lot of times to help fund that program. But that definitely is something that is in our stormwater master plan. We can keep talking with you to have it in our five-year CIP.

So somewhere within five years, you're saying?

Well, I don't want to speak for what's going to be approved or anything, but we can talk about if that is something that should be prioritized.

Well, we've been waiting since 2008.

Well, I will say that the Harmon Park drainage study included, I think, 11 different phases. And I think that we've implemented eight or nine of those phases since 2008. So there is a couple more stages left.

We're not finished. And now we have Dakota. the water has gone to the top of cars. So I don't know if you've added that onto our flood plan, or is that going to be something separate?

We'll have to talk about exactly where this Dakota flooding is so we can make sure that it's included in the plan if it's not. OK. Yeah.

Thank you.

Mm-hmm.

Alderwoman Brunty.

Thank you. Just wanted to thank. Ms. Rot for coming to the board meeting and presenting. Appreciate that. And then since we were talking about, since you were talking about more money for lead service lines, does that, and you're still sending those letters out in October? Is that?

For the inventory? Yep. Those will be going out in October.

So we were talking about when Sixth Ward might be revisited. Now that you're having more money, Mean that we might be moving up sooner and we need to be thinking about that or does that?

So for right now, I would still maintain the same plan that we were discussing and I apologize I can't recall the year but at this point we would we would stay with that project plan that we have outlined Okay, so this funding was built into that. Oh Project plan.

Okay. All right. Okay. Thank you and then Now continue Yes. Oh, OK. You talked about the multi-use pass. There's a TH in there somewhere. And I know that we got, we ended up with one, not ended up with one, we received one on Sandy Hollow. And I appreciate that you all maintain that. You'll be maintaining these as well?

That is correct.

I guess one of my concerns has been, and I kind of put this out to the director, but when you're doing the gutters and the sidewalks, at least what I've noticed in some neighborhoods is that we get these wonderful new infrastructure and you spend a lot of money. But some people aren't prepared to maintain those. So when I'm downtown, I think, oh, there's no grass on any of the curbs. But when I'm in other parts of the city, I'm seeing where people have, especially in this new stuff where we have grass and small sampling trees, growing up out of those new sidewalks and alongside those new sidewalks. And I just think it's such a huge investment. Is there anything that you all can think of, other than saying the neighbors are supposed to take care of it, especially because they don't, that we could do to help protect these investments?

It's a very good question and statement there. We hand out door hangers that show here's what to expect during construction, and here's what is expected of you as a property owner after construction, which means watering the grass that is growing there and to protect the new saplings and everything. That's not to say that it can't be improved. Sometimes people may go without ever going to their front door or something like that. So that is something that the director and staff are talking about, how to better prepare people for getting this new infrastructure in front of their house and being a community to try and help protect this investment. So yes, I do think that there is room to improve.

Is that going to require money, or is that, are you talking education?

I'm talking education. So right now, the policy is that the property owner is required to maintain the right of way in front of their property. So that includes watering the new grass and stuff like that. So really, in my mind, it requires education. If you're asking about programs out there where we help, that would cost money. And I don't know if we've considered that yet.

Because I just see where we're doing it on the paths, and those are important. But when you invest so much in curbs and gutters, and then that people aren't able to keep up with it or don't keep up with it, I just think that it might ruin our investment. And that's all I have to say.

Thank you.

Father Romo Meeks.

Thank you so much. You know, I got a question posed to me about the multi-use path. And I have to assume, because it's multi-use, you can ride your bicycle on these pathways. OK. Is there anywhere in the city where we stripe or mark Bike usage on multi-use paths where we, you know what I mean, like those signs where it shows the bicycle riding. Have we ever done that in this city on a multi-use path?

They exist in the city. I don't know if they're any of ours or if it's a park district. I can't name if we do. I don't know if we do stripe or sign any of our paths. So I don't know the answer. You're talking about the small signs, the bicycle level signs?

Yeah, just something to identify. that it's a multi-use path, that people can ride their bikes on it. This is something, I'll just use my area as an example along North Main Street. We have it all along North Main Street. We have an event called Tour de North End that happens every single year. And it's just those little markers that really provide people the knowledge that they can use these paths. I think it's a safety effort as well. So I just didn't know how to kind of go about executing something like that? Or if it's been done, how can we make it happen in other areas of the community?

Yeah, that's not a bad idea. I do the tour to North End, and how many friends of mine say, oh, I can't believe I get to ride my bike on the sidewalk. And that one's an odd one where it's a concrete multi-use path, so people might think it is sidewalk. So I note your point about maybe better marking those.

Thank you. Thank you for just considering that. I appreciate it. That's it.

Yeah, just real quick. I know it's mid-year. I know we're looking at budget coming up here pretty soon. When are you guys looking to look at next year and what that projection is going to look like for next year, of course, but just wanted to throw it out there since we are in August, September now, but getting closer to January.

Yeah, thank you for reminding me to let you guys know of next steps. So in about October or so is when we start, when we provide our draft proposed next five years CIP to council. And so start expecting some meeting invites and receiving some of these draft materials for your review and input around mid-October. And then as of right now, we're looking to stay on schedule of around the Monday after Thanksgiving or so, which we try and line up after the budget approval. We'd like to follow, but we'd like to at least proceed the end of the year. So there are some purchases that we would like to make before January 1st so they can take place starting January 1st, like SALT and stuff like that. So we'd like to have something in there. So the timeline is, first of all, anytime you want to discuss it with us, we're around. But we would be reaching out with a draft sometime in mid-October. As far as our financial position goes, as Carrie has been reporting, our sales tax has been overperforming. I think that's the correct word of saying we're getting more than what we expected. So that's some good news. We do have some cost savings and some cost overruns to where it's probably going to balance out as far as how we've been spending this year. This Harrison Avenue $5 million project, while it might put us $5 million in a hole, we already budgeted for it two years out. That's why we do a five-year plan. So I guess what I'm saying is that we're right on track for our financial outlook.

I trust the EPA on the federal level is still holding steadfast on our deadline for lead service line replacement. So I appreciate the $20 million in grants. But is that true? You don't see any wiggle room happening on the federal level, I assume?

Not for the deadline. I don't see anything yet.

And so remind us again how many approximate lead service line replacements are needed in our city and the total cost that we're still looking at.

So we are still looking at about 3,000 a year is what we'll have to replace each year for 10 years, and we are looking at approximately $400 to $500 million to be spent over those 10 years. So seeking federal funding and obtaining that is a priority for us.

I would second that. Thank you.

Speaking of that program, I think also we brought up at the award meeting about how much trained staff and tradesmen that you would need. Has there been any more discussion, or has there been any discussion about kind of up in our summer pre-apprentice programs to include the lead service?

I know working just on some workforce development ideas, there have been some internal discussions, but nothing has been really finalized enough to bring forward to you guys yet.

Are there any other questions or comments? Seeing none, thank you for the presentation. If there are no objections, there was a one-page front and back memo that was placed on all of you's desks before city council in relation to the citywide fiber installation. In order to give you all some time to look that over, gather information, and ask any questions to Mr. Scott Sanders, with your permission, I'd like to... I'd like to ask, does anyone object to that? Give you all some time to look at that. Is there anyone that wants to discuss this tonight? If you would like, he can come up. If not, he can take the calls and emails once you have time to read it over. Alderman Bell.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Can Director Sanders present on the next following city council meeting on this? Should we have any questions after reading this one pager, he can add those all up and maybe give a quick presentation in a week or two.

Mary, I'll just let you know that I'm happy to speak at any time about her if we want her to field something now, but I know that this was just put in your hands, so if you want a little time to read some of the summary that's in there and defer this to the next meeting, I'll be available whenever you want.

We'll make that happen. All right. Seeing as there are no objections to that, do I have a motion to adjourn?