City Council - Regular Meeting

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No, I just said like to call the May 4th city council meeting to order. Please stand for the pledge if you're able. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Okay. Thank you. Uh as I said, welcome to the May 4th, 2026 city council meeting. Uh thank you for all those that are in attendance tonight. We have our city treasurer, Mr. Hershey, with us. And for all of those that are watching online, thank you for tuning in. Uh Chief White and I were at an event today and talked to uh people out at the First Baptist Academy and several of them said that uh they don't attend uh but they do watch it every week and uh are very grateful that the city can get that out there. So for all of you watching online, we appreciate that as well. Uh thank you for Let's see. We will move on now to roll call. Okay. Rosenberg present. My here. Bl here.

Stofl here. Carney here. Phony here. Roach here. Nukem he's online. Yeah. Can you hear me? Can you hear us? Hudson here. Blackburn here. Borch here. Campbell here. Bzman here. Ford here. Wonder if Mr. Can Mr. Nukem hear us. Okay. Continue to include him in the roll call to see if he picks up and responds. So,

okay. Okay, we'll continue to work on that.

Thank you. Are you there? I'm here. Sorry about that. Okay. Okay. Moving on to 1.4, approval of the minutes from April 20th, 2026. Everybody should have received a copy of the minutes in the uh agenda that's uh put out. So, at this time, can I get a motion to approve the minutes of We have a motion. We have a second. We have a motion. We have a second on the approval of the minutes. Do we have any discussion or comments on 1.4? Seeing none, I

Okay. Order. Could we say you make a motion, Ross? Then sec or whoever made the motion and then whoever second it say who they are. We we the motion. Okay. But we we lose a second sometimes. So if they would just say second Rosenberg or second Carney. That way she can pick it. Pick the sec. We know who makes a motion up here, but we don't know who seconds it all the time. Okay, that's fine. Thank you. Okay, seeing no dis additional discussion. All in favor?

Opposed. Motion carries. We do not have a public hearing tonight. We do not have any city presentations tonight. Uh so we will begin with our first of two public comment sessions. This portion of the city council meeting is reserved for any member of the public wishing to address the council. All remarks should be made to the council as a whole, not to individual members or the audience. The Illinois Open Meetings Act 5 ILCS120 sl mandates no action shall be taken on matters not listed on this agenda. The council may direct staff to address the topic or refer to the matter uh refer the matter to a committee. Please provide city cler the city clerk with your name. Speak into the microphone. Limit the presentation to five minutes and avoid repetitious comments. Thank you. Do we have anybody that would like to make public comments at this time?

Good evening. My name is Barnett Miller. W two with Mrs. Stopple and Mrs. Lots. I want to just address the idea that when we get a utility bill, uh, it says you got to you automatically go into this other company as opposed to Ammer. Um, I'll decide that. I have to call them and say I'm opting out and stay with who I have. That's that's not free market. Just want to get on the record. Y'all have a good night. Okay. Thank you for your comments. Chief, can somebody over there start the timer? Usually Grant's running that for us.

It should be over there. I believe. Thank you. Okay. Does anybody else want to make public comments at this time?

Is it up there?

Uh, Vermoair Ward 3. I don't want to waste anybody's time, but I want to make sure I get all my five minutes. Uh, as usual, I'm here to uh inform the citizens how the money found is being spent each and every city council meeting. uh roughly or approximately whatever 2,235,945 and 94 cents is on the warrant report for tonight. Your Amazon bill was uh $3,555 and change. you um also had your um I can't remember what the word is now. Um fascia program for $14,999. your uh Commerce Bank card, credit card, $24,86453 uh was mostly for travel, training, marketing, and memberships. And then you had uh flooring replaced finally out or partially replaced out at the uh police office for $18,221.50. You spent some money through Dell this month on your for its for,32 and change. The parks department also finally made a final payment of $8,610 for some outdoor signage that they have,

I guess, put in place. Uh the concession stands served you up some food and it was like $22,900 and some dollars in food for the past couple months. Getty's excavation the part two of the parking lot out at the park for 22 $222,926 and change. Gonzaga had uh for uh had some work you they did some work for you on a lift station and on some bridge widening $45,995.33. Um you also gave a tiff program back to HSHS for 312,500. You had um Millennial Group uh restore or maintain or maintenance on some of your doors at the waste treatment plant for $7,866. And then you had some equipment purchased for that for $13,171 and change. And of course, we had to have drinks out at the concession stand. That was 22,36 and change. Of course, uh, Peter Construction is doing some work on the, uh, family the RFPA facility assessment for $14,000. I'm going to skip a couple and jump back to now jump forward one to TWWM where we're doing on Highway 50 a

Highway 50 shared use passage. This month's bill was 28,962 $26 and change. But I look the last couple months up for the month of March and February. If I total all those three together, I get $75,18850ome change. Uh I don't know how much drawings cost these days, but we're not even halfway through doing this project. I mean, we're talking $100,000 going to be stuck in drawings. I uh trying to figure that one out.

The um also you had a tiff program rewarded to say you have one minute remaining. We go over a little bit. That's in the next section. Oh, one other thing. I know you're putting stop signs around the area and I would like for you to send a letter to the county saying that we would surely like to put some stop signs out on Vincen's trail maybe with some encouragement here or maybe borrow a couple from from there and maybe we can get that fixed. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. for the uh remainder of this session and the second session. As you guys can tell, um our city administrator Grant Litkin is out of the office this week. Apparently, he must have took the remote with him. Uh he normally controls the uh stop stop uh watch on the clock. So, um we'll monitor it up here and we'll let you know at the two-minute mark and the one minute mark. So, does anybody else Oh, it has it has returned. Okay. Uh does anybody else uh would they like to make public comments this first time? Yes, please come forward. That's not it.

Good evening. My name is Richard Eel, part of Ward 7. Uh I'm bringing up proposal uh for a policy review to have residential chickens. Uh I know that this has been brought up several times in the past uh and would like to do another review uh with subcommittee and uh other participants in order to review that policy to come to a a good conclusion for the community. Thank you. Okay. Thank you for your comments. Would anyone else like to make public comments at this time? Okay. Seeing none, we will close out uh public comments. We will now move on to the clerk's report.

Mr. Mayor, no report tonight. Thank you. Okay. Uh for the mayor's report, we'll start with uh we have a couple reappointments. So 6.1, Mrs. Lots, please. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I move that we approve the reappoint of Elizabeth Jennings and Charlotte Morton to the library board for three-year terms expiring May 2029. Second. Second. We have a motion and we have a second. Do we have any comments or discussion on 6.1 vony? Second. Second. Seeing none. Roll call, please. Miler, yes. Lots, yes. Stofl, yes. Carney, yes. Tony, yes. Roach, yes. Nukem, yes. Hudson,

yes. Blackburn, yes. Borch, yes. Campbell, yes. Parchman, yes. Ford, yes. Rosenberg, Affirmative. Thank you. Motion carries. Uh 6.2, Mr. Blackburn, please. All right. Thank you, Mayor. I'll make a motion to approve the reappointment of Kip Atkins to the police pension for a two-year term expiring May 12th, 2028 and to the fire pension for a three-year term expiring May 1st, 2029. Second, Rosenberg. Rosenberg. Thank you. Okay, we have a motion and we have a second. Do we have any discussion on 6.2? Seeing none, roll call, please. Yes. Stol. Yes. Carney.

Yes. Pony. Yes. Roach. Yes. Nukem. Yes. Hudson. Yes. Blackburn. Yes. Borch. Yes. Campbell. Yes. Parchman. Yes. Ford. Yes. Rosenberg. Affirmative. Mard. Yes.

Thank you. Motion carries. Uh, moving on to 6.3. May 9th, 2026. the Vine Street Market as their opening day. Uh, one correction, the time is 8:00 a.m., not 8:30 a.m., 8:00 a.m. to noon. Uh, 6.4, we have May 20th, 2026, we have our EMS open house at the public safety building uh, across from the YMCA. That is from 4 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. That is uh, just like the fire open house. Those are two very uh, familyoriented, a lot of information, a lot of hands-on things. Uh, so it's it's a great time. So, anybody that can come, I think you'll really enjoy it. Uh, 6.5, we have May 29th, 2026, we have our Fire Department scramble at Tamarak Country Club. And 6.6, we have the July 3rd, 2026 America's 250th anniversary celebration. Okay. Moving on to seven resolution 7.1. Mr. Rosenberg, please.

Thank you, sir. I'd like to make a motion to approve a resolution authorizing the mayor to execute an agreement with Socket Telecom LLC for use of city rightaway. Second, Campbell. Second, Campbell. Uh, we have a motion. We have a second. Do we have any discussion on 7.1 or any comments on 7.1? Seeing none, roll call, please. Stoof, yes. Carney, yes. Phony, yes. Roach, yes. Nukem, yes. Hudson, yes. Blackburn, yes. Worse, yes. Campbell, yes. Parchman, yes. Ford, yes. Rosenberg, affirmative. Milard, yes.

Lance, yes. Thank you. Motion carries. Uh, moving on to 7.2. Mr. Rosenberg, please. Thank you, sir. I'd like to make a motion to approve a resolution authorizing the mayor to execute an agreement with the Killian Corporation for the Ogal Road resurfacing in the amount of $80,698.15 based on unit prices. Okay, we have second. We have a second from Mr. Vorce. Mr. Do we have any comments or discussion on 7.2? Seeing none, roll call, please. Carney, yes. Phony, yes. Roach, yes. Nukem, yes. Hudson, yes. Blackburn, yes.

Borch, yes. Campbell, yes. Parchman, yes. Ford, yes. Rosenberg, affirmative. Milard, yes. Lots, yes. Stole, yes. Thank you. Motion carries. Moving on to we at 7 three. That's Mr. Rosenberg again, please. Thank you again. Make a I'd like to make a motion to approve a resolution authorizing the mayor to execute an agreement with Gonzalez Companies LLC, pardon me, for the Bethl Lift station replacement and sewer modeling project in the amount of $162,000.

Second mileer. We have a second from Mr. Miller. Uh, do we have any discussion or any comments on 7.3? Seeing none, roll call, please. Fony, yes. Roach, yes. Nukem, yes. Hudson, yes. Blackburn, yes. Force, yes. Campbell, yes. Parchman, yes. Ford, yes. Rosenberg, affirmative. Milard, yes. Lutz, yes. Stol. Yes. Carney, yes. Thank you. Motion carries. Moving on to 7.4. Mr. Rosenberg, please.

Thank you again. I'd like to make a motion to approve a resolution authorizing the mayor to execute an agreement with HMG Engineers for the Kyle and Posh elevated tank improvements in the amount of $165,000. Second, Carney. Okay, we have a motion. We have a second from Mr. Carney. Do we have any comments or discussions on 7.4? Seeing none, roll call, please. Roach, yes. Nukem, yes. Hudson, yes. Blackburn, yes. Borch, yes. Campbell, yes. Parchman, yes. Ford, yes. Rosenberg, affirmative. Mard, yes. Lot, yes. Stofl, yes. Carney,

yes. Yes. Thank you. Motion carries. We do not have any other resolutions. We will move on to eight ordinances. First reading 8.1 Mrs. Lots, please. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I move that we approve on first reading an ordinance approving the final plat of Augusta Greens, third edition. Second, Parchman. We have a second from Mr. Parchman. Do we have any comments or discussion on 8.1? Seeing none, roll call, please. Nukem, yes. Hudson, yes. Blackburn, yes. Worse, yes. Campbell, yes. Parchman, yes. Ford, yes. Rosenberg, affirmative.

Milard, yes. Lots, yes. Stofl, yes. Carney, yes. Phony, yes. Roach, yes. Thank you. Motion carries. Uh, moving on to 8.2. Mrs. Lots, please. Thank you. I move that we consider on first reading an ordinance amending ordinance 623 zoning development known as CPI warehouse located at 40 Commerce Drive. Second Rosenberg. Okay, we have a second for Mr. Rosenberg. Uh any questions or comments on 8.2? Seeing none, roll call, please. Hudson, yes. Blackburn, yes. Vor, yes.

Campbell, yes. Parchman, yes. Ford, yes. Rosenberg, affirmative. Mard, yes. Lots, yes. Stofl, yes. Carney, yes. Phony, yes. Roach, yes. Nukem, yes. Thank you. Motion carries. Uh, moving on to 8.3. Mr. Rosenberg. Thank you, sir. I'd like to make a motion to consider on first reading an ordinance amending the code of ordinances of the city of Ofalon chapter 77 traffic schedules. Second Phony.

We have a motion and we have a second from Miss Phony. Uh do we have any comments or discussion on 8.3? Seeing none, roll call, please. Blackburn, yes. Borch, yes. Campbell, yes. Parchman, yes. Ford, yes. Rosenberg, affirmative. Milard, yes. Lots, yes. Stolen, yes. Carney, yes. Phony, yes. Roach, yes. Nukem, yes. Hudson, yes.

Okay. Thank you. Motion carries. Uh, we do not have any other ordinances for first reading, so we will move on to ordinances second reading. Uh, 9.1. Mrs. Lots, please. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I move that we approve on second reading an ordinance approving the final plat of Bethl Grove. Second. Second. Milert. Milert. We have a second for Mr. Milert. Six. Sounded. Do we have any comments or discussion on 9.1? Seeing none, roll call, please. Bor, yes. Campbell, yes. Parchman, yes. Ford, yes. Rosenberg, affirmative. Milard, yes. Lots, yes.

Stofl, yes. Carney, yes. Fony, yes. Roach, yes. Nukem, yes. Hudson, yes. Blackburn, yes.

Thank you. Motion carries. Uh, we do not have any other uh ordinances, second readings. Uh, we'll move on to the second public comments section of the meeting. I'm not going to reread the instructions, but the same instructions that were read before the first uh open comments are public comments still apply. We will be keeping the time up here. We will let you know at the two-minute mark and the one minute mark that you have remaining. uh vernal ward three just a few things in addition to uh the warrant report that I had already started was the summer one some kind of existing usage fee for $11,5624 I have no what maybe you explain to me what that is Um, Timman's group for some IT stuff. Uh, port hole support and maintenance on city work. GSI supply for $18,135. Uh, Veneer of Missouri did some troubleshooting for you for $8,100. And uh wind supply for parts and supplies was $17,485.19. So you got the parts, you got the supplies. So who installed them? I mean, if it's a city or a contractor, hopefully I'll get an answer for that because there's several things here I don't um see happening at the waste treatment plant in regards to these items being purchased. I don't know if there's a contractor out there working

or what is going on. Uh just wanted find out about that. And uh just another note I noticed today, um no problems with your street sweeper, but uh especially when you're doing downtown, it's maybe more be able to apply it in regards to maybe earlier in the morning or later in the evening. So they would be able to sweep both side of the streets and not dog in around the cars and vehicles that already parked there. Just an idea for food for thought. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you for your comments. Would anyone else like to make public comments at this time? Okay. Seeing none, we will close that out. We'll move on to 11th staff and council member comments. Mr. Taylor, do you have anything you can address?

Uh, yes, I can address a few of the items that were brought up. Residents. Uh, first gentleman that spoke regarding the electric aggregation program. So, it is a program that the city set. It does require an opt out. A mailer is sent out every time it is renewed and that gives any citizen the right to be able to send that in or go online or call in to opt out of the program. Um, couple items regarding the warrant. The uh the TWWM bill for the highway 50 trail project that was an engineering agreement that was approved back in August of last year in the amount of $273,000. So, they've expended, you know, I think Vern mentioned 70,000 of that. Uh, additional design work to come. That is to build the trail, design the trail from the community park out to Reclex. In total, we've received a $3 million ITP grant to offset a large portion of that through a state funding. Um, the uh other resident regarding the residential chickens, I know that has been brought up in past community development committee meetings. Uh if that wants to be brought up again and moved forward, representatives within that committee would have to want to bring that forward to have it placed on the agenda to have it be discussed again.

And that's everything I had. Okay. Sandy, do you want to follow up just on the electric aggregation? We Yes.

So the electrical aggregation, so that is something we started in 2012. Um it was actually a referendum that was put on for the voters to vote on. um legislation. So they deregulated electricity back in 2010. 2012 we put it on our referendum. The legislation said the verbiage had to be it's an opt out program. And so that is why residents have to opt out of the program. We've been doing this now since 2012. This last contract um right now Amron's rate is lower than what our proposed contract is with Homefield. But the contract is with the city. A resident can opt out at any time if they were with Homefield. So if you have not opted out, um it's probably a good thing because come June 1, Amron will change their rates again for their summer rates. Our consultants are expecting their rate to be 13, 14, 15 cents a kilowatt, which will be more than what our current rate is. And so at that point, you know, you've made a good decision to stay with Homefield. If indeed Amron rates go down because you do not have a contract with them, you can opt out at any time. You contact Homefield or Amarind and you can get out of it. Um, but it is a program that has been around since 2012 and has saved um those residents participating quite a bit of money.

And if you opt out of Homefield, you have to stay out for 12 months. Correct. If you opt out of homefield and go to Amron, you are locked in with Amarind for the 12 months. And we Homefield sets their rates once a year where Amron sets it twice during summer and winter essentially.

Correct. So it is a fixed rate for the homefield for the full year. Amron will do their summer rates June 1 um and then again in October. It's what's called their winter rate um where they will change it again and they can actually do it at any time. They do have to go through the IC. We have seen they've raised it in between those cycles. Um but again based on the um the the way that the vitality of the market is they are expecting the rate to be higher. So Mr. Roach, did you have a question? Okay. Yeah. Go ahead. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. Um, could you remind me again when the contract with homefield starts and if Amron's doing the rates in June and October when when do we do the contract with Homefield? So, our contract will start May 1. Okay. Thank you. I'm So, you won't know until June uh one what the contract and we will be putting out um as we have with the others a press release and we'll have it on our uh social media so that we let residents know what Amaran's rate is versus the home field. Okay. Thank you, Sandy.

And the other thing I did want to, one of the questions that Mr. Miller had was on the seminar one. Um, that is our copier leases. Um, so it's actually copier leases and excess um overage because our contract has for so many copies, black and white, color. So, this was not just the monthly uh contract, but also it included some of the excess coverage.

Okay. Thank you. Uh does anybody else on the council have any comments they'd like to make? Anybody on the leadership team? Okay. Thank you. We will now move on to our committee reports. We'll start uh 12.1. Mrs. Latz, please. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Our community development committee last met on April 29th and those draft minutes are attached. We are scheduled to meet again next Monday, May 11th at 6 p.m., but check the website. Sometimes that 6 p.m. time changes. Um, everything that required council action has been taken care of. Thank you. Okay, moving on to 13. We have public works, Mr. Rosenberg.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. We also met on April 29th. Everything that was on the agenda at the time has been taken care of. The draft minutes are attached. Our next meeting is scheduled for the 25th of May at 7 o'clock, but like Alderman L said, times do change, so check the website. Thank you. Moving on to public safety, Mr. Blackburn, please. Thank you, mayor. The public safety committee has not met since the last council meeting. Our next meeting is scheduled for Monday, May 11th, 6:30 p.m. Check the website for any cancellations.

Okay. Thank you. Uh, moving on to parks and environment. Mr. Vorce, please. parks and environment has not met since our last council meeting. So our next scheduled meeting which we will have is May 11th. Please check the website for details. Okay. Thank you Mr. Parchman. Finance and administration please. Thank you sir. Uh we have not met since the last meeting. We didn't have any business in um April. So we that meeting was skipped. So our next meeting would be May 25th uh at 5:30. But do check the website like everyone else said. I do have one item for approval, which is the warrant. So, I would like to make a motion to approve uh warrant number 582 in the amount of 2,234,945.94.

Second, Vors. We have a motion. We have a second from Mr. Voris. Do we have any comments or discussion on 16.1? Mayor, I as an Amron employee, I do consent to all the items listed with the exception of the multiple Amaran payments listed on pages two and three. So for this reason I am abstaining from this vote. Okay. Thank you. Anyone else? Roll call, please. Campbell, yes. Parchman, yes. Ford, yes. Rosenberg, affirmative. Mard, yes. Lots, yes. Stofl, yes. Carney, yes. Phony, abstain. Roach, yes. Nukem, yes. Hudson,

yes. Blackber. Yes. Borch. Yes. Thank you. Motion carries. Uh we do not have executive session tonight. So can I get a motion for adjournment? So move. Second. Second. Milert. All in favor? All opposed. Thank you. The meeting is ended.

I don't think that's the timer for that, but