City Council Meeting/Strategic Session - Regular Meeting

I'd like to call the Collinsville City Council meeting for 03/10/2026 to order. Roll call.

Houseman. Here. Furman.

Here.

Green. Here. Seton.

Here.

Stamen.

Here. Tonight, the would everyone please stand for the invocation given by Rick Hutchinson from the Heights Church and remain standing for the pledge of allegiance.

Father, we thank you for your love to us. A gracious god who loves and cares for us so much and I thank you for these men and women that serve this community. I pray your blessing and anointing upon our mayor and council members. I pray that you would direct them and guide them in the business of this community. I pray that you would remind us each and everyone of the responsibilities that we have as we reach out to those around us and as we touch those who are in need around us. Bless and anoint this council. Touch them I pray in the decisions that they make and in the things that they do. Guide this community. May we be exactly what you desire and what you want of us and we pray and ask it all in the precious name of Jesus. Amen.

Amen. Amen.

The first item tonight is speakers from the floor.

Speakers may address the council under the terms of ordinance number 4,765. Time is limited to four minutes per speaker. Please refer to the last page of the agenda for specific rules governing input. Is there anyone on the my left side of the room that would like to speak? Anyone on the right side of the room? Looks like all city people there. Being done, next item.

Comments and announcements from the mayor.

I have none.

Comments and announcements from council members? Comments and announcements from city staff.

Okay. Thank you mayor, members of the council. A couple of staff comments for you this evening. The first one I want to start off with an introduction of one of our new staff members here at City Hall. I'd like to introduce Tim Lando. He is our new finance director. He started Monday last week, so he's on the second week of the job. As you can see here from the slide, Tim brings a lot of experience to the city of Collinsville. He has three decades working for the federal government. Some of that includes time at the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, NGA, over in Saint Louis. Spent time over in Skydair Force Base working for TransCon. As you can see as well, Tim used to be an assistant professor in economic economics at the US Air Force Academy, has a master's in economics and finance from SAUE, and a bachelor's in economics from U. S. Air Force. So we're excited to have him on to the team.

Tim, have you come up and see if you have any words to say with us.

First I want to just say nice to meet all the council members tonight. I met some of them in my interview process but I am just proud and honored to be here to serve the council in towards the economic prosperity of Collinsville. I'm just excited to work on mister Jackson's team. I've met a lot of the staff this week and I and I'm just amazed at their dedication. It was a key item for me to make this next chapter about public service, so this was just a godsend of a job.

I think it's a perfect fit for me. I asked Derek to put the professor, assistant professor means you don't have a PhD. But I wanted you to know that I'm grounded in economics and that'll be a focus for the strategic vision of finance. We clearly have a great team. Cindy Bowman will present some of our items tonight, but I wanted to say we have an exceptional team which is evidenced by all the awards that they receive.

I just talked to the auditors with her today and we're on solid footing all across the board. So I won't drag this out any longer. Thank you for having me and I look forward to serving you and the people of Collinsville.

Great. Thanks, Tim. Welcome aboard. Thank you, Tim. Thanks. Alright. Next, I'll have assistant city manager Jessica Short talk about the national community survey for this year.

Thank you, mayor Stamen, members of the council. The city will be participating in the national community survey again this year. Historically, we have done this every three years. So the last time was in 2023. A national community survey is a measure of our residents' experience living here in Collinsville, and that data that we collect from the survey is compared, nationally to see how we measure up and also we can look at how we performed last time back in '23. So 3,500 households will be receiving a mailed copy of the survey a week from today and then the public survey will open online April 14. Once all the results have been compiled and reviewed by staff, we will bring that back as a discussion item for council. Thank you.

Great. Thanks, Jessica. Next, can I have Jamie Lane, our general manager for the Gateway Commission Center come up and talk about some events going on at Gateway this month?

Good evening, mayor and members of the council. I'm going to talk today about March and April, the upcoming events that are open to the public. So the first one we have coming up this weekend is the Jim and Jewelry Show. So it's Friday, Saturday, and Sunday the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth. And this is everything fine jewelry, fashion jewelry, purses, watches. It's a great event. We've been hosting these a couple of times a year. This the way to get tickets online would the tickets are best at $6 a ticket and if you come to the event at the door, it's $8. Members of the military get free admission. Also, on Saturday, we are having an animal adoption event.

The Warren Billhart's Council Animal Shelter is teaming up with six local shelters for a collaborative adoption event all under one

wolf rope.

It's from ten to two. So hopefully, some people that are looking for furry friends can come and check it out. Stay away. Yeah. Or stay away if you're not looking for any. And then later in the month, we have the Illinois Archaeological Society and the American Indian and Ethnographic Show. So that's March. Both of these events are great for collectors and historians and enthusiasts of native American culture. There is an opportunity to buy and sell ancient artifacts and shop art, beadwork, Indian artifacts, fossils, pottery, and more. And moving into April, a very popular event called Just Between Friends.

It's a spring and summer sale, April. It is a consignment sale and they have clothing, baby gear, toys, and more. It's all very affordable prices. It's a great time to stock up for Easter. Presents if you have people you're buying for. And new this year, there is a partnership between JBF, who's the Gateway Center's client, and the Parks and Recs department. They are doing on Friday, April 3 from 10AM to 2PM. There'll be Easter egg hunts, crafts, games, and fun for the whole family. So that's a fun addition to the event this time. And the last one is a creating keepsake scrapbooking convention.

It's April. This is a convention which is great where they are staying in the hotels and and enjoying council of community restaurants and and shopping in our community. But at this event, they have a variety to do with workshops and classes. They're crafting and scrapbooking and cropping and shopping at a vendor fair. So it is usually about three to 4,000 people that attend that event.

So

for information on this or more, just check out our calendar page on our website gatewaycenter.com. Thank you.

Thanks, Jamie. And mayor council, one last announcement. Just wanna give a quick update on the hometown heroes banners. They are hung right now. Big kudos to our streets department, our communications team, and our GIS team for bringing this program together. All in all, over 81 registrants that were out there. We did build a GIS dashboard. So if anyone's interested, if you go to cons..org/heroes or the QR code you see here on the screen, you can actually see the GIS map in the bottom right. You can locate where if you're looking for a particular individual or family member, you can locate where they're located on Main Street and Clay Street and then St. Louis Road as well.

So again, kudos to our team for putting this all together. It's a cool program we do here in the community. It's actually been modeled by surrounding communities on what we've done here in the past. So great job all around. And that's all we have for staff comments.

Next item.

Next item is the consent agenda. Item one, motion to approve payment of bills for the period ending 02/27/2026 in the amount of $1,018,372.15. Item two, motion to approve payroll for the period ending 02/13/2026, in the amount of $845,891.06 And item number three, motion to approve minutes of the 02/24/2026 council meeting.

Is there any items that any council would like to remove from consent agenda and vote on separately? If not, have a motion to approve.

So moved.

Second. Second.

Motion by Furman, second by Seton. Roll call.

Houseman.

Yes.

Furman.

Yes.

Green. Yes. Seaton.

Yes.

Stamen.

Yes.

Next under new business, item one is an ordinance increasing the 2026 expenditure budget in the forfeited seized fund, motor fuel tax fund, capital improvement fund, hospitality fund, and animal shelter fund.

Presentation will be given by Cindy Bowman, comptroller.

Good evening, Mayor Stamman and council members. Tonight, I have an ordinance increasing the 2026 expenditure budget. This request is a mix of transfer from 2025 expenses and some unexpected unexpected expenses for the current year. The requests are as follows. We're requesting 45,000 to be increased to the forfeited cease funds.

This is for some marketing and recruitment within the police department and Chief Warren will discuss later that that is going to be 100% reimbursed by a grant. And then the next, we're going to we're requesting the motor fuel tax fund to be increased by $303,136,500 dollars. This has several projects to it. The first one is the reconstruction of Horseshoe Lake Road. This is for engineering cost for the street lighting.

That is a 2025 project of $60,000. The shared use path at Saint Louis Road, we're requesting $76,500 This also was a 2025 expense that's rolling over into '26. The next two is phase one of the St. Louis Road design. We're requesting a total of 200,000 to be increased.

A $100,000 of that you'll see will be coming from the capital improvement fund and the other $100,000 is a rollover from 2025 fiscal year. We're also requesting capital improvement fund expenses to be increased by a net of $120,000 That is itemized as 60,000 for abuses and abatement of 611 West Main. That was not in our budget for 2026. That's some unexpected expenditure for this year. And then we're requesting a 160,000 for the St.

Horseshoe Lake Road and McDonough Lake construction. And then as you see, we're moving a 100,000 out of capital improvement for the St. Louis Road Design Phase one and from capital improvement up to MFT. And we're also requesting the hospitality fund to be increased by $39,984.4 This is for the chair replacement program program at Gateway. It was a 2025 CIP and it rolled over into '26.

And the last thing, we're requesting the animal shelter fund be increased by $27,350 for the HVAC unit. That is a 2026 CIP budget. Our original estimate was 115,000 with the final bids came in and we only had one and it came in 27,000 more than what we had estimated during the 2026 budget. Overall, the total appropriation, we're requesting $568000.834.4 dollars Staff does recommend approval of this ordinance and I'll be happy to answer any questions.

Any questions or comments for Cindy? Being none have a motion to approve. So moved.

I'll second it.

Motion by Houseman, second by Green. Roll call.

Houseman. Yes. Furman. Yes. Green. Yes. Seton. Yes. Weiss: Chairman Thank you. Item number two, ordinance authorizing professional service agreement with Oates Associates in the amount of $185,290 for preliminary engineering services for the Clay Street Shared Use Path Project.

Presidential given by associate engineer Isaiah McNeese.

Thank you, mayor and members of council. What I have for you tonight is a proposal to execute a professional service agreement with Oates Associates for the design and preliminary engineering of the Clay Street shared use path shared use path project. This project's goal is just to make it safer and more inviting for pedestrians and bicyclists within the uptown region as in line with our bicycle and and pedestrian master plan. Yeah. So, this project the scope of this project will be designing a shared use path from Seminary Street to Summit Avenue along with upgrading the ADA ramps at every intersection and installing pedestrian scaled lighting from Summit Seminary to Combs Avenue.

So the if this is approved tonight, the anticipated start date of the design will be this May with the final plans being approved by the city in late twenty twenty twenty eight and the anticipated construction date being in 2029. If you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them.

Any questions or comments? Just

the path itself and maybe I missed it in my notes but is the shared use path going to be on the North Side of Yes, forgot

to say that too. It's going be on the North Side Of Clay Street.

Right. Lights as well. Okay.

So the the sidewalks up to Seminary are already the proper width and things, right?

Yes. So, the sidewalks from Seminary down to like Morrison are pretty decent width already and we're going to be updating those intersections with the Clay Street Pedestrian Project that I got the ACT grant for last time I was up here. Okay. And so, those sidewalks on the North Side are already pretty are pretty wide. I'm I'm think they're either 10. I think they're eight to 10 right now.

Okay.

And so that's why we decided just to do the shared juice path from seminary downward.

Can you go back to the

schedule? So

the preliminary plans are January '27 but the final plans are not till July '28. Can you explain that timeframe?

Yeah, so it's really about with the funding is the STP grant and when it comes in. And so it doesn't really come in until 2028, 2029. And so that's why we have to push it off for so long.

Okay. Any other questions or comments? It's good to see that in downtown. Alright, have a motion to approve.

So moved. Second.

Motion by Seaton, second by Furman. Roll call.

Houseman. Yes. Furman.

Yes.

Green. Yes. Seaton.

Yes.

Stamen.

Yes.

Thank you.

Item number three, ordinance authorizing the approval of a statement of work agreement with Force Group in relation to marketing and recruitment for the Council Police Department.

Presentation will be given by chief Warren.

Thank you, mayor Stamen, members of the council. Before you this evening is an ordinance authorizing the approval of a state statement of work agreement with the Force Group Incorporated in relation to marketing and recruitment for the Collinsville Police Department. So I'm not sure if you know it or not, but but there is a recruitment and retention crisis in this country when it comes to finding quality and qualified police officers. And Collinsville's not immune. We were once a department that was attracting, you know, a 100 to 200 applicants in the nineties and two thousands.

And and today, we're lucky to get 15 to 20 quality, qualified applicants. This isn't a Collinsville issue. It's a it's a nationwide issue. It's not based on compensation or benefits. It's just a simple fact that right now, it's just people don't wanna be police officers.

And so one of my main priorities when I took over in January, seeing that recruitment and retention was a problem, I wanted to identify some budgeting opportunities and resources needed to increase our recruitment, our branding, and marketing footprint that's necessary to try and combat this. The Force Group out of O'Fallon, Illinois is a marketing and creative agency that focuses on agency branding and builds marketing solutions, web design, social media, digital advertising, and recruitment campaigns. There's been several police departments and municipalities in the area that have partnered with him in the past, including O'Fallon, Fairview Heights, Belleville, Granite City, and Centralia, Illinois. Before you is an agreement two year agreement for 2026 and 2027 that totals $90,000 that will be fully reimbursed, as Cindy said, through the amazing work of lieutenant Jackson. He got us a $172,000 grant through the Department of Justice.

And in return, we will get a variety of new recruit recruitment videos, a new web recruitment application web page attached to the city's website, and there'll be a wide array of digital marketing campaigns targeting a regional and a national audience. So with that said, staff recommends approval, and I'd be happy to take any questions you have.

Brett, have we done any work with Force Four or not this first time?

A little bit during our partnership with Fairview Heights when we were conducting testing with them.

Okay. And that leads into my second question. At one time there was a collaboration with, I think, Fairview, O'Fallon, Connellsville on recruiting, but we're not doing it anymore.

Doing it.

No. That system broke up a long time ago. You know, when I got hired here twenty six years ago, there were five departments called part of the Southwestern Illinois consortium, law enforcement consortium. Five departments teamed up, paired resources, and went through the hiring process together basically. That grew exponentially by 2015. I think there were like 11 departments. And it just wasn't working anymore, and the whole thing kind of blew up.

Any other questions or comments from the Chief? Being none, have a motion to approve. Motion to approve.

I'll second it.

Motion by Furman, second by Green. Roll call.

Houseman. Yes. Furman. Yes. Green. Yes. Seton. Yes. Stamen. Yes. Item number four is an ordinance adopting a neighborhood vehicle registration code and providing for the regulation of neighborhood vehicles, golf carts, certain recreational off highway vehicles in the city of Collinsville.

Presentation will be given by Chief Bar.

Thank you, mayor Stamen, members of the council. Before you this evening, I have an ordinance adopting a neighborhood vehicle registration code and providing for the regulation of neighborhood vehicles, golf carts, certain recreational off highway vehicles in the city of Collinsville. You guys know we've been talking about this for quite some time. Before you is an ordinance that will establish a framework under which neighborhood vehicles, otherwise known as or referred to as golf carts, mopeds, side by side UTVs, that would be allowed to operate on city streets. Just to provide you a quick background, as you guys know, I was tasked by the city manager and council with researching whether golf carts and other neighborhood vehicles can be operated safely on city streets.

I presented research in two by two sessions with council in September '25. I again presented that same research at council discussion on 02/10/2026. That research included peer police chief and regional municipality survey. That included 20 area police chiefs. I reached out to them inquiring, do you have a program?

Do you not have a program? Five of them did. And then I inquired, what kind of problems have you had? As I previously reported, none of them had anything substantial to report as being problems. Also, my research included National Highway Transportation Safety Association opinions, peer reviewed studies by academic institutions, and then I included national crash data statistics as well.

The presented ordinance would establish a framework under which neighborhood vehicles would be allowed to operate safely on, excuse me, on city streets in complying in compliance with Illinois compiled statutes. So what does the ordinance do? It defines neighborhood vehicles. It defines where and how these vehicles may operate within the city. It establishes a registration and permitting system, and then it will implement the authority granted in the state statutes for municipalities to regulate them locally.

This ordinance would require operators to maintain a valid driver's license, liability insurance, and an annual permit issued by the city following an inspection. Those inspections would be conducted by the police department. Equipment standards would have to be met, and those would include headlights, brake lights, turn signals, mirrors, a horn, seat belts, and a windshield. Limits to the upper limits to operation would include streets with a posted speed limit of 30 miles per hour or less, state highways, arterial roadways, and major collector streets, those roads that are just really busy. They would be required to operate at less than 25 miles per hour.

And the operating hours would be sunrise to 11PM. And then, of course, we would discourage or prohibit during inclement weather and poor visibility. And finally, enforcement provisions for this ordinance would include fines ranging for ranging from 250 to $750, higher penalties for operating without insurance, and driving on prohibited roadways, and repeated violation violations could result in the permit being suspended. So that's just a quick overview. I'd be happy to take any questions you may have.

Any questions or comments for Brett?

So I guess my questions are related to where specifically you can drive or not drive. So Keebler, is Keebler Keebler would be not on that list. So if I wanted to drive my golf cart to City Council, I could come down Center Street. Can I go across Clay Street and Main Street here? Or is that restricted?

Center Street would be restricted under streets that I've identified that I think are probably too busy for that type of traffic.

And the whole whole downtown is off limits. Correct?

Main Street and Clay Street

are Yeah. So so what I'm saying is in my mind if I had a golf cart one of the things I'd want to do on a Saturday night is drive it downtown to go to an establishment or if they had a band at Old Herald playing, that wouldn't be possible.

It wouldn't be possible, but it also probably creates some parking issues too.

Correct. All right. And then my other question is we see an increase in road rage incidences. Do we see that as a possibility if I'm driving down a road wanting to get by somebody on a golf cart and they can only do 25? Is is that gonna that a possibility?

Well, think it's of course, it's a possibility. I think I identified that during our previous discussions that my fear isn't necessarily the operators per se of the golf carts, but more in line with, alright, what what's gonna happen when you get some jerk, you know, that's that's tired of waiting in line behind a line of cars and he tries to pass or something like that, that worries me.

Thank you. Okay.

I have a comment with this is I'm not gonna go into why I disapprove of it. I already covered that pretty pretty thoroughly, I think, two cities council meetings ago but more just my disappointment that this is on the agenda to create something that was overwhelmingly not in favor of and yet we're sitting here now having basically being forced to vote for something that the majority of the council did not want and I I don't like that you had to waste time on something when you probably have way more important things to do and I know that's not something you can comment on or will, but I just I don't think this was necessary. I really don't.

Anyone else?

Yeah. So the only comment I'll make is after the last meeting, I did feel strongly against having golf carts in our community. It to me doesn't make sense, especially after seeing the, you know, some of the realities with the speeds, the way our town is, really thinking through that. But because I always want to make sure that my decisions are founded on good information and not just my personal opinion, because I don't just serve me in this community, I serve the entire community. I did some research nationwide.

Information The is really hard to find about statistics on these, so I'm sure you looked and agreed with that too. But the one thing that I did do is I called the chief of police in Belleville. Because the other towns that you mentioned, they're they're rural towns. I get it why they have it. They're probably driving it from their farm to the gas station to get a get a soda.

But so a town like this, the only one known there was Belleville. So I called the chief of police in Belleville, and we had a conversation about why they have them and the consequences of it. And the the thing that was striking to me is that the only reason Belleville has this on their books is because of the Orchard's golf course. They petitioned the city to give them some regulation because teenagers were running a muck in the orchards and they needed they needed some kind of help to control that. And so that's why Belleville has it mainly for the orchards.

He did say there's a few people that drive uptown to their main street, but very few. They don't have that many license out there because again, it's for the orchards, which then solidified my original feeling is I just don't see it for this town. Not the way we're laid out, but the main the big roads cutting through our town, the way we're cut off. I just don't I still don't see it. I tried to find a way that that I could look at this differently, but I didn't.

I don't have any other comments other than what I stated in the last public meeting we had regarding the issue and also in the two by two.

I'd like to go through the kind of the genesis of the ordinance to give everybody a full view of how we got here. I had a request from numerous people asking me to see if we can get past. And I felt an obligation to do that when I first talked to Derek about it. It went from Derek to the report that you issued. We had discussions in the two by two meeting.

And feel an obligation in answer to your question, David, I feel an obligation to bring those forward regardless of what the discussions are in the two by two meetings. We just to give an idea of what the two by two meetings are for the people listening is we can't meet more than two people without having a regular meeting. So we meet to bring everybody up to speed on what's going to be on the agenda, what's going to be coming up, you know, the problems the city is facing legally and financially and everything else. And this would apply for everything I got to say here so bear with me for a few minutes. I don't want these kind of decisions to be made behind closed doors.

They need to be made in public. And, you know, at the 2x2 meetings, the ones I was in, and I am in two of them, there were some questions. But I can honestly say that I didn't know that there was of those two people I was with that it was a definite they weren't going Because Donna, you had said you were kind of last meeting you said you didn't know for sure you were going to have to get more information on it. So I wanted to come and have open discussion on it. And that's all I ever wanted.

The council has an option and they will tonight to not put forward a motion when I ask for a motion. That's an option. The second option is not getting a second. And obviously I won't get a motion probably, won't get a second. Or we can put a motion out there and a second and we can vote on it. So those are the three options. Brett, you provided the report. That's fine. I've looked at a lot of other cities and the bottom line is I agreed with the people. I'm not saying I don't have a golf cart or a side by side and I probably won't get one.

But I agreed that I thought it was a nice and the intention was all along was people in the neighborhoods could get around their neighborhoods. And I'd even say at this point if there's ever any possibility reconsideration for it that we limit, for instance, in the Collinwood neighborhood. But obviously we have two councilmen that live in the Collinwood neighborhood. But the Waverly area and that's one of the people that brought it to me, there are several people that have them and want the ability to legally drive them on the street and visit neighborhoods. I think it does a lot for getting neighborhoods together.

And Belleville I think has 100 permits. We're not going to get if we ok'd it, we wouldn't get 100 permits. We'd probably get half of that. So you're not like we're going to see golf carts running all down the street. I guess in comment to one of your questions, Tony, the list of restricted streets were suggestions from the Chief. That's not we can amend that if we want. One of my intentions were to be able to have it where you can drive up to Main Street. Difference of opinion, I don't think golf cart presents a parking problem. Think there would be plenty of places for them to park. That does happen in Belleville.

I talked to the Chief in Belleville. So I think it's a nice option. And what I said before, I want to be able to trust the residents of Council to operate them safe. There's got you know, we can't guard against everything. We talked about Collinwood, the speed problems out there. But we got bicycles all over Collinwood. We got bicycles all over Waverly and Ostell area. We got people walking because the wisdom of thirty, forty years ago, the city council didn't put sidewalks in those subdivisions. So we got people walking on the street. We got people on the sidewalk or on bicycles.

There's a lot more hazard there than there is in a lit, properly lit golf cart and side by side. I mentioned last meeting and I'll say it again that if speed is a problem, Tony and Dave both brought that up, and I agree, there are some speed problems out there. My son-in-law lives out there. He is one that wanted the ability to take his side by side out. That is an enforcement issue.

We have heard that same complaint on every neighborhood meeting. It was one of the top priorities, if I am not mistaken, on our every neighborhood meeting. So we have a speeding problem. To me, that is not a reason to we address the speeding problem. And maybe that doesn't become a reason because there's going to have to be some serious enforcement to that. We've heard that time and time again from people at the podium. I think most of the council agrees that if we have to be noted for a town that if you speed here, you're going to get a ticket. I think all of us agree to that. Collinwood has been a problem. Pine Lake Road has been a problem.

And we just we have I think we and I want to I'd like to talk to you and Derek sometime after this, you know, next week or whatever. What are we going to do for that problem out there? If it comes up that much, we have to address that. And so on top of that, I have talked to every one of those communities. Donna said she talked about well, I talked to every one of them.

I also called Pontiac, Illinois who has it and it was this one that popped up on a document I had. I have not got one comment. Everyone tells me the same thing. There have been no problems. And just like you said in your original report to us, they the ones you contacted said they would do it again.

So don't see if it is this big safety issue, why are these six communities out there saying that there's no problems? So I propose trying it for a year. If it doesn't work, then we pull it back. I would also offer up that we isolate it to certain neighborhoods and don't get out of those neighborhoods. But I don't think that's going to happen.

I still can't get over the fact that there has not been any problems. And two or three of them I talked to said they can't recall any accidents, citations issued, or injuries. Five communities. So I realized there was going to be some people come up here to talk tonight. I called them and said there's really no point in coming up. I knew the vote wasn't going to be out. But so in answer to David's comment, there doesn't have to be a motion to approve. So that's your option there. I'm for it. I support it.

It's obvious that the other four don't. And that's the way it goes. We move on. I would like to leave it open for discussion at a later date that if we do get comments from people that read about it or hear about it, that we have an option well, we always have the option to bring it back. A lot of St. Louis County communities now that's been on the news over the last six months are considering that. Some have already passed it. So it is more of a popular thing that's happening. There again, I don't see the problem with it. I think we've tried to address that.

We take the streets that you've recommended and we look at them and we try to agree with them. But right now there's no point in that. So at this point, unless there's any other comments, I would ask for a motion to approve. Being none, the issue is did. Next item.

Item number five, ordinance authorized the mayor to execute a lease agreement between the city of Collinsville and Keller Farms for the farming of real estate at 510 And 520 South Bluff Road.

Presentation will be given by Derek Jackson.

Thank you, mayor, members of the council. The last two items before you this evening are both lease agreements with local farmers for city owned properties. So the first one is 510520 South Bluff Road. This is located right next to the J. C. Sports Complex. All in all, it's about 13 acres in size. We've had a good working relationship with Keller Farms. I believe this is the third or fourth extension we've had from this track of ground. Talking with Keller Farms, they're interested in continuing to till the ground to grow horse radish at this location.

The terms of this agreement would be from 03/15/2026 until the end of the year, 12/31/2026. This makes sense for the city. There's operational savings that we had whenever we do have local farmers that are able to till the ground in lieu of us having this into our parks and rec department out to mow. So that's why it typically makes sense for us to do these. Also too, as council knows, we're actively working on a sports complex master plan, Kimberly Korn, and PDS is the group we're working on that. That should be coming before the council for an update here in the near future, by extending this lease that would not disrupt, the the future plans we have if there's any twenty twenty seven capital improvements related to the sports complex. With that, I'd be more than happy to answer any questions council might have.

Any questions or comments for Derek? Being none, motion to approve.

So moved.

Second. Motion by Seaton, second by Houseman. Roll call.

Houseman.

Yes.

Furman.

Yes.

Green. Yes. Seaton.

Yes.

Stamen.

Yes.

Item number six, the ordinance authorized the mayor to execute a lease agreement between the city of Collinsville and Bluffview Farm for the farming of real estate on United Drive.

Again, Derek Jackson.

Thank you, mayor. Members of council, the final agenda item before you this evening for new business is again another lease agreement. This is for our property located over on United Drive. The address is 108110112, And 114 between four lots. All in all, it's about 5.6 acres in size. The terms of this agreement is a little bit longer. It's from 03/15/2026 until 10/15/2028. So it is a multi year agree lease agreement. Bluffview Farms will pay the city at 1,650 annually, which comes up to be about $295 per acre. Again, same logic.

This is another operational savings for the city. If you recall when we purchased this property in 2024, there actually was an existing farming leasing agreement on there that we inherited. We took that over. That did expire in in October 2025. The farmer at that time was Bluff View Farms reached out. They're still interested in in telling this gram. It's it's very good soil for growing horseradish. They're interested in continuing doing a multi year agreement. As council knows, this is the site we procured back in 2024 for a future home of Fire Station three. And with that, working with corporate council, we did wanna make sure that there were some provisions in this agreement.

As council knows, the 5.6 acres is more than enough we would need for a future Fire Station 2 site. So this would give us the option if we do end up subdividing some of the property to subdivide our development. It gives us some outs with notice to the farmer if something like that were to transpire. So with that I'd be more than happy to answer any questions the council has about this lease agreement.

Any questions or comments for Derek?

Just a couple of simple ones. Do we have any idea what the savings is to us as far as operationally?

We do. Yes. So I did have parks and rec department give me kind of an estimate on how much we're looking at. Depending if it's seven or eight months worth of mowing, we were looking to save between 28 to $3,100 or if it's eight months, 32 to $3,006,600 dollars So that would be to send Jared and have his team go out there to mow these lots. Yeah, definitely pans out and better for us.

Do we know what they're farming?

Believe for sure it's for both this property and the Keller Farms will remember the sports complex.

So no other comments or questions. Motion to approve.

So moved.

Second. Motion

by Green, second by Furman. Roll call.

Hausman.

Yes.

Furman.

Yes.

Green. Yes. Seaton.

Yes.

Stamen.

Yes.

Next is closed session.

I have a motion for closed session to discuss in accordance with five ILCS one two zero slash two c number 11 pending or threatened or imminent litigation.

Motion? So moved.

Second. Motion by Houseman, seconded by Seaton. Roll call.

Houseman?

Yes.

Fuhrman?

Yes.

Green?

Yes.

Seaton?

Yes.

Stamen?

Yes.

Last is adjournment.

Motion to adjourn.

So moved. Second.

Motion by Seaton, second by Houseman. Roll call.

Houseman.

Yes.

Furman.

Yes.

Green. Yes. Seaton.

Yes.

Stamen. Yes. City Council meeting for 03/10/2026 is adjourned.