City Council - Regular Meeting

I'll say so.

Yeah.

Yeah, that's all right. My wife? No, in the back. I was in the back of your house today. Oh, did you get it? Yeah.

Yeah.

Did nobody like it?

No.

No dogs attacking.

No.

Yeah. Not in my house.

You got your commission, right? I was going to be here all night messing around. What commission?

Oh, my God. What?

We will have a few minutes delay as we wait for some technical difficulty to be remedied and

tonight.

Come on. Football's flat. Football's flat.

Hey, Larry. Hey, Larry. The chain came apart the other night.

Maybe he's trying to get to the citizen stand.

I think that the unfavorable piece is mainly, and this is kind of what I like, is if we pass something that says presidential votes, it's not fair.

Right? Sorry. Fine.

Thank you.

Thank you.

At any point in time of 530 arrived and passed, I would like to call the Tuesday, August 25th, 2026 Committee of the Whole to order. Would you please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance?

I pledge allegiance 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.

Mr. Clerk, would you please take the roll?

Alderman Cox. Here. Alderman Gregory. Here. Alderman Williams.

Here.

Alderman Rockford. Here. Alderman Purchase.

Here.

Alderman Nostriano.

Here.

Alderman Carlson. Here. Alderman Conley. Alderman Donovan. Here. Alderman Hanauer.

Here. Chairman, you have a quorum. Thank you, Mr. Clerk. I have accepted the motion for the approval of the August 11, 2026 committee meeting minutes.

So moved. Second.

All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? Aye. Treasury report are there mr. Parker are there any presentations?

Is the CWP going now then yes, sir Good evening, and thank you all the economy's not here all the woman comments not here, but Alderman Connolly and Alderwoman Connolly and Alderwoman Purchase are the committee meeting or Utilities Committee members. They asked us to do a presentation So thank you, and we'll give our presentation. Hopefully be short So the agenda tonight we'll go over I'll go over some solar purchase power agreements that we've got in place and We'll go over the IRP Some of the details on that will get a little more detail on Ami's in the meters and how the installation is going to go An update on lead service lines and grants for the water division and we'll close out with current garden Litigation and some information from there so Mike Gorsuch from electric division title found from the water vision and Emily Rosenberger from regulatory affairs So solar purchase power agreements, we've got two purchase power agreements in place. One is in construction right now, South Sangamon Solar. It's a 25-year contract for 25 megawatts of energy. That's the project down south by Chatham. Its construction started in August, and that'll be in service by late 27. The other one is Lincoln Lane Capital, which is out by the airport. That one is a 20-year agreement with us, and we will get 20 megawatts of energy and some capacity off of that. In addition, we do have some long-term contracts or one long-term contract till 2039 for capacity off a wind farm up north of here. And with that, I will turn it over to Mike Gorsuch for the integrated resource update and AMI.

Good evening, everybody. Just to do a quick recap on the IRP, or the Integrated Resource Plan. Essentially, this will be our roadmap for meeting CWLP's future electric needs. The plan will take into consideration where we are now, what our future needs will be, and map out how we get there over the next 20 years. The goal is to continue providing reliable, affordable energy well in the future. The last IRP that we did started in 2018, completed in January of 2020. That looked at a range of options, including renewables, natural gas, market purchases, demand management, energy storage. As a result of the last IRP, we did retire units 31, 32, and 33. So now we're following the recently implemented state law and beginning the next IRP, which requires the utilities to update their IRPs every five years. The new state legislation, SERJA, and that is the Clean Reliable Grid Act, which expanded on CEJA, which is the Clean Energy Jobs Act, is a new state legislation requiring utilities to update their IRP every five years. So it's a 20-year look ahead with an IRP done every five years for evaluation. Under this new legislation, we're required to start the IRP process by 2027. There are specific requirements in the legislation for public engagement to create meaningful input to the study of the process. meaningful input to the study process. I want to briefly go over the mechanics of the IRP process, and I apologize. There's a lot of details in this one, just so you get an idea of the steps that we have to go through. So CWLP staff created an RFP for firms to provide proposals. So we're in the process of selecting a vendor. We just got those proposals back. From there, once the vendor is selected, CWLP will start producing the data. The firms will use as the inputs. The firms will coordinate. with community input and give feedback on that community input. The firms will develop models with the inputs and the variables from the inputs from the community. The firms will then analyze the results, recommend a draft plan of action and then the firm will present that plan with public engagement and feedback and then the revised plan will be finalized and submitted. So right now, we are currently evaluating several bids that we received from firms who are interested in doing the IRP for us. Once those evaluations are complete, we'll bring an ordinance to council for award for the firm to provide those IRP services. And then once that consultant is selected, and they have our current information, they will finalize public engagement schedule and begin the data. So the public involvement is an important part of the process. The firm selected will be responsible for developing a broad public engagement program, including meetings, presentations, and feedback to customers who provide input. We do want to hear from community stakeholders as we develop the plan, and there will be opportunities to do so. Ultimately, this plan will provide a roadmap to our energy future. And I am going to jump into my meters next real quick. I know that we've had quite a bit of discussion on AMIs here recently. So I just wanted to do a quick recap on the benefits of AMI. We've discussed some of these previously, so I'm just going to do some highlights. Automatically collecting meter readings, detecting power outages, as everybody is interested in, enabling real-time monitoring and control, remote reconnects and disconnects, enhanced billing accuracy and improving customer engagement and efficiency. We discussed before, it's a three-year rollout plan in phases. So the installation and commissioning of the AMI system will be about three years. Atlantis and GEER was selected to provide the AMI system. We're close to releasing the installation and bid package which is the labor installation of the network in about 70,000 meters. Just as a reminder, this project is funded by the 2025 bond refinancing, and it will be capable of reading water meters as they're transitioned. So there's been a few questions here recently about how it's going to be rolled out. This map may help. So this map shows our meter reading routes. There's actually 20 of them all together. And these are also part of the billing cycle. So the meters will be changed out within the meter reading routes only during that cycle. So, meters will not be changed out mid-cycle during the installation. So, over the three years, those change-outs will rotate through these routes until all of the meters are complete. So, not all meters will be installed in each route for each billing cycle. So, there will be a portion of them installed in all of the different cycles throughout I will turn it over to Todd for the main attraction of the evening.

All right. Good evening, everybody, and thanks for the opportunity to present a few water division updates. I have specifically three water division updates for you this evening. First, I'm going to talk about lead service lines and our lead service line program. Second, I'm going to talk about our overall grant program and how that fits into our revenue structure. And finally, I'm going to turn the podium over to Emily Rosenberger, and she's going to talk about our current Gardner litigation case. So our lead service line program. So I think the last time I provided you an update on our lead service line program was in January. Since that time, we've made significant progress. Specifically, we've replaced and or eliminated approximately 500 lead service lines from our liability. So we did that by attacking our lead liability on four different fronts. The first front is emergency replacements. So these replacements are replacements necessitated by failure of the city side infrastructure. Those fund we've done 70 of those and those have been funded with general water revenue funds on the public side and ARPA grant funding on the private side so the second component to reducing our lead service line liability is our planned replacements and We've done 105 of those replacements since January. Those replacements are being done in wards two and three, more specifically in census tract 16, I'm sorry, 23, wards two and three census tracts 16 and 23. So under that program, we have replaced those 105 service lines through the utilization of water revenue fund for the public side and IEPA SRF funding for the private side. We've also done 40 what I'll call lead cutaways. These are abandoned lead service lines that are currently connected to our water distribution system that we have killed at the corp. We've done that entirely with water revenue funds. And then finally, our inventory program. This is the program where we go around and vacuum excavate on the public side and the private side to determine what the materials of construction of the service lines are and verify what we have in our inventory system currently. We have historically funded that with ARPA funds, and we completed about 1,000 excavations under that program since January. So in total, the bottom line is that we have reduced our lead service line liability by almost 500 lines since January. In today's dollars, that constitutes about a reduction of about $6 million in lead service line liability. So what are we going to do for the rest of the calendar year and the fiscal year? Well, the short answer would be more of the same. However, I would put the caveat in there that the funding mechanism is going to change for some of those programs. And that's primarily due to the expiration or full utilization of the ARPA funding. So our lead service line pothole program, so our vacuum excavations, we're currently under contract with the local contractor to do 4,000 more excavations. That program will be funded solely by water revenue funds. Previously, that was funded by ARPA funding. Under our emergency lead service line replacement project, we'll continue forward on that program. Again, the ARPA funding has expired, so that program will now be solely funded by water revenue funds. We'll continue our cutaways, and that will be solely funded by water revenue funds. And then our planned replacements will continue out in wards two and three. And then we are about halfway through our $2.8 million IEPA SRF grant in those two wards. The good news with that is there's more money behind that $2.8 million under the IEPA's intended use plan. They are reserving 4.5 million more dollars for lead service line replacements in wards 2 and 3. We have added a census tract. We were able to get census tract 42 in with 23 and 16. So that is our plan for the balance of the calendar year and fiscal year in the lead service line program. So for grants... I don't plan to drill down specifically into each of these grants, but I wanted to give you an overall view of our grant program and kind of highlight the effort that we make to procure and implement grants within the Water Division. So in total, you'll see 10 grants on this list. That total grant dollar value is over $12 million. So those are grants that we have applied for. are implementing currently or finalizing. So you can see we go wherever the money potentially can be obtained. We've got grants that we're working on through the US EPA, the IEPA, IDNR, the USDA. So wherever we can find grant funding opportunities, we apply for those grants and we try to implement those. So just for a general, I guess, Purposes of kind of comparison to our overall operational revenues. We operate just south of 50 million dollars a year and operational revenues So 12 million dollars in grants adds about 25 percent value to our overall operational revenues in a given year So that's additional value for the community and the department So with those updates I want to turn the podium over to Emily Rosenberger our staff attorney

All right, I'm here to talk about the Korean Gardener legal case. This case started in August of 2023 when Korean Gardener townships filed a complaint against Springfield, stating that they are depriving or threatening to deprive and limit this public water supply. They demanded that the city of Springfield stop serving water to Korean Gardener residents. The case involved old, disputed, and threatened areas of water service, and in March 16th, 2026, Corinne Gardner filed a motion for summary judgment, which was denied, and the city filed a cross-motion for summary judgment, which was granted in part. It determined that the old disputed areas, which are before September of 2009, was decided in the city's favor, which means you can still provide them water, but There's still a question if the new or threatened water service is a question of material fact, which will need to be decided by a judge and jury. This will need to be determined if the city is able to sell water to new or threatened areas in Coran and Gardner. The summary judgment is a great thing. It takes one thing off the table that needs to be settled. So now we only have to deal with the new and threatened areas in question.

Thank you. I don't know if we'll open up for questions.

Yeah, I think I have a question first. Todd, I recall maybe last year on the lead service lines, has EPA changed again to, you know, when we... Voted this in a few years ago. I mean is it down to 10 years now originally it was 20.

Is that right? Yeah, so The update on that is that that case at the US EPA level the federal regulation is still working its way through the process The LC RI federal rule did reduce the time that we have to replace these lines to 10 years from 20 which was a state rule but subsequent to our last discussion the state has adopted rules substantial in substance, you know, basically identical in substance to the federal rule. And in my discussion with the state rule makers and the IEPA, they are planning to keep that 10-year replacement window here for Illinois regardless of what happens on a federal level. So we are looking at a 10-year replacement window here in Illinois.

You're confident we can...

No, I wouldn't say I'm confident that we can do that. We will do the best we can. We are trying with that lead program update that I provided. We are doing everything we can to reduce our overall liability. I think we're at 9,138 lines right now. Come back here in January or whenever the budget hearing is. I hope to be deep into the 8,000s. And then we have another year to try to bring that number down sooner. But still, even if we get around 7,500 lead service lines, we've never done 750 in a given year. And I'm confident that I could assign three crews to it at water distribution and get it done on the public side. I'm not so confident that our private contractors could keep up with this on the private side.

And, Scott, one other question. As far as the rough estimate of the IRP, when that's going to, you know, picking up the consultant and all that, are we still months? Is this a year? Where are we at roughly?

No, we'll, like I said, we just got them back last Thursday. So probably within this month you will see or. Early next month, I should say, you'll see an ordinance come through to award that to them, and then we'll start that process. Last time, it was two years. I don't think this one's going to take. We don't have two years. By state law, we have to have it started by January of 27, and we have to have a final version by January of 28.

We have some questions from all of us. First up is Alderman Donovan.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Ladies and gentlemen, congratulations on the Kern Water decision. That's good news. It's been going on for quite a while. It brings to light a question, my next question. You didn't go over this, but as you know, as the city grows, historically, we would purchase the electric customers from Ameren, Silco, before that. And at some point, years ago that ended and there's been a dispute between the city and Ameren. What's the status of that dispute?

So we have been actively working with residents that are asking us to convert from Ameren to CWLP. So we are in that process. I don't know what's going to happen. Ameren has kind of figured out what we're doing, I'll say, and so I fully expect them to call us and try to sit down and work out an agreement. We are actively working towards it.

Well. I understand what you said, but what's the status of the dispute wasn't there an actual lawsuit?

There was a lawsuit it was remanded back to the circuit court and Nobody's taking it up from there, so I expect it to be remanded. I expect the Ameren to Call us and either work through this on our own or if we can't come to an agreement We'll probably end up back in court.

Yeah in areas out on the very west side of They're impacted by this. I know there's other areas of the city on the south side and others on the east way east But in Ward 9 in particular there are areas where we're quote wheeling Yes, where there are CWP customers, but that's all over the city. But yes Yeah, they're provided they're provided electricity technically through Ameren and it's confusing when there's an outage Yes, you have talked about it before. I just haven't talked to you about it a little while What's the status of trying to clean that up?

Part of what we're trying to do would clean that up. The hard part is the wheeled customers depends on where the infrastructure is. There were some discussions with Ameren many years ago, and I can't remember the number, but those discussions, it was a very significant number for us to buy all their infrastructure. So in some areas, we've got infrastructure there already, particularly one of your areas in Ward 9 that we're starting on now. We're moving forward with taking those customers Where it's gonna go in the future I Don't know.

I don't think everyone's gonna go lightly on us taking no I understand that but if you could just please keep me apprised go along I don't have to bring it up here. Thank you.

No problem.

Thank you Alderman Hanover Thank You chair congratulations on that that's a that's a big victory that caught that could have cost the city a lot a lot of money a lot of money we had lost that one I guess my question the question I have is okay so it's one mile the city limits from September 23rd 2009 which where would that start at what it would it be Linhart Road go out or is it Cocomeli approximate

We have a map. I can send you the map.

I just was kind of wondering because the other aspect that we had, the concern out west was because they didn't have the pressure for fire hydrants. And, you know, so that would have been pretty much, we would have had to run our water anyway for fire hydrants. I just... But that's a big victory. I was pretty concerned about that one. So that's the best news I've heard in a while. So thank you. Good job.

Alderman Gregory. Yes, Mr. Rogers. Real quickly, I'm Todd. I'm just really on the lead service lines. I was sort of confused with the MAF 105, 70, and 40. And we said we had taken 479 reduced from the inventory. Is some of those some private redos? Or am I missing something? Yeah.

All right. So those first three, I guess, bulleted items, those are actual construction projects, replacements, cutaways, things like that. So the balance of the reduction happened through the inventory program. So about half of the... The reduction in total lead service line liability was through construction and the other half was through the lead inventory program. Some lead or service lines in our inventory system, current paper system, as we uncovered them, had already been replaced. So it's about a 50-50 split.

OK. I appreciate you. And my last, and this is not a real question, it's just more of a, hopefully, as I'm dealing with one of my residents, these long waterline situations that we do go through where they're from the house and it's a long way away, if we can look for grants to help with those situations for our customers, And I guess the reason why I'm saying that is, you know, it's sort of tough. You know, I know one of our residents was given a quote of $7,000 and to go all the way back through our alleyway to fix this issue. And, you know, we're going to just run into a lot of problems more and more. I don't know how many of those situations we got. I'm sure you do more than what we would know. But those are, you know, popping up more and more. And I just want us to think about that. If there's any money out there available...

Yeah, there's there's been a number of reasons why that's occurred. I think one one week I think alderman Williams alluded to a couple of the reasons but Some of that has happened historically over time. I would call those the exception. Yes, but it's not just a handful it's more than that for sure and The reality of it I guess is since I've been at the water departments at the mid 90s, right? There's been regulations in place that you have to extend and the water main, across the frontage of your property prior to receiving service to prevent this from ever happening again. It's just those that were put in in the 20s, 30s, and 40s that were put in like that for whatever reason are still out there, and we don't own that infrastructure. So I haven't, you know, obviously we make a big effort at grants, and we try to find grants anywhere we can, but I haven't found any specific to that other than what we've procured through OPED.

Okay. I appreciate you. Thank you. Alderman Williams.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, and I want to pick up right where you just left off. So when a constituent has their home and they have that situation, as you know, one of Ward 3's examples was The home had the problem with the water main, but the water main ran down an alley and then across a neighbor's backyard over to the next block where his main was, could not afford it, couldn't begin to imagine the cost of trying to do that on his own. He eventually sold the property. When I did talk to the department, I believe this was one of the farms, that back then in those early years, it was all farmland. So when they, I guess, plowed out the blocks where we are today, the water may still remain way over there. And until there was a problem, you don't know that. You don't realize. until it's time to fix something or repair something, which is what happened to us got in there. Now, we did look around for grants and any kind of state money, federal money, or anything that would assist. The scary part is we don't know what's really out there. Do you guys know if there's more than one or two of these type of situations?

Yeah, I mean, there's definitely more than one or two, more than a handful for sure. It is an exception that those would be holdovers from way back when. And those decisions could have been, like you said, because of farm ground, and maybe they owned the entirety of the ground at that point in time, and now it's on an easement. But the reality of it is we get approached all the time by people trying to develop individual lots that just want to run one of those long service lines, because in the short term for a construction project, obviously that's more economical than running water main at $100 a foot. So I can assure you it's not happening today. It hasn't happened in the last 30 years, but we still do have those one-offs out there to deal with.

So we would be in agreement on that. Either it was a farm or either it was an individual just kind of wanted it that way because they owned all of it at that time. And that's just the way they operated and set up. But I'm just going to hope that we don't run into this a whole lot because it does become real challenging. And real quick, I want to back us up to the IRP process. So we're evaluating IRP. uh... what's coming we've reevaluating and you're going to make a final selection of i think he said next month maybe moments of okay so i want these timelines is there so so i think we have to have this up and going back to the first of this year i mean first of twenty-seven first of twenty-seven so we've already started that process so we're ahead of the game yes we are so so when will we be How long will we have to have everything in place and be completed?

By January 28th. We've got a full year.

So a full year. I think all my other questions were answered by previous questions, so thank you. Alderman Cox.

Thank you. First of all, congratulations, Mr. Mordock and Ms. Rosenberger, on your partial summary judgment. That is huge. So I echo those other comments. When is there a deadline to file the appeal?

So we still, because that was partial summary judgment, we're still working through a couple contested properties. So it won't be until after we have a trial on those, on the handful of properties. Okay. After that, they'll be able to appeal the entire decision.

Okay. So it's kind of the appeal process on that is pending until the rest of the matter is settled, I guess, basically.

Yeah. The partial summary judgment covered... 95 ish percent of the properties at issue, but we need to get through trial that's answered my next question and Are we going to trial?

Or is there still a chance? That something else happens if you can discuss it. I understand litigations weird.

Yeah, I you know There's always a chance to settlement of settling up until the eve of trial but there is

And I ask because this case is holding up other matters, specifically to Lake Springfield. So thank you very much. I appreciate that. And congratulations again. That's a big win.

All right, Scott, seeing no other questions, thank you. And to your team. Alderman Williams, you okay? Mr. Williams? Alderman Williams, you fine? Okay. All right, next we have ordinances table to remaining committee. Mr. Clerk, would you read those ordinances?

Ordinances table will remain committee. Thank you 2026 three three nine in 2026 No, that's it.

That's it on the day. Does it want to like to remove any of these oranges for a committee consideration, sir? All right, seeing none Mr.

Clerk Orders up for committee consideration first ordinance is CWP 2026 383 is an ordinance authorizing the purchase of new switching infrastructure and for Geographic Information System, GIS Storage Area Network with Pisidio Network Solutions, LOC, in the amount not to exceed $126,027.36. Move to consent. Second. We have a motion to pass.

Move to consent. And second. Any discussion? Seeing none, motion passes.

20-26-3. We didn't vote. We didn't vote.

Oh, let's vote. Sure. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Those against? Motion passes. Go ahead, Mr. Clerk. Thank you.

2026384 is in order to approve it and authorize an execution with Serum USA Inc. in an amount not to exceed $590,000 for the purchase of two new Cadillac modulars for the Dahlman Power Station, number four, for the Office of Public Utilities for consent.

Second. Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. Aye.

Those against? 2026385 is an ordinance authorizing additional funding of $2,934,383.60 and authorizing a supplemental appropriation of $618,559.55 for natural gas procurement for the Energy Authority Inc. for the interstate combustion turbine for a grand total not to exceed $17,413,090.03 for the Office of Public Utilities. consent second motion for consent Second any discussion seeing none those of us.

They are open. I'm sorry all the McGregor.

Thank you I just had a real quick question. Sorry sorry James Scott um I see that we're adding a supplemental appropriation for six hundred and eighteen thousand As well as additional two million is there and my question is general and fastest is there going to be any impact to our customers and

It increases anything like so What what this is is we budget we we have a projection every year we budget fuel for this primarily interstate combustion turbine with With wind power to their solar power today you look at where solar starts dropping off. There's a window About four hours and we've been running interstate a lot in that four to eight hour window in the evening or early afternoon to the evening So we missed our projection on natural gas. So essentially what happens is the revenue we're receiving running the unit is paying for that. We just didn't budget for it because it's running way more than we anticipated.

Are we seeing any increases in the pricing of natural gas?

Actually, natural gas is under $3 right now. It's been there for a while, surprisingly.

Thank you, sir. I appreciate you.

With everything else going on in the world, natural gas is the only thing that's cheap right now.

Knock on wood. Thank you, appreciate you.

All right, so we have a motion for consent and a second. Those in favor say aye. Aye. Those against? Motion passes.

Public Works 2026386 is in order to authorize the purchase of real estate between the city of Springfield and Della Reese, located at 1801 South Grand Avenue East, in the amount not to exceed $500 for the Office of Public Works.

Motion for consent. Second. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Alderman Gregory.

Yes, I just want to ask... Is this for, Dave, is this for the monetary redevelopment?

That's correct, Alderman. Okay. This is land acquisition for the MLK improvement project, which will include the road diet. Specifically, the acquisition of this property is for Turn lane on South Grand Avenue. Yes as well as the traffic signal modernization. Yes, I thought so.

I just wanted to check in that conversation I appreciate you sir as much needed there at South Grand. We've been seeing an increase of Traffic accidents, so I think this development is gonna be right on time. Thank you.

Thank you Director Fuchs, Alderman Williams.

Yes, sir. Yes, I'm a little confused So that's Ward 3, just to let you know

No, this is this is for a very narrow strip.

It's it's not much property at all It would be on the northeast corner Okay, thank you All right everybody good, I think we have a motion for consent in a second we've had discussion those of favor say aye those against aye

General City Business 2026-387 is an ordinance accepting payment to Salem County Clerk in the amount not to exceed $257,810.85 for the city portion of the one-time cost on Tyler Technology Systems as a service agreement for the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Initiative for the Springfield Police Department and the Springfield Fire Department.

Second.

Second.

We have a motion for consent and a second. Any discussion? Seeing none, those in favor, vote aye. Aye. Against? Motion passes.

2026388 is an ordinance authorizing a three-year renewal contract, number NB24-250C, a professional services agreement with Sound Thinking Inc. for shot spotter direction technologies in the amount of $1,100,012 for the Springfield Police Department. Motion for a debate? Yes, sir. Who made the debate?

I did. Any discussion?

Yes. Hold me, Gregory. I put this on debate. Chief's not here to have some conversations with him. But ultimately, years ago when we, you know, was dealing with shot spotter and things, we... We used to tailor this thing to development and going into those communities. At one point in time, when we first got this technology, we identified 55 blocks, hundreds of workers, much cleaning. And I just want to continue that. So we can get a return on our investment, right? We're going to continue to spend millions of dollars on these things. I want to make sure that those communities and areas are being addressed. The CDC, as well as some other national models, have done studies and proven that when we address bad housing, grass, alleys, lighting in these particular areas, that it does drive down crime. So I want to continue with that plan. We went away from that plan. We went two years with the BUILD program to the north side of our community. We started out with this sort of program in the central portion of our community, and crime has reduced in that area. And now it's pushing south, exactly where our ShotSpotter calls B400 and 500, as we've heard Chief say before. So I want to make sure that our investments, that we're also, as a council, making sure that those recesses go there. So I want to have a conversation with him as well. I appreciate you.

All right, those in favor say aye. Aye. Motion for debate. Next ordinance.

2026389 is the North South region's purchase of two Dell PowerEdge R76X... servers and accompanying accessories with Zalenta Information Technology Company and amount not to exceed $56,404.82 for the Springfield Police Department Bureau of Emergency Communications. Move for consent.

Second. We have a motion for consent and a second. Any discussion? Seeing none, those in favor say aye. Aye. Those against?

Motion passes. 2026-390 is an ordinance authorizing payment to Maleta Morris, Lynetta Parker, Limited for architectural services and renovation of the children children youth area for the amount not to exceed seventy four thousand seven hundred forty dollars for the Lincoln Library motion for consent second Any discussion see none those in favor vote aye Those against motion passes 20 26 391 is the North's authorized sponsorship to downtown Springfield Inc with the 2026 Street Dinner Route 66 Centennial in the amount not to exceed payment of $2,000 for the Springfield Convention of Visitors.

Motion for consent.

Second.

Second. Excuse me, any discussion? Those in favor say aye. Aye. Against? Motion passes.

2026.392 is an ordinance authorizing sponsorship payment $30,000 to Meese Promotions LLC for the 2026 Springfield Mile be held September 5th 2026 through September 6 2026 for the Springfield Convention and Business Bureau motion for consent Any discussion see none those in favor say aye 2026 393 is in order to authorize a sponsorship payment $35,000 to Illinois Route 66 Mother Road Festival Inc for the 2026 MRF to be held September 25th 2026 through September 27 2026 for the Springfield Convention and Visitor Bureau.

Motion for consent.

Second.

We have a motion for consent and a second.

Any discussion? Those in favor say aye. Aye. Against? Motion passes.

2026394 is an ordinance authorizing sponsorship to the Illinois Route 66 Heritage Project, Inc. for the 2026 Route 66 Centennial Celebration to be held November 11th, 2026 in the amount not to exceed payment of $10,000 for the Springfield Convention and Visitor Bureau.

Motion for consent.

Thank you. Thank you.

Second any discussion none those in favor say aye Yes Motion passes next is unfinished business. Is there any unfinished business to come before this committee? Alderman Gregory.

Yes, this will be quick Director Fuchs this is for you in your department. Um, so Some time ago some years ago our community We went to Capitol Plaza over here on Adams and Washington. And I'm bringing this up because it's been a topic of debate on a federal level. down the Alderman Purchase Ward about these high rises that host our most vulnerable population, our elders, as well as some mentally ill residents. So we went there, we met with the new owners. They promised the community, as well as the city, security. Some upgrades with the emergency doors there. We've been over there. We've been over there for several things. And, you know, I'm still getting these complaints. And, you know, we met twice with them. Not only me, but County Board Member Lathan, our police, a number of police officers. And we still continue to go through this issue with this particular plaza. And if we could, you know, just put together something and really, really... I guess they put the pressure on them to get it together. People have to get out if there's an emergency. If there's a fire or something, they have to get out. Both doors, they have a problem with people coming in the back doors for whatever reason. And there's supposed to be some alarms on the doors so people can know who's coming in and out of that building as well as security at the front so people can know. what's in and out of that building. They do want our officers to be there, but of course our officers cannot be there. We don't pay them to monitor any private situation 24 hours. So the security is on them, and that's what we were promised. That's what we were told. So if we could circle around and have the team really, really take a look at that and see if we can come to some resolve once and for all on this situation. Because it's been going on a long, long time. It was something else, now it's this. And we met with the owners. He sounded enthusiastic. You know, we believe in him and stuff. And now everything is gone. And, you know, I just don't want a situation, you know, like we've had throughout our time. So I'm just trying to hop on it early. I appreciate you.

Thanks. I'll be sure and get together with fire safety and a good arrangement.

I appreciate you, sir. Thank you.

Older woman in Notre Dame.

Thank you, Chair. This is actually not a Public Works related, so you're free to go.

Exit stage right. Yes.

So I was at a neighborhood meeting last week and heard from some residents who follow along at home that there are still some problems with our broadcast. Namely, the closed captioning is inaccurate. And... detrimentally so for our hearing impaired folks at home. So I just wanted to see if maybe there's an update, like have we changed something recently? And then also our mics are not working as well. And I thought that we had invested in new mics or new mic technology. So just wanted to see what the update on that was.

I can look into the closed captioning. We haven't changed anything with it. So I can see, I'll watch back a couple of the videos and see where exactly it's going wrong. I know we use a different service for that. For the microphones itself, we did get new software. It was the wiring for the microphones that went into it. So our physical microphones were not part of that upgrade that we had received. The current upgrade that we got right now if you guys like move away from the microphone, it'll go in and out So it's really important for when you guys are speaking I know you guys want to look at each other and make eye contact But that's when we get that weird like cutting in and out. So right now they're they're pretty sensitive. I I know last budget I came up here and I told you guys it was a very costly project that we were going to try to go to in multiple phases. And so if I'm looking at the second phase, it will be to replace the actual microphones that will be up to speed to be able to handle kind of the range of volume and also just the range of like talking that you guys do during it. But I will definitely look into the closed captioning because that is definitely something that's very important. Is it on our YouTube or is it on our Channel 18? Do you know? I can look into both because I know that.

Yeah, I would look at both because I don't recall that they specified.

Because oftentimes YouTube has their own closed captioning, but we do pay for closed captioning on our Channel 18, which is broadcasted on cable, but then also on our website. Yeah.

It must be that one because they said it's the, whatever service we change where we had a live person doing it to having, yeah.

It would be our channel 18.

Okay. Yeah. And yeah, and I would see if that service is like tiered at all, like if there's like an upgrade available to deal with the, yeah, accuracy.

The issues with it. Yeah. 100%. I will definitely look into that and I will get back to you.

Cool.

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you all right next is new business is there any new business to come before this committee Hmm don't you know Toronto nope All right seeing that now it's time for citizens request to address the committee are there any citizens who wish to address the committee?

Mr. Clark in patient

Evening everybody. Good evening. I think I found a comfortable spot for the mic now so I don't blow out the speakers. So I'm going to read a statement tonight from the lovely woman who's been here the last couple weeks talking about her 16-month odyssey. She's worn out. Understandably she is stressed out and tired from dealing with all of this along with school starting this week as a lot of parents know it's a very difficult transition to get your kids into school so you can only imagine doing that while also trying to move into a new space that still isn't yours while you pay a mortgage on a home that you can't occupy. So she spoke with WICS because last week WICS said that she had turned down an offer from the city back in March. Oddly, the documentation for that is not available in any of her documentation. Now, I'm a climate believer. I've seen the level of documentation she has. I don't think she lost that one, so she's a little upset that the city gave a statement to the news that she had turned down an offer. It makes it seem difficult to deal with it, like she didn't tell the whole truth while she was up here. We know how those games get played, though. So, she feels as though that the statement was made publicly in a way that can discredit everything that she's worked so diligently to document and prove regarding the city of Springfield, Mayor Misty, and her administration. Her concerns have never been about creating a narrative. They've been about bringing attention to what she believes has been a repeated pattern of untruthfulness, negligence, and a lack of accountability. She wants people to know that she didn't bring her children before the city council for sympathy. It's very clear to her that empathy was not something she could expect to receive from circumstances She brought her children into the situation because she wanted to provide an example for them to see their mother advocate for their well-being and stand up for what is true and what is right, even when that means standing up against an entire city and the administration that leads it. Being their mother is her greatest blessing. At the same time, her children have taught her something even more important. Even as adults, we must remain teachable. She sincerely hopes that her advocacy can become a teaching moment for Mayor Misty and her administration. She wants to remind them of the importance of due diligence and accountability. When responsibilities are delegated to others, leadership must still reevaluate, redirect, and reassess when those when the same concerns are repeatedly brought to their attention. She has consistently provided documentation to support what she has said and yet continues to be portrayed as though she is somehow being dishonest when she has repeatedly provided evidence demonstrating the opposite. Regarding the alleged mud sediment offer, one was not made until today, in fact, and it's still lower than the needed amount in order to pay it off. See, a lot of times people like to think that if you keep things behind closed doors like I mentioned last I digress. When she followed up with WICS, she was told that she had spoken with an attorney. That raises another question. Was the alleged settlement offer that was supposedly made in March, or is there now a claim that it occurred in May? Regardless of whether she spoke to an attorney, the fact remains that she was negligent and is more than willing to provide the documentation to anyone that asks, supporting every single statement made here within and previously. You know, I've got to say, man, I've talked to other city administrative people that worked here before, and essentially money for everybody else? It is absolutely frustrating that the city administration wants to silence city members that are elected officials representing the community to avoid and lessen your own liability. If you were worried about liability, I've got news for you. There are easy ways It's absolutely appalling that I have to come here again and speak about this because the city has failed to make a realistic offer and does so right before council, almost as though they intended to drop a release on it to silence any dissent, as they've done previously. Thank you. Thank you.

Aaron Cahill.

Hey guys, I'm back. I actually got a few things that I need to bring up. Big one is actually, did you know if your first DUI conviction, you get a minimum of one year loss of full driving privileges? One year you can't drive. Seems a little hard to make a living for certain individuals if they can't drive, don't it? So why is she on the police force still? Just saying. I lose my license for a year if I'm caught drunk driving, but a cop doesn't. A cop doesn't even go to court for it. The police investigate themselves and wouldn't you look at that? Nothing wrong was done. She what, got a couple months vacation? Busted down from a sergeant? That's a BS punishment. Not even the military gets that. Yeah, if you're caught driving drunk by the military, you go to jail for at least a week until they decide to take you to court. Yeah, and then it could be loss of rank, loss of money, loss of privilege, loss of ability to drive one base. You could even be kicked out of base housing if the judge so sees it fit. We're just going to let the cop go right on back to work. That's pretty cool. Another thing is over a million dollars for ShotSpotter still. What have we done in the areas of ShotSpotter to fix the community? Have we... fixed abandoned buildings? Have we bulldozed garbage buildings that don't need to be there? Have we put any money into repairs? I sat here when the new police chief gave us all this awesome speech about the broken windows theory. I don't think he understands what the broken windows theory is, so I'll break it down for y'all. The broken windows theory states that if there is a minor criminality occurring in a certain area, it invites larger criminality. Meaning, streetlights, sidewalks, broken windows, stuff like that that is in the city's ability to fix will lead to larger crimes. Murder, drive-bys, embezzlement. Yes, it does work that way. Crime works that way. I know. Freaking crazy. But why is it that any time certain wards come up here, and we all know wards, they've got to essentially come up here and it feels like bend the knee to get any money for their war.

That shouldn't be the case.

We should be throwing money at citizens to make their lives better. over a million dollars for more ShotSpotter coverage or to renew a ShotSpotter contract when ShotSpotter has never proven to bring down crime rates. Chicago got rid of most of their ShotSpotters because it was costing them more than it was saving. Chicago is doing it. I'd say that probably not in our best interest to have shots fired. Because I know their crime rate is a lot higher than ours. I'm pretty certain of it. You know? One other thing I want to touch on as my time dwindles here. If anybody on the council is tired of hearing about racism... Imagine how sick and tired people are of experiencing it. I mean, you know, did we ever can that guy that dropped the N-word while on duty? I'm curious about that one. Or is he still working for the city?

No, nothing?

We're not sure?

All right, cool.

Well, for the city's sake, I hope he's not working for the city anymore because that is one hell of a lawsuit.

Tara Lee. Veronica Glass. Tara Standage. James Johnson.

Let me start with saying, WCIA Channel 3 Decatur, you're the best news station in Central Illinois. And if you guys ever start watching Channel 3 news, turn to Channel 3 news. Because our local news is not going to cut it. It's fake news. Or they only want us to hear and know what they want us to hear. that the weather station, the weather team, Mr. Redpath, you know why the storms, we didn't know about them storms, the first one where it hit the north end, and then the one two weeks ago when it blew through here on the first weekend of the fair? It's because they were busy following storms over in Indiana at the border. They don't care about this area. We got to follow storms all the way to the Indiana border. But we missing storms right here in town. So far as I'm concerned, that whole, all of them can go far at Kite, near some power lines. Now, Gary, Indiana, we praying for you, we hear you, we see you. Memphis, Tennessee, we hear you, we praying too. We know what's going on. Now, moving on. I'm going to throw some names out. For you ones that have lived long enough and know, remember Rodney King? Let me say his name again, Rodney King. And if you remember, for you ones and chairman today, I'm sure you've been around long enough, you know, you remember this. This man got whooped. by several officers. And they tried to lie about it and say, you know, it didn't happen and blah, blah, blah. And then guess what? A videotape arose. And the truth came out. Now let me tell you another name. Sonia Massey. You remember less than a week ago, or before that, you know what happened in that case too? One officer didn't have his camera on. And she died. But thank God for the other officer who had his on. You know why I'm mentioning these two people? Because it's the same scenario that our Springfield police have done. We want to put our cameras on sleep mode. And it's appalling that none of y'all asked a question or even said anything at this horseshoe about it. Not one person. I came up here three weeks. And I hate coming up here this many times. And nobody asked a question. Y'all don't pick the police department on the hot seat. But you know what? You know what happened yesterday on Sunday? See, because God don't like evil. He ain't too proud of pretty. That man is no longer among us. And for all these people who want to hate and shoot and kill us, see, the words say business is his. It's his. So if you're going to sit up here and don't say nothing, you're just as accountable. Somebody mentioned. And now, I'm going to mention it too. Now, if I try to get on the police department and I got a DUI on my background, guess what? I don't get hired. I ain't heard nobody say nothing about that up here. So you make it make sense to me, how does anybody have a DUI that's supposed to serve and protect and still keep a job with this police department or any police department? Somebody please make it make sense to me.

Rosanna Polito.

Thank you. I'm going to title my speech, The Wheels of Justice Turn Slowly. So just so you know, the date I'm referring to on July 16, 2024, if you want to check my facts. I came and testified about the problems with our out-of-state landlords. After my testimony, the then alderman, Chuck Radpath, chimed in and pretty much backed up what I was saying. It's not just this piece of property, he said, that we're talking about, Meadowview Landing. It's the Lincoln Tower situation. Where do we go? I'm not blaming anyone, but we keep spinning our wheels here. The Lincoln Towers, that thing's a disaster. What Rosanna Polito explained to us is a disaster, but how do we get it fixed? You got any ideas? Chuck continued. My frustration is that we get to the point. This is a shell game that these out-of-state landlords are dealing with. They use bankruptcy and extend the problems to the next group and end up doing the same thing again. The poor people at Lincoln Towers are one catastrophe away from a disaster, and we all know that. We have to figure this out. These are plagues on our city. And we got to get these things cleared up. We just keep hearing the same scenario, different things, same scenario. So I'm here today to address Mr. Tony Nudo from last week. It's not the residents and renters who brought this landlord licensing upon you. You did it. You're to blame for your lack of oversight of your own. about the out-of-state landlords. He's the president of SALA, your organization that works through renters' issues. Where were you when seniors were receiving eviction notices on their door when their rent checks were already cashed? Where was Sala when our out-of-state landlords hired an office manager who had a prison record for falsifying documents? Her position gave her access to 150 senior citizens, bank accounts, and personal information like social security numbers. With my own eyes, I saw her follow a fellow senior citizen from my building to her bank. Tony, is that what you'd want? Your elderly loved one followed to the bank by a convicted felon? The lack of respect towards renters and a parent. You find it amusing that these folks are pushing the landlord licensing scheme, as you call it? We won't have to... bear the effects? Are you kidding me? I paid the price having to move from a building because senior citizens were being defrauded. I don't find it amusing that Tony Nudo, that you don't care about the welfare and rights of senior citizens who built this country and veterans who fought for this country trying to secure decent housing. Why do we need landlord licensing? Lastly, Going through this hell, I asked for help from my alderman in Ward 7. No response. I filed a FOIA only to find out that my landlord was working with a lawyer for the out-of-state landlord. So much for him telling seniors that he helped seniors. The renters in Springfield need some protection. Thus, we need landlord licensing now. Thank you.

Matthew Young.

My idea is kind of a little gone on the lighter side, but I was at your meeting two weeks ago about you guys paying a lot of money to dispose of coal ash. I'm here to tell you that you don't need to be spending all that money. Take a page from the old Roman Empire. They were the one first civilization on this planet to utilize concrete. But they found a little problem. The concrete molecules had micropores in them. So what they did is they found a solution to the problem. They used volcanic ash. So I had this idea to come here to tell you guys that instead of disposing of this coal ash, why not put it to use in a pre-existing product? Our roadways, make them resistant to pothole formations, make the roads stronger by utilizing that coal ash in the concrete mixtures. Maybe then, if the experiment works, sell the product to private concrete companies, and instead of costing the city money, why not sell a product? maybe put them in 50-pound bags, maybe 10-pound bags, put them on a pallet, sell them to these concrete companies and tell them, hey, we've experimented with this. It's making our roadways stronger. We're selling this product to help you sell a good product and a product that other people can use to build more stronger structures. Anybody have any questions about this? that instead of paying someone to dispose of this coal ash, utilize it in a pre-existing product. Therefore, it won't cost a single dime to the city of Springfield. And I spoke to you about it, I spoke to you about it, and I'll tell you, these concrete roads, that the Romans built. Some of them were built around when Jesus Christ was on this planet. Some of these roads are still being used by the countries that the Roman Empire was a part of. Some of these roads have actually resisted the pounding of fully loaded 18-wheelers. And so if IDOC can use this product and make us stronger roads throughout all of Illinois, and the experiment works, then sell the coal ash to private companies and let them sell a better product with the coal ash that you guys could sell instead of having the city cost money to dispose of it. And on one other note, I'm wanting to know what's going on with my parking issue that I've been having. Has there been any sort of movement with that? I know I'm trying to speak to LaKisha Purchase about it because this is her ward and I'm wanting to work some sort of a program out that would benefit people working in downtown Springfield that they wouldn't have to be worrying about getting parking fines for parking peacefully while going into their work sites. Would there be a way that I can meet up with you sometime and draft up maybe a plan?

Yes, you can. Thank you, Chair. Yes, you can, and then I will speak with Corporation Council more.

And then, like I said, the Romans had it right. Their roads are still around. Their roads have existed since Jesus Christ was here. Their roads have resisted pounding of those 18-wheelers. Instead of costing the taxpayers money, sell the product. Experiment with it. Give it to IDOT. See if they can incorporate it into their concrete. And if it works, you all have a product to sell. Appreciate you. Thank you, and have a nice day. Thank you. Thank you, sir.

Dr. Johnson.

First, peace to Sonya Massey and her family. Also, black people don't hang themselves now to the committee on the whole. My address today is about communication and relations between the city of Springfield and its citizens. Over the three and a half years that I have watched the conversations, presentations, scenarios and shenanigans around this horseshoe, I've been shocked and aghast at the differences between the ways that certain council members, the clerk and the mayor treat members of different groups of citizens in Springfield. If some members have an advanced degree, you might treat us differently. If someone disagrees with you but is white, male, and or popular in the city, you might treat them with some respect or tolerance. But if citizens of color without degrees, money, or power address this council, your responses have been quite telling. As quoted by Ken Patien on the August 11th meeting, you're never beating those racist allegations. However, today, I would like to qualify Ken's remarks. If the city of Springfield mayor and city council would follow the many recommendations posed by members of marginalized groups and organizations in this city, you could actually make the progress that a capital city should make. If this administration showed the least bit of cultural competence toward the different ethnic, civic, and immigrant groups... Sorry, that's my page. you might actually receive the respect of those same citizens. For instance, Black Lives Matter Springfield has been quite patient and kind to city officials. They have engaged in the very tiresome meetings for accountability of the Springfield police for longer than I have lived here. They have addressed each of you with the type of respect that you say you deserve. They have never come to a meeting with any of you without background research and a willing spirit of compromise, yet With every opportunity afforded to the city, the current administration has disregarded and ignored their recommendations and usurped their time and efforts with useless platitudes and missed opportunities for resolve. In fact, they have also calmly listened to and acknowledged black citizens who call them names specifically because they met with you in a spirit of compromise. They still took the time to try to establish communication and positive relations with you, hoping that you would see reason and respect black PLC and poor citizens the way you do with people of means. You did not. The Springfield Immigrant Alliance Network has addressed the ways that you treat immigrants of fewer means. They have even enlisted the help of the Springfield Coalition for Dismantling Racism to implore you to take a more inclusive stance to welcome immigrants to Springfield instead of derogating them. The Dominican Sisters have stood with Cyan in their own mission, called by God into right relationship with all creation and graced by Dominican life and mission, to compassionately preached the gospel of Jesus Christ. The sisters have attempted to guide you toward compassionate treatment of immigrants and people of color. Again, you have refused over and over again. High school teachers and students have addressed the council asking for an official permanent recognition of Indigenous Peoples Day instead of or even alongside the traditional Columbus Day recognition. A completely inaccurate and ahistorical account of Columbus's disrespectful, genocidal, imperialistic, and dehumanizing treatment of Native American or indigenous Turtle Island citizens. And black educators have echoed their sentiments because of Columbus's transport and treatment of enslaved Africans. The chairman of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation has said that the state of Illinois is proving that the government is capable of reflecting on the harmful past and planning for the future that respects and celebrates our interconnectedness. But the City Council of Springfield has shown nothing but blatant disregard. Then the last year, the mayor signed a temporary proclamation recognizing Indigenous Peoples Day for one day in 2025. One day in one year. So then, Your treatment of Tierra Lee and the flooding and ruining of her home is no surprise to any of us. Thank you towards two, three, four, five, and six for assisting as you could. But the city's refusal to enact a landlord registry is certainly par for the course also. Your police treatment of several citizens on the east side by the jump out boys and stops of black drivers at 5.7 times that of whites. Your portrayal of the east side as a hotbed of crime while never mentioning the meth labs and cocaine distribution in the north and west. several other racially motivated instances only CEO can statement that not only will you never beat the allegations of racism, but you seem so firm and proud of being racist.

Thank you. That's all, Ms. Chairman. Corporate Council, is there any need for executive session? No need. I take a motion for adjourn. So moved. Second.