City Council - Regular Meeting

I'd like to call this meeting of the Princeton City Council to order. Clavery here. Council member Newman here. Gomemed here. McCall and here. Would you please stand joining me in the pledge of allegiance?

I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay, very good. So, this is our last council meeting of the year. Hard to believe that 2025 is wrapped up here. Wow. Um, we're going to go ahead now and go to uh before we start official public comment. We have uh in that we have Princeton Veterans Organization uh and Lynn Mullins is going to speak. So, Lyn, come up to the microphone, please. All righty. I believe I was here in May and I left the letter in front of you for what I spoke in May just as a reference cuz I'm going to speak on it. So the letter I put in front of you is a copy what I read in May and I'm here to reiterate what was said that night and to follow up on the progress and requests made and ask additional and an additional request. Just as I stated then, I am here representing the Princeton's Veterans Group. Princon's Veterans Group is a self-giving name agreed by all the groups that is made up of the BFW post 4323, the American Legion Post 125, and the Ambance Post 180. Each having their own charters. Okay. The BFW's charter calls for members to have served in theater of operations during time of war. The American Legion, who just recently chartered calls for all members to have

served during time of war. And the ANB all they ask out of their veterans is to have served honorably during time of peace or war. Okay? and the Princeton's Veterans Group, as we call ourselves, are comprised of all three of these chartered organizations and are somewhat of an anomaly in doing so. We realize that these three organizations in town this in a town this size would would struggle to exist if we had not been working together. But it wasn't just out of necessity. We understood and respect all who serve, no matter when or how long they serve. One of our presidents popularized the term and philosophy of peace through strength. You cannot possibly believe in peace through strength without acknowledging and respecting all those who serve during time of peace or during time of war. Why do I mention this? Because that's exactly what the veterans recognize and see and want from the park across the street. That all veterans contributed to the liberties given to this nation regardless of when they served during times of peace or war. And no one deserving to be elevated above the other through special recognition. With this being said, I referred to the sheet that I gave you before this meeting. In addition to the responsibility that I had on that sheet of vetting the names and on the plaques inside the gazebo, the little 2x4 plaques, 2 in x 4 in plaques with the names of deceased veterans from this area.

The Veterans Group has accepted responsibility for the maintenance and care of the park from the Lions Club. The Veterans Group thanks them for all they have done over the years to make the park what it is and hope they continue to use the park for their events. As as for the previous request by the veterans group to this city that's that's listed on that sheet, we asked then and may that the Princeton's Veterans Group respectfully requested that the individual plaques and monuments in the park to be removed. The above name plaques are the ones uh are other than the ones the two before that's up in the gazebo. We are asking for the larger ones and the monuments and and the bike racks and stuff like that to be removed. Okay. The above main plaques. Okay. Excuse me. Some progress has been made up to this point, but we feel that this should be agreed upon by this council and by putting it in writing then we have authority to proceed with that. So, it's up to this council to come up with that decision and give the authority and that would help get get that done. It's already some of it has already been done but the rest has not. The second request we made then is we asked the council to put in writing as to guide future governing bodies the rules and guidances to prevent future displays that contradict the intent of the Veterans Park as we see it. and that is

to honor all who serve without honor and blood over another. And I am unaware as to the council's response on that request. I never got anything back. I don't know if you discussed it after that meeting or what, but never got any response back on that. The third request that we made and final request we made at the time was understanding that the city of Princeton has overall responsibility for the park, the Princeton's veterans group request that all future upgrades and improvements be deferred to the veterans group before final approval to ensure improvements were improvements and work within the or within the intent of honoring all veterans equally. Okay. The veteran group appreciates how the city has honored that request and has been working with us to and keeping us up on any of the changes made thus far. So we we acknowledge that that had in fact been going on throughout the process of the changes that's happened and and and what we requested and learning about some of the history of the park. It's come to our attention that the park has not officially been named Veterans Park. I looked through some minutes that go quite back. I did see where they did change the name of of to Rotary Park. That was in there, but nothing that took anything away from it being known as City Hall Park officially. And that's been pointed out to us. If you go on the map quest or anywhere you want to look that's called city hall park. Okay. And although everywhere and everyone I know calls it veterans park but yet there's no official. So officially,

I would like to the Princeton Veterans request that the council name the park this due east across Main Street, currently named City Hall Park, but known to all locals as Veterans Park. We request that it be named Veterans Park officially. Thank you. That's all I have. I've got a copy of these police to all council members also pass you see. Thank you Lyn before you step down but could uh this is kind of a hybrid situation. I was given the responsibility to be the lean and I I got mired down in some issues. I I did I thought I did a fair job. Not as good as I if I was reporting to Lyn as my uh chain of command. He'd probably make me do a few push-ups right now. So, uh, Don Slesky's offered to take over on this, and I appreciate that. He's done some research on this, and he's been keyed in on some things the past, uh, roughly two months. So Don's going to be your llays on this and and I think it's a consensus from the council if we could plan that we could just shoot for the say let's shoot for the second meeting in January that we could have something ready to go with a some type of a yeah some type of a proclamation or it would be a resolution to name it Veterans Park. That'll give us we get to the first meeting in January. There could be some housekeeping there. We got some things going on on our agenda, but by the second meeting, that might be an appropriate time to get this uh named sections parked. How's the council feel about that? Good.

Absolutely. I also think that if to develop some guidelines about how the park should be overseen could be included in that as well if we can. That'd be great. And Don, you you're getting work on those too with Lynn on those. Yeah, I'll I'll work with you on it. Okay.

I'll give you a little history on the park. So, the park was called um City Hall Park. had been for years. It was a park that um had a raised concrete platform in the center of it really. I don't know what the platform was for. Not really any plans. It was just kind of a a empty park. It had a couple steel park benches that some elderly people gathered in and sitt around. And uh they used to have for homestead they used to have like markets over there. Well, there was kind of a concern that there was really no off parking. there was a strip that faces to the um south that was like a you can park a couple of cars there but Crescent Electric at the time had the building where the church is and so that was kind of a parking for Crest Electric there. So along probably 1999 and I've got this from my personal collection of stuff. There was a Main Street um post that was a present future. It was one of these main street revitalization things that they had uh a mission statement to recognize, revitalize, and promote the historical culture, social, and economic significance of downtown Princeton and educate the community on the benefits of its preservation throughout the involvement of the entire community. And what they did back then was they took I don't know how they were paid back or what they had done, but they had acquired um just under $600,000 worth of loans from the local banks and they were going they got also got a grant. They were going to reinvest this into Main Street. And part of the reinvestment was that they were going to work on two park projects. And one of them was the park that you mentioned across the street. And the other one is a watering fountain park that is part of Park Avenue West and South Pleasant. Um

or North Pleasant. No, Pleasant Street. South Pleasant. South Pleasant. And that's the that's the um water fountain that you see for the horses and the dogs up there. Oh wow. And I remember they did some beautifification of that. They got the pump working for it. Um the water dogs still drink out of it. Don't see any horses today, but there might be. Um and I think there was a gardening club. There's still a gardening club that takes care of that there. Now over there. And here's from 99. Here is a picture of your park over there. There's one monument in it which that's a veterans monument, is it? Y you like that one rev or you want it removed? No, that that that one is not elevating any indiv.

Okay. You you mentioned all the all of them removed and I thought you don't don't want that one removed, do you? Okay. that. So, there's a gazebo there and there's a few small planting trees there. And I had seen I remember back from the past I think it was um Jim Smith um Don Smith, Tom Cluster, and probably um um Window Buff. Right.

Right. Um they they got together and they wanted to have off- streetet parking and at the time Arie Clayton was the mayor and he thought that that would be good because it would be a safety issue especially with Homestead going on. So they created those parking spots you see there as part of their off street parking that's there. And I know Jim Smith the bricks that are laid over there are off of Pleasant Street by the jail. They were reclaimed from the um the street and uh they laid some roots over there. The gazebo was erected and they ended up giving I think about 2002 I think it was a governor's award that they got and typically those awards they don't necessarily recognize individual groups for doing work that they say that you really do it for a sense of purpose for your community. But nevertheless, they got a award and they I think it was that group that decided to name it Veterans Park. They just named it Veterans Park because I think Jim Smith announced that they had a name for it as Veterans Park. The gardening committee, I believe, were elderly got tired of working on it and at some point the Lions Club came into it and I know the Lions Club worked on it and I think the bike rack is actually the cities that they installed. Is that correct?

It's in memory of the city actually installed. Al, is that correct? You're sh your head. Is that right? That bicycle part rack was sitting out in the old shed out there by the landscape dump. Sure. And we cleaned it up, powder painted it and installed it. Okay. There. Got it. So, it's a city owned. Yeah. City owned. So, the Lions Club, you are correct. The Lions Club has done a lot of work over there maintaining it. So you're maintaining that you want as a veterans group to take it over entirely on the upkeep or do you want any help? We we

we were asked to replace what the Lions Club had been doing, which I consider just the maintenance minor care and that some and I apologize for that, but that's just I I I see the city is doing the major lifting over there and they have been I I've been with the city for the last two decades plus and I've seen the city has been doing the major lifting. I mean, just like the tree removal just a month or so ago, the the lawn care and and mowing, the city's paid for that. Yeah.

Okay. Uh we had already taken up responsibility because it bounced around and I guess Tom Rut had ran with taking care of the two before plaques in there and seeing to it that they were engraved and stuff for a few years. No. Okay. I I only know what else. Al took those home and cleaned them up because we've been the ones putting them up. Okay. Well, let's if you could then let's Don, do you have anything else you want to add to this after your history? I appreciate you. No, I just I just I just brought the history up as to the park of how it ended up being named park. Okay. So, we'd like to get that officially then.

There was something about the monument. The big monument was once up here by the city building and got removed for the Virgil box plaque and then and I guess that it had went away for a while and maybe that was the mound you were talking about some big concrete thing and then but now there it is. So that monument's been around, but I nobody can tell me. And I understand you are the history buff and I was hoping to get with it sometime to find out how long from 1982 to what time that monument was reinstalled in the park

because the city probably had it sitting in one of their well warehouses is the what I envisioned until somebody said, "Let's make it better. Some of these some of these monuments tend to move around. Like there's a there's a a big rock that had Darius Miller on it. There's a bronze plaque in it. I don't know where that's at now. So, it's probably been moved. You've got the um sculpture that was up there in the walkway. It's not over at the library. So, sometimes monuments over time. Yeah. They're they're they and and we and because we come and we go and I was just wanting something to be established. I mean, ever since I've been here, I only came here since 2003.

Okay. And I've got with the veterans organizations probably about six, 2006. So, but we've always held our 11th month, 11th day, 11th hour ceremony on Veterans Day in this park. It's pretty miserable weather most of the time,

but we've we've we've claimed that as home for our veterans park, memorial park where we go and celebrate our dead, memorialize our dead, excuse me. We do that up at the county park, but this here is Veterans Park. We do Veterans Day at Veterans Park. And that's what I've always known it as. And so I'm Johnny come lately and I appreciate all the history but we as a group as a as a whole it was a 100% vote multiple times the same answer was we in we are insistent that the city see it our way. Obviously, we know that it is the city's responsibility that it it be honored as all veterans park. It's veterans park. It isn't for special memorializing and that's included all veterans much less to me. That's

But it will always remain a city park. Yeah. He retained ownership of ownership of it. Well, we we wasn't Yes. Never did we try to claim ownership or take right. I've said that multiple times.

It was just officially to be named Veterans Park because I remember when uh I was at the console and they did Rotary Park. I didn't take very long. It's like it happened like this and it was named Rotary Park to include a small um monument or naming it Rotary Park which turned out to be a little bigger than what I thought. Um, so that happened pretty quick. Again, I came here in 2005. Uh, so as far as the history of it, I've always known it as a veterans park myself and ever since I joined, I was already part of the BFW when I came here and since I joined the groups, we always are somewhere there. So

quick question. Um, you mentioned the plaques and I think there's been two sides. I'm not sure who's maintaining or prompt those plaques to be put up there when somebody passes away. Yeah. Is that something you guys are wanting to take over? Yes, we we agreed to that before the issues of all the big plaques came up.

Okay. the class monuments came up because there were people asking us and we we have a means of finding out as well as anybody who's a veteran and who's a local veteran and and that was part of the premise. I mean was putting people's name there that are deceased that have a relation to the town. I mean that was a premise behind what it was. How much have you put up since you've taken over? Supposedly this right just this last year. Yeah. Two two

two. If we have uh any questions or comments from the council I think we have a plan of action that uh Don is going to be our lay on. I'll assist him. So we'll pass baton to him and I will work with whoever I can to help you with that. And the goal is at the second meeting in January, we'll have some type of resolution proclamation to put it officially as Veterans Park. Plan of action. Sound good. Council we appreciate everyone's patience as we through some of this. Okay. And then thank you for coming tonight. Appreciate that.

Is there any We're now we're going to go to public comment. Is there anybody like to speak of a comment period at the beginning of the meeting as well at the end? And we'd love to have you speak if you would like to u now or you can wait till the very end of the meeting. Seeing none, we'll go ahead now and approve the minutes, please. I move that we approve the minutes from our regular council meeting on December 1st, 2025. Second. Motion second. Is there any questions or comments concerning those minutes from the council? Seeing none clear, call the role. Council member Newman. Hi. Gomez. Hi. McCall. Hi. Sitki. Hi. and mayor. Hi, thank you. Now, we're going to go to invoices with city clerk Janet Henning.

In the department of accounts and finances, we have 132,69459. The Department of Streets and Public Improvements, $216,954.17. The Department of Public Safety, $349,613.16. and the Department of Public Property and Utilities $848,81956 with a grand total of 1,548,8148. Mayor, council members present have confirmed the reviews of all the invoices and they're now submitted for this.

I move that we approve the invoices as presented. Second, we have a motion and second. Any questions or comments from the council concerning those invoices? Seeing none, cler call the role. Council member Newman. Hi. Gomez. Hi. McCall. Hi. Silinski. Hi. May. I. Next on the agenda, we have ordinance 0-25-16 amending the city of Princeton land development code to allow by special use the locating of outdoor and indoor sports and recreation and outdoor and indoor spectator sports in an agricultural azoned district. This is the second and final reading.

I move that we approve ordinance 0-25-16. Second. We have a motion and second. And again, this is a second reading. Is there any questions or comments for the council? Anything additional? We got representatives here from Princeton High School. Otherwise, cler call the role. Council member Newman. Hi. Gomez. Hi. McCall. Hi. Silleski. Hi. Mayor Bakery. I. Next on the agenda, we have ordinance O-25-17 amending the city code of ordinances to establish regulations for ground mounted solar arrays and res residential districts. This is our first reading. Okay. Now, is that correct on that? Are we going to put that on hold?

Yeah. I think the consensus with plan commission uh last Tuesday was that we were going to really look into that with some of your feedback and then come back to the table with something uh that would be everyone would appreciate and we got a little time on that since winters set in. So, we're not going to take any action on that tonight. Should we move to table it or is that necessary? Okay. I'm going to I move that we table ordinance O-25- Oops. What you said? Table indefinitely. Right. Yeah. I move that we table ordinance 0-25-17 indefinitely. Indefinitely. Forever and ever.

We appreciate the full tech staff, but that's not all. We do. We'll get the Robins rules and order here. What do they say figured out? If you want to do it every every meeting. No, no, no. I think I think we're good with this, Michael. We have a motion and a second on tableing that indefinitely at this point. Did we get a second? We did. Okay. Yeah, we did. Good question. Clear call the role, please. Okay. Council member Newman. Hi. Gomez. Hi. McCall. Hi. Seleki. Hi. And mayor maker. Hi.

All right. Next, we have ordinance-25-018. levying of taxes for corporate purposes for the fiscal year commencing on the first day of May 2026 and ending on the 30th day of April 2027 for the city of Princeton Bureau County, Illinois. This is the second and final reading. I move that we approve ordinance 0-25-018. Second. We have a motion and second. Again, this is the second reading. Register council. Otherwise, cler call the role. Council member Newman. Hi. Gomez. Hi. McCall. Hi. Silki. Hi. And Mayor Maker. I. Next we have a motion for the 2026 council meeting dates.

I move that we approve the motion to approve the 2026 city council dates. Motion second. That's pretty straightforward. Question on that. So clear call. Council member Newman. Hi. Gomez. Hi. McCall. Hi. Silky. Hi. And mayor Mry. Hi. Uh I move that we approve the recommendation variance approval for Eric and Bridget Yolandi. Second. Okay. A motion and second. Is there any questions or comments to I think we're pretty on what's going on there. Michael just a quick summary of Sure. all this just so we all know.

And I say brief on the summary. I'm not in a rush but that's fun about a four-year project right at least. So, this is it's an existing deck that was built without variance or permit 7 years ago. So, we hired uh John's firm uh Alice Hall was our attorney on that. The zoning code uh they came to a um conditional agreement that if the variance was approved flush with the house that that they we could settle it that way so it doesn't have to go to court to get litigated. Uh everyone thought it was fair. a compromised plan commission saw it that way and this state passed it all on to you.

Any questions or comment on comments on the council that was and that was approved unanimously by the planning and zoning commission. Okay, seeing none, cler call role. Council member Newan I call I Okay, now we're on to the motion to approve the estate and we have Teresa explain a little about that before you go that motion. Would you prefer? Yes. Okay. Very good. Teresa, would you like to give us a little upset update on that? What's going on?

Uh, as you know, with our benefits manual and our personnel manual, two different documents, it can get kind of confusing, but they should be revisited every so many years. We just had an update to this about two years ago, I believe. Um, a couple of items that are coming up in for suggestions for update are coming in with what's coming up this next spring after the first of the year here. We'll have four union negotiations started. So, some of the stuff needs to we need to make sure we get this cleaned up before we go into those discussions with the unions. That way, everything's cleared up. Um, because in their contract, it actually references these manuals. So I need to make sure that everything's uh clear. So there are three items. One is on holidays, one is on plow and one is on separation of employment. So first of all the first one can be in the benefits manual where we have our listed holidays and in your packet I have them highlighted on the ones that impacted. Uh we've talked about this I don't know how many years uh with with department head has been employed comes up every year during negotiations with the contracts in comparison to other communities we don't have a lot of leverage there because we have 10 we had 10 paid holidays which what we currently have um and in the sheet I believe I gave you and I do have a copy of these if you want them um in comparison to the surrounding communities as well as the county that's at holiday. Um for you guys, um it's just it's one way to maybe level the the field uh and give a little bit of a I don't want to say competition with other communities and counties when it

comes to just holidays. So, the two that we're kind of looking at is we have Christmas Eve is a half day, New Year's Eve is a half day. We usually end up closing city hall to the public anyways. So, if we can knock those two out like it's just one more day and then the other one that comes up as a question throughout almost every year is it's Good Friday, but we call it spring holiday in some of the communities. That's one of them that usually the uh banks are closed, post office closed, schools closed. So, it's just one kind of one of those that lingers out there. So, those are the two that I'm I would be proposing. Uh, and that's been cleared with departments to make sure that those those work out for them as well. Um, in your packet that or that whole packet that I just gave you, uh, there are ignore the first couple rows that have really your glasses on. Sorry. There's about 91 communities that are reported, but the the top ones don't really count because they're not they're not reporting the same amount. Um, there's something different going on there. So average most communities if you average these out we're right about around about around 11 and a half vacation days across the state. Now some of them go all the way up to 15 days but that's you know it stretches anywhere from 6 to 15. So um that's just for your for your own info there if you want to take a peek and it even indicates which ones are your holidays. So, um, Junth is another new one that most are having off, but we we haven't closed that one. So, it's up to discussion uh for the council on that one.

Do you want me to go on to the next one or you want? No, let's do one at a time. Okay. Teresa, did you say that the schools are closed on Good Friday here in town? Uh, schools. Yes. Thank you for being here. Yeah. I'd asked Teresa numbers. So when we take our our how many u full-time people do we have on staff roughly? Uh we're over 80 now. 80 right now. So if you add up what a a holiday costs for the city that's basically everybody salaries for the day. It's about $25,000. 80 employees.

You know I'd like to hear the council's thoughts on this. But I I'll just start in by saying um you know the the two half days it's a little um easier to um give those up in the sense I say give them up to offer those to the our full-time employees and say thank you for their service. Um coming in it's a lot of people that work the day shift and I know this doesn't account the fire department and the police department to have their uh different hours but uh they come in 7:00 in the morning and they go home at 11. So, I would just encourage that the council consider uh upfront we'll go ahead and give the additional two half days. That gives us a full day. And then I did a little research on the city approved and off their website which shows the 2025 observed holidays. I want to get a sense where they're at. Um they do a total of 11 right now. Now, out of those 11, um they they do Martin Luther King Day and we do some other different things. I I I caution the council that you know someday we may be forced and I don't mean that be a negative way to to take on some additional holidays. So I I shouldn't use the term force but so I I would encourage the council to consider a little bit of a compromise here the two halves and then we'll we'll forgo the other full uh holiday for the time being. Any thoughts from the council?

I think you've got one community here that is the only one listed that gives Easter off. And I don't know that I've ever seen that listed anywhere else as a holiday that they give off, but the one has it listed here, which if you take that one, it brings them down to 11. Um, and I would I would agree those half days, Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve, I think those would be beneficial to the U employees to have those off and forgo the other full day would be my thought because it's not necessary or not not a good idea or Um, I'm thinking that I'm looking at some of these other communities here that they have some off that I think possibly may end up being mandated by the state

and you know to give that second full day off and then you find out that these are mandated after you've done it. I don't know. I don't know if I'm willing to really give up that other day. What What's your thoughts on that? Well, I'm thinking that you would.

I am. I'm thinking that we have 80 loyal employees who do great work for us and step up each and every time. And we're looking at $25,000. We just we just spent a million and a half. And I I I'm not sure that why why couldn't we treat our employees and give them an extra day? I mean 30 over 30% of companies and municipalities give Good Friday off across the country. I don't know why why short change employees if we want to short change people maybe we shouldn't have given that 30,000 to the Chamber of Commerce but we did that. So I think we should do it.

I have a question. Is it time yet for the uh we get to smoke? I'd like to get to council thoughts first and and we'll be glad to have you talk. Ma'am, go ahead. Is Jerry

what what I'm what I'm thinking about is I know that that I work for the county and a lot of it really didn't have anything to do with. I personally would go in on the holidays myself. I am salary so I I go in to check on things from time to time. Um but something you have to look for sometimes is not only the salary but it's also the payroll taxes going get involved in it. IMRF gets involved in it or any retirement 401k that's involved with any of the salaries which anybody that has worked in and done any kind of payrolls or anything else know that it's not just that one particular salary is not just 20,000 it's not just 30,000 it actually increases. So, um, this is something that I I kind of been thinking about since I had a call today is like, uh, maybe there's something that we could have had a special meeting on and to kind of discuss it. I know that a lot of the discussions that happened are basically with city manager and with the unions and there has never been anybody involved. Maybe the mayor has been involved with some of it and usually we get the information uh at the last minute which is something that you know some of the things that I probably would like to have had ahead of time to kind of discuss it a little bit myself uh to make uh uh things and as far as like Dur County if you want to compare things Dur County to uh the city of Princeton the pitch bills are a little different. I can tell you that right now. Um I hope the prime is a little different because we basically work out grants and fees. Uh we're not strictly uh basically an entity that works solely out of taxpayer money from the taxes

here uh from property taxes. We do other things. Yeah. Um sometimes you want to reward um employees u but if you look at it now is like our pensions are not even funded all the way you know what 50 some% 50 some% and so you getting anywhere with this hector or what's what do you think should we or shouldn't we? I don't want to get into that. Okay but thank you for asking.

Sure. Um but you know personally right now I think that if anything we would need to hold off on one of the days and see um I know that uh the Christmas Eve and New Year's is usually time for families to kind of get uh prepped and get together to celebrate.

Mike, I personally agree with Jerry here. I think it's a benefit for our employees. we're spending money where they're working or not working. It's not, you know, 25,000 extra we're spending here. Um, I think it's a benefit like like Jerry said, we got a lot of new employees here and I think it is a benefit to them to to put that on there. So, that's my opinion.

So, it sounds like we've got we're all in agreement on the the two half. That's not a problem. So, we're already in in fact as of tonight we're contributing 25,000 additional to the employees and that includes all union employees as well as department heads every but it's a full-time employee. Um the question is do we add that second holiday on there and um and there is concern that maybe we will be mandated down the road for some additional holidays. So, um I would u say that at this point I would like to ask the council then I think we have we don't have a consensus completely here of course that we move forward with the two half-day holidays and we we we wait on the other holiday. I know you're going to be negotiated with four different contracts this year, right? And so I don't want to be negotiating against myself and I and we all we all appreciate our employees. We know that we all do. So this was brought up just two weeks ago for the first time and we're taking I think fairly quick action on this. So, at this point, um there's no consensus other than we you have three. Uh Council Member, um Gomez, you're in favor of just the two half days and the other one

and and John, you're

I'm in favor of the half days. The other one, you know, the other thing that I I really wanted to know and I don't know is you look at the other communities, but I don't have any visibility of what their total benefit package is. and without knowing what their social benefit package is, you know, there may be an aspect to it that we don't see here. And so I think it would be beneficial to know a little bigger picture of what the benefit package is. And you know, if we're lagging in that benefit package, then we need to address that overall the whole thing. And also, I think we have a great group of employees. It's not that my decision is based on the fact that I don't think that that's the case. Okay. Well, we have three two and so we don't have we have consensus at this point. Um how would we be taking a formal action on this then tonight?

Maybe we should table it and have a resolution in the next meeting or something because it sounds like we're there somewhat of an impass. Maybe we need some time to think about it and then take a vote and see how it falls. I I would like to have time to gather just a little bit more information from this bill. Okay, let's put it to the second meeting again. We got the first meeting in uh January. We got a lot going on and that'll be fine. Go to the second meeting. And this is uh the city of Peru that I pulled up with 11 holidays, but let's make sure we verify that. Okay. I got that just off your website cuz websites change. Actually, it might be on that sheet. But we have agreed on the two half days. So that's really not an issue. We're just going to talk about that. Teresa, are these all these communities, how many are union me and how many are non-union?

Well, I would say most of them are going to be used. Okay. Yeah. And that's what I think uh Don had brought that question up to me about the benefits package last week. And the best explanation for that is when you go into negotiations, you have your benefit packages that are being prepared. So really, the union kind of keep everything in check, but you're the benefits are really going to kind of stay close. Pretty close. So,

okay. So we're going to shoot for the second meeting in January in that and we'll do between now and the next so fresh her mind. Teresa will give us an email at the end of the week as she normally does which we appreciate on Friday letting us confirm if Peru is indeed 11. Okay. So I'd like to hear from Peru. Very good for your input tonight on that. And let's see here. Oh no. Where are we?

So the next one's uh in the personnel manual. So we're going to go to the other manual. Uh we recently updated for the what we call plow which is the Illinois paid leave for all workers act which is as part-time the main gist of it as a part-time worker you're able to accumulate some um time off. Uh one thing that we did overlook when we put this together the standard max was um based on a 40hour work week. However, when it comes to part-time fire it's a different shift. You get different hours. So, we needed to make up for that that difference. That way, when they take a shift off from the hours that they've earned, it's a complete shift and it doesn't keep it a partial shift being taken off and then having somebody come in and fill. So, um, basically, I didn't highlight this whole thing because it did a lot of it did change, but it's mostly for that exception of the part-time firefighters, the only thing that changed. So, that one came true. Uh, the last one is separation of employment. Uh this has come up as a question I don't know how many years uh since I've been here. Uh when it comes time for retirement um mainly is the focus of this um that vacation personal it's in the third highlight just section there. Vacation personal or sick time shall not be used to extend an employees final day of work. Meaning if you have built out four months of vacation time, you can't work and then take four months off and then retire after that four month.

Um and that al so that means you can't leave four months early. Right. Right. Okay.

Um you should work through that period up to your final day. Uh if you do take some time off within the that time period, just get it cleared so we know mainly for the department head's sake. Uh, as you all know also from my updates, the number of retirements that we have coming up in a couple of the departments, this could cause a huge issue without having people there um on the payroll but not actually there. It does also require that they're here on their last day which means you get your, you know, all your key cards turned in, you know, computer stuff turned in, phones, log out of everything. Um sometimes in the past uh we people haven't been here on their last day and it kind of just makes things a little bit uneasy. So

I have a question on that one. Is is vacation acred? Mhm. So so while they would be off on a vacation they'd be acrewing vacation. So my question is you acrew vacation by quarters. If you were to separate, not talking retirement, to separate, can you take off, say, the beginning of the year on a 3WE hunting trip and then come back and say, I'm turning my notice. Are you getting your vacation paid that you haven't earned for that year? You earn it as you go. You earn it as you go. Okay. Okay. That's one question I had on that. You earn as you go. So,

you would be paying it back then if you used it and then turn it. Okay. um one time during the year they are allowed to do a buyback on vacation as well. So if you accumulate a lot of vacation time or not buyback the city can buy it back from you. So get some of those hours and days off the books. That's one by one right? What's that? One hour per hour you get paid or you buy. That's what I mean. Not a one per half. Teresa, is that it? Yep.

You feel good about those other two things? I was going to gloss over. I apologize. And young lady, you'd like to speak, right? Did you have something you would want to say? I can take a minute to speak, but I was I was just going to ask a question, but yes. Okay. Does it concern this what we're discussing or? Um, I was going to ask a question about the um because or do you want me to wait until public comment? Public comment then. That'd be great if you don't mind. I thought it was going to be specific about this. So, I didn't want to slice you by moving on. Uh can I just ask a question then about do you guys as far as um what you're taking care of in the package? Are you paying premiums since they're mostly unions? So premiums are completely paid, right? Insurance premium. That's obviously.

All right. Good. And we'll have you talk then in public comment if you don't mind. Okay. Good. Okay. So now where are we here? Board appointment. Good. We need a motion there to table. Are you good? the second two if we can move forward with those then. Yes. Yes, that sounds good. Okay. Is that okay? More tableling. Well, I think you should table the holidays. Okay. And then we need to Yes. approve the other two. Okay. I move we table uh our discussion regarding holidays for city employees. Second. Have a motion. Second. Clear. Call the vote. Council member Newman. I. Gomez. Hi McCall.

Hi Sleski. Hi Mary. Hi. Thank you. I move that we approve the motion uh from uh regarding the benefits handbook uh relating to separation of employment and what was topic for paid leave. Paid paid leave. I make that motion. Second. I have a motion and second to that and clear call role please. Council member Newman. I Gomez. Hi. McCall. Hi, Philipsky. Hi, Mary. Hi. Uh, move on. Yes, ma'am.

Okay. I move that we approve the reappoint to the historic commission for the historic preservation Michael Lee to fill a three-year term ending December 31st, 2028. Second motion second. Cler Newman. Hi. Hi. McCall. Hi. Silky. Hi. Mayor M. Hi. Okay. Now, Teresa Down as the city manager report.

Uh, first thing on here, this always ends up being a tongue tied. Try try to get through this. Uh, first of all, is the holidays for the upcoming first for city hall on the topic of Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. Uh, those currently right now are not holiday. It's only a half day holiday. However, we do close city hall on those days due to low staffing numbers. Um and quite frankly no foot traffic. So if we can keep the doors closed um sometimes we can get some stuff done in here if employees decide to come in to work. So otherwise we let them take that day or that half day off. So in observance of Christmas, city offices will be closed Wednesday, December 24th and Thursday the 25th. Wednesday's garbage pickup will remain the same. Thursday's garbage pickup will be picked up on Friday, December 26th. Friday's pickup will remain the same. Please put items out early. And it's almost the same thing for uh New Year's Eve. Uh in observance of New Year's office will be closed Wednesday, December 31st and Thursday, January 1st. Wednesday's garbage and recycling pickup will remain the same. Thursday's garbage and recycling pickup will be picked up on Friday. Friday's will will remain the same. Okay. Um, also the last part of your packet there is the fire pension report. And then just so you're aware, uh, we did I just scheduled the TIFF joint review board annual meeting, which we do every year with the taxing bodies. That's set for January 13th at 10:00 a.m. at city hall.

Okay. Very good.

Very good. Thank you. Um under the mayor's report, um couple things. Um Victoria Epson, our tourism director, she hosted uh coordinated the hosting of the it's called the Amtrak corridor. So there's a group of of communities that are along the Amtrak route and we say roughly say from Menota all the way down to Quincy that's included in this. So includes these would be Amtrak stops Mod, Princeton, Kiwani. Um what would be the next one? Gailsbury uh Mcome and then Quincy. So um they hosted a meeting every 3 months for the mayors to get together with the city managers in each community and they it's been uh hosted by the city. Last fall we hosted it. So it's u this year uh this fall we hosted just this past week and it was um at the um meeting room. It's on the south end of town which is called

the room. The room. Okay. Very cool. Mickey Lynn. Yeah.

Yeah. Great venue. It was great venue and um Victoria did a nice job and we had a lot of nice compliments. The community would be very proud of how we the mayor of Mcome was raving about how well we did and then he's going to host it. His community is going to host it in February. Um but the whole uh meat of it is when you go to meetings and all of us on the council we've been meeting sometimes we we glaze over at times thinking man when's this meeting going to end but it has a lot of good input in there we had um Amtrak was there represented and then I do was represented out of Chicago because I do really uh Amtrak works for I do it's a unique situation how the where the money goes but um writership was up uh roughly we got went from like 25,000 writers to 27,000 for our art little stop in Princeton for the past 12 months. And so I think they said about 6% increase what you're looking at for writership and that's good. Um Molen is still over there trying to get a a leg of a a route from Molen all the way to Wet Illinois and then hook up to the Burlington Northern route. So um it's going to be very interesting to see if that ever happens. But they're very they're very optimistic about that because some uh money was released for that. But that could be 10 years from now. The reason I bring that up is I'd say on a given weekend, um, we have at least 25% of the vehicles in the parking lot at the Amtrak station or Princeton or Iowa plates. People are traveling from the Quad Cities, if they're going to be going eastbound, they come to Princeton. Parking's free, nice parking lot. We got a great, um, station, uh, friendly staff there. And so, we hate to lose those folks that come visit Princeton. Um, but it's it could be a long time before that actually happens where we lose them. So, good meeting with Amtrak. Um, second thing is as mayor I I toured the um area career center um over at Lasal Pru High School and I'm glad we got some representatives here from Prince High School. I just want to say kudos. Um the high school invests uh in these students

that want to take vocational classes and they can be a junior and a senior and over at the area career center they teach things like welding uh woodworking uh lace metal working CNC working. They have a full um uh nursing program. They have a firefighters uh program. Uh they have an aviation program. They have an early childhood program. There's about 10 different programs they have. So the young people leave Princeton High School in the morning, take a quick bus trip over to to South Peru, and then they're there for the folks over there say they have a 100 minutes to work with those young people. Then they get back on a bus and go back to Princeton for lunch. Um, but those are 30 people in our community that may very well stay in our area and take on those trades when they get out of high school, the welders of the worlds, the carpenters. And as we all know, trying to find somebody to come work on something at your house or wherever, it's tough, man. So, we want to say thank you to the high school for their investment in that and continue that. We appreciate that. Um, so with that all said, we'll go now to um old business. And I don't know if we're going to make any actual um formal decisions yet on ebikes, but I wanted each council member to have this. This is the New York Times magazine that was just came out December 7th. It's a about eight pages here. Are ebikes out of control? And when you read through this, you this will be your homework assignment. you'll see that the real concern is the pedestrian that's on the sidewalk as well as uh you know we certainly are concerned about the the rider of the bicycle themselves but a lot of pedestrians have been hurt by these these bicycles because they're they're 30 mph missiles going down the sidewalks and down the road different directions and we appreciate that uh council member Slesky brought this up the other day so is there any additional comments on that otherwise we're going to do a little more homework on that is sa joining us on that

okay chief we're good on that we got a little more homework on that. Okay. As we said, maybe the weather's helping us out with the bikes, but as we know, they're they still the snow as well. Uh, any new business before the council this evening? Any public comment? Young lady, all you have to do is just state your name, ma'am. Okay. Nicole Dappler. Doppler the radar. Okay.

Okay. So, hi everyone. Nicole Dappler and I'm going to be running for a state representative seat in this area. So, um it's district 73. So, I since I was here, I I thought I might introduce myself, but I won't take too long since I wasn't on the agenda. Um I'm from the Port Byron Rapids City area. I have served um as a trustee for my city council for I did that for about six years. And I've served on all kinds of committees and boards for hospitals and colleges. um before I ever cared anything about politics at all. So that was just you know my way of giving back to the community while I was a stay-at-home mom. I I was a stay-at-home mom for about 10 years and otherwise I've worked in the medical field all of my life. So since 1996 I started in medical records and um have worked many jobs throughout Unity Point Health Trinity and some jobs at Trinity Health System mercy one genesis. That's all one name, one corporation. So, um, and and watching, you know, what it what it does to take Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security away from people. That's that's why I'm running. And, um, not only because of what it does to the human being, but what it does to our hospital systems. So, um, yeah, I'm I'm going to be running for a state repsy. I I would be happy to take any kind of questions if you have them. Um but protecting medical benefits is the biggest thing for me and um I also have a long family uh you know history. I have a lot of families who have been in unions so I definitely want to protect those things and just protect working people.

Okay.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Appreciate that. Um let's see any other uh public comment. Yes, Gerald, please. Good evening. I'm Geraldine Woodley, resident here in Princeton. Uh, I've been involved with Veterans Park before it was Veterans Park, probably around the year 2000, dealing with the master gardeners that actually were the ones that won that award in 2002. I'm with Lions Club. Now, everything that is definitely been put in that park has been okay by the city. It is the city that owns that park. That veterans does not have an apostrophe s. It was put there as an honor, not giving the park to somebody. Just as Zurich Park, only something like Sam's Club has an apostrophe s because Sam owns Sam's Club. So all I want to understand is if the if the veterans are taking over the park, please remember all the things that we as Lions put in that park were okay by the city. There's even newspaper articles proving it. So please remember that.

Thank you, Geraldine. And for the Lions Club members of Earth, we do appreciate all the work you've done. And I I mean that all sincerely. We every one of us council members appreciate that to give it to us where we are tonight. Um I want to wish everybody a merry Christmas. We I think wanted to say Al. I'm sorry. Jump in there. Thank you. My name is Alan Weber. I'm past president, president, vice president a couple times and I'm now treasurer. I thought didn't catch the whole thing. You made the comment somebody approached you wanting you to take over the park. Who was that person?

She did not approach me. No.

Okay. It was referenced to the mayor to me and thus to the veterans group to take over the maintenance of the park. I understand some people speak out of emotion and I held off a while waiting for maybe something to calm down and and then it not be the case. But a months or so went by and it end up yes, we accepted the responsibility of the maintenance of the park. But Miss Woodley was the first to mention this to the mayor when when she came to the meeting that night. It wasn't to me directed. I got my information from the mayor that she expected that may that the veterans should take over the maintenance of the park.

Is that correct? We had a meeting and uh the comment was made and I asked Gerald D to reiterate it was that if the veterans took over they would take over the whole thing. That's her comment was and I I'm not here tonight to to sharpshoot this but it was my understanding from her because I said is that what you want? She said yes. And I think the question was um if we could that was my interpretation at the meeting that we had was that if the veterans were going to take over the park they would take over the whole thing. meaning the maintenance of it. Okay. Then so you were the one that approached him to take it over. No. No, I was not. That was a question I asked and was never answered. No.

He mentioned that that's what she said and we waited for time for it to cool down and maybe it just squared away that it wasn't what she said, but we accepted it. I sent a message that yes, we do accept it to the mayor. I I think what I would say is the challenge we had is communication and we've enjoyed having Geraldine's been many times on her concerns. We've had uh Jim Argo come to those meetings and we appreciate Jim being there. So um I think the last meeting Teresa I think we were in that meeting when Geraldine was there and it was brought up about her comment was that again was that if the veterans want to take over the park they take over the whole thing maintenance wise. And so if you folks still want to assist the veterans, but the veterans at this point, my understanding is they're they're very well prepared to take over the maintenance of the park.

This is true. We've had numerous, and you can back us up on this, Ray, we've had numerous cleanup days up there where the veterans group was notified we were going to do it. Nobody ever showed. And we have veterans that go up there on their own and do we eating and doing spraying and such as that without go in and get permission from anybody. Sure. Why don't we do this? Why we want we for again forget we appreciate the veterans. We appreciate Lance. Go ahead if you would. Do you like to make some more comments, please? I just don't want I don't think we need to banter back and forth in this respect.

You also stated that there's been two plaques put up on there. How many veterans have passed away in the in the year? Only two plaques. We we had just put together the panels. This this should be an offline discussion between the two gentlemen. Let's right I'll go ahead if you have any other additional comments to make and certainly you can talk to him afterwards. I I certainly will and I'll stick around to for that conversation as well. You know these just questions that were arisen here in front of people and I just kind of like some clarification when something's made. Sure. Okay. I will let it rest

and we're going to stick around then and visit if we could back in the corner there. Well, if Don can join me that Yes. Could I ask one of the council members to give their copies of what was said in May and what was said tonight to Allan here so he knows what's been said along along factually said it here say

okay very good stick around okay and hopefully Geraldine will stick around as well we'll and uh Don we'll have you stick around too if you don't mind going to inherit some of this okay very good now thank you Al appreciate Let's let's go back to this. We're going to wrap this up, but let's just I want to say uh merry Christmas to everybody. You know, we live I know it's a it's a challenging world we live in today. We know that we got but in a community of 7,900 people, we all want what's best for our community. That's our goal. We may not always agree with the direction. There's four different ways to get to squad tonight. And the way I go may not be the way that somebody else is going to go. Uh cuz I cut through the the pucker brush and head down to the hills. So, yeah. So anyway, let's do this. Merry Christmas everybody. Okay.

Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. I appreciate that. Jerry, are you ready? Okay. I move that we adjourn our regular meeting this evening and recon convene for our next city council meeting on Monday, January 5, 2026, 6 p.m. at city hall. Second. Motion second. Cler call the role. Council member Newman. Hi. Gomez. Hi. McCall. Hi. Pletki. Hi. And may I. This meeting has been adjourned. And again, feel free to stick around, talk to your council members.