City Council - Regular Meeting

Pat. Um, I know we have to appoint and and or a chair or whatever. So, how do I do that after roll call and everything like that. Yeah. Okay. We have to prove these absent first. Okay. Got it. Okay. The time is uh 6:00 uh p.m. the [clears throat] May 18th uh 2026 meeting of the Oglesby City Council is hereby called to order. Um, the clerk will call the roll. Baldridge? Here. Callinan? Uh, here. McDermott? Here.

Moyle? Here. Curran? Uh, Mayor Curran is absent tonight. Um, is there uh, a motion to um, appoint a chair in his place? I make a motion to appoint Commissioner Callan as chair. Is there a second? I'll second. Uh, motion by Baldridge, second by Moyle. Uh, the clerk will call the roll. Baldridge? Aye. Callan in? Uh, aye. McDermott? Aye. Moyle? Aye. Curran absent. Uh, three. 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. [clears throat]

Uh, number four is the mayor's report. Um, as I said, uh, Mayor Curran is not here tonight. He did um, give me a copy of his report though for me to read, so I'll read that to you now. He says, "Good evening everyone, and thank you Austin for running tonight's meeting while I'm out of town for work. I appreciate you stepping in. Um, number one, I'd also like to remind everyone that Bark in the Park will be taking place next weekend. I believe it's this weekend.

23rd. Yeah, uh, this weekend at Lehigh Park. We hope to see a great turnout for another fun community event to kick off the first event of the year. Number two, as Memorial Day approaches, the Oglesby American Legion will be hosting a Memorial Day ceremony at Memorial Park at 10:00 a.m. This year's guest speaker will be Oglesby's own Chris Mueller. I encourage everyone to attend as we come together to honor and remember those who paid the ultimate sacrifice serving our country. Number three, lastly, volunteer sign-ups for Fun Fest are nearly all filled, which is great to see. We still have a few openings for ticket sales and wristband shifts on Saturday and Sunday. As always, thank you to the members of our community who step up to help. Fun Fest uh, simply would not happen without uh, our volunteers. If anyone is interested in helping with those remaining spots, please contact City Hall. Thank you everyone, and have a great evening. That's the mayor's report. Uh number five, public comment on agenda items only. Is it on an agenda item only? I believe this is an agenda item. It's about the players No, it's not on the agenda. You'll have to wait till the regular public comment. You're okay. Yep, you're good. Yep, you're good. Um is there any public comments on agenda items only? No? Okay. Uh so we'll move on. Um number [clears throat] six uh will be approval of minutes from the April 20th and May 20 May 4th, 2026 regular meeting. Um Uh I If there's no additions, modifications, corrections, uh whatever, I would uh seek a motion to approve those. I'll I'll make a motion to approve the minutes from the April 20th and May 4th May regular meeting. I'll second that motion. Um you have a motion Motion by Moyle, a second by McDermott. Clerk will call the roll. Baldridge? I. McDermott? I. Moyle? I. Callanan? I. Um moving on to the next item, uh number

seven, approval of executive session minutes from the March 2nd and March 16th, 2026 executive session. Um I believe we reviewed these in our previous closed session, so if there's no um no concerns, I would seek a motion to approve uh the executive session minutes from the March 2nd and I'll make the motion that we approve March 2nd executive session minutes. March 2nd and March 16th, both? Both. Correct. Is there a second? I'll second. Okay. Uh motion by McDermott, second by Moyle. The clerk will call the roll. Baldridge? I. Ca- uh McDermott? I. Moyle? I. Callanan? I. Uh number eight um Number eight, approve bills presented for payment in the amount of $859,830.30 for Visser and Construction and $382,829.61 for monthly bills for a total of $1,242,659.91. There's no concerns with those. I would seek a motion to approve the bills as presented for payment. I'll make a motion to approve the bills as presented by payment. Is there a second?

payment I'll second. Um motion by McDermott, second by Moyle. Clerk, call the roll. Baldridge Aye. McDermott Aye. Moyle Aye. Conlin Aye. Number nine, approve payroll for approve payroll in the amount of $72,797.33. If there's no concerns there, can I get a motion to approve payroll? I'll I'll make a motion to approve the payroll. I'll second that motion. Um motion by Moyle, second by McDermott. The clerk, call the roll. Baldridge Aye. McDermott Aye.

Moyle Aye. Conlin Aye. Um number 10A, discussion and possible action on sidewalk schedule. McDermott Um This actually was about the wanting me get who who's got a sidewalk and who doesn't.

Mhm. Um what we're looking at is if you needed to do that, we'd have to go through satellite. Um And if everybody would like, I can get that at the next meeting. However, we'd have to get actual pictures from Champlin. It's a process. If anybody would want that or not. We'll go around the room. It's going to be a little costly. Uh Commissioner Moyle What I guess what's the action that we're trying to do? We're trying to decide how we're going to enforce sidewalks or

Well, that was brought up and uh if you remember the last meeting, I was asked to get the Mhm. everyone. Unless I go to every house and actually mark it down who's got sidewalks who don't. That takes some time. The best way to do it would be by satellite. Uh we could have Chamblee's do it, but that will take a little bit of time. I could probably have it at the next meeting. If everybody would want it. And then on the next meeting, we take action on what to do with them or

Well, I would be able to show you which household has sidewalks and which ones don't. Okay. That's just basically where we're at. Um Commissioner Balderas. I guess I'm missing the objective here. Like what what is the discussion about here? Are we looking to pay for it? Who was he paying for it? Through a grant? Through the homeowner paying for it? Are you looking to Well, it was brought up by I believe Austin, you brought it up as well as Jason that they wanted to to know every household whether they had sidewalks or not. So after talking to Ross and everything else and talk talking to a few others, the only way we could do that is actually go through the satellite. So I believe the issue is that we don't to my knowledge, we don't have an inventory of sidewalks throughout town. Um where they are, where they aren't.

Right. Um I know um apparently, as was discussed at the last meeting, we do for our insurance or something like that. I go I guess I think Matt, you said this, we go out and look at sidewalks to see which sidewalks might be a trip hazard or something like that. So we have some sort of documentation, but I guess we don't sort of have comprehensive documentation as to like where we have sidewalks and where we don't. So, there are some parts of town, not even just out there in the new subdivision, but also throughout even the older part of town where there's not sidewalks.

some areas that should have sidewalks that don't even have a house. Yeah. And so, um I I think uh that that will probably be an issue that we run into is if we um I mean, obviously we can pursue more uh safe routes to school money uh to put in sidewalks in that part of town. Um but, if we ever talk about, you know, levying any sort of tax or spending any sort of you know, taxpayer money outside of what we match for the safe routes to school grant, um you you might have people who live in this part of town saying, "Well, I don't even have sidewalks, you know?" Or uh you know, maybe those Beyond that, I've already gotten that call. I've already gotten that call. Yeah. So,

say, "Hey, I don't have a sidewalk. What about me?" Yeah. And so, I I think it would probably be beneficial to um obviously have some sort of an inventory of where we have sidewalks and where we don't. Um so, we can make uh uh so, we can make decisions moving forward about where we're going to install sidewalks and how we're going to pay for them. So, um I don't know. I guess satellite, maybe that's the best way to do that. I don't know. I mean, I'm not I'm not sure. I think for the most part, most of the town, at least over here, does have sidewalks. But, I do know that there are a few places where the sidewalks do end. So, um I mean, I don't know. I mean, is that is that uh I I don't necessarily know what the cost would be on that. And I don't know how much harder it would be than to just, you know, drive around and map out the sidewalks that way. But, I mean, I I'm not sure what the most efficient strategy is for that. But, I I do think we need to have some sort of inventory of sidewalks. So, Ross, do we need to do that in order to apply for the sidewalk grants again? No. You don't. So, what would be This would be more of the city we're looking at having, like you said, an inventory to at least know where do we generally have sidewalk parking now. I think this is a separate issue from state routes to school or any other grants. It would be more of you guys helping with what's important to going forward start to implement with a plan. If we wanted to add more sidewalks to town in general, how do we, you know, allocate some kind of money? So, so it it's totally something that's something that's up to you guys. It's something that's important to you. Um all I would kind of go back is that we're capable of helping you guys generate that inventory. Using aerial imagery, it would just be location, it wouldn't be quality, it wouldn't be how old is it, how, you know, it would just be in general. To tell who's got it and who don't. So, um no, I don't think it impacts your

ability to get grants. It could be helpful to [clears throat]

except if you're planning to improve the overall sidewalk access around town, it would help you make informed decisions on where to do that. So, um in your opinion, it would probably be best if we allocated some money before we go figuring out where all these sidewalks are and maybe getting some people excited that they maybe get a new sidewalk and then the city doesn't have any money at all. Or we invest in having you guys do these views and everything and It would take a little while for us. I would need some time to come up with a proposal. We're talking about come back here. What do you think? It would be a little bit of a cost to Just basically need a direction if that's what everybody wants. I know we were talking about do you charge the people or whatever? I don't I don't think we should. Former councils hasn't, you know.

Yeah. I think we have to determine where we even have sidewalks to begin with and then I think when we have an idea of where they're at and um then we can kind of more of those discussions, but um is I I I would assume that probably most of the areas that don't have sidewalks would be covered by safe routes to school. I I don't I mean, what is it? A two to two mile or How many is that? Yeah. I thought it was like two to three miles or something like that. So, between the two schools that we have, that's a pretty pretty decent uh pretty decent chunk of space. Um but you know, the the issue that I do see us running into is if we do and we are starting to put them in out there, um you know, you might have people, like I said, in this part of town complaining that they don't have sidewalks or you might have uh you know, people in that part of town, you know, complaining that, well, there were some people who didn't necessarily like the idea of sidewalks being put in over there. They might say, "Well, why are you putting them in over here when there you know, there's no sidewalks in this random neighborhood either." So, um might be something

it from all sides, Jeremy. So, I I guess that I don't think this will make a big it won't sway things one way or the other. Yeah. Grants, it's more of you guys are interested Sure. What is that? What does that usually run? We'd have to We'd have to look it over. Sure. Okay. Oh, okay. Okay. Sure. Yeah. I I think it would be good knowledge to have, but I don't know if anybody else has any other comments on that.

I guess it's when they build a house, they're supposed to put a sidewalk, so how many of them we have? Lately. Yeah, I know, but I mean I can kicking around this money and everything, there's it's an old city. There's a lot of sidewalks that uh definitely need some replacements, so Yeah, it's absolutely wanting to put in new sidewalks, I think we should also take into consideration a lot of these old ones that are crumbled and Well, that's the thing. The city does allow for residents to we the city will help pay for the concrete. You do the structure and the work or hire somebody. You come up to city hall, they got the paperwork to get the concrete paid well help out. And get it paid for. What what I think would be nice to see is um there is I guess I might not have it anymore. I I had it at one point but um during the what was it the 2019 election there was a map that was put together of all the either not functioning fire hydrants or low flow fire hydrants. What would be really nice to see and I I think I said something to this effect before but it would be nice to see like maybe you can actually like superimpose stuff over like Google Maps to see like like an inventory of our sidewalks in the city of Oglesby with like and again I don't know if this is common when it comes to sidewalks and municipalities but like some sort of letter grade attached to them. And some sort of like some sort of window and time in which we'd be looking at replacing those sidewalks. Something like that I think would be would be beneficial to have. Well it's always that is beneficial but you got to take into consideration things happen

you got to well this one comes first. For sure but I but again when when we're talking about installing sidewalks like Rich said you might have somebody who says well you're talking about putting in sidewalks you can't even maintain the sidewalks that you already have so I do think having an inventory and maybe having the inventory graded in terms of you know their quality.

then you're looking at ordinances and everything else after the sidewalk gets put in. Does the city take control of that or not? Which is a bad If I could jump in Yeah go ahead. inventory and actually determining Yeah. Yeah. Right. Sure, of course. Yeah. Get a notebook. I need a dictionary for that. Yeah. Sure. Sure. And actually, I would I would like to have the water, sewer, and everything involved. With as much as we're spending on everything right now. But Yeah. And we're always going to do more safe routes to schools. I'm going to get us I'm going to try for as many grants as I can. That's Well, one of the discussions that we're having later, I'll explain on the tab. So, I don't know if there's I mean anything we have to necessarily do here, but are we fine with um I suppose Yeah. Sure. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I I think Well, I can I think that'd be a good idea. Yeah. I think that's ideal. future. [clears throat and cough]

Sure. Sure. Sure. Well, I'm I'm all for it, Rose, so I'll talk to you afterwards about that. So, are we okay with just having that on the next agenda to discuss um the GIS stuff? Yeah. Does that work for everybody? Okay. Then, I don't think we need to take any action on that. no action. Um so, then we'll move on if there's nothing else to 10B. Um Ryan Hogan NCICG Safe Communities Grant uh calling in, so I think Jen got a call

Yeah, he's not able to make it today. able to be here, um but I do believe there was an email sent out. Um it was It was the other day. Let me pull it up. Um Jen sent it out uh said that Ryan Hogan reached out um about some properties in town that could be taken care of with the uh with the Strong Communities Grant I Strong Communities Grant. Um and uh in that grant we have about $132,000 uh left and those uh monies have to be used by November of this year, so um again, um there is a in the email that Jen sent, uh Ryan suggested four different properties. I know that we've talked about at least one property um uh in closed session and maybe what we could do with that. Um but um I I don't know if anybody has anything to add to this. Obviously, Ryan's not here uh to present tonight. If not, we'll just move on. I'd suggest we wait and talk to Ryan know gets here, maybe in the next meeting or something. Okay, we can see if he wants to come in. I believe he'll be here in the second meeting in June was his availability for the next one. Okay. Um so then if there's nothing on that, we'll move on to uh 10c, which is dry bridge discussion, um McDermott. Okay. Um on the dry bridge we uh did put in a request. Okay, come on. Um the dry bridge we have put in for a request and it's up to the county and everything else. The requirements we're asking, originally they're supposed to keep one side open at all times, okay? But they're telling us with the

to get it done right and get it done properly and better quality, they need to close the bridge down and do it all at once. Okay? So we put in a request that the pedestrian sidewalk shall remain open during the closure. The closure shall not occur prior to June 1st, 2026, end of the Ogle school year and shall be completed prior to the start of the school next fall. The closure shall be limited on to Tuesday. They're closing it down for 3 days. Should be limited to Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday only. The closure shall not occur during the week of June 15th 2026 due to Summerfest activities. Message boards shall be placed on each approach 1 week in advance announcing the closure a condition a coordination meeting with the police and chief with the police chief, fire chief, ambulance director shall be held at least 10 days prior to the closure to allow emergency services time to prepare. Special and advance notice minimum 10 days shall be provided to Cookie Kingdom so they may notify suppliers of the city and to the city clerk so the city may respond to public injuries. And number eight type two barricades shall be used to close the south 14 ft of the dry bridge eastbound lane to allow

for a rapid removal of the in the event of an emergency. Type three barricades with road closed signs shall be elsewhere. Additional The city suggests that closure operation on the front of the first day begin at approximately 8:30 a.m. to avoid impact in the morning commute. And let's see. And that should do it. And hopefully the county will let us know of their approval or acceptance of our requirements. The thing is they were supposed to originally keep one side open. But if they do that, it's going to hinder the product. Okay? Everybody understand that? This just informational. I think the public should know and we'll let the fire chief and police chief be in that discussion as well. Can you get me a copy of the requirements that you posted just so that way I can share it with

it right to you right now. How's that? Perfect. Okay. And then maybe they can give a heads-up to Uzi. So there's nothing um actionable here. No. I don't know if anybody has anything to add on that. Um my question is um What dry bridge is this, Mayor? This is the dry bridge.

The same one that just got Mhm. So what do they need to do with it? They're going to Basically, they're going to blacktop it. Okay. Oh, okay. And they will The membrane has to be fully all the way across. Okay. They got to leave the walkway open. Okay? They got to let us know 10 days in advance. Okay. They got to We're going to get a meeting with the police chief, the fire chief. blacktopping it is what we're doing. All right. Okay. Okay. Yeah, that's that's fine. It needs to be done. Okay. So there's no really no actionable stuff out there. No. It's just to inform the public.

Okay. So nobody has anything on that. Okay. We'll move on to uh 10D, uh discussion and possible action on Walnut TIF repairs, McDermott. Okay. With the lead line, we have multiple sidewalks on Walnut. I believe it was what? It's a couple of years ago we discussed the beautification with the electric and everything. Here's what I propose. Walnut Street's in a TIF. Okay? The best way to take out those lead lines and to do it right would be to do use the TIF and at the same time we got the electric lines right there, too. We can upgrade the uh lights and get those lead lines out of there. And basically minimal cost as possible. Otherwise, we're looking at it's going to be costly. It's not cheap. But this way we could also get the electric poles light poles and them upgraded, get everything fixed right. Do it all at once. This way when we pour the sidewalk down, it's done. We don't have to re- break the sidewalks to get to the electric or whatever and here we go again. Trying to save the city money by using the TIF and doing it all at once. So, it'd be a collaboration with the electric, streets, and water. Just another information and I wanted to know what everybody thought about using the TIF. Go around the room. Commissioner Moyles. Do you have any like dollar figures do we what that cost? I mean, it's an I'm all for it. I'm just curious of how far we're in this. Is this going to be a project that would be completed this year, this summer?

there's quite a bit of Yeah, it sounds pretty extensive. Yeah, the uh government has made us we have to get at least 7 to 9 7% 7% Which is about 12 to 13 done a year and they're all over town. Mhm. Okay? Uh every resident received a letter stating that they had lead lines in the front and we got to take care of them. Once again there you go, Austin. There's your things about your sidewalks. Well people need to let us know. They need to let us know that their sidewalks are in bad we'll see what we can do. But using the TIF would be a lot easier and a lot less cost the city. If I started If I had to say how much it would cost Oh gosh. It's It keeps growing. Mhm. You figure 7% every year and with all We got them all over town. Mhm. It's just a way of saving costs. Mr. Baldridge Yeah, I think something definitely going to have to be done on both of those for the I-Tap grant that we're looking into is we're still looking for that, right? Always.

last time, so hopefully it comes beyond our turn, but Well, we could always get it started with the TIF. The TIF actually includes Walnut. You'll need some estimates, though, actually. Yeah, we we will. And it will have to be run past the TIF committee, too, cuz you're spending their money, so Um anyway, the way to start is to get estimates about what you want to do. Per project? Yeah. I I personally think Lanchi ought to break them out cuz there it might come down to we can't do them both, so which one are we going to choose? And if you put them all together, you'll never be able to make that decision. Cuz once you do decide a walk out, you don't want to go back and do a lateral Yeah. You know what I mean? So, once you dig one up, you want to do both at that time. Cuz if you don't, you'll [snorts] have to do it all over. Cuz cuz the lateral is always busy for the drivers. I'll tell you for a fact. All right, I think you better just get an estimate for all For the whole whole thing? And if they have to cut back, we'll have to pick and choose as to what areas they want to attack first. You know, the lateral is kind of a motion. Yeah. It's got to happen.

to be done at some point, and I I would recommend We're basically going to Right. What's the deadline? 7 years. So, ultimately you'd have to take that and divide it up anyway. If you're going to start a case season and get down to the drive bridge, you better have a plan on Mhm. Regardless you have to do it, so. You have no choice. [clears throat] And rather than putting a new sidewalk in, pull the lead line, pull the new sidewalk, and then have to pull it for a street lights, you're costing the city twice as much.

of lead lines on Walnut Street? Every one. Every one? Yeah, it's It's What do they say? Phenomenal? It's It's a big one. Um are there lead lines elsewhere in the city outside of Walnut Street? Yep. Do all those have to be replaced within the next 7 years? But all of them have to be 7% every year. Um Yep. As soon as you see one, if the guys are digging for whatever, they see a lead line, you got to pull it out. That's state and federal requirement. And there is some down on East of the town that you guys have got back there. for. Right. But I thought with Walnut having to tear and we got to do it anyway, Mhm. just do the electric poles the same time and put a good sidewalk in. Save the city money. Are we upgrading the electric poles or just beautifying um what They need upgrading. Okay. Okay. Okay. It's Yeah. It's getting more. Okay. So it makes sense to do it at the same time, in my opinion. Well, I hope.

Yeah, the electrical definitely has to be done at that time. So poles, upgrading the poles is more of a Well, you got to do the you got to do the lines. Okay. So maybe that's something that can kind of be I mean, it's it's separate issue, of course, but it can maybe kind of be adjacent to uh the the larger sidewalk schedule and inventory.

keeping in mind that if we see a lead line, even going down Walnut, they see it, they have to pull it out. That's a requirement. Is there any additional conversation on that? None? Okay. We'll move on to 11A. 11A, discussion and possible action on zoning administrator. Uh so I placed this on the agenda. Um I know that we've kind of talked about this item um a few different times. Uh this position has been vacant um effectively de facto vacant uh since uh the retirement of city clerk Klinard, Uh I do know that Pat at one point you said that she kind of de jure is kind of still the zoning administrator, but she's obviously not working for the city anymore at least as a as an salaried employee. So, with that being said, just in her absence, the office staff had had to basically take on the responsibilities of the zoning administrator. And obviously, they aren't necessarily you know, they know a lot more than most people when it comes to you know, kind of the functions, the inner workings, mechanisms of the city. But with that being said, they're not necessarily experts on zoning. And this has resulted in increased workload because of the cumbersome and technical questions that accompany it, as well as the paperwork. And so, I thought I would throw this on the agenda and then again, maybe have a discussion on this. I really do believe that the current situation with the people in the office just kind of you know, they're doing the best that they can of course, but I don't necessarily think that

that's a you know, sustainable situation. So, I don't necessarily have a recommendation as as for a specific person to appoint as zoning administrator because I know we've discussed a few options and haven't been able to come to a consensus, but I did want to discuss this nonetheless because it is starting to pose pose an issue. So, I'll go around the room and if you have any thoughts or you know, anything to contribute on that, I welcome that. Commissioner Moyle. So, this is something that just as confusing to me because my regular job, but we don't have a budget. Like, I know when I don't have a budget, I go home and I don't get paid, and I don't know how we can create a position without the finalized budget. Well, you you have a position in your code. Okay. And the ordinance says that it will, you know, the zoning administrator will be appointed by the mayor with the advice and consent of the council. Okay.

You guys obviously have to agree on who that might be, but there is a provision in the code. So And many of the decisions in the zoning department rely on the zoning administrator making it. So, we're kind of in a gray area right now without one, and I would definitely recommend to get one. Are you asking to Like, is this an appointed position? What are you requesting? Well, we would have to appoint somebody, yes, to serve as a zoning administrator. But not necessarily compensated. Is that what I I don't think you have to compensate the zoning administrator. Okay, that's what I was getting at. It was confusing. I can't imagine many people that want to work that position.

Exactly. Exactly. But strictly speaking, I don't think you have to compensate them. I do think there has to be somebody who fills that position, so again, I know we've kicked around a few names. We haven't been able to come to a consensus necessarily, but it is an issue that I think we're going to have to address sooner than later, kind of echoing what Pat said, so. Well, I'd like to know something. What's the actual requirements? I don't think there are any requirements, but

No, I don't think there are either, Mac, but And then They obviously need to know something in detail about your zoning code and about, you know, that general area of the law cuz they're very technical. I knew you'd have average. Can you read it out loud? I don't know what it is. [laughter]

The zoning administrator shall be designated by the mayor subject to approval of the city council. Powers and duties, the zoning administrator shall have the following powers and duties. Basically, what you just said Pat earlier. Have the initial responsibility and the authority of the interpretation and enforcement of the city's land development code and all other applicable ordinances, regulation codes. To enter and inspection any premises as needed in the performance of these duties. To attend all meetings of the plan commission and zoning boards of appeals if requested for the purpose of providing technical assistance when requested by the commissioner board {slash} board. To review the issue building permits signing permits, letters of occupancy to hear, decide applicants for interpretation of the use classification land development regulations of the land development code and zone district boundaries and six to serve as a member of and call meetings of the development review committee as needed. No degree you needed. But there are no specific requirements for you know, the person to take that job.

Okay. So basically, if we get somebody that would be willing to knowledge of the code and learn the codes and the ordinances. That ends it. A contractor or somebody that's familiar with the codes. Uh I'm fine with whatever. Um I mean, you know, if we can put some names together and um I mean, even if we want to discuss it uh maybe maybe compile some names and discuss it in the next closed session. Um but I I I think we have to take action sooner than later. I mean um you know, even if uh I I don't know. Even if not everybody agrees necessarily on even if we're not locked up on who it should be. I think we have to take action sooner than later. I think we can't leave this position vacant. So Do we have a concern that has an immediate issue needed resolved or Well, yeah, the concern is that there's a number of responsibilities that you just read that the zoning administrator's responsible for that are creating a backlog in the office. So The position exists for a reason. So, I think it needs to be filled. Okay.

So, let's maybe brainstorm some names and bring them to the next closed session and we can discuss. Would that also be since you're sitting in the mayor's chair, maybe if anybody feels like they would be qualified or interested in the position to reach out as well? Correct. Reach out to the mayor and Yeah, I would yeah, that's that's absolutely right. I would encourage anybody who's sitting at home watching this if they're if they have the knowledge or if they have any sort of if they feel like they would be a good fit to be the zoning administrator or they um any sort of knowledge of our land development code, I would certainly encourage them to reach out to Mayor Curran as he is the person who appoints with consent of the council. So um between this meeting and next meeting. So Good there? Yeah, I believe that's it. Okay. I do think we need to take action on it at the next meeting though. So um I'll just leave that there. So, that's 11A. Number 12, public comment on any topic. Feel free to come on up. That would be you. Yep. Uh speak up there. Good afternoon. Good evening. Thank you so much for allowing me to talk. My name is Sean here with a friend associate named John. Um so we've uh Ali Mills submitted a proposal for we call it Sports Park like establishment right off of the expressway. For two reasons that we really want to come into this neighborhood. It's the small town feel, but also the tourism [clears throat] that is I'm going to say prevalent, kind of existent for the national parks and the parks in the area. So, uh we take it as a good challenge where we are here to support the local neighborhood and what's important to them, establishments where their families can go after church evenings, uh just a great place to eat, not just a traditional bar, right? Different sorts

of activities, but at the same time, we've got the town has people visiting from all over the state, out of state. So, trying to cater to two different almost different types of clientele, but at the same time, trying to bring people into town, which I think benefits all of us. So, um think of something like, I hate to say it this way, Buffalo Wild Wings, Chili's, that's just good bar food, just better quality bar food, very reasonably priced, but at the same time, activities, utilizing the outside patio, maybe utilizing some of the parking lot for uh events throughout the year. If we can do it at no cost for special holidays and Christmas time and give away meals and dinners. That's our goal. Be a part of the community, but at the same time, hopefully we can benefit from the traffic from the expressway and also the town as well. So, uh we did send a proposal. I'm not sure if you looked at it. I don't think they're here to come and talk about the proposal, but I just want to put let you put a face to kind of the establishment coming into town, and that's And we value feedback. If we're doing something good, what they call the the good, the bad, and the ugly, we want feedback. We're only going to grow if the community supports us. Uh we're only going to give back if we can all kind of do this together. So, that's why I'm here. All right, thank you. If anybody wants to go around the room if they have anything to say or ask or anything of that nature. You know, I I do have some questions, but maybe I'll just meet after the meeting if that's okay. Sounds good. Uh Mr. McDermott, anything? Um where exactly are you wanting to Uh, 210 Lewis, right behind the Days Inn. Where Two Brothers used to be.

Yes. Okay. Two Brothers. Well, we've already gone to a few at least four or five establishments. We've talked to the local neighbors about the good and the bad things that have come come out of the location, but at the same time, we take that as a good challenge, right? We We're excited about it. So, we're not concerned about where others have maybe not succeeded. I think if we do this right, we're going to do just fine. Okay. Thank you. And we'll work

anything? I sincerely wish you good luck. Sounds like a great plan. Yeah, I I would echo that. Um, I I am totally uh supportive of any uh anybody who wants to come to town and um and and add something. And so, um especially uh businesses that generate tax revenue and and and bring people in off the interstate and and even give the locals a place to eat. So, um totally supportive of it. I look forward to uh talking more working more with you

in the future. Yes. Thank you. Thank you for being here. Thank you. Um, any other public comments on any topic? Seeing none, we'll move on to commissioner reports. Uh, we'll start with Commissioner Moyle. I actually don't have anything for tonight, so. Uh, Commissioner McDermott. Well, I actually have a few things. Okay, I sent everyone here an email. I need you to look at that over and uh we'll discuss that later. Also, June 1st through the 5th is hydrant flush. Please watch out for the guys. Um the uh wastewater treatment plant Visering is doing a great job. Um, work is going great. Actually, it's really looking good. Um other than that, I don't really have anything. Okay. Uh, Commissioner Balderas. Yeah, because you said earlier the Bark in the Park is weekend and also don't miss out on the Memorial Day ceremony at Memorial Park. Um, this past Sunday Memorial Park had some wonderful volunteers come out help clean up the area. It's incredible to see their dedication as this is the fourth year they've done this. And I want to warmly thank them for their ongoing support. Exciting news, they've also arranged for a professional to clean, polish, and seal the corner monument this week. This care should help preserve this historic rock for 10 to 15 years or even longer. All of these efforts have been generously funded by the amazing volunteers from We Are All We Need nonprofit organization. They truly are a priceless asset to our community and I want to express my heart heartfelt gratitude for everything they do throughout the year. Great job, everyone. Thanks, Rich. Appreciate that.

Okay. Um, I would echo Rich's thanks to We Are All We Need for their work. I also want to thank our administrative assistant Sherry and Zoe for the diligence they put in to make this year's Bark in the Park happen. You know, I've been here a year and they've been here roughly as long and they are they're hard workers, they're very creative, and they really do care. And so, you can't put a price on that. So, thank them. I want to start off by thanking them. Um, next meeting I will not be here. I'll be absent. I'm going to Kansas City for the AP advanced placement grading of AP US history essays. And so, I'll be gone for about a week. But, I will be asking the council to consider renewal of our agreement with Connecting Point for IT related services. Um, I'm going to recommend that we lock in on a three-year basis. However, I do know that you know, there's a new administration that will be coming in in a year. And so, that's something to consider. I will have the cost is cheaper though and the price did go up between last year and this year and so I imagine that it will continue to go up. So, I love a prepared statement and accompanying documentation for each member in the shared drive for next meeting. Additionally, the city's digital ordinance book has finally been updated as of May 1st, 2026. You can access this ordinance book on our website or by simply Googling Oglesby Muni Code. Actually, I was just looking at it. I pulled up the the zoning administrator description and that was actually something that was added. It hadn't been updated since February of 2024 and there are just I don't exactly know why what the issue what the hang up was, but it's updated now and that was actually one of the things that's marked as new in it. So, I

thought that was kind of interesting. Beyond that, speaking of our digital ordinance book, work is continuing on the digitization of old ordinance books. Jen has reached out on my behalf to a few vendors and we're mulling options. There's a number I think I said at the start of the previous meeting, but there's a number of very very old ordinance books in that back room in the clerk's office that the people in our office for reference would certainly benefit from digitization. So, we're looking at that. Other work happening in the office includes the preparation of our annual appropriations and for me specifically, I'm getting caught up on the work of chaptering our YouTube videos and digitizing our online forms. When we when I sat down with my department on May 12th during a department meeting, we talked about online forms. It's been something we've talked about for a bit, but the kind of consensus that we came to in that room was that we're going to make certain forms available to be filled out online, but other forms required an in-person submission with accompanying documentation um, as building permits cuz those are just kind of a whole different animal. Um, but like I said, I've been talking about the digitization of forms for a while, but be on the lookout for those on our website in the near future as they are prepared, um, but simply uh, need to be rolled out. So, um, that's all I have for my commissioner's report. Uh, number 14, I won't read the whole thing because I will ask if we need to go into executive session for the purpose of and then I'll read the whole thing if we need to, but is there a need to uh, go into executive session? No.

don't I don't feel there is. Um, since there is not a need to go into executive session, I will entertain a motion to adjourn. Motion to adjourn. There's a motion to adjourn by Baldridge and a second by McDermott. Clerk, call the roll. Baldridge. Aye. Callinan. Aye. McDermott. Aye. Moylan. Aye. Uh, meeting adjourned at 6:49 p.m. I kind of love when Jason's not here. Woah. Lucky.