City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. Good evening. Councillor. I love doing that to you. Welcome to Newburgh City Council meeting. It is July 6th, 2026. I call this meeting to order. Could we have roll call, please?

Thank you. Would everybody please stand and join in the Pledge of Allegiance? So this brings us to the first item on our agenda, which is the city manager's narrative report. Will, I hear you have something special for us today.

Well, why would we be inclined to move the mouse again?

Thank you, Will. So next is public comments. We have four today. Three of you are on the subject of the Illinois streets. We're going to put those off until that presentation. So right now we have Jim Talt. Welcome, Jim. Good to see you.

All right. Thank you, Jim. Today we have something that I don't do a great deal of. Are the ladies here?

Okay. We'll do it anyway. This is a proclamation declaring July 23rd through July 26th, 2026, as Newburgh Old Fashioned Festival Week in the city of Newburgh. Whereas the City of Newburgh is a family-friendly community that hosts many gatherings, museums, celebrations, and a variety of entertainment venues where the old friends and new ones can get together. And whereas each year, the City of Newburgh and many members of the community participate by celebrating community spirit during the last full weekend in July. And whereas the City of Newburgh welcomes the community and visitors each year

So it should be a fun time all around. I don't know why the Princess and Queen are not here. I saw them just Saturday at the St. Paul Rodeo, and I know they were planning on being here, so I don't know what happened. But anyway, they're lovely young ladies. Look forward to meeting them at the festival, and they're just a delight to be around. So I'm sorry that they're not here for you to meet them at this meeting. So this brings us to new business. And, well, the first item on the agenda is a Microsoft licensing renewal. It's a good thing we're all sitting down.

Mike, you're asking exactly the questions I'm sure we're all wondering, but go ahead.

So we are looking for a motion here. Mr. Mayor?

All right. We have a motion and a second to approve resolution number 2026-4038. Is there any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. All opposed, nay. Aye. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Thank you. So our next presentation today is going to be on the ADA accommodation request policy. And I'm sure Rachel is the instigator.

Other questions for Rachel? I do have one. I noticed in the, you talk about an interpreter, both for, and also somebody who does sign language. I have a friend who is deaf, and just a week ago or so, he was telling me how much his life has been improved because of AI, because of his phone. Would it not be reasonable to, instead of hiring an interpreter to come in, to make those sorts of things available and should

I'd just like to say that the newest and best technology seems to be on the phone that everybody has in their hand. So let's make sure we're using the lowest cost options. Would anybody like to make a motion?

Okay. Been moved and seconded that we pass resolution number 20264029. Is there any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. All opposed, nay. Motion passes unanimously.

Well, Rachel, you might as well just sit there and list the next item on the agenda, the ADA accommodation request policy.

All right. Thank you very much. Thank you. Next is item 7.4, surplus of properties near the airport. Welcome once again.

Questions for the... All right. Someone like to make a motion? Go ahead, Robin.

Second. It has been moved and seconded to approve resolution number 2026-4036. Is there any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor signify by saying aye. All opposed, nay. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you, Will. I guess you get to remain there. So the last item on our agenda is the Illinois street closure discussion.

So I'm going to suggest that we table this item so that it can go to the Traffic Safety Committee this next week and then come back to council at our next meeting. Is there any opposition to that?

My intention is to table this and give those folks the option. If I were, I would recommend. that they take their comments to the public, to the Traffic Safety Committee next week, and then they can have new comments to come back to us with that are more appropriate given the additional information. On the other hand, since they are here, they signed up for public comment, it is absolutely their right to speak tonight, so it would be their choice. So is there any objection to that? All right, let's table this till the next meeting. Oh, Mike, go ahead.

If we're going to have this discussion, then the next order is going to be the public comments. My question is, and always has been, do we want to continue with this discussion tonight, or do we want to wait until the next meeting after the Traffic Safety Committee has had a chance to weigh in? Robin?

So next will be public comments. And Liliana, thank you. Sorry about that. Welcome. Good to see you.

Next, we have Brianna Oliver-Palmquist. Hi, Brianna. Welcome.

And next we have Johnny Zimmerman. Hi, Johnny. Welcome.

All right, Mike, did you want to continue your discussion?

All right. I was, it has been pointed out there are four more public comments. So our Our normal time for public comments is three minutes. We let it go to five when there are fewer. So we're going to do these last four at three minutes, I hope. The next one is Kathy Meyer. All right.

Thank you. Next on the agenda, we have Kim Trask.

All right, well, that's a great segue. By the way, I take exception to any comments that this council is not business friendly. We've done more to attract business in Newburgh than most councils have done in my lifetime. You're correct. We did not take this to the Traffic Safety Committee, and they did come in here and complain, and That's why, before we made a decision on this, the city manager said we were going to take it to the Traffic Safety Committee. I see no harm in stopping this discussion today. Let the Traffic Safety Committee listen to the citizens, look at the comments. I'm not sa

Thank you. So I heard no motion there. Motion starts with, I move that, and it's short enough that Rachel can write it down.

All right. It's been moved and seconded. You want to read the motion again there, Rachel?

I know that there is more discussion. So who would like to begin? Robin, you had your hand up.

I believe that that contradicts what your motion was, which is to tell staff to change it or open it immediately or as quick as they can. So, no, that's not what your motion says. The thing that I would like to remind council of is where we began here. That is an odd intersection that was created 15, 20 years ago, that bulb out there was to slow traffic down coming off of Main Street or off of 240 Head and straight up Main Street. And the problem was that it created a site problem for the people who are on Illinois trying to turn left. And a lot of times, there are double stop signs there, so

Is there any further discussion on that motion?

Should we go through the process of... The first motion was moved and seconded. Are we retracting that motion and restating it in this new fashion?

All right. It has been moved and seconded. Rachel, one more time.

Is there any further discussion? Seeing none. All in favor signify by saying aye. All opposed nay. Nay. Motion passes. Thank you, everybody. This meeting is adjourned.