City Council - Regular Meeting

for the pledge of allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Madam clerk, roll call, please.

Finch pres Thank you, Madam Clerk. We do have remote electronic attendance tonight. I would like to make a motion to approve the remote electronic attendance of Mayor Rya Petty at the city council meeting of April 14, 2026 due to employment purposes or other city business. Second um roll callid.

Hias that is eight eyes. No names. Welcome, Mayor Ray. She might just be listening in tonight, not participating, but if she wants to. I'm here at a restaurant and I forgot my headphones. Sorry. Oh, no problem. Captions on. Thank you. Uh, next we have public comment. Chief G. Thank you. Uh, do we have any questions on the agenda today? Hearing none, we can go with 7.1 solar farm update. We have Sean and Jazzy online.

Hi, good evening everyone. Can you hear me? Okay. Yes. Yes. Hear you well, Sean.

Oh, thank you. Um, you talk about the uh current status of the community solar program with community power group and kind of what's the what's the trajectory of the program? what's been kind of going on and then um you know kind of key dependencies and then um you know what next steps potential. So uh community power group is continuing to explore all available options with Mid American. Um Mid American Energy doesn't currently have a traditional community solar program as in other utility companies like Comet and Ambro um throughout the state. uh community power group has been working uh directly with Mid-American to explore uh different types of options that are available through both the uh program that administers the community solar program of Illinois Shines as well as direct uh participation with Mid Mid American residents. Um the goal is to determine uh what is the best path viable structure that can be implemented uh under the existing state and regulatory framework that both uh the state has and what Mid American uh can agree to. Uh key points here for Mid American is that we're looking to confirm that they can support the billing mechanisms and crediting structure that are required for community solar. Uh it is a discounted rate for the subscribers under the program. um the Illinois science program which is the the program administered by the state uh confirmation that the project can meet prescriber participation and both uh eligibility requirements uh can be

administered throughout the Mid-Americ. So as both parties uh community I'm sorry all three parties Mid American um Illinois Shines Program and Community Power Group are uh meeting on a consistent basis um and looking at and reviewing uh the different type of paths and looking to obtain specific clarities for both programs to see what's the path best path forward for the community solar project for the city of link. Um, Community Power Group has also engaged uh subscription companies because there's not a current program for Community Solar Mid-Americ. They do have to work with some thirdparty vendors to administer credits and those providers then have to sync up with Mid-Americ to ensure billing can be proper as well. So, there's multiple conversations that are going on at time with different stakeholders throughout the whole project. Uh we anticipate in and seamlessly kind of the the process going along is we have uh working on the the lease options except for that effect of the city's attorney and we're you know once we have the full fine path we'll look to finalize those and bring forth those to the city uh for so currently um you know we're still having conversations between American as well as the state administrative administrative program to ensure you know what the best path for best path forward is for the city of Milan's project. Um you know I don't have a full timeline because these are regulatory conversations um to provide at this time but uh you know we're continually progressing forward for the project. Sean, are any of these reg I was gonna

ask, are any of these are any of these regulatory conversations slowing us down to the point where we might miss deadlines for federal uh reimbursement, you know, some of those solar deadlines that are in place.

Yeah. So, yeah. So a lot of the developers have safe harbored much of the materials then kind of put together the path forward for uh the parameters for the tax credits that are available. So there hasn't been any indication that um due to the first of a kind nature of the program of Mid-Americ that there's nonclarity for the tax credit. So at this time that that is not a key point to uh that we're concerned with um because they're they have met the criteria of the safe harboring materials and the parameters that the uh federal government has put into place.

Good. Talk a little bit about the lease between the city Sean and uh mini power group and the effort where that is at. It's a pretty complex lease with many many red lines. I can probably speak to that better actually. Uh I am scheduled to be speaking with uh the attorney for CPG on Monday. There have been many uh redline versions of this passed back and forth. At this point, all but maybe one or two issues I think we have a a solution to. It's really more about just the attorneys arguing about the language. um I've got preferred language that I've sent to them uh which is different than the language they preferred. So hopefully uh by the end of Monday morning uh Monday afternoon, we should have it down to one issue which has to do with the um the type of information that we want them to give us regarding their funding sources and the type of information that they want us to give to their funding sources in order to make sure they can secure that funding. uh that is going to be a higher level. Basically, it'll be all of you or Bob making the decision with regards to that. I'm addressing more uh how is it that we structure potential liability and things like that. So, it is a a very lengthy lease. It it deals with a number of different issues uh ranging from access to the site in order to determine uh where they can build appropriately. They know about the size that they're going to need, but uh the exact location within the site is still going to need to be determined based on uh a variety

of things they're going to look at with regards to uh how easy it will be to to access the site, construct on the site, etc. Um and then there are uh issues that they want asurances with regards to not having contaminants already on the site. Uh we want asurances with regards to them removing uh the entire facility when this is over with. Um there are a variety of issues, but I I think that we have them all pretty well worked out. the two that I identified with regards to the the funding. That's really I think the the big issue that will still be here after Monday and we I don't know enough about their reasons for the things they're asking to be able to advise whether or not we should agree to what they're asking.

Any questions? One more.

Yeah, one more thing. Sean, I know Arnold Arie is on as well. See, he's joined. Um, talking about eventualities, right? Assuming that what we've described, what we what we laid out in the RFP and what everyone responded to, you know, if everything goes well, we go forward. you know, in the alternative that we're not able to structure some type of a community based power system where we're sharing these, you know, credits with with the low to modern income properties here in the city. Um, next step would be moving forward with what would that be? just simply having an agreement to produce this power, put it on the grid with Mid-Americ and then just take the money as a city instead of just two megawws and sharing three taking all five megawws. I mean, I want to

I think that would be an option to explore uh with Mid-Americ to see if that would be something that they would be interested in. Uh I would definitely agree with that. I'm not sure if that's something they would be agreeable to, but we can continue those we can ask those have those discussions.

I guess just the the council's opinion on that because we did start out at the very beginning few years ago 22 megawatts was all going to be, you know, produced for the city. Then we found out that was not viable for mid American. There's not enough power down there to support 22 megawatts. And then they offered up five, right? And then we talked about the shines program. We talked about talked about community based solar. And we of course did not forget about, you know, the desire to have pollinators down there as well, right? Um so in the eventuality that we cannot establish this relationship properly with mid America, they're challenged by it and how it impacts all of their rate users, drivers. what we're going because somebody's got to pay for the cost of this extra administration. They don't want to pass that on to all their subscribers. You know, that's coming right from them. So reality is is that if we were to take on all of the power all five megawatt distribute three of it income neighborhoods you can do what you want with that those funds then I mean just like when we started out we wanted to have so much you know resource allocated to benefit motoring neighborhoods you could then you're free to use anything you want could be roads could be sidewalks could be building houses could be pretty much So just thoughts on that. I mean if we get to the push point where you know we're not going to make it within America you know we have kind of a fall back position or we walk away entirely or that we don't walk away. Well, as we continue to pursue community solar as that that primary, I mean, I think when we still want to move forward with the

solar project, that's going to be most advantageous, we can revisit how we allocate those resources, where that comes from when that that moment comes. There's there's a lot of ways to to address that from a policy standpoint. Right. Exactly. Um, and so I think yeah, I would say yes, carry on through that path, but I I rather we do it in the way that is simplest and easiest. I mean, is it a is it a matter of us paying the administrative side out of the agreement? I don't think we got that far. I mean, that's a great question, Sean. I mean, you know,

because I am I mean, I do think that's a fair point to not charge for every subscriber for an administrative point of what we're if we just take a slightly reduced amount of benefit because there's any added cost, I don't see a problem with that. that was explored uh as an option by the community power group uh to take on the payment of the administrative cost as part of the project. Um Mid American took an unfavorable position on that because it would be one company paying for one specific role versus how the regulatory statutes are for a utility company. So, um, I know that was looked at, but Mid-Americ took an unfavorable stance.

Uh, Mayor Ry, how do you have your hand up? Yeah, sorry about that. Um, I just wanted to say that I don't think we should allow an administrative issue to stop us from doing something that's good for the city, for the residents, and the environment. I think we'd all agree with that. I

I would agree. I mean I I personally feel if the municipal component of this is so novel that we are hitting roadblocks, I would rather fall back on finding a way to just recognize the money and then from a policy standpoint we decide the programs that are what we're going to fund and that is much preferable to um in inventing a wheel I guess at this point if Mid America's never done Obviously that I don't think we've come to a a head yet with that,

but we're open we're open I'm open to that personally. I think we would prefer that over nothing at all. It's a consensus of would be my question. There was so much time and energy invested in this by by consultants, by the attorney, by the staff. Um, I'd hate to see this hit the wall and just like slide off. I'd rather find a path forward to produce a meaningful result. But now that this council and future council decided it's a 40-year project. So, I think it's 20 originally or 25 originally and then it has renewals.

So, I mean, this is a significant amount of time and most of us won't be here in the chairs that we're sitting in. Guarantee. Guarantee it. So, Yeah, right. Right now, it actually looks like it could be a 50-year project, but that's one of the things we're going to address on Monday. I I think 40 years is is actually what it should be, but there's a there's a little error. I think it's an error that needs to be corrected in the lease. Okay. That's that's one of the things for Monday morning. So, all right. Any other points you want to add, Sean? and or Arie.

I I don't have any other points at this time. Um continue to apprise um the city's team uh as to uh progress that uh we have on the Mid-American side and the Illinois shines side with the community power group uh efforts. And I want to thank Sean for all his effort on this and and bills with the with the attorneys because I've seen a lot of leases, but this one is like extremely complex and and it got to a point where you couldn't tell any any longer where the uh where the changes were being made. It was that complex going back and forth. So just need just want council to know that's that's where we're at on the project that uh we still want to move forward. I'm happy to hear that. You know, you want a path forward one way or the other and we're going to find one for you and get you there.

Thank you, Sean. Thank you. Have a good evening. Appreciate it. So, next we can move to 7.2 riverfront and center plan update. We have Brett from MKSK online. Hi everyone. Hi Brett.

Brett. So Brett Brett's going to give you an update what we what we want to do going forward because the nature of this project and the level of investment by the city and by others that will actually take place um and the complexity of this project because it is an extremely complex project. um providing you with you know at least quarterly updates as we move forward because like the solar project this project is taking a significant amount of time staff time and energies and u as you'll see from the update from Brett um we've been interviewing companies now for the better part of that all want to be a part of this so I'm trying to fine tune it to a final list so it's all yours Brett take it away.

Great. Thank you. I'm gonna try to share my screen here. One second. I may need to have access to share. Know if that's easy to grant. We will find out very quickly. The right guy is in the room. Are you able to request access? I It shouldn't be. Um, there's a share button at the bottom of the screen next to invite

doesn't give me the option to request just the share is like right signer the moderator. Yeah, I do. Oh, hold on. I think I might have just gotten it. Oh, okay. I think I've got it here. You sure?

Yes.

Okay, let me make that full screen for you. All right. Um, I can't see any of you on presenting, so please feel free to shout out if you'd like me to pause. Uh, just a couple slides here to bring everyone up to speed. Uh, our previous plan. Uh it was wonderful to be part of that monument uh plan uh for downtown and the riverfront and and now we're looking ahead and how do we move into the next stages of this design. So we've been working with uh city staff to develop what those next stages are. So we're excited to share with you a little today of where we're at in that process. Um, just a couple recaps of where we left off with the plan here. Some pretty pictures that were developed as a part of that. Very exciting things to look forward to. Um, we'll talk a little bit about the upcoming scope that we're currently developing. Um, we're looking at, you know, how the city is going to come together as staff um, uh, to be organized in order to provide meaningful feedback into this process. So we'll look at that a little bit. We'll look at how our consultant team is organized and then also the schedule and scopes of work uh that are coming out of this effort. So uh just a quick recap. I know you all are probably very familiar with these uh beautiful renderings of the the future riverfronts, but we're so very excited about where this is headed and a lot of the great ideas that the community really helped um to develop with with the design team and the city during this process in the last couple years. So, um just a recap of both the riverfront park space and then the associated uh

riverfront district development um that we're we're excited to hopefully usher in over the next many years here. Um with that, looking at it from a site perspective, you're seeing the riverfront sort of core district, which is north of River Drive and west of I74 and south of the Mississippi. Um, we are looking at the core of the park area being adjacent to the Mississippi River and then a more, you know, private developed district south of that area, uh, connecting over to River Drive. And then an additional commercialized area um could be mixeduse residential just south of River Drive. We're calling that the gateway site because it really is the first thing that you see uh when you come off of that off-ramp off I74. So something that welcomes uh folks into this district and into downtown. Um what we're going to be focusing on as we move into the next stages of design is looking at the site uh from a more technical level. Uh you may remember from last week uh there was um some site investigative work that was approved for the site including topographic survey work and geotechnical work that's going to give this design team more information about what exists today on the site in its present condition that's really going to help to you know start to uh provide the depth to the next stage of the design. So what we'll be looking at is the existing Bridgepoint building which resides in this northeast corner of the site. Understanding what parts of that building can be reused and adapted for future use and what parts of the building may need to be demolished. Um so really looking carefully at that so that we can start to take steps in that direction uh towards protecting parts of the building and demolishing other parts of the building. And then of course you know the tower is a part of

that mix and that tower will be remaining and be protected and reused uh by hyperlift uh which has been talked about in the past as well. Uh the park areas are shown here in green. Those would also be another part of the schematic level design study where we would understand what's going on with the site from flood uh flooding that will occur uh from the Mississippi. We know we need to know how to handle that expertly. um and make sure that we're designing a resilient landscape. Uh but we also need to understand things like existing utilities. Can we reuse them? Um you know, what are some of the new structures that might need to go into the park from an amphitheater stage to you know, if there's a cafe or a playground or these four blocks and overlooks, we're going to be looking at all of those design items more critically and really starting to design them. And then south of that area where it says streets, I I noted just streets because everything south of this line, First Avenue that runs through the site, we're thinking of that as private development. Um, however, we really want to make sure that those parts of the sites are ready to be developed. So, what does that mean? That means getting all of our utilities and infrastructure in place, having streets in place, having lots that are ready to be developed, you know, kind of a clean slate, uh, for lack of a better term. So, the city is invested in creating developer ready lots, uh, for future development to occur. Um so with that I wanted to bring forth a little bit more about the organization of how we're going to proceed here in some of the upcoming design steps. Uh the city's already put together uh these wonderful working groups from the executive working group which is going to be following along from a high level oversight perspective really tracking

with us on major design decisions moving forward. a financial working group that's really going to be exploring opportunities for grant applications, structuring funding and financing, um, and working closely with us as we develop more thorough and up to cost estimations for the project to really get a handle on how we can create plans to finance each phase we go forward. And then a technical working group. This will involve, you know, the engineers on staff, some of the departments within the city, um any other consulting engineers or governmental agencies for permitting that we're going to need to consult with on matters of feasibility for the design. So, really excited to have all these folks um at the table. We've started to have some conversations with some of them and we'll continue to do that as we move forward. Um, in addition, our consultant team, uh, myself, Brett Widle, uh, I will stay as a principal in charge from MKSK. MKSK will remain as the primary consultant for this team, which I think lends a great continuity between the planning phase and the implementation phase that we're now entering. Kelly Murphy is going to be our project manager. She's also a landscape architect here with me in Chicago. And then beneath MKSK, we're going to have a host of sub consultants. And this is what Bob was mentioning where we've been talking to different consultants that specialize in very different disciplines to bring them into the team because before we have a planning team, now we're pivoting to a technical implementation team. So there are some specialized disciplines we need to bring in to the team including site surveyor, geotechnical civil engineer which is going to play a very substantial role in designing the site cost estimator that's going to help us you know provide those probably cost

estimates. architects that are going to look at the existing buildings on site and also future buildings and help us design those mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineers, structural engineers. We may have a water feature designer in there preliminarily just to help us get a handle on, you know, do we want to have some water features on site? What do those start to look like? And then thinking about public space programming, we need to make sure the site is secure. It also accommodates the events uh that you know the city and the community want to have in the park space. Um but then also that it can be maintained long term. So we're really thinking far out into the future about uh making sure this is a sustainable site for both the short term but also long term um into the future. Uh when Bob mentioned that we've been talking to various sub consultants, um this is just a quick list of um some of the interviews that we've had to date. So we actually went out, we got proposals from a number of architects, uh four architects listed here. Um and we've had conversations with each of them. Uh same thing with civil engineers because these are two disciplines that are just going to be such a big part of this team moving forward. We've had conversations with six different civil engineer teams. um and are really honing in on what the right team fits for those are. Um there there are a couple so like Plato and EMHP were both involved in the planning team and they were both interviewed for this future implementation team as well. So we're we're just honing in on who those selections are going to be and should know that here soon. Um but that really takes us into what does the scope look like moving forward. Um so this is just a timeline. Uh you can kind of see highlighted where we're at sitting today in midappril. Um I'm sure you've heard about the environmental work that's going on. Uh the city is leading for the

Bridge Point building and uh the site. Uh we're also uh looking at city uh parking study that's currently going on. So I I just have some descriptors about those two city-led efforts. you know that um we're currently collecting data on the environmental work that's been done for Bridge Point that's going to shed light on what needs to happen to remediate both the building and the site moving forward to make those both safe spaces uh for building on into the future. So that work is almost complete and we will be wrapping up uh those reports and moving into an action steps phase so that we know how to synthesize the information and move it into um action for when we get into demolition and site earth moving. Um the city parking study is a citywide parking study that's being done by a consultant uh through the city. That's another study that's going to be uh a really big part of this effort. we need to make sure that we can park this site appropriately. Um, so we will probably be engaging with that team. Um, even though they're on a separate contract, then we start to piece together, okay, we're going to need this many spots in our garage or this many spots on site and how that coordinates with the rest of what's going on downtown to make sure that those are really up and stacked up together. This leads us into the MKSK consultants scope uh that I mentioned past couple months since January at least as Bob mentioned we have been working with the city very closely to develop um what this scope entails and it is very complex and so we've been moving pieces and parts around um in a puzzle to some degree because we're really trying to set the stage up um so that this is a fluid project moving forward. there's a lot of strategy involved. Um, but also

just a lot of careful steps that we're trying to make here. So, um, we've been thinking about positioning the site investigation, which was approved by how last week. We're thinking about the bridge point building, how do we reposition that for potential demolition and adaptive reuse. And then we're also thinking about the entire site and how do we take that to the next level of schematic design uh, moving forward. So that site investigation really will include site topographic survey, geotechnical investigation, and we're hoping to get that authorized here very shortly since it's been approved. And so between May and July, we hope to have that information back. Um, and then we will very quickly move into looking at that bridge point repositioning, understanding that building further. There may need to be um a closer look at that building. We're considering bringing in a contractor just to help us investigate that building further um to know what's at play, know what we need to protect if we need to relocate any utilities. Um it's going to be a very careful process um that we want to embark on here in 2026 and hope to see some movement towards the end of the year and into the new year with that demolition. Simultaneously, we hope we can run a concurrent path of riverfront schematic design work that will involve the site primarily. So that's again, it's looking at the park. It's looking at the roadways, the utilities, the floodway strategy, understanding what the perminating agencies are going to require of this project, doing the cost estimating, and coming up with a phasing strategy that's really going to articulate how this plan is implemented into the future. because that's going to take us right into phase implementation where we might start to slice and dice the site into, you know, phase one, phase two, and that's where we can start to construct and actually start to build things. So, 2027, we're hoping that we

can get to that point where we're putting together construction documentation or built work on the riverfront site. All the while um a couple other projects I just I didn't want to fail to mention here that are by others the tower repurposing which I believe was initiated early April or late March um that is going to be moving forward in hyperlift and then um the 200 building which I know has been discussed as well as getting some proposals for that repurposing and reuse that will be ongoing as well into the future. Um, so I'm going to pause there. That is a lot of information. I I really thank you all for having me here tonight to talk about this, but I'll just pivot over to uh some Q&A and discussion and and thank you so much.

Any questions from the council? Yes, Mayor Anthony. I want it is because trust moves at the speed of relationships. Meaning the community needs to trust that the process we have in place is the right one and we're doing the right things. Will there be movement down there on buildings? Meaning, are we tearing down? Are we moving earth? Are we opening up the earth in this calendar year? because we are very close to the community community not trusting this process.

Well, that's a very good question. I know it's something that we are aiming for. Certainly, there have been a lot of things to set up set up this project for success as I just mentioned a lot of layers. Um, we did have that demo uh portion of the project further out and then we shifted it actually forward into 2026. So, what I can tell you is we are prioritizing that. That's why we've had the architectural interviews. That's why we're honing in on who those selections are going to be because once we have those selections, we're going to move right into developing that Bridge Point adaptive reuse and demolition package. And so, that's really going to be our key high priority this year to get something moving. Um, I think we still have to get that team assembled and moving to get that schedule together to understand, you know, when can we get shovels in the ground. Um, but really that's our goal. And if we can articulate, hey, there's parts of these buildings that really it's not going to affect anything if they come down. That's something we've honed in on too because I think that's a great possibility that there are pieces and parts that can come down with no great, you know, issue, but we really do want to be mindful of the areas of the building that maybe are a little bit more sensitive and make sure that we're being strategic about those areas.

Okay. Thank you very much, Brad. I had a question. you had talked about maybe grading streets and uh uh pads uh prior to building construction in the uh the private residential section. Is it wise to do so without knowing what's going to go there? I asked because I read that book Devil in the White City where they had to do the honeycomb underneath and we are so close to the river. I don't know how tall these buildings are going to be and structurally why why are we building streets before we know what's going on the spots?

Well, it's a very good question. Um, I what I will say is in schematic design, we are looking at the streets. We are looking at these parcels through the lens of all of the site investigation work that we're about to do pretty in the next couple months. Uh, without that information at our disposal, we won't know the answers to any of those questions. So we need to get through a schematic sign phase looking at everything together with that information at hand so that we can start to make realistic decisions about what are those phases that move forward. We might discover something that says hey you're not going to want to build this street until you build this building. You know so those are the answers that we're seeking uh with more information at hand. Uh but again it will also go to once we come up with the cost estimates and the phasing plan that's also really going to start to articulate what goes in first and what goes in second and third and so on you know. So um I won't say that we have that completely fleshed out. We have an idea uh which is what we're presenting that idea for but I think it will very much be shaped in the coming months with more information in our hands.

Thank you. Just add to that we're all that design is taking in consideration the fact we do have existing infrastructure. So we're trying to maximize the preservation of very sufficient infrastructure. This is effectively connecting a street grid uh preliminary layout of all the blocks have been done to ensure that we can circulate parking garage and things like that. So these are pretty standardized approach to blocks and I think that's where we're going to test but it's definitely the mind of connecting the street grid existing streets extend over and preserving infrastructure some of the gnomes that we have. Will this be maybe restoring some of the original roads as they were? I know. I think we still have the right for that. Yeah. Yeah, that's interesting.

Reestablish. So Brett, on the timeline uh plans and construction implementing 2027, if all goes well with engineering and design, we could have a riverfront park in 2027. Um I would say likely not 2027 exactly like it'll done. Um there's still a number of design phases that we have to go through. So schematic is the first phase. Then there's design development and then construction documentation. So what we had thought of in 2027 is design development and construction documentation. we need to get to that very technical level where we're drawing blueprints uh you know we're coordinating all the things that have to get built on that site and then it would go through a permitting process and that permitting process depending what's in that phase um could vary uh we know that the riverfront in particular we're going to have to go through a number of agencies including Army Corps FEMA IDNR so that process depending on what the design is it can vary. We can't really pinpoint, oh, it's going to be this long or that long. It's really, we're at the mercy of the agencies to some degree once we get into that. But I will say if we create a phase that doesn't include anything touching the river's edge, say it's more of this bridge point work or some of the like a we're talking about a parking garage maybe going over there, that might not have to go through that extensive carbon process. So that's the work that we're kind of expediting at the front end here. So we don't have So maybe we can be doing that work while we're looking at the riverfront and

while we're going through that longer Mississippi River permitting process. So trying to be strategic to like elevate up the things that we can do and then while we're waiting, let's wait productively and like get some troubles in the ground elsewhere. We also are waiting on the build grant notification which would be street work, right, everything like that, which we should know in June. So, the timing of what they're doing is aligning with that notification if we were to get the funding um it lines up. Yeah. So, all those things considered, do you think we could have a riverfront park in 2028?

I love your question. I love that you want the riverfront park. I do too. Um I I think that is um Go ahead. Hopefully we can aim for it. I mean I like I said I think we're just going to know more once we go through some we have to sit down with the agencies once you know once we can get in the room with them and we can start asking them those hard questions like how long is this going to take guys? What do we need to do? Um and making those design decisions we're just going to start to narrow in on that timeline. And so I hesitate to give any firm answers at this point until we have those conversations. Um but absolutely we we are we want to you know have it happen as soon as possible.

Sorry just two the two things we uh um and Brett you kind of touched on but not to lose sight of um in the earlier design phase even though it's just the master planning schematic we did advance and pull forward the flood plane analysis. Um so that's something that would normally be happening now. we did pull that component forward because just to test the validity of the design point to draw a building in a space that you can't ever succeed on. Um so we were able to advance some of that with Army Corp of Engineer engineers and then also IDNR provided valuable information on the actual river edge of the structure. There's a lot of information that we need to pull that forward. Um so that is really of course right you're speaking thoughtfully and uh uh cautiously which is which is the right thing to do but we did also identify this uh that northeast section of the site very strategically u where there are some existing buildings and really narrowing in on the flood plane and what can be built there and that's to make sure we position that so that can advance potentially forward um as part of that early phase one. We've been we've been dialing in on early launch portions of the sites.

There's a lot going on.

Yeah, I I've seen a lot of complex projects in my time. This is probably one of the most complex that I've come across. It's up in the top three. So, I mean, patience, perseverance, and we're going to get there. I know we're going to get there. You know, whether we're dancing in the park, you know, when music comes from the amphitheater in late 27 or in 28 is no consequence that we're dancing at some point is getting there cost efficiently, right? There's other grants that we're pursuing. Don's been, you know, active getting grants in and submitting them. So, pursuing other people's money, federal money to try and make this happen. State dollars where they become available. Uh, Carol's nodding her head, thank God. Yes. Well, she doesn't see dollars. And, uh, but I but I think that, you know, that's the the river, you know, that's the river front. Then there is the center gateway, which is a different animal. a different beast alto together. So, we're also doing site survey work there because we know we could advance something on that property quicker than we can on the riverfront. But it could very well be that you'll see something happen the center gateway before we're dancing in front of the amphitheater. But either way, they complement each other and one like a domino will cause great interest in the remaining four developable parcels, right? One one that we own half of and three that we own 100% of the fourth one that we're actually selling. So, it's starting to happen, right?

And movement is movement. And that's kind of I think what we're all kind of looking for. This is complex like the lease he worked on for solar, right? But I don't think the lease is here or you know purchase sales agreements will be anywhere as complex what we're dealing with on solar site now. So I hope not. Yeah. Christie, anything else? Anything else from council? Barry, you got anything on edge? Uh, no. I I mean Brett pretty much hit the nail on the head with your timeline and um you know muscles is a big unknown. Um I review you can miss an entire construction season just waiting for some of these studies to come back

and you've experienced that at previous communities. Yeah. Um the the grants the grants there's pennies from heaven and there's pennies from and uh the grants can come with a whole another set of conditions can spur other requirements. It could be shippo could be involved. Um when I've done a project on the river before we had an archaeologist literally standing over the hole where the excavator was working and watching every scoop come out. So uh those are some of the things the unknowns that we just have to walk into uh openeyed.

I think on a positive note maybe we can mention this too. I mean we did have a great meeting here this last week Thursday you know with environet and the person I guess the president of environment right and uh we kind of went through all their initial findings. I'm not going to say final findings, but their initial findings of all the borings they did on a site. I don't remember how many borings there were. It was close to like 50

50 or more. I don't know. Tremendous number of borings, you know, and the site for the most part given it historical history and location is is relatively clean. They expected worse. What they found wasn't that bad. It wasn't 100% great, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been considering there were tool and die fabricators there, you know, and plers rail line going

rail line that would ran right through it. I mean, a multitude of different businesses in the last 150 plus years, 70 years actually, we use that site. So, surprisingly, it's a lot cleaner than than I expected myself. So really pleased. So just passing that on. It's good news. Good news. Yeah. I just have one question on that, but I think that Dan had his hand up. Well, he's on.

I just um I appreciate um everything that you're saying about, you know, I I understand that everything takes time determining and everything, but I think that some of us are hearing you from some of our um neighbors um because they don't see anything. They don't think anything has happened. So I happening. So I think that any kind of I mean yes in this room we are hearing about it and understand but any kind of communication that we can get um out to the residents whether it's on Facebook or just um other social media that this is kind of an update on what's happening and this is this is happening and you know maybe like a not necessarily a timeline but just like it's you know important things happen if we can just keep folks updated so that they know that we're just not talking and that things are happening in the background. Yeah,

that was my point. I I wanted to be clear what I understand all the explanations about the complexities. So, I was kind of surprised to see a timeline through 2027 when it's likely going to extend beyond that. So, I want to make sure too, I'm hearing the same things and to the mayor's point and to Alter and Castro's point is that we want to update the public on all of the moving parts in this project and we want to do it right and we want to do it thoughtfully. So, um understood that it can this takes time. Just want to be clear.

We will ring that bell regularly, won't we? Well, and I I have heard from the public um on more than one occasion. People have know, they just know we bought the building. They're sitting, but still they don't know about all the meetings we've had, public meetings. They don't know about uh the plans that have been revealed on multiple news outlets and the websites and everything else. So, there is still a huge blind spot and I think anything we can do to fill it in would be fantastic.

I'll toss an idea out. We'll use the library to put up static displays of our progress, right? More people go to the library than any other public building in the city. And I know Brian would just jump at the opportunity to be a part of this and share his space to advertise what we're accomplishing. Right. Good idea. Just to add that we had what you'll see forthcoming is a brand new website RP that was acting straight through the interview process for that. So that would allow us to give you know just to hit it straight between the eyes with west head can push that information out on all economic development activity include the front specifically. So that'll be that that's that's not just a you know social media that's there and gone there and gone. This is something that's can be revisited can be shared with others and can be constantly updated and us allow us to really control the the communicate out to the community. So that's for ethics.

Your points are all well taken though. Any other questions or comments? No, I I would just add um like development projects take years and this is a massive one. Like easily nine years like we could all be out of office by the time we see the full scope of this. Um so people just have to realize even slow progress, it's still progress. Yeah, it's gonna take a while.

Yeah. And I just wanted to clarify with the timeline that I showed, I kind of stopped at 2027 because I I will get too small if I like extended it out. But you're exactly right. These things will take time and it's not going to happen all of it at once. It's going to be pieces and parts kind of happening in different orders. Might not seem logical, but it is because it's strategic. Um but exactly like it will extend through the years. I think our master plan had this zone kind of five to 10 years at the max. So we do need to be prepared for for some things to take some time. But also we're trying to be very cognizant of you know what can we do quickly? What are those shortterm wins that are going to be catalysts and be exciting things for the community to really experience in the short term. So, we promise you we're working on that and would love to talk more with the team about, you know, maybe how we can fulfill some of these needs on the community side, too.

Thank you. Be on the next agenda. All right, there you go. Great. Thank you, Brett. Um, we will move. Thank you, everyone. Thank you, Brett. We can move on to 7.3. Uh, getting to know our sister city, Obach, Germany. Ashley Ellen Smith. Did I pronounce that correctly? Yeah. Great. I think it's I think that's perfectly blocking the button that you need to hit

or viewing perhaps on the top left. Let me go full screen. What you're trying to do? No, I'm trying to start this slideshow. This is Canada.

Okay. Those arrows in the bottom right corner. Yeah. One's going up. Okay.

Awesome. All right. Um, good evening, council and mayor remotely. Um, tonight I'm excited that I get to share a brief overview of Osbach, Germany, um, as we're preparing to formalize our sister city relationship with them. It'll be at our next council meeting on April 28th. Um this is an excellent uh way for us to create opportunities to connect across cultures and strengthen our community. It ties in very well with our aim to um kind of diversify our um cultural engagement, the social infrastructure that mayor is very passionate about. Um so this is just an awesome opportunity. Um let's go ahead. Oh, this is me. Is it turned on?

Yes, it is.

Oh, there we go. Okay. So, what is a sister city? A sister city is a formal partnership between two communities in different countries. um is focused on building long-term relationships. Um at its core, it's really just about people um sharing uh their culture, exchanging ideas, building connections that benefit both communities. Um to formalize this relationship, we are going through what is called Sister Cities International. Um they hold the database of all of the formal Sister City relationships. And so why Ozbach exactly? Um it's a very natural fit for Mullingy once we know the context of it. Um it's home of Bertkin Group um which is a global leader in road construction equipment and manufactures machinery used to build and maintain roads and infrastructure. The connection to Molen is that it was acquired by John Deere in 2017 um which created that direct connection between our communities. Um, at that time, Mayor Christ, who will be visiting, um, submitted a letter to us just inviting us to formalize or have this relationship with them. And that, um, began, but from my understanding, the whole process was a bit disrupted by the pandemic. And so, we're kind of continuing that conversation now and making it official. Um so well that this will allow us to build on an existing relationship and make it intentional. Now um so the next slide which I believe will autoplay so I'll say it now. This is um just a very short clip to explain what Burkin Group is and once again that is why we have a relationship with Obach is because Burkin's headquarters is in Obach and John Deere acquired Burkin Group.

Portole a day comfort and safety on all roads. Did you know that a great deal of the worldwide road infrastructure has its origin in the vestal more precisely in the Aspath community? One of the very strong players in this important market is the globally active VK group. On the way to Cologne, motorists pass the industrial area, the A3 and Vintar. This is an industrial prime location between the R and Ry mine areas. Location of the Vertkin Group, the technological leader in road construction and rehabilitation. On December 1st, 2017, the Vertkin Group became a strong part of John Deere from Molin, Illinois, USA. Business in Vintagen is headed by the chairman of the board of management Dominic Rukulo who emphasizes the importance of the location in ASP municipality.

Okay. Then it becomes a commercial. So in German that's a connection.

Yeah. Um so to understand Ozbach um we refer to it as our sister city but really it is a municipality that is made up of four districts. Um we have Osbach of course we have Buhulse, we have Nat and Vinhogen. Um and they all share services in governance. Um while they still have their own unique identity um they have a shared administrative structure. Um, and while it's different than ours, it's similar in a sense that there are multiple communities working together. So, if you kind of think in that way, it is similar to the Quad Cities in some ways. Um, but they've only got four.

All right. So, their local government um it is comprised of multiple political groups. So they have the Christian Democratic Union, the Free Democratic Party, the Free Voters Group, uh the Greens, uh the Social Democratic Party, and we will have with our uh visitors that are coming, representatives from each one of those parties. It's not terribly important that you know all the details of that, but just to know that they do technically belong to different parties. Um, but because it's local government, they're really very similarly to us, just really working all together to make the best decisions for their community. Um, see the next slide. This is a picture of their city hall. Um, which is lovely. and about them on house.

Um, they have a very strong sense of community with an emphasis on local traditions. Um, they have their local events that they love. They're into volunteering. They have a population of about 23,000 in whole. So, it's a very close-knit community. Um, and that's a big part of its identity. Um and then it's your major cities but with a quieter small town feel like anywhere else you know. Um the next video this is a tourism video. Is it mention for client number three

Fore! Foreign! Foreign! for Alice. Alice on the Leave right outside align. Hang me down. Fore! Foreign! Foreign! foreign.

My own is health. That's our sister city, our sister community really. Um, and so what the the purpose of the partnership is, it's a cultural exchange. Um, it's also going to provide educational opportunities. will have studenta engagement. Um we will be taking the delegation to the Molyne Valley School District headquarters and also providing a tour of Moline High School. So that'll be very exciting. Um we'll have um just the the business connections that can be born out of this relationship is awesome. Um and then just the shared learning like exchanging ideas and hearing how they do things, they see how we do things. It's just an awesome collaborative opportunity. So, for our upcoming visit, they will be with us um Monday, April 27th through Wednesday, April 29th. Um on that Tuesday, April 28th is when we'll have the official signing ceremony shortly before city council. And they'll be in attendance at that as well. So, you'll get to meet all of them. Um but among the things that we have planned for them, we we pretty much have almost every minute accounted for um during their stay which is really exciting. But some of the highlights are that we're going to kick it off at the deer Wyman house with a nice breakfast. We'll provide them facility tours. So city hall, police, fire, as well as getting um a thorough tour of our north slope,

north slope, public works, all that good stuff. Um again the school district and the high school uh will go over to the John Deere pavilion and then Neil Dalstrom is providing access to his kind of private John Deere Archives Museum. So that's really cool to be able to share with them a vibrant arena providing a tour. Um we're going to make sure that they get logo Marcenos and then we'll have the official sister signing once again at that city council meeting on the Tuesday, April 28th. So that is what we have. Oh, um, so this is a meaningful step in building long-term connections that will benefit both of our communities. And so before we wrap up, I thought that we might learn a quick phrase together. So if we're ready when our guests arrive. So if you could please repeat after me.

Vil and Molen. All right. So we're good to go. Thank you. The hand. Yeah. Hi, Ashley. Um, if we're going to show them the library gardens or any of that, you know, outdoor learning or I've always thought of the library as one of the jewels in our crown and I would hate to miss an opportunity to share that. Yes. Yep. A library tour is on the schedule for sure. Okay, great.

And we'll get to show them our new library again as well. Bookmobile. Book mobile. Are there any aspects Molen that are German specific? I know we had a large Swedish population at

Oh, I guess I should mention um we found a really cool opportunity to collaborate with Visit Quad Cities. um they provide a certified tourism ambassador course um and so we kind of connected with them and said hey with all the information that you have can you narrow it down to any German connections. So if you are in attendance at the near wine breakfast which I believe most people in here have RSVP2 the quasi is going to give a presentation on any German connections that we have. So I think their slides said like 30% of it was significant. Yeah. People living in Quad Cities were had German ancestry. Belgium, Sweden. Yeah.

I would think if we wanted to learn more too, the German American Heritage Center would have in their archives. Yes. Um, Kirk Marsh is actually we reached out to the German American Heritage Center for a translator and he provided a really solid contact, someone that taught German um at a Bendorf school for 30 plus years. And so that was an awesome resource that they provided for us. but he'll also be in attendance at um on that Monday that evening we'll have kind of like a little meet and like cocktail hour at the access and Kirk Marc will be in attendance there too. That would be cool opportunity to kind of get them speaking with the German American Heritage Center.

Ashley, have you circulated the entire itinerary, the detailed itinerary to council? That I'm not sure. I should mention that I'm It's not just me. I'm on the committee. It's myself. No, I don't believe we have, but we absolutely can. And you can let us know. You can pick and choose what you want to go to. Y we'll make sure you get that.

Just um just questions. um aside from this initial this business initial signing and the visit that they're coming how long does the relationship last is it is there a time frame to it and is there plans for any like for mayor any members of our staff to um visit them in Germany? Yeah. So that was something that we had explored because I was kind of curious speaking with our sister cities contact if we should implement a timeline just to even give us opportunity like three years from now to see hey have we been engaging with this enough maybe we should refresh this. We did not build that into our agreement. Um, but that is definitely something that we want to be mindful of is making sure that this isn't just like, you know, take a picture and then maybe 10 years from now we can talk again. Like we won't do that. Um, but as far as going to Germany, um,

we're think we were thinking about 2027, so next year in the fall, late September. Yeah. Am I right in remembering, your honor? Am I right in remembering that my predecessor did go over to OSPA? You are correct. I think she was there preandemic. Yeah. To Alder Castro's point, I mean, there has been one. That's correct. Yeah.

Yeah. just going through past um minutes essentially it the story seems to be that that we really were kind of starting strong with wanting to make this relationship happen and then really it was just the pandemic that kind of everything shut down and so kind of shut down that initiative as well. I think ENL has a lot to do with relationships. Having worked with Sister Cities International before getting you know Belgrade Serbia tried in with the city of Chicago because there's a million servants that live in Chicago you know there's linkages you build and relationships you build you know and Chicago sister cities I mean I don't have close to 50 sister cities now I think Belgrade was the 35th and I was told there was only going to be 34. So, you know, strange how voting goes. So, we ended up with the 35th. And since that time, there's been another 15 that have been formed, but they're they're very actively engaged and and you know, they have a lot of cultural exchanges, a lot of art exchanges, uh sometimes municipal exchanges, staffto staff exchanges,

you know, to learn from one another. So, it all depends on what you want the relationship to be and how long it'll last. We have two relationships with two cities in Mexico that are basically twinning relationships that were established back I think when Stan Leech was mayor and Stan did go to Mexico. I mean it's in all the records that we have. Um but that's not a formal sister city relationship with either of those cities. you know, they're all they're both in the same county, so to speak, right, or province. And then there's two cities located in there, which is where most of our Hispanic community members came from, right? So, like Belgium, a lot of the people who care came from Belgium. There's no formal sister city relationship with any Belgium city. So, it's endless as to what you want to do with it. I guess is my point. Want to grow it, you can grow it. If you want to enhance it, so it's up to the cities to decide what they want. Any other questions? We all look forward to this. RSVP, if you haven't yet.

All right. If that's it, that concludes our round table. Um, Chief, do we have any additional public comment? Your Thank you very much. Um, that brings us to agenda item number nine, miscellaneous business. All the person silence, do you have any to share? I don't. Thank you. see us on that. Person Finch O'Neal. No, thank you. Nothing,

Mr. Schmidt. Well, I will mention that um other person um McNeil and I went to Washington School today and saw the United Ways efforts and what they're doing with the community and um it is uh really heartwarming to see the amount of effort and attention to detail that the administrators of this program work with that community on. and uh they talk about test scores, they talk about attendance and just meeting basic needs with food banks and and clothing and and that they've identified a need and they've put money and resources into it. I think their existing grant is three years that they have

through 28 through 28 and so it's it's a really great program and I would encourage you and they're just in Molen they have six schools within the Quad Cities they're working with the ones in Molen are Washington and Wilson so they're working with students in both of those schools it's great if you have an opportunity to visit I encourage you to um they're more than happy to to show off the things that they've done and talk about it. And I I think uh anything that we can do to help meet basic needs helps people work, helps people not commit crimes. I mean, it benefits the whole community. So, I just think anything we can do to to help with that is it's beneficial.

Um United Way, have you heard of them? Yeah. It's called communities. It's called communities and schools and that would be communities and schools. is the national organization that United Way is working that they provide the framework for community schools. Yeah, that's Mayor Ria Patty, do you have anything to share?

Yeah. Uh heard that Daniel and um Chris Matias have also arrived here in Boston. So, we are safe from the storms that I hope are um treating you guys okay out there. Um we present our final project for the just city fellowship um tomorrow afternoon. Um it's been a really interesting um time period of I think 10 weeks or so 12 weeks maybe um where we've learned a lot including philanthropic um funders for for big ideas Bob and Carol and council. Um so actually it turns out that uh two of the um experts that will be giving us feedback tomorrow on on our presentation, one of them is part of the Kresky Foundation. So that was one of those that was shared with us and I'm looking forward to hearing what they have to say. This is the East End revitalization project. Um I will share our slide deck with you all uh as soon as possible. um not anything meant to take away from what we're doing on the riverfront. Obviously, we know that's a priority, but there's some significant um uh what do they call them? Um um markers of like just imbalance or injustice that that are present in the east end and we need to make some good investments for that community. So, I'll make sure to get the presentation to you so you know and and the feedback as well.

Thank you. Anything from staff?

Um, the only thing I would bring up is uh today is the last day that the uh temporary winter homeless shelter is open. Um, as you know, we opened it back on January 21st and it's been operational every day since then and today is that final day. Uh we will be gathering uh after they've had a chance to close things down and and exit the property uh give them time to prepare the uh the final reports and the results and the data. Um we're doing the same here in terms of the finances. Uh there is there was money donated from the three uh cooperating cities of East Mullen, Silvis, Rock Island about 16,500 roughly I think is what they donated toward the cost. So, um, we'll be looking to true those numbers up as well to see exactly how everything balances out, which is good because that data then will help to inform discussions that the the broader Illinois Quant Cities are are looking to address as a more permanent homeless shelter facility in the Illinois side of the river. Uh, and that effort now is being led by the county. So the good news is is everyone was listening, everyone's paying attention, everybody understands that it's a you know a clear and present need uh it doesn't go away and uh so we will be arranging another meeting very shortly with them and hopefully this data will already be available so you can share it with the broader broader group. So just passing that along.

There you go. Thank you. No, New York staff. Do we have executive session? We do not. Then I would entertain motion. All in favor? Opposed? May artjourn.