City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening, everyone. I'm happy to open our meeting here at 6 p.m. in council chambers. Roll call, please.

Alderperson Silas. Present. Macias.

Present.

Reza.

Present.

Timian. Present. Finch. Present. McNeil.

Present.

Castro. Present. Schmidt.

Present.

All right, I don't believe we have remote electronic attendance. Is there public comment this evening, Chief?

Yeah, George, George. I'm just going to go with George, sorry.

All right, you have three minutes. Chief will keep track or I will keep track. Whoever's faster.

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, City Council, for having us here. My name is George Kersey. I am with World Relief Quad Cities. We have a funding application on the agenda, I believe, today. So thank you for giving me a couple minutes to talk about what World Relief is and what our mission is. We are a refugee resettlement agency. Last year, we resettled close to 200 refugees. individual family that were seeking a better life by coming over to Quad Cities Reselling. A lot of our family spent years in camps waiting to get vetted, to get all the applications complete and done, and they come over here legally with all the paperwork done. They average wait about seven years in camps. Prior to this year, our numbers are kind of low because prior to this year, we had a president's order that limited how many people can actually come to the Quad Cities. Prior to the 203, we had 780 prior year. And so we, over the five-year period, we have resettled close to 1,500 families who are making their lives here, having a better quality of life, coming here, selling here. We'll relieve helps with core value payments. indicators, things like housing, things like employment skills, things like helping children get into school, back to school, mental health services. We provide other core value things like mentorship. We also provide IOS, which is legal services for the family. And so we want to do what we can to help make sure all the family have access to resources in the community. And we are happy to say that that's our core value, but our vision is to have a unified citizenship where people are Quasitians, where they are coming out to celebrate, to educate people about immigration and refugees and the lifestyle and the culture of these immigrants and refugees in our community. These are actually Quasitians. They're here to root their lives here. They're not here just to pick it up and go back. go somewhere else. So we are serving 1,500 individuals and family that we know that put back to the county. The kids are going to school. They're going to get jobs. They're paying jobs. We've helped through some services. We have five families who bought new houses, put money on houses, 20 cars there. So these are all economic Indicators that are helping the family to become part of the questions. So one of the application is that we are requesting rural refugee day, which is on June 20th every at Butterworth Park. It is a celebration of culture and diversity is open to all immigrants or Moliners, Rakaners, Kwasians, and it's a chance for us to blend in, to have a carnival, to have a family celebration, to know what each other's awareness and situation is.

Thank you so much. We have more time to ask questions of you when the item comes up.

And I'll be glad to answer if you want to call the Kwasi office. I'll be glad to help you. Thank you.

Any further public comment? Seeing none, we move to our public hearing. but proposed voluntary annexation of two residential parcels, 4229th Street and 1523 36th Avenue. I hereby open this public hearing for item numbers 9.2 and 9.3, proposed voluntary annexation of two residential parcels, 4229th Street and 1523 36th Avenue. Chris Mathias, will you please proceed?

Thank you, Your Honor. So these are two parcels that are already connected to city utilities. My staff have been learning how to go through all the processes of all the notices and things that we do. But this is just the next step in the process of this voluntary annexation. Both of these properties, that means they chose to annex to the city. And like I said, they already have our utilities. So certainly asking for your approval of this item when we get to it on the agenda.

Thank you.

And we haven't heard any, I have not received any public comment on my end.

Okay. Is there any testimony from those in favor of the proposed voluntary annexation? Okay. Is there any testimony from those in opposition to the proposed voluntary annexation? Okay. Are there any other questions or statements on this item? Hearing none, this public hearing is closed at 6.05. Thank you. All right, so we'll move to our proclamation. A proclamation request by Eric Griffith, Director of Parks and Recreation, to declare the week of June 22nd to 28th, 2026, as National Pollinator Week. Mr. Griffith.

Thank you. So this is our first time as a Bee City that we'll be celebrating National Pollinator Week. We got all of our members from our Bee City group behind us and including Alderperson McNeil. Over the last year, year and a half, we've been doing some exciting legwork and we're finally starting to see it come to life between the John Deere property. We also have a new pollinator garden down on Ben Butterworth Parkway. We've got projects at Sylvan Island, Sylvan Island Gateway, Green Valley, Prospect and Peterson as well. So we're really starting to expand as well. In the next week or so, we'll be announcing some fun events that are happening. So check out our Moline Parks and Rec Facebook page and then also our Bee City page and we'll be sharing a lot of great information. But thank you to the council. Thank you to Kelly behind us. She was She's the one that kind of kicked this off, and we're really starting to grow. So thank you.

Thank you. So the proclamation reads, whereas thanks to the more than 3,600 species of native bees in the United States, along with introduced honeybees, we have... very diverse dietary choices rich in fruits, nuts, and vegetables, and whereas bees and other pollinators have experienced population declines due to a combination of habitat loss, poor nutrition, pesticides, parasites, diseases, and climate change, and whereas pollinators provide significant environmental benefits that are necessary for maintaining healthy, diverse ecosystems in towns and cities, And whereas pollination plays a vital role for the trees and plants of our community, enhancing our quality of life and creating recreational and economic development opportunities. And whereas the city of Moline manages parks, public landscaping, and other public lands that may include greenways and wildlife habitats. And whereas the City of Moline provides recommendations to developers and residents regarding landscaping to promote wise conservation stewardship, including the protection of pollinators and maintenance of their habitats. And now, therefore, I, Sangeetha Rayapati, Mayor of Moline, do proclaim June 22nd to 28th, 2026 as National Pollinator Week. And as Moline is an affiliate of Bee City USA, do urge all citizens to recognize this observance. Thank you so much, everyone. All right. We move to our presentation. Recognition of Ana Maria Rocha for the development of the city's official logo. Mr. Vitas.

I'm going to come down here for this, Mayor. Council. These cities have come a long way, haven't they? Yes. Where they started to where they are today. So Ana Maria, are you there? Come on up. of you who don't know, Ana Maria worked in our CED department many years ago. Not that many.

Almost ten.

Almost ten years ago. Half a life away. So anyhow, she worked for, at that time it was Greg Forsyth who was the CED director. I believe she worked alongside you. You were here at the time. One of the things that Ana Maria did while she was here is identify the fact that the city did not have, other than the city seal, did not have a logo. So she took the time to create this logo which appears everywhere. It is literally a logo that is shared on everything that we have, all of our merch, you know, all of our official correspondence. We use this logo pretty much throughout the city. And so we want to recognize her effort for that, because at that time, things were in transition, and it went unrecognized. So we're going to give her the recognition that was well-deserved at that time. So a certificate of appreciation. This certificate is, and I turned the lights up so I could see this.

Thank you, I appreciated that.

Glasses or any other room. So this certificate is proudly presented to Ana Maria Roca in recognition of your vision and dedication to developing the city's official logo and advancing consistent municipal branding standards which have created a lasting and recognizable identity for the city of Moline. Through your work, the City of Moline strengthened the public image across signage, vehicles, publications, digital platforms, employee apparel, and community engagement materials. And we present this to you this ninth day of June 2026, both the Mayor and I and the Council. So with that, congratulations. Thank you so much for your effort years ago. Sorry if it took so long to recognize you, but you should have been recognized more.

Just a quick clarification. It was a redesign. David was there at that time. So I do want to thank you for, even though it's almost 10 years later, I do appreciate it. It's really cool to drive around the city and to see the logo everywhere. I didn't know if it was a temporary thing, but now that I know it's a permanent thing, I do appreciate the recognition because it's really cool.

Thanks.

Thank you.

All right, our next item is 7.2, 2025 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report. Carol and Michael.

Yes, thank you, Your Honor. Tonight we have Michael Malott with us. Hopefully he'll... be logging on here shortly. He is a principal with Baker Tilly and he will be presenting our audited annual comprehensive financial report for the year ended December 31st of 25. I will just make a quick little mention here that also on the non-consent agenda for tonight, item number 20.5 is a resolution accepting the report that he will be presenting to you now.

All right. Thank you. Can you hear me okay?

Yep.

Great. All right. So thank you, everyone, for your time this evening. I'm going to provide you a quick, brief, high-level overview of the results from the 2025 audit. Before I do get started, I do want to thank Carol and her team, Lupe, Andrea, and others for their assistance throughout the entire process. The audit is really a six-month journey for them. Generally, on top of their day job, we come in, ask them any questions, have them provide us a bunch of information, and then we leave. And they have to do everything else they normally do on top of that. Without their responsiveness, ability to provide us all the information we need, and really work collaboratively with us through the process, we wouldn't be able to issue your report early for a 12-through and fiscal year-end in Illinois and be able to present to you this evening. So I do want to thank them for their efforts and their professionals and throughout the process. So what I'll do right now is go through each of the reports that were issued as part of this year's audit, kind of talk a little bit about what they are and what they mean. The first document, it's the core documents, the annual comprehensive financial report. That's the big document that presents the city's entire financial performance and health as a 1231 for the year. That report is your information. While we help put it together in the prescribed format and in accordance with all the accounting standards, it's really the city's information being put out to the public and other users of the financial statements to understand kind of where the city stands financially throughout the year. The only thing that comes from us in our words is the independent auditor's report, and that's where we say whether the information can be relied upon by those users to understand that the information is accurate and can depict a clear financial position of the city. Our report, as it has been for many years now, is called an unmodified opinion, and that is the highest level of assurance we can provide. That's the gold star. That's the thumbs up, you know, mission accomplished. Most of what we have to communicate is usually geared towards the negative. This, the opinion, and the lack of any modifications or issues noted in that report are the indication that the audit went according to plan. We were able to rely or do our work to say that this information is reliable and can be used by you as a governing body, by residents, by bondholders, by whoever it needs your financial information for whatever purposes. I know it's a large report. I do always recommend if there's anything you're going to read in that, it's the transmittal letter and the management's discussion and analysis. Those two sections are generally read in tandem. The management's discussion and analysis section provides a lot of financial highlights, numbers, really what went up, what went down during the year, and some analysis as to why that happened. Whereas the transmittal letter gets into a lot of non-financial context. So reading those two components of the report together really kind of give you the biggest bang for your buck to know what happened during the year. in what is expected to happen in the future. There's a little bit of forward thinking commentary in there as well. I don't tend to get into a lot of financial highlights, as obviously it says at 1231 and we're into June. I will note that, you know, really there was no glaring unexpected deviations from budget for this year. Your general fund was about break-even before transferring and reallocating resources. Your other government funds, you had a spend down during the year in your capital funds, and without those, the other funds went up. The one thing I do note is the pension funds had a really, really strong year, about a $20.5 million increase in the position between the two police and fire pension funds combined. So that is a really strong thing to note. I know you guys, a while back, put some additional resources into that fund and kind of saw it go to work this year with the investment performance. One thing I do always like to point out, it's not necessarily always readily noticeable in the statements themselves in the front, but there are some schedules later on that present some trend information related to pension funded status. I'd like to note that while IMRF has remained very stable and very strong, it's actually an overfunded position. The police and fire pension saw 4% and 5% increases in their position, respectively, which is great. The better funded the plans are, the less you need to put in additional contributions to keep building up resources for pension benefits going forward. So those plans are in a very healthy position right now. The police and fire pension are the high 70s, almost 80%. And that's really darn high for local municipalities in Illinois with their police and fire pension. So those are healthy and strong and have a good year. get any other financial details obviously if you have questions please don't hesitate to ask me on those um the other there's a number of other things we do beyond issuing the core opinion The first is related to your compliance and your TIFs. So when you establish a TIF after a certain amount of time, after a certain amount of incremental tax revenue is generated, we have to go in and issue an opinion to say that you are spending that money in accordance with state statute. We issue kind of a one-page opinion that covers all your TIFs. We test each of them individually, and we're able to issue a clean opinion on that. We did not note any fines or issues with your TIF and your spending or other compliance-related matters during the year. So that's a clean bill held on your TIFs that gets submitted to the state. We also do a deep dive, as we do pretty much every year, into your federal spending. That's the report on federal awards, or what we call the single audit. This year, we tested our major program. We looked at the Defense Community Infrastructure Program, which is a new program for you this year. And we've been testing your ARPA funding pretty substantially over the last few years. But now that that's gone, we're starting to see other programs require testing. We do a deep dive, not just in what was spent during the year to make sure it's compliant with federal regulations, but also making sure that various processes and controls you have in place around it ensure that you have a reduced likelihood of noncompliance in the future. The feds are very interested in that infrastructure and process around the programs to ensure that you are compliant by luck. uh they want to ensure you're compliant not just now but in a position to remain compliant going forward uh so there are two opinions in that report on federal awards one is related to the federal awards it's called uniform guidance opinion it has no findings associated with your programs there which is great there's also a government auditing standards uh opinion in there and that relates to our assessment of your of the city's overall uh financial controls and processes not just specific to federal awards That report also had no findings this year. Really kind of a clean bill of health from our work of evaluating your controls and your processes and your risks. In addition to that, there are statutory requirements as well. We do have to submit your audit as well as an additional annual financial report to the state comptroller's office. It's their prescribed mandatory format for all local Illinois municipalities to submit that information in their prescribed manner so they can do comparative analysis. And we're able to submit that within our timeframes, and that's all taken care of. Also, the government accountability and transparency unit in Illinois is relatively new compared to some of these other requirements. There's another way of slicing and dicing your financial information, and we have to issue an opinion on that. And that is used by state agencies to monitor the spending of state and federal awards they pass through to other local municipalities and other entities in the state. So that covers all the different opinions and reports we issue on your information. The last document we issue is the results and insights letter. And what that is is a summarization of all the various required communications we have to make to you as a governing body as part of the audit process. So it covers a whole bunch of things. I won't get into too much detail on any of these, but it covers a lot of things related to our plan, what our responsibilities are. whether things went according to plan. It would also be where we would have indicated if there were any significant risks or things we identified during the course of the audit. As I like to say, this report, you want this to be boring. This report is designed to tell you when things went wrong. So the fact that this letter is a lot of boilerplate of nothing went wrong, things went according to plan, that means that's a good thing. So that letter is boring this year because things went really without a hitch from the audit process. We were able to get what we needed. We didn't see anything during the course of our audit work that surprised us or caused us concern or raised any red flags in various natures. So we were able to get through our work effectively and efficiently and issue the opinions that we're presenting to you today. One thing I always like to point out is that Ultimately, while we work with Carol and her team on the day-to-day for the audit, we are engaged by you as the governing body to do this work. So we do work for you. So if there's ever a time outside of the audit process where you have a question, you're just interested about something, or you're concerned about something, we are always available. So if that ever does happen, please don't ever hesitate to reach out with any questions or anything you'd like to talk about with us. With that, that concludes my prepared remarks and any questions you may have.

Thank you, Carol.

Thank you, Your Honor. And again, thank you, Mike. You just have a very professional team, and I so appreciate all the time that you spent with our staff.

I'm pleased to hear about the pension funding percentage where we're at. I would love offline or at another meeting to just get caught up on that because we made those changes several years ago and it seems to be working the way you intended it to. But I need a refresher and possibly some of our other council members do too.

And I'm happy to go through that during the budget process especially. We'll take a look at that. And I would like to just thank, you know, it's not just the finance team, it's your city-wide team, every single department, and your guidance and governance as a council and with Bob, and I'm very appreciative. Thank you. Anyone else?

Okay, thank you. We'll conclude that and move to questions on the agenda, which I don't have any updates for you this evening, so we can go straight to our Committee of the Whole agenda items. 9.1, an ordinance amending Chapter 35, zoning and land development of the Moline Code of Ordinances, specifically Article 5, site improvement and performance standards, Division 1, parking and loading standards. Table 35-5100.3, minimum required parking spaces to lower the number of parking spaces required for residential land uses. Mr. Mathias.

Yes, thank you, Your Honor. So as you mentioned, this is amending that table 3550-100.3. That's the section of the zoning code where you can see for land use, what's your minimum amount of parking that you need to put in. So the Planning Commission had a public hearing on this on May 13th. We follow our steps to advertise that newspaper as well. And the recommendation from the plan commission is to change all of those down to one parking space per unit. And so that would change for every multifamily unit and then down to single family residential. We did not include any changes to institutional residential, which is like your group homes and nursing homes and things like that. the plan commission debated you know where to go with this and they did feel like leaving at least one required space was a good thing due to uh just on street parking and how much how much on street parking costs to replace is one thing just the cost of the city and putting more wear and tear on that and so that was one of the reasons why and just congestion on those roads so happy to take any questions that you have but the plan commission did recommend approval of this amendment motion to approve second motion by finch seconded by

Silas. Yes, thank you. All right, discussion. Mr. Silas.

Can you remind me what the vote was?

Yes, if I have, I mean, it was unanimous. I just can't remember if it was like 7-0 or 8-0. Fair.

That's helpful. Thank you, Ms. Castro.

Were there any residents in attendance that voiced any kind of... No, and we didn't get any feedback like online or over email or anything either.

Thank you.

I'll say I very much appreciate the kind of middle-of-the-road choice that they made, moving us towards some reform that opens things up, but also being mindful. That's helpful.

Yes, and I think we were a three at one point on some of these uses. We might have moved it down once and we're moving it again. So thank you.

Thank you. Yes, Mr. Tumian.

I appreciate your honor. You mentioned the middle of the road. I'm going to give a shot.

Oh, God. I didn't mean to have a pond in there.

Oops. I'd like to make an amendment to this. I move to amend table 35-5100.3 to change required number of parking stalls to zero for all residential types.

Is there a second for this amendment? Hearing none, it doesn't move forward.

That's correct.

I had to try. Nice try. Yes, Mr. Schmidt.

I do appreciate as we keep bringing this number down, I think as we look at a lot of these household types and buildings, I mean, this is the minimum. Most houses and residences are going to be built with more if there's going to be more in that use case. And I think that's sort of that reminder that this isn't restricting back what people are allowed to do on that top end. We have other places for that, perhaps. But I do think there's perhaps a way to also revisit and think about different areas of the city where maybe we could go down to a zero. But I very much agree there are neighborhoods in large parts of the city where going to zero would cause problems. I also have some fairly serious concerns in even just a rental house. Because if I, as a landlord, am like, ooh, I can't rent this out with the... Park driveway the way it is, I just take it out, and you're on your own new tenants. I'm concerned that that would have other ramifications on the rental market, perhaps. So I think the one makes a lot of sense to me.

We can have further conversation on that, but I'll say there are plenty of workarounds that other municipalities incorporate, like permit parking that the city doles out to people so they can park on the street when they don't have a spot related to their rental unit, but for another time, perhaps.

Mr. Timmy. Thank you, Your Honor. There is a very common practice, and I'm glad we're doing this, right direction. There's a common practice now where cities are instituting parking maximums instead of parking minimums. And it is kind of flipping it on its head, but it's also acknowledging that too much parking is detrimental as well. And it's just food for thought. As we talk about on-street parking versus off-street parking and our fears that Cars are taking up too much of the road. I agree, but I also feel like a housing shortage is a bigger inconvenience to the people in Moline than... cars on the street and so sometimes it is a value judgment and we're not having that conversation but this is along the same lines of you know what are we really trying to accomplish here and if we can have more housing with density as a result of diminished parking minimums or removing them in some cases and just a reminder too as we talk about some neighborhoods These standards are only for new construction. They are not for existing houses. So the majority of what we're arguing about, debating about, is for a very small number of lots in the city that haven't been built or new developments, which, as we've seen with some planned ones, are already exceeding the minimum parking requirements. So developers will build appropriate parking.

Thank you. Mr. Schmidt.

I just want to add that I remain skeptical of the use of too much parking maximums because as you think about housing that we're trying to encourage a higher level of density, if you wanted to put in a denser housing structure with a maximum spot, we could be finding ourselves in multiple. Since that idea was brought out, I just... as we think about that and as we think about lower income available housing that just is a reality that people need cars in our community and i wish we could have less of that but it is a fact i think that um for people to be able to go to jobs to transfer around and do things it's more required than than we'd like it to be perhaps but so just a skeptical thing but i mean certainly a worthy conversation but another thought

I'm holding my tongue. Okay. All right. If there's nothing further, all in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. 9.2, an ordinance enlarging the corporate limits of the city of Moline by annexing thereto a certain parcel of land in Rock Island County, Illinois, commonly known as 4229th Street, Moline, Illinois, 61265, parcel number 17-09-410-017.

So this parcel, this is a single-family home. Like I mentioned before, it's on our utilities already. It's located east of South Park Mall and kind of south of that junkyard. So as you're coming from I-74, heading west onto John Deere Road, you kind of look down at the junkyard and some of these houses or whatever. So just to give you a sense of where those are at. This comes in, it annexes, it's in a default zoning of R2, and we recommend approval.

Motion to approve. Second. Motion by Finch, seconded by Castro. Discussion? Hearing none, all in favor? Aye. Any opposed? That motion passes. 9.3, an ordinance enlarging the corporate limits of the city of Moline by annexing thereto a certain parcel of land in Rock Island County, Illinois, commonly known as 1523 36th Avenue, Moline, Illinois, 61265, parcel number 17-08-406-007.

Yes, and this is the same situation. We have another single family home on our utilities already. This is on what would be known as Coaltown Road on the north side there. And so we're asking once again for your approval of this annexation.

Motion to approve.

Second.

Motion by Finch, seconded by Castro. Discussion? Hearing none, all in favor? Aye. Any opposed? That motion passes. 9.4, an ordinance amending Chapter 22, offenses miscellaneous of the Moline Code of Ordinances, Section 22-1105, tobacco products, tobacco accessories, smoking herbs, and alternative nicotine products by increasing the number of Class A principal tobacco dealers' licenses in the City of Moline at the request of Galaxy Smoke Shop, Inc., DBA Galaxy Glass Smoke Shop. Mr. Atkins?

And the situation is basically the same for both this one and the next one. So my comments will be appropriate for both of them. We had previously amended the ordinance with regards to tobacco to create additional classifications, and these were classified under basically a program where we would ask the owners to sign an affidavit as to which of the classifications they believe they should be in. Shortly after the most recent renewal, we were given information by the owners of of these two uh locations that they believe that they were actually misclassified and they gave us much more detailed information we actually said well if you think you're misclassified give us the details of of what your um classification of area for where you're selling and classification or percentage of sales of different products, what those are so that we can judge what the appropriate classification is. And so once we got that more detailed information, it was clear that they should be classified as a Class A. And so with that information, we are now bringing it to you so that they can be reclassified. It would change the number of Class As in Moline. I believe, if I remember correctly, these had both been Class C, is that correct? Yeah. So it would be changing two Class Cs, two Class As. Both of them have essentially the same information with regards to the amount of floor space used for basically tobacco products, which includes smoking herbs, vapes. Our definition of tobacco products is very broad. But in any event, they appear, both of these appear to be appropriate for Class A rather than Class C licenses, and so we are recommending approval.

Motion to approve?

Second. Second. Motion by Finch, seconded by Schmidt. I'll get to you one second. I have a quick question. If they, I remember putting this rule in and requiring an affidavit, that means they said to us that they are X class. It wasn't us misclassifying them, correct? It was themselves misclassifying themselves?

It was. Whether that was through a misunderstanding, whether they actually were classified correctly back then and their business has changed, whether it's some other factor. I can't explain why the change, but the information they gave us regarding their current business practices, on that basis, these are correctly classified as Class A.

I understand that. Thank you for explaining how this all came about. What concerns me is that we just watched another state say that they weren't going to allow the sale of Kratom, or Kratom, however you say it. And then all of a sudden we have a store or two that are selling it that would not have been designated as selling it before. So essentially they're finding a loophole to be able to sell it because they wouldn't have been able to sell it under their current classification, correct?

I really can't speak to that. I understand your concern.

Yeah, you see the timeline I'm concerned about. Thank you. Ms. Castro.

So is it a safe statement to, I mean, either, as Mayor said, that they either stated incorrectly that, you know, what type of license that they were needing. So they... gave the incorrect information and requested the incorrect license, or sometime during that period, even though they had that license, they chose then to sell things or go beyond what their current license allowed?

Looking at their current license classification of Class C and what they say their current sales percentages are for different products and their current space utilized for different products, it is clear to me that they are not operating as a Class C currently. Again, I can't really speak to how long that has been going on. It may be that from the very beginning of them being a Class C that they were operating essentially as a Class A. It may be that they've changed their business. All I have factually is the information they gave most recently about what their breakdowns are.

Thank you. Mr. Schmidt?

I had looked through on some things and saw pictures from when at least one of these locations opened. And it was matched to my own recollection of having been in there prior that it was always functioning as a classic. I mean, it was mostly vapes all up on the wall and everything. I mean, I think it has always been functioning in that way. When it comes to the question of, you know, getting them in the right class, we knew there would be some potential issues here. And so in that way, I'm inclined to clean it up, get them in the right place. But to move to a Class A has more requirements than having been on a Class C. Is that correct?

Yeah, we really don't have a lot of requirements for the Class C, whereas for Class A, there's a certain level of, a certain percentage of your income coming from tobacco products. And then there is also a requirement with regards to a certain amount of floor space, and those are necessary for you to qualify as a Class A. So they are meeting the standards for a class a according to the information that they have provided to us And I should point out I have been working with the city clerk. We are Modifying our process for applications and renewals so that rather than simply asking the business owners to determine what they should be classified as we will starting with the the next round of renewals and hopefully we'll put it in place sooner than that for any new requests that come in we are going to be looking at an actual breakdown of how they think their business is functioning currently if they're already in operation or how they think it will operate in the future if they're planning on starting a new business. So we are not going to simply ask them to figure out for themselves and for us what they should be. We're going to ask them for the details, and we will then verify that they are correct in which classification they're saying they should fit in.

So, but I'm looking in the ordinance, there are additional requirements that are only put on the class A and class B licenses. And here, all class A and class B tobacco dealer licenses shall keep accurate books and records, including original source documents, book of entry, donating all transactions involving tobacco, tobacco products. many other things associated with any of the four gate, including units of the regulated. So, I mean, that whole reporting requirement that is not put onto a class C. Right. And which is raised in my head, the concern of like, was this intentionally trying to Was it a misclassification and just they were signing off on the paper the city put in front of them and went it through? Or how did that go? And as you say, there may not be a way to tell. I am inclined to even take a moment to look back at what those initial records indicated and whether they identified themselves as a Class C or whether that was something we had done. Because I think that would change the tenor of how we would approach this.

Well, I would say that the consequence here to the council's decision is they're either going to stick with the cap that we put in place on purpose because we didn't want a proliferation of class A's. I mean, that was the whole reason for doing this, right? Or we potentially forced someone to change their business model. They can stay open under their class C, correct? But they would have to change their business model. Correct. To stay that.

Right. And I understand the difficulty. Given that they self-reported to us that there is this inaccuracy, I don't believe that there was any intention to deceive us. I don't think that they were trying to be in one class when they were really operating in another one. I think that it was a misunderstanding because of the nature of them coming to us. This wasn't us discovering that there was... that they were operating incorrectly. They actually contacted us and said, hey, we think maybe this should be done differently.

Thank you. I know it was Castro, then McNeil, and then Macias. McNeil had it before I did. Oh, okay.

Mr. McNeil. Well, I'd just like to speak to did the business model evolve and um so i visit all of the stores that are in my ward which the a's and the c's and these two are involved um just to try to better educate myself on all of the products and how fast this industry evolves and i can tell you with certainty after this landing on the agenda and going into galaxy vape that they previously didn't have the number of Kratom products that they've had in the past. It's not that they just had Kratom products. They literally have a wall of Kratom products. And Bill and I have discussed this and my concerns. I think council understands that we have, I think it's six states that have banned Kratom, another four that's pending, and this is coming quickly. More will be on its way. It's the serious substance that a lot of folks are looking at. So to make this move for me to reclassify is saying that in these other products that they're selling includes not just the Kratom, but the others that regulators are struggling to keep up with producers because of all the loopholes, right? So that's my big concern. And obviously with these stores in my ward, I would rather not reclassify them.

Thank you.

Ms. Castro and then Mr. Macias. Just a follow-up question. They came to you at the time of their renewal, correct? Saying that they thought that they were misclassified or was it before the renewal? Because, I mean, it's one thing they know that they have, it's a renewal process, but... knowing what they were selling throughout the year, they could have came to us at any time saying that we believe that we have the wrong license. Is that right? I mean, they could apply at any time to change or request a new license. And can I just make my... And my other thing is just like without having any... I'm not comfortable just having a one-time look at these businesses at the time of their... at the time of them applying for the license saying, okay, and not... you know i mean i don't say policing because that's the wrong word but not taking a look throughout the year to make sure that they are still you know working within the license that they have and

I've already made some assumptions from the information I have and spoke to you as if facts are a certain way that I actually can't prove anymore that I could prove they were the other way. And I was trying to avoid saying anything more than what I knew was absolutely correct. It is possible that when they renewed that they noticed the problem. It is also possible that at the time that they renewed, they simply went with, hey, what kind of classification were we before? Why don't we just do the same thing? And then started thinking about it afterwards, well, maybe we got that wrong. But again, Everything I have to say about what happened before the information that they gave us, I don't have any data to say that it's one way or the other. All I have is what they say currently they're doing.

Mr. Macias?

Well, I kind of want to hear it.

It's to answer her question. Yes. Okay. So they came to me. They came into City Hall, and they were filling out their renewal paperwork. And they said, I don't believe this is the right classification for us. So then that's when we started having the discussions. Can you provide us your floor plan, this and that, so we could talk to Bill and work through what we believe to be the right class for us. Thank you.

Just a follow-up. So did one come right after the other? Are they, like, talking?

They're the same owners.

Oh, the same owner. Yes. Okay. All right. So, and I might be getting ahead on the next one, but their name is Avenue of the City's Tobacco and Vape. like it's on their name tobacco and babe they should be a because in my opinion but is that a fault like should we have been a little bit more better prepared to make sure that people weren't taking advantage of possibly since it's self-reporting possibly trying to skirt sell some products this is a question that i actually could answer without going beyond the things i know factually to be true

In hindsight, yes, we should have been asking a lot more detailed questions. It's fine, I think, to take a self-reporting with regards to regulation, but if we don't ask the right questions, It's like when I was teaching, a lot of teachers will say, there are no stupid questions. Well, that's wrong. There are stupid questions. And I've asked them, you just need to see the transcripts from some of those trials. But if you don't ask the right question, the answer you get is no good. And that's the problem, was we didn't ask the right question. We essentially asked them, all of the people with tobacco license applications, What license do you want? And then we had them sign an affidavit that they were going to qualify for it, but we didn't require them to give us a lot of specific information to back up what it was they were asking for. So I'm not saying that had I been the one coming up with this to begin with, that I would have done anything differently. I have the advantage of having seen how it hasn't worked completely. And so I can say, yeah, we should have asked better questions. And that's what it is that I've been working with the clerk on to make sure that in the future, We aren't just asking them, what classification do you want and are you going to promise us that you qualify? We're going to be asking them, what classification do you want? And by the way, give us the percentages of floor space for all your products and what your percentage of sales are. And with Class A and Class B, they're going to be required to give us the data to show that in fact that is what they're doing.

And that's what we do with liquor licenses. But what Mr. Schmidt read off was that request for data and information from the initial ordinance. What you're telling me it sounds like is that that was for the initial licensing but the renewal didn't ask for a follow-up of that info.

And that's what you're adding. Neither one asked for the level of detail that I think we should ask for. We asked for just a general statement. Do you meet the qualifications for that class of license? We didn't ask for a breakdown of every single item that they're selling. And in future, what I think we should do and what I am planning on bringing to this council for a modification is to actually ask for that greater detail. In fact, I think a lot of it we can do under the clerk's authority, under the ordinance, but for some of it, we may need to bring that back.

Well, I would like to comment that, I mean, the council has to make a decision tonight. You can go lots of different directions. I will say when, correct me if I'm wrong, when a liquor licensee changes classifications, there's a large fee that goes along with that. This doesn't seem quite appropriate to be, in my opinion, granted I don't vote unless y'all put me in a tie situation tonight, but to knowingly create a loophole that people are gonna get through tonight. Mr. Toomey.

This information you might not know. I'm trying to find it online. Do we know when Galaxy opened?

I don't know that.

So we created these licenses in January of 25. According to Facebook, which is a reliable source, they opened in April of 25, which would imply that they were not part of the initial classification where we expected incorrect classifications that would be fixed. If they came after the fact, I feel like that's a different situation than if we incorrectly classified them. And I think that might be an important piece of information in here. I don't want to... make it really easy to apologize for. And then, you know, we've seen this before, too, where people put a lot of money into product and then come to us and say, but I've invested $50,000 in product. If you don't give me the license, I'm going to close. And that is a horrible situation to be in, but it's not the right way to do it. And I don't want to be in that situation.

Thank you. Mr. Schmidt.

As I look at here and hearing, I don't think we can conclusively say whether the business had done anything wrong. And whether we should have done more, I think it's clear we should have and pursued that. And I think these businesses were operating as vape shops all along, which is what, to my mind, puts them forward to that Class A piece. But Mr. McNeil spoke to Kratom, but it's my understanding that Kratom could be sold by any of these classifications.

It can.

Which also means that that's kind of an irrelevant point to this. Though I'm all for stepping back to Van Kratom, but it can be sold legally under their current classification.

Mr. McNeil.

but not at the percentage if you have a Class C license. This is what we're talking about, is that going to a Class A allows them to expand their inventory in these other areas. The head shop classification keeps them where they were before and less product in the city, which is what I'm concerned about.

In tobacco, I don't believe it would restrict your Kratom sales.

Kratom would qualify as a smoking herb. which would be something that is sold by a Class A or a Class B. However, there isn't currently any state or federal regulation with regards to Kratom. It's pretty much whatever the city council does with regards to it.

All right. Mr. Simons.

To me, any, like, variance or special exception, which I think that raising the number on a cap is essentially bad, that means that we are kind of obligated to have a policy discussion about it. So I'm generally just not inclined to vote for variances or special exceptions, including something like this.

Thank you. All right. If there's nothing further, all in favor? Aye. Do you have another question? Mr. Schmidt.

I do think it's important also to look at this is not actually going to raise the number of tobacco licenses in the city. It will change the number of different classification levels.

Yeah, it raises the cap on A's.

It raises the cap on A's. The total number will remain at that same point. And I agree we should take a look at the Kratom piece, but I don't think... looking at this business that has always functioned as a vape shop is the right method to make that change.

Ms. Castro. I just want to make one final thing. It's like we're not... I mean, we're not telling them that they have to stop their business. I mean, we're just telling them that they have to operate within the confines of their current license. So we're not telling them that they cannot continue their business. They just have to follow their license. Thank you. Mr. Rosa.

Thank you. You don't have. I think this could also be possible that they did it intentionally with class C. Maybe there's less restriction they got it. If they did not stated when they took the license, what kind of license they need. And now they are saying that, oh, I did it wrong. So we are not responsible for that. As he said that we did not raise the right question. That's not the point. The point is you ask me for a particular license I gave you and you know what it is. And if it increase the total gap of pay, that is dangerous. I cannot go with that. We are always dead against that.

Thank you. Thank you. All right. I think that's it for our comments this evening on this item. If there's nothing further, all in favor? Aye.

I will call on you.

I believe that was two nays. Wait, good God, I need to start over. Please just let me run the meeting. All in favor? Aye. All right, any opposed? Okay, the nays have it. I believe it's two to six. Thank you. So that does not pass. 9.5, an ordinance amending Chapter 22, offenses miscellaneous of the Moline Court of Ordinances, Section 22-1105, tobacco products, tobacco accessories, smoking herbs, and alternative nicotine products by increasing the number of Class A principal tobacco dealers licenses in the City of Moline at the request of Avenue of the City's Tobacco and Vape, Inc., DBA, Avenue of the City's Tobacco and Vape. Is there a motion? Motion to approve. Motion by Finch, seconded by Schmidt. Discussion? Anything further from what we've already said?

Mr. Timian. To Mr. Macias' point earlier, this one has a much more clear likelihood of selling tobacco and vape than the one called the glass shop, glass smoke shop. And which, in my mind, is, if you were a donut store that sold alcohol, I wouldn't really understand what's going on. This one says tobacco and vape.

Understood. I would say, I want to come back to this issue of an affidavit. An affidavit is something that says that they're telling us the truth about what they're doing, correct?

Yes.

It's supposed to function that way.

Yes. Thank you.

Thank you. So at one point, they told us the truth, what was supposed to be the truth about how they were going to operate.

I question the understanding that a lot of people have when signing documents like that. Legally, absolutely, they're bound by it. That's the truth as far as they've sworn to it. I just question whether that's reality.

Okay, thank you. All right, if there's nothing further, all in favor? Aye. There was two ayes, any opposed? And that is everyone else. That was a B6. That does not pass as well. Thank you. We move to 9.6, a resolution authorizing the mayor and city clerk to execute and attest to a contract with Phoenix Corporation of the Quad Cities for Project 1513, 15th Street resurfacing for the amount of $335,289.73.

Ms. Clark. Thank you, Your Honor. This is one of our 2026 capital improvement projects to resurface four blocks of 15th Street between 19th and 23rd Avenues. This project is following up on the replacement of lead service lines, which was just recently completed, and this work will take place this fall. Motion to approve?

Second.

Motion by Finch, seconded by Timian. Discussion?

Mr. Macias. Just a question. So this is going to basically cover up the gravel patches in case neighbors ask.

I didn't realize there was still gravel patches. Yeah. But yes, the road will be patched beforehand with concrete and then the whole road will be resurfaced with that as well.

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Anything further from the council? Hearing none, all in favor? Aye. Any opposed? That motion passes. 9.7, a resolution authorizing the mayor and city clerk to execute and attest to a highway rail signal interface agreement for installation and maintenance of the 12th Street at-grade crossing with Iowa Interstate Railroad, LLC.

Thank you, Your Honor. Mm-hmm. This is an item to approve an agreement between the city and Iowa Interstate Railroad. The Iowa Interstate Railroad will upgrade some of the signal equipment at the 12th Street crossing. This is necessary because we're going to be installing traffic signals at River Drive and 12th, and their crossing and our signals need to be interconnected for safety reasons.

Thank you. Motion to approve? Second. Motion by Finch, seconded by Silas. Discussion? Hearing none, all in favor? Aye. Any opposed? That motion passes. 9.8, a resolution authorizing the mayor and city clerk to execute and attest to a contract with Langman Construction Inc. for motor fuel tax section 26-0000-01-GM, 2026 asphalt project for the amount of $658,718.44.

This is another one of our capital improvement projects for 2026 to resurface 16th Avenue between the Rock Island border and 7th Street. This project is also following the replacement of lead service lines, which was just recently completed, and this work will take place starting in July.

Motion to approve? Second. Motion by Finch, seconded by Silas. Discussion? Hearing none, all in favor? Aye. Any opposed? That motion passes. Thank you. 9.9, a resolution approving a resolution for maintenance under the Illinois Highway Code for motor fuel tax section number 26-0000-01-GM, 2026 Asphalt Project, 16th Avenue resurfacing, Rock Island border to 7th Street for the amount of $650,000.

This item is just to approve spending the motor fuel tax funds on the aforementioned project. Thank you. Motion to approve? Second.

Motion by Finch, seconded by Castro. Discussion? Hearing none, all in favor? Aye. Any opposed? That motion passes. 9.10, a resolution authorizing the mayor and city clerk to execute and attest to a contract with Langman Construction Inc. for project 1514, 11th Avenue C reconstruction for the amount of $822,766.21. Another 2026 capital improvement project.

to construct a block of 11th Avenue C between 32nd and 33rd Streets. This project will install new concrete pavement and all new underground utilities. We are asking for approval both on Cal and Council tonight so the contractor can get started on the 22nd.

Motion to approve.

Second.

Motion by Timmy and second by Finch. Question, Mr. Timmy.

I'm happy whenever the alphabets get, the 11th Avenue ABCs get attention. Are we, when you say new utilities, is this a way to throw in lead pipe replacement as well? So they're also getting that and... Just redoing the sewers and everything while we're there.

Everything needs it on that street. Yep. So new storm, new sanitary, and new water main. Fantastic. Thank you very much.

Thank you for the coordination. Anything further from the council? Hearing none, all in favor? Aye. Any opposed? That motion passes. 9.11, a resolution authorizing the mayor and city clerk to accept three deeds of dedication for street right-of-way and three temporary construction easements, more particularly described herein, to allow construction to proceed on project number 22-00289-00-BT, 25th Avenue Shared Use Path Construction.

Thank you. This item is to approve three more right-of-way deeds of dedication and easements for the Morgan Park Path project. We still have three more to get. They're in process. We're working through it now. So hopefully I'll have those before you soon. But that will be it. But that will be it. So this is six, seven, and eight out of 11. Got it. Thank you.

Motion to approve.

Second.

Motion by Finch. Seconded by Macias. Discussion? Mr. Timian.

Is this... I mean, lack of a better term, normal. We've been talking about this project for five years. Is the level of time required to get the right-of-ways through all the legal means, is this like a normal? time period?

I would say it's taken longer than normal.

Okay.

There's been resident pushback, as you know. So it's just a little more back and forth, but our negotiator is confident that we will get there. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. Anything further from the council? Wait, did I get?

You have a motion.

I did get it. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all in favor? Aye. Any opposed? That motion passes. 9.12, resolution authorizing the mayor and city clerk to execute and attest to a solar facility site lease agreement with Community Power Group, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, to lease a portion of certain city-owned property to allow lessee... to develop, construct, own, operate, and maintain a solar photovoltaic energy production and storage facility for a 25-year base period with certain specific extensions.

At long last. Here we go. So I believe we have... people online from the community power group, Abby, and then we have Shauna Jazzy as well, who has been our consultant on this from the beginning. And before getting into the details, I just want to thank Dawn and Barry. for their tireless efforts to try and get us to where we are today. Because Lord knows it was not simple from where we started five years ago to where we are now and finding a means by which to work with our power company that would be acceptable to them which has brought us to where we are today so before you today we have the lease agreement uh for a 25-year initial period it does have an extension on it which i'll let them get into but this would then provide power not only for the city, but because it's community power, we make it available then to other taxing entities that are governmental in nature. So whether it's the school district, the college district, any of the taxing bodies that you see on your property tax bill, those would all be eligible to participate in this and they in turn would also receive discounted electrical power up to a certain percent so and i believe it's up to five percent but it is a cost savings to not only the city of moline but also other taxing bodies so it's a win-win-win across the board for you know moliners because obviously we want to see some benefit to uh to the solar power uh with that um i want to turn it over to sean are you there and abby we can't see you if you could turn on your cameras that would be great it's required there you go thank you sean yes i'm here all right we're waiting on abby send her a chat maybe oh she was on yeah It's been a long meeting, so she might have stepped away not knowing what she might come back on. So, Sean, maybe what we could do is we could talk a little bit about what we're doing with Community Power Group to bring this project forward and working with other intergovernmental partners as well. Maybe you want to get into that. There's a long story to history that I don't think we need to repeat.

Yeah, you did a great job kind of summarizing everything. We have had kind of a grassroots campaign reaching out to other governmental entities throughout the Quad Cities and City of Moline and everything else to that effect. And we've had some good reception. We are gathering invoices to develop what the cost reduction will be for each one to participate and also subscribe to the collective solar program as administered through the City of Moline solar, the array that it will be developed on the property. We are actively looking at the invoices now as long as looking at updated city invoices to quantify the savings and then reach out to start bringing forth the value position for them to also participate into the savings mechanism. The savings is going to be up to 10% of the Mid-American charges. Barry, I know you said five, but it'll be about 10%. And it's the first 5,000 kilowatt hours on the invoice. So that's the higher rate class, especially with the increase that MidAmerican is having coming forward. So we've had good responses. We are additionally having some other conversations the next few weeks with some other stakeholders. but so far we are all um systems go and put the path forward here and looking forward to get the contract approved by the board uh you'll move to a position to approve by the board and then um you'll start the next steps of what the project will be thank you sean

And Abby has now joined us She had to go off and come back and she is with community power group who will be our solar partner for the next 25 years Maybe you'd like to speak a little bit to the council about the project and going forward Once the lease is approved at the end of this month Yes, thank you Sean for that overview.

I'm sorry. I was having some technical issues and But we have been working with Moline and the city on getting zoning approvals as well as working with Moline on starting interconnection applications. We will then go into developing the site and also receiving a REC contract through the Illinois Shine program at the state level. We have been also trying to determine the best way to provide subscribers, which Sean has been great with, and also making sure that we are able to meet all of MidAmerican's requirements. So under MidAmerican, this is considered a collective renewable energy facility, not a community solar facility. There's slight distinctions, but we have been able to work through and provide subscriber agreements that will be able to meet both MidAmerican requirements as well as operate in the City of Moline's interest.

Thank you.

And I think it's fair to say we would be kind of the first community within the power system of MidAmerican to actually duck the project of the nature, which I think was one of the challenges for them. They've built for themselves or they've built for private industry clients, but they've never built for a community. So that kind of created a lot of the difficulty as well getting to where we are. I would also point out that as you look at the upcoming environmental resiliency plan that you contracted the consultant to prepare, this is one of those goals that is actually built into our environmental resiliency planning and programming. So this is a major win for the city in terms of starting to move that even further in terms of all things green in Moline and all things looking to the future in Moline and trying to be responsible stewards of the environment. So you'll see that as that project comes forward for approval in the next month or so.

I do need a motion. Motion to approve. Motion by Finch. Second. Second by Castro. All right. Council, if you have questions for our guests. I am just curious, like, this is the first time that I've heard about, you know, other subscribers, so to speak. I want to make sure, and I think this council would want to make sure that Moline's getting its fair share since it's on our property and was our idea. How do we make sure that happens and you still need more pools?

Sorry. Go ahead. So through the Illinois Shine program, you are allowed to have as a, you'll be the anchor tenant and therefore allowed to subscribe up to 40% of the facility. Okay. And so that will be built in.

Okay. Thank you.

Yes. Can you say 40% of the facility? Is that 40% reserved for the city use or 40%? Is that correct or?

40% of the energy output can go to the different accounts of the city.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Any further questions from the council?

Yes, Mr. Macias. What does that mean in dollars for us?

That is a great question. So is... Well, on top of the lease payments, we will be taking a look. We've been taking a look at all of the electric bills and the rates. It will be usually up to 10% savings on your energy supply side. And therefore, there will be savings across many different accounts. It will be based off of the...

y'all hear me sorry yeah just that 10 percent uh i guess i don't know what that number roughly is for us well let me just say this we spend over a million dollars annually on power at the present time okay thank you we started these discussions even five years ago and that's 1.1 1.2 million as far as the city goes across all accounts i mean literally every draw we have for power So that's kind of run the numbers. Okay. Thank you.

Mr. Timmy.

So I just want to understand because this is the first I've heard of the sharing agreement as well. Yeah. Is this program set up to be a savings mechanism, a revenue mechanism, or a little bit of both? Because I've heard a lot of ideas over the last five years. At one point, we're going to make X amount per year that we can put into the general fund.

Option one.

We can save a lot of money. Option two. Option three is we can help everyone save money. And so I'm kind of interested to know where we landed, because it sounds like this is a Okay, Bob, maybe you can answer that question.

It's option three. I mean, we initially looked at the entire farm and looked at basically putting solar across the entire property, which was close to, I believe it was 90 acres or something like that. If memory serves. That would have been about a $40 million project the city would have bonded for with an expected rate return on investment in about seven to eight years. That's where we started. In order to do that, it was not going to cost just the $40 million. As we learned from MidAmerican, they wanted $18 million for us to build a substation for them, which basically killed that option. Because adding an 18, your return on investment was now going to be almost double the time frame. So we walked away from that discussion and then we started exploring the other alternative. And that other alternative were programs that, and again, you've got to remember we've worked with consultants this whole way through. The original consultant was Terra Engineering, right, out of Peoria. Then we went back to the drawing board and we said, okay, we ended up working with Ansel Blake. Adam Simon was the attorney who introduced us to Sean Ajazi and his company. They've been doing this for other municipalities here in Illinois for some time. So we looked at a program that would provide reduced energy costs to low to moderate income households. We looked at that. And at the end of the day, MidAmerican was not interested in changing or altering their administrative methods by which they built. Because to be able to do that program, they would have to then incur costs. And those costs, as they stated, would then have to be spread across all of their rate payers. and they didn't think that was appropriate. So that killed option two. Option three then became, and there was no substation with that option because we had gone from the entire farm to a third of the farm, you know, and five megawatts maximum as opposed to the 22 megawatts that we wanted to build. And one day you may build it, but for today we can't build it because we don't have the substation. There's just inadequate power. that's not just a mullein issue and that's not just a mid-american issue that's also as i learned an issue with city of aurora and what they were trying to do out there again not having adequate power in the grid to handle what we're trying to accomplish so then we went to the third option which was this community power option where we shared power intergovernmentally keeping 40 as abby pointed out literally as the as the landlord of the property we're keeping 40 you know and that up to 10 i believe is what they said is a reduction So it could actually generate a six-figure savings to the city of Moline. I'm just going to say it's a six-figure savings. We're not going to give you an exact number because it hasn't been calculated fully yet.

Thank you.

There's your history.

Anything further from the council?

Don't miss anything. Can I ask it? I miss anything in your mind?

Well, in addition to the cost on option A, it was going to be about a five to seven year waiting period to get through the MyCQ and all the other things.

That's the other thing, yeah. Getting the equipment to build the substation, there's a waiting period, as Gary pointed out, five to seven years.

Ms. Castro. Just one final question. What's the timeline then as far as after the lease, getting it up and going and seeing those actual savings?

When will we see Shine on Moline lit up and producing?

A lot of it will depend on the interconnection application, which we're hoping to receive tomorrow, and MidAmerican, as well as the Illinois Shine REC program. I would expect... to turn on two to four years.

Worst case, four years. Best case, two years.

Yes. And we have had a very, the city has been very helpful, so we don't expect them to be holding it up, but sometimes happens.

Thank you. Thank you. If there's nothing further, all in favor? Aye. Any opposed? That motion passes. Thank you for being with us tonight. Thank y'all. 9.13. Thank you.

Have a good night.

Thank you. 9.13, a resolution authorizing the mayor and city clerk to execute and attest to a modification of lease with the Donald R. Beeler Family Limited Partnership, LP, and authorizing the city attorney and all appropriate staff to do all things necessary to complete each of the city's responsibilities and enforce each of the city's expected benefits as referred to in such modification of lease.

Mr. Atkins, please.

Mr. Atkins.

So this is a lease that you have had for something like 16 years or so. Basically what we use this property for, just a small portion of it, is a shooting range for the police department. But we are actually leasing Acres and acres. I don't remember the the total amount but 40 acres of it the Beeler family trust wanted to or family limited partnership wanted to sell off and They have every right to do that, but that would have left us having a lease for the 40 acres to do nothing with it and just pay the property taxes on it as our agreement requires so rather than doing that we talked with i talked with the attorney for the family the biehler family limited partnership and worked out an agreement that we would simply modify the lease to only be the remainder of the um property that we're currently leasing then that way it would include the shooting range I talked with the police chief. He talked with the range master. We are confident that there is no issue, even if there is development on that 40 acres, that there is no issue with the shooting range continuing. I don't know exactly what the plan is for that 40 acres, but it is my understanding that the person buying it currently farms to 40 acres directly to the south of it. So it is likely that it will be combined into the same kind of use but regardless we are recommending approval of this because frankly it will save us a small amount of money but it will save us an amount of money where we will be still getting the the use of the shooting range but it will cost us a slightly smaller amount for the next 14 years i think is how long is left on the lease if i remember correctly thank you

Motion to approve. Second. Motion by Finch, seconded by Schmidt. Discussion.

Yes, Ms. Cash. I have another question. Is that indoor, the shooting range, or is it outdoor?

I'm sorry, outdoor.

Is it outdoor or indoor? And you said that they could still operate, but there's no danger to any of the surrounding areas if there was any kind of air impulse or anything like that.

Yeah, I'm not sure that I know the answer to that.

Chief? Again, you said that it could still operate, but I just, I mean, just thinking of the people who are going to be around in that area.

The proximity of it is not a concern.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. This also appears on the council as well.

Got it. If there's nothing further, all in favor? Aye. Any opposed? That motion passes. Thank you. 9.14, a resolution authorizing the mayor and city clerk to execute and attest to a school resource officer agreement. Between the City of Moline and the Board of Education of Moline Cove Valley School District Number 40, setting forth the terms for assignment of four police liaison officers to Moline schools for the 2026 to 2027 school year. Chief?

Thank you, Your Honor. As the Mayor said, this is the annual agreement between the Moline Cove Valley School District and the Moline Police Department. You have seen this come before you. It's a decades-long partnership, a fantastic joint venture that improves relationships and safety at our public schools. The agreement before you does have some technical and legal language changes that you haven't seen before, but most of these the police department has actually already had in practice. Public Act 104-430, which was passed last year, requires municipalities and school districts to pass an updated agreement and job description by July 1, 26. the document that you have before you has already passed the Moline-Cole Valley School Board. And my role on the Executive Board of the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police, I was involved with the evolution of this legislation as well as the guiding documents that we use, that were issued statewide and that we used to make changes to this agreement. So to give you a quick summary, this document clarifies that school resource officers function as law enforcement professionals, Mentors and safety resources not as school disciplinarians school repa school officials retain primary responsibility Staff offenses like truancy and what rule violations at the school Occurring during school hours or school-related activities must be addressed administratively by school personnel it this update reflects the legislative intent but it does not overstate or restrict beyond what the statute requires and does not improperly limit a law enforcement agency's authority to respond to criminal or delinquent conduct the mou defines the role of school resource officers aims that school discipline remain responsibility to school preserves law enforcement authority and clarifies reporting information sharing and response protocols So the bulk of the changes are in sections 7.2, 3, and 4, and then a complete rewrite of the school resource officer job description.

Thank you. Motion to approve? Second.

Motion by Finch, seconded by Silas. Discussion?

Hearing none, all in favor? Aye. Any opposed? That motion passes. Thank you. 9.15, a resolution authorizing a grant to World Relief Quad Cities for the amount of $1,500 from the Special Events Fund to support the 2026 World Refugee Day Quad Cities Celebration scheduled for Saturday, June 20th, 2026.

Motion to approve. Second.

Is there any staff that wants to say anything?

That's okay. It's our privilege to say.

There's a motion by Macias and a second by Razak. Yes.

Was it Macias? I missed the motion.

No, it was Macias and then Razak.

Okay. All right. Like all other requests that come in staff is recommending of approval of this and if you're around on the 20th by all means go to that Butterwood Park It could be quite an interesting event. We have a large refugee community in Moline Especially in our neighborhoods in the older neighborhoods like in Ward 1 and 2 we see quite a few members of the refugee community, so I'm sure they'd love to see you out there and get your support

Thank you. Hearing nothing further, I'll... Oh, sorry, Mr. McNeil.

I would like to recuse myself. I serve on World Relief Quad Cities Advisory Board.

Okay, thank you. Anybody else? Hearing none, all in favor? Aye. Any opposed? That's 7-0. Thank you. 916, a resolution approving a block party for the Karsten City Line Neighborhood Association, scheduled for Sunday, September 20th, 2026, and closing certain streets, more particularly described here, into vehicular traffic, and authorizing the mayor and city clerk to execute and attest to a licensing agreement with Michelle Shipp on behalf of the Karsten City Line Neighborhood Association for the use of public right-of-way in conjunction with said block party.

Staff is recommending approval.

Motion to approve.

Second.

Motion by Finch, seconded by Schmidt. Discussion? Hearing none, all in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. 917, a resolution authorizing the mayor and city clerk to execute and attest to an asset purchase agreement with Kaizen Company of America, LC and River Station on Bass Street, LLC for the asset located at 1601 River Drive, Moline, Illinois. for a purchase price of $1,650,000 and authorizing all appropriate city officials, officers, corporation, council, and staff to do all things necessary to complete each of the city's responsibilities and enforce each of the city's expected benefits as referred to in such agreement.

Mr. Parr. Thank you, Your Honor. As stated, Kaizen Company of America, LLC, River Station on Bass Street, LLC, collectively as a seller, is the owner of approximately 42,000-square-foot building located at 1601 River Drive. The building, together with the leasehold interest, development agreement rights, improvements, personal property, sublease, service contracts, assignment, and tangible property, all make up the seller asset, and we describe those as the seller asset or conveyances in the asset purchase agreement. For the seller asset, the city has negotiated a purchase price of $1.65 million. Bill is located on roughly a .8 acre parcel of land owned by the city, subject to a ground lease between the parties dated May 20, 2003. As amended, construction of the building was completed in 2006. In consideration for the sale of the seller asset by the seller to the city and the amount of the purchase price, the parties agree to the terms of the dismissal of litigation and mutual release of claims arising from the ground lease as for the described and defined in the asset purchase agreement. All current leases are contemplated to stay in place and the city plans to continue operation of the building as a commercial facility And the city has ability to finance the acquisition through available market financing instruments staff will bring forth options for review at the June roundtable a few different ways to go so we read those exhaustively Have fun. And following subsequent city council meetings, based on the favorable cost basis for the acquisition, the city is able to allow the asset to self-perform and not require ongoing city subsidies. So the building can perform under the financing that will be taken out against it.

the asset can perform on its own.

So importantly for us, collectively, the acquisition of the building by the city allows the city to own an important asset in the downtown core at a favorable cost basis, revitalize the building and surrounding area with increased commercial tenancy. Currently, the tenancy of the River Station building is 30%. support the city's plan adjacent redevelopment of the riverfront and bring resolution to the city's claim at a fair settlement of the legal matter for all parties. Again, the claim arising from the ground disagreement. So staff is asking, requesting approval for execution of the asset purchase agreement with Kaizen Company of America and River Station, Bass Street LLC for the seller asset located at 1610 River Drive, Moline, Illinois for a purchase price of $1,650,000 and execute all resulting supporting documents contemplated in the asset purchase agreement.

Motion to approve. Second.

Motion by Timmy and seconded by Macias. Discussion?

Ms. Castro. Thank you. For all the work that you've done on this, I know that this has been dragging since, I think, even before I was here. So thank you for finding a resolution for us. Mr. Timmy.

To clarify, this was going on before any of us. So I am just ecstatic that there is a resolution and one that's favorable to all parties and furthers our redevelopment interests and plans we have for downtown. I think it's wonderful. Thank you.

Anyone else? I just want to make it clear for the public record, as you've stated, we have plans for this place. To the lay person, this is a lot of money to shell out for another built asset, but I very much appreciate the work that you continue to do. It's not just the work that got us to this point, but the work that will continue that makes this a smart business move. Thank you, Mr. Timmy.

And to clarify public record, the rent we are making paid for the loan, so this is not going to increase tax obligation by $1.6 million. This is a transaction that's self-funding. Until such time, any plans we have can be executed. That's right. Okay.

Thank you for clearing that up for everyone.

Just briefly, this is a solid business decision. It's a solid business decision that benefits not only the seller, it benefits the city. And it does, as Chris pointed out, address part of the anchoring of what we're trying to accomplish south of River Drive between the water's edge. and River Drive, and from the viaduct over to I-74. This is a quadrant of the downtown, and this is a critical piece of that, and it has stood vacant for numerous years. So kudos to Chris. I mean, he worked hard on this, believe me. A lot of phone calls, a lot of conversations, a lot of meetings, a lot of running around. uh but in the end it worked out and uh i'd be remiss if i didn't thank ansel glink for all of their efforts in this uh this was not solely just the staff and so glink was heavily involved in this you know for many many years from the filing of the litigation back in 2019 which of course predates all of us but through today and uh and uh roger please thank you for your effort and pass on again to bob and margaret and others in the firm that were involved in this through the years which helped get us to the point we are today so thank you thank you if there's nothing further all in favor any opposed that motion passes all right we'll call a regular council meeting to order pledge of allegiance

for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Do you have an invocation, Alderperson Razak?

No, thank you.

Okay, roll call, please.

Alderperson Silas? Present. Macias?

Present.

Razak?

Present.

Timian? Present. Finch? Present. McNeil?

Present.

Castro? Present. Schmidt?

Present.

All right, we have no remote electronic attendance. Is there any public comment this evening? Hearing none, we'll move to our consent agenda.

Your Honor, I request the approval of Committee of the Whole and Council Meeting Minutes of May 19, 2026 and Consent Agenda Item 17.1 through 18.2 inclusively. Motion to approve.

Second. Motion by Finch, seconded by Castro. Please just reflect for the record that Mr. Smith's stepping out briefly. so our numbers will be different. All right, we have a motion. Roll call, please.

Alderperson Roszak?

Aye.

Timian?

Aye.

Finch? Aye. McNeil?

Aye.

Castro? Aye. Silas? Aye. Messina?

Aye.

All right.

Sorry. Seven ayes, no nays. That motion carries. Non-consent agenda, resolutions. Item number 20.1, a resolution approving the special event application for the Pride 5K and Pride Party event scheduled for Saturday, June 27, 2026. that is sponsored by the project of the Quad Cities Inc. and authorizing a grant to this project of the Quad Cities Inc. for the amount of $5,000 from the Special Events Fund to support promotion of the event and its partners slash sponsors through print and digital media and branded giveaways and closing certain streets, more particularly described herein to vehicular traffic and authorizing the mayor and city clerk to execute and attest to a licensing agreement with the project of the Quad Cities Inc. for use of public right-of-way in conjunction with said event.

Motion to approve. Second. Motion by Finch, seconded by Silas. And yes.

I need to recuse myself as I am employed by the project as a positive. Thank you.

All right. If there's nothing for any discussion.

Hearing none, roll call, please. Alderperson Rezac.

Aye.

Timian.

Aye.

Finch. Aye. McNeil.

Aye.

Still out. Silas. Aye. Macias.

Aye.

Six ayes, no nays. That motion carries. Item number 20.2, a resolution authorizing the mayor and city clerk to execute and attest to a modification of lease with the Donald R. Beeler Family Limited Partnership, LP, and authorizing the city attorney and all appropriate staff to do all things necessary to complete each of the city's responsibilities and enforce each of the city's expected benefits as referred to in such modification of lease.

Motion to approve.

Second.

Motion by Finch, seconded by Castro. Discussion. Hearing none, roll call, please.

Alderperson Razak?

Aye. Timian? Aye.

Finch? Aye. McNeil?

Aye.

Castro? Aye. Schmidt? Sorry. Silas?

Aye.

Macias?

Aye.

Seven ayes, no nays, and that motion carries. Item number 20.3, a resolution amending the annual meeting calendar for the 2026, for 2026 to reflect the new meeting time of the Library Board of Trustees to be held at 3.30 p.m. on the second Thursday of each month, effective July 2026, and authorizing city staff to do all things necessary to notify the media of the amended 2026 annual meeting calendar.

Motion to approve. Second.

Motion by Finch, seconded by Razak. Discussion? i will tell you as the person who appoints people to all these boards and commissions and having spent nearly eight hours yesterday chatting with people who are interested in serving the later times for the commissions to meet is much more conducive than than expecting people to have a lunch time free at 12 o'clock to come and do or one o'clock or even attend. So, you know, in this busy world where a lot of organizations need volunteers, it's really nice that the library board is moving their time. If there's nothing further, roll call, please.

Alderperson Rezac?

Aye.

Timian?

Aye.

Finch? Aye. McNeil?

Aye.

Castro? Aye. Schmidt?

Aye.

Silas?

Aye.

Macias? Aye. Ayes, no nays, and that motion carries. Item number 20.4, a resolution authorizing the mayor and city clerk to execute and attest to a contract with Langman Construction, Inc. for project number 1514, 11th Avenue C, reconstruction, with the amount of $822,766.21. Motion to approve.

second motion by finch seconded by castro discussion Hearing none, roll call, please.

Alderperson Razak?

Aye.

Timian?

Aye.

Finch? Aye. McNeil?

Aye.

Castro? Aye. Schmidt?

Aye. Silas? Aye.

Macias?

Aye.

Eight ayes, no nays, and that motion carries. Item number 20.5, a resolution accepting the annual comprehensive financial report prepared by Baker Tilly U.S. LLP for the fiscal year of January 1, 2025 through December 31, 2025 for all municipal funds.

Motion to approve.

Second.

Motion by Finch, seconded by Castro. Discussion?

Hearing none, roll call, please. Alderperson Rezac.

Aye.

Timian.

Aye.

Finch. Aye. McNeil.

Aye.

Castro. Aye. Schmidt.

Aye.

Silas.

Aye.

Macias.

Aye.

Eight ayes, no nays, and that motion carries. And that's all I have this evening, Your Honor. All right. Miscellaneous business.

Come tomorrow to the groundbreaking for Parkview, the Moline Housing Authority. Correct. Probably got invitations if you can come. Another, you know, partner in providing affordable or low-income housing. Hopefully, big storms will wait.

I believe it said 11 o'clock.

It is, but the storms are like at noon. So we shall see. We shall see. Right. Also, I know I did write to you all about the upcoming roundtable, where we're having some helpful presentations to understand some social service partnerships we have or potential partnerships, but also I encourage you to bring ideas that you might have for legislative updates. I think the sooner you share anything you have that you may have written with the council that we can read ahead of time and be prepared, the better if you're that far along. If you just have an inkling of an idea and you just want to put it out there and test the waters and see what people are thinking, we understand that too. But a roundtable is a perfect chance to talk about some of these things we've been recently discussing. What are we going to do about vape shops and those licenses and what other updates do we need to think about? Or I had a very good meeting yesterday with folks and our staff as well. Thank you for being there. about some growing related ordinances that should, if we address them, address a couple different things in terms of opportunity and entrepreneurship, as well as native plantings and resiliency. That's what I have right now. I don't think I'm forgetting anything. Go ahead, Mr. Seitz.

Huge thank you to staff for a successful Ward 1 meeting at the end of last month. Had a really good turnout. And also shout out to staff for quickly setting up meetings with department heads. So I'm doing that and doing tours of facilities and appreciating all the discussions. Thank you.

Thank you, Your Honor.

I, with work, have the privilege of traveling to new areas sometimes. And I think one of the best things about that is seeing how other people live and getting ideas. And I know a few months ago, Nathan Tilburg came in and suggested closing off Fifth Avenue as a pedestrian spot. well i got to see this firsthand in san jose in a number of streets they had barriers up the streets were painted everything else was original it could be converted back in an hour if they really needed to but it was just really really fascinating to look at areas that had just become safe for people to walk without getting hit by a car or fear of a car And restaurants now could put tables on the street or on the sidewalk or anything like that. And I think as we continue to reimagine the possibilities of Moline, looking to other cities, even if it's just an experiment for a year or two, is something that would not hurt us really much at all. So I look forward to more cities and more learnings in that regard. Thank you. Thank you.

Ms. Finch? Nothing, Your Honor.

Nothing, Your Honor.

Ms. Castro?

Yes, I just wanted to let staff know and folks know that I am actually going to be missing the next two council meetings, so I will not be available. And I'm going to be out of the country, so people will not have access to my email or text or anything. I do have a list of, or not a list, but some things that I want to send you for the roundtable. Please do.

Please do.

All right, Mr. Schmidt.

I think you're up.

Staff.

Yeah, just real quickly, a couple things. One, so long as he is here, Brian. Is it okay if I help let people know? So after more than 35 years of service to the city of Moline, starting at the ripe young age of 15 and working as a part-time library page, only to be gone shortly to attend school away, he came back and he spent the rest of his life, the rest of his career, working his way up the ladder to become our library director. I believe it was 10 years ago. 10 years ago, and look at what he's done as library director. Look at our new gardens, look at our mobile units, look at the quality of services provided to Moline's residents and really to the Quad's citizens, because everybody comes to our library, right? They don't have to be from Moline. But he has announced his retirement to us internally, and now it is public. October will be the end of his long-storied, I like that, storied career, considering you're a library guy. And I want to congratulate him publicly before that day and on that day. Of course, we'll celebrate Brian and his retirement, but I thought the council should be made aware of that tonight. So congratulations on your career. And even better, retirement. May retirement be filled with cherished memories of Moline and beyond. I didn't make you cry, that's good. I might have. I probably will when the day comes. Anyhow, a couple other things. The Finance Department will be moving into City Hall starting on June 18th and the 19th, and will be fully operational on Monday, June 22nd. So, the long-awaited move and the return home of our Finance Department to once... where they once started back in 1911 in this building they will now occupy the same space but in a modern way with modern tools and technology we'll be sure to invite you downstairs to look around and see how it all works but it is truly it's a marvel what we're able to do when you stop to think about what we could have done and what we were expected to spend money on we're doing it in in-house internally and only contracting what we need and we're really updating City Hall, and it's really going well. But we want to welcome Carol and her entire team who's chomping at the bit to get in here. They're excited, and we're excited to have them. I will say, though, with the return of finance to City Hall, water and sewer payments, which is one of the big things they do over at the fire station, will shift here. And there will be a payment box, drop-off box that will appear across the street in the PD Park area so that people will be able to go in, pull in, drop and go, literally stop and go. But the hours of operation at the main desk will be only until 4.30, because we don't have staff to man that. We're keeping the hours of the staff the same, in part because of labor agreements, but in part because that's the expectations in working with the general public. The building remains open until 5, but we will actually close the door at 4.30. unless people have appointments to come in and see us we would continue to have the door open for that but we can't accept payments after hours they'd have to take them to the drop box so we're not the only ones that get our have doors closed at 4 30. we've looked at that as well here in the quad cities so just a heads up on that and then um that's it let's see yep i got it nailed it all right thank you okay any other staff

Yes, Carol. I actually would like to just take a moment. Finance, over the last year, we've had a lot of transitions with some promotions in our department, primarily in the accounting division, and just having ended our audit, I just wanted to reassure and to tell the council you have outstanding accounting professionals coming up the line with Lupe Ramirez, Andrea Bradley, and Will Tomey. Just top notch. It was so consistent and the audit just flowed so well and I just wanted to let you know that. Thank you.

Any other staff? Hearing none, any further public comment? And we have no executive session. I need a motion to adjourn. I'd love how you'd like to overlap that with mine. All right, that was Castro and Finch. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? All right, we are adjourned. Thank you.