Town Council - Regular Meeting

Call to order a special meeting for the normal local liquor commission. Mayor Cous here. Here. Mrs. Loren here. Mr. Buyers here. Mr. Roers here. Miss Smith here. Mr. McCarthy here. Uh, first item is an approval of the minutes of the special meeting of January 20th, 2026. Approval. Second. Any adjustments? Please call the RO. Mr. Preston, I. Mrs. Loren, I. Mr. Buyers, hi. Mr. Robers, I. Miss Smith, I. Mr. McCarthy, I. Mayor Cous.

Hi. The minutes are approved. Uh we have two uh applications tonight. The first is a 202526 liquor license application for Dia Corporation LLC doing business as Normal Food Pantry at 1617 North Main Street and Normal. And the application is for a class A liquor license off premise consumption at that address. Cool. Second. Thank you. discussion on that. Please call the RO. Mrs. Loren, I Mr. Buyers, hi. Mr. Roers. Hi. Miss Smith. I. Mr. McCarthy. I. Mr. Preston. I. Mayor Cous.

I. The class A liquor license is approved. Uh, we have an application for a 2025 26 video gaming license application for Maggie Miley's Incorporated at 126 East Buford Street in Normal. Application is for video gaming license for three machines. Approval. Second. On this item, please call the RO. Mr. Buyers. I. Mr. Roers. I. Miss Smith. I. Mr. McCarthy. I. Mr. Preston. I. Mrs. Loren. I. Mayor Cous. I. That motion is approved. Motion forjourn. Please. So moved. Second. Please call the Mr. Roers.

I. Miss Smith. I. Mr. McCarthy. Hi, Mr. Preston. Hi, Mrs. Loren. Hi, Mr. Byers. Hi, Mayor Cous.

Hi. We are adjourned and we will start in council meeting in one minute. Oh. Order a meeting for the Normal Town Council for Monday, February 16th, 2026. Please call the RO.

Mayor Cous here. Mr. Preston here. Mrs. Lauren here. Mr. Buyers here. Mr. Roers here. Miss Smith here. Mr. McCarthy here. We'll begin with the pledge [clears throat] algiance to the flag of the United States with liberty and justice. We move right into the omnibus agenda. Items that considered routine and will be taken with a single vote unless a council member would like to pull an item for discussion.

Surprise B is in boy for approval please. So moved. Second.

Items consider under abom omnibus, not abominous omnibus. Approval of the minutes of the regular council meeting of February 2nd, 2026. And approval of the minutes of the work session of February 10th, 2026. A resolution authorizing a contract with Stone River Group for consulting services related to the town electric aggregation program. and a resolution authorizing the execution of a contract for the supply of electricity for the town's electric aggregation program for residential and small commercial retail customers. Please call the role. Mr. Preston, I Mrs. Loren, Mr. Buyers, hi. Mr. Roers, I Miss Smith, I

Mr. McCarthy, I. Mayor Cous, I Those items are approved. Item B is a report to receive and file town of normal expenditures for payment as of February 11th, 2026. Move for approval. Second. Thank you.

I just had one item for clarification. Uh on page 11, it shows um something described as the final rebate to shops at College Hill in the amount of $4,679.99. Um, and when I corresponded with Miss Reese to ask about it, she said it is the last one. Um, but I just wanted a little more detail about going forward. What does this mean for our budget? Um, well, oh shoot, Mr.'s not here. The basically we've we've completed our obligation to rebate some of the sales tax. So, I believe it was an annual contribution or rebate back to College Hills in the amount of 110,000 a year. So that amount will now res remain in the general fund.

Yay. Okay. Thanks. Further on this item, please call the RO. Mrs. Lauren, I. Mr. Buyers, I. Mr. Rober, I. Miss Smith, I. Mr. McCarthy, I. Mr. Preston, I. Mayor Cous, I. That item is approved. [clears throat]

We have no uh general orders of new business tonight. A brief meeting and uh we do have three public commenters. The first is uh Barb Stewart. If you want to come forward, any of the chairs up here work [clears throat] and two simple rules. We ask you to state your name for the record and you have three minutes to make your presentation. Hello. When do you start timing?

Uh, right after you state your name for the record. Oh, I shouldn't ask you. I'm deaf pretty much. Yell if you want me to understand. State your name. State your name for the record. Barbara Henley Stewart and you have three minutes. Do I stand or sit? I can do which whichever.

I think I'll sit. I'm here representing the ethics committee of Bloomington Normal and I need my other glasses. They are midvision glasses. So I can do the the computer I think I was pretty smart to bring him. I'm here to ask you to adopt a code of ethics in spite of being very old 97. I'm speaker [clears throat] because 40 years ago I wrote MLAN County Board's ethics code. Usually ethics codes are the angry response to someone's highly improper action. Obviously tonight is not the case. We are asking only because ethics codes make sense. Ethics is a must for self-government because the word ethics means trustworthiness. And when trust dies, democracy dies. That's why I propose the ethics code for county board. Not because of somebody's offense, but because trust helps prevent offenses. Well, no county in Illinois had a model code I could copy. Not even the state had an ethics code. I had to go all the

way to Norma County, Oregon, which is Portland. And then my first try failed. Only two yes votes out of 20. So I took the code to the downstate counties meeting and their excitement inspired me to try again. After five years and three tries, the yeses finally became unanimous. Unanimous. Mlan County still uses it. The reason for their no votes mainly they thought ethics codes were laws and that meant lawsuits. They were wrong. Ethics codes are statements of intent only. Intent to follow high standards of conduct. Standards that build trust. Signing and posting your ethics code publicly will tell people what your intent is and will increase trust. Do you realize that our great founding documents do not have one word about any intent to conduct any office honorably. So we urge you to strengthen our part of this great experiment in self-ruule by adopting an ethics code. Trust matters. That's Thank you.

Our next uh public speaker is Isaac Garrett. [clears throat] Good evening, council members, Mayor Cous, Miss Reese. My name is Isaac Garretts. I'm a 10-year resident of Normal and nearly 20-year employee at the town fire department. This month, I had the opportunity to sit in on the strategic planning session. Especially interesting was listening to staff and council talk about the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges. Staff and council quickly identified strengths, challenges, and opportunities. Rightfully so, as there is much that normal normal has to be proud of. The weaknesses column was very slow to fill though. That could be out of hubris or lack of introspection. But it does paint a picture to someone on the outside looking in. So tonight, I would like to suggest another possible weakness that the town may suffer from. That would be a lack of agility. It seems that once an idea has taken shape, the town will continue towards that idea come hell or high water. Be it a roundabout, the apartments and hotel on the circle where we sit tonight, the underpass, a sports complex, Trail East and West, or the fire station relocation plans. Whether it was construction delays as with the building across the street and with Trail East West, or significant cost changes like the underpass or sports complex, or simply the situation on the ground is not the same as when the plan was developed. Regardless, the town moves forward. All this leads one to wonder if there is too much of a group think mentality within town staff. Not to say that having everyone rowing the boat in the same direction is inherently bad, but if no one is willing or fears questioning the route does become a problem. This brings me

back to the fire station relocation. Reading through older council information, it would appear that in 2013, the council was presented with information that led to the current station relocation plan. Myself and my colleagues in IIAFF Local 2442, we contend that the situation on the ground has changed in the 10 plus years that have passed. Call volume has increased from 5,730 in 2012 to 83 322 in 2025, a 43% increase. This was in spite of the apparent population decline that the Census Bureau reports. Instead of the last vestigages of Mitsubishi, we have Rivian with about 8,000 employees. Illinois State University with record attendance year after year. All this without any changes in staffing. When the station relocation came about, it was at least in part an attempt to reshuffle the existing cards to try and provide adequate coverage. While adequate is going to be defined by the perspective of the observer. Two weeks ago, town staff gave their new their new view of adequate. Local 2442 spent the month since October sharing our view of inadequacy. Because the two views are different, there have been calls for independent analysis to provide yet another perspective. Going forward, it will be up to the council and staff to decide if they want to be an agile organization or one that plows forward regardless of the changing circumstances. I close again tonight by referencing the council presentation from 2013 that set this in motion. In that, it references one minute turnout time and a 4-minute response time, a metric that was met 90% of the time in 2012. So, I would call on council to clarify for residents what standard actually does matter, the four four minutes that was referenced in 2012 or the six minutes being referenced in 2026. Thank you. Excuse me. Our last speaker is Mike Chy.

Good evening, mayor, council members, city manager, and fellow citizens and visitors of Normal. My name is Blake Chausey. I'm a member of Normal Firefighters Local 2442. Tonight, I would like to address some statements made last council meeting regarding the town's fire and EMS coverage. Last meeting, town staff stated that the town has been using a six-minute response standard for over 30 years. This is confusing because there are multiple internal documents created by town staff specifically stating that the town was holding itself to the 4 minutes NFPA 1710 response standard specifically the 2017 comprehensive plan and the 2013 station relocation plan. The very plan that the town is currently in the process of implementing. The only time that we can find a six-minute response standard mentioned by town staff is within the past three months. Also, last meeting, town staff stated that many other municipalities do not use NFPA 1710 as their standard for response times. Most notably, Neapville Fire Department was mentioned. This is incorrect. Neapville, per their own annual report, is using the 4minute NFPA 1710 standard. And not only is Neapville using this as their standard, but our neighbor to the south, Bloomington Fire Department, is using it as well. These are two departments among many that know the appropriate response standard for a career fire department is four minutes 90% of the time, not six. Now, if I may pivot to another topic, we have been debating response times for the past three almost four months, and that has not allowed us to breach the subject of the normal fire departments under staffing. The normal fire

department does not have a fully staffed ladder truck. We do not have enough staff to respond effectively and safely to the types of structures that constitute the vast majority of our community. This is a recipe for disaster because not only are we showing up later when fire has had more time to grow, but we are showing up with an inadequate amount of manpower and resources to address the increased hazard. As I hope you can see, this greatly increases the risk to the town citizens, workers, visitors, and its first responders. It's important to note as there has been some confusion around this topic as well that staffing is not a mandatory subject under collective bargaining. It is a responsibility of management and staffing level determinations solely fall under the authority of the town of Normal. We want to work with town staff to find a solution that will bring peace of mind to the community and security to our local members. We come to this discussion in good faith. We respectfully ask that town staff do the same and ask council to urge them to do so. Thank you. Before [clears throat] entertaining a motion for German, there are council comments. Miss Smith,

I just wanted to piggyback on Miss Stewart's comments to the council tonight about an ethics code. I had the good fortune to be recruited by Miss Stewart to work with her and some other individuals from Bloomington and Normal to discuss um the possibility of selecting an ethics code for our council. Um we we met maybe once a quarter for about the last two years and researched the topic from other communities that have implemented such plans. Discussed the parameters of what should be included and developed a proposal for Bloomington and Normal to simultaneously receive information about the language that was recommended we adopt. Now, there's an argument that can be made that uh an ethics standard isn't necessarily something that has to be adopted. Um because basically, you're preaching to the choir. The individuals that that are going to be ethical don't necessarily need an ethic standard. But when somebody is 97 years old and has spent two years of her life working on something, I tend to listen to that because she has a lot other things she could be doing with her time and recognizes the finite nature of her time on this earth. And so she has sent out to all of us a handwritten handtyped letter with arguments about this. And I would ask other council members to please give it serious consideration. And I may be like her and be the person that keeps bringing it up multiple times. Thank you,

M. Warren.

Thank you. I don't have much of a voice tonight. Uh so I'll keep it brief. I promise to keep it under four minutes. Pun intended. More than a month ago, I requested a work session to reconcile what appeared to be conflicting information on how well the town's fire EMS system is positioned to respond to emergencies. That session didn't occur, but administration did provide its own data, which was not dramatically inongruent with the union's data, and for me perhaps reduces the need for yet another response time study. What has become clear is that we do not have a shared definition of what success looks like for fire and EMS. Is it NFPA 1710 response time of four minutes or less 90% of the time? Or is it in route time which includes time to get your gear on plus travel time? Or is it the four to six minutes which is the county EMS agency says is the optimal goal. I think of a sports team arguing over what counts as success. In football, is it yards gained or points on a board? In soccer, is it time of possession or goals scored? When players and coaches, for that matter, staff and management, measure success differently, frustration grows, morale erodess, retention suffers, and performance inevitably declines. So, where do we go from here? This is fundamentally a question for department and administrative leadership. A moment for high road leadership. Sit down together, set aside personal biases, and determine what success looks like for the normal fire department. because as long as we remain unclear about the target, we will almost certainly miss it. Lastly, I will offer one observation from my seat here over the last 11 years. Normal does not aim low. We strive for excellence even when others don't. We commit fully to funding pensions not 90% of the time, but 100% of the time by 2040. We haven't gotten there, but that doesn't deter us. We

pursue top designations, not just bronze. we go for silver or maybe gold. Our in-house services from waste collection to to water are the envy of many communities because we choose to do them well. Public safety should be should be no different. My call to action is simple. Leadership must come together, define the standard of readiness this community deserves and commit to achieving it. Because excellence is not an accident. It is a decision. So make that decision now and give our fire department a clear target worthy of this community. Thank you very much. Motion for German. So moved.

Second. Please call the Mr. [clears throat] Buyers. I. Mr. Roers. I. Miss Smith. I. Mr. McCarthy. Hi. Mr. Preston. Hi. Mrs. Lauren. I Mayor Cous. I. We are ajourned. He's running again.