City Council - Regular Meeting

[snorts] Cold. It's chilly out there. It's been It's a good attitude. Friday and Saturday. Oh, I didn't look that far ahead. The high zero [laughter] days.

The be the best outlook is to get positive numbers. Yeah.

Two minutes.

[snorts]

Do this. All right, I got 6 PM. Is everybody ready? Mhm. Look at that. I'd like to call the Oglesby city council meeting to order. Roll call, please. Uh Baldrich, here. Colin, here.

McDermott here. Moy here. Currin here. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Before everybody takes a seat, [clears throat]

um I just wanted to uh our next item was uh so I I got word that uh Jerry Hunter, long-term city uh city attorney for the city of Oglesby had passed away uh before the the new year even. So um little bit doing a little bit of digging. He actually served two different periods uh from 79 to 91 and then again from uh 95 to 2003. So 20 years uh I mean he served the entire bit of the 80s and most of the 90s. Uh so we had a lot of development that was happening. Um so obviously an attorney would have a lot of things to do and a lot of things to say and a lot of things with all the agreements and paperwork developing the west side of the city. So uh we appreciate work that he has done because it really helps shape what we see as Oakview today. So if you could join me in a moment of silence with him please. Thank you.

All right. Number five, mayor's report. Um, one moment. I just want to raise a concern. I have a point of order. Sorry, for number 15, mayor's final comments. So that's an agenda structural change because it's not a debatable or a discussion item. So that would require council approval. No, it wouldn't. Yep. I first of all, if you want to make an agenda change, you would do it right after roll call. That's the first thing, right? Before any referring to the

All right. Well, believe it or not, when we moved it LA, so you can move an item if the council votes on that, but believe it or not, when you guys voted to move it during the middle of a meeting, Robert's rules of order, section 25-1 to 25-2 requires a 23 vote uh for any business out of the prescribed order. Okay. So, I raised a point of order. Okay. What's your ruling? My ruling that you want to what what is it you want to do? Do you rule that it was a point of order or out of order? your point of order. Sorry, state your point of order again.

My point of order is that the council needs to approve any agenda modifications to structural changes. Anybody can make an agenda item discussionable debate. On top of that, the mayor has now given himself twice the ability to speak on this agenda, which Robert's rules of order state that everyone needs equity. Okay. So, it's out of order. We we in our ordinances Any council member can add anything they want to the agenda in any form. Right. We were trying to clean this up and not have this argument and now you pulled some stunt here where you throw on another one to just take away what we were trying to do. And what were you trying Wait a minute. You moved it away. What do you mean? Don't start. What were you trying to take away?

Trying to start trouble. That's why you put that on there. Now stop. What are you trying to take away? I stop. Contention. Lower the temperature. We're trying to see if this will work to stop the arguments because often the reports which I've collectively agreed, I know Colin stated it in the last meeting. Rich I've talked to personally and Maka has also agreed that we're no longer going to use ourformational reports to discuss finished business or to disparage each other. I think that's very unprofessional and uncalled for. So that's not what you said was the reason you wanted to change it last time. You said you wanted to be able to have the mayor because the mayor will talk. Point of order. We're talking about the agenda item here. We're not going to sit here and go through the night of you interrogating her and trying to get her in a word or something. Move on.

We're doing a point of order on the point of order. So, I don't believe for everything I know about it, I don't believe that you can state what's going to be on the agenda or not because I believe everybody has the right to put on the agenda. So, we can put on the next commission sports. No, the council has the authority. You're right. The chair does not control the agenda. The council does. So, I ruled a point of order saying it was out of order. Okay. I say you say it's not. So, I appeal that decision. So, let's do a vote. Okay. So, the there is a there. Okay. Is there a second for the appeal? I second.

Okay. All right. I think if I remember right, the the chair gets to explain why he made the decision he made. So, motion has been made and second must be a vote under council rules. Unless you probably Yeah. Uh, no. I believe I believe what I read is if there's an appeal, the council get that the chairman gets to state why he made a decision on something like that and then it's up to the the council vote for it though. But but I've already stated my piece. So, we'll go around. Um, so what is it? Is it I for the appeal? I don't know. Do you do you believe the objection is I guess is out of order. We'll go around the room for a vote then for it.

I mean, I think I said to you I I don't necessarily know if it had to be on the agenda. Um uh I mean I I certainly think and this is the issue with the point of order is I I I feel as if you have the authority to put it on the agenda of course as anybody who has the ability to add anything to the agenda but I don't support it being on the agenda. I I suppose I I think it's unnecessary and it's redundant. So I don't exactly know which way to vote on it but yeah. So, I guess the vote is for if you object to the the point of the the appeal like if you think my ruling object to the ruling if I object to it being included on the agenda. If I think it shouldn't be included on the agenda legally,

feeling is that he thinks it should be on the agenda and so you need to decide whether you agree with that or disagree with that because I believe it should be on the agenda based on we have something that says specifically on our ordinance and the ordinance goes above anything that's in Robert's rules. It does not and get it. Am I incorrect? Am I incorrect? Produce it. Produce it. I know I'm not incorrect about that. you follow Robert's rules of order unless you have a local rule that says it supersedes it. I'm not I I'll I'll make clear my position on it is that I don't think it had to be on there. I really don't think it should have been on there, but that anybody has the authority to put anything on the agenda that they want. So, and that's what I'm saying. You don't get to put another speech on there.

You could under Robert's rule, you should have equity. You can put anything you want. That's Everyone is owed the opportunity for discussion and debate then. So we could discuss and debate your final remarks. I you tech you technically could. Yeah, it's it's it's an item. So before we go on. So we'd have to do that in order to So I'm ruling it as a point of order. I agree. Let's move on with the roll call that it is a point of order. It is out of order. Okay. I move to remove mayor's final comments. The mayor already gets a bill. Okay. So, you don't think it was out of order? Out of order? You think it was? I don't think it was out of order. I think it was unnecessary. Okay. Appreciate that. You think it was out of Mac?

I think it's not equity under Robert's rule. It should be fair across. Okay. So, you we Nobody Nobody put your mayor's report first to any kind of vendetta or anything. Really? Okay. Really? Okay. I actually feel that that's a good idea because you can set the pace of the meeting and everything else. Sure. That's my personal opinion. So, do you feel that when I when I said that I I rule that it is not out of order for someone to put something on the agenda? Are you saying it's out of order? I think it is out of order due to Robert and Rich. Yeah, I think you kind of stole that from Jerry Jerry Springer. Uh, I have a question. Do we still have the ability to strike something from the agenda?

Okay. Well, I will support a motion to strike it from the agenda. I won't support a motion. I I'll abstain on a vote to find it out of order. If if somebody wants to make a motion to remove it from the agenda, I will support removing it from the agenda. Okay. So, one thing at a time. One thing at a time. So, I I say that it's not out of order. That means it's it's three out of five. So, it's not two/3. That would fail. However, if you want to make another motion, I believe it's only a majority on the table, right? And you got to finish that roll. So, if you want to unless somebody withdraws their motion on that roll city, isn't it? This is really helping the city. This is what you guys decided to do. So, if you have another uh motion. Well, there's a motion on the table, I believe. What's your motion? I think I already made it, but

Well, I think the motion would The motion that was been made has to been has to be withdrawn. Correct. And then we'll if if there's a motion to strike it from the agenda, I will vote yes on that. Is there a motion to strike it from the agenda? Made a motion to strike the mayor's final comments from the agenda. We need a second. Okay. Second. Okay. Now, I'll take Now you take a Okay. Uh Austin Cullinin, hi Moy. Hi. Uh McDermott. Hi. Baldrich. Hi. Curran. Hi. Or should say no. But whatever. Either way, it's twothirds. So it does get struck.

Okay. Now, if there's no other changes, we can get moving. Number five, mayor's report. So, first thing I wanted to talk about was um baseball signups are are now live. Uh softball will be next week. There is a significant amount of tournaments uh games that are coming to Oglesby, so it should be pretty great. Uh number two, I just got notified that the IMEA scholarship application went live. Uh deadline is a bit away yet with 13 March. Uh but looking at it now gets you kind of ahead of it. Two years ago, uh we did have an Ogalsby resident win. So great opportunity. It's only a 500word essay. Great opportunity if you're already collegebound, uh to consider doing that. Uh number three, [cough] warming centers. So, I had a couple residents reach out uh concerned that with the cold temperatures, somebody was complaining that the the electrical outage was so long that we should have activated the warming centers, that kind of stuff. I will say I do recognize that there are some uh residents in the city that that are on electrical heat. Um, one of the things that we've done is we've smoothed the process about how we activate the cooling centers and the warming centers, right? We we've got some things out there now to where it doesn't have to go through of this long approval process for some automatic things. I think it's if there is electrical outage over 12 hours or if the temperature is below a certain thing, it automatically goes. However, that doesn't mean that's the only times they can be activated. Uh for electrical related issues, uh the electrical commissioner can activate the warming center if there's a need that's great enough. The the health and safety commissioner can activate the warming center if they believe the temperature, the environmental conditions are are strong enough for whatever the reason is. My point is don't suffer in silence. So, coming to some somebody about it after the fact or calling city hall at 1:00 a.m. in the morning and leaving a message on the mayor's voicemail is not going to get you your answer that you need. Um, in both of those situations, if commissioners are not available, the mayor can make the call. So, I mean, if if and again, when it comes to electrical outages, a lot of times

people aren't expecting it to to last very long. You don't really know. So, it's kind of a judgment call. But if there are multiple residents that call in that say they have a concern or there's an issue with it, that probably would be enough reason to activate that. So my point is don't suffer in silence. We do have some contact information out there. Please, if you're having an issue or something like that and you have an emergent need, please call. Uh number four, last thing. Uh our last meeting was 4 hours and four minutes. That was a record for the city of Ogulby. Um we have a lot of things going on, right? We have some negative things. We have a lot of positive things. We have a challenging long-term union contract that's that's being negotiated right now. There's a lot of things that's making things super long-winded and I recognize that not everybody agrees on all topics. As you can see, we can't even agree on the agenda sometimes. That's not necessarily a terrible thing every time. It just means people have a difference of opinions. When people are passionate about things, there's nothing wrong. As long as at the end of the day, everybody is always making their decisions and actions based on what the best thing for the city is, we can only win. So hopefully we'll have a much shorter meeting tonight. Uh but other than that, that's all I got. Number six, public comment on agenda items only.

Very good. That was good. Okay, seeing none, we'll move on. Seven, approve minutes from December 15, 2025 and January 5th, 2026 regular meeting. If there's no additions, corrections, or modifications, can I get a motion to approve the minutes? I will move that we approve minutes from the December 15, 2025 and January 5th, 2026 regular sessions. Is there a second?

Okay. Uh we have no minutes to We don't have a second. Can is there is there I guess if there somebody has an issue with them, we can talk about it or if you didn't have a chance to review them, I guess we'll go around the room. What's What's the concern? I don't know. Okay.

There's some language in there that's a little biased and and this is where it's I feel like a jerk bringing it up. I really do. But like things like heated discussion like that that's adjectives that indicate emotion feeling. Um there was a point in there that said I attempted to make a motion which later in the next meeting you even agreed it was a valid motion but the attempted to make a motion because it spiraled a little bit out of control got lost in the translation translation. So, I guess my encouragement is the minutes to reflect more of a factual record instead of maybe a bias. So, I guess that's my opinion. Okay, Mac,

I concur. We got to keep the personal out of it. Okay, Rich say this. I wasn't going to talk about it until we got down to

11A. So, on Saturday night, I came across I met with uh wasn't intentional, but I met with a former city clerk of Peru, um Dave Bartley, and we were talking about this a little bit, and one of his things was um he was surprised that we have an issue with our minutes because they focus on their minutes being so general, and I explained to him that our minutes are are relatively detailed. I don't have a problem with detailed minutes. He believes that they should be so general that it's not even a concern. uh like I explained to him like even our closed session that's where the contention is. We have a lot of details in ours and he says yeah you probably shouldn't have any details in there. So we talked a little bit about it. He believes it's from the OMA thing. I got back home that night and I looked at OMA and it doesn't specify that. It it doesn't say that it has to be vague. It just it says that they can be vague. Right? So maybe part of the problem we're having is that maybe our minutes are are so detailed to where people are upset about them. Um I don't know if there's a better way to to handle it because we spend way too much time on minutes and agendas.

I totally agree. In the September meeting, I believe I had suggested at that time I think [snorts] as well as I suggested that at the end of a YouTube video that Austin has established for us, you can push the Gemini thing to ask for a summary. I think that will alleviate this from now on and there's no human element to that at all. um that would give us the summary over the meeting and we don't have to argue about it ever again. I believe isn't GPT used for the minutes.

I don't I do not use note GPT. Um it's I I have found when I use it that you end up spending more time correcting note GPT than actually writing the minutes, but I can make them more general without a problem. I will also say regarding this topic that I know I just went along with not making a motion for the minutes at the last meeting because it seemed like nobody else wanted to approve them. But what I will say is I think if there's an issue with the minutes, um especially when you have your packets on Friday, it's probably worth saying something to to Jen or following the last meeting in which they weren't approved, saying something to Jen um instead of, you know, um coming here and obviously us not being able to approve them now. So, I'll just put that on the table.

Yeah. Um so, it it was my understanding. I remember uh near the end of when uh when Becky was here, she had changed it up a little bit and she was using some kind of catchy thing to summarize. I recognize one of the problems with it is anytime you use that kind of tool, it it gets it wrong a lot of times. So, you have to go back and re-edit and everything like that. But, but one of the things it did do is it took out a lot of the nuance and it just made it very general. So, I don't know what the right answer is, but I think what I'm hearing from a majority is we want to table this and try to make them a little bit more general in nature. Is that relatively accurate? I think that would be great. Okay. In that case, can I get a motion to table the minutes, please? I'll make a motion to table the minutes. Second. Roll call, please. Baldridge. Hi. Colin. Abstain. McDermott. Hi. Moy.

Hi. Currin. Hi. Eight. The same thing here. Approve executive minutes from October 6th, October 20th, November 17th, December 1st, December 15th, and January 5th, 2026 executive session. Can I get a So, okay. Go ahead.

Yeah. Uh I'd like to chime in here on what's going to be mentioned under 11A and maybe we can address it now and then if you want to take a vote on something we can take a vote at 11A. Um so I did reach out to connecting point regarding this. Um and basically the answer was to me um that it's probably possible on one of the drives on our server uh to make a view only uh copy of the minutes um to where they could not be printed or they could not be uploaded anywhere. Um, but the issue that you do run into with that is it's still possible theoretically uh for somebody to go in, especially, you know, if people are going to be viewing these outside of working hours, it is possible for somebody to theoretically go in. Not saying it would happen, of course, but it is possible for somebody to go in and take pictures of those minutes or, you know, record those minutes or or whatever and then disseminate those copies. And so I talked to uh Jen kind of and brainstormed, you know, I mean, if you could add a watermark to them or or whatever to ensure they don't get out because I do agree that they should be strictly controlled. Um so that is a possibility. Um if need be. Um and so we would actually each of us would have um we obviously have computers and each employee has their own login. Uh you'd each have your own login and we'd be able to audit who views them when blah blah blah blah blah. So, um, so that's an option. Uh, the other option, as I was kind of just talking about, um, is to, uh, is to review them in close session because you can you can review them in close session for approval. And if you only have like one set of them or two sets of them, it's probably not going to be a very long tedious process. But I also know that our closed sessions are already long as it is. Um, so that's another option. Um, and then the last option is just kind of to keep it as it is. Um, I'm open to other options obviously if anybody has other ideas or

whatever, but that's kind of where we're at on this. Um, so uh I do know that we have review close session minutes um for possible um release on the agenda tonight. Um, we could review them and approve them tonight as well. Um, so uh that's an option. U I'm whatever. That would probably be my preferred option honestly because it keeps them contained. Um but obviously um whatever the council will the council will in that case because again all the stuff you're talking about that's really for 11A but because we're at the point of where we're going to try to approve them. I think what I'm hearing is maybe you want to do it right before number 17 then do what?

Move move the approval of those minutes so that way because we'd be able to talk. Yeah, we we could do that. Yeah. Yeah, we could. We'll see if we go around the room if anybody else has any comments. I think a lot of this concern would be alleviated if they were more general and like you said in natural nature because what are you afraid is going to get out? But I Yeah, I think that's a fair point. Yeah. Well, I think that we already commented on the seven. Uh we need to do the same thing with eight. Okay, Rich. I believe ineneral there's really nothing to worry about. That's correct. Yeah, something about verbatim or something that wouldn't be in there.

Yeah, I have no problem with more details in minutes, but I mean, if it's obviously a sticking point, then then there's no reason to to make that a reality. I will still say I I do think in even very general close session minutes that there's probably some stuff that you probably wouldn't want out there. Depends how general you get them. Um, but yeah, as far as specific quotes or anything like that, you you certainly wouldn't have those. Um, but yeah, I I don't know. Um, okay. Um, well, I'll tell you what. So, we can go ahead. I'll make a motion to table it. You want to table it or do you want to move them technically? Because I think there's two of them in there that we probably are ready for release if because today today's the day that we would release certain minutes if they are available.

Maybe I'm confused. Did you not just say before that you couldn't do anything after the pledge or before the pledge? Yeah, you're not supposed to move anything after after you've already done your roll. You do your roll call and move on to the first business item. So, you're right. Um, we did already do that though, too. But I I would agree we shouldn't do it if it's um Well, we can we can we can table them if that's what the the motion is, though. If you want to do that, I'll I'll second your motion. Okay. Motion table. Second. Roll call, please. Baldridge. I. Colin. I. McDermott. I. Moy. I. Currin.

I. Number nine. Approved bills presented for payment in [clears throat] the amount of $189,121.16 for usual monthly bills. Viscerin construction in the amount of 637,852.50 for a total of $826,97366. This must be where we are doing that subdivide a little bit so it's not as confusing. Yeah. So in the invoice register um it's a total amount of $826,97366. Um but just to reflect the um cost of the construction of the wastewater treatment plant uh for this agenda item, we just uh separated those two things, but it's approving all of them in one fell swoop. So,

okay. If there's no additions or corrections or modifications, can I get a motion to approve the bills? I will motion that we approve bills presented for payment in the amount of $826,973 97366. I'm sorry, Hillary. Did you try to make a motion or did you have something another comment? I was going to make a motion. Got it. Okay. Roll call, please. Baldridge. Hi. Colin. Hi. McDermott. Hi. Moy. Hi. Curran.

I. Number 10. Approve payroll for January 2nd, 2026 in the amount of 67,486.90 and January 16th, 2026 for $66,996.60. If there's no additions, corrections, or modifications to the payroll, can I get a motion to approve? I will motion that we approve payroll for January 2nd, 2026 in the amount of $67,486.90 and January 16th, 2026 for $66,996.60. Roll call, please. Baldrich, hi. Colin, hi. McDermott, I Curran,

I. Number 11, hold business. A discussion and possible action on creating an ordinance to place all prior executive session minutes in online commissioner files giving easier access and review prior to voting to approve Baldridge. Same thing we just easier for everybody to look at. I don't see what problem would be if they have somebody walk out of there and talk about it.

I would be fine. Um, I mean, if we I don't know. I do think they need to be controlled. Um, I mean, uh, there's already, you know, I I've heard from different people that things have gotten out and I I don't exactly know how they got out, but I've heard, you know, that things have gotten out in the past. And so, um, you know, I I I certainly while somebody could go out and talk about it, it's hearsay at that point. Um, even if it's coming from a credible source, I certainly wouldn't want somebody to be able to substantiate it with actual documentation. So, um, uh, my recommendation is, um, that we review these, uh, in close session and then choose to approve them. Um, but, uh, I wouldn't be totally opposed to the idea of having them on a local server and not loaded uploaded to the internet. I would be a hard no on uploading them to the internet. Um, but I'm I'm flexible perhaps on the uh local server thing, but still not super thrilled with it. So,

okay. Thanks, Hillary. I'm open to if they're more general, reviewing them in close session and then approving them after because it really shouldn't take that much time if they're general. Yeah, I'm okay with that. Um, again, like can we try it and see like and would be to have Jen make all the regular and executive session general then you guys can take a look at them in executive session if you want and just see whether we can proceed in that future. I'm totally against you having a lot

as your legal counsel. I just do not think that's a smart. We're not just talking about people sitting at this board here, but everybody who's going to be sitting at this board in the future, too, is going to be bound by these rules and have these rights. I just don't think it's a smart Okay, Mac. Well, Barry, I appreciate it. I I agree. Um I think that's way we should go about doing it. Okay. All right. So, same thing. So, from the last I'm sorry, Mac, did you have something else? I apologize. That was it.

Okay. Um, so from the last time we talked about this, I think the consensus was that we were going to look at other options to explore options and stuff like that and and um, Commissioner Colin, I appreciate that. I think that part was done. Contacted uh, you know, connecting point looked at all the different options out there. Um, you know, if we're going to put it on a special secure server, all that stuff, and put it in a room that maybe where there's a camera on some, all that kind of stuff. So, I think that portion was done. However, I still think that under no circumstances do we need to put something online. I I get how maybe whitewashing the minutes down, making them more general nature might solve some of the concerns that people have, but under no circumstances, in my opinion, can it be put on an online format anywhere? Uh because they're supposed to be controlled. Um, I look at it this way is it all you need to do is be able to come into the the building here um once every two weeks to take a look at them. And the thing that's special about close session minutes is it doesn't even matter if you can't be in here during that two week period. If you can only come in once a month because we only release them every six months in the first place. So if it takes a little bit longer to get approved, I don't think that's a problem. So to me and and I'll be honest, if if you can't find the time to be able to come in during the work day in a month, my question is how are you finding time to oversee your departments um to be in your departments at all during their work days at all? Um again, I don't think it takes a lot of time. Uh, and then even past that, the other option would be if if you simply cannot get in here every month or two, even during the work hours, the other option would be to have the clerk be available on a Saturday every once in a while. Um, I mean, all of those are are options. I I don't think we should get to the point to where we do the one that we're where um Austin had to do the research for. I think that is way overkill for what we need.

I would agree. That's just my opinion. So, um, I thought Jen had a good suggestion in a follow-up email after the last meeting, which was to have you look at them in the half hour before your next meeting or she would come in on a Saturday or stay late at night or whatever it took to allow you access to those. But, um, thank you about that. I I forgot about that one as an option. The other option

thought she made some good suggestions. The other option is if we start our meeting at 6 PM, I I can't see a reason why they couldn't be out at the commissioner spots at 5 5:30 and they get picked up at 5:55 or or whatever. Maybe maybe that's another option. I just think that we should be exploring all these other options before we think about putting something in a open environment to where somebody could walk away like like Austin said. There's a difference between somebody speaking out about things that are confidential that they shouldn't be doing and there's a difference when you can produce a document that says something that we're working on something or there's something that's happening that that has a lot more damaging effects. So that's my two cents with it. Um so that's the discussion. Does anybody else have any other feedback on it? Open floor.

So I guess the next time I'll put on there to an ordinance to put these I don't think we need an ordinance for that. I mean, I can direct Jen to do that. So, I think Jen's got the idea, Rich. I think she'll simplify all of these and hopefully you guys objection to them. My suggestion would be that if you do find objections to them, send an email to her so she's aware of what the problems are. Maybe she can tweak them and overcome those problems before the meeting. I think that sounds like good advice.

Okay. All right. So, are we tableabling this one for now then? It was discussion. Good deal. All right. 12. New business. A discussion and possible action on Oglesby Elks raffle license approval. Cullinin. Yeah. So, I I could defer to Jen here, but I guess I'll I guess I kind of know what it is. We approved raffle licenses at the last meeting. Um they're good for the year. Um and the OG sweep elks has submitted theirs and and needed approved. Is that correct? Yep. That's it. Okay. I'll make I'll make Anybody else have anything you want to talk about it? I think it's pretty general. I'm all for it. Okay. If anybody has any comments, I don't either. We can make a motion.

I'll make a motion that we uh approve the action on the Elks raffle license approval. Second. Roll call, please. Baldridge. Hi. Conan. I McDermott I Moy I Curran I number 13 public comment on any topic seeing there's none we'll move on number 14 commissioner reports commissioner okay so um there's a plan commission meeting on January 28th it is Jen

um so just to make everybody aware of that um this in between the last uh this meeting and the last meeting I sat down with our [clears throat] building inspector uh Burton Levens. I sat down with Chief Margus and also Commissioner Moy uh regarding um kind of building property related things. um we all got on the same page um for uh on kind of the matter and we also um you know went over the forum and made some edits, some modifications and so um what I would ask the residents to do is watch for a um building, electrical, plumbing, uh property maintenance, zoning uh violation form in the coming weeks. Um I will make sure it gets posted to our socials as well as our website along with um something I discussed at the past meeting or one of the past meetings. Um a community calendar that we're going to uh give to residents and businesses to fill out us approve and uh kind of show everything that's going on in town. So um we are in our office going to make a transition um because a lot of this is Excelbased, forms-based and power automate based. So, we're going to make a transition to Office 365 products. I think now it's called like Microsoft came up with some weird rebranding. It's like Microsoft Copilot 365 or whatever. That's going to be the basis or foundation of this. Um, I have a meeting with Connecting Point, I believe, on the 27th to get this transfer completed. Um, and we will go from there. Um, lastly, I I kind of talked about this today. Um I was just in the office uh with two of my employees, but it is something uh that I mentioned at a previous meeting that I would like to kind of get the ball rolling on. Um admittedly, it's gotten kind of away from me, but um I am going to start working on uh kind of revising

our uh evaluative process in our office for employees. Um currently, like I said, um it's it's a little it's a little basic. Uh, and I and I think uh it could it could be a little bit more u substantial. And so I'm assembling my a team right now. I have uh I have one on board. So uh we'll see how that ultimately goes, but I'm I'm optimistic and and kind of look forward to that process. So um other than that uh I don't have anything. So thank you, Commissioner Mo. Okay. I'm pleased and excited to announce we are Oglesby's January first thank um did you get I did

that's okay sorry [laughter] Timothy Tim Pla is a longtime resident of Oglesby where he lives with his wife and daughter since January 2007 Tim has been a dedicated member of the Oglesby ambulance service serving the community as an EMT basic as of 2026 he has proudly served the Oglesby community for 19 years and is well known for his unwavering availability, responding to emergency calls both and off on and off duty and often stepping in to provide critical assistance when the service is short staffed. His commitment reflects the Oglesby ambulance's service services mission to provide highquality emergency medical care while supporting the ongoing need for essential equipment to serve the city. This month is sponsored by David Torcha and family.

Thank you, Commissioner McDermott. I'd like to commend uh Visering Construction on the uh work they're doing on the wastewater treatment plant. It's going on schedule and they're doing a fine job. I'd also like to ask residents to check up on your neighbors and friends and family. This week is supposed to get really cold. So, uh that's it.

Thank you, Commissioner Baldridge. Yeah, the park recreation department. They've been working on the memorial sign. They just got it done, but it hasn't been coming back up yet. Took the sign down at Dickerson House to refinish that starting on tomorrow. Also, the applications will be available for the 2026 parks and rec summer health and lifeguard staff starting February 2nd through March 31st. Electric department reports the Christmas decorations have been taken down and stored in our new new location, our storage shed. We have been continuing with the mapping of our system. This will be an ongoing process doing it when we can. We have been working on and locating weather permitting of where the underground conductors are located by AMO as we had a fault one of conductors that could be used as an optional feed Cedar Creek subdivision as a back feed to advantage logistics and loads. We had a company called Pan Panoptic come in and perform a drone heat camera scan of our substations and incoming fem. They did find some potential problems problem areas of concern. We are awaiting the final report on these issues so that we can decide how we go about getting them resolved. We are now using the new positive response system from Julie locate underground system and it seems to be working well. We have been working on getting an ement with for Amar gas to extend our power down the old Bailey Falls road by the sticky and Muno properties for a new natural gas bill replace a bad hole on Portland Avenue. We're awaiting a final approval after extensive talks with Green Thumb Industries for an easement for both us and Amar for the new second 345 ft to the N road substation so we can get the wire and apparatus order in order to get that installed and finished weather peritting. Uh and other news here we have we are always meeting tomorrow night at the public library. It is a meet and greet with the new library director Anna starting at 5:30 and then the we are old organization will be having a meeting which starts at 6 p.m. I heard a nice uh we are sponsored ad on the radio highlighting Eagle Watch weekend which is a major local

attraction for the Star Lodge. We are Oby is truly what it takes for [clears throat] our small community to thrive and support our businesses. In other news, the Knights of Columbus has their first fish fish fry on Friday night. American Legion has their steak fry on Thursday night. And while I don't normally mention these in my commissioner statement, I do welcome you to inform me of anything and I'll be happy to mention it otherwise. Again, our nonprofit Webby had a great website has a great website that highlights their members events and a newsletter that includes communitywide events.

All right. Thank you everybody. Really good stuff. All right. Number 16. uh executive session for collective negotiating matters between the public body and its employees or the representatives or deliberations concerning the salary schedules for one or more classes of employees. 5 ILCS120/2C2 to discuss the purchase or lease of real estate 5 LCS120C5 the employment compensation discipline performance or dismissal of specific employees 5 SCS120/2C1 and discussion of minutes of meetings lawfully closed under the OMA whether for purposes of approval by the body for the minutes or semiannual review of minutes as mandated in section 2.065 IC120/2C21. Can I get a motion to go into executive? [clears throat] I will motion that we enter close session per the affformentioned exemptions.

Close session. Roll call, please. Baldrich. I. Colin. I. McDermott. I. Moy. I. Currin. Hi. We have two possible items after executive session for action. Uh, one is the uh release of certain executive session minutes and then one depending on what comes out, we may or may not have a discussion on other items. So, thank you much everybody.

[snorts]

It's okay. Thursday.

Oh, music. Bless you. Bless you again.

We're back in open session. Roll call, please. Uh, Baldridge, here. Cullinin, here. McDermott here. Moy here. Currin here. Number 17, release of executive session minutes. Who had the the dates? Okay. I make a motion to release the executive session minutes from the following dates. April 18th, 2022, September 5th, 2023, December 19th, 2022, November 6, 2023, October 21st, 2024, December 2nd, 2024, August 7th, 2025, and August 11th, 2025. Second. Roll call, please. Baldrich. Hi Colin. Hi McDermott.

Hi Moy. Hi Curran. Hi. Number 18. Discussion and possible action on creation and implementation of departmental protocols and procedures. I put this down here. Uh we were able to talk about a few things that were related uh to that and I think we have at least some some actions in place uh to maybe rectify some of the issues we might be having. So I don't have anything more to add at this time. Maybe later, but I'll go on the room if anybody wants to talk about it. If not, it's no big deal. All good. All good. Nope. Not at this time. Rich. Okay. In that case, discussion is done on it. Next is numbers off here. 19 should be uh adjourning. Can I get a motion to I make a motion to adjurnn. Roll call, please. Baldrich. Hi. Colin.

Hi. McDermott. Hi. Moy. Hi. Karn. Hi. We are adjourned.