City Council - Regular Meeting

Two minutes. Got one minute. Thank you.

all right i got 6 p.m is everybody ready everybody ready i'd like to call the oglesby city council meeting to order a roll call please Here, please stand for the pledge of allegiance. One second, please.

We need to remove that illegally placed item off the agenda.

Everybody have a seat for a second, please.

What's the legally placed as you recall, ordinance number 2.03 150 was adding items to the agenda, we are only authorized to add items to the agenda under new or old business also as a violation to place that on the agenda, due to the fact that we placed an order of business shall be as follows. And there were 15 things on that ordinance. And that is not included in the council approval in order to change the agenda.

Wasn't there a thing of 90 days or something was denied?

Well, even if that were true, you probably couldn't have had them three things that you did here within the legal codes. But this right here is the agenda, and there's a structure of the agenda, and that was a definite stopper there. And then the 2.03150 is adding things to the agenda, which we all agreed and voted on, that only things could be added to the agenda under new or old business. So you can put it on under new or old business when you like it.

Well, I'll tell you what. If you want to make a motion to remove it, you're more than welcome to do so. I'll make a motion to remove the item off the agenda. Okay. Is there a second to remove that item?

You should probably identify it, Rich.

The council final action. Council final comments number 13. Is that what you're referring to? Yes. There's a motion for that. Is there a second?

I'll second.

Okay. Is there a discussion on that? Anybody want to talk about that or go around the room? Call it.

No.

We have a motion and a second. I feel like we should do roll call. We have a lot of things to get through.

There's an ability for discussion.

This is my discussion. We should do roll call.

Alright, fair enough. Mac?

I think...

I guess my question is what is the protocol then to act because I do believe there's something it's super valuable to be there especially we got a crowd full of people here we don't know if they're gonna talk about things under that last public comment so there's not an opportunity for them Counselors or commissioners to respond to anything if they wanted to so let me ask you what is your protocol that you believe to be?

How to get something back on I'm not wasting any more of my breath on this stuff We've gone through this about 14 times true. I'm not wasting another second of my time on this So that's the protocols there and Jason you can read it at will But do you have any guidance on what that is to get something back on the agenda?

I suppose that this was not done the proper way

I think I'd put it under new business.

Under new business then to move. Okay. All right. We can do that. All right. Roll call, please.

Aldridge.

Aye.

Cullinan. Aye. McDermott.

Aye.

Moya. Aye. Curran.

No, but it is removed. Okay. Please stand for Pledge of Allegiance.

Okay, number four, mayor's report.

Okay, so a couple things here. First thing is the Dickinson House on tomorrow night is going to have the 85th celebration. They're going to have a municipal band and an ice cream social. The ice cream social will start at 5 PM. It'll be a little bit bigger than they normally have just because of the 85th celebration. Number two, Boots, Brews, and Barbecue is going to be this Saturday. It's going to kick off at 6 p.m. There's going to be some wine tastings. The bands will start at 8. Mechanical bull rides, which that's not new, but there is going to be a new cigar bar. So that's going to be new this year. So please check that out. And the last two items I have are more of really just public service announcements. Number three I want to talk about is Noblesdorf and the plan commission. So I just want to say how much I appreciate the plan commission for what they have to do. They get together, they talk, they deliberate things and discuss stuff. We up here as a council, We are technically compensated for our time that we spend here. I mean, it's peanuts, but we get compensated for it. All of our board personnel, they don't even get the peanuts. They don't have anything. So they put a lot of time and effort forth. And I know that there was some people's first meeting they had last week. So all I say is I took it off the agenda for the council here because we don't have a recommendation on Noblesdorf yet, right, for us to take an action on. I don't want the council to necessarily influence what that board is doing and working through the process. So I just ask if people are going to show up tomorrow to that meeting, please be respectful. uh please recognize that the the group of people that are up on that 11 body board they are citizens and residents just like you they're trying to do the best they can with everything so so please be kind with them but please voice your concerns and we'll go from there um Next thing, number four, elected official packets. So there's been a couple questions that has come up where they have asked the clerk's office for some details of how to do the packets. I just want to say, again, I don't want to have a repeat of what happened in 2019 and the same thing as what was said last four years ago. The clerk's office is not responsible in any way for the content, the completeness, or the accuracy of your packet that you put forth, right? What we were given from the county is what's being dismissed out, given to people, okay? So if you have any questions or concerns, you can either go to the county to ask questions for something for the packet, or you can always get legal counsel. But I just want to make sure that there's no question about it, that the city clerk's office is not responsible for giving direction on how to fill that out. Anything else I should add on that?

No, I don't think the city clerk's office should be giving any legal advice about how to fill those out, Betty. So please relate that to Jen. It's not your position to do that.

Oh, last piece about it. So there is a notary requirement. The clerk's office can do notarization. They can do that. But what was determined last time is that is one thing that the clerk's office will not notarize because they have to accept the final packet. You will have to go to an outside source for that, whether that's the banks here locally or something like that. So, okay, that's all I have. Number five, public comment on agenda items only.

I suppose I identify myself first. Is that the protocol?

That would be great, Mr. Porter.

That's correct. Go ahead. Help me out. You got it. Go ahead, sir. Tom Porter. I live at 802 Clark Street. Are we ready?

Go ahead, sir.

Thank you. Mayor and members of the council, according to the application, the proposal is to rent the entire residence at 910 Durant. neighborhood when it reminds them that their neighbors may not be vacationing. I think that sentence says quite a bit. First thing I want to bring up is the covered bridge. The driveway to the residence passes through a full-sized decorative covered bridge. Based on my many years of familiarity with this property, I am not aware of any practical way for a vehicle to drive around it. I have personally seen vehicles reach the bridge and then have to back out toward Durant because they could not or would not proceed through it. People familiar with the property are not intimidated by the bridge. Short-term guests arriving for the first time may be. My larger concern is emergency access. I don't know whether emergency vehicles can safely pass through that bridge. I am simply asking whether the city has actually verified it. Next subject is Durant Street. The access issue doesn't end with the bridge. This section of Durant more closely resembles a crumbling alley than a city roadway. It is approximately 220 feet long and barely wide enough to accommodate one vehicle. When two vehicles meet, one frequently has to back up toward my property where one of the vehicles may pull off the roadway into my lawn to allow the other to pass. I believe that problem could be magnified with unfamiliar short-term guests repeatedly navigating this roadway. The application indicates parking for six vehicles, but parking capacity is not the same thing as access capacity. Every vehicle has to travel this extremely narrow section of Durant and negotiate the driveway and the covered bridge. If the city is going to approve this new issue, I believe the residents of this neighborhood are entitled to a roadway that can safely accommodate it. Next subject is Lincoln School. Using the LaSalle County measuring tool, I measured the distance between the 910 Durant property and Lincoln School property at approximately 330 feet. Illinois law contains specific restrictions for certain child sex offenders involving residence and loitering within the 500 feet of the school property. I am not suggesting that short-term rental guests should be presumed dangerous. That isn't my point. My point is that Illinois law makes proximity to the school significant by establishing certain restrictions. location that proximity isn't merely a number on a map. There is no physical barrier preventing someone staying at 910 Durant from walking north to the Lincoln School property line literally to the other side of the school fence. I don't know how the city would know if a person subject to those restrictions was staying at this property as a short-term guest question has the city considered that proximity and has the city determined whether it creates any legal safety or enforcement concerns that should be addressed before this special use is approved I think that question deserves an answer in closing for 38 years my wife and I have been part of this stable residential neighborhood I am asking you to decide whether this short term rental belongs here considering the constrained access extremely narrow roadway in proximity to lincoln school i respectfully ask the council to deny the requested special use at 910 durant street thank you thank you much appreciate it are there any other public comments please hello i'm debbie vaughn i live at

avenue and the residents of bennett avenue and surrounding neighborhood respectfully asked the council to deny the application for the short-term rental at 910 durant street all of us on bennett avenue have signed the presented petition as well as as well as other concerned residents of ogle street and other neighborhoods the negative impact on this quiet established residential neighborhood will be deeply felt If you are familiar with the area, you are aware that in order to access this residence, you are basically going through our backyards, affecting our safety and our privacy. Some additional concerns are increased noise and a revolving door of unvetted strangers. The short stretch of Durant Street is in disrepair and is a single lane. This will increase traffic either turn around or as a passing measure the proximity to the grade school again could present a safety issue oversight there's no street view for policing since the property is behind the residents on Bennett Street no fire or emergency vehicle access because of the covered bridge short-term rentals are Renters also have no vested interest in the property, no local ownership, or even a requirement for a local contact. The owner is from Chicago who has no ties to the city, neighborhood, or community. Based on our research, we believe they have owned multiple properties in the city that has received multiple violations and 311 calls on those properties. There is a place for short-term rentals. in the middle, and I mean literally in the middle of a neighborhood with established families, with children, retirees, widows, and next to a grade school is not the place. In a location that the local police cannot see from a city street is not the place. In a location that emergency vehicles cannot access is not the place. While we appreciate the fact that the ordinance requires notification of the residents and affords us the opportunity to voice our concerns and opposition of a short-term rental in our neighborhood, the bottom line is we have no vote. Only you do. And respectfully, this is not the neighborhood that you live in. We have made it abundantly clear that we oppose this short-term rental in our neighborhood. We hope that our desire to continue to reside in our safe quiet residential neighborhood can continue and then the economics of a single short-term rental do not outweigh the concerns of the permanent residents thank you for your consideration thank you appreciate it thank you are there any other public comments on agenda items only if you would like to yeah it's on short-term rentals are on the agenda you can sir please

basically a lifelong resident. And I'm calling a concern to property at 225 Main Street, which is basically next door to my house. And we have the same concerns as the other people with their short-term residency.

We have a number of elderly people that live across the street, again, next door.

And my big concern is and this area is basically moving over from the elderly to the more younger kids and my concern is Do they have a record? Is it safe for the kids to have these people in there? They have no concern about our residency or the neighbors that they have there. We would ask that you guys deny the short-term rental. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Okay.

You are more than welcome to come up. Just keep in mind, so one of our ordinances does have a thing that if people are going to talk about the same topic, you're supposed to have like a spokesperson. We've never really enforced that, though. But if you want to speak, if you have anything else to add, you're more than welcome to, though.

It's pretty much the same thing.

Okay. Sounds good. We did get the petition from that, so that was in the drive. So I think all the commissioners have a chance to see that. But go ahead, sir.

My name is Crispin Hernandez. I'm not very good at talking, so bear with me. I basically live at 203 Elm Street, right across the street from home. And the concern is my kids, right? I've been there for roughly 15 years, and I literally brag to everybody about my neighborhood. It's a quiet neighborhood. I got lovely neighbors. I have never had any issues there. And the people that know that neighborhood, you guys know it's very peaceful, very quiet, very lovely. The potential for that to change is obviously... rental could be an issue. I understand that 90% of the people, 95, 99% of the people that come there are going to be good people. That 1% is what I'm concerned about. I have two teenage daughters, as I mentioned. We've got elderly people that live right around there. Safety is our main concern. We would like to keep that neighborhood the same way it's been. That's pretty much all I have.

I appreciate it. Thank you. Good additional stuff. Does anybody have anything else for public comment on agenda items only? seeing none we'll move on number six approval of minutes from the august 17th 2026 regular meeting if there's no additions corrections or modifications can i get a motion to approve the minutes i'll make a motion to approve the minutes from the august 17th 2026 regular meeting i'll second that motion roll call please 7 approved bills presented for payment in the amount of eight hundred and five thousand six hundred ninety eight dollars and seventy five cents if there's no additions corrections or modifications gonna get a motion to approve the bills

I'll motion that we approve bills presented for payment in the amount of $805,698.75. I'll second. Roll call, please. Aldridge? Aye. Coleman? Aye. McDermott?

Aye.

Moyer? Aye.

Curran?

Aye. All right. We're eight. I don't have a date associated with this. But number eight approved payroll for $66,161.39. There's no additions.

Say again.

For the 11th. Okay. Anybody has any corrections or modifications? Can I get a get a motion to approve the payroll?

Motion that we approve payroll for September 11, and the amount of $66,161.39. I'll second that motion. Roll call, please.

There's nothing to add as long as I got it right I don't think that there's any question about the terms really

You obviously appointed Jim Clannard to act as zoning administrator. You agreed to compensate him at the amount of $250 a month for up to 10 hours of work in any given month. If he were to exceed 10 hours, you agree to pay him $50 an hour for any excess.

I would like to see something placed in there that would either limit the amount of hours that could be taken in a month or somehow to notify us to accept that before a big amount of hours are taken.

Okay. My opinion on it, You know, this is the first time we've had somebody fill that role that wasn't already rolled into something else that they already do inside the city. So I think it will be interesting because we'll actually get a specific line item to know that what we can attribute to that. To Rich's concern, I feel like we need to find out after we have it for a month or two, what is the actual cost of this? Is it really costing us? Is it roughly around $250 or is it significantly more than $250? Because if you remember, the previous previous clerk, it was rolled into their responsibilities, and they had quite a bit of overtime that they built up. So I don't know how that we can really compare that very well. But I would give my recommendation would be to give it some time. And we'll see what the bills are for it. And then we can adjust if we think it's a if it's a concern.

All right, open form if anybody has anything else.

All right, if we can get a motion to approve the ordinance, that'd be great.

I'll make a motion that we approve ordinance number 1316-090826, an ordinance establishing compensation for the zoning administrator for the city of Oglesby.

Is there a second?

I'll second it. It's what we discussed.

Okay, roll call, please.

Aldridge.

Epstein.

Hi. Hi. Hi.

Number 10, new business. A, discussion and possible action on turkey trot needs, current. So yeah, we got a letter in for this, and they didn't really have any new special needs, no annotations of the route being different or anything like that. So it's a great thing. It's a great tradition. The only thing I'd be interested to know, if they ever went back to the 70s and 80s and provided a live turkey again, I'd probably like to know about that before that happens. But other than that, I think it's a great thing. So we'll go around the room if anybody has any comments. I'm excited they're coming it's one of my favorite days of the year

It's always a good thing.

Richard? I appreciate their volunteering for this and what it brings to our city.

Yep, great thing. Okay, if we can get a motion then to approve it. You guys can get shut down the street, obviously. Can I get a motion to approve the turkey truck?

I give a motion to close the streets for the route of the turkey truck.

And I'll second that motion. Roll call, please.

Aldridge? Aye. Bollingham? Aye. McDermott?

Aye.

Moyle? Aye. Curran?

Aye. B, discussion of possible action on short-term rentals, current. Okay, so we've had two applications come in for short-term rentals. One was on, I believe, Main Street, and the other is at the end of Durant. So since I guess my name's on this, I'll... I get the pleasure of talking first on this. So, okay. My thoughts when it comes to the short-term rentals, I think when it's in the downtown district or like on a business district and they're above, I think they're a great thing. I think they're in a great location. Utica does it. I know people that even own those over there. It's a great thing. People utilize the city, the town, for the restaurants, the bars. It's a good thing. When it comes to places in the residential areas, I think it becomes a little bit more complex. I think it's still a good thing if it's a place that's kind of by itself, off wherever, or if you don't have neighbors that have an issue with it. However, when it's in a residential area and neighbors have a concern, I do believe that that has to dictate the most important thing. Let's say there's five or ten residents nearby that don't like that, they don't want it. For the council to overturn that, That tells me that that public good, that public benefit has to outweigh the negative impact to the people that are immediately around it, right? So that has to be relatively significant. So my opinion when it comes to the one on Main Street, They got houses every direction around it. To me, and this is just my opinion, we'll go around the room to see how everybody feels, I think I have to respect those residents that live nearby. The one that's at the end of Durant Street, the interesting thing is if you look at it on a map, it's kind of out in the middle of nowhere, kind of in like a woods area and stuff like that. I do think that makes for a good location for a short-term rental thing. I do say that there were some great points that were brought up that I do think are a severe concern. Because of that covered bridge, you know, there is emergency vehicles that would possibly need to get there. You have a rental thing. I would hate to approve something in a way to where we all of a sudden have to respond to something like that. I think there is a legitimate concern about that that really needs to be taken consideration. I want to be consistent.

I understand that we got a bunch of residents that did sign a petition against it.

respect that as well I do think it's a little bit different than the Main Street one because in that one there's houses front back forward side the one that's on the Durant Street that isn't so much the case but the access is to get to it so I still think that maybe in my opinion in both of these probably not the best location for short-term rentals based on what we've heard but I just wanted to kind of explain my stance on the situation, so we can go around the room.

Austin? Yeah, so since I've been on the city council, we voted on two of these, and I voted no on both of them. And the reason I voted no on both of them is because I think the thing that makes, one of the things that makes Oglesby a very special place to live is its kind of cozy sense of community and knowing your neighbors, and it's certainly the town I grew up in, and it's certainly the town that I hope everybody's kids grew up in. I don't like short term rentals for that reason. I also don't like short term rentals, as I said before, because I think that they provided, I don't think it's so much of an issue right now, if Oglesby becomes kind of the popping place we want it to be, um, short-term rentals will absolutely, um, I mean, housing prices will go up regardless, but short-term rentals will further inflate that when you have speculators coming in here looking to buy properties to, to run out. Um, so, uh, I'm not a, I'm not a fan of them, uh, I guess for the, um, for the, the, Because they kind of take away the character of the community and because I'm afraid of speculators coming in and buying them up. I do agree with you, Jason, that I think of the two, I think the Durant one is more reasonable because it is kind of – it being there would not necessarily since it is kind of tucked away it wouldn't quite take away from kind of as much maybe from the character or integrity of the neighborhood but I still don't necessarily think and I will also give the person who owns the property, they had emailed me and I think maybe you at one point asking about the process because we didn't have a zoning administrator at the time, and the owner said that they do, and I don't, this is obviously what the owner said, but the owner did say that they do intend to live at the house 180 days out of the year. Now, whether or not that is actually the case, I don't know. We don't really have a mechanism in place to enforce anything like that because there's no language in the ordinance that specifies that you have to live in it for so many days, and so there's no enforcement mechanism to ensure that somebody lives in the property so many days. And so those two things... Those two things kind of, I feel, make it better, but I really don't think, especially, again, with the turnout that's here as well, I don't think that I can vote to approve either of these. The one thing I will say, though, and I think this is something I think maybe a concern that Pat had raised the last time we discussed this issue is I do think, though, as much as I voted against two, I'll vote against another two most likely. But I do think it is unfair to the property owners who pay the initial application fee of $250, they pay the yard sign fee of $25, and they pay the inspection fee of $150 for us to then turn around and say, actually, no, never mind, you're not getting it because we don't really like the idea of short-term rentals. And so as much as I don't like the idea of short-term rentals, as much as I, like I said, I won't be voting in favor of either of these most likely, I do think, I said this before, I don't like the fact that we even have a short-term rental ordinance, but I know that there was no interest in modifying it the last time that it came up. So there needs to be some sort of further discussion there so we're not kind of screwing these property owners out of money. So that's it. Hillary.

last time this came up I voted no for both short-term rentals just like Austin for many of the same reasons as Austin just went through but particularly my experience is I moved away from Oglesby I tried to come back and it was an extreme competition to even get a house here so I feel like if there's families and that are willing to live here they want to be here that they should get the opportunity instead of creating a competition with short-term rentals for that reason I won't be voting for either of them

I want to thank the residents for bringing up the concerns and unfortunately guys I have to disagree I think Durant has a very good issue as well it was brought up about the schools the children's important and like you both said it's tucked away well maybe that ain't such a good thing when you realize how close they are to the school I don't know maybe we should have looked at that before

that's that's concern for me as well because I got nieces and nephews in this town and I care go ahead Rich as far as the 910 Durant street it looks it's approximately 450 feet from the school that I would caution against anyone to move that was there anybody here that was for either of those I'm for Durant Okay, so I mean we can we can vote on I do think there's merits of what you're talking about if there's a concern I

I just think there needs to be some degree of consistency because we had a petition I think it had it was close to if not I don't really I want to say it's close to if not roughly the same amount of signatures against the oak wood one I don't know how many people like many people I don't remember how many people actually showed up for it but you did have a sizable petition and we still voted to approve that one so there needs to be some degree of consistency

Yeah, I think that's a fair point.

I try to want to be consistent with that. I don't know the best way around that. If we want to try to readjust the ordinance, do we want to do something to where if we deny them, they at least get their money back from it or something? I don't know. I don't know the best way forward.

Well, yeah, but then they could also it's also unfair to some degree because they could buy a house with the expectation that they could

and again i don't want people to do it but they could buy the house with the expectation that they can rent it out and then they get told all of a sudden no but i guess that's maybe a due diligence thing maybe you should research that we did talk about that i think when we originally approved it though that that is that's their risk to take that on because there's no guarantee that the council will approve such a thing um i don't i don't know the best way to i think it sounds to me like what we're going to do here is we're probably going to deny these these applications um but i don't know if it's worth having the discussion of a bigger solution to this going forward. I don't know.

My suggestion when we talked about this last time was that we impose some sort of suggestion. I'm not even necessarily saying it's the best idea, but at least Merit's discussion is impose some sort of a day cap on it. I don't know if I'm going to be gone for the month and For whatever reason, I want to rent out my house to somebody. I'm a teacher. I have two months off. I want to rent out my property to somebody for 60 days. Well, then maybe that's a different discussion because I'm not going to buy a house to rent it out for 60 days because you're not going to make your money back off of that. That's a topic that you could discuss. Obviously, I think property owners should have some degree of freedom to do with their property what they want, but I just don't like the idea of buying up properties and then running them out in Airbnb. Especially running them out, we don't have any sort of restriction on nights, so you could theoretically run it out the entire year. It's basically a hotel at that point. It doesn't belong in a residential neighborhood.

yeah i do think there's another aspect for example what they've stated what they're planning on using it for is they they do want to have it as their residence for half a year yeah and then the other half is is used as basically a way to supplement but even a half of a year that might be too yeah i know i i don't know maybe maybe it's worth talking about um if people put in for how many days they expect to use it a year or something like that does that mean we got to regulate it then

you know i don't know i might have a suggestion yeah sure what do uh other cities do what does utica do what is uh mendota whoever's got whoever's got them so utica i don't know about their residential area i know their downtown areas have some but the same thing as what we have what i mean is what do they do do they get money back or they just say well Sorry. That seems to be the big issue. That I don't know.

I know Stefanelli had based the original ordinance. I think it was looked at from Peru's, actually, was the original one that we based it on. That's my record in memory, too, Jason.

The city does incur a cost, though, because I do believe the zoning administrator has to spend time reviewing these, and so if the city's fine with eating that cost, then that's whatever. But we are eating...

Cost by paying those fees back, but I do think it's unfair to tell these people that you know Yeah, I mean why don't we kick that I mean I think we have an action we have to take tonight But let's let's take let's kick that discussion to a future thing to Maybe we'll put it on an agenda and come up with some ideas of how we can do it better because you're right I'd like us to be more consistent and fair on how we do things So any other discussion on this topic at all? In that case, we need an action to either approve or deny. Each one. Each one.

Take them individually. 910 Durant Street.

I'll second that, if that's what you need.

Okay. We have a motion to deny the 910 Durant Street short-term rental. Motion to second. Roll call, please.

Waldron?

Aye.

Collin? Aye. McDermott?

Aye.

Moyle? Aye. Turner? Aye.

I think and then if we can get another motion to deny the deer park property as well the main street means we need the address 202 wouldn't it no

I heard someone say 203. It's 225.

It's 225. Okay.

So is the motion to deny the short-term rental for 225 Main Street? And a second? Yep. Roll call, please.

Aldridge?

Aye.

Polanin? Aye. McDermott? Aye. Moyle? Aye. Curran?

Aye. Okay, C, discussion and possible action on language change to allow downstairs apartments. Correct. Okay, so we had a request in this house, I believe it used to be the old Hunter Law Office, I believe is what it was. They used to have it as the law office was in the front and there was a residence in the back. Our zoning code that got redone back in 2018 basically made this to where if somebody doesn't use that anymore for that purpose, then it would go away. The idea is that it's going to become a commercial property. They're basically asking to take it back to that. The interesting thing is in the letter that they put in, they talked about how they would like to have the front still be a business. commercial business, I think they actually said specifically was dog grooming business. My two cents with this is And I don't know what the rest of the council feels on it, but I feel like if there is a business that were to come out of it, I would not have a problem allowing something to go back to a special use of what it was as long as there's a business there. So I don't like the idea of us approving it by them saying they plan to put a business there and then a business never comes and it just be apartment forever. So to me, I'd rather have something, in my opinion, you get the business established first, then put the request in, and I think that'd be something I'd be more interested to entertain. So I'll go around the room, see what people think about it. Go ahead, Austin.

I think it's a slippery slope before we start having, you know, people move in and we're kind of back in the same situation we were before. We put the ordinance in place to prohibit first floor apartments. And so, I mean, I... I can't imagine that the business isn't going to come because we don't approve this. So I just really don't want to open that can of worms.

Okay. Hillary?

I kind of agree, like, making a text amendment that's something we already fixed. How do we word it correctly to be only for this? Because we really do still want businesses in the downtown area on the ground level, I guess we should say.

I think that's a good question. I don't like the idea of a text amendment because it was under continued use and that's why it's not there anymore. So I don't know if we would have to change it for everything in the downtown because that's problematic. So I don't know. But we'll go around the rest of the room.

You would have to do a text amendment and it would affect all of this zoning district, yes. could they allow a special use for something like that They could so you could approve them individually based upon the application for special use but it would have to be a text amendment for this type of zoning district I've been through this with many other municipalities they've gone back and forth some of them allowed it altogether on any part of downtown and then they saw their businesses dry up and then they had to start doing something so they started saying no And then they found out that there were business owners that wanted to come and use the front half of the building for their business, but wanted to live in the back half of the building. So some of them have said, as long as more than 50% is used for a business purpose on the front, we will allow you to have a residential purpose in the back, but only for so long as the business purpose is being used on the front. Just to give you food for thought.

I appreciate that.

Mac? Well, actually, I was going to say it's unanimous, but I appreciate Pat bringing that up. that would make me lean toward that but I don't think like Austin and Hillary were saying I think if we start doing from one making adjustments you open up another can of worms that ain't no good Rich I think with the other ordinance we're all in agreement that the town should be one more for businesses on the main street than we should for residences I would entertain what Pat said there with the people in the back but

so what I'm hearing is do we want to forward this to the plan Commission the plan Commission for them to consider to consider the possibility of having some shared use of a building on Main Street as long as they have paired with getting a business in town and that's that's the critical thing that make me jump over yeah I wouldn't say I'm I wouldn't say that I'm

committing to the idea, but I would certainly like to hear the Planning Commission discuss it. Yeah, absolutely.

Okay. Anything else on that? We can get a motion to forward that to the Planning Commission to review.

I'll make a motion to forward that to the Planning Commission for review.

Alright. Is there a second?

I'll second.

Roll call, please. Discussion of possible action on subdivision request current so this one here is talking about property 252 East Walnut Street and 111 North Spring Street if you look at the I guess I probably should have had these on the board to take a look at if you look at the map of it of where it's at it is pretty goofy The way the parcel is broken up, it is pretty goofy. Right now on one of them, it's pretty much an empty lot and a garage. And the other one has the single-family home and the other building with attached garage as well. So what he's requesting is to separate those to where it makes sense to where one property has the garage and the attached garage. home and the other one has the single family home and the garage. I think that kind of makes sense. I don't know why it's been situated like that for God knows how long. So something to consider. So I have it right here. So he wants to do what? So right now this is one lot right here. If you click on that you see. Yep. Okay. Yep. That's one lot and the other one is a completely separate lot. He's looking to divide it right on the map right there to where one would be where it makes more sense to do that. I don't know why it wasn't done like that.

Or the garage would be all on one lot, for starters.

Yeah. So he wants to divide it. He wants to put the garage at the house? Or the garage?

The garage, I think the garage is in the apartment.

Okay, yeah, got it. It's in the thing that he has divided here, or something like that.

So he's not building anything else. He just wants to restructure the lot lines.

That's what I'm getting out of it. Well, the same guy owns them both, at least now. I don't know what he's trying to do with them, honestly.

uh currently lasalle county has assigned two pins to subject property a garage is located on pin blah blah blah which consists of east 31 feet the house and duplex are located on pin 1825 blah blah blah which consists of the remainder of lot in block nine in block eight of bent subdivision so he's saying the garage is located on one pin and the other one has a garage and a house

Pat, can you give me a little bit more information? The letter requests for us to approve the proposed subdivision and waive the requirement for a preliminary plot. Is that done through the county's office?

No, it's done here at the local level. You know, most people coming and applying for a subdivision approval would be putting in a subdivision. Right. which would require a preliminary plat of all the streets and utility extensions and stuff so that you could discuss it in detail. None of that's needed for this subdivision because everything's already in place. So Jim and I talked about it and we often waive a preliminary plat when there are no issues that need to be discussed in that regard and just move right to the final plan and approve the subdivision and be done with it. That's what's going on here.

The only other thing in his letter he talks about is to make them both R3. It doesn't really say what it is now. I don't know if it is currently. zoned r3 if you're if it's commercial property i'm not exactly sure i think it's all r3 okay well either way rico i think it is it's all r3 okay either way i i think it'd be a good idea for um what board would do is that plan commission or is that zoning at that point uh it's planned commission position again approving a subdivision okay um i think it'd be up for them to debate it a little bit talk about it see if it makes sense to them and kind of go from there Anybody else have any thoughts, concerns, questions?

I'll make a motion to send it to the Planning Commission.

And I'll second that motion. All right.

I guess that means no one in the discussion. Okay. We got a motion and a second.

Roll call, please.

Baldrige. Aye. Cullinan. Aye. McDermott.

Aye.

Moyle. Aye. Curran.

Aye. Number 11, public comment on any topic.

still there. I don't know why you call it a subdivision. Because when we read subdivision, we think Greg Stein. It should have been property line readjustment over two pieces of property, not a subdivision. Because using the word subdivision brings a whole bunch of other things like what you mentioned, road class, plotting and Silver and water. The other thing I wanted to talk about is the 10C that you talked about right before this one. Sending it to the Planning Commission is a good idea. I've seen you put up the zoning map. It's hard to talk about or listen to you guys talk about these properties that want businesses maybe or residences on the first floor of pieces of property when a few years ago Roger Brooks development committee came to town and suggested shrinking downtown and I thought that happened I thought we shrunk what we considered the downtown and you keep calling it Main Street but it's Walnut Street I believe maybe even Main Street also includes Columbia I thought the business district shrunk and the last properties that were still in the business district was Mr. Salsa's and Weber's property on the corner of that, that very same spot that's across the street, you're talking about this subdivision, which is really just a property realignment, property border realignments. And it's hard to listen to all this discussion when we're not even understanding what, so I think that the Planning Commission needs to address. First floor apartments in what district of town? Is it old Oglesby when we were a cement mill manufacturing city? Or is it new Oglesby where we got a bunch of old buildings that, need a lot of work. And a vibrant economy that you all keep knocking on wood starts showing up, I'm not seeing it.

Thank you. Are there any other public comments on any topic?

Mark Deltlinger. I just have one general question. Is there any way that the city can better promote or announce upcoming meetings or agendas? I talked to Patty last week. I know the city meets its requirements, posting it in a building, putting it in a paper 15 days before. I know you have links on the website. But as far as the paper, not too many people get the paper anymore. I was just wondering, and Patty talked about briefly, but if there's any way we could do something to maybe enhance it as far as, okay, meeting coming up such and such a day, such and such a time. Highlighted items include, just be like general. Just maybe give the public a little extra heads up. As far as tonight, for example, the short-term rental, citizens were ready. They were ready to go. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way for every agenda or every item. So I just wonder if there's any way you can put something on Facebook or on the city website. You know, just another announcement, even if you put it on the board out here. And I believe you do do that at times, if not every time. But just a reminder saying, you know, city council meeting planning Commission meeting just here's the highlights here's what we're going to talk about real brief not doing any detail and maybe that would enhance some more people to show up to every meeting like this tonight so thank you appreciate it any other comments on any topic

Good evening. My name is Lindsay Myers, and I'm the Chief of Staff at Knoebel-Storff Enterprises with the Energy Division. I'd like to encourage folks to attend tomorrow night's Planning Commission meeting on Wednesday, September 9th, here at 6 p.m. Myself, Mike Honecke, our Senior Vice President at KE, and Jacqueline McLaughlin, our Executive Director at Evolve Foundation, We'll present more information about Evolution Solar, which is the skilled trades academy workforce development program that we're hoping to open at our property off of Lewis Avenue beginning in the new year. During the presentation, we'll share additional details regarding the program structure, application evaluation and interview processes for interested applicants and students, how the boarding house or dormitory will benefit students enrolled in the program versus housing them at a local motel, how the academy is funded, and much more. We understand there were concerns circulating in the community, And some of it seems to be stemming from a feeling that we're trying to sneak something past the city council or the planning commission. So I'll also be providing a timeline of all of the events and meetings that we've been a part of, advises that we've been given leading up to our submission of the special use permit. I hope folks can make it out to tomorrow night's meeting, and we look forward to answering questions about the program and our special use permit request to allow for housing on the property that we currently have, which is zoned as M1 Limited Manufacturing. Thank you.

As long as I'm here, I thought I'd take this opportunity to bring up another one of my favorite topics. that were recently installed in our neighborhood. I guess I would like to encourage this council to go back and finish that job. I believe it was a grant, something similar, Safe Routes to Schools, something.

Safe Routes to Schools, yes.

And I understand why you did it, and frankly, they're getting more use than I would have ever imagined. But this council that approved all that skipped one lot, and it's in a very high traffic area. The sidewalk, I wish everybody would go look at it. The sidewalk literally comes to a dead end with guy wires from power pole and people come up and they don't know what to do. There's no ramp to the street. Sometimes they cut through the neighbor's yard, down to her driveway. I suspect I guess I would ask this council to look that over. I really think that needs to be addressed. I watch those kids every day jump down that curb, go out into the street, where, in effect, up until that point, they're using the sidewalks just like you want them to use.

Only feedback I'd give on that, because I talked about it before. I don't know that specific spot, but we did know ahead of time that to maximize the amount of dollars, that there was going to be spots that were not going to get filled in. Chamberlain's went through to look to see how they could best maximize, get the most use out of it. So I'm glad to hear that it's being used. but there is plans that Mac's working with them right now to put in the next round of Safe Route to School. Now, keep in mind, with that same amount of money, it probably will not go as far because we did the cheaper ones now, so now it's going to get into the more expensive places to get the sidewalks in. So it will be a process to get through to try to get as much as we can get done. That's fine.

I just want to stress that that's a high-traffic area that really stands out as being... Appreciate that.

Thank you.

Thank you, Tom. We are working on it.

Are there any other public comments on any time? Go ahead, sir.

So just to follow up on Greg's comment, it's pretty clear that it's in the B1 business district, commercial district. It's on the map. It's clearly highlighted and marked what areas are B1, and you can tell where the downstairs or first floor apartments wouldn't be allowed. The other thing I have is I forwarded two items to be on the agenda tonight, and they weren't included. One was the variance request for a property on Woodland, and I was wondering if we could get a special meeting to get that moving. It should have been on the agenda. The request was submitted August 26th. That one I can answer on so I did talk to Jen about that so with the other ones that we approved I

In fact, if you go back to years ago how we used to do it, before it came to the council, it would usually go through Herb's office, the TIF attorney. That's why we would see something to make sure that it fit with all the TIF things. So the last couple times that we've approved something, we've had to kind of approve it with the contingency that the TIF attorney says everything's good and stuff like that. So in this case, what happened was it went through the TIF attorney. Even though the recommendation came from the facade committee, it went to the TIF attorney to make sure that it was going to meet all the things it needed to meet so that way when it gets here, we can approve it outright.

I'd be fine with that if that's the case is everybody I mean right now was everybody's availability next Monday night.

So we're just talking about referring these to the zoning board

And they're waiting for an answer from herb is my understanding I Think you have to approve facade grants under your the facade.

Yeah, we approve they make a recommendation as we approve it And you have to send the misk of a variance request to the zoning board. I And it's not on the agenda tonight. No, your ordinance is say the council will receive the requests and sends them to the appropriate boards.

I guess my next question would be why the heck didn't the council receive that request? It should have been to the council.

Well, I think it was filed, what, August 27th? August 26th.

Yeah, about a week ago, Rich. Was it sent to the full council?

I sent it to the clerk's office asking her to put it on the agenda for this meeting.

I hate delaying some of these projects, so I'm in full support of a special meeting. I'm available Monday, 5 o'clock, 6 o'clock. You guys name it. I'll make it work.

I'm available Monday as well.

I can do Monday.

Just let me know. You get that stuff to the full council, Jim, so then we're aware of it and possibly can take care of it. If we notice it's not on the agenda, one of us could probably run it.

I think he created a group for us Jim's in the administrative group in Outlook Pat what's your schedule I can make next Monday at 5 or 6 whatever you want to do work you want to do a 5 o'clock one

tell me tell me what we're only gonna meet for two items and it's only gonna be five ten minutes yeah I don't want to hold businesses up if that's holding people up so okay it's five o'clock work for everybody on Monday

I'll keep it short.

Okay. Okay, so we'll set one for, we'll get that posted hopefully. That works. Patty, can you get that posted for tomorrow? We'll do one for Monday, 5 p.m. Okay.

Thanks, Jim.

All right. Thank you, sir. All right. Is there any other public comments on any topic? Seeing none, we'll move on. Number 12, Commissioner Reports. Commissioner Cullinan.

I don't have anything tonight. Okay.

Commissioner Moyle.

put me on the spot. I expected you to talk. So tonight I want to honor this month's first responder of the month, Casey McKay. Casey joined the Oglesby Fire Department in April 2009. Through Casey's years on the department, he has received many certifications including Firefighter 3, Instructor 1, Hazardous Materials Operation, Fire Service Vehicle Operations, Fire Apparatus Engineer, and Drone Pilots License. KC has been a very valuable asset to the department for many years. Over the last several months, KC has stepped up to help with the increase in calls and short staffing to help cover these calls. KC has also been a help with the drone of three missing people searches last month. This month's first responder of the month is sponsored by KE, and they will be receiving a gift card from Cordelino's.

okay first of all street department will be chipping branches the week of October 12th through 16th leaf vac will begin October 26th until Thanksgiving I'd like to thank Tom Porter for letting me know about the safe route to schools and your concerns we are working on Tom I appreciate it I'd like to suggest maybe there's a gentleman came up with the concern about not being aware of everything that's going on well even if you're internet savvy and got it your cell phone there's going to be times you're not always going to bring up think about something think we need to bring back the newsletter okay we used to have them in the bill every month whatever happened to them I mean I understand I understand not everybody reads them but you know that bring up the point hey I didn't know this was going on a lot of times you don't look at things or think it's there until you read about it and let's see And I thank everybody for bringing up the issue about the school and your concerns about the rental properties. And that's all I have.

Thank you.

Commissioner Baldrige.

I agree with Commissioner McDermott. I think we should bring back the newsletters. Good evening, citizens. I'd like to begin by recognizing the outstanding work of our Electric Department during last week's extreme heat wave. The prolonged high temperatures put exceptional demand on our system, and we saw several outages. Despite those conditions, our crews responded quickly and safely, and they deserve our sincere thanks. At the same time, these outages remind us that our aging infrastructure is undergoing strain. As demand increases, we can't afford to just react to failures. We need to continue investing in replacing lines, transformers, and other equipment before they fail. We've also been looking into diagnostic technologies that can help detect weak points before they become outages. While there's a cost to implementing such programs, it could prove to be a wise investment in reliability and long-term savings. Finally, I want to highlight something positive from this weekend. The free circus. This was a first for our city, and the turnout has been incredible. It's been so encouraging to see families out enjoying time together at no cost. That's something we can all be proud of. Thank you.

Thank you. All right, number 14, executive session for the purpose of the employment employment compensation discipline performance or dismissal of specific employees discussion of minutes or meetings lawfully closed under the opens meeting act collective negotiating matters between the public body and its employees or the representatives or deliberations concerning salary schedules for one or more classes of employees and the purchase of release of real property for the use of the public body including meetings held for the purpose of discussing whether a particular parcel should be acquired pursuant to the authority granted by five ilcs 120 slash 2c1 15 2 and 6 respectively Can I get a motion to go into executive session?

Motion to go into executive session.

I'll second that motion. Roll call, please.

Hi. Hi. Hi.

Hi. Now, I know it looks a little weird on the agenda. I don't know why that says AEF, but there is possible three actions after closed session, depending on what we talk about. We may have some appointments, maybe, and it looks like we might have an intergovernmental agreement to resolve as well if there's no issues with it or something like that. Well, on that, I hope everybody has a wonderful evening.

Thank you. Thank you. Oh. Thank you.

We're back in open session. Roll call, please.

Here.

Here.

Here. Here. Here.

Here. Next item is discussion and possible action on board appointments. So we do have four of them. We still have one slot available for the plan commission. So we're still looking at names if people are interested in that. As of right now, I'd like to make a nomination of Dave Peters to the design and review board.

I'll make a motion.

I'm just going to do them all at once. Can I do them all at once? You can. Nominate Tony Strand to the Facade Committee. Nominate Eric Marwicki to Design and Review Board. And nominate Nick Carrico to the Facade Committee. Can I get a motion for those appointments?

I'll make a motion for those appointments.

I'll second.

Roll call, please.

Baldrige? Aye. Coleman?

Aye.

McDermott? Aye.

Aye.

Moil. Aye. Curran.

Aye. Next item, discussion and possible action on intergovernmental agreement for school resource officer Moil.

I'm really excited. We finally came to an agreement with IVCC on getting our intergovernmental agreement updated, and I would like to place it on file.

Anybody have anything? Let's go around the room. Anybody have anything on that? No. Thank you much. I appreciate all the good work that went into it to negotiate it. I'll second that. Motion to second. Can I get a roll call, please?

Next item is discussion of possible action on part-time school resource officer ordinance MOIL So we discussed and Pat's gonna draft that up

you want to make a motion i'll make a motion that pat drafts an ordinance for the part-time school resource officer and you take one more roll call i'll second that motion roll call please

Aye. We are adjourned. Have a great night, everybody.