City Council - Regular Meeting

I'd like to call this meeting of the Princeton City Council to order. Click call rover here. Council member Newman here. Here, McCall and Philipski here. Would you please stand and join me in the pledge of allegiance? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. We're going to go ahead and start our meeting with public comment. Public comments given at the beginning of the meeting as well as the end. If you'd like to speak to the council tonight, you just could come up to the microphone, state your name, and if you could limit it to three minutes, that would be great. Is there anyone here like to speak to the council tonight? Otherwise, you get a chance to end the meeting as well. Seeing none, we'll proceed then with the minutes, please. I move that we approve the minutes from our regular council meeting on January 5th, 2026. Second. Motion and second concerning the minutes. Is there any questions or comments about those? Seeing none, clerk, call rule. Council Newman. I do. I may.

Hi. Now onto our invoices with city clerk Janet Henning

in the department of accounts and finances with $88,75847. The department of streets and public improvements $85,980.78 Department of Public Safety $221,373.76. and the Department of Public Property and Utilities $891,84.72 with a grand total total of 1,287,917.73. Mayor, all council members present have confirmed their reviews of all the invoices and are now submitted for disposition. Thank you.

I move that we approve the invoices as presented. Second. We have a motion and second concerning invoices. Is there any questions or comments from the council concerning those? Seeing none, clear call roles. Council member Nunan. Hi. So, I hi and mayor Mayberry.

I thank you. Before we go on with this, I just want to explain uh the line item six, the ordinance 0260001. We will not be discussing that tonight. That'll be struck from our agenda. U the um the developers and owners of Liberty Village would like to have been here tonight. However, Mr. Fe had passed away. So, we want to extend our condolences first to the Mr. Mrs. Fe, Misty Fe, we wanted to say uh the Fes have been a a big part of our community. 20 years ago, they brought to Prince and Liberty Village and so we just appreciate the FS what they've given to our community and we will be back in a couple weeks and put that back on the agenda so we have time to discuss that. Okay, very good. Now, we'll go on to the other resolution, please. I move that we approve resolution R-26-00001 second.

Motion and second. Is there any questions about these? Um why don't we go ahead and Teresa if you would just explain just in general what we're doing here for those things. Sure. Um what we're actually doing by abating these is so that uh we are not collecting uh property taxes to pay for these. So these are paid for out of our normal revenues. So you're just debating it from that portion of the for for property taxes. So the first one can just go through each one. Absolutely. Okay, please.

Um the first one with the original sum of 900,000 uh is actually a water bond. Uh it will retire on 121 of 27. So we're getting close. Um the second one and with the original sum of 1.3 million is a Uplit Avenue rebuild. Uh that will retire on January 1st of 31. Seems weird. Um, and then the last one at almost 2.6 million is for Logistics Park and that will not retire until January 1st of 32. So, we got a little bit of time on that one. Yes. But, um, the first one will be retiring shortly.

And on the logistics part, that's the one that we the land that we sold to Ali's. Is that correct? Yes. Uh so that sale uh the the money from that sale is actually sitting in a um CD so it's gaining more interest than what we're paying in the debt. So ends up making a little bit of money. Yeah. When that was done free, I appreciate your efforts on that. That was about a 2% a little over 2% spread between what we were paying in interest on the loan and what we're going to receive as a CD. So it was a no-brainer to do that. Very good. Okay. Thank you for explaining that. So, uh, we have we have a motion on that, please. There's a motion and second got. Thank you. So, with that said, cler call the role. Council member Newman, Izz. Hi,

Saskki. I may I thank you. I move we approve resolution R-26-002. Motion and second on that. Let's go ahead and have a clear call on that, please. Council Newman, I Gomez. Hi, Sitki. Hi, and Mary. I I move that we approve resolution R-26-003 second. Motion second call. Council member Newman I. Then I may I thank you. Now on to discussion about uh the Penn benefit city princip manual.

Uh if you remember trying to think back oh December 15th I guess uh we had two items up for in the personnel manual. One was on retirement uh using vacation time vacation um towards the retirement and extending your retirement date out. We'd like to avoid doing that and having the employees there on the last day that they actually work. Um so that one I think went through okay. No issues there. So we have that one resolved. The second one was on holidays and we've had been looking at the two half days. Um that two half days. The uh Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve are both weird half days. If we could just make those full days. Um so then you're adding one more paid holiday in total. The other one we looked at was a spring holiday. Um and I know you guys were discussing that a little bit more. So um I'll just let you continue to

Okay. So or if there's a different date. I mean, if there's a different if spring holiday is not a right one to do, then I'm still of the belief that we sure appreciate our city employees, but we go ahead and do the two half days to make one full holiday. We would not do the second one at this time. Uh, again, a prime example is today's Martin Luther King Day and we don't u honor that as far as a holiday. So, I'd like to go over this one more time with the council for consensus and that's my feeling. We'll go ahead and start with Jerry again, please.

Um, the spring holiday, but we were we kind of zeroed in on calling it Good Friday. It seems to be the appropriate day that we had talked about taking off. I'm in favor of it. I see no reason why we can't uh make it available to our employees. It doesn't cost the city anything. Uh, I think it recognizes their value and it's one extra holiday. I mean, the city gets 12, the county gets 17. Um, I just I just don't think it's a I think it's a no-brainer that we should offer it to them. Thank you, Jerry. We'll go back. Let's go to Hector next, please.

Well, I know the the Christmas and the New Year, that's that was agreed upon. Uh, the spring holiday, as much as um Jerry says that it doesn't cost the city, no, it doesn't cost city, it costs the community, it does cost money. No matter what to do, these days cost money. These ones cause money. But something that was mentioned earlier also, Martin Luther King, uh we're here today. That's one of the days that the county gets off um just to honor uh the legacy of Martin Luther King. So there is other days that provide it provide something as well that we could probably discuss but for right now we still kind of leave it out.

Sure. Thank you, Don. My concern at the time was is there's any other days that would come up in this year that would be mandated by the state um Junth or any of those? M nothing. It's not mandated, but it is a holiday. Now, Martin Luther King Day, if I would have made talked a little bit about this would have probably made more sense because there's nothing or banks aren't open. Post office isn't open. Yeah, that would probably made more sense. Good Friday. Some have it off, some don't. It's hit and miss. Yeah.

Yeah. Um, and I I agree with Jerry that the employees do a great job. I just I just uh I'm still having trouble with the uh adding that after the day at this point. Okay. Does that give you guidance we need then? There's three against that adding a second holiday. We'll do the two halves. Two halves. We're glad to do that for the city employees. So that'll take it up to a total of 11. Great. Which I think we talked about how we were going to check on Peru and for to be identical to Peru. Yes.

Okay. Very good. Thank you council members for discussion on that. Um and now we go to the city manager report please. Ah okay. Uh in the pack in the back of your packet is the financial report for November. A little bit behind but not too bad. Um, one thing I want to point out, well, two things I'll I'll point out. Um, one that you'll see with our with our finances going forward is that hit that we're seeing with our utility payment. Uh, we are getting, correct me if I'm wrong here, Janet, 60,000 nonredit

penalty. 30 30 total. Okay. I think it was 30 for both for each engine, but uh $30 $30 Lord $30,000 penalty for our engines being down right now. So, um yes. So, that that's hitting us a little bit. So, um, so I want to bring that up anyways. But then also on the on the sheets here, you'll see the the expenditures and revenues are a little bit out of out of whack because our projects are being done, but our revenues haven't been brought in for the whole year yet because we actually are budgeted on the revenues expected for the whole year. So, we we're only in November right now. So, we haven't collected all of our our revenue for the year yet. So,

but in your view, it's we're on track. We're okay. Yeah. Um, 30,000 a little bit more of a cushion, but it's that 30,000 months a pillar now. Especially with utilities the way they are right now. So, yeah. So, anything else? Um, no. Well, I guess just uh we're starting to and I and I told you it'll be coming soon. Um have our first union letter come in. So, we'll be starting some negotiations with one of those unions soon. Um, so that'll be the start of one of four before May. So,

yeah. And a budget to get put together. Yes. Teresa,

anything else? Glad to have your input. So, um, for us as council members and for the audience, um, we had engine number eight, I believe, is the one that gave us trouble. So, we had a complete overhaul done on that. It ran for about a total of maybe about 40 hours and then it threw I guess best way to describe it a piston and some other things and it's a complete disaster over there that poor engine. So in the process of all that uh we're working with insurance companies, we're working with the the contractor that does our heavy um uh engine uh rebuilds even though the city has employees over there helping. We have a contract we've used for many years that has done a lot of these rebuilds and we're working with them and their insurance company to come up with um compensation. And so the IMEA uh gives us a credit on that engine have that engine available to produce the kilowatts it does of $30,000 a month that we get money brought in. Without the engine uh running and being in service, we are not getting that $30,000. So in theory that may be something that we were looking at asking for compensation from the insurance company on because that was something we would have had for income coming in. So we're still up the air on that and I know Tesa we didn't maybe we can get um Jeff to come at the next meeting just give us a quick update as a council how we doing on

So we'll have two options to get into on the logistics of that but engine 8 is our biggest engine. Um, so when that is when the accident happened with it, it's either going to be a complete new engine brought in or there is an option of an engine down in Florida that we're waiting to hear back if they're willing to uh sell us that engine or if they're going to maintain it and put it back into production down there. So that's what we're waiting on hearing from. So we don't know cost to repair versus cost to replace. No, big difference. Okay. Yeah, big difference. Repair is much better. It's a way to go. We can. But is ition? So,

yeah. Can you run longer? We don't get discredited. Yeah. Let's Let's have Jeff come to our next council and give us a quick update and talk about that. Just just a generality. Oh, our solar panels did get repaired on Thursday, too, of the from the wind damage. So, those are hopefully they sustain the wind today. So, I went I went by a solar uh farm last week and noticed that on the west edge of it, they had burn a big BM. And you wonder if we I don't know what kind of space we have, but boy, a natural burm which is right up your alley.

I mean, I don't know. Sure.

Yeah. It's very interesting though when we get involved with the solar farm and we're glad to do that. That's it's you know overall but we again we go through the IEA they um bid that out per se and and alter for the Caterpillar uh conglomeration they are actually the people that have um I call lease ownership on it and they contracted out. So there's a lot of levels here and that was supposed to you know be pretty well understood in the industry that those panels track with the sun but man that that's been plagued with some challenges been twice now the boss panels in a in a heavy wind. So okay um thank you Teresa for your input on those things. Um, okay. On the mayor's report, um, couple things. We know, uh, as a council, um, that, uh, the the city staff and as well as a a group of, um, individuals have been working on this idea of a business development district. Uh, we have, uh, another uh, informal session coming up, a question answer on Friday, January 23rd, uh, from noon to 1:30. That's going to be at the property building. And then we have our large one that'll be coming up uh the main one on January 27th from 5 to 7 at the metro center. Be a great time for the community to come out and ask questions about that. Uh you can also certainly talk to your council members to get give feedback how you feel about um the business development district which um I'm going to be supporting that and we're going to discuss that more though as a council. We want to get the community's input on that. So you have a couple opportunities to come ask questions on that. Um, I'm sorry. Did you say that the proud building is on February 23rd or January 23rd?

January 23rd. Yep. January 23rd from noon to 1:30 and then the 27th for the the main line. Yes. Okay. Y step down here the podium here for just a moment.

Okay. So, um, couple things. You know, we we've uh been celebrating in many ways uh our relationship as a city with our school districts. Uh I mentioned to the council and the people public that were present that night that the high school has got a vocational program that we really enjoy being involved with. Uh the city of Princeton takes on students to the vocational program. The lecture department takes them on and some other departments have used them in the past. You get them for a semester. You get these young people that are juniors and seniors in high school from about 1:00 in the afternoon to about three. So, you got two hours to work with them. And I I learn a lot from young people. You know, they they get a kick out of 66 year old guy that's got a flip phone. And so, as those young people remind me, they can fix my flip phone. And and so I appreciate that. It's called the new phone. I understand. But anyway, um we appreciate the the youth in our community. Uh what they bring to the community. They're the next generation that's going to carry the torch on as we think about we celebrating as a country 250 years. Um my comment is I get a little nervous, you know, and it's my joke, but it's true. I hope there's many people out there that can get a job and get a good job and pay my social security. Tonight we've got an outstanding student. We've got Anna Bowin. Anna Bowin is going to speak tonight on the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King. Anna, the last name Boutin is a familiar name to our city. Uh, her father Matt is a firefighter EMT that's been with the city for how long, Matt?

20 years. 20 years totally folks. When you say that, I love it. I love it. Chrissy, you've been at the hospital for how long? I was there for 15 years. And where are you at now? ICC. I'm teaching nursing for the past five years. That's right. Good for you. Great. Good for you. And you're in charge of that department over there, the teaching department. Not in charge of the department. Yeah, it's a teaching part of that. Yeah, good for you. So, on a on a given day, and I know we're get to in just a we'll get to just a second, but on a given um semester at IBCC, how many uh people take on a career in nursing at IBCC? Just we take in 64 students every fall.

64. Great. That's about a four-year program. Two year. Okay. Very good. So, with that said, we have the Bow family here tonight and we have um Anna is going to be speaking tonight. And so, Ann, I'd like you to come up here and just pretend you're talking to folks at your kitchen table. Okay. So, you right there, please. See if we can answer.

Hi everyone and thank you for having me here tonight. My name is Anna Boutton and I am currently attending Princeton High School. Today we are celebrating celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Everyone knows him as the I have a dream guy or just as a civil rights activist, but he was so much more than that. He was a pastor, a father, a leader, and a hero for people all over the United States and even the world. Martin Luther King Jr. was a very well-known activist of his time. He fought for equal rights for everyone. Every single one of his protests was nonviolent. He led and um attended multiple which the non-violent protests made him stand out to everyone. He was also a member of the executive committee of the National Association of the Advancement for Colored People. This group led a lot of the protests we've seen throughout this time. One of the major things Martin Luther King Jr. protested against was the Jim Crow laws. These laws were originally introduced in the 19th and 20th century as an enforcement of racial segregation following the Civil War. One of the best ways to describe this is through a quote from Animal Farm by George Orwell. Everyone is equal, but some more equal than others. It was not easy for Martin Luther King Jr. to live as a protester, let alone a black man at this point. During the period of these protests, his home was bombed, he was arrested, and he was abused. But this did not stop him. In 1957, he was elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization formed to provide new leadership for the growing civil rights movement. In a span of 11 years, King traveled over 6 million miles and spoke over 2500 times, appearing wherever there was injustice,

protest, and action. Meanwhile, he wrote five books as well as numerous articles. During this time, he led a very famous protest in Birmingham, Alabama. This protest inspired his manifesto, Letter from Birmingham jail. Not long after, King led the peaceful march in Washington, DC, and gave the I have a dream speech that we all know. He was eventually awarded five honorary degrees, and at age 35, he became the youngest man to win the Nobel Peace Prize. He donated the prize money of $54,123 to the expansion of the civil rights movement. And just before he was to lead a peaceful pro protest in Memphis, Tennessee, he was gruesomely assassinated on his motel back balcony. If he had lived, he could have done so much more for this country and for his people. If he had lived, he could have seen his four kids, Yolanda, Martin Luther King III, Dexter Scott, and Bernice grow up, but he wasn't able to. It is important to understand why we celebrate this man on the third Monday of January each year. Martin Luther King himself is more important than why we get school off. We celebrate this man because he spent his life trying to make everyone equal regardless of skin color or background. We celebrate this man because he went through countless hardships and never faltered. We celebrate this man for the justice he brought to the United States and for opening everyone's eyes. We celebrate this man because he fought for a better world and found people who wanted to make a change too. So I ask you all, what do you want to see in the world today? Sure, there are plenty of issues going on, but making a change doesn't mean you have to solve climate change. You can start small, even if it is as small as doing an act of kindness. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way." Thank you.

WOW. OH, thank you. My feet every day. I appreciate that. That's great. Very well done. Small acts of kindness. We like that. Um, appreciate that. And was Victoria, were you here tonight? Do you have anything to report on tourism or would you like to report on there? You viewers, how are we doing? We're doing great. Great. Great. I I think Teresa shared that we're just working on um some branding and updating our creatives and things for the year. Um and you know just hitting the ground running on planning all of our annual events.

Great. Good. Good. Y and I know they got some uh big ideas for the um the Homestead Festival this year. I heard some good things about that. I don't say that. But I I don't feel wasting things. So good. Very good. Thank you very much. We appreciate it.

Okay, now we're going to go to old business. Is there anything new we need to discuss about the heat bikes, electric scooters? Anything new on that? Sure. Um bike, we uh met two weeks ago, week ago,

week and a half. kind of all blended. Uh about a week and a half ago, uh Kevin, Tom, myself, Michael, Janet, uh kind of went through all the different ordinances again, reviewed what we liked, what we didn't like. Uh ended up looking a little bit deeper into Neapville's um and the PD is going to review with their officers things that may have, you know, things that they may be concerned about, things they like, whatever. Um but then uh our bike pedestrian committee is going to be reviewing it tomorrow evening too just to kind of get some sense from them and get some thoughts from them as well. So moving um and then oh do you want me to go to the next? Yes, please.

Um great the THC infused beverages. We talked about that one as well, but we kind of agreed let's tackle this bike issue first. Um and we'll get that uh uh uh kind of settled, get that adopted, ready to go. Um, and then the the THC, we've got some a couple of them that we're looking at uh mirroring possibly, but there is still some question from the state level of what we're what we're going to be able to do and what the parameters will be. So, um, we're definitely still moving through it, but we're going to tackle these ebikes before the season starts on those. So,

very good. Thank you for that. Any questions for the council concerning those two? I think I put in my update to the council last week or the week before that once this uh I know we talked about this too. Once the ebike ordinance is kind of reviewed and adopted, implemented for April one, um there'd be some educational time for the for the community and the residents to understand what this means. Um so not everybody's getting cited at citation right off the bat. They understand what this means. Very good. Okay. Thank you, Teresa. Um, is there any new business for the council this evening? Is there any additional public comment of anyone? Seeing none,

I move that we adjourn our regular meeting this evening and reconvene for our next council meeting on Monday, February 2nd, 2026, 6:00 at City Hall. Second motion second. Clear call the role. Council member Newman. Hi. Hi. Hi. And I this meeting is adjourned. Thank you for attending and thank you very much Anna for being here tonight. Thank you. Very good.