City Council - Regular Meeting

I'd like to call this meeting of the Princeton City Council to order. Clerk, call the roll. They may agree. Here. Councilmember Newman. Here.

Gomez. Here. McCall. Bilecki.

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. We're going to go ahead now and go to public comment. Public comment is an opportunity for the public to speak to the council. We prefer that you limit it to three minutes if possible. At the beginning of the meeting as well as at the end of the meeting. All you have to do is come up to the microphone and just state your name and then you can speak. Again, we offer that public comment at the beginning of the meeting as well as at the end. Is there anyone that would like to speak to the council at this time? And just for the record, Carolyn, just state your name.

Hi, my name is Carolyn Stahl. And I would like, I haven't been here for a while, but I'd like to come back and just see what's going on. But I was, I'm speaking, but I'm speaking for like the neighborhood. And I was, we were wondering as to all of the properties in Princeton that have tall grass, you know, tall yards, grass in the yard, or weeds. And that includes, I know it's the yard, but like in the alley, can that be addressed instead of like having to go talk to Amanda? Isn't there like an ordinance that, you know, so tolerant that they have to get something done? Or like vehicles that are vehicles that don't have front tags, flat tires, that have been getting fines for years. I live at 527 North Chestnut and you can go down the alley quite a ways from Douglas School on down to Central. And there's like cars, cement mixers, old tires, things like that, or mattresses. One house has got some mattresses. There's two houses that have mattresses by their garage. One house has been, the mattress has been there for three or four years. Isn't that, is there something in ordinance for things like that? That can be addressed without having to always go to Amanda. She's busy. And I know there's funds, you know, that you're going to want funds or whatever, but yeah. How can that be addressed? That's my question.

So normally we don't respond, but we will respond tonight. We can say that it is an ongoing thing. And every situation is so unique. As you know, the small victory was the 526 North Chestnut. Now the city has control over that. But it was about five years before we were able to get control over that property. And very expensive to get control of that property. Now we're going to turn around and sell that property. So the past two years that Michael has been working in planning and zoning, working on these different violations. Some people are elderly that don't have the ability to maybe clean their own yard. Others are people that just are blatantly... not maintaining their property, and we do have some vehicles that need, we need to go back and drive the alley slow, and the ordinance shows that the vehicle's been sitting with no active sticker, and then we have to have the police department run that plate just to make sure, because they may have bought the sticker but never put it on their vehicle. So every situation is unique in the sense that there's violations or ordinances. We try to work with the homeowner first to see if we can come to some conclusion before we have to take legal action. And the city has the adjudication program that if we do then fine them, they come before an attorney that we've hired for that adjudication process and they can be fined. and here again it's a process and everyone's uniquely different that we're working on and i think there we we can see that the past couple years we haven't had a city-wide cleanup and although we you know we have the stickers that can be purchased and mattresses things like that people can put stickers on there and then call the city on a friday the city comes and picks those items up but the residents got to at least participate in the sense that they got to put stickers on And so many times we as council members will get calls from neighbors saying they're concerned. And I know a lot of times I just go knock on the door and ask the resident if they can get some stickers and they don't have the funds to do that. We've been known to donate some stickers to help them out just to get this process of cleaning up moving forward. So everyone's unique situation, and we've got some housekeeping we need to work on. So Caroline, I appreciate your patience with that and bringing it to our attention. Across the street from you, we hope we have a goal in the next 90 days to have that home at 526 North Chestnut to have new ownership. And we've been actively showing that home. Michael's been showing it to a number of people that would be candidates possibly to go in and renovate that home.

I have another question.

Sure.

A while back, I think it was last year, the city came in and checked my pipes. I can't remember why. That was okay. But they said that I had probably lead pipes from my house to the street. And I was wondering if the city of Princeton can inquire about... grants like maybe like Bettendorf has or the City of Rockland. I'm not sure which one but I know the Quad Cities have done that.

And they've got new brands to help the residents. And I'm curious if you would just briefly touch on that.

No, we're actually in the planning process and doing the inventories now. We've done three rounds of inventory. The next phase would be looking for the funding for that. However, we're not the only community that's trying to get the funding, so we have to build our case first until we get to that point. I would say we're ahead of most communities, so we're a step ahead.

All right. Thank you.

Thanks, Carolyn. We appreciate your comments. Again, public comment period at the beginning of the meeting as well as at the end. Is there anyone who would like to speak at this point? Yes, please. Kent, state your name.

Kent Parrish. I live in Princeton. And I've talked about this several times, and I wasn't coming today to talk about the property at 512 South Church. Because I've written about it, and I've emailed about it, and I've talked to many of you about it. But because of this woman's comments, I thought that maybe I would comment about a different property. And we'll come back to the final 512 South Church property maybe another week, another meeting. But the property at 103 East Marion is a disaster. It has cars, used cars, old cars, junk, weeds, refuse. And it's been this way for a very long time. And yes, you may or may not agree, every situation is unique. But what is not unique are the violations, the ordinances. Those are standard and those apply to each of these situations. And I wrote you and I wrote other people here about the violations. I wrote the police department about the violations at 512 South Church. Which, by the way, I don't think was my responsibility because they're right in front of everybody. And I think that's the police's responsibility to write up the violations. The ordinances are right there in the city code. And I don't think I should have had to spend about five days doing that myself. But I've talked to so many people here. Teresa, you, Mr. Sledsky, Michael Ziering. And as you know, the 512 South Church House had a demand letter sent by Michael Ziering. It was dated July 10th of 2025, last year. And there was a 15-day deadline, which was then July 26th. And nothing has been done. And it's even worse than the last time I presented it on paper, because now the property is not even being mowed. And the grass is about up to here. It's full of weeds. I believe strongly it's drawing bats. And on and on. The refuse is pouring over. It's hitting my garage now. Over my fence. It's done damage to my fence. And I've talked my head about this. My head off. Right, Mr. Selecki? Yes. And you've been very receptive. And the city needs to fulfill violations of the codes. The code says... that every day past the deadline, this is kind of my paraphrase, but this is what it says, that every day past the deadline, which actually was July 26th of 2025, is a violation if nothing is done. The letter that was sent says that the city can come in and even demolish the property and take it over, and you know all that. But nothing, nothing has been done. And Mr. Mabry, you had said that you had volunteer boys in the high school who would even come in and do it for free. Nothing has been done. And I have a count of the days of today, but since July 26th of last year to today, it's probably about 290 days. And every day is a separate violation. It doesn't say a maybe. The ordinance says it will be. It says it shall be. It doesn't say maybe. It says shall be. And it says each day there's a violation. It shall be, not maybe, but shall be $100. So, for example, if this is the 270th day of the violations, which Michael Ziering wrote about in a demand letter sent to the property owner, then that owner owes the city $27,000. So I encourage the city council and the police to live up to the ordinances that you implement yourself. That you expect other people to abide by and you give the impression that this will be in effect. I have presented about that property twice at two previous meetings. I have written text messages and emails. I've spoken heavily to many of you principals, especially to Teresa. And I was asked to find out if anything had been done. Teresa asked me if anything had been done, because she couldn't find anybody, even though her office is next door to Michael's area, separated by a wall. I shouldn't have to ask. I'm not an employee here. I'm not paid $132,000 a year.

Ken, if I could, we're going to ask to respect the three minutes, but I'd like to, if I could, just make a comment back, if I could, okay? So, about six or eight weeks ago, Councilperson Slesky and I met with the homeowner at the property. Was it eight weeks ago, roughly? Before things really got to growing. Right. And we walked over the property with her and explained our situation. We had to get something accomplished and she understood that. And she said she would get back to me in about two weeks. She called me two weeks later and she called and said that she'd been ill and she said she'd get back to me. At that point, she was very receptive to us going there, and we pointed out all the countries that could be cut out. She was receptive to that. However, she wanted to be there on the premises when we did it. And Don, I would say twice now has reminded me that we need to stay on this. So I'll take the ding on this because I told him that it's much easier to be able to communicate with her if I go into her home over the phone. It's very difficult to talk to her. She's got a strong accent. I don't know if we communicate very well without being face-to-face. So Don and I will talk about this in the next 24 hours together one more time. And I'll go knock on her door, talk to her, and we'll see if we can get this. And Don did tell me that the yard, I've not seen it, that it's not mowed yet this year. But she had hired a company to mow her yard last year. Okay, I don't know that. I haven't heard that from her. I didn't know that. Okay, so your comments are taken, and we will, Don Slutsky and I will get together in the next 24 hours, and we'll have a plan of action again, a renewed plan of action that we have to include her in this, I feel, because she told us that she wants to be present when we go on the property and do the cleaning.

She has shown to not do anything. The growth has not just been since we've had rain. The trees, you've seen them. The dead trees, the live trees. It looks like, in my opinion, a jungle. It affects my property physically. I feel that it affects my property as far as what my property is worth. If what I wanted to sell it, I'd have to sell it for many thousand dollars less. There's a fence that's in disrepair. It needs painting. And she has had... may or may be since July 26th.

I respect what you're saying. So we're going to ask you now to eliminate, if you could, we're going to wrap up your comments, and we have a plan of action. It's on the record. Council Member Slesky, within 24 hours, we're going to be able to respond back to Kent. That means, though, I've got to go talk to her face-to-face at her house, and I will work on that tomorrow.

Well, I also encourage you to speak to the owner of 103 East Marion.

We appreciate your comments. Again, you've got three more minutes at the end of the meeting if you'd like to speak. And council members like people get together. And I appreciate you working on that. I know you have been working on that. I appreciate that.

I've been working on it for years.

And I respect that whole thing. Like I said, we had a good conversation about eight weeks ago with her in person. We walked the property with her. Anybody else for public comment this evening? Seeing none, we're going to go ahead and approve the minutes, please.

I move that we approve the minutes from our meeting on Monday, May 4th, 2026. Second.

We have a motion and a second. Is there any questions or comments concerning those minutes? Seeing none, third call the roll.

Council Member Newman.

Aye.

Gomez.

Aye.

Selesky.

Aye.

Namery.

Aye. Now under our invoices with City Clerk Janet Henning.

In the Department of Accounts and Finances, we have $207,854.83. Department of Streets and Public Improvements, $99,234.29. Department of Public Safety, $368,690.19. and the Department of Public Property and Utilities, $873,562.39, with a grand total of $1,549,341.70. Mayor, all council members present have confirmed their reviews of all the invoices and are now submitted to disposition.

I move that we approve the invoices as presented. Second. Motion and second on those invoices. Are there any questions or comments concerning those invoices? Seeing none, third call to roll.

Councilmember Newman. Aye. Gomez.

Aye.

Zaleski.

Aye.

And Mayor Mayfrey.

Aye.

Next, on the agenda, we have ordinance O-26-013 amending the customer owned solar generation net metering policy. This is the second and final reading.

I move that we approve Ordinance O-26-013. Second. We have a motion and a second. Again, this is the second reading. Any questions or concerns from the Council about the second reading? Seeing none, we're called to roll.

Council Member Newman.

Aye.

Gomez. Aye. Zalewski.

Aye. And Mary Magritte. Aye.

Next on the agenda, we have Resolution R-26-009, IMRF Poverty Pages.

I move that we approve a resolution R-26-009.

Second.

We have a motion and a second. If we could, Teresa, go ahead and explain what we're going to be voting on for that, please.

This is basically the paperwork that needs to be filed to have Jessica serve as our IMRS authorized agent for the city of Princeton. Jessica, go ahead. Last meeting, I introduced Jessica, or she wasn't here, but that she was one of our new hires handling HR and payroll and some of the benefits. So just a little bit of paperwork of getting that part taken care of. And you can be here. Would you like to say speech? I'll pass.

Jessica, you're a resident of Princeton. I am, yeah. That's great.

Good to have you. You too. Okay, with that all said, clerk call the roll.

Council Member Newman.

Aye.

Gomez.

Aye.

Selesky.

Aye. Mayor Mabry. Aye.

Next on the agenda, we have Resolution R-26-010, Maintenance under the Illinois Highway Code, Section 26GM.

I move that we approve Resolution R-26-010. Second. We have a motion and a second. Again, we'll go back to Teresa to just briefly explain what we're voting on tonight.

You'll have two of these tonight. This one here is for MFT, I believe. So these will be leading up to the street projects for this coming summer. We need to get these passed so the funds are allocated so we can start to go out with this.

And the fee is motor fuel taxes. We appreciate that. It's money coming back into our community for our street improvements projects. Very good. That said, clerk, call the roll.

I'm Clara Newman.

Aye.

Gomez.

Aye.

Selesky. Aye. Mayor Magritte.

Aye.

Next on the agenda, we have Resolution R-26-011, Highway Permit for Princeton Fire Department.

I move that we approve resolution R-26-011. Second. Motion and second on that resolution. We'll go back to Teresa on that.

This is a resolution for a highway permit basically stating that where we're doing the construction we have equipment out in front of the fire department or the expansion of the fire department that will keep the lanes free for the highway but also that the grounds, the sidewalks the turf, any of that will be returned to its original state or better.

Thank you very much for that. Clear to call the roll.

Councilmember Newman. Aye. Gomez.

Aye.

Pilecki. Aye. Did everybody agree? Aye. Next we have resolution R-26-012 authorizing the sale of real estate no longer useful to the City of Princeton 526 North Chestnut Street.

I move that we approve Resolution R-26-012. Second. We have a motion and a second on that. And again, that's concerning the property that we've worked on for five years, the distressed property, which now we have ownership of, and we will be finding a new buyer for that. If there's anyone out there looking for a fixer-upper, that is a true fixer-upper, by the way, you can talk to Michael Ziering about that. We want to make sure it goes into good hands. Hopefully within a six-month time frame, we'll get it back where it needs to be. With that said, clerk called the roll. Councilmember Newman? Aye.

Gomez?

Aye.

Sollecki? Aye. Mayor McGree?

Aye.

Next, we have Resolution R-26-013. This is for maintenance under Illinois Highway Code General Funds.

I move that we approve Resolution R-26-013. Second. Motion and second. And then that one, Teresa, that actually gives us a little bit of money every year to maintain part of their streets that go through Princeton.

This will actually be what we're using from the general fund that will be going for bid for various street projects, but also we have a large cemetery project for the street that goes to the cemetery will be getting redone as well as the Church Street stormwater. So it's going to appear to be a little bit bigger than it has in the past, but there's a couple of other projects put in with this. and again it just gets it ready so we can go off of it thank you Teresa with that said any other questions from the council concerning that otherwise call the roll.

I'm Tamara Newman. Hi. Gomez.

Hi.

Zaleski. Hi. Amira Mayberry. Hi.

Okay thank you very much.

You're welcome.

Go ahead now with our city manager report.

In your packet is the financial report for ending March 31st. So we'll have one more of these to close out the last fiscal year. Also in your packet is the police detention report for April of 26th. And then garbage schedule. Let's see here. With upcoming holiday, obviously the garbage schedules will be adjusted. Shouldn't be a surprise. Should follow the same process. Due to upcoming Memorial holiday, garbage routes will be as follows. Monday, May 25th route will be picked up on Tuesday the 26th. Please have your garbage out by 5 a.m. So it'll be an extra route on that day for the garbage department. So the sooner they can start, the better.

Anything else, Teresa? Thank you. Mayor's report this evening, I really don't have anything. There's been a couple businesses that the owners have retired, and maybe we'll get a better report at the first meeting in June. The one is a men's clothing store on Main Street, on South Main, and it'll... Council person Sletsky was in there talking to the owner. And then we have the flower shop, Flower by Julia, announcing their retirement. So we're really concerned about these things, obviously. But I think there's some things in the works on both of those. And we'll hopefully get some good news on that. Very good. We'll go on to Old Business Town, please. Is there anything new with the e-bikes, electric scooters, or the THC-infused beverages? We're still working on those issues. Very good. Okay. Is there any new business before the council this evening? Is there any additional public comment? If you'd like to speak, I'd prefer you limit your time to three minutes. Kent, please come back up.

The owner of the property at 512 South Church is now 297 days delinquent from the deadline that was given to her by Michael Zarian. The ordinance says it's $100 a day. It shows $29,700. If I may, I'd like to read an email that I wrote. Teresa, you are the city manager, you are the boss and top city employee of all employees. In authority and seniority over zoning administrator Michael Ziering who authored the demand letter and animal control officer Amanda Engelbrecht. Michael's office is exactly adjacent to your office separated by a wall. If you have no knowledge whether any action was taken from the date of the July 26, 2025 deadline in the demand letter to the February 11, 2026 date of my email of inquiry. You first did not respond to that inquiry and I forwarded again my email two weeks later on February 25th. You then two days later on February 27th responded stating you had no information whether the city took action. after the July 26th deadline and instructed me to contact Michael or Amanda myself. Seven months and nearly one week, at that time it was a two and 16 days transpired since the deadline date, when upon my proactive inquiry, you responded you did not know the answer and told me to find out for myself. Your response follows my untold number of combinations of emails, in-person and telephone verbal conversations, text, a hard copy letter that I wrote, my presentation at two public board meetings whereby I brought in detailed issues to you, zoning administrator Ziering, Mayor Mabry, Commissioner Selecki, former city clerk and former zoning administrator Pete Nelson, and the current board of commissioners, and following a formal letter to Michael from attorney Michael Fuller, whom I hired. I have spent a very huge number of unknown hours addressing the property now abandoned for many years and how it very radically, physically affects, deteriorates my property. I believe it has very substantially reduced my property value, whereby I am not able to sell my property without very substantially reducing my selling price. I have spent countless hours cleaning, trimming, raking, and discarding the growth that spills and grows over onto my property, which is currently even worse now. The owner's fence is aesthetically in disrepair and I believe is over my property line. Unlike nearly all cities, the city ordinance does not prohibit placement of fences on property lines and allows fences clear up to the line. I have in the past addressed this deficiency to Mayor Mabry and former Mayor Cuomo and met with them simultaneously at my house for this discussion. And the city did nothing to pass an ordinance that required minimal footage to separate a fence from a neighbor's property. For years, much growth has been rubbing against most of my fence, which exactly three years ago cost $7,700 to reinstall, very possibly by now causing mold, discoloration, and wear and scratching of the far side of the fence. Okay, I'll continue next meeting. Very good. Thank you.

You know, there's things that I will, again, reiterate. I'm going to be working with Council Member Gillespie on this the next 24 hours, and we'll respond back to you where we're at on this. So with that said, is there anyone else that would like any public comment to the council this evening? Before we adjourn here, just a moment here, Jerry, we're going to be going to an executive session, discuss some things, and we will not be taking any action. And so we'll stick around here for just about two minutes. We're going to talk to the talent partners. Otherwise, we're going to go back in the back room. With that said, Jerry, if you would. I move that we adjourn our regular meeting this evening and reconvene into executive session under Illinois statutes for discussion of claims, laws, or risk management. before discussion of litigation when action against, affecting, or on behalf of the particular public body has been filed. Our next regular council meeting will be on Monday, June 1st, 2026, 6 p.m. at City Hall. Second. Motion to second. Clear to call the roll.

Council Member Newman.

Aye.

Gomez.

Aye.

Pilecki. Aye. Amir Vickery. Aye.

Thank you for attending this meeting. It's adjourned. Thank you.