City Council - Regular Meeting

at 5:45 p.m. Roll call. Roll call, please. Alder Evans, present. Kurt here, Barnes here. Swanson here, Parker here. Pulis here. Haley here. And Mayor Harris present. Would everyone please stand for the pledge of allegiance? Then remain standing for a moment of silence. I pledge algiance 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. Agenda item five. Vote to approve the agenda. Motion to approve the agenda. Second. I have a first and a second. Is there any discussion? Roll call, please. Alderson Parker. I. Pulis. I. Healey. I. Evans. Yes. Hurt. Hi. Barnes. I. And Swanson. I. Item six, a clean river advisory council community survey presentation.

Thank you, Jerry. All right. Do I Did everybody get what I do I need to repeat? Sorry. Okay. Start. Okay. Thank you. That's a good way to start. Uh so again, my name is Andy Park, member of the Clean River Advisory Council Council for the past few years. Uh we're a diverse group of quad city environmental experts, enthusiasts, community advocates, and we're committed to basically three things. Clean water, equity, and environmental inclusion. Our mission is shaped by the Mississippi River equity vis. And our goal is a future rooted in shared equity. So the uh survey that you have in front of you was conducted last July through December. Clean River Advisory Council showed up at any event we could uh uh trunk or treats and any any event we could and we were our goal was to collect 500 responses and we got 465. So we were pretty happy with that. And the the survey itself was designed to understand neighborhood level experiences, how people connect to the river, their per and their perceptions of nature-based solutions. So I'm just like I said briefly going to go through the first half of this slide when Nina will take over. But uh the first question that we asked these residents of the Quad Cities um how connected do you feel to the Mississippi River? We were glad to see that 65% of respondents said they felt a very strong or even strong connection to the Mississippi River. And depending on if you're a glass half empty or a glass half full kind of person, 52% of uh respondents said they have a personal or family memory tied to the river. Um I myself have many of those and it was you know it's kind of nice to see half the population in the Quad Cities do feel a connection to that river. In what ways do you connect to the Mississippi River? Uh the number one answer wasn't a big surprise to me. We have a a fantastic network of paths and parks along our river. So connect, you know, uh sports, jogging, biking, barbecue, games. Um one of the things that I liked, the answer was that a lot of folks uh well 236 of them said that they have a

responsibility themselves for protecting the river. No matter what their job, their profession, their age, their race, they felt an obligation to protect that amenity that we have in our backyard. Uh, a quarter of the respondents also said they have a spiritual meaning. They find spiritual meaning near that river. And I thought that was very great as well. Um, some of the other open-ended responses that were captured is the river. You uh, well, I'll get to the drinking water aspect, but um, I I enjoyed that they said recognizing the river's presence in daily life. So, not simply seeing it every day, which I do, but recognizing it, recognizing its its uh, presence in our lives every day is fantastic. and prioritizing the river's well-being also aligns with the clean river ad uh advisory council's goals. So that was great too. Uh the next question was what prevents you from fully connecting with the river? Uh I don't have enough free time was by far the the log uh biggest answer and that's something I can certainly identify with. Uh, I don't know what community events occur at that river was the second answer. And I know there are a lot of organizations and a lot of outlets that try to promote river activities, but it just seems like no matter who you ask, there's still seems to be a lack of awareness about all the events that are happening, no matter how hard you try. Um, when you know, the concerns that they have about the river's environment and conditions, trash and litter, uh, exceeded all other answers. The Clean River Advisory Council puts on a couple cleanup events. We've done a we've done a few since our, uh, start a few years ago. Um, that's something that I see in my profession as a public servant. It's certainly the biggest challenge that I face with my staff. Um, lack of safe water quality is kind of interesting. I find that that's a probably a big educational component. A lot of folks see the river today and think of how dirty it is. I myself think of how dirty it was 50 years ago. Now we have a lot of rules and regulations put in place that keep that river that much cleaner for us today. So, we're still ahead of the game on that. uh and potential flooding is always going to be a concern from our residents as well. But we've done what we can um to kind of mitigate

those circumstances whether it's Rock Island, Molen, East Molen, Davenport, Benorf. We all have our measures in place to protect people from that. But my last slide tonight is how important do you think that it is that nearby cities and local governments work together to address problems and concerns related to the Mississippi River? And that's ideally why we're here tonight. We just wanted to bring this uh survey forward and just let you know that a lot of people are very uh observant about how communities and different communities governments interact with each other, how their policies are shaping, uh whether it's green infrastructure, flood mitigation, uh environmental, you know, cleanups or or something, but 95% uh this this slide is a little confusing, but 95% of all respondents said it is at least important and or extremely important for uh residents to I'm sorry for governments, local governments to work together in as one entity in this region to try and protect this uh river. So hope you get that from me. Thank you.

I get the rest of it. So, um I actually really like to share these next couple of slides because what is um really interesting in this survey was we got to ask the community what they thought were the most important nature-based solutions, not only just for the cities, their cities as a whole, but also the neighborhoods that they call home. And so we provided them with a couple of different examples of nature-based solutions that would be beneficial to our area like planting trees along the Mississippi River, restoring wetlands near the cities, building rain gardens, protecting places that flood naturally, and then making green walking or biking paths. And so respondents were able to then rate what they felt were most important to them. And so this first slide, you'll see something, you'll see a graph similar to this twice. um on the next slide that shows a breakdown based by those priority neighborhoods. So, CRAC focuses our efforts in priority neighbor neighborhoods within the Quad Cities that um are typically more under divested or might have a greater need. And when we look at these specific neighborhoods, asking those community members what they believe to be the most important, you can see how those are ranked based off of the different areas in the Quad Cities. And so when we're specifically looking here in Rock Island, our priority neighborhood has been identified as the West End. And respondents thought that planting trees along the Mississippi River are a big the biggest priority, followed by restoring wetlands near the city. and then third building rain gardens. Um, additionally, we did also leave the opportunity for some open-ended responses and asked if there were other important priorities within those neighborhoods. And again, there were other various forms of nature-based solutions that came up, whether it was

in the form of storm water management, uh, native plants and also wetlands again, but also that public safety and that cleanliness continues to come up as well. uh really seeing the trash or even feeling that there's a lack of being able to safely access the river. Um also access to green spaces as well as equitable infrastructure investment is really important. And then protecting policy that also upholds our water quality. This next slide is going to show you what looks like a similar graph to the other one I just shown you. But this one is asking what asking this one asked our community members what they hope to see in each of our cities in terms of priorities for nature-based solutions. So slightly different than just this the neighborhood that they're calling home. And you can see that there is a little bit of a dis difference when we're looking here especially in Rock Island. We're seeing that restoring wetlands uh takes the the number one spot followed by planting trees along the Mississippi River and then f the third protecting places that flood naturally. And I also just want to take a moment to call out that it's important to also look at the things that the cities are doing in a positive light. You know, we know the city of Rock Island is protecting wetlands through the land and water reserve designation. We know that they are working to plant trees along the Mississippi River. There's some really great partnerships that also involve CRACK in those initiatives. And then um protecting places that flood naturally is something that I think continues to be on the radar too and can continue to be as well as it is a priority for those community members. Uh additionally, some other desired changes was it pertains to the cities and those open-ended spaces included, you know, cleaner waterways. Again, safety in terms of access in public spaces continues to come up as well as um native plants, habitat restoration, and then of course just

greater visibility of sustainability efforts at the municipal level. In terms of community priorities and those hopes for change, um really community members want to see more community river cleanup activities to help support that stewardship and visible progress too to really see that there is some investment. the restoration of native plants and habitats, protected public access points to the river reference in various places, and then continuing to ensure that there are educational opportunities for our youth to really build that lasting environmental connection and stewardship. Um, finally, one of our uh last questions was just looking at the neighborhood and city of residents. And so just for your reference, the highest number of responses that we had from the community members, so that's 10% or greater were collected from those who live in the west end of Rock Island in Batonorf and the Floriente neighborhood in the city of Molen. And then you can also see where we had the lowest responses there in terms of next steps because we do like to ensure that we're utilizing the data that we collect to figure out where to go next. And so we had almost 40% of our respondents say that they wanted to stay connected in the future. And so we are taking those next steps to reach out to those respondents and get them involved in community focus groups by city neighborhood. So, not one giant focus group together, but really trying to focus on those priority neighborhoods in those um and find out, you know, what types really dig deeper into those nature-based solutions and figure out how we can work together. Additionally, we have a um subcommittee in CRAC that is hoping to also engage and work with those at the city municipality levels too to kind of bridge that gap and see

how we can continue to bring this data to um to to light in our communities. And so we really find this to be a real strong potential for that communitydriven collaboration and that sustained participation too. And I also just like to flag this as, you know, we've focused on the community and especially the city level tonight too, but we do also have that brighter or broader regional component as well. We have um a newer Quad Cities ecological corridor map or network that is really looking to see how we can connect a lot of these different areas and especially look at that regional shared regional framework. you know, connecting natural spaces, identifying opportunities for conservation and restoration where it matters most, especially when it comes to flood uh reduction and resiliency. And so um in conclusion if uh you are if any of you are interested in learning more I know we are planning to follow up with an email with the resources uh in terms of being connected with the echological corridor network and CRA as well but we also have our information uh available to you in the slide deck as well. Any questions? Yes.

Uh just have a couple. So how is the survey put out? I 465. I've never received one. How how is the survey distributed to the public? And my second question, is there a breakdown um of those respondents by by city?

Yes, I believe we do have the breakdown by city and I can ensure that um we get that answer 100%. in terms of how we uh and feel free to add in um in terms of how we distributed the surveys that was really a lot of our efforts were really focused on those priority neighborhoods. And so the CLAR Advisory Council is a collection of uh people and organizations who are within the environmental scope but also are considered environmental enthusiasts who work within a lot of times those different spaces. And so we showed up at community events. We showed up at um you know things like trunk or treats. Um trying to think farmers markets. We provided the surveys out through email blasts. Um text messages. Um

we did some PSAs, some community PSAs as well. It was really a lot of thatworked space but also trying to do it from the um um the networking space but also from that community base too. So uh it wasn't perfect for sure. I mean obviously we we hit the larger goal that we would like and we are planning to launch another survey uh within this next year too. So would welcome any additional feedback in terms of if you have ideas of how to get the word out even further, but we were pretty happy with the goal we at least got initially in terms of hitting those priority neighborhood communities.

Um, making sure I'm sorry, but making sure elected officials are on might be a great idea in the future. You know, we may be able to do something on the city website as it pertains to the city of Rock Island. So, I was just curious to how many of these people because I mean as we're ranking those things that we call important and and whatever order that is, I'm just kind of curious on what kind of response the city of Rock Island citizens participated in that to to to formulate that priority list.

Are you looking So, are you asking for a specific breakdown of the city of Rock Island respondents? Yeah, basically I'd like to see where our our citizens I mean obviously it' be interesting to see where they all lie but I think as far as we're concerned I'd like to see where the city of Rock Island prioritize um the actions on here and I do appreciate your efforts. So don't get me wrong I'm just kind of sure curious to see what those numbers are for like Sure. for the other questions it sounds like other than just the neighborhood and the city. Yes. Sure. Yeah. We can um connect with that and be able to provide a response for that. Thank you. I have a quick question. How are wetlands restored?

No, you breathing. Not not very well. It's very challenging. Wetlands take many hundreds of years to establish not more. So to restore them, it's nearly impossible. I mean, you can see from that one slide, it looked like Iowa wanted all their wetlands back restored and Rock Island especially wanted to protect what they had. It's very That's all I I've never, you know, I won't in my lifetime I won't see a success. We either had one in Rock Island. We call them a mitigated wetland site. And it was just it turned out to be a prairie because we tried to put a wetland where there shouldn't have been one or there wasn't one originally. It didn't come out very well. So there's really no substitute for just nature making its own.

So yeah, and so I'll just add to that from the wetlands perspective right now with the restoring being challenging. One thing that we can kind of help focus community members who are interested in wetland protection is understanding what resources are available here in the Quad Cities um in terms of being able to access wetlands, but also understanding how that protection does occur for current wetlands that exist. Um federal protection is pretty much being completely removed. And so being able to advocate at a state level and then even being able to advocate at city levels too if it's possible and being able to have those conversations and engagement can be another way to create that protection at least for wetlands if restoring isn't an option. And I have one more. Um, as far as uh education, educational purposes and collaboration, have you guys partnered with any schools, any area schools?

Yeah. So, that's um we could do a whole other presentation just on our work. And so there's some really great information and data in our annual report that's available on our website that outlines all of the different partnerships that we've done, but we have that is probably one of the biggest areas we've been most successful in is engaging in the schools because we do have several members who are on the council who either are connected directly or have those relationships fostered.

Boys and girls, YMCA, we have members that are connected that's we show up at those events as well. We last year, one of our big projects was at a local school planting trees, putting in a native plant garden and being able to provide that as a service. So, if we if we wanted to increase our recreational activity on the Mississippi, would this be the council that could give some advice or is this would that completely go against what you guys represent? No, we'd be willing to have a discuss. I mean the the there's actually a huge keep saying schol grant for you can apply for these grants every year foundation.

So and I've lost my whole brain on the max. Yes, we would be willing to have that discussion and provide you any detail any information that we've collected so far. Absolutely. Okay. Thank you. Anything else, guys? Sounds like we we'll be happy to send you any information we have on how the information was collected, any grant opportunities, and anything else we have. Thank you. Thank you for your time. Thank you.

Next, we have the West End revitalization update. help. There we go. Well, mayor, uh, city council members, really appreciate this opportunity to share with you all some of the progress that we've had with Western revitalization in 25 and some of the intentions we have for 2026. Um, I typically get up here and provide you this deep dive into our origins, but I will spare you that this evening as I know you all are quite familiar with our humble beginnings, but I also want to share with our listening audience that they do have interest in that. Please visit us at mlkcenter.orgwest. You'll find all the information you need, including our assessment and our three and now fiveyear plan. Um, we do start with thanking you all for the initial investment for West End revitalization. That investment continues as we see incredible collaboration with our department colleagues, parks and wreck, public works, economic development and community development have all played a significant role in some of the accomplishments you'll see later on in this presentation and some of the plans we have for 2026 as well. but it also highlights our ability to connect, to facilitate, and to be the backbone for West Revitalization. So, please keep that in mind as well. The first update I do want to provide you today, we've had a a bit of a team restructure. We've been able to elevate Miss Rebecca Arnold into our community impact and development manager for this for the for the King Center, and that allows her to lead our Western Revitalization team. I'm sure by the end of this, you'll see the same passion, the same capability. um for Western revitalization that we've enjoyed with our coordinators, Mr. Thood Brooks and Mr. Avery Pearl.

And what's really significant for me is that I get to turn this presentation over to them at this point in time. So, if I can invite the team to come on up and begin our presentation.

Good evening everyone.

Good evening. So, Western Rock Island, it is a community with very strong assets. This is something we all know, residents, businesses, organizations, etc. Despite this, cities like or communities like the West still face significant challenges. These challenges are not because of effort. There have been efforts to address these challenges in the West. But where they fall short often times is that the effort that is given isn't connected

rather picked up Yeah.

So, these challenges or these these efforts oftent times aren't connected or aren't long-term supported. We'll get it right. back to it. All right. So efforts there have been many efforts. There's consistent efforts but over time either efforts have not been connected. So you have one party trying others not knowing or there hasn't been long-term support to continue these efforts through processes. So when that happens there are gaps created. People fall through these gaps. Organizations fall through these gaps. And when there are gaps, we can easily have momentum become stalled. And when momentum stalls in communities like the West End, we can have generations of disinvestment, underdevelopment, and things that we still see today. With that being said, that gap is where Western revitalization steps into play. Our role is to help fill those gaps and ensure long-term momentum is sustained in the revitalization of the Weston community. So our mission is to increase the wealth, power, and livability of Weston residents. We want them to be able to stay in the Weston, invest in the Weston, grow in the Weston, see their day-to-day lives as West End residents improved based off the work that we're doing. We don't just focus on

one-off projects or events here and there. We're truly focused on long-term stability for the work that we're doing. Our work goes from the individual level all the way up to the policy level because where we're focused at is ensuring that short-term action is supporting long-term change. We don't want things just randomly happening. Things need to be coordinated. And so for us that means standing in that space, bringing in the right partners, ensuring that there is strategy happening, connecting the people, the partners and the resources and ensuring that they are moving together over time. So our approach to doing this is the collective impact approach. What that means essentially is many partners working towards a common goal and moving together towards that goal over time. We know that we are not the sole organization responsible for the revitalization of the West End. No no sole organization can do it alone. Our role is to organize the work, support the doers of the work, and ensure that the momentum does not stall. That's where we sit. We know the five key impact areas. They're all connected. Civic capital, personal assets and income, economic vitality, housing and land, infrastructure, and visual appeal. These are all connected. And so the work has to be connected, too. And that's where we stepped in with our collective impact approach is that we're connecting the work, supporting the people doing the work

once again and then ensuring over time momentum is sustained. So with that being said, I'm going to pass it off to my colleague throat sitting down here because I'm uh not six foot, seven,

eight, excuse me, six foot eight. Be very clear here. Okay. Uh and so there's a old African proverb that we do our work by dayto day. And that old African proverb simply states if you want to go fast, go long. If you want to go far, you got to go together. And that's where again I reemphasize the importance of our collaborative impact approach. And so I'm here to speak to a little bit about our 2025 overview. And so we'll give a few key highlights or milestones behind those including the first ever in the Quad Cities uh participary budgeting exercise. We call it PB because you see that's a mouthful. I took a deep breath before I said it. Uh we also had a financial empowerment program with the centra we're very proud of. Uh including housing upgrades. We had another program with Mid American and youth civic empowerment we do weekly with our third Marshall Learning Center students uh in the West End. And so as we continue talk about our PB exercise and so it actually started off with our youth at Thug Marshall. Um they earned $10,000 from a grant we received uh to do PB in the in the Quad City area. And so the kids kicked off that process in March of last year. Uh and simply put what PB is uh you have a body or community come together uh they create a leading group i.e a steering committee uh and that steering committee then cast or go out to the community and seeks input as far as ideas on how we can spend x amount of dollars. Uh and so kids 10,000 greater community $40,000. And so what you do is after you get those ideas collected uh you turn those ideas into what we call proposals and those proposals then um are voted upon by the

body or community that is taking part of this exercise. And so with our youth um they did a schoolwide process with all the students in in the building. It went around uh had sheets of uh paper and different ideas and they voted on um the winning projects which were school store uh student enrichment and also schoolwide celebrations um they can do right there in the building with some of those dollars. And as for the uh community um we collected over 400 ideas uh turned those into eight refined uh proposals and at our soul this at the King Center soul of the city event um at Franklin Field this past year. Uh we kicked off our vote and that went on for roughly two weeks. Um and the winning project was neighbors helping neighbors which will be a project that will that we'll be kicking off uh and it's really intended to help out our veterans, our folks with disabilities and our elders landscaping I'll call them helping helpers help around around their homes in their properties. And so that's a little bit about our uh PB process. Continuing on to our financial empowerment series we are doing with the Centra. Um Avery and I actually just ran over here uh because it's going on our second series actually going on right now on Mondays. Um they're doing right now the King Center for week two. But last year we kicked off our pilot program. Make it make sense. It's a eightweek training program. On the ninth week, they get uh they graduate and they get a $500 incentive, $400 in cash or value, monetary value, excuse me. And then they get a $100 worth of $20 gift cards for businesses here in the west end of Rock Island. Um and they take that and we were able to replenish our community

while also uh serving beyond just a opportunity to learn uh for folks but giving people real money to go along with those experiences that they uh obtain in in the courses such as credit and debt management, predatory lending, home ownership, uh generational wealth, and many many more. Continuing on, we also uh worked with Mid-Americ to do some housing upgrades. Mid-Americ approached us uh ear or late April I believe last year uh and Avery and I were to meet with them and work toward what we didn't know at the time was a truly innovative uh program that was able to service 30 homeowners uh 10 small businesses and three multif family complexes uh in the West End. Uh that power up program uh was so unique because folks were able to get uh up $10,000 upgrades if you're a homeowner. Uh $20,000 for small businesses and multif family complexes. Uh insulation, water heaters, furnaces, uh windows, you name it. Um Mid American covered 90% of the cost. we were able to find a grant or excuse me, earn a grant from the Molen Regional Community Foundation to cover the 10% for uh those participants because as you might imagine 10% of 10,000 uh most folks don't have that laying around and that might steer clear of being able to obtain such an opportunity as this. Um and that's something that M American I believe was very very appreciative of our the trust we built in the community to go out and get that done because up to that point they were having some troubles. Um, and as I mentioned before, Avery and I were proud and shocked in some ways to learn that this program was truly innovative because typically in the energy sector, uh, well, I back up. We received an award, innovative award from MIA, the Mid Western Energy Alliance uh,

conference at the conference in January. um this program usually in the energy sector you they only are able to complete homeowners in one project and businesses in another project and multif family another project and the fact that we're able to wrap it all into one uh earned mid- American and us uh an award innovation award at that conference um it's the first time in the countries that that something like that was done so we're very very proud that we say Rock Island the western Rock Island accomplished a feat such as And something that Avery and I love to do every Friday, and I do mean that, um, is going over to DA Marsh Learning Center and working with our Western Roundation Club there with those students. Um, they make us proud every day. Um, because they are exactly what um, we know they can be. Um, they show that every day. And so we did we did different actions with them as far as organized municipal and schoolboard uh forums, candidate forms last year that they hosted. They curate the questions. They asked the question, they did timekeeping. Uh they did it all and did an amazing job. Um as I said before, they led the surveying and PB process. Um we also collaborate with Augustana numerous times uh to do different neighborhood asset mapping and planning that the kids were really hands-on and and doing. also have opportunity to go onto the campus theater and learn from uh the professors and students in real time. Uh this past November, we took the kids uh to Washington DC for civic engagement. Um they were personally invited for the reopening of the African-American Civil War Museum in Washington DC in November by the founder when he came to visit uh for he visited the students. He was so impressed by them that he wrote him a personal note uh and made it our duty to make sure we got them there. Uh, and so we spent five days with them there in DC. They visited um our consulting agency or partner, excuse me, Enterprise who we've been

working with in the beginning of this plan because they're housed in DC. They visit the campus of Howard University and got a tour from a student that had done some work with us in the past. They also were able to visit the the National Mall. Uh it was really unique experience. But on Tuesday, the last day we were there, they were able to recite all the names of all the soldiers and our soldiers, excuse me, civil rights uh civil war uh soldiers, excuse me. And so they also recently completed a photovoice exhibit that I believe some of you were able to see recently. Um the photo voices they the students were able to go around the community in the West End, take pictures uh and really describe things they seen from their perspective and also produce opportunities that they see from what others may see as deficiencies. And so we're very proud of that as well. Uh and a lot of this has to has been uh able for us to do because the partnerships we have with our community. And so this uh we just name a few here that we have as our partners including um as Yerry said before the departments here in the city. They've been vital uh Rock Island Community Foundation. I'm not going to name them all but you see them here on the list. I don't want to miss anybody but we are very appreciative of all our partners that uh we have now and we will continue to build. Not from there. Pass it to Rebecca.

Good and Avery. Think I don't have to pick that up. All right. Hi everyone. Happy to be in front of you today. Um so I'm here to talk about some of the support we've been receiving so far as well as our plans for this coming year and plus a more long-term vision for the West End revitalization. You can see here there's a pretty broad range of of supporters from philanthropy, from businesses to individual investors who have shown support for our work so far. And we're only here at the beginning. The next slide gives you some some more concrete numbers. So we talk about the economic impact the West End revitalization just in the last two years. You can see 2024 just under 200,000. Last year, we're up to four and a 450,000 funding that we received that the Martin Luther King Center brought into this community um for the the purpose of the West End revitalization. That's just the direct funding. We talk about the indirect funding, the the money that Mid-Americ invested in upgrading homes, businesses, multifamily properties. They didn't give us the money to give out. We we found a grant for the the homeowners portion for the the owners portion and the rest of it they they invested directly with the homeowners with the repairs directly. So we count that as investment in the in the west end that did not come through us. And then we're looking at the inindent staff who are at the Martin Luther King Center right now doing a financial empowerment training for community members. No one is is paying them for their work. They're volunteering to come. This is a partnership. They see the value in what we do and investing in our community and they're giving their time freely for that. And then Enterprise, I have to mention them because they they have been with us since the very beginning when we did an assessment six years ago in the West End. Um we we paid them as consultants with funding from the city and from the John Deere Foundation for a few years,

but in the last two years they received funding from a separate funer to to continue working with us. So that's again money that didn't come through us but it's technical assistance and strengthening our capacity as an organization um for the benefit of the west end. Okay. So uh Thood talked a little bit about what we did last year when we look ahead to 2026 where we are right now. So our initial three-year plan um we're going to extend that to five years. We don't we don't feel the need to go back and start over when we feel like we're on the right track. One of the things that we've learned is that instead of being a stepbystep process to follow, our three-year plan, we'll call it a five-year plan now, is more of a a north star of a guideline to follow. And we know we're on the right track. We'll make a few modifications because mostly um we've been able to respond to partnerships and collaborations that have that have become uh become available with partners who are aligned and who are willing to invest resources. So for example um the Mid-American the work that we did with them that was not specifically part of the plan but they came forward wanting to work together our values aligned they were willing to invest and so we went forward with that. So, um, a few of others have have come up in the process. So, we'll we'll modify the plan a little bit, but but for the most part, we know we're on the right track when we talk about revitalizing a neighborhood. This is not done in three years or five years or even 10. We expect to see real progress in 10 years. Um, but this is a a long-term vision and we're just going we're going one step at a time really. So, um, continue to align and strengthen relationships with the city of Rock Island. We're really proud and pleased with the work that we've done so far and continue to do and the cooperation and the partnership with other departments. Um we're all part of the city and when

we work together that's a really good use of everybody's resources, right? But of course there's room for growth. There's always room for more of that. Uh partnerships with public and private entities, repair, rehabilitate, build houses in the West End. We can all see, right, housing is a major issue. West End, throughout Rock Island, throughout the Quad Cities, we we hear about housing quite a bit. So, this is a big part of of what we're looking at. Um, we're we're not experts in housing, but you know what we're good at? We're good at bringing people to the table, leveraging resources, looking for creative solutions, and braiding together different funding sources. Some of them of the some of the funding sources are more restrictive than others. And so we as a nonprofit as well as a department of the city have the opportunity to apply for funding that's a little bit more flexible than some of the the government grants that come through the city. Setting up a community development corporation and a community land trust. These are all in our plan. Um we're we're we're we're giving them a high importance in 2026. We think these are key things that are going to move some of the other agenda items forward. So, we're we're we're moving forward with those in a steady pace. Okay. Um continue the pilots with the C Sentra. They're doing it right now. Um Mid-Americ has another pot of money. It may or may not. We're not exactly sure how much yet. If it's similar to previously or if it's a little bit smaller, we don't know. But we're going to continue to work with Mid-Americ Community Voices represented in conversations that represent the West End. We think that's something else that we that we managed to do pretty well, right? To to listen carefully to our community, to have an ongoing dialogue with our community, not just talking to them, but talking with them and and listening just as important as what we have to say, and bringing those voices forward and keeping them front and center at everything that we do.

Work with the city to invest north 11 street tip funds for the benefit of the tip district. We're in conversations with the community and economic development department. Um but but there we know that that TIF is there. We know that a lot of what's in our plan is aligned with TIFF objectives. Um and we wanted to to mobilize some of those funds for for the the investment of that that TIF district and then neighbors helping neighbors which which third had mentioned earlier. Yeah. So that's 2026 is already quite a bit but beyond that again because this is a longterm vision. So, front and center, we want to mobilize sustainable funding to support our operations. We are in uh year three of a three-year transformation grant from the Quad Cities Community Foundation, and that has allowed us to move forward and really establish a strong foundation from which to grow. It's a three-year grant, however. So, in this year in particular, we are looking for sustainable funding for our operations so that we can continue to focus on the work and not just the fundraising piece of it so we can keep our our team in place. Honestly, if we had three more coordinators, they would be busy immediately. I mean, we've got we've got plenty to do. Um, but finding those sustainable funds to keep keep the team operational and moving along, that's that's a priority for us this year and beyond. mobilize and leverage resources to facilitate development. Okay, when we say resources, right, money, yes, of course, also partnerships, coalition, supportive policies, um community members with, you know, they're huge, huge asset, right? So to mobilize them as an asset for the West End, we're talking about homes. We're talking about when we're talking about development, right? We're talking about homes and housing, talking about land use, we're talking about economic development, the business community. Um we we see huge opportunities, right? And so this is a pretty broad statement,

but this is it's there are more details in our plan. Uh opportunities for employment and job training. This is a big, you know, assets and income is one of our five key impact areas. And in addition to stabilizing neighborhoods, improving the visual appeal, like making sure the housing stock is safe and supportive and healthy for for people, um we want to make sure that they have opportunities to grow their own personal assets. um which includes income and includes wealth, including generational wealth that you pass from one one generation to the next. And finally, at the center of everything that we do, we you know, we we say this all the time. It's not just what you do, it's how you do it. Let me say that one more time. It's not just what you do, it's how you do it. Right? So, our work absolutely centers the community. And the community is not just a geography. It's the humans and the people and the families and the children and the granny's and the grandfathers who live in the community. They're at the center of everything that we do. We're not here to develop for the sake of development. We're here because we believe in the people who live in the West End and we believe they deserve better. So, it's not just what we do, it's how we how we do it. We've walked away from other organizations who have offered and wanted to partner with us because we just didn't feel like our values were aligned. So, um, yes, we want to revitalize the West End. We want to do it in in a way that protects the folks that are there, provides opportunities for the folks that are there, and respects their dignity and their quality of life. That's all we have prepared. Happy to take any questions you may

if I may. All Swanson and I had the opportunity last week to sit down with part of the staff of the West End revitalization. Very informative. But I had one question and what is it that we can do to help you move forward? Thank you.

Appreciate the question. Thank you. Um we we several ideas, right? Number one is be a champion for the West End, right? Um be able to tell our stories. And if you don't feel comfortable today being able to share the story of West End, we'll be happy to talk you through it or or or drive you around and and show you and introduce you to some folks that live there. The more people who are able to champion the West End revitalization, what we're doing at different levels, right? Whether we're at the church, whether at the city council, at different levels, like that's that's going to be helpful for the West End. Another thing that we would suggest is that when you hear about inquiries or people who are looking to invest in the West End or do something in the West End, right, just ask them as people or who in a position of power, um, have you talked to the West End revitalization folks? And just because we we feel like we've got a pretty good um well, we have a a good relationship with our community that's based on trust, right? Um, and we earn that trust and we take that very seriously. It's one of our best assets really. um but to to make sure that people who are looking to do work in the West End are are are are um are talking to us so that we can collaborate and work together. This is part of the collective impact. We we know that that people are working in the West End. It's not always coordinated. It's not always uh aligned. So the more we can do to align the efforts, leverage the resources, make sure we're not duplicating efforts, but actually complimenting and reinforcing each other, the better off we're going to be. I have a couple other ideas. We know you're doing your strategic planning process, right? It's kind of in the early stages, but when we talk about not just what you do, but how you do it and this this value of being person centered and your people are your biggest asset, right? So, keep keep that front and center as you think about your strategic planning. Um, we're looking to have more

formalized partnerships, yeah, with with both the city, departments, other organizations. Right now we're we're you know we said we move at the speed of trust right but we also see an opportunity to have more formal relationships with different organizations and different partners. And finally we we we we want to have open communication with with with council with people who are in a position of power to make decisions about the West End. When we talk about investing in the West End, like I said earlier, it's it's money, but it's also your attention and your enthusiasm and your endorsement and your um making introductions and making connections so that we can carry the work forward. So, we appreciate the open communication. We'd like that to continue. We will continue to reach out to members of council and we're absolutely will welcome your communication with us as well because we we see each other as as as partners.

Well, I appreciate I appreciate presentation today. One of the comments that that you made when we were sitting there at the table was that we're not West Enders, we're Rock Islanders. And I think that we together need to to bring that keep that same idea. So, thank you very much.

I just have a few words. Due to the fact that this organization is also in my ward, it's been a breath of fresh air to just watch you guys grow over the last three years. But I also understand the need to have you guys at the table. Um, I know that funding falls short sometimes and I think that I would love to see the city do a little bit more at making sure that we don't find those gaps any longer. We've got in the first ward that can talk about projects that supposedly was coming a many of times that fell short and it's my job as the first board auditalization would make the difference and so I thank Um, real quick, I did appreciate the meeting that I had with you folks, uh, probably about a month ago, I suppose. I can't remember exactly, but um, someone brought this to my attention, and I'd like to kind of bring this up while we're talking. Maybe we could get the West End group to help with the Metroet situation down there to get some services. Have you had any discussions with them or

not yet? We'd be h we'd be happy to participate in those conversations. We actually have a meeting tomorrow. Okay. I was just trying to make sure that we're maybe they could help that address. Thank you. Good idea.

Rebecca, thank you very much and the whole team. Thank you all very much for the presentation, the good work that you did last year and for the past three years and excited for the future for this project. The biggest takeaway that I received from your presentation is the goal for sustainability. I think that's our number one challenge and that's what needs to get done. I don't have much insight because like alter person Evan said I do not represent this part of town. However, I am aware that we have similar placemaking projects going on both in the first ward and the fifth ward. In my ward, it's been the Rock Island Downtown Alliance. very I mean different communities, different parts of town but a similar overarching placemaking project where there's plenty of longstanding existing constituents and stakeholders that are frustrated um a variety of challenges within these communities and the city and our partners stepping up and trying to change that. Uh, I'll just speak to my experience working with the Rock Island Downtown Alliance because that's what I can speak to and this very important piece of sustainability. I remember when prior to the Rock Island Downtown Alliance existing, when we simply had a contract with the Chamber of Commerce to explore the creation of a placemaking organization in downtown Rock Island and a sustainable funding mechanism, namely the special service area for our downtown. It was always a very delicate threading of the needle between doing placemaking work and building support for the sustainability for continued placemaking

right and I think a lot of people because there is so much pressure from stakeholders from the public they want to see something they're tired they're frustrated they've gone through so many different planning exercises with the city they've lost all hope they don't they don't believe in the city I mean these are the same conversations that you are hearing that I heard plenty in 2020 in down well since 2017 since I've represented downtown Rock Island and so there is an initial reaction to we got to do something right the they got to see something which is an understandable reaction to have all of the focus is we got to do something you miss the long-term aspect of the project of okay we got to do something. But we also need to be making sure that we're setting this up for generational success because as you say, this is a generational project. This is not going to be done in three years from now. So you've got some good initial demonstrations of success. You're showing what a placemaking, if I can be so, you know, if I can call your organization a placemaking organization. You're showing the public what you can do. And now it's your job to convert that into sustainable support. Uh we can do this, but we need investment from the community. We need buy in from the community. And again, I know it is very hard to get the same people who are frustrated and tired to double down on investing in our community. But if you can do that, then the future of the West End will be very bright. So we went through this in downtown. If there's anything that I can lend to this project to make it successful, I don't represent the West End, but we're all one community here in Rock Island. If I can do anything to help, let me know. Thank you.

Can you provide us with uh some storytelling because I know like you said, we should be champions for the West End and as a recent graduate of a nonprofit training, they talked a lot about storytelling. So, are there some examples that you all can provide to us so that we have those stories to tell? You talking about right now or should we meet? No. Okay. Later. Okay. Yes, we we've got lots of stories and we know we can do a better job. There's there's always more stories, but yes, happy to do that.

Yes, ma'am. Um, yes. So, uh, has the West End revitalization, uh, project, have you guys brainstormed or compared notes or framework with, uh, Augustana's new newly developed CDC or the downtown uh, the downtown business association, business alliance?

Yeah. Um, the Augustana CDC, not not quite, but we we have a good relationship, including with Jerry Lac, and we'll we'll sit down with with them um with the downtown. Absolutely. We we've met with Jack. We had a great meeting with DeAndre, our neighbors helping neighbors. We we actually envision this as a sort of a a way to duplicate the ambassadors of of downtown in the West End. So, we we take a lot of inspiration from what's happening downtown.

Um and Jack is is great to collaborate with. Absolutely. You bet. The reason I asked, I wouldn't want any uh any funding opportunity, any any grant opportunity um to miss the West End due to the fact that you know we may not be at the table or we just wouldn't be in the know for that particular area of money. That's why I asked that. And also ma'am um so uh you were saying about the storytelling different things that that we can do and you mentioned that it's it's levels different levels to it. Um yeah you know I'm I'm I'm all about storytelling but I would rather you use me to get funding to bring resources to the area. You know I I I don't want to tell the story. I want to you know at at this position I want to more than talk a story.

So, so, you know, just keep that in mind, you know, when you feed me whatever you're going to feed me, keep that in mind. Thank you. And also, you know, we were talking about

sustainability. And one thing that I do want to bring up um indirectly as far as sustainability, I'm speaking to Third Good and Avery on this one. Um, ma'am, you said that if you guys had three more coordinators, you could put them to work right now to work out there. So, informally, I would ask um Third Good and Avery as pillars of the community of of the, you know, the West End. If we were to have some some trainers, some trainees, some apprentice, you know, some some young people that's following you guys and learning learning from you guys. That to me is another form of sustainability because how we took the torch taking the torch from Terry Brooks um your dad um from Miss Shelley Morai sustainability is bringing on the next generation. So, if we can get some young people that we can teach how to handle business for the community, how to love the community, how to how to how to uh uh collab, how to, like I said, be professional for the good of community, that would be in an indirect way. That would be legacy for us. That would be sustainability. So, you know, keep that in mind as well. If there's anything that I can do um to assist in that, you know, please please let me know. But, you know, other than that, uh, other than that, I I I I I don't have any more questions, but I do want to reiterate what the council has said about, you know, exactly how what we need to do to help you. Um, when it comes to the West End, a lot of people up here are not professionals. Like you said, you guys are professionals, you know, in that regard. So, we need to

know exactly how to help you. It's one thing to say we want to, but it's another thing in knowing how to. And you guys have been very um very articulate with that today. So, I want to keep that line of communication open and build from that as well. And that's all I have.

Anything else? Thank you. Tree maintenance policy presentation. Good evening everyone. So, um, as Mike said, we'll just kind of give a brief overview here of kind of our city tree policies. Next slide, please. We'll just dive right in. Next, next. Next slide, Rob. I would like to delay noted as on Rob August.

All right. So, um, most importantly, what what trees are the city of Rock Island respon is the city of Rock Island responsible for? essentially any tree that's on public p public property. So that would be obviously your public rideways which will be boulevard trees, uh city facilities, parks, random lots we own throughout the city. Those would all be our our responsibility. Private property trees are the responsibility of the homeowner. Um the only time we get involved in that matter is if there's a a clear public safety hazard. So, um, aside from that, responsibility of the homeowner or property owner, uh, reporting tree issues, residents, uh, the most frequent, as Mike said, the most frequent way people are reporting tree issues these days are through CLI fix. Occasionally, we'll get a phone calls uh, from time to time. Um, oftent times, people will report um, a tree that they think is hazardous or it might be uh, overgrown or obstruing the do that sort of thing. Uh and then of course after you know trees do periodically fall down especially after storm events we'll get you know more more requests uh in that regard and uh occasionally you know they get big and start the roots start pushing up the sidewalks you know we get calls on those from time to time all requests are then logged and reviewed by public works so they go in um they're logged into click fix and then we send personnel out valuate the situation. All right. So once once we receive a quest a request, if someone says, "Hey, my tree my tree needs trimming." Trained personnel will go uh go out and inspect the tree on site. Um then we start prioritizing. Obviously, if there's a public safety hazard there, we'll address that um right away. For non-ha

uh non-hazardous issues, we schedule those based on our service level agreements. And uh as a Um just a point of note, we do have a certified arborist on staff and we have a a second employee who's currently uh working on on his certification. So hopefully in the next year here we'll have two arborists on staff. Next slide. So uh we do not remove your tree just because you do not like having a tree in your house and you you don't want want your leaves raped or want to rake leaves. Although that you'd be surprised at how many people call and make that exact request. Uh we only remove them if they're dead, dying. Um there's some sort of hazard there or occasionally you'll have a tree that is just like so overgrown and it's damaging public infrastructure like sidewalks. Just the best course of action is to just remove it. Occasionally you'll get situations where like every time we have a windstorm there's trees in the branch and we're constantly there so it's just cheaper to cut it down and safer uh non-haz hazardous removals we schedule those uh generally try and get those completed within 90 days. Uh obviously if there's a hazard you know we'll do it sooner as opposed to later. Uh occasionally uh which is what you'll see with our tree contract for large or tree we you know our staff is actually very good. moving trees, but every now and again you're in those situations where there's a tree that you know it may not be prudent for us to tackle it ourselves. So we will contract those contract those out and you know our personal they have other responsibilities so we can only keep up with so many trees. So we do solicit contractor assistance to you know stay on top of things. Next slide. Tree trimming um we try to break the city

into quadrants and just kind of work our way you know through the city. Um we we do that on a cosmetic basis and then you know on a request basis. Uh generally speaking trees we try to get them uh trimmed within 30 days. And again there's also series variations here. So you know potholes slow down obviously in the winter time. So we shift gears and like all right now's a good time to work on trees. So it a lot of it is pretty dynamic. Oak trees, you do have certain species. Oaks, they're susceptible to oak will. So you have to trim those after the first frost. Otherwise, there's there's like a fungus that can get in there. So you know, someone has a oak tree, we try not to touch them unless there's immediate hazard until after we had the first frost. Next, u the post removal process. Now, this is a question that I'm sure some of you may have fielded before, but occasionally residents will say, um, you know, hey, the city removed my tree, but the stump's still sitting there. We don't have a stump grinder. So, what we do is, and it, frankly, it's more cost effective just to contract them out. Contract them out. So, what we do is we try and get a cluster of them and then bid it all out at once to get the most favorable pricing. So sometimes, you know, we might cut a tree down, but you won't see that stuck ground until the following the following season. And then uh just just another added note, we do have door hangers that you know, most of the time people I always get perplexed when people say, "Well, I didn't know my tree was going to get trimmed." And it's like, "Well, you were the one that requested it." So, uh, but we do in situations where, um,

we are doing trimming or something that isn't a hazard and it's more proactive, we put door hangers on people's doors that have little boxes that say, "Hey, we're going to be trimming trees on your block." And we set out temporary no parking signs. So, if your constituents call and say, "Oh, why what are what are these no parking signs out here for?" You know, often it's just they didn't see the door hanger. They didn't look at it. Generally speaking, it's it's temporary for for tree trimming. Um we plant approximately 20 to 30 new trees annually in the public rideway in parks. Um actually the West 10 team, they actually helped um get us some funding to do I think we did 70 last year, which was nice. Uh and then we have the 5050 tree program that's also available where a resident can say, "Hey, I want a tree." and then the city pays for half and we pay for half. Um, kind of hesitant to say this out loud, but generally speaking, we don't get a whole lot of participation in the 50/50 tree program. So, usually what we do, we plan on planting 30 trees. If someone says, "Hey, I'd like to take advantage of the 5050 tree program." We would just plant one of our annual trees for them. Um, but again, I said that out loud now. So, a thousand people probably fall tomorrow. Um, another important caveat, not every location, just because there used to be a tree there does not mean it's necessarily a good idea to put the tree down. Okay? So, back in the day, you know, they plant trees everywhere and you got like this tree that's like this thick when they plant it and then you have like a four foot gap between the sidewalk and back of the curb. Now, that tree is 5t wide. kids in the neighborhood have a nice ramp for bikes um digging in people's utilities utilities underneath there power lines. So occasionally we do have to break

people's hearts to say yeah we cut down this tree but unfortunately we can't put one back for you that does that does happen from time to time but generally speaking as we sweep through areas I'll use Alderman Parker's uh uh ward for an example green bush area that had a ton of ash trees they all got wiped out by the emerald ash board we cut down 300 trees in that area and you know we've been trying to pepper them back here. So, all right, trees on private property. Keep it real quick. Um the mayor actually brought we do like a couple of these a year. All right, they're very few and far between. The mayor actually brought one to our attention. This tree was like down in shore acres was being held together with some chains. We had our arborist go out and look at it. Just everything about it was crazy. It goes through Miles's team, the the normal nuisance abatement process where, hey, you get a letter. You got a public hazard here. We got to do something about it. And then if the property owner fails to act, most of the time they do, yeah, really been needing to get rid of that anyways. But if the property owner fails to act, public way works, we'll take it down. And then if you know it's not paid, you know, it does it. So um that's how that works. again they just go through the normal mutant violation process. Next and I will I will say too oftent times you know it's like why am I reporting this tree? Well it's just because I don't like my name. So we we try to keep those field between that. Um so anyh who um we're responsible for any tree that's on public property, private tree owner responsibility unless clear public safety hazard there. Um if the tree has an immediate hazard, we

will address it right away. If not, removals generally 90 days, 30 days on trims. oak trees after the first frost stunt grinding the following season and just encourage everyone to encourage your constituents before things see click fix makes our lives so much easier say hey I got this huge branch it's about to fall you can snap a photo of it and we can say where did I go look at it we're just going to send the bucket truck right there and cut it down so that that is incredibly helpful I think we're on to questions

couple questions um tree on both properties. On private properties, two two different owners. One person doesn't want it, the other person does. What do we do? Are you saying if if somebody wants to cut down? They want Yeah. The owner on the southside wants it cut down because it's leaning over their sidewalk and, you know, just just a a pain in his neck. Sure. For sure. Generally, that decision would be made for us because It's our policy that we don't cut down a tree unless it's dying or some sort of hazard.

Can the homeowner go out there and cut what's on his on his property? I would default to Leslie on that, but my understanding is yes, you can trim a tree overhang the property so long as it does not I wouldn't know off the top of my head because that's private property. I can look at that though for you. I I I get those questions on a regular basis as well as the trees in the park that people don't like. They don't like this tree, but they wonder why this tree was cut down when this tree was more dangerous. And it's it can be a hot mess.

There is It is a hot mess. And there is some there is some legal guidance on that. Last time I checked, it was I was always on the understanding you could trim what was over your property so long as it were not. But I I have the phone. I'm just trying to save you a few phone calls. I'm trying to save more for me. Thank you. What uh what training do we have to teach our residents how to pre how to take care of a tree, how to prevent trees from dying?

Well, we if it's a tree that we plant, um they come with a we we have a in the contract they're they're they have to be guaranteed for so many years. I want to say it's two years and if they die they'll replace them. But the way we do the tree planting is we try to get plant them where people actually want them,

right? And so um when we do that our supervisor will have a conversation with them and generally at that time provide them some guidance on you know, stuff that we don't really expect the resident to do anything. I mean, we we keep an eye on and monitor them, but you know, when they're little, don't run your lawn mower right next to it, scrape it, hit it with the that sort of thing. But that's that's about the extent of it. And we have information on the website as well. So, if if someone just moved into a house and their trees outside and they just want to know what they need to do to to better care for the tree, what what would we suggest to them? Like, water it or put I mean, how how do you take care of a tree? That's what I'm trying to figure out.

There's a lot of So, like if a resident called, I would just direct them to our arborist because it's it's highly variable based on the species of the tree. how old it is, how you know how big it is. So if a resident you know had a question about hey I just like exactly I just bought this house I got this tree we would direct them to our arborist and then he would go out and provide them any kind of feedback. Okay, generally speaking also you know people stuff up online

but a lot of times people don't know what species of tree they have. So our we would direct them to our That's a great place to start. So would our 5050 program would could could that also apply to what the Clean River Advisory Council was just briefing us on about what we need to do here in the city of plant trees along the Mississippi River? I I I I don't I was a little confused by that. I would have because first off the Army Corp Engineers would not allow you to do that because we have a levy. So I So they must have a certain area in mind. So I would have to follow up more with them if they had some like target areas that they were trying to infill in trees on.

Okay. So I I guess I need to know more. Okay. All right. All right. Okay. So uh back back on the 5050 program one more time. have, you know, you brought up you brought up uh uh the situation about the the resident with with a bad tree and it was kind of um um intruding on public safety. So, if the resident if the resident doesn't have the funding to take the tree down, would it make sense for our 5050 program to go on that back end as well?

I would say no because your cost will be substantially orders of magnitude high on on on the city's behalf, it would be substantial. Like if we were you're saying that someone can't afford to take a tree down their yard and then we would split the cost with them to remove it. Yes.

Yeah. I mean, pragmatically it'd be very expensive and then I would say then where do you where do you draw that line between the public space and the private space, right? Like so is your roof bad? Would the city get into the business of paying for half of grew up, you know. So, it's like and and frankly, you know, we have a hard enough time keeping up with our own trees. So, that I think that will really stretch the city's resources if we entered into a space like that. And it and it's a great question because I've wrapped my head around this a lot with because we have our sewer lateral program,

the the insurance programs, and I've thought like, could you do an insurance program for trees? And I've thought about it a lot. I just I just how you could make it work because there's so many of them. Sure. So, but ideas be challenging. Anything else, guys? Um, thank you for doing that. I know I asked you guys to do that, so I really appreciate that. Um, along the lines of trees and leaves, do we have leaf pickup dates set? We do, and I don't have that. You know,

okay, thank you, Luke. Thank you very much for the presentation. I look forward to my new tree in my boulevard this spring. Alderman Parker, one of our recipients of the 5050 tree program that we actually had extra trees. So, I don't have any trees in my new home. So, I'm looking forward to getting one on the boulevard. It's been my recollection and experience serving up here that the vast majority of issues that we have fielded regarding trees is more private trees, right? Yeah.

Um, neighbors complaining that their neighbors tree is dying and hanging over their garage, things to that nature. I do not have a question for public works, so you're off the hook. This is more community development and probably Leslie as well. If I recall correctly, it was always a question of whether we regulate trees on private property, similar to how we regulate sighting on somebody's house, right? You got to have siding on your house because of building codes. Do our building codes do our do our codes regulate trees on private property?

I mean, the lights on, but I don't hear you. How about that?

Oh, there we go. Okay. Huh. Uh the housing and property maintenance code addresses nuisance vegetation. Under that code language, we do site trees when they are stone cold dead. Uh so when an inspector can look at a tree and be like it ain't got a single leaf on it, that thing is going to fall down at some point. Then we will site it. Assessing though like its health beyond that and trying to make determinations somewhere in the middle uh we avoid doing. Uh so often it's the classic scenario. There's a tree right on the property line. one of the neighbors doesn't like that it's there, they point up and say, "Look, there's parts of it with no leaves on it or there's a couple of dead branches hanging in it." We don't site those and we say that's a dispute between the residents on how they best want to maintain the tree. But if it is stone cold dead, we do site it and the process is as presented.

Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you, sir. Agenda item seven,

a proclamation declaring Thursday, April 2nd, 2026 is Junior Achievement Day. proclamation proclamation. Whereas the city of Rock Island will observe Junior Achievement Day on the first Thursday in April as an opportunity to recognize and celebrate Junior Achievement of the Heartland for empowering our young people to own their economic success. Whereas Junior Achievement of the Heartland's educational contribution equips our young people to become the next generation of productive employees and self-sufficient citizens to ensure the economic prosperity of Rock Island. Whereas it is fitting for parents, educators, businesses, and members of the community to join Junior Achievement's effort to ensure the future success and economic health of our young people and the communities in which they live. Now therefore, I, Ashley Harris, mayor of the city of Rock Island, do hereby proclaim official recognition of April 2nd, 2026 and every first Thursday of April hereafter as Junior Achievement Day in the city of Rock Island dated this 23rd day of March, 2026. Thank you. Agenda item eight, public comment.

first name Heather Poston or Boston. I'm sorry, man.

Good evening. Can you hear me now?

Okay. Coron passed due to complications of asthma on November 6, 2025. Um, this April 1st would be would have been his 11th birthday. Um, this is a invite only event um for his family, his friends, uh, the staff from his school, also um the football team and the basketball team that he played on. Um we're going to just do a celebration of life, let some balloons go and have hot dogs for the kids. Um we will be responsible for cleanup. Um and we're just asking that the city close that street off um in front of the cemetery so we can celebrate and as I said bring awareness to asthma. Any questions? Sorry, we don't we don't do back and forth public comment, but if there's a question when we get to that agenda item, they might call you back up.

Okay. Thank you.

Next name, Shade. ICE has been reported, sorry, ICE has been reported to use the property of 211 19th Street in Rock Island as a holding facility. As a citizen of Rock Island, I'm requesting this to be investigated and stopped. Not only is this facility reportedly designated as a courthouse and therefore not legally allowed to hold persons, but we are also far outside the range of ICE border control enforcement and jurisdiction, meaning ICE has no legal power and any action it takes in Rock Island is extrajudicial, meaning any ICE personnel are acting outside of the law. Outside of utter disrespect for law and order, economically, having the presence of ICE in our downtown will only drive people away from spending their time and money here. This will damage businesses and possibly even the reputation of Rock Island. We have a strong immigrant population and many of them will not want to spend or work in Rock Island. Morally, it is outrageous to have armed thugs arresting people left and right without any due process. ICE has already shown themselves to racially profile and disregard citizen status. Finally, from a humanitarian perspective, ICE consistently disregards human rights. These are just a few reasons that ICE should be chased off and abolished. So, I stand before you to ask that you investigate and stop illegal ICE activity at 2119th Street, push ICE out of Rock Island entirely, and that you keep our neighborhood safe from thugs acting outside the law. If you do not heed my warning, as those most directly responsible for Rock Island, the safety and lives of our immigrant population, as well as the blood of the next Alex Prey, will be on your hands. Thank you for your time. Thank you, sir. Agenda item nine, update Rock Island.

Update Rock Island. Coffee with a Cop. Tomorrow morning is your chance to engage in conversation and coffee with some of Rock Island's finest. Come out to Coffee with a Cop at Awake Coffee Company, 14:30 4th Avenue, Rock Island, Tuesday morning from 900 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Get a head start on spring gardening. The 2026 seed library is officially open at all three Rock Island Library locations. The primary catalog with the largest amount of seeds is in down is in the downtown branch, 4019th Street. Smaller catalog collections available at our Southwest and Watts Midtown branches. The giveaway is limited to five free seed packs per household to start. Free tax assistance with help from volunteers from United Way of the Quad Cities. The Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center is offering free tax services until April 4th on the following days. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 5:00 p. p.m. until 8:00 pm and on Saturdays from 9:00 am until noon. The services are walk-in only and are on a first come, first- serve basis with limited spots available. For more information or questions about the program, call their office directly at 563-355-4310. And I would also like to take a moment to give a special shout out to the birthday boy in the back, Mr. Jerry Jones. His birthday was yesterday. He is the director of the Martin Luther King Junior Center. So, everyone, please wish Mr. Jones a happy birthday. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday. That's for you, sir. Thank you for everything you do. And now I would like to ask the council

to move agenda item 17 so we can discuss that next. So move. Motion to move item 17. Can I Can I get a second? Second. Okay. Thank you. Um any discussion? Are we is the motion to are we voting on amending the agenda so that we vote on this item or are we voting on the item itself?

No, we're voting to move the item so we can discuss it next. Okay. They're here and their item is on the agenda and I don't want I don't want to eat up all their night.

So I'm trying to figure out what motion is actually probably the proper ocean motion. I think we need a motion to suspend the rules to allow us to discuss item 17 out of order. So that would just require a two-thirds majority for the vote to go ahead and consider that item now. So if you um want to redo your motion, I don't remember. I think it was Alderman Evans to motion to suspend the rules and take into consideration item number 17 at this time. what Leslie just said. Perfect. And then Alderman Barnes, is your second? Yes. Okay. So now we just need a two-3 vote. Sorry, two3s vote on that. So is there any discussion?

For future reference, we should have done this on item number five though, correct? When we voted to approve the agenda. So correct. Okay, understood. Uh, roll call, please. Alder President Parker, I. Pulis. Key. Hi. Evans. Yes. Hi, Barnes. Hi, Miss Swanson. Hi. Agenda item 17,

a report from the clerk's office regarding a request from Shakenya Wright to close 12th Street between 29th and 31st Avenues for a celebration of life event. For the sake of discussion, I'll second. Okay. I have a first and a second. Is there any discussion?

I guess this since this is in ward three, I'll start the discussion. Um I am Linda Barnes, older woman for W three. um the area that you want to have closed. Um the area that you're you're requesting to be closed. Um so first of all, uh my condolences on your loss. Um as a parent who has also lost a son, I do understand, you know, the grief and the pain you're going through. So um my decisions or discussions has nothing to it's not a personal, you know, anything personal. about what you're requesting. But as an older person for that area, I have to consider uh the impact, you know, on the residents of that area. And um I first heard about this when you actually submitted the application. So I had not heard about you all wanting to do this, so I haven't had an opportunity to talk to you. Um, so based on what I'm seeing, I I do have concerns as far as if this is approved, you know, then setting a residence where other residents may want to do the same, especially since it's in that cemetery area. So, I do kind of I do worry about the impact that it would have on other, you know, on the residents if other people decide to do the same thing. So that's my main concern.

I just believe that they would have to take the necessary steps as we did and come here and speak and say what it is because as I stated this is an invite only. And just to add, there was a petition that was circulated and on the petition there was only one resident out of the three that uh denied it that actually uh chose not to. Everyone else on that block chose to sign that petition in favor of this event once they found out what the event was. And that was turned in on Friday. should be in the documents.

I have it I have a copy of it right here. And you know, I will say uh that I will say that, you know, this is a an event that, you know, I would like to see happen. I know that it is a is a heartbreaking occasion for the family who have been, you know, Rock Island residents for a long time, long long time. So, my heart goes out to you for that. And with it just being um a two-hour event, I I you know, I I I I I would like to see us allow that to happen. You know, they stated they stated before that they have, you know, this is a big event for them. You know, they have uh members of the high school um athletic team coming to do a portion of the memorial. Um it it's it's asthma awareness and it's only for two hours. And I would say that originally um there were a couple residents that that weren't in agreeance with this, but that has changed now and they have signed off on allowing this to happen. So So you know, I want to reiterate it's just for two hours. here. I've heard, you know, other other concerns about um you know, the residents may not live in that part of town, but you know, we see that we see that all the time when it comes down to block parties. You know, people people close off areas that they don't live in. And with with the cemetery being there, I mean, that is, you know, the location that they would want this to take place. So, you know, um um I would I would I would ask the council um to just take into consideration that it's only two hours um the occasion, all the time and energy that they have invested in this and and and you know, just just look at all that with your decision and that's

all I have. So, just to follow up, you we are asking for an additional hour prior to for setup. So, you're asking for 2 Right. Yes. Because we were going to have hot dogs for the children. Okay. And that was just to get the grill out there and make sure that they stay hot. Then it looks like maybe that street would be closed for probably over 3 hours cuz if it ends at 5, then it'll probably be an additional half an hour. So the clean up and get the street reopen. It would be done by five. The cleanup. Yes.

We have garbage cans that we can set out there. We're just hot dogs and hamburgers, some juices. These kids are anywhere from, I would say, 9 to 11 years old. They know how to throw their things away. So, we should be cleared by five. So, again, um, as the war three representative, again, I'm kind of looking at the future impact and I'm only one vote. So, more than my vote is probably going to be not to close but you know just need a majority of votes to for to proceed. Okay. Thank you.

I withdraw my second. I'm I'm confused when I look at this. I see there's three objections on here. Hold on. Dylan withdrew his second. So I think I need a new second. So can I have just for discussion? Do you want to second it just for discussion purposes? I second just so I can ask why you said it was changed yet I see on here there's three separate you know disapprovals of this and you said they redacted those or

okay there's three against them Okay, I'm just looking at

that's not three of the disapprovals on here. So that's why I was just uh questioning. So it's okay. Two of the disapprovals signed that petition. Did they? Okay. Yeah. All right. And I I have a copy of that right here, Bill, as well. Would you like this copy that? Is there any more discussion? Clerk, please call the RO. Aler President Parker, no. Pulis, no. Healey, no. Evans, yes. Hurt, no. Barnes, no.

And Swanson, yes. Motion fails.

Um, okay. Um, I'll Yeah, you guys, you guys want to do this on April the beginning, April 1. Um, I'll I'll I'll get with you guys offline and um we'll see if if there's something that we can do um um to accommodate um you know what you guys want to do. It may not be in that exact area, but we'll you know, you know, I I I'll work with your order person as well. And you know, this is something that we would still like to um see you guys have a celebration. Okay. Thank you.

Go ahead. I got I have no I get up every day as a single mother. I work in healthc care for 17 years. I've never been late. I've never been late. Do you know how I feel to go to work if my baby lost his life and I still go to work? I might take care of your mom. I might take care of your daddy. I might take care of your auntie. I might TAKE CARE OF YOUR BROTHER. AND I STILL GO EVERY DAY KNOWING THAT MY BABY was sent home. And they told my baby he was going to be okay. My baby got sent home at 4:30 in the evening. My baby woke up at 8:00 in the morning for me to give him his medicine. He could not breathe. He He stopped breathing, dropped his breath. I live I bought me a new house so he could be as close as he could be to the ambulance. I I drove from my house to the ambulance. It's five minutes away. It took the ambulance 11 minutes to get to my house. Ain't no way in hell my baby should not BE LIVING RIGHT NOW. AND ALL I'M ASKING IS FOR Y'ALL TO BLOCK THAT STREET OFF AND YOU CAN'T DO IT. I pay my taxes every year on time. And I'm not even a criminal. You pull me up right now. I never get this. You know how I feel. And I'm ASKING for because I don't want nobody else to get hurt.

That's what I'm asking for. Okay, let me speak. I'm mad. Yes, I'm mad. Okay, that's enough. It's enough. I'm your grand and I think you are the send your people to come and get people from my NURSING HOME. YES, I DO. AND ALL. I'M NOT MAD AT YOU, BUT I'M MAD EVERYBODY.

You don't have to apologize for her. No, I'm not apologize. No apologies needed.

Ma'am, talking to the mic, please. and my grandkar child They sent him home after being one day not awareness young. is children. We need to in your heart. Not too

I learned there'll be There will not be any Have you reached out to the cemetery, ma'am?

Have you reached out to the cemetery to see if you can have it on their property? I'm sorry. Have you reached out to the cemetery to see if you can adminate? And what did they say? sounds.

The problem is is the grass. The why they chose to have it in the street is because of the pollen and stuff in the grass. So that's why they chose to use the street in front of his grave site. I think like the mayor suggested, we can talk about this later. I don't think that right now we are going to sort out all of the details. I think all of us up here are sympathetic to your situation, but now is not the appropriate time to sort out all of these details. I would encourage us to have more conversations tomorrow.

Ma'am, I wanna I'll uh I'll get with you. I'll get with you off fly, ma'am. We'll uh you know, we'll we'll think of something now. And I do want to thank uh you and your family for your time. I know how hard and difficult it is to physically come here, you know, spend half your night here and then be disappointed by a decision. I'm I'm I'm I'm heartbroken for you in in a lot of different regards right now. So, um, I'll get with you tomorrow and and once again, I appreciate you you coming to, uh, to plead your case. Agenda item 10, a report from the economic development department regarding a resolution in support of an application for the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunities Regional Site Read and Programs Planning Grant. Motion to adopt the resolution for the sake of discussion. Second.

I have a first and a second. Is there any discussion? Is this what we talked about at the last council meeting? Yes. This would be for the sun south sun south site and speaking to the older people who expressed concerns about this. Have there been conversations since then about this? Frankly, I'm the I'm in the hot seat. I vote first and I'm wanting to know how my colleagues are feeling about this. I have not had any discussions about this.

I have not either. So I think this is only giving the approval to apply for the grant and then once we find out if we if we don't get it a non-event. If we do get it then at that point we can have a conversation on how much we get and how much the city would pay and if the city would pay that or if we would go to property owners to pay that. If that's my understanding is correct. That's the way I take it. Am I correct?

I thought we answered the questions that were asked at the last meeting. I don't think that's the case. So, I would defer to the economic development economic development department, but um in the memorandum that Tara submitted, you'll see that the maximum requirement from the city would be $30,000 total. So that's kind of the monetary figure that you would be looking at. I think that was one of the questions that the city had. It'll be paid from tip funds.

It's my understanding that the concerns from the council were should we be responsible for this match? So by voting on this resolution, are we committing ourselves to paying this match? And if not, what future action will be brought before the city council that will make that decision? If we vote on the resolution tonight, are we voting on and we get approved? Does it come back to the city council for expenditure or by voting on this resolution? Are we committing funds? If we are approved,

we would have to do a budget adjustment fund. I mean it doesn't make sense to me for us to apply for this grant if we are not committed to local match.

No, I wouldn't approve it if you're not committed to making a match. Again, the argument for for why the city would pay for the match. We invest a lot of money in economic development to get a return on investments in the property. Uh here you're going to leverage $30,000 to get $150,000 worth of work done. It's going to make this site much easier to market. So for an industrial user, you know, the site has the potential of millions of dollars versus property taxes has the potential for hundreds of jobs to come to the city. And that that's why we would invest $30,000 to make that happen.

Well, I personally I'm not in favor of committing $30,000 of that money to to benefit the two land owners. um that we're talking about to develop on. I'm just giving my take on. I don't know why the there's a lot of things we could do $30,000 if it's tiff money or what have you. I mean, I would defer to Rust accounts on their opinion on this, but I feel like we're committing that'd be $30,000 on a on a whatif down the road. And that 30,000 is benefiting the two property owners.

I think I would be comfortable if staff had conversations with the older people who have expressed concerns about this about what would make us more comfortable with approving this. I I I understand that there is a public benefit. That's why we have economic development staff, right? We spend public funds to further economic development because there is a public good. But if there are concerns from city council, perhaps we should have conversation about that before We vote on this to figure out what could make council members who have concerns more comfortable with allocating these public resources to this end. So, I would table I will make a motion to table until the next city council meeting.

What uh what time frame what time frame what time frame are you guys on with this? Wait, wait, wait. We've got a motion to table in a second. You can't debate a motion to table. No. Um, do we have a second for the motion to table? Randy did. Okay. So, yeah, we would immediately move to a vote on that. Any discussion on that? There's no discussion on a motion to table. So, motion to table has to be because it's the next council meeting. The table is the appropriate uh motion. So, we would go ahead and proceed on the vote for that. Roll call, please. All the person. Parker, I Evans. Yes. Hurt. Hi. Barnes. Hi. I

agenda item B. An ordinance amendments establishing permit extension procedure. Second reading. Motion to pass the ordinance. Second. I have a first and a second. Is there any discussion? Roll call, please. Alder Parker. Hi. Pulis. Hi. Healey. Hi. Evans. Yes. Kurt. Hi. Barnes. Hi. And Swanson. Hi. Agenda item C, an ordinance amendment establishing a fixed annual rental registration date. Second reading. Move to pass orders. Second. There's been a first and a second. Is there any discussion?

Due to me being regulated by this, I need to recuse myself from this vote. Roll call, please. Alder President Pulis. I. Healey. I. Evans. Yes. Hurt. Hi. Barnes. Hi. And Swanson. Hi. Agenda item B, an ordinance providing for a change in zoning at the Sunset South site from C2 to I1. Second reading. Motion to pass the ordinance. Second. I have a first and a second. Is there any discussion? Roll call, please. Alder President Parker. I. Pulis. I. Healey. I. Evans. Yes. Hurt. Hi. Barnes. Hi. And Swanson.

Hi. Agenda item E, an Illinois state revolving loan program ordinance for the Mil Street anorobic digesttor rehabilitation project. Second reading. Motion to pass the ordinance. Second. There's been a first and a second. Is there any discussion? Roll call, please. Alder prison. Parker, I. Pulis. I. Healey. I. Evans. Yes. Hurt. Hi. Fn. I. And Swanson. I. Agenda item F. An ordinance amending chapter 8, article 2, division three of the code of ordinances regulating fire alarm systems and false alarm. Second reading. Motion to pass the ordinance. Second.

There's been a first and a second. Is there any discussion? Roll call, please. Alder prison. Parker. I. Pulis. I. Healey. I. Evans. Yes. Hurt. Hi. Barnes. I. And Swanson. I. Agenda item 11. A report from the community development department regarding an ordinance providing for a in zoning from C2 to B4 for property with the following pin 1620004 first reading. Motion to approve the change in zoning from C2 to B4 highway business and conserve the ordinance. Second. I have a first and a second. Is there any discussion? Roll call, please. Alder Parker. I. Evans, yes. Hurt. Hi. Barnes,

hi. And Swanson, I. Agenda item 12, consent agenda items A through D. Motion to approve consent agenda items A through D. Second. There's been a first and a second. Is there any discussion? Roll call, please. Alder person Parker. I Healey. I Evans. Yes. Hurt. Hi. Fren. I. And Swanson. I. Agenda item 13. Claims A through H. Mot to allow claims A through H. Second. I have a first and a second. Is there any discussion?

Mike, regarding the payment for engineering services to CDM Smith for the water treatment plant domes project. Where are we at on that? I know the Highland Park neighbors had provided some input. I know I've inquired about uh well is part of CDM's project uh what to do with the existing domes afterwards? I've inquired about potential commercial development there on 18th Avenue. Uh where's this project at?

Your question was is CDM Smith's contract does it include options for the tank? I understand you correctly. Well, I guess first off, where are we at with the project?

So, we're at the 30% design phase. We're pushing to proceed beyond the 30%. It's a $1.5 million contract. Um, we're looking to come back before the the uh neighborhood organization that we had meetings with previously um to present the final I shouldn't say final, but um more polished drawings, I'll say. We've had good discussions with them. they seem to be generally in agreement with our our proposals before. Um but yes, that that portion of having those conversations with the neighborhood group isn't CDM's contractor scope.

Okay. And my second question is what to do with where the domes are currently part of the scope of their project. It is. And um if my recollection is correct, the initial meetings that we had was to to push the domes further to the east um being proposed which was more in the northwest corner of that area. Um and so that's that's the way we're proceeding current with currently. And so that would free up the property along 18th Avenue there where the domes currently are. It would be empty, right?

Yeah. Essentially, um half of that property, you're looking at it from the avenue, 18th Avenue north to the 16th Avenue, the northern would be occupied with our structures. The southern half would be potentially available, right? And we've got potential commercial development where the domes are. We've got parks, you know, interest in that site. Is figuring out that of what to do with the site post dome's gone part of CDM's contract? No.

Okay. it'll be regraded and shaped for any future development. Um once the we remove the structures that are there currently and then once that's removed we'll grade and restore it to a grassy area and then any discussion would be outside of their contract for future development or uses. So would that would that qualify as being site ready or not?

Like like When when would they get done? You said they're going to regrade and and do all these things. Would that be considered sight readiness for another project? Fairly close. Say majorish. My guess would be probably sewer, things like that, electric would be, but the infrastructure. I guess the reason that I inquired about CDM is because Again, we've got sort of three competing interests for that general area, right? We've got public works needs for the plant. We've got parks needs because it's an existing parks location. And then, of course, there's the ever present need for commercial development in our city. And so, depending on what we do for the public works portion of this project, that impacts parks, that impacts potentially commercial development. And so before we even think about whether we have utilities in place and site readiness, do we want commercial development there or do we want parks? You know, I mean that's the decision that we need to make before we make the decision about site readiness. And that's why I was asking if this was part of our contract with CDM. If not, at some point I want to have those conversations. Like I said, that's not part of their contract. Any more discussion? Is everyone familiar where we are?

I couldn't hear you. Thank you. So, the work that's been done on the dome, uh, the payment on this, that's has already been completed. Thank you. Thank you. Does everyone know where we are? Okay. No more discussion. Roll call, please. Alder person. Parker. I. Pulis. Hi. Hely. I. Evans. Yes. Hurt. Hi. Barnes. and agenda. Item I

report from the public works department regarding payment to Miller trucking a Silvis Illinois for an emergency water main repair at 4411 Blackhawk Road in the amount of $17,396.35. Motion to allow the claim. Second. I have a first and a second. Is there any discussion? Due to the nature of my employment, I need to recuse myself from this vote. Roll call please. Alder personis I. Healey I. Evans. Yes. Hi. Barnes. Hi. And Swanson. Hi. Agenda item J.

Report from the public works department requesting authorization to purchase equipment and vehicles according to the Rock Island Arsenal Agreement in the amount of $1,64,52.90. Motion to approve purchase. Sorry. Go ahead. Motion to approve purchase. There's been a first and a second. Is there any discussion? Yes. When will the funds be received from the arsenal? I know coming up there's also a loan agreement. Um but do we know will it be like on a quarterly basis or

It is scheduled to be quarterly payments back to us the city. It's not based on like we're spending 1.6 million then for that quarter we'll receive that 1.6 million or is it kind of split out? It's it's it's spread out amongst and I can follow up with further details but it is it's not all upfront and the loan is um over believe it's a fiveyear or sixyear loan we're requesting. It's a fiveyear loan. Yeah. But the the the amorization back is built into the contract over the life of the contract.

Hey, do you guys remember when Luke was presenting on this and he acted like it was absurd that we bid it at $5 a gallon gas? Woohoo.

Yeah, we anticipate it up early. I can't remember the exact Any more discussion? Roll call, please. All the person Parker. Hi. Pulis. I. Healey. I. Evans. Yes. Kirk. Hi. Barnes. Hi. And Swanson. Hi. Agenda item 14. A report from the economic development department regarding a lease agreement between city of Rock Island and Qu City Wood Turners. Move to approve the lease and authorize the city manager to execute the agreement subject to minor attorney modifications.

I have a first and a second. Is there any discussion? Yes. Just for

you know public knowledge. Why is it that they uh can lease the building for $1 per per month instead of the market rate amount? They've been in the building for a number of years since they first acquired it. They did put significant effort into the remodel of the building. So they've been in there for a number of years. Our goal is to transition away from this and either get to sell the property, but this will how long will this be? How long is the upcoming lease agreement?

One year. Year. Okay. Correct. So we can terminate it at any time within 90 days if we were to find a buyer or a purchaser of the building. Understood. Understood. Is there any more discussion? Roll call, please. Alder person Parker. I pul I Evans. Yes. Hurt. Hi. Barnes. Hi. And Swanson. Hi. Agenda item B. Report from the economic development department regarding a lease between the city of Rock Island. Scott Scott doitter. Motion to approve the lease and authorize the city manager to execute the agreement subject to minor attorney modifications.

I have a first and a second. Is there any discussion? Roll call, please. Alder prison Parker. Hi. Pulis. Hi. Healey. I. Evans. Yes. Hurt. Hi. Barnes. Hi. And Swanson. Hi. Agenda item C. Report from the finance department regarding an intergovernmental agreement. between the Illinois office of the comproller and the city of Rock Island for participation in the local debt recovery program. Motion to approve the IG and authorize the city manager to execute a document subject to minor attorney modifications. There's been a first and a second. Is there any discussion?

Yes. This has been a long time coming. So glad to see it. Clerk, please call the role. Elder person Parker, I. Phulis, I Healey, I. Evans, yes. Hurt, I. Barnes, I and Swanson. Hi. Agenda item B. Report from the Finance Department regarding a proposal to finance up to 1.5 million from American Bank and Trust, Rock Island, Illinois to purchase new vehicles and equipment. Motion to approve the proposal and authorize the city manager to sign the loan documents subject to minor attorney modifications. Second.

I have a first and a second. Is there any discussion? Roll call, please. All the person I Evans. Kurt. Hi. Barnes. Hi. And Swanson. Hi. Agenda item E. Report from the public works department regarding bids for the 2026 municipal tree contract. Recommending the bid be awarded to Advantage Tree Services in Arbor Masters Company Downport, Iowa in the amount of $37,642. Motion to award the bid is recommended and authoriz.

I have a first and a second. Is there any discussion? Trees are us rock. I'm not going to ask how far their vehicles off, but okay. Any more discussion? Roll call, please. Alder person Parker. I Healey I Evans S Hurt I Barnes I and Swanson I agenda item F.

Report from the parks and recreation department regarding bids for mowing services and recommending the bid be awarded to Kimble in the amount of $81,175. Motion to award the bid as recommended and authorize the city manager to execute the contract subject to minor attorney modifications. I have a first and a second. Is there any discussion? Clerk, please call the role. Alder Parker, I Evans. Kurt, I. Barnes, I and Swanson. Hi. Agenda item G.

Report from the fire department regarding a bid from BState Masonry Incorporated for the Central House Masonry Restoration in the amount of $39,17. Motion to accept the bid as recommended the authorized state manage to agreement subject to minor attorney modifications. There's been a first and second. Is there any discussion? Chief, the memo was unclear. Perhaps I just didn't read it. Well, did we get more than one bid or did we just solicit the bid from the one contractor?

We had two bids. And did we run? We have the responsible bidder ordinance. Did we apply the requirements of the responsible bidder ordinance when considering these bids? Thank you. Any more discussion? Roll call, please. Parker, I Evans. Yes. Hurt. Hi. Hi, and Swanson. Hi. Agenda item H. Report from the police department regarding a new 5-year agreement with Axon Enterprise Incorporated for the Axon body camera system and services.

Motion to approve the agreement and authorize the city manager to execute the document subject to minor attorney modifications. There's been a first and a second. Is there any discussion? Yes. So, questions on this contract? So it's um so it's like an early renewal. Were there is there an extension in the contract to go an additional number of years?

Typically the contract with Axon is five years. Um but we were locked into a fiveyear price lock last time. That five years now is up. in order to uh get us going into another five years. They wanted to start it a year early and make keep the same year of cost and the last year and then the remaining four years is just going to be redistributed.

Just remind me is there a competitive bidding for I know this is normally everybody has this all over the United States. Is there no competitive bidding for uh the body cams?

There isn't in this case uh because realistically there's only one other company that can provide uh the body cameras at the level that we're using now. In addition to body cameras, taser tasers are also provided through Axon which no other company has that those are just part of the agreement as well. On top of that, we have about tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of hours of evidence that is on evidence.com video and which we share with the state's attorney's office. It just simply wouldn't be feasible to go to another company at this point until somebody else comes up with something a little more competitive. And I and I would say that if we did make a change to another company, um it probably would be just Any more discussion?

Roll call, please. Alder person Parker. Hi. Pulis. I. Haley. I. Evans. Yes. Kurt. Hi. Barnes. Hi. And Swanson. I. Agenda item. I report from the legal department regarding acceptance of the donation from Eagle's Nest of the QC for the property located at 217 15th Street, Rock Island, Illinois.

Motion to accept the donation and authorize city attorney to prepare all documents and title. There's been a first and a second. Is there any discussion

before I vote to approve accepting this property? I've had conversations with the city manager about exploring uh a site assessment and reuse study for the property. And this is a talking about spending $30,000 worth of public funds for potential economic development. We're talking about taking on a liability and having taxpayers fund it. Uh, do we still intend to reach out to Landmarks Illinois and inquire about a condition assessment and reuse evaluation? Again, they work with people that provide those proono very affordable. We're planning on doing that first. If we acquire this property,

we will do that. We also undertake some kind of process to offer it people who might be interested in rehabing similar to what we did with fire station. Okay. Thank you. Discussion. Roll call, please. All the person I Evans. Yes. Hurt. Hi. Barnes I and Swanson I. Agenda item 15, budget adjustments A through D. Motion to approve budget adjustments A through D.

Second. I have a first and a second. Is there any discussion? Roll call, please. Alder Parker. I. Pulis. Hi. Haley. Hi. Evans. Yes. Hurt. Hi. Barnes. Hi. And Swanson. Hi. Agenda item 16, a report from the community development department regarding the 2025 CDBG consolidated annual performance and evaluation report. Motion to accept the report and direct staff to submit. There's been a first and second. Is there any discussion?

Miles, congratulations and thank you to your team for another successful year of managing our CDBG program. have conversations furthered about our efforts to publicize the good work that we've done. Yes, I believe that is a conversation that's ongoing and we'll continue to find ways to get the good word out. Um, for folks who don't have a context for this, you know, we don't really receive a large CWG allocation. It's only about a million dollars, which in the scope of the full full city budget isn't too much, but we stretch those really far and cover a lot of different subjects with it. So, Definitely a story that we should be telling more and talking about all that's accomplished.

Any more discussion? Roll call, please. All the person Parker I. Pulis I. Healey. I. Evans. Yes. Kurt I. Barnes. Hi. And Swanson. Hi. Agenda item 18. Does anyone have any business to discuss? Old or new? Nothing. Okay. Well, agent item 19,

close session 5CS120-C 1, the appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance, or dismissal of specific employees of the public body or legal council for the public body. and 5 ILCS 120-2 C2 collective negotiating matters between the public body and its employees or their representatives. Move to enter into close session for the exception cited. Second. All in favor say I.