Community Relations Commission - Regular Meeting

All right, it is 5.31 and we do have a quorum. So I will call this meeting of the City of Rockford Community Relations Commission to order. I am here because Commissioner Crudup could not be here tonight, so I am your chairman pro temp. Thank you. Could I have the clerk call the roll, please?

Commissioner Barrero?

Present.

Commissioner Bravo? Absent. Commissioner Crudup? Absent. Commissioner Garwick? Present. Commissioner Johnson? Absent. Commissioner Call?

Here.

Commissioner Martin? Absent. Commissioner Paquela? Present. Commissioner Shanklin?

Present.

You have a quorum.

All right, the next item on our agenda is acceptance of the journal. Have you all taken a look at that? Were you able to take a look at it? And I would like a motion to accept that.

Motion takes seven.

All right, Commissioner Pella has given us a motion. Do we have a second? Second. All right. I would like to ask for the yeas and nays.

Who did the motion? I did. Who seconded? Garwin. Thank you. Sorry.

Okay. Could I ask for a vote on that?

All in favor? All in favor? Aye.

Sorry, I'm a little rusty. Aye. Okay, given that there's no nays, we will go on to our next action item or item, which is just information only, and that is under communications. Mayor Neal would like to have at least one of the open door meetings, like former Mayor McNamara had with our commissioners, the Community Relations Commission. So she would like to have that one on September the 25th from 10 o'clock to noon. And if you are interested in meeting with Mayor Neal, could you please let- Haley. Haley. Let Haley know in the mayor's office.

Yes.

Very good.

Yes.

Chairman, what's the day, what day is that?

That is September the 25th, and the time is from 10 until noon. And Larry, I think you told me. Yeah, Larry, I think you told me those are half hour increments, is that right? however they however they want to schedule them out yes okay you have the opportunity we wouldn't want to have a quorum of course at one time but you have the opportunity if you'd like to come in with another commissioner or perhaps two other commissioners i think we'd be limited to three is that right or not what's your what's your thought we might be back down to two because we have two vacancies Oh, okay. So only two, but if you do want to come in with another commissioner, you're welcome to. And what would be the deadline for letting Haley know? On September 25th.

I mean, I'd let her know at least a week in advance, maybe the Friday before, so the 18th.

That would be wonderful if we could take advantage of that. The next item on our agenda is public speakers. We have no registered public speakers and indeed there is no one in the audience. So this next item is for information only. And Commissioner Martin asked maybe a few months ago for us to learn, thought it would be great if we as a commission learned a little bit more about the code enforcement process. So you ask and we receive. We have with us tonight our Assistant City Attorney, Tomiko Ballard. All right.

Testing. Good evening. Thank you to the Community Relations Commission for the invitation. I am here to give an informal discussion about the code enforcement process. So by way of introduction, the code enforcement process takes place here. So if you say, well, Attorney Ballard, what do you guys do? It is here from Wednesday from 1 to 4. If your car was towed and you believe it was unconstitutional, you get a date here before an administrative hearing judge that sits in that seat. If you fail to cut your grass and we cut it for you, you have to come here. If you are a hoarder and we have to inspect your home and tell you to clean it up, I'm not saying the dishes in the sink, but clothing, old food, different things like that, you get to come here. If your utilities are off, you get to come here. If you are repairing your car in the front yard, you get to come here.

We have three types of cases that come here, actually four.

If you decide one more to have a party at three o'clock in the morning and your neighbors call the police, imagine that you get to come here and you get to meet me. And I am the prosecutor for those matters. I just had a hearing last week. Someone had 175 of their closest friends at 4 o'clock in the morning for a repass.

And they were wondering why they were ticketed.

And so I told the hearing officer that I did not want my dog to make a sound at 4 o'clock in the morning. So I don't know why he thought it was appropriate to have 175 people outside. So these are the kind of things that take place in the code enforcement process. So today we're going to talk about goals and statutory authority, process and data, legal, and I'm going to make some closing remarks. Our code enforcement process is statutorily based. We are non-home rule, so we get all of our authority from the Illinois General Assembly. We are here not to take your property away from you, but to maintain standards. You don't want to have a graduation party, and you take all this time, you worry your spouse to death, cut the grass, put the flowers out, and your next-door neighbor's home, their grass is not cut, and it's July, and they still have their Christmas mementos outside. So that's why it's called a standard. We're here to abate it. So if you come to court and say, Attorney Ballard, your inspector came out and I didn't like their attitude, but we have cleaned everything up. Everything on this list has been resolved. We say, Viola, we're going to dismiss it. Thank you. But if you don't take our honey-do lists seriously, then we're here to fine you. As you will see in later slides, if it gets to the point that your roof is caving in, that you have electrical wires out, that it is 30 degrees in your apartment and you have tenants, then you will find yourself not in this room, but in the circuit court of Winnebago County 17th Judicial District before Judge Fabiano or Judge Bartsch. We prioritize our complaints. So if your neighbor is saying, Commissioner Shanklin, she is not getting her grass cut, she's getting on my nerve, I have talked to her or I have not talked to her. I believe it is greater than four inches. If we have to come out and send our inspectors and then they don't take our letters seriously and we have to cut it, then we're going to put a lien on your house because why are we doing your landscaping? So, which brings me to my next point, which is cost recovery. If we have to send you a bill because we have to cut your grass or we have to demolish or God forbid you have a fire, we're going to attach a lien to your property for that. And so we want to recover these costs. The system that we have in place now addresses 80% of the concerns. We are a non home rule municipality. Our authority is limited to rights expressly granted in our Illinois law and constitution. The way we, in legal, I work closely with the community and economic development director, Sarah Lace, and the seniors, neighbor stabilization officer, and building inspector, administrator, they are my witnesses. They come to court. We talked to our inspectors. And if I may be informal, some of the issues are landlords that live out of town. The inspectors come and they say, this is out of order. This needs to be cleaned. This needs to be resolved. The landlord is going to get the letter and the notice, not the tenant. So the landlord will call the tenant and they'll say, oh, we cleaned that up. So the way I avoid a lot of arguments with people is I just simply send out a lot of pictures all day. And I say, my inspector went in two days ago, and these are the pictures we have. Now show me your pictures. So there's nothing to argue about. The goal is to keep everyone's property value high. So we have two types of violations, neighborhood standards and property standards. Neighborhood standards, that deals with sanitation, weed, fence dumpster enclosures, vehicle and trailers on residential properties, and zoning and sign complaints. Now our property standards, That's exterior issues, such as a roof collapse, siding missing, broken windows, different things like that. And interior issues for property standards deal with electrical issues, plumbing issues, and hoarding. In 2025, we had 57 vacant property, 48 demolitions, and 8,000 code violations. In 2026, we had roughly, now these numbers are only through July, 57 vacant properties, 30 demolitions, and we're already at over 5,000 code violations. So these are service requests. These are us asking people, maintain your property or sell it. So the way the process works, you can make a complaint through the, and you know what? I always encourage people, talk to your neighbors first. It's good to have relationships with neighbors, but if not, um within 48 business hours we'll come out and we'll categor categorize to the the issue we'll open a case we'll refer it we'll try to get in contact with somebody either it'll be unfounded or sometimes it's duplicate you got the neighbor on the left and the right calling so we have to keep track of all of those things and our community standards does a great job of doing that So we have contractable issues, weed and trash, non-contractable issues, your fence fell down, so you're going to have to hire somebody to put that back, trailers sitting outside, outdoor storage. A couple weeks ago, I had a boat sitting in someone's yard. And property standards, so building issues. So the way this code enforcement works, neighborhood standards comes in and they have 14 days to comply with our list. For weeds, five days from the day we mail the notice out. And then if we have to make an emergency cleanup, such as a fire or a structure falling, then 24 hours notice. because we want to keep things safe for our children and we want to address homelessness a different way. For follow-up inspections, our inspectors come back out, either it passes or it fails. So sometimes, depending, I believe, what would be good characterization would be on the property owner's attitude, either there's an extension or they come to court. So like, for instance, some things are out of the, uh, property owner's control, such as a fire. And so they're arguing with their insurance company, but those can go on for months and months with coverage issues and different things like that. So all we want, all the city wants you to do is communicate, give us your claim number and we'll go, we'll take it from there with our inspectors. As I was stating earlier, the administrative code hearings, if we are not able to resolve it outside of the hearing between the inspector and the property owner, they'll come here. The administrative hearing judge will sit there. And if they don't come, we'll enter a findings decision and order without them. So it's civil in nature. So if you're seeking to buy a house, one of the things you can do is go down to the clerk's office or make a FOIA request to find out how they've been taking care of it, if there are any hits for different things on that piece of property. If it is an emergency or the building needs to be demolished, it's egregious, then we're in civil court asking that it be repaired or demolished at the pleasure of Judge March or Judge Fabiano. and the law. So the goal of code hearings, as I stated earlier, is legal compliance and an offer or hearing to gain property compliance. And the hearing process, so it's informal. We would send out a verified complaint and say, we believe A, B, and C is wrong. They have six cars. Two of them are not registered. Four of them have flat tires. There's garbage in the backyard. They can't just come to court and say, no, it's not. They have to show pictures of that. We show our pictures. We show our evidence. They show theirs. And the hearing officer makes the decision. And as I stated earlier, the focus of court is compliance. We just want you to clean up or to follow the same rules everyone else has to, to help make Rockford beautiful. The other tools that we have available are obviously inspections, which I've talked about at length, the Northern Illinois Land Bank, and the Trustee Program, which is beyond the scope of this presentation. Now, If you have additional homes, every year it is free and you must register your rental and the rental registry. Why? So that the police and everyone else can know who really lives there in case there's an issue.

Vacant property register.

I believe there is a cost for that, but it is required. If you have a vacant property, you have to register that as well. And, um, I have the pleasure of sitting on the property solutions team. So there are some properties that have a lot of issues. The police are called out a lot. There's just a lot of activity. And so we have to give those properties special attention and we do through the police, the fire and the building department. So. In closing, our goal is compliance. We seek to recover our costs. And our main goal is to keep Rockford beautiful. And that goal requires teamwork. For more information on reporting a problem, registering a rental property, or Airbnb, go to the City of Rockford's website. Our goal is to enforce the code violations. If you have any questions, I have business cards or you could just give us a call and legal. I have the pleasure of working with Michaela and Larry. So we would love to help you and give you more information about this process. Are there any questions?

Pastor Mark. Yes, thank you so very much, Attorney Ballard. How many inspectors are on your wall's team?

That is a question that I cannot answer. Usually I get reports. I think we have less than 15. Some work in the office and some work outside of the office. And the department is being reorganized.

So would you say that... that you all need more. I'm looking at the numbers because there's a lot of blighted property. Is that part of code enforcement, blighted properties and things like that?

Yes, it is, Pastor Martin. Everything is about budgeting. If we had the money and the funds, all of the properties that were blighted and vacant, we would just tear them down. So for funding, that's human resources. And for funding, it costs money to demolish a building. So it's like, which one do you go after first?

so it's it's it's about funding for it and and as you know we're working at a budget deficit so it's a balance between do you hire another inspector or demolish the building and all the reason why i asked is i know that uh city council should budget it should be budget time now and i know as the city council is looking at the budget i think that it would be important to add i know we had uh finance come and give us a breakdown of the general and all of that but as we're talking about making uh rockford beautiful and pleasing and all that thing i think it would be a priority to uh add funding my recommendation to the city council would be to prioritize funding to at least bring another either one or two inspectors to kind of help because it looked like you all overloaded based upon the numbers

You know what? I like your question. And as far as I'm concerned, if another football team or hockey team would want to come here, I would want to brag on Rockford and say we're beautiful. But I said all that to say the best person to ask would be Sarah Lay. She can tell you how many people she has in her department. and how they are being utilized. But yes, we are all on the same side and we want to see everything cleaned up.

May I add a comment to that?

So for the code enforcement component, I know they have summer interns as well because the weeds and the grass is a very big problem. So a lot of that does take place during those summer months when weeds and things like that and a lot of them are our interns because we have interns every summer so that's a way that we do help to alleviate a bit of that burden on the staff and also i do know um and we could probably find this in the presentation but andrea henricks from cd had presented a while back on um what they do in their department or their section. They're in the same department, but they're just a different division of that department. And a lot of our CDBG dollars goes towards demolitions. And I know that they've made so many demolitions over the last several years. There's not a ton anymore to be demolished that is at that stage because they have to go through this entire process in order to get there. But a big bulk of them have been demolished at this point. I believe they've... believe it's in the thousands not like tens of thousands but i it's over a thousand in the amount of properties that we have demolished over the last several years using that funding source

And I did want to add one more thing. There were no statistics in my presentation on fires. So that's something that we cannot budget for. That unfortunately, with the economy being what it is and people not having homeowner's insurance, it falls on the city.

Just one more. I'm sorry. Just one more question. And for me, anyway. And that is, you mentioned in your presentation about we have a lot of out-of-town landlords.

Yes.

So what's the process if, because it wouldn't be the tenants issue, it would be the landlords issue. So what's the process of, or just a general time frame from, the violation to reaching the landlord and getting all of this kind of settled. I know you can knock on the door, but it wouldn't be the tenant's problem. It would necessarily be, it may be the landlord's problem.

And, you know, that's why we require landlords to give us updated addresses because we're sending it out. And they're going to get a violation notice whether their address is right or not. And that's why sometimes they have to go through a fine reduction program because they didn't update their address and we don't forward our mail. And so the tenant doesn't tell them. So how do you avoid that? By doing inspections periodically. So if a landlord calls me and says, Ms. Ballard, I talked to my tenant and they said they fixed it. I said, okay, here are my pictures. Show me yours. Because I know, like, unfortunately, a lot of times the tenant is not telling the truth. And so I need to have a... aha moment with the landlord so that they can see that I am still holding them accountable. So what I usually do is if someone calls me, I will give them a courtesy continuance for them to come down and inspect their own property so that they can address it and the, what's the word I want to use, exaggeration. of fixing the problem, why the inspector is still saying that it's failed. Because usually, it's just a communication breakdown. And you don't want to have to babysit adults. But unfortunately, that's what it comes down to. Yes? Did you have a question, sir?

I sure do. Is it really the grass? Is it four inches or nine?

Four.

Four?

Four.

Well, I got to cut mine shorter. You do. You should leave right now. I'm going. I'm gone. The next thing is a comment. And I'm going to try to keep my cool on this, because I really get worked up about this. I have spouted off to Sarah Lays about I volunteered at Carpenter's Place for a number of years. What I told her is it really pisses me off When I see code enforcement and the police destroying a homeless, call it a camp or whatever, individuals, whatever, they take everything that they own, throw it in a dump truck, and drive away. And that person is left, that homeless person is left with nothing. Everything that they own is in a suitcase, in a wagon, in a cart, ends up in a dump truck. And like I said, that really ticks me off when the police are involved because the police don't help at all. It escalates the situation. I've seen it happen. And the next thing you know, that homeless person is arrested. Is there a way? The other thing is that I have homeless friends. And I'm not just saying that. I actually know, being at Carpenter's Place, I know people who are homeless. I know where their camps are, and I give them stuff. Whenever you destroy a homeless camp, all they do is find another one. So I think the solution to at least that part of code enforcement, when you go to a homeless camp, whether it's an individual or multiple individuals, Send a social worker. A lot of the people, some of the people who are homeless have mental health issues. And they're usually the ones that are, of course, they're more vulnerable. They're more vulnerable to pushing the cops or pushing someone from your department or getting into a scuffle. And then they end up in jail. So if you could send out a social worker when you, I'm just gonna say when you destroy a homeless camp and keep the cops out of it and then try to come up with a solution to get that person housed. I know that's hard. I know homeless people that have tried and tried and tried to get housing. And it's hard to get housing if you don't have a job. And it's hard to get a job if you don't have transportation. I give these people bicycles. I fix up bicycles and I give them bicycles so that they can at least get to a grocery store, get to a job, get to a job interview, do whatever you need to do Homeless people are just like us. It's just that they have had a string of bad luck. A lot of them have had a string of bad luck. Some, again, have mental health issues. But they're just like us. They've just had a tough time. And they are human beings, and they need to be treated like human beings. And having the cops go out and destroy everything that that person owns is not humane. We need to find a solution to get people that are unhoused in some sort of affordable housing. So that's all I have. I'm sorry if I, but I get very worked up.

Commissioner Jones, do you have a question? There was a question in there. What are your questions for Attorney Ballard? Because maybe she could talk about the process when a complaint like that comes in.

And it is the process. I mean, do people actually call and complain and say, hey, there's a homeless guy across the street? I mean... Every time that I've talked to somebody who's been homeless and they've had their camp destroyed, it's always been the Rockford Police Department who's been involved. And I don't know if that starts with code enforcement, calling the police, the police go out, destroy the camp, and the people move on and find another camp and start all over with, I mean, everything they own, you have to start all over. So I don't know, my question is, is there a better way of solving that problem? There's always going to be homelessness. I get it. But is there a better way to handle that?

Your name is Mr. Garwick?

Yes. Yes.

First, I would like to address you and let you know that I used to be an assistant public defender. So I know you're not lying about mental health issues, drug and alcohol issues, and psychotic breaks. Thank you for volunteering at the carpenter's place. Someone has to be calling the police. I don't know if it's based on their location. But unfortunately, it is beyond the scope of this presentation. But because there are your friends, All we can do is try, because some people do not want to be housed.

I get it.

Some people, we have a homeless coalition here. And I'm sure I don't have to go far to know that you're active. But unfortunately, when mental illness takes over and drug and alcohol addiction takes over, then some of the solutions that are offered are not exercised. So it is a battle. I'm on the same side as you, wanting not, especially in the Midwest, to see someone outside when it's 20 below zero. So unfortunately, it's beyond the scope of my presentation. but continue to volunteer because that is very important.

Thank you. And trust me, I am not mad at you.

I don't think you are mad at me. I think you're passionate about the issue. But I don't want to go outside of my time. No, no, no. I understand. I want to be respectful of time.

I appreciate the work you and your department do. Trust me, I do appreciate it.

Do we have any more questions from the commissioners?

I do have one question. Commissioner Shanklin. I don't know if I missed it or not, but is there any bucket of funding available for homeowners who would like to bring their properties up to code but can't afford to?

Well, that might be better answered by my colleague to tell about grants. That is her specialty.

I actually have comments for both Scott and Shamir as far as that goes. I think for the mental health aspect, we have our CCRT program and our MIH program. And that's something that when these situations arise, those are the units that should be being deployed. If they're not being deployed, I have resources within those units that we can make sure that they are being deployed. So that those situations are being handled with tact and respect for the individuals that are living in those encampments. Again, if you have specific individuals, I think I've assisted that before, Scott. I'm more than happy to make sure that those units are connected with those situations.

It was CCRT and what was the other one?

MIH. It's been a while since we've heard from them, so we can always have them come back out and do some more presentations about what they do, but I know that they work directly with Angie Walker in our Health and Human Services Department and doing the homeless count and working with that population and getting them connected. We have resources for emergency housing if needed, all of those types of things. So let's... Maybe we can talk about that in the strategic planning and seeing how we can get better connected to those resources.

I will definitely pass that information on.

Okay.

Angie and Sarah were the two that I started off to, you know.

Yeah.

Sarah has forgiven me, and Angie has.

Yeah, absolutely. And then for funding sources, yes, we have in our CDBG, again, There are a couple of different programs, housing rehabilitation programs for homeowners and things like that to be able to rehab the homes. The problem that we encounter is in order for the funding source to cover it, there's always a catch 22, right? In order for the funding source to cover it, it has to be up to code. So there's issues there. I know that the programming's trying to work through it. We've tried to find other funding sources that can help get it up to code in order for then the CDBG dollars to be able to step in and then to finish doing some of the work. So there's layers there, but there are funding sources that can help homeowners get the work done.

Okay. And Mary Jude and I, Commissioner Mary Jude and I, have been working on a tiny home initiative, I guess, uh, to, to take, to, uh, for chronically homeless folks, that's an uphill battle as you know. Yes. Um, and it, it, you know, and that may not be the answer, but I think it would be the answer for a lot of folks.

Yeah, I agree.

Yeah.

Can I just have one comment if we could add, um, while we're talking about strategic planning and what you were just saying about the CDBG dollars, In some of the research that we were doing previously, one of the programs that I had found, I believe it was in Detroit, did have a funding program for folks to bring their properties up to code that wasn't then dependent on it being already there. And so maybe we can, in our strategic planning, go back and look into that a little bit more and see if there's another option. Okay, thank you.

Do we have any more questions from the commissioners? If not, I have one question for the attorney. It looks like we were on track to maybe have about 10,000 complaints for this coming year, is that right? Well, we are.

That was as of July, so it's growing.

How many of those complaints eventually do go on yet and need to be seen or are seen, do reach the judge level?

I did not get that information.

Okay. I apologize. It's a minority, though, I take it, right? No. Oh, okay. Okay. So with the situation, I'm not searching here and it's not a loaded question, but it sounds like maybe the situation is a little more complicated sometimes than just mere finances.

Is that right? Yeah, it's not about being complicated. Sometimes it's communication issues, as I discussed, like landlord-tenant issues, and sometimes it's financing issues. Yes, I know my window is broken out, but I don't have $600 to replace it. And then that's beneath my deductible. So, Ms. Ballard, what would you like me to do? Maybe I'll just take a fine from you, because that's only $200. Right.

Sure.

Ma'am.

Any other questions from the commissioners?

If not, Attorney Ballard, thank you so much. This has been very, very informative. I thank Commissioner Martin for asking for you to be here, because again, I think we've really been educated, so thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, let us move on to our new business, our next item on the agenda. That would be to talk about strategic planning. Right now, we agreed at the last meeting, I believe it was, to do our strategic planning on the next meeting date, which is October the 8th. But Michaela is here to talk a little bit about location and topics. Would you like to make some comments first?

Yes, so last time when we did our strategic planning, we had small groups and kind of broke up and talked about some different topics and stuff. So I just kind of wanted to... maybe get your perspective. Do we think that worked well last time? Would we like to do a similar model? Would we like to keep it in large group and have some of those discussions? I know when we did the small groups, there was so much good conversation that I feel like the larger group of us kind of missed out on. And So I don't know if any of you guys have a preference for a model, any thoughts on that. So I wanted to get some of that feedback because I do think that that would help us to determine location. As you know, we have to comply with the Open Meetings Act, so it would be an open meeting. Do we want to have it in chambers? Did we like the location that we had it at before the strategic planning at the fire station? Would we like to just have it in a conference room here at City Hall? So any preferences? I would just like your guys' feedback. And then topics as well.

I like where we had it before at the fire station. And I kind of like the format that we used. Okay. But, you know, whatever we decide.

I would say I wasn't in the meetings because I was out of town, but... I would say that I don't think we really got the whole complete report of what was going on. I know a couple meetings that we did it for the next week or whatever. So I think, and so I felt kind of lost because I didn't really get to hear. I think you guys still have a lot to say of what you guys had, or is it Ms. Bravo? Yeah. And so I think... And I wish I could have been a part of that group, and I don't think that's a problem having a group like that. But when we do put it on the agenda, that we fully get the whole perspective of what happened in that meeting or their findings.

Like in the minutes, you mean? Like a better accounting of what happened during the strategic planning session? Is that what you mean?

I mean them getting to talk. and sharing more about it because I know, I think it was Jim or Rita, they had some things about modular homes or something, and they really didn't get a chance to tell us about it, you know, because I don't know what happened. I know one meeting we were very long, so we were going to the next meeting. That's a whole month.

Yeah. Well, for this strategic planning, it'll be four hours long. And really what we're trying to do is plan for the entire next year. So what types of topics do we want to talk about? What type do we want to have? Roundtable discussions, community meetings. We've talked about working with the aldermen. in order to maybe host block parties, those types of things. So really that strategic planning, it's not going to be where there's agenda items and presentations. It's really going to be a time where we come together and have organic discussion about where we want to see the commission go. Last year, the overwhelming response was housing. so we talked about okay who do we need to hear from still to what type of recommendations that sort of thing and that's kind of how we planned it out and um i think we're kind of closing the chapter there with housing so this next strategic planning i think is going to be really important on determining the future of the crc and what the crc is going to be looking at One of the topics that also came up that we haven't been able to get to this year is workforce development. Is that still of interest to the commission? What do we want to do as far as workforce development? Who should we bring to the table to hear from? Those types of things. Okay. Thank you.

Commissioner Martin. Thank you.

I think that off-site is great. No one wants to come to City Hall. As far as the city, a lot of people don't. They just have reservations coming to City Hall. So I think that being at the fire station or another location would be good. Also, my recommendation, which I think it was a really great meeting, a great session that we did. I think going into this new strategic session, strategic planning session, we should take all of the meetings that many of the commissioners were having with the Alderman and kind of prioritize that along with Mayor Neal. We know what Tom McNamara's vision was. We don't know what hers is. So I think going into a meeting in August, on the 25th to kind of see where she's at with vision and then taking what many of the commissioners as they met with the Alderman, I think we've probably had two or three sessions. I just received an email that there's an opening, you know, for I think Alderman Bell and another one of the ultimate, but take those things and kind of put that into our strategic plan along with other things for the next coming year I think would be beneficial for us.

Thank you. Mr. McKellen. I think just kind of to continue on with that comment from Pastor Merton. Last time it seemed like, and I was super new last time, so I think part of it was that I didn't know what I didn't know at that time, but I do still think, looking back, that we were kind of starting from scratch a little bit more, like what can we do? conceive of doing. But over this past year, we've had a lot of progress. I think we've heard from a lot of people. We've all had lots of conversations, done research, done work. And I feel like there's more to work with now to operationalize some of the things we've talked about. So I... I don't know if I, like, the small groups worked well because I felt like we were brainstorming, but now I feel like we have, like, I mean, I feel like you probably have a list of things that we've been saying over these past few months, put that down for strategic planning or whatever. So I think, I don't know, I feel like maybe I'd like everybody to be able to participate in that because I think we can be more specific now.

Okay, so keep small groups? No, no, no.

Okay, one big group. Because now I feel like we've... honed down some of the things that we want to talk about. I would hate for anybody to miss out on those discussions because I think we can now we have more to do. Okay.

So do we have a consensus then that we're going to the third stage then? Is that okay with everyone? Would you like a... I might prefer being here in a conference room because I think the conference rooms are nice and informal too, but Commissioner Arten has a good point that there might be some symbolic benefit in just being on a city hall and, you know... So is there a consensus then that we should be at the fire station? If it's open, I'll reserve it. Great.

And I would also volunteer if we are wanting to do, like, sandwiches or something like that, since we'll be there at dinnertime. If you need help coordinating that, I can help you with that.

Okay. Or whatever.

Are you cooking? Well, I'm not cooking.

I can facilitate ordering. Oh, facilitate ordering. Okay.

That's the best guy.

Or if we are supposed to just bring our own stuff, that's fine, too. Okay. Okay.

Just no taxpayer expense. Okay. Commissioner Gerhardt, did you have a question? Oh, I just, I'll eat whatever it is I want. I'm sorry. I had one question. I think it was Commissioner Martin who spoke very eloquently about the need to work more collaboratively with the aldermen. and to not kind of, I won't say we're across purposes, but for me to align our efforts to connect better with our citizens, with neighbors, and who better to know those sorts of needs than our aldermen. So we did have a lot of good discussion about that, and I think we kind of coalesced around an idea that it would be nice to, you know, have some meetings, and then we kind of dropped that. So It would be nice to see us have maybe even a quarterly report on where we are with some of the goals that we set during the strategic planning meetings. I think it would be nice to remind each other of some of the things we've talked about. Some things may drop off, some things may be added, but just to kind of visit some of those again and remind each other what our goals are. What do commissioners think about that?

I think that would be good.

Any other thoughts?

Michele, did you get any other things you wanted to bring up? I was really just kind of looking for feedback on the format of the session and then if there's any additional topics that I've been making notes and stuff that for things for us to talk about at the strategic planning but if there's anything that you guys can think of in the meantime um please send it my way so that that way i can build that agenda for us and topics and different things like that as we um so we can plan for 2027 and then um i think there was one other thing i thought i was going to ask what time would this start and then what time would it end did we mention that already Yes, we are going to do a four hour session and start at 3 and end at 7. OK, very good. And then I had it in my brain and then it went back out.

The referrals to fill vacant. That's the next item. That's the next item.

I know what I was going to say. The report. So I have a report template and that's something that we will be discussing at the strategic planning on that report. And it is set up by and objectives and what we've done to accomplish those goals and objectives and like summaries and it's got a dashboard as well. So I'd like to review that with the group and we'll be adding in those items from strategic planning into that and what our So it's going to be action items, what goals are, what's happened from those action items, next steps, and that's how I have it built out.

So that addresses what I said before, and that will be a template then to report to each other and be accountable to each other in terms of goals, right? Okay. Fantastic. Any other discussion?

Would it be possible for this session to invite Mayor Neal to the event? Not to state, but just to give an overall different thing to the entire commission since it's already an open act meeting. And then we kind of move forward with that.

Sure, I love that idea. I'll send an invite.

I just have one more question. Thank you. Larry, did we communicate, I think we did, about adding the discussion about a potential housing fair to the strategic planning agenda? Yeah, it's on my list. We did that. Okay, I just wanted to make sure. Thank you.

Thank you.

Any other comments before we go on to the next item under new business? All right, so the next item is request for referrals to fill what is now two vacant commissioner seats. And Ms. Harris is going to respond to that.

I am just asking for recommendations. We've got two vacancies that we're going to need to fill. So if you have anybody that would be interested in it, if they could send their resume and why they'd be interested in serving on the commission, I can get that to Mayor Neal. And then the mayor would make those appointments. Those appointments go before council. And then council would vote to either approve or deny those appointments. Okay.

Anything we should be keeping in mind as we make those referrals in terms of what would be the ideal candidate for a commissioner seat?

It would be great to have that youth component that we've talked about. So if there's a youth that you think would be interested in that. I know Mayor McNamara had mentioned youth. a conservative point of view we don't have a conservative point of view really on the commission so if you know anybody that could serve that viewpoint a little bit that would be great but other than that just somebody who feels called to the mission to be present and share their voice. Thank you.

I just have one question. I know we had one. Who's the second one that has come off?

Mr. McDowell. He's been ill. Eric. He was the chair and his term finished. So we are down to nine.

So we have two openings. Okay. Any other questions about that item? Commissioner Garrett.

How long is a commissioner's term?

Three years.

Three years?

And then they can be reappointed for an additional three. Okay. Three doesn't seem long enough. No, it's not.

We just get rolling in three years, or two years, and then... Can we extend it to five?

It would be nice, but they can have two three-year appointments, so they could serve a total of six years.

Does it get a little more complicated if you fill a position of vacancy before the term is up? Then it gets a little more complicated, right?

A little bit. So what they would do is they would fill out the remainder of that term, and then they're eligible for two additional three-year appointments. I think that's what I did. And then after six years? Maybe. I'd have to look back.

If you have any questions about that, reach out to Michaela or Larry or both in an email.

I'll stay here until somebody kicks me up.

Well, we know that Commissioner will order food for you, so. I don't need to see anybody hungry. No food, I'm done. Don't get me wrong, I love it. The next item on our agenda is commissioner reports. What reports do I have for commissioners?

No report.

Commissioner Barrera, no report? I'm just really disappointed.

I'm going to save it for the strategic committee. Okay, very good.

Okay, well we have come to the end of our agenda.

So the three of us met with Alderwoman Hoffman yesterday and she pretty much talked about young people needing safe, accessible places to go to after school. Preferably in their respected neighborhoods, because transportation is one of the biggest barriers, and getting across the town is sometimes impossible because of their parents. And then them having access to laundry. Oh, we were talking about that. Yes. That was something that was brought up. And would you like to add?

I mean, she was, she just, that was her main message, that whatever can be done to support the youth of the area should be a priority, and that, because she was relaying a story, and I think we were all kind of taken aback, as was she, that she was asked by two middle school students, and I, I'm sorry, I don't remember.

Flynn Middle School.

That's right. Two young women at, what were they? 12 years old, she said, asked her to come to the school and it turned out that she, they sat down across from her and they said, what are you going to do to keep us safe? And they were explaining that they live here and the after school program is over here and they can't get there and so on and so forth. There's just a lot of logistical issues that make it difficult for all kids to have access to things like that. So it was a very interesting conversation but also very

it was revealed i think a big need yeah so i will just offer up that there may be the school district side of that um and so you know if if that's something that we want to research or investigate or advocate for might want to look into what the school district is indeed providing because um you know, trust but verify, right? Students do say things that, you know, that there are usually very good reasons, but also there may be a little more to the picture. What is Alderman Hoffman's ward? I can't recall. Eight. Okay, very good. And so did you have a good meeting? Yes, we did. Wonderful. That's great. Any other topics that you all touched on that you want to?

It was really just the kids were the focus and preventative measures for them. Fantastic.

Madam Chair. Yes, Mr. Arndt. Just to piggyback off. So we have a lot of nonprofits that deal specifically with children across the city. I have a program that both black and brown, Hispanic speaking, children we service for five schools in the city. Um, we have, there's another one at Pilgrim Baptist Church that does the same thing. There's one at St. Paul Church of God in Christ that does it. There's Washington Park that does it. We have, I think the biggest concern that we've been having in all of our meetings is the lack of communication between of who's doing what so that we can direct people to those places. If she's in the eighth ward, I'm sure there's a location somewhere close. The school system, RPS 205, has done a wonderful job. I know we've been hearing a lot of bad things about the new Zoom transportation and RPS 205. But we have a busload of children that come to our site from across the city. So, you know, we just need to communicate a little bit more.

Is Zoom providing that transportation?

So you have some Zoom and some RPS 205 that's doing it. But the school system now has gotten it because they've cut a lot of funding for after-school programs. And so they're trying to send the children to those particular places. I think... On South Main, they have a place where children go. There's some that require CCAP. So that's how the organization will get paid, CCAP. So CCAP is if you fall from a threshold financially, if you work and or go to school, the state will, so it's not a grant, the state will provide the funding to the organization per child. access to food and all of that until the parent is able to pick them up. So majority of the organizations that are doing school programming or after school programming is getting funded through the state based upon that. The only issue with that is that if you're above that threshold, then it's a cost to the parent. And so we just have to look at communicating around the city what nonprofit or organization that's already doing it. And then if we can connect that with the alderman so that the alderman know in this ward, these are the places that you can go or a safe haven that you can go where your children can go.

Yeah, thank you, Commissioner. I appreciate your expounding on what I said, because that really more than anything speaks to, you know, students will also suffer that lack of communication, right? They may not just be aware. So that's how it gets a little complex, but I really appreciate you looking at that, you all looking at that issue.

Mary, if you could interject, I'm sorry. To that, they might, I'm not sure what the aftercare location is that they were referencing, but they may just have to get on the sitter or aftercare transportation list for RPS 205 because RPS 205 will provide transportation to all of those approved aftercare programs. We live too close. We drop them off in the morning. But we work till 5, right? So he gets bus to an aftercare. And they will do that. And it can be closer than the 1.5. Because in Rockford, if you live closer than 1.5 miles to the school, you don't get bus transportation. But they will provide it for aftercare. So that might be a very simple solution.

Yeah, thanks, Michaela. That is a member of the ten-year employee of the school district. That did come back to me. So thank you.

Thank you. Can I say, I'm so sorry. Well, yes. I'm sorry. Commissioner Michaela. I am really glad you said that because I feel like that issue has kind of lurked below so many of the things we've talked about, the lack of coordination of services or whatever. I hate to keep saying, can you put it on the agenda? I mean, if we're the liaison between community resources and the community, it would seem like streamlining that list of services or understanding what it is and being able to communicate that out to the council or to the residents would be super important.

You read my mind. Thank you, Commissioner. Anything else on that topic of the... meeting that you had with Alderman Hoffman. No? Okay. Next item on our agenda is adjournment. Do I have a motion? So moved. To adjourn. It is 6.34. We did well. Second? Second. Okay. Thank you. All in favor? Say aye. Aye. All opposed? Okay. We are adjourned. Thank you.