Police Pension Fund Board - Regular Meeting

For May 2026.

General fund revenue is continuing to perform as we have seen throughout the year so far. Right now after three payment sales tax is about 4% under budget or about $385,000. The area of concern is replacement tax or PPRT. which we know was a significant shortfall in 2025, is currently about 26% under budget, or $1.9 million. Again, we'll continue to monitor that. We're about halfway through the year and also anticipate receiving projections for next year's PPRT receipts from the state in August. Overall, our general fund revenue is about 2% under budget, or approximately $1.5 million. On the expense side, all of our operating departments are under budget, except for the fire department. We're a total of $3.9 million under budget in total in the general fund year to date. We anticipate certainly catching up as capital expenses continue to get incurred. And seasonal weather-related expenses are experienced later in the year. In the CAP fund, CAP sales tax is performing very well. $795,000 over budget or about 14% year to date after three disbursements. Motor fuel tax is right about on budget. And the redevelopment fund is pretty much on budget, about $30,000 over the projection on revenue year to date. I'm happy to answer any specific questions anyone has.

Thank you. Any questions? Alderman Veach.

Hey, Mr. Chairman. Then are you saying that we have no deficit through May?

Yes. Through May, while we have revenue underperformance, we also have expense underperformance. So we are under budget year to date in general. There's no deficit year to date yet.

By just $1.5 million?

We're $1.5 million under budget on revenue, but $3.9 million also underspent year-to-date.

Thank you, sir. Sure. All in weeks. All in weeks.

Oh, thank you so much for allowing me to speak on your committee. I'm just curious for funds such as the capital lease fund and the capital improvement fund or the building fund.

We don't provide monthly reports on all of the city's operating funds there are several this Report we wouldn't have the capacity to provide that level of analysis on a monthly basis certainly if anyone has questions about a specific funds performance We'd be happy to answer those questions directly. We monitor from a budget perspective throughout the year, but actually compiling it into a report to provide to city council, we just don't have the staff time to include every single fund. that the city operates. That said, though, if you have questions at any point on the status of those funds, obviously, we report on revenue performance for the CAP funds, understanding that if revenue underperforms, we may need rethink our capital projects for the year. So we want to keep an eye on those and make sure that those are at least performing at budget level so we don't need to make any revisions in the program, the capital improvement program for the year. But other than that, we just don't have the resources to be able to provide a comprehensive monthly year-to-date report.

Well, then, could I get specific then to ask for, whenever you get a chance to send to me, the capital lease fund, the capital improvement fund, the building fund, and... Yeah, the building maintenance fund. Okay. Those are the top four. And then I just kind of want to get a kind of understanding because I know that we're in the middle of the year. Sure. So some things just haven't come through yet. Sure. Some things just haven't hit yet. So when I see professional legal, you know – just certain line items that have not been utilized. And they're similar line items when I see the supplemental budget. They're not being fully utilized. And then they are switched out at the end when we do the supplemental budget.

Appropriation, yeah, sure.

And then we come back to current information And they're still underutilized. So those are the questions that I have. Are they continuously underutilized? Are we saying that we need this amount and budgeting for this amount every year because we might have something come up, so we plan for that? I just kind of want to understand certain line items specifically, so I'll start with those ones that I have.

Okay. Just what you said, capital lease fund, capital improvement fund, and building maintenance fund. Building there's I believe there's a difference between a building fund and a building maintenance No, we have we have no we just have one we call it property maintenance Fund we have the the building section of the Community Development Department But that's included in this report because that's operates out of the general fund We have the the property fund as we we generally call it is an internal service fund and we can report on that

And then do you happen to have staffing levels right now, that information? Are there departments that are not hitting their staffing levels, which is why some of these wages are sitting at that 30% level?

Oh, sure. We can work with HR to get that information compiled.

But just off the top, do you know?

Oh, no, I do not, off the top of my head, no.

All right, perfect. Thank you.

Alderman Wilkins.

I'm sorry, I can't read. So my question is, are there any revenue sources that are currently underperforming that we are anticipating that might help out in the second half of the year where we know we are gonna see sort of this deficit hit? Have you guys identified any of those?

Well, there are, as you might imagine, something like building permits, things like that tend to be a little bit more seasonal, right? We're not doing a lot of building permits in January necessarily. So we do adjust for seasonal variance in our major revenue sources, things like sales tax. Obviously, there's a lot of variation month to month. with November, December being the heaviest receipts because of the holiday shopping season. So those seasonal adjustments are incorporated into the projection here already. As far as other revenue sources that might have a more significant impact in the second half of the year, I can't, just looking at our sort of broad categories, I don't necessarily see anything sort of specifically sitting out there. But I think also keep in mind that while this is receipts through May, we may have incurred expenses in May for which we anticipate some reimbursement happening in June, July. And so we can tend to, at times, be a month behind on revenue collection for some revenue sources. So while we're showing under budget a little bit in a few of our other revenue categories here for the general fund, it's also possible that those can catch up as we collect and collect some things into even sort of January for December receipts, things like that.

Thank you.

Yep.

Alderman Plunty.

I just have a question on an item. This is on the budget report for city council, number 72299. It says that we had expenditures. in the amount that we were in the red, 100%. Can you tell us what we did?

I don't know what that expense is off the top of my head, but I can look that up and share that with you.

Alderman Toonberg.

Thanks, Chairman. With the amount of what I feel like I have neighborhood standards on speed dial many times, I'm surprised to see that our fines are under budget, because it seems like just the amount of times I call, we could equivocate that. We could bring that up to about zero. So my... guess where I'm going on this is that we have been advised that the neighborhood standards department is going to be going through some upgrades and revamping per se wondering what the status is on this you know I I applaud those that are in that department in the sense we as aldermen probably work them to the bone but also we have constituents that do go online and use the online portal where it goes directly to them uh circumventing us so they are worked quite a bit on these issues of dilapidated houses and many times mostly out of town landlords who are letting their houses go by the wayside and You know, we're contacted by the neighbors quite frequently So is this process whether it's bringing on more inspectors or making the process more efficient? In addition, I do get quite frequently asking for follow-up So we don't generally have access to that information unless we make a call again And also I know I brought up a while back the rental registry And we don't have access to that as alderman many times I will get asked If a property is on the rental registry, again, another call has to be made. It seems like an inefficient process for us aldermen. Could we have access to that, or is there something legally binding that we are not allowed to have access to that? Thank you.

And we're still in financial discussions?

Kind of.

I know it's Alderman Tuber's birthday today, so I'll let him get away with it. I'll be a little slack. Who wants to answer that? Ms. Lay? Yeah, I'll say just one.

I guess, to answer. An update on the process with that department is we're aiming to be back in two weeks at 27th. So we will have an award of RFP for the software. And in bringing that to you, we'll talk about efficiencies versus alignment and what we're doing with the positions. I can tell you the positions that needed to be talked about with the union first before we publicly came out and talked to you all, we have done that step. And so we just have a couple things to finalize there, but we're aiming the 27th to give you that update Mental registry, I'm not sure about what we can give access to I will work with legal to understand we have before though I And it's an awkward system to try and give you a printout of or that. So if maybe we could have a conversation about what you need it for, like what you're trying to do, maybe we can arrange a way for you to see that information and get that better.

Thank you. All right. Moving on to committee reports. Item one is approval of vouching in the amount of $18,293,651.23. Is there a motion to approve vouchers? So moved. Second. Any questions or comments on vouchers? Seeing none, all those in favor indicate by aye. Opposed? The matter passes. Item two is approval of a request to use up to $200,000 of casino funds to assist in qualified relocation funds. Is there a motion to approve?

So moved.

Any questions or comments for staff? Calls me Grant.

Has there been discussion with the residents and with documents that was shared in the memo? Has that been shared with the residents that are there? Does anybody know?

I'm not sure, but when you say the residents, you mean?

The people that are impacted at the RV park, whatever we're calling it. Hopefully you say so. So hold on a second.

Ms. Potter, can you address this issue?

Thank you for your question. So in conversation with the council members around the development of the policy that would accompany this fund we talked about the needs of the greater community so this is not just established solely for the residents of Riverview but rather in response to what's happening in our community so again as the As the memo stated, it's in response to situations where we have multiple households that are simultaneously forced to relocate in our city as a result of a situation that is beyond their control.

Go ahead.

So the process is something that I've read through that the Health and Human Services is going to be working with the people that are impacted by the RV process. Has there been discussion on if this memo meets the needs of those? I mean, I know it's a broader program, but it was specifically brought forward for a specific issue. Has there been discussion in regards to is this going to meet the needs of the current situation that we are in?

So when Alderman Tarina hosted a meeting with the residents at the fire department, I was there to hear their needs when they spoke about what they were facing and what the problems were there. And so the requirements that pertain to eligibility mirror the requirements of our other programs for relocation. So it mirrors the requirements. condemnation relocation funds that we administer for Rockford Township. And it also mirrors the requirements to use emergency assistance through the Community Services Block Grant and even through some of our HUD funds that may help with relocation. So these requirements mirror those. So in the event that, say, a resident was looking to relocate somewhere outside of the city of Rockford, or they may have some other circumstance that they would need to be eligible for a different program, these requirements mirror those. So essentially they would be able to go through one intake and then we could assess what the needs are and what all the resources were that were available in order to help that resident.

Yes.

So when you say mirror, a lot of those are based off of income. And so there might be, so for instance, some of those programs, you have to be two times the federal federal rates or whatever it happens to be. So when you say mirror, does that mean that we are mandated to do those mirroring? Meaning if somebody has an income that is $2 above the federal mean or whatever the number that we're using, I know in the federal government system that they would be not eligible. But in our system, when you say mirror, are we stuck to those rules? Or is this something that can be done on a case-by-case based situation?

So this fund is not subject to those same rules. The utilization of other supplemental funds would be that came from those sources. However, again, the wording in the memo that you read was that essentially our department serves low to moderate income folks. If council decides to shift that threshold, that is your pleasure to do so.

I would just state that my concern is that we have this brought forward for a specific entity, and that mirroring is okay, and I understand and appreciate that process, but that we have an opportunity to help people to not always maybe get stuck in those rules, and maybe to be able to work through this process and get input from the residents that are being impacted by this, I think is... part of the reason why I will be supporting it, but I just want to make sure that it's going to help the people that we specifically brought forward to help. So that's the only thing I would like to add.

Thank you so much. I just want to get some clarity, too, because I thought I heard that this fund was not specific to this particular incident, but specific to relocation funds throughout the community. So, for instance, I think the Windsor apartment, that would be a similar situation where those individuals were relocated. required to be relocated because of condemnation, and they could, if they meet the requirements, be eligible for this fund. But this is not specific to this RV park. And that issue, but it is just an overall general proposal for the entire city of Rockford. Is that correct?

Yeah, I mean, I think going forward from this, I think when I... came up with this motion to amend and offer this I was thinking strictly for these folks and then when I met with staff and specifically the Windsor was brought up and I forget how many

I think it was 11 at the time.

So if a situation like that was to happen in the future, where someone, because of their condemnation, or a situation like this happened again, that they would be eligible to be reimbursed for some relocation expenses that fit within the parameters. Ms. Parham addressed that so it would not, it doesn't have to be fixed in stone with the 200% federal rule. So it allows staff to work with them and see what can be done to help a specific situation. So I think that's addressed actually in the memo that we created. But yes, it would help others as well.

And one last question. Would this be a revolving fund then or would we have to I guess what I'm saying is, is this an annual $200,000 that we're contributing to this?

I don't think the way it's worded that it's annual, I don't believe.

I just wrote for what we discussed. That is up to you all as a council to determine.

It could be brought up again, I think, in the future if the need arises.

If it works. Thank you so much.

Alderman Timber.

Chairman, when this was proposed, I was more under the impression as well that this kind of situation is unique in that with the ownership of the, they own the physical, in this case, mobile home, but they don't own the land underneath it. So it is kind of a unique situation, whereas I think when, and I wasn't in those discussions with a Windsor, not saying I'm opposed to it, I just think there are two different situations where these property owners that are being displaced is due to one situation in the Windsor in that matter that was due to a landlord that was flagrantly just not doing what a property owner should be doing. And so, again, I haven't gotten into the intricacies of the legalities of something like this, but I would say that when there's grounds to go after a property a slumlord, which is, in this case, with the Windsor, we have much more grounds to stand on, or the individuals who are living at, in this case, the Windsor, versus the property along the river is a whole different story. whole different situation where we are, what is happening is the displacement of individuals who actually own property, not land property, but their dwelling, I should say.

I guess the intent and consequence would be the same, though, right? I mean, if someone is displaced from their ability to live where they're living through no fault of their own or through a consequence, whether it be some unusual loophole like manufactured homes and the statutes that govern that and the 12-month rule versus someone that has a landlord that's nefarious. uh yes but as far as what's what's available to them i think that's the point either way uh hopefully the city and health human services has some sort of program whether it be a federal program or whether this one where the city is able to in this case help out those folks with you with an amount for relocation services

I would love to see us as a city be able to recoup some of those funds from some of those slumlords who are causing the issue to displace their residents in the first place. So thank you.

All right. Seeing no further questions, all those in favor indicate by aye. Aye. Opposed? The matter passes. Item three is proposed sale of city-owned property at 218 South Independence Avenue under the Mode to Own program to the participant Christy Williams. Is there a motion to approve the sale? So moved. Any questions or comments from staff? All those in favor indicate by aye. Aye. opposed matter passes item four we're going to hold out under resolutions number one is an approval of plan of acquisition of 4100 east state street by the rockford board of library trustees is there a motion to approve is there a motion to include any questions or comments on the beach

The Miracle Mile works very hard to make sure the properties are filled with taxpaying businesses. And so I'm just learning about this, that the library wants this, and I understand they have a need for storage, but... i probably won't support it because we don't have a chance to fill that in with a taxpaying business and we need property taxes to run the city so i probably will not be supported even though i i hope they could find some other place to put a warehouse thank you all right uh any other comments all right all those in favor they gave by aye by aye aye opposed aye

Matter passes item two is a word of RFP for environmental review and assessment services to ECS Midwest And professional environmental engineers and specially consulting in an annual estimated amount of eighty four thousand four hundred fifty dollars It's a one-year contract with four possible new extensions the funding sources are various grants their motion to approve Any questions or comments for staff? Seeing none, all is in favor to give aye. Aye. Opposed? Item five is a renewal of a contract for the neighborly software to benefit the amount of $29,672. The contract duration is from July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027. The funding sources are the CDBG, the IHDA grants, and the Community and Economic Development Operating Budget. Is there a motion to approve?

So moved. Second.

Any questions or comments for staff? Seeing none, all those in favor make a bye. Aye. Vote. Mayor Passero. Yes.

Two more questions. Under these reports, I may ask, which item was called out?

Item four was not allowed. Number of floors the ward of bid for 2026 citywide pavement marking to precision Marking in the amount of eighty five thousand two hundred eleven dollars and seventy cents The contract creation is through October 2nd 2026 funding sources the motor fuel tax for us so motion approves Any questions or comments for staff? Seeing none, all those in favor indicate by aye. Aye. Opposed? Aye. Opposed? The matter passes. Item 5 is an award bid for Citywide Street Repairs Group No. 6. This stands for an excavation in the amount of $434,060.50. The contract duration is through October 2, 2026. The funding source is the 1% infrastructure sales tax and the parking fund. Is there a motion to approve?

So moved.

Second. Any questions, comments, or staff? Seeing none, all those in favor indicate by aye. Aye. Opposed? The matter passes. Item 6 is an award of joint purchasing contract for a command vehicle updating to McQueen equipment in the amount of $90,671.36. This is a one-time purchase. The funding source is the capital lease funds and the fire department capital budget. Is there a motion to approve?

So moved.

Thank you. Any questions or comments for staff? Seeing none, all those in favor indicate by aye. Aye. Opposed? Matter passes. Item 7 is approval and acceptance of Illinois Attorney General's Office Violent Crime Victim Assistance Grant Award in the amount of $63,505. This grant does not require a cost match. The grant term is from July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027. It will be used to fund continued support for a full-time frontline crisis navigator. Is there a motion to approve?

So moved. Second.

Any questions or comments for staff? Seeing none, all those in favor indicate by aye. Opposed? The matter passes. Item A is approval and acceptance. of the Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women Grant to Improve the Criminal Justice Response Program Award, fiscal year 2025, amount of $500,000. The grant does not require a cost match. The grant term is from April 1, 2026 through March 31, 2029. It will be used to fund one full-time family peace center, legal advocate, and one part-time case manager. Is there a motion to approve?

So moved.

Second. Any questions or comments from staff? All in the project.

Thank you. Is this additional staff, or is this for a position that already exists?

This is for a person and a half additional staff in partnership with the state attorney's office. It will be a new staff position that is designed to fill in the gaps in our gap document around having an advocate with somebody in the ER seeking criminal order of protection all the way through that process from the emergency point all the way to the point where the current isn't an FTC person.

Can you describe what you mean by having someone? Can you elaborate on what you mean by having someone with you?

It means helping them fill out the actual application for an order of protection, attend court with them no matter how many times they have to go back, and provide navigation services and support between the emergency order of protection and then the plenary is what it's called, which means the permanent. The entire point of that is to reduce the space that a perpetrator, will take advantage of to engage with that survivor to try to get them to drop charges, to manipulate them, to threaten them, and to coerce them. When we see a lack of contact with an advocate in that space, we often see survivors who don't continue to feel safe engaging with the system or don't feel the support. And so that's the purpose of that, and that's what they'll be doing.

When you say attend with them, I hope I'm repeating you correctly. That's not, you mean physically, not virtually?

In criminal court, it would generally be physically. We do not have advocates yet going to criminal court. When we're talking about the civil side of things, when it's a civil order of protection and it's not attached to a criminal OP, sometimes those are virtual. That's up to the judge. And so it will depend. But if it is virtual, we would still appear with them virtually. We'd sit next to them or sign on if they feel safer doing it from their house and not coming into the Peace Center. But if they go to court, then we would physically accompany them to court, either having them meet us at the Family Peace Center and going over with them or meeting them someplace else and then going into court with them.

Thank you.

How many people now are actually employed through the family visa?

I'm going down my hallway. I believe 11 or 12.

Is that full and part time?

Those are all full time. This would be the first part time position that we funded.

Alderman Beach.

Mr. Chairman, is a legal advocate a lawyer?

No. No. That's the term that's used to any advocate that does primarily court work, specifically helps a survivor complete an order of protection. So in the field, so to speak, in the community, when we're talking about a legal advocate, We're talking about somebody in our circle that's actually doing the order of protection work with somebody.

Can you share the salary range for that position?

I could, but I cannot recall it off the top of my head. So I'm happy to email that to you, Alderman. It's generally between $45,000 and $55,000.

Alderman Slugato.

Thank you, Chair. Just real quick. Jennifer, this is a grant, correct? Yes. And so it's a three-year, correct? Yes. Half a mil. So the question that I have is, what happens once this contract or this grant is no longer available? What are your intentions for that? Obviously, I've talked to you about some other grants like this that and trying to decide what's the best use efficiency and to connect someone with the caseworker, whatever the case may be, through your office that has showed exemplary success. So my question is, some of the folks might be asking the same question, is the legacy cost that might continue to grow as we move forward if this grant gets lapsed and then it comes to us and says, hey, I need you to fund

have another half a million or whatever it is for the next three years so can you walk us through and how that determination is and and from that perspective sure anytime we apply for a grant we're doing that in direct correlation with one of the gaps that our community has identified and that is our strategic plan in the office and so when we are when we have a grant funded project we are data driven around it and so we are going to look on a case-by-case analysis what the data tells us throughout and at the end of that grant If at the end of this grant we believe that it is imperative that these employees and these positions remain funded, we will certainly first and foremost reapply for that funding. And we've received the ICJR grant before, actually. And so that would be the first step. The second step, if we didn't get it and we still believed we needed to have it, this grant in particular is in conjunction with the Winnebago County State's Attorney's Office. So we would collaborate and determine what the next best step would be to seek funding whether that would be from any particular agency or an additional grant source. This doesn't need to be the only grant that could fund these. And at the end of the day, if the data doesn't indicate that it merits ongoing funding or the grant objectives have been met and there are no further objectives to meet, we'll walk away from the grant, which we've done multiple times. Just this year, we have an engaging men and boys grant. That was three years through the federal government. We've met those objectives on those grants. We're not seeking renewal. Whenever we hire somebody for these positions, there is a clear statement in the application. Human Health and Human Services, I'm sorry, Human Resources helps us make sure that language is in there. And in every single interview, we tell everybody that comes on, these are temporary positions. But the fact of the matter is, these are the only way we can fund these projects. We must seek grants. There is not enough funding in local budgets to hire the personnel in a sustained and ongoing way. So if we don't seek grants, we will not be able to do the work. And so I don't foresee that grants will go away for us, but that is the process. We will do a case-by-case situation and let the data tell us what to do next.

Yes, if I may follow up to that point. Is there a breakdown from your perspective, it doesn't have to be now, but between how many existing grants are available and how much the city per se to the Family Peace Center is contributing for that personnel? you know obviously you guys do fundraising I believe that's part of that so is there a mix that you can provide you know City Council from that perspective just to kind of get a sense an idea of like what those numbers are because I know you know the biggest thing is like you know legacy costs right if we hire individuals in here you know those grants you know go away it's how do we cover those if if Those are truly important items that we need to continue to have, right? And how do we address the gap, right? And that's, to your point, you're going out there and you're researching, you're trying to get all these grants. So just specifically, you know, if we can, it doesn't have to be now or just, you know, if you could provide that information, I think that would be sufficient for us.

Sure. And you're asking very specifically for a breakdown of how many positions are grant funded versus city funded. Sure. I can tell you off the top of my head, five positions are city funded. The rest of those are grant funded.

Out of the 11 or 12? Yeah. Just to give us sense an idea because yeah, you know from my perspective we've had this conversation I've worked in the not-for-profit world Understand that grants they dry up and unfortunately, you know, you have to make a decision, you know Where are we going to get the gap funding or you know, we might have to let these folks go unfortunately, right? Yes, so that's that's the nature of our work here.

Yes, I would also point out that it's not just an option of a of seeking additional funding for personnel, if there's a project that isn't ours to have the legacy project for, Camp Hope, for instance, we started in the city council, started by providing funding for our initial Camp Hope effort with Annie Hopson. We were able to launch that program, get it to where we had some solid data around it, and then we worked with the YMCA to take that, and now Camp Hope is not a city program, It's a program with the YMC that is done in conjunction with the Rockford Family Peace Center. So there are a number of creative solutions that we will work through to try to get other agencies to take things in the event that they are useful and productive and helping support our community, but that it's something the city doesn't do or have to do. Thank you. Appreciate that. Sure.

Alderman Meeks.

Thank you so much. First of all, thank you so much for all that you do. I appreciate it. I'm just curious, with all the effort that we have put in surrounding domestic violence and community violence, how much have we been able to decrease domestic violence in our community?

Yeah, I think that what we are seeing is an overall reduction in community violence that's coming from our efforts around prevention. When we talk about that last lagging indicator of domestic violence, I have to include my partners at the Rockford City Police Department. For a conversation around that because that number around the rate of domestic violence is one number and it is the very last Lagging indicator that we are ever going to look at to say okay that we finally got that number down as well So I really transparently don't look at that last number What we are looking at is how many survivors are getting connected to services? How many survivors are staying engaged with services? one of the things that I'm very interested in understanding and working with our new superintendent around is is how can we get supports inside of our schools so that we can, as very soon as possible, when our children start to exhibit signs of trauma, work to deploy strategies within the school buildings to mitigate that trauma so that the violence doesn't escalate and we end up having one of our kids become a permanent resident in the criminal justice system. So those leading indicators around how many of our youth are getting connected to services, what's the reduction in our juvenile violent arrests, those are the numbers that we're looking at, Alderwoman, to really make sure that we are going in the right direction. And I'm happy to pull together some of that data from the Rockford City Police Department. I can talk to our friends in the juvenile probation department, too, around their numbers around that. But to that point, we have started. I'm going to amend that statement. We have an ongoing discussion with the Criminal Justice Coordinated Council that's been going on for a little over a year around the recidivism data to start to try to measure if we are sending somebody if we are finding somebody guilty of a crime related to domestic violence and sending them to something right now that's called PAPE. I cannot remember what it calls for, but it is somewhere where we send adult offenders of domestic violence. And then at the end of that, they're released from supervision in the court. One of the things I'm interested in is are the people that we're putting through PAPE re-offending? What's the recidivism? Right now, we don't know. And so to some extent, transparently, Some of the data that we need to know that we're going in the right direction is not yet being collected. We are still behind the eight ball in trying to collect data when it comes to a broad system response around this issue. But we have to look at what the schools are doing, what the hospitals are doing, what the criminal justice system is doing, and what the family law court system is doing. Because all of those layers have a role that contribute directly to the prevention or contribution and sustainment of this violence in our community. And so we are looking at data points across all of those. And I know that's a really complex answer. And I'm not trying to give you a complex answer. It's just a really complex problem that has multiple layers in every single layer. And so we're looking at all kinds of data. Regional and Planning Council is who we work really closely with around this. They actually contract with us. They don't just work closely with us. We contract with them. And we meet with them monthly to try to get our hands and arms around this data and use it to determine whether or not we're going in the right direction. We meet with Rockford Police Department. We'll be with the Fire Department, I believe, next week as well, because we're really trying to show every agency's data to determine whether or not it's going in the right direction. Order of Protection Service, we're working with the county on that. If somebody's going to get an Order of Protection, how long is it taking for that Order of Protection to be served? Because there's a time space in between there when that perpetrator can continue to re-offend and escalate the violence. So getting those OP served as soon as possible is something that we have pushed on. The criminal justice system, are we charging more people with strangulation? If somebody is being strangled, you all have heard me say ad nauseum in this room, they are 750% more likely to die. Are we seeing an increase of arrest with strangulation now that we've got the strangulation supplement out there? And then are we seeing a conviction rate increase? And when we worked with the state's attorney's office on that, we've gotten things in place now through the leadership of state's attorney Hanley and his team there. We are seeing an increase in prosecutions and convictions for strangulation cases. And so it's all of those data points and more that we are looking at to try to determine that we are going in the right direction ultimately for the health and safety of the community.

And do you have an idea of how long it will take to start to get those data points? I think that's very important data to gather to understand the measurements.

I'll have a better idea once I can start to have an understanding of the new superintendent's vision. That is a huge part of this. What are we doing to get to our children and how early we're starting to get to our kids? And so I don't know what the new superintendent's vision is. I don't believe that is not, we just have not had an opportunity to connect yet. He's here and he's trying to run a huge district. But one of the things that I want to understand is the vision on allowing the community supports into the schools to try to get to our children. We were not successful with the previous administration. We submitted a tremendous collaborative multidisciplinary proposal to Dr. Jarrett and his cabinet that would have allowed teams into 10 schools in the district at their choice to go direct with our kids when they started to exhibit that they were experiencing trauma and instead of getting them into a system that was going to expel them or get them out of the school building. We wanted to offer some services that would keep them in the building and get them connected to therapeutic services so that they could stay in school and connect to school and be successful. And so one of my leading indicators is how many of our kids are reading at a third grade reading level? How many of them are ready to start ninth grade? Because if they are not, by universal data standards, not data standards that we're measuring internally and measuring ourselves on, but statewide data standards, then we are setting our kids up for failure. and for, I worry, a future fast track into the criminal justice system. And so I can't answer that question conclusively for you because I'm not in control of all of the places that we need to get our act together and walk in step with one another.

Do you have another question? Yeah, I do. It's not a question. I'll just say thank you for allowing me to speak to the committee. So the data that we have collected that we do have from, I would say, the police department is strictly domestic violence cases.

And general community violence, because we are watching our community violence levels go around, in particular around our youth crimes, because we are putting so much into our kids. We have an entire team at our community healing center, and we are broadening and expanding our capacity in that by moving into Comprehensive Community Solutions and of course being at the Irving Avenue House with YSN, United Youth Services Network and our police. So we are seeing positive data coming around our youth. We saw a significant reduction in our youth being arrested and we've started to see it creep up a little bit again right now. And so we're watching that trend line. But we have seen around our community violence numbers, we have seen those numbers conclusively be reduced. We are also seeing, I will say this, we are seeing a reduction in calls for service for domestic violence. And it's been several months now. I am not willing to sit here and call it anything yet I need to see a few more months of this. But right now, it looks like it's going in the right direction. But I won't represent that to you all until I have a data analyst look at this and say, yes, you can represent it this way. But it looks okay right now.

Thank you. No, you're good. All right. All those in favor of approving the grant indicate by aye. Aye. Opposed? The matter passes. Before we end, I have a motion to adjourn into closed session to discuss pending or threatened litigation matters. Motion to approve.

So moved. And labor negotiations.

And labor negotiations as well. All those in favor give an aye. Aye. We will reconvene.

Thank you.

Yeah, yeah. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

You're working so much harder than you think. It's like tomorrow. There's so much more you can do. I mean, I don't know if you all know, but I don't know if you all know, but I don't know if you all know,

Thank you. Thank you. I don't think so.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. You have positives.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. That's good. I don't know, he was doing, like, those two milligrams or whatever. He put, like, six in there, but, like, dude, they ate sixes in, like, 12, like... Thank you. Thank you. It was cheaper. Yeah, it was just $15. So even in Tennessee, it's not bad for a montage. Yeah, it worked out.

It was like a grand last year, so it should really happen. It worked out, but it wasn't going to go. Just like we didn't do for it, I'm sure. Yeah, we did it.

We just wanted to set it up for another year. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. I don't know what they're doing. They're locking the doors downstairs and trying to knock on people's doors.

While we're still doing this amazing thing, they can't do that. But it's literally the exact same thing. Sorry, they're locking the doors downstairs and trying to knock on people's doors.

I mean, I realize they're obsessed right now, but come back, and obviously there's still council meetings happening right now. Somebody should definitely tell them, so I don't have to complain about that.

I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. You never find out if there's a recording or some sort of transcript or something for the public hearing about the TIP district? I know there's no transcripts. There we go. Thank you.

Yeah, I mean, like, I don't know. Like, I submitted a FOIA and got the fact that there was no name, but... Yeah, I mean, there's no... It doesn't show up anywhere. It doesn't even show up as a planning and developing committee meeting because if it wasn't, it was just like a continuation of a public hearing. Oh, that would help.

Yeah. City Council meetings and the community relations and, like, FNP, COVID-19. I'm a big fan of getting as many paychecks as possible.

And that helps me when I have to go back and try to piece together stuff that happened. How do I, how do I, who do I talk to to try to get public hearings, at least a record of public hearings in the future?

Because, like, that's, that's an uncomfortable thing.

Yeah, or some sort of record of what people see. Because, like, that doesn't need to be a part of the, that's not part of the public hearings. Like, why am I just having this sort of, like, Yeah.

Yeah.

Oh, I mean, gotcha. It's an uncomfortable, uncomfortable, like, you know, I have a public hearing where only the chairman shows up. It's really uncomfortable.

It kind of feels like us talking to ourselves. Yeah. That's not a typical practice. Thank you. Yeah. It's part of your infrastructure. That's how it's done. That's why you always use it.

Shut up. Shut up. Oh, sorry. Thank you. But when you get home.

I can't tell my wife. and she said that Thank you. Amen. I forgot to tell you, one of my friends sold me a sparkly drink, so can we get one in any kind of... We don't have mixed sparkly drinks. It's literally Icy and Sprite. Sprite's not sparkly. And lemonade's not as sparkly. Thank you. I mean, that's a new picture for my hand. I'm just sitting in the chair. I'm just sitting in the chair. Yes.

I don't know if you know, but when it says mother's name on your birth certificate, it says mother's name.

I can legally change it. I can legally change your mother's name on your birth certificate. I can legally change my first name. I can legally change my last name. Thank you. Thank you. I don't even see him. Oh, he is a new man. I see him. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Thank you. Thank you.

This question is on the issue of digital learning. Do we have a choice with the conference versus this?

I don't know. . . . Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Thank you. Thank you. I saw something like that. I forgot about that. It's going to be 42, Thursday and Friday. I'm off Saturday and Sunday. Yeah, okay. And that's why it's low right there. I got a little shame because I watched it and I didn't know as much. There's so much. Then I have Monday off because I have to be at work at midnight on Tuesday. Yeah.

That's why I don't work the days off. On top of that, my boss really asked me.

She asked me to take off, so I didn't respond to her, obviously.

She's like, hey, what are you up to? It's like 10 a.m. It's like 10 a.m. It's like 10 a.m. It's like 10 a.m. It's like 10 a.m. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you.

I felt so bad when you were around me. I didn't miss you at all. And I was just laughing. It was way worse than I knew.

You know. Yeah. Yeah. There was a karate game in that.

Sorry, karate.

Oh, yes. No. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. I don't know. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, yeah. Thank you. Thank you. I want to go to the meetings. I would like to go to the meetings. I would like to go to the meetings. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

So,

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. I'm sure.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. No. Yeah.

Yeah.

Hmm? I know, yeah.

That's crazy. That's why I hate you. Like, I love you, but I don't want to see you. But I would continue to hate you, and I would go back to see you.

Just because I hate you. I would hate you.

I would hate you. I think we're out of time. And I've never been assigned to it. How do those elevators go for you? You have to walk in the middle. And there's so many... At least it's the end of the conference. You can only go out... He's like, he's got the hearing on him.

He's like, well, just get the, like, the green key to open the door. He's got, like, four different green keys on the side. And then, like, and there's, like, four different audio keys. Yeah. And all of them together.

Like, it was, like, insane.

Yeah.

I don't mind if I already get something.

Oh, that's nice. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Thank you.

All right. I don't know.

We didn't write it.

Thank you.

don't fail

That would be very cool.

Yeah.

I don't feel like it.

Yeah.

No, I don't feel like it. No. Well, you just need your . Yeah. No, man. Yeah, there was people in my class. See you guys. See you next week, same place. It looks like the most open market. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah.

I know, it's always wonderful.

Thank you. That's so cool. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you.

Thank you. I said I don't want to talk about that. I don't want to talk about that. Yeah. Yeah.

Thank you. Yeah.

I don't know.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

What's the city by his name?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Really? Yeah, he's not drunk. No, there's no ice in it. You have to ask for tap water. They usually say water. They'll say, do you want to steal it from the public? But you're in charge. Yeah, so . Or like, if you say it's like an ice block, maybe it shouldn't be important. You can just say . So I know stuff like that. I don't know how cool it is about phones. When I was trying to figure out how to use it and stuff, I was like, I wouldn't know how to use it.

My phone's .

Yeah, that's how it was. Thank you. World Cup. I've just seen so many fun ones where, like, people are getting servings out. This is your meal.

Really?

I didn't get enough. But it just feels so good.

Or I've seen people, like, walk in and talk to you for the first time.

Yeah, that's all right.

Thank you. Thank you.

Who's that?

Yeah, we're coming out here. Okay.

Okay, we're back in open session on F&P. Sir clerk, please recall the roll.

Here.

Here. Thank you. There was one committee report we held out we can now discuss. It would be under committee reports item number four. It's a settlement agreement with Maccabee Capital LLC for property damage to 401E State Street in the amount of $231,272.51. Is there a motion to approve the settlement agreement? Second. Are there any comments or questions for staff? Seeing none, all those in favor indicate by aye. Aye. Matter passes there now a motion to adjourn all right the FMP meeting is adjourned. Thank you