Police Pension Fund Board - Regular Meeting

Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. contract at $3,505,703.04. This change will include additions that were necessary to deliver a fully functional and reliable public safety decision system that meets the operational requirements, provides long-term support for response, and the fire department operating . Does anyone have any questions? Item number one is approval of vouchers amount of $12,305,598.22.

Is there a motion to approve vouchers? So moved. Second. Any question or comments for staff? Seeing none, all those in favor indicate by aye. Aye. Opposed? Matter passes. Moving on to resolutions. Item 1, it is an award of bid for the Rockford Fire Department headquarters renovation to L&L Builders in the amount of $481,590. The contract duration is through February of 2027. And the funding source is the 2022 budget surplus funds. 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 two is the award of a non-competitive contract for legal research services to West Publishing in the annual amount of $29,609.16 with a 6% increase of fees annually. The contract duration is three years. The funding source is the legal department operating budget. 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 three is the award of engineering agreement for State West parking deck 2027 maintenance repairs to Walker Consultants in the amount of $37,510. The contract is through December 2026, and the funding source is the parking fund operating budget. Is there a motion to approve the award?

So moved. Second.

Any questions or comments for staff? Seeing none, all those in favor indicate by aye. Aye. Opposed? The matter passes. Item four is an application approval and award acceptance for the Illinois DCO State Designated Cultural District Grant Award in the amount of $200,000. This grant does not require a cost match. It will be from May 1, 2026 to April 30, 2028. It would provide funds used to develop district identity and branding, support new and existing businesses, and promote visitor attraction. Is there a motion to approve?

So moved.

Okay, any questions or comments for staff Alderman to bird.

Thanks chairman. Do we have any idea where these boundaries will be?

The whole boundary for the cultural areas I Okay, so wouldn't include places like 7th Street Okay, do you do you foresee further designations as well The state of Illinois has only opened up the program for 15 designations. We received ours in 2025. And that was the last round of designations. So there is not an opportunity under this program for additional designations.

Thanks.

I just had a question. With respect to this, did you have to apply for it in advance with a specific plan?

Correct. So we actually applied for and received the designation in 2025. So what's before you right now is just the funding component. Each 15 designated cultural districts within the state have the opportunity to receive $200,000.

So that is what we are at right now. But we've already, it's been allocated to South Main from Winnebago to Montague.

Correct. From that application from an entity applied in 2024.

Okay, thank you. Any other questions? All right, seeing none, all those in favor indicate by aye. Aye. Opposed? The matter passes. Item 5 is an approval of a grant funded sub recipient agreement with Winnebago County Probation Department in not to exceed amount of $35,000 the periods from August 1 2026 through December 31 2026 the grant funds would be utilized to provide funding to appoint a probation officer to fulfill office hours at the Family Peace Center and will assist in strengthening existing multidisciplinary team response program expedite and streamline services for survivors and allowed for continued collaborative efforts. Is there a motion to approve?

So moved.

Second. Any questions or comments for staff? Alderman Beach.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm always concerned about these grant-funded opportunities when we hire people under the grant and realizing that a year from now or so, those grants might not be here. And just a few weeks ago, we picked up, I believe, and added three more people to the payroll of Rockford because a grant did not come through. And we were asked to keep those employees on the payroll. How does someone that's qualified be willing to take a job that they know a year from now they might not have? I'm sure I just don't understand that. Go ahead.

Any type of grant funded program and have to hire staff it is very transparent in the hiring process that this program is grant funded and that if the funds are not renewed or we don't receive grant funds for the project in the future, that that position would no longer exist. So that is transparent in our hiring process for any grant-funded program. This particular program does have two options for renewal. So we're looking at a potential for three years. I do also anticipate an extension for this. We're getting started on the project late. The whole time period could essentially be three four plus years at this point for this particular program Which is a good period of time for an employment of a person?

Any further questions Seeing them all as a favor indicate by aye aye opposed Matter passes moving on item six an approval of a grant award sub-recipient agreement with the Winnebago County State's Attorney's Office in an amount not to exceed one hundred and seventy five thousand dollars and The agreement period is from August 1, 2026 through December 31, 2026. If approved, the grant funds will be utilized to hire a full-time victim services provider and allow the domestic violence assistance to oversee the needs of the grant program. Is there a motion to approve?

So moved. Second.

Any questions for staff? I just have one. The period on there is really just the rest of this year. So it's $175,000 for more than one state's attorney?

There's two positions for this. It's a state's attorney and, I believe, a part-time position as well.

OK. And the funding, as Alderman Beach suggested, the funding for next year, starting January 1, 2027, has that been secured yet?

Not yet, no.

Thank you. Any other questions? Seeing none, all is fair to indicate by aye. Aye. Opposed? Passes item 7 is approval of the resolution declaring intent to form the Rockford regional tourism improvement district Fixing the time and place of a public hearing and advancement We're gonna have some present on this yeah chairman

Let me start by a brief summary and some introductions, if that's OK, Chairman. Sure. So this request comes before council as a whole as a result of a significant amount of participation with the hotel industry and 26 individual hotels representing just over 80% of the hotel operators in the city of Rockford, Cherry Valley, Loves Park, and South Beloit. And so this is a resolution of intent. And it does not establish a tourism improvement district, but does allow us to begin the process under the Illinois state statute, including scheduling the public hearing notice and triggering staff to send out the other required notices that are Required underneath the statue we do have a presentation here tonight and a couple of guests We have Tiffany Gallagher from Civitas who is the consultant that has participated? with the hotel operators and go Rockford in the establishment of Tourism Improvement District everything that goes into it the required five-year plan and so forth and Additionally, we have Michael Jacobson from the Illinois Hotel Association, who is an advocate and representation of hotel operators across the entire state of Illinois. So I will hand that off to Tiffany to go ahead and get started. And here's the presentation, unless there's any objections.

Committee, city council, thank you so much for hearing us. My name is Tiffany Gallagher. I'm vice president of Civitas. We are a legal consulting firm based out of California. We are the only firm in the country that specializes in the establishments of special districts, particular to the lodging and tourism industries. And so we are the subject matter experts as it relates to these mechanisms. So a special benefit assessment district that would be formed to benefit the lodging industry in your area. so i just want to briefly give you a very high level overview on what it is and so this would be potentially formed via the tpsd law in illinois passed in 2023 which allows for and sets up the procedures to establish a special benefit assessment districts for the lodging industry And so underneath that, we have a requirement of putting together a proposal, a district plan. So the hotels have come together and put together a proposal for you to consider that would set up a district for a term of five years. So it's a short-lived district which is particular to a set of programs that can only benefit the businesses that pay into it So different than bed taxes or other taxes related to tourism It is bound by law to that special benefit I'm going to review for you all the particulars of the plan in just a moment and industry-led, so we cannot move this district forward without signed petitions in support of that district plan, which was just reviewed, that we do have in excess of 80% of hotel contribution by assessment revenue signed in support of this district plan. This is industry-led and governed. And so by law, there's a separate committee that is set up underneath a governing entity. And so the governing entity in this case is required by law to be the Tourism Convention Bureau, which here is Go Rockford, to administer the plan on the behalf of the businesses in the district. So this is secure for the businesses. And so I think, as most of you know, new taxes and fees on businesses, hotels in particular, is generally not welcome. But because there are security guards in place with this law, the hotels have rallied around this mechanism as a supplemental vehicle to fund new business demand for their businesses. It looks optically a bit like bed taxes, and that is passed on to the consumer. So it's a special assessment. And if you have been involved in any assessments, most of the time those are parcel-based assessments. This is not. This is a business-based assessment. That assessment can be passed on to the consumer. or the tourist via a line item on the guest room folio. It is collected by the city. The city then remits it back to the managing entity, which would be Go Rockford, for administration of the district plan on behalf of the hotels. This is not a new concept, although it is relatively new to Illinois. There are 226 districts across the country. We now have them in 26 states. We have one district that has recently formed in March of 2026. This year in Chicago, the first district formed. This would be, we think, the second. The city of Peoria also has already passed the resolution of intent and has set a public hearing for September 8 for their district. Blue states have active districts, and orange states are those states that have districts in formation or are passing enabling laws to be able to do them. Just highlighted here, we have some activity around the interest of setting up these districts around the state. So you can see we have one active district, and we have several areas that are interested in forming. The elements of the district plan at high level, district boundary, right now the district plan encompasses all hotels with 45 rooms or more. So this is a program that only will benefit businesses of 45 rooms or more. in the defined district boundary that includes Rockford, Loves Park, Cherry Valley, and South Beloit. This is a five-year term. As mandated by law, it cannot exceed five years on a first term. If it is successful and the businesses choose to renew, they can do so for up to 10 years following the same procedures that they did to form this district via a district plan and petition process. The proposed annual budget, with all businesses as proposed, is approximately $1.38 million a year dedicated to funding, sales, marketing, events, destination development. There's also a very small element of contingency reserve, so essentially a savings account for the district and administration. It is a 2% levy on the businesses in the district, which would be 45 rooms or more in the outlined municipalities. Governance, as required by law, is a committee of lodging businesses formed underneath Go Rockford, in particular, and is collected by the city. And the city does retain a 1.5% administrative fee for their services in collection and enforcement. This is a compulsory levy for the term of the district, and it is compulsory because the benefit requirement requires benefit to all that pay in. There is annual audits and annual accounting and reporting that is required back to the city to justify that benefit and that program. And that concludes my presentation. I'd like to, if I could, just bring Michael up for his contribution.

Thank you, Tiffany. Sorry, I can't get close enough to the table with my injury, but I'll speak from here. So thank you for convening this hearing tonight and talking about the Tourism Improvement District. Again, I'm Michael Jacobson. I'm president and CEO of the Illinois Hotel. Lodging Association I'm based just a few miles down 90 in the Huntley Pingree Grove area but I am here tonight on behalf of an overwhelming majority of our hotel owners in the Rockford area and on behalf of IHLA to express our song support of what you're hearing about tonight in the tourism improvement district Gino mentioned this earlier it's a weird position for us because historically we are always adamantly against any sort of tax increase and That's Pat either pass along to our hotel owners or pass along to the guests But I think it's that's telling in the fact that how this is structured Differently for several reasons as Tiffany mentioned. This is a self-imposed assessment on hotel stays which again legally differentiates it from attacks and it's directed entirely by the hotel industry to support tourism sales marketing and business development through our friends at go Rockford so realistically it's a lockbox fund that can't be diverted into other areas that has to be used for tourism promotion that's really what the essence of the hotel motel tax was when it was originally created decades ago but as we've seen at the local and particularly the state level in recent decades that that usage has been eroded away and been diverted to other areas like general funds infrastructure other areas so as you've heard throughout the year we've worked with hotel owners I will tell you it was not easy to get hotel owners to support something like this knowing our typical position on tax increases but ultimately we did have a majority an overwhelming majority eighty four and a half percent of the hotels in the covered region between the four jurisdictions and 26 of the 31 impacted hotels signed a petition to support this. So at the end of the day, it's simply allowing Rockford to level the playing field, particularly with the competition. Tiffany showed 226 cities and towns throughout the country already have this. Here, as you heard, Peoria is in a race with Rockford to get this passed and authorized before Rockford. We'll see who finishes first and gets this hopefully launched. Chicago's collections are going extremely well. And I think even our neighbors to the north, Wisconsin is hopeful that they're enabling legislation at the state level to pass next year, allowing cities like Beloit to also pursue a similar program. So realistically, it's about keeping up with the competition in terms of winning business and winning new visitors to the region. So most importantly, the budget and expenditures of this fund will be seen by this committee of hoteliers. So that committee will be directed by the board of directors of Go Rockford. So in close coordination with the overall board of directors of Go Rockford. and will have diverse representation in terms of the size of the hotels, the brands of the hotels, and the geographic region between the four jurisdictions that are paying into the district. So what the hotel community likes the most about the TID is that it's required to issue regular detailed reports on the ROI of their investments. both to the state and to local municipalities. The original authorization lasts for only five years, but within that five years, if things go terribly wrong, which we're confident they wouldn't, there's also a safeguard built in that the hotel owners can Issue another vote and if 51% of those hotel owners decide that this is not going well They can disband the district at a moment's notice at a moment's notice So at a minimum we would have to come back to council in five years to reauthorize this district for another ten-year term But if again if things are going haywire, we also have an additional safeguard built in as a panic button protection to kill the district and at any moment so realistically the benefits obviously will go beyond hotel owners they'll help support our restaurants when visitors eat in our restaurants shop in our retail stores pay the gas taxes they're driving through town and obviously will really help those that work in the industry and outside of the industry as we grow the economy here in the rockford area at no cost to the rock first taxpayers it will be passed on to guests that are traveling through rockford so We're happy to answer any questions. We appreciate the consideration and really are excited for the growth that could come with implementing this tourism improvement district.

Thank you.

Thanks, Chairman. Tiffany, good to have you in Rockford. Could you give us a real-life example of where this money was used to the success of a hotel somewhere else where this is implemented?

I sure can. So I think maybe I'll just provide an example of a typical use for a modern formation. So these districts have been, the first district was formed in 1990. But as time has evolved, the uses of those funds have evolved as well. In order for us to be able to incentivize business, we generally have to offer subsidies to groups. Sometimes we have to pay commissions or maybe even rebates to organizing groups. If you're familiar with this, it's pretty common for hotels to have to increase their rates and build in commissions and rebates to pay back to an organization in order to incentivize them to come in. districts like these are using those funds to take care of that expense on behalf of the businesses, allowing them to effectively buy down their rate, keep more money, and be able to secure the business. And so it's a lower cost as a result of using these funds. So that's one example. We have many. Most of the time, these are used for general sales and marketing and bid incentives to promote down times. And so if you have lower periods of time, and I'm not an expert in your actual cycle of business, but I would guess that maybe January is not a really high volume month for you. These funds are often used to fill those gaps. And so if you have a low period of time in January, you can incentivize business to come in. Or you can help in building out the structure or infrastructure that you need in order to support an event that might come to the area. So they are wildly successful. And the reason why is because the businesses are at the table. They are helping govern these. And they are helping identify the best place to use the funds. While we have 226 in place, I've been doing this for about 10 years. There was, I think, 154 when I started. They are not only being formed, but they are being renewed. And I think the rate is 95%. If they did not work, hotels would not sign petitions to renew them. So they are very, very successful.

Thank you. Go ahead. And I'm sure for you and some of your friends in California just an FYI in January We have some good cross-country skiing and sledding hills here in Rockford. So come on back.

I live in Syracuse, New York Oh, I do the firm is in California, but I do not yes Good stuff here in January, so John mr. Groh

We had spoken a little bit earlier, a few days ago, and I have a business trip coming up for my day job, and when I made that hotel booking down in another part of the country, fourteen percent Was added on to that to the room stay I thought that was pretty steep but could you give us a few examples of what you found in maybe comparable cities to Rockford as well as please feel free to elaborate on larger cities and it sounds like I got a discount at fourteen percent and

Yeah, we always want to make sure, and I think the hotels that have signed on to this want to make sure that in all areas they are as competitive as possible. Currently, a guest checking out of a hotel in Rockford pays 14%, similar to that trip you just took. That, by and large, is about where communities are, between about 13% and 18%. So we looked at all Illinois communities, as well as communities like Overland Park, the Indianapolis area where we compete. bigger cities like Fort Wayne and Grand Rapids. I think Grand Rapids is at 21%, which is significantly higher than we would want to be. Peoria is currently, in their three districts, they have different areas of town. Their hotel tax is higher than ours is at the base level. So we're not going above where our competitors are, by and large. And we're not going above where the 26 hotel owners that have signed on feel comfortable with that rate being for their customers. I think Chicago, as they just enacted for the downtown district, 19.75. Certainly, getting to 16%, we would not be in that area.

OK. Thank you. All in front of you.

Thank you. You talked about the 26 who joined in. They would be the only beneficiaries. Casino Hotel comes on board, would they be able to join in?

They will be compelled to join in. So any hotel that is built in the future within the boundaries, Rockford, Loves Park, Cherry Valley, South Beloit, that meet the definition, 45 rooms or more, would automatically come into the district. So thank you, Gino, for committing to getting that hotel done. And I know you all have some conversation on that coming. But Hard Rock and any other hotel that opens would be included in the district in the future.

So of the 31, you said, 26 signed on, if at some point the others who didn't sign on decided, hey, this might be, is this open to them?

They would also be required. So any hotel within the unified district that has the minimum threshold of 45 room nights, through the action of city council and the communities, they all will be included.

Oh, it's automatic.

OK, thank you. To petition all of you to start this process, the resolution of intent that's before you tonight that starts the 30-day window for the public hearing and the future conversations you'd have, we had to be at 50-plus percent, so more than 50%. So with 85% almost of the hotels by revenue being represented, we're well in excess of the minimum requirements by the state law. And I credit the 10 different hotel leaders who have been on this committee for the last year, including Marcus Bacon, who's here from Radisson and First Midwest Group, Gino Chintan, and others who have been having these conversations for the last year to get us to this point. Thank you for that clarification. Thank you so much for the question.

Any other questions all the money?

Excuse me. So you were you say this is not a tax, but it is a self imposed assessment. But it would be compulsory and I was wondering if you can explain how or why. This is preferable to hotels simply increasing their rate and creating a fund. to, for sales and marketing, to do the things that you would do with this. Because I think the public is going to, nobody in the public is going to say, oh, this is a self-imposed assessment. They're going to say it's a tax. And that it's a tax that we are not, that it's not going to be administered. It's a tax that then we are turning over from elected officials to the private sector to administer. And not that there may be not some merit in that as industry experts. But I was out of commission when we Rated the cannabis fund for the to address our deficit but You know having money like this in a lockbox To use your term, you know There are times when we do need to be able to draw on funds dedicated for a specific purpose to address our day-to-day operations. And I guess I'm looking for an explanation of why we would protect these funds and not other funds. We could do the same thing then for the cannabis funds, say. Put it in a lockbox, turn it over to somebody else, and don't allow it to ever be used again for, to bail out the general fund, which I think was part of the conversation that occurred while I was gone. So I'm just wondering if you can address that.

There were several points there. And John, maybe if I could ask you to speak to the economic benefit of the infusion of additional tourism dollars. The businesses agree to put together a district that is, to your point, a compulsory levy. self-imposed in that the process requires a voluntary petition in order to begin. And so the government cannot form this without their permission. It also has securities in the special benefit assessment model, which is particular to the underpinnings of an assessment versus a taxes. There has to be a benefit drawn between the levy, the programming, and the rate. in order for it to be an assessment, which makes it very different and also very protected, to your point, than taxes. Just like homeowners associations and other associations that have laws that govern them for protections and oversight by the government as a partnership, as a public-private partnership, Those types of organizations put those in place and bear the financial burden so that they can infuse more dollars generally into a wider program that benefits the greater good of all in that space. How you all can benefit and will benefit, and I'll let John talk more about this, is that this will supercharge. So it is required to drive more room nights. So the levy is on the room nights. Required to drive more room nights, which will generate more taxes for you. So your bed taxes will grow with this. They have to grow, essentially, with this. And so I'll let you follow up on the economic benefits of supporting tourism.

And I believe this council understands, based on your past actions, that as a strategy, tourism is a good economic strategy. Other people's money helps drive our economy. Other people's money coming in here, whether they're coming for Ironman, for a basketball tournament, for a show at the Coronado, or a game at the BMO. And if they're coming from outside of our community and leaving it here, that's generating support for local jobs, for businesses, and certainly for the tax benefits that will help with the challenges that the city will have and has had in the past. And I think the investment, what is unique about this model and the 200 plus districts across the country, is that private industry is saying, we believe in the power of other people's money. And we want more of it coming to our community, and yes, certainly to our individual business. So the investment of additional resources that, as Tiffany mentioned, can only be unlocked with their permission based on this state law is pretty powerful. As a non-home rule community, Rockford is maxed at the hotel tax that you can levy. So the state of Illinois has decided that non-home rule communities can have a 5% hotel tax. Back in the late 90s, maxed the tax to 5%. So when you add that with the other taxes, that's how we get to the 14%. So without private industry coming to the table to be a partner, the city wouldn't be able to unlock this opportunity. These 26 business owners have said, we believe that collectively we can work together for the greater good. And I hope that the events that you've seen take place, that you know come to our community, that you all participate in, and you see the benefit of the visitor dollar moving around our community, And infusing our economy is sufficient to say, let's move to the next step. This resolution of intent is not saying we are doing this. It's saying, let's continue to have conversations. Let's move to have a public hearing some 30-plus days from now. And then from there, the ordinance, additional details on the plan will be shared with council.

And hotel years who have been part of this all along can of course continue to be part of that conversation with you Go ahead old body So I'm not arguing against the benefits of tourism I fully believe in that but I'm not sure I heard an answer to the question of rather than have Us Impose a tax that's controlled by hotel owners, why don't the hotel owners get together, increase their rates rather than us create a tax and then pool that rate increase into a fund that could be used for sales and marketing? So that it's a rate increase versus a tax.

So I can address that, I think, a little bit. Because as we know, every single business is independently owned and operated. And everyone's going to look for their own benefit and try to boost their revenues. With something like this, to get everybody on the same page is very difficult. And then to police that, to make sure that the accounting is there, the checks and balances are there, that the collections will be there, and then those funds are used for the purpose which it was meant for. This is where somebody outside of that circle has to be involved so that everybody in the circle can feel more integrity towards that process, towards that system. So having the city be that policing agent for the collection and the distribution

Off this fund really helps us as business owners to know that okay This will work because we have the backing of everybody else around us Thank you, but just to be clear mr. Grove the tourism District is actually governed by and the only state statute that defines clearly like the services and hospitals specifics of how the money can be spent that's collected correct And you indicated that because we're non-home rule, there's a cap on it?

There's a cap on your ability to just increase the tax yourself. And therefore, if you want to supercharge marketing, sales, promotion, development of tourism as an industry and as a strategy, this is a way to do that. That is very popular and very successful across the country.

But that was the restriction on us being on a little bit that's not part of the the service that is this. Of the 20.

With this. The choir more staff. From the city level as well as from the goal.

So I would defer to director hit Hagerty on the collection side.

Is there.

Thank you. So we're already collecting hotel-motel taxes from most of the businesses that this tax would apply to. So for this finance department, from an administrative perspective, this is a very small additional amount of work for us.

And then as it relates to our team, we will have conversations with the hotel owner committee about what they would like to accomplish. And we will determine whether or not additional staff, whether it be marketing staff or sales staff, maybe some financial management, based on the program that we agree to,

We would then put a proposal together with them With that committee to determine if staff is needed those funds these funds would cover those costs I think I saw on the slide that there was administrative fees is that for the city and you would also take administrative fees

So by state law, the collecting municipality can recuperate. And we're proposing 1.5% of the collection to cover any administrative costs that the city has. There may be additional, within the budget, funds allocated for operations and overhead. We will have to have an annual audit of these funds. And so that's an allowable administrative expense as well.

And in the proposed budget, you'll see that there's a 7.5% administrative. That would be where headcount would be counted towards. But you see the bulk of it, 73%, really goes to the sales marketing, the real programmatic efforts to drive more visitors to Rockford. It's not meant to be this program, both in Rockford and across the state and across the country, is not meant as just a way to add headcount to an organization. That's not the purpose of this. It's really to drive that programmatic piece. All right.

All right. Seeing no further questions, all those in favor indicate by aye. Aye. Opposed? As a matter of fact, thank you for coming.

Thank you very much.

Oh, let's do a motion. Yeah, we brought him up there. Can we do a motion to approve the resolution declaring the intent to form the Rock Regional Tourism Improvement District, fixing a time and place of public hearing and advancement? Is there a motion to approve? Any further questions or comments? Seeing none, all those in favor make a move. Aye. Opposed? Matter passes. All right. Thank you for that. Moving on to item number eight, authorization of funding for concrete improvements at BMO Center in the amount of $1,152,116.20. The funding source is the redevelopment fund. 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 nine is award of contract for permit and code enforcement software to GovPilot in the amount of $305,320 in year one and $212,000 annually in years two and three. It's a three-year contract with two possible one-year extension options with a 5% increase in fees during the extension years. The funding source is the Information Technology and Integration Fund. Is there a motion to approve? So moved.

Second.

Second?

Second.

Any questions for staff? Alderman Thunberg.

Thanks, Chairman. This is much anticipated by, I think, I'd speak on behalf of the government on this. I do hope it's as efficient as it's been conveyed. We expect it to be, my question, we expect it to be user-friendly for the residents of Rockford as well, correct?

Correct. It's a much more modern of a system. Our old system met needs and was built for the time that it was adopted in, but this is what we expect it to be. This will be mobile friendly, again, laptop friendly, all those things, but have an AI component. So as you're starting to try and put your request in, it will help guide you towards the right things that you're trying to report, help ask for information. It'll be the same kind of system where a resident can put something in anonymously or not, but still get the case number that they can look up later. If you do it and put your own information in, there's a much more reliable system for getting notifications and updates on how things are going. And we'll have some user controls for a setting, like how we're even interacting and sending you all reports. on what we're seeing in your ward or what you've reported. So just a whole different level of ease with this software.

But I love talking with my constituents, and I talk with them a lot.

You do.

and so this may uh this may ease that situation so do i i read that there is going to be support from 8 a.m to 5 p.m is that i couldn't tell though if that was for the for example in this case the city If they needed support for this program, that they can call that company directly between 8 and 5? Or did that include if a resident had issues, would they be able to use that customer support?

I believe that was probably both. I think those are their customer service hours. So whoever is, they would definitely, they'd have access point when the customer's getting on. So there's a customer service line there. So I believe those are the hours that they're available for customer support. It's not a 24-7.

no but it's not just relegated possibly to city staff who are having issues maybe with the program there's a possibility this could mean residents who are having issues with the program to call that customer service support line

I think if they're having issues, like it's not accepting my information or the screen just flanks out. I think when you have something in your cache and it won't accept new fields, I doubt that will happen with this offer. But theoretically, yes, there'd be a customer service line.

All right. Because normally, those aldermen have been the customer service line when there's been issues in the past. So thank you.

Sure. Alderman Salgado.

Thank you, Chairman. A couple questions. The first one that I have is I noticed that it's funding sources, the Information Technology Integration Fund. So what is our current software that we currently use, and what cost do we incur? Is this pretty comparable to the 305 versus the 212 after that? So don't know if it comes out of the economic or allocation from the IT department specifically for this. So wanted to ask that first question and then a follow up.

Sure. So Infor is currently in the same budget, the IT budget. There is a portion in the Community and Economic Development Department's budget for project docs, which is the review. So we currently have two softwares. So this one software will take over both. So we will have some savings in the Community and Economic Development budget. And then for cost comparisons, the 305 is pretty similar. I think the costs for N4 have somewhat varied. So we've had years at 288. We had a year at 405. And that was somewhat having to get contracted work to amend code and try and clean things up. So they're different years. There were different costs for the software. So the first year is comparable. And then we expect a cost savings moving forward. The 212 would be.

Lower and Ann probably might have information more on that but there's definitely going to be a cost savings moving forward And as a follow-up to that the integration of this system is it very Seamless from that perspective and then because I know Laura sends out the metrics by month kind of dictating, you know, we had so many you know these numbers we helped out so many you know constituents or whatever so so where I'm going with this is the reporting aspect of it and the integration piece of it if that's gonna be all squared away which I'm assuming you guys have done your homework on that but just a question from from that perspective yes there's a lot of driving yes

Yeah, there's a lot of drivers for moving to new software. The customer experience, both for all of you, for us, for contractors, for citizens, the customer experience needed to be elevated tremendously. But we are very much looking forward to the management tool side of this. This will have reporting, malleable reporting that we will be able to make. Work for us and to watch more of those sorts of numbers We lost track we were keeping track of some things as you as you notice we get got to Laura We kept track of some things But if you look at rock stat reports the old rocks that like there was a lot more that was that we were able to determine on a monthly basis And this will help us return to that kind of management level All the weeks You know what Alderman Zavada asked my question so thank you

Any other questions? All right. Seeing none, all those in favor indicate by aye. Aye. Opposed? Matter passes. Is there a motion to adjourn? I have a question. Oh, sure.

Mr. Chairman, back on Revolution 4, on number one, maybe it's right, but it says that the funds are from a 2022 budget surplus. Is that to be true, or is that... yes that's accurate council approved a plan separate plans both for 2022 and 2023

budget surpluses, those funds have been held in the general fund or their respective funds waiting to be spent. If they have not already been spent, most of them have. But the funds that were allocated for Fire Station 10 are held in the CAP currently for use for these projects.

Thank you.

So just real quickly, is it in the CIP fund?

Yes, the funds were transferred to the CIP fund for the pending construction project. So because we pivoted, it will be moved back to the general fund to spend on these specific improvements.

I guess my question is, is it really in the 2022 budget surplus or not?

These were funds that were created as part of the 2022 budget surplus that City Council approved a specific plan on how those were to be spent. So $10 million was set aside for the construction of a new fire station that this project will be funded out of that allocation.

All right. Motion to adjourn? So moved.

Second.

All those in favor indicate aye. Aye. This meeting is adjourned.