City Council - Regular Meeting

Microphones are live.

What's up?

Yes. Okay. Okay. Once we got those big rains a month or two ago. An inch of rain on the ground is a foot in the lake. It seems like. People quit calling me telling me to fill the lake up.

Having the appointed time of 5.30 arrived, I would like to call the Tuesday, June 9, 2026 Committee of the Whole to order. Would you please stand and join me for the Pledge of Allegiance?

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Madam Clerk, would you take the roll?

Alderman Cox?

Here.

Alderman Gregory? Here. Alderman Williams? Here. Alderman Rockford? Here. Alderwoman Purchase? Here. Alderwoman Notriano? Here. Alderman Carlson?

Here.

Alderwoman Conley? Present. Alderman Donilon?

Here.

Alderman Hanauer?

Here.

Chairwoman, a quorum is present. Thank you, Madam Clerk. I would like to accept a motion for the approval of May 26th, 2026 committee meeting minutes. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The ayes have it. Madam treasurer, would you please present your treasurer's report?

Thank you, Chair. The Treasurer's Report for the Corporate Fund for the month of May. Beginning balance is $60,530,550. We took in total receipts of $16,454,791. Total disbursements of $14,450,000. $59,515, which left the ending corporate fund balance at $62,525,826. The ARPA ending balance was $1,977,870, which is included in the above ending balance. That concludes my report. Thank you. Madam Chair, I make a motion to accept the Treasurer's Report as submitted.

All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The ayes have it. I would say, do we have any presentations? Of course we do. We have three presentations tonight with the first two calling the Madam Mayor and State Senator Doris Turner.

Okay, that's great. All right.

I'm gonna let the senator the great senator go first Good afternoon everyone Pull your mic down senator Can you come join us and then Turn that around

And then we have some alders that served when I was here with Jeanette. So can you all come up? Chris Tylan. Is that Herman Senor? Herman's back. Holy cow. Okay. Senso. Yeah. We shook it up a bit from time to time.

Don't forget Joe Davis down there.

It's almost like getting the band back together again. So I do have a... I know the mayor has a proclamation. I do have a proclamation. And it has a lot of whereases and wherefores and all of that. But I would just say that I cannot imagine being an alderman for all the person for the city of Springfield without having Jeanette sitting back in that office, kind of running the show. She was, she was phenomenal. It was absolutely nobody that did it like Jeanette did it. And, and, um, where is, Where's Tim Griffin?

Sitting in the corner.

Sitting in the corner. And when Tim Griffin, I had the pleasure of serving with Tim on the county board and then here too, and when he left that spot on the horseshoe and went to be the council coordinator, I know that Jeanette trained you well, didn't she? Yeah, and so with Jeanette and Tim, they really did. did some phenomenal stuff, and we did some phenomenal things here in this chamber and really moved the city forward in a lot of different ways. And I would say, and I'm not just saying it because I'm standing here with you, but a lot of that had to do with Jeanette Bland being back there. So thank you for... She was really more than just the administrative office. I don't even know what to call you because you, like, did it all. So she was more than just the person who was back in the back in the office. She really became all of our friends. And whenever something was going on with any of our families, Jeanette was right there picking up the phone, checking on us, and making sure everything was okay. And also making sure that we had the cookies for Christmas. So I missed you when I left, but I know that everybody here is going to miss you because of all the great things that you did. So you take this, and when you get home, sit by the fire, have a glass of wine, and you read all the great things I said about you. And then also.

Oh, thank you.

You have a goodie bag from the senator. Thank you so much. Love you. Love you too.

Please stay standing for this. We're going to embarrass you a little bit more. I have a proclamation that I will read. Senator and I kind of have some similar wording, so yes. Jeanette Bland began her service with the City of Springfield on November 13, 2002, as Executive Secretary for the Office of the Council Coordinator, and through her dedication and professionalism and commitment to excellence, ADVANCED TO THE POSITION OF OFFICE COORDINATOR. THROUGHOUT MORE THAN 23 YEARS OF SERVICE, JANETTE PROVIDED CONTINUITY AND STABILITY WITHIN THE OFFICE OF THE COUNCIL COORDINATOR, SERVING UNDER TWO COUNCIL COORDINATORS, JOE DAVIS BEING ONE OF THEM, TIM GRIFFIN BEING THE OTHER, AND MULTIPLE ADMINISTRATIONS WHILE OFFERING INVALUABLE INSTITUTIONAL KNOWLEDGE, GUIDANCE AND SUPPORT TO THE CITY OFFICIALS, THEIR EMPLOYEES AND OUR RESIDENTS. Jeanette served as a trusted resource to all the elected officials, department directors, employees, and residents, ensuring the efficient operation of city council and assisting numerous newly elected alder persons as they begin their service with the city. Jeanette played an important role in supporting six mayoral inaugurations, helping ensure the smooth transition because she does help or did help coordinate things during inauguration as well. through the administration of mayors Karen Hacera, Tim Davlin, Mike Houston, Jim Linkfelder, and Misty Buescher. Beyond her professional accomplishments, Jeanette became known throughout City Hall for her kindness, her positive attitude, her professionalism, and her impeccable sense of style, earning the admiration and friendship of countless coworkers and members of the public. Through changing administrations, evolving responsibilities, and the daily demands of local government, Jeanette remained a steadfast and dependable presence whose contributions positively impacted the city of Springfield and its residents. After more than 23 years of dedicated service, Jeanette leaves a lasting legacy of professionalism, integrity, kindness, and public service that will be remembered and appreciated by all who have had the privilege of working with her. As mayor, I cannot thank Jeanette enough for her positive attitude, her warm smile, and her unwavering willingness to support the city of Springfield. I've personally enjoyed working alongside her for the past 11 years, and I will greatly miss her. Thank you. Absolutely. Therefore, I, Misty Bush, your mayor of the city of Springfield, along with your city council that is currently serving at this time, and the members behind us who previously served, do hereby recognize and honor Jeanette Bland for her more than 23 years of dedicated service to the city of Springfield and extend our sincerest gratitude and appreciation and professionalism for you. So we have a proclamation honoring you today. And now we have Tim Griffin that's going to come up and embarrass you even more.

Oh, my goodness.

I need Joe Davis here just like I did coming into this job.

Come on up, Joe.

He's right here ready to go. Today we're here to say thank you to Jeanette. We have a nice plaque for her. It has an Abe Lincoln statement, government of the people, by the people, for the people, by Abraham Lincoln. In appreciation for her public service to the city of Springfield commends Jeanette M. Bland for her commitment, sincerity, and dedication to our residents, neighborhoods, community, and the city of Springfield. Serving as City Council Office Coordinator 2002 to 2026. Misty Bush, your mayor in the City Council of the City of Springfield. This is for you. And as for leadership, I'd like Joe to be able to come up and say a couple words. I'm a better listener than I am talker.

Thank you. I'm quite humbled to be here today, matter of fact. I believe it was 33 years ago last Tuesday that I was appointed the first city coordinator. I couldn't have done it without you. I had one fine lady before Jeanette, Jean Adams. I will say that I have spent more time with Jeanette than any other woman in my life. She has grown to be a very, very good friend, and she was always loyal. One of the first things I ever asked was, never, never talk about what's going on in this city, and always be loyal. And she's done everything that I ever asked. I love her dearly, and I wish her the best of luck.

And we would like you all to be in the group picture as well. Can I say a few words?

Oh, yeah, sorry. Just a little.

Five minutes.

Okay. Hopefully I can read this without my glasses on. First of all, I want to thank all of you for everything. This just means the world to me. I'm so humbled to be up here and have you all honor me this way. 23 years ago, Alderman Madonia told me I'd be perfect for this job. Well, I don't know if I've been perfect for the job, but this job has certainly been perfect for me. I promised Alderman Madonia at the time that I would give a hundred percent to the job every day. And that is what I've tried to do over the years. I've worked with 43 Alderman and Alder women, two council coordinators, Joe Davis and Tim Griffin, five mayors, four city clerks, four treasurers, as well as many directors and staff members. And I have thoroughly enjoyed working with all of you. I have loved every minute of doing this job in this office. I would like to thank Joe Davis who took a chance by hiring me. He was always patient with me and I learned so much from him those 12 years we worked together. I want to thank Tim Griffin who always treated me as his equal and always trusted and valued my opinions these last 11 and a half years. Thank you, Tim, for always backing me up. And I want to thank all the alderman and alderwomen that I have worked with. Thank you for your kindness, patience, trust, and confidence. It's been an honor and a pleasure working with all of you. I'll miss each and every one of you. Thank you all for everything. Lastly, I would like to thank my family for always supporting me, especially every Tuesday night. No matter what time I got home, dinner was always there waiting for me. Just for the record, I'll be home this next Tuesday night. Oh, my gosh. These are my grandchildren. This is Mia and Morgan, and this is my son, JC. Thank you. Love you. And his wife asks. Thank you.

Thanks for being here. Thank you, everyone, for being here. Oh, wow. Thank you.

Thank you. That's true.

Up here. Up there. Should I hold my flowers?

Oh, the plaque. I probably should. I'll hold the plaque.

Ready? Everybody good? Okay. Perfect. Thank you. Hold it to it. See you, Senator. Have a good night.

Okay, Madam Clerk, I think we're ready to get back started. Can we have ordinances for committee consideration?

Yes. CWLP. 2026-284, an ordinance amending the 1988 City of Springfield Code of Ordinances as amended by repealing Section 50.30i of Chapter 50 in its entirety pertaining to high load rate. Any discussion?

We have a speaker on this. Do we have a speaker signed up for this?

Nope. Well, it looks like Alderman Cox wants to speak three times.

I was going to make sure she knew who was going to speak. Motion for consent. Second. Debate. Motion for debate. Second.

Debate.

Okay, so we have a motion for debate. We have a second, and we also have a speaker, Lori. Lori, I'm getting to you, girl. I'm getting to you. And I would like to ask that Lori come up, and you have five minutes to speak.

Alderman, we have five. Alderman Williams and I both buzzed in.

Oh, Lori, give me one second. Alderman Williams.

Yes, I just, for our side of it, I didn't understand this as well. If you can come up, Director. I'm more interested in why we're eliminating it in its entirety. But if you could just tell me what's going on with this.

Sure. This ordinance was put in in 2018. At that time, we had all four coal-fired units still in service. We had plenty of excess energy. At that time, data centers were primarily Bitcoin miners, and there were some entities that would do credit card transaction processing. So we were trying to incentivize some of that and some economic development. And you fast-forward today, where we closed three coal-fired units and we only had one coal-fired unit. There's no way we could provide... power to a large center like that or to the 200 megawatts in excess today at that rate. So we want to just abolish it completely. If a data center is going to come in, we would have to have negotiations with them on what, how we're going to serve them and what the costs are going to be.

So that would take place through negotiation.

Yeah, it would be through negotiations and then an ordinance that would come through to the council. I will say there's, we've had quite a few, uh, I'll say inquiries on data centers, but none serious. For us to serve a data center would be difficult just because of the size of the load. Thank you, sir. You're welcome.

Thank you, Alderman Williams. Alderman Conley. Thank you.

Director, I appreciate your optimism in thinking you could walk away that quickly. We just buzzed in slowly. So I just want to reiterate, what this does does not impact any residential rates or make any impacts or changes to them.

No, this was just high load factor. So when you start looking at high load factor, you're talking about something that is a constant load all the time.

And that was a rate that we had in ordinance to try to attract that kind of industry. and now we're making a very proactive decision that this is not something that we're going to be supporting.

Yes, it would be difficult for us to serve one. It would be impossible for us to serve anything a high load factor at 4.5 cents a kilowatt that's in code.

Exactly. That extreme discount is going away. Yes. Okay, thank you very much, Director.

You're welcome.

Thank you, Chair. No problem.

Alderman Donilon.

Madam Chair, he's answered my questions, and thank you for bringing this forward.

Yes, thank you very much.

You're welcome.

Thank you, Scott. Thank you. Lori?

Good evening. With the barrage of data centers being proposed across the state, I fully support modifying the electricity rates for large load customers. However, I have to question the timing of this and the fact that the entire section of code is being deleted rather than replaced with a more reasonable weight. That was a little bit answered, but I want to know what is triggering this change. My research and that of the Coalition for Springfield's Utility Future has connected me with people across the state who are working with rumored and proposed data centers in their towns, their cities, and their counties. I've held Zoom calls biweekly since November, sharing research and strategies with all of these people, and they all have the same story. Their data center proposals were a complete surprise to the residents and to many of the elected officials in every single instance. These people feel deceived by their elected officials. You'll have to pardon me for sounding cynical this evening, but I've heard too many stories from around the state where townspeople and county and city residents have been deceived by these elected officials and data center developers to get projects moved forward. Here in Sangamon County, we're finding out after the data center was approved that the data center developer contacted the county zoning department five months prior to the data center regulations being passed and eight months before the permit application was filed and the county residents were advised of the project. We're finding out that the CEO of the Growth Alliance grew up with the sellers of the data center property and we're supposed to believe there's nothing deceptive going on. I mentioned this ordinance last week in a meeting that I attend with people from across the state who work on municipal and cooperative utility issues. A resident of Batavia said, wow, the city of Batavia did the same thing. They eliminated their large load rate language from city code last year, and a month later, a data center was approved. Now, I know many people say CWLP in Springfield can't have a data center because CWLP doesn't generate enough energy to power one. But Batavia's in the same situation, except their municipal utility doesn't generate its own power. Their contract to purchase power doesn't provide enough power to support a data center either. However, their agreement with the data center developer makes them the delivery of the power only, and the data center buys the power from the grid. Two of the many fees on our electric bills are supply and delivery. Supply is the generation of electricity, and delivery is just that, delivering the energy to the customer. It seems that CWLP can be the delivery of energy to a data center and let the data center by the energy supply from the grid as Batavia has. We know data center developers have enough money to address any obstacle. We see that with Cyrus one shrugging their shoulders when Waverly said they didn't have enough water to supply the buildings and the closed loop cooling system. Cyrus one said, that's okay. We'll just truck in the 600,000 gallons of water. No problem. A data center developer funded by a worldwide private equity firm would have the money to do any infrastructure upgrades to make that happen. They can fund the infrastructure needed to allow CWLP to be the energy delivery to a data center. Now I hope someone can prove me wrong on this, but my cynical side saw this ordinance last week on the first reading agenda, and it triggered me to question why this, why now? If there's no possibility of CWLP and Springfield powering a data center, then why the language in the ordinance about large loads required by data centers? We know that the Growth Alliance sees data centers as good economic development, despite the many impacts, and their longtime acquaintances who owned a lot of land adjacent to Springfield see the data centers as easy profit. So my inquisitive side is asking, why eliminate the large load rates instead of replacing it with a higher rate? This was just answered. It's a negotiating tool for a data center. Is the Growth Alliance making more deals that we won't know about until the permit is filed? Springfield residents need to be watching what's going on, or our borders could be a wasteland of data centers just like rural Sangamon County may be. It looks like the Springfield Planning and Zoning Commission meetings are on the third Wednesday of each month, so in addition to watching city council and committee of the whole agendas, and county board agendas, we need to start watching these agendas as well to stay ahead of the data center game. You all on this horseshoe should not be as naive and uneducated about data centers as our county board members are. You owe it to your constituents to study the impact of data centers, to be able to understand the impact versus the benefits, and you owe it to your constituents to get a good reason why this ordinance is being presented. Now we need transparency. Thank you.

Do we have any other speakers? Not on this. So we have, uh, yes.

Well, I tell you what, so let's just, uh, I prefer to just, uh, recommend leaving it on debate, uh, to educate ourselves over this next week, meet with some folks. And then of course the final vote happened. Okay.

Alderman Gregory.

No, I, I, I would second that shortly. Um, I, I'll say this, you know, I, I, I heard from Ms. Lori, I heard from, um, Scott and, and it does appear like, you know, we're preparing to do something and I don't know if we have the proper information to doing that. So, um, Murdoch, what I would like to know, and if anyone's interested in, in how long can we do a moratorium on data centers in city limits until we do a study of the impacts of of the city and our power and energy. You know, we've been in conversations, me and Alderman Williams have been in conversations in different areas, and we've made it clear that we don't want to see a data center or nothing over at Pillsbury or nothing slick. So, you know, this conversation troubles me a little bit. I'm not the best at knowing all of this CWLP type of stuff, but we do need to, you know, make sure that before it enters our city limits, And we know what we're doing and we know what's up with that. We see a lot of action with it across the state and across the country with cities doing this. And this has been something that people have talked to us about before. um, um, about Washington for the city. And we always said, you know, Hey, we, you know, we're, we're, we're not in trouble, but you know, some of these moves sort of make it feel that way. It makes us, makes me anyway, a little uneasy. Um, so, so I would like to look into that and if you could send me that information, please. Thank you.

Alderman Hanauer.

Yeah. Thank you. Um, excuse me. Um, I, I seem to recall while back that, and I don't know where it's at, but the state is supposedly, and maybe I think Alderman Williams, it might be in your ward, um, is, uh, it's either yours or, or, uh, Alderman Rockford's. They're supposed to be redoing a data center out in on Dirksen Parkway. Now it's not going to be to the extreme as, as what some of these others are, but they're, you know, I don't know how this affects them. Um, but, And the idea is to replace the one that they have at 201 West Adams that they've had there for 40, 50 years. Well, certainly we would. But I just want to, before we start thinking about moratoriums and stuff, because I know that was proposed, and I just don't know where it's at. But I know that it was out on Dirksen Parkway somewhere, like close to IDOT or something. So just wanted to bring that up. Thank you.

Thank you. Alderwoman Conley.

Thank you, Chair. Greg, if I could add to some of the information that Alderman Gregory was asking about. I think what we would probably need to know, because as Lori pointed out, watching the zoning board agenda, but what areas would already be zoned and what would the zoning look like? Because, again, if it doesn't need to be rezoned, it's not going to go before the zoning board. So I think I'd like to just kind of have a better understanding of what of our existing zones – are eligible for something like a data center, and if they would be, as Alderman Hanauer pointed out, if we do have these smaller ones in place, kind of, are there gradients, and that's probably something that we need to be talking about, because we do have existing centers, that are already here, but we need to know a little bit more about if there are differences in zoning impacts for something that would be larger. Because I'm looking in my ward, there are their fields that are close and within city limits that I would certainly be concerned about being attractive to this kind of industry. So if we could just maybe just have a little bit more information about that. And it may not be you. Maybe I'll just reach out to zoning. I know you've got a full plate.

I'll meet with zoning on it and get a response to these things.

Thank you, Chair. Thank you. Alderman Gregory.

Just to follow up, thank you. I think that's a great catch. And by no means am I talking about anything that we can handle, any lows that we can handle, or any state-perceived data centers that are supposed to come. I'm more so referring to large-scale data centers like what we're talking about with Cyrus Run, those level of data centers that would threaten our power responsibilities to the citizens of Springfield. So that's what I'm more so talking about. those type of data centers and whatever. However, we need to think about that and word that, and I'm totally fine with that, but we definitely just can't leave it wide open without knowing what will happen. Thank you.

Thank you. Any further discussion? Alderwoman Nutriana.

Thank you, Chair. I don't know if Director Scott knows off the top of his head, but we do have data centers. I know HSHS has one. Is this going to affect their rates, or are they paying different rates?

Say that again?

Like the enterprise data centers for like HSHS or another?

No, this is not there. They're on a commercial rate.

Okay.

And to Ralph's point, the current data center on 2nd Street, 1st Street, whatever it is down there. Adams.

One West Adams.

Yeah. It is on a commercial rate. It's actually on a state rate.

Okay.

The state of Illinois has their own rate.

Okay. Okay. Gotcha. Good. Thanks. I'm sorry. Wait.

I'm sorry, Chair. Alderwoman Connolly. I know. I apologize, everyone. Just very quickly, if you were to negotiate a rate, I just want to be really clear, with any large user, that would still have to now come back before us. Absolutely. For final review and approval. Absolutely.

It would be a contract like any other contract we would have to bring forth.

Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you for clarifying that.

I promise I'm done, Chair. Okay, I see that there's no further discussion. We have a motion for debate and a second. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The ayes have it.

2026-285, an ordinance authorizing the purchase of replacement parts for the Unit 4 generating station from Amick Foster Wheeler Environmental Equipment Company, Inc., in an amount not to exceed $312,182 for the Office of Public Utilities. Second. Second. Any discussion? All those in favor?

Aye.

All those opposed? The ayes have it. 2026-286, an ordinance authorizing a professional service agreement with Crawford Murphy and Tilly Incorporated for design and implementation of carbon storage expansion and additional ammonia feed system at the water purification plant in the amount not to exceed $350,000 for the Office of Public Utilities.

Move for consent.

Any discussion?

All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The ayes have it.

Public Works, 2026-287, an ordinance accepting the low bid and authorizing the execution of contract number PW270304 with Lincoln Land Concrete Incorporated and Capital Ready Mix Incorporated to purchase ready mix concrete and related materials for an amount not to exceed $325,000 for the Office of Public Works and City Water, Light, and Power.

Who for consent? Second.

Any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The ayes have it. An ordinance, I'm sorry, 2026-288, an ordinance authorizing the purchase of real estate between the City of Springfield and the Kathleen A. Alcorn Revocable Trust, located at 800 South Glenwood Avenue, in an amount not to exceed $1,000, for the Office of Public Works.

Second.

Any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The ayes have it.

2026-289, an ordinance authorizing an agreement with Norfolk Southern Railroad Company to reimburse Norfolk Southern Railway Company $9,768,736 for their costs and allow the city's contractor to work on Norfolk Southern Railway Company property for usable segment VIB of the Springfield Rail Improvement Project for the Office of Public Works.

There is discussion. Alderwoman Nutriano.

So there is a conflict between the usable segment mentioned In the title and in the description So 6a versus 6. Where is it 6b?

That's all Thank You alder woman, so we should probably figure out whether it's six a corporation council It should be 6b Find the 6a So that will reflect in the record.

Yeah, we'll make that correction on the agenda and get it fixed.

Okay, thank you. Alderman Cox.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to point out, you know, with what's on the screen, it's not real clear, but it's my understanding these costs are going to be reimbursed by federal and state funds, correct? Does anybody know the answer to that? Yes. All right, thank you.

Thank you, Alderman Cox. There's no further discussion. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The ayes have it.

General City Business 2026290, an ordinance authorizing acceptance of a proposal under RFP CS19-29 in execution of an agreement with Evelyn Johanna Urias Rivas for the purchase of city-owned property consisting of one vacant lot located at 2323 East Bruce Street, and the amount of $1,000 for the Office of Budget Management.

Move for consent. Second.

Any discussion?

All those in favor?

Aye.

All those opposed? The ayes have it.

2026-291, an ordinance accepting quote number 359-6783 and authorizing the purchase of 15 Motorola radio equipment and services for Motorola Solutions for an amount not to exceed $107,000, Seven hundred and eleven dollars and eighty five cents for the Springfield Fire Department Any discussion all those in favor all those opposed the ayes have it 2026 292 an ordinance accepting and authorizing quote number one one two three seven nine one nine with striker sales LLC for the purchase of medical equipment and supplies to equip the beacon project for an amount not to exceed a $122,430.75 for the Springfield Fire Department. Move for consent. Second. Any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed?

The ayes have it. 2026-293, an ordinance authorizing payment of $10,342.28 for settlement of a demolition lien at 1021 East Phillips Avenue.

Motion for consent. Second. Move to debate. We was on a roll. I figured that.

We have a second for that move for debate. We do have discussion. Alderman Hanauer.

Yeah. Um, can, can you explain what's going on here? I guess I don't know whether this should be to corporation council, uh, kind of explain the background. It says here that, uh, um, we spent 20,000, um, Have we been in negotiations with this or what? Are we allowed to talk about this out in public first?

So we can go to executive session if you want to talk about it because it is an active case. For negotiations, since these are hard costs, we've offered a repayment plan, but we haven't offered to settle less than our lien amount.

Do we normally negotiate on things like this when we, when we have this in, in the past, have we, or we, we don't negotiate hard costs.

So this is a, this is a demolition and that the 20,000, six 89 55 is what public works paid to, to have this demolished.

Right.

Uh, we, what we do negotiate is fines, but that's not, that's not a part of this ordinance. This is negotiating our lien that we have against the property. Yes.

All right. I guess the question. So, um, Alderman, it, the question I have is, this had a, I guess it had a fire or something that, that, and so was, did, did the gentleman have insurance on the, that, that on the property or, or whoever owned it? What did the owner have insurance that, that would pay for our, our, our cost?

Gregory.

Sure. If I may, thank you. I'm on a woman chair purchase. Um, so this, this, conversation with myself and Corporation Council and the owners of the property has been long ongoing since November. Probably even be longer than that since they've been talking. They did bring this to me out of concerns for that the property was tore down rather quickly before they could do something. And maybe some of this I shouldn't talk about up here. When I looked at through the information that I received. The equipment cost, I felt like that did the demo.

I, you know... Alderman, could we go to... Sure, because it's sort of hard to talk. Let's have an example session.

Motion for exec session and litigation settlement.

For what?

I'll say let them finish. 2C11, pending probable litigation for settlement of our outstanding lien. Second.

All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The ayes have it.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Motion to reconvene. Second.

All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The ayes have it. Madam Clerk, one moment. That was all of the agenda items. So there was a motion for debate and a second. Any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The ayes have it.

I don't want a person. She's here to speak on that. She didn't sign up for it. Oh, okay.

Can we get the clock ready then? I'm not for sure what her name is. Carolyn. Hi, Ms. Carolyn. Can you come up?

Good evening. Good evening. In regards to the location at 1021 East Phillips, the property was torn down immediately after the fire. So there was no notification until after the fact that that property was even torn down. So we didn't even have a chance to come in and set it up because we could have demolished that for what, $3,500, not $20,000. That's excessive. So I really motion, I do appreciate you wanting to cut that cost in half, but I figure that we should have a little more leniency than that. That's really pretty much all I have to say, unless you have any questions.

No, we just came out of executive session, and we have requested more information, so we won't be able to speak further on it until we receive that information back, but Thank you for coming out and sharing with us, too, how you are feeling and your concerns. Okay.

So, when are you going to do? So, go ahead.

No, Madam Chair, I'm sorry.

So, our Corporation Council, MORDOC, is putting in a request tonight for the information that my colleagues have asked for. Once we receive that information, then we'll be able to bring it back up for discussion, as well as I know you're in contact with your aldermen, too. Okay, so you'll just let me know when I go back. All right, thank you very much. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. King.

Is there any unfinished business?

Yes.

Alderman Gregory.

In my view, no, no. So I just wanted to revisit... our speeding situation. So, you know, of course we are reading about the speeding throughout the town and the tickets and things. And I've had two different areas, two different group of citizens that have really approached me in safety, for safety for young people, right? And both of them are by schools, so to speak. Two different demographics, right? You know, several residents in one area is really concerned about the youth and the kids getting hit by cars and the excessive speeding in the area. And then I have another area where the elders is doing the same complaining. And, you know, I have been in communication with public works about different type of signs and stuff, especially the ones slow down kids. And we know signs don't slow down or slow people down, so to speak. And I know that their policy has shifted away from the slowdown signs and we're going to work on some speed signs and things, especially because it's in a school district area. But for our, you know, it made me really think on the second call, it made me think of Auto Woman No Toronto's presentation on testing out some form of speed reduction, you know, situations in small strips, small strips throughout our city. And, you know, I'm really, really interested in looking into that and really trying that. Not only in Ward 2, but I'm sure we all have a small pocket or something or area that leads to a school and things of that nature. And throughout our wars that, that, um, you know, even if it's those rubber ones that, that, that we can put down and take back up for the winter, um, for our plows and stuff. Um, I think it's really, really important to look into those things. Um, you know, just on a safety, especially around these schools and, and, It's starting to get excessive. You know, I can tell you about one of these schools. We've done, you know, repaid the road. We've done a good job. We put sidewalks, you know, there and kids still walking the street or whatever. We can be like, hey, stay out the street. But, you know, we don't want anybody get hit and killed to try to, you know, learn that lesson. So, you know, and, and ultimately just people are just, just, you know, just, I mean, it's really, really dangerous around these schools. So I just want to look into, look into that. I don't want to be no trying. I'm interested in learning more about that. You know, when you, when you presented it definitely was heard. And I know we're against that, but I'm encouraging us to look at some smaller areas and at least look at trying it in some smaller areas, whether we even have to put that onus on those neighborhood associations to take them down and get up, I mean, that's just my thought process, but I think we need to try it, you know, in safety, especially around the schools. I know it's a big deal for streets and plows and all that. I get it. But I think in some small strips and small sections, we can try it and see how it affects those neighborhoods with slowing people down. And it's worth, I mean, it's worth me saying that because it's worth her life. So Corporation Council moved right along. There's a tiny house, a really, really, I mean, really tiny house on Carpenter. Where are we at? Where are we at with that? Do you know about this?

No.

Is Public Works here? Dave's not here. So we have, I'll send you this information, but Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, I apologize. I apologize. Can you talk to me about this tiny house on 17th and Carpenter? It's been there for a while. People have asked me about it. I thought I'd seen some communication on that house.

I am aware that it is there, and I know that the inspectors have been there, and they've had numerous conversations with the gentleman who claims to occupy it. I don't know that he actually does live there, but there is an individual who put it there. Yes, we are engaged.

Does he own the lot? Is it his lot? He owns that lot?

I don't believe he does, but I'd have to check.

I don't want to say for sure. So somebody's definitely living there, and they have a little makeshift tent and using the bathroom in the back, and it's just not sanitary for everybody there. No, no. That's the issue, and that's the subject of the discussions we have had. Okay. All right. Can we update Murdoch on this situation so we can see what we can do legally with that? Because it is a concern of the residents in the area. I appreciate you, sir. Thank you. And my last thing is I know we did some good things with the vote in this budget, and it's on consent. But, Chief, Fire Chief, can you give us an update on this ambulance situation? And the reason I say that is because all of us, a few of us, have been tagged on Facebook about worries with this and ambulances and Where are we at with it? You know, with the recent suspension of Livestock. Can you touch on that? I know you sent us, but there's still some concerns out there. Where are we at with this? So just in... Retrospect, even with Lifestar? With Lifestar, they're suspended now. How are we feeling as far as having ambulances? Some people are reporting to us that there's times where, and I'm sure even with them on board, that there's no coverage.

So when they say no ambulance available on the radio, and that's what a lot of social media is picking up on, that doesn't actually mean that there's no ambulances. When they state that, that means that they're down to the last ALS unit and that they're going to send a BLS unit. first until they run into a call that has to be ALS. So true no ALS available is not the case, and we're not running into that problem right now that we're seeing any increase. We are tracking rigs in service. Both companies are meeting those thresholds that are in the city code. So we have not seen a diminished service to this point.

Okay. All right. I appreciate it. I just wanted to ask that and just sort of, you know, have a public explanation of that. And, you know, we are aware people tag us in, and I just, you know, thought it was a good time.

As of right now, the two companies are picking up the slack for the third that's gone.

Okay. All right. I appreciate you, sir. I thank you. And finally, and I'm going to shut up for the night. Yes, yes, yes, yes. This weekend, this... This weekend kicks off the 32nd annual Juneteenth celebration. They will start actually the 12th with some things at the Illinois State Museum, as well as Friday there will be some events, as well as, of course, Saturday and Sunday starting at 10 o'clock with the Juneteenth parade. The Midnight Basketball League that we passed here has partnership with them, and they're going to kick off that. They have their draft, pre-draft workouts. They have their draft. You've got about 70 young men, anywhere from 21 on up to 30, that will be playing. And they, combined with Juneteenth, are going to kick it off there. Then they'll be going every Friday night for the next eight weeks throughout the whole summer with that. So it's going to be a fun time. We invite you all out. Hopefully the rain holds off. But even with the rain, we plan to be there having a good time. So next Friday is Juneteenth. It's the actual day, and there is a full day of events planned for that as well. I look forward to seeing everyone this weekend, and that's it.

Thank you. You said you're done? Yes. Okay. Alderman Williams?

I don't know if it's announcements or new business or old business.

We're still in old business. Well, Madam Chair. I saw that, but yeah, we're still in old business. I'm confused.

Anyway, I only have three things. And I'm just going to say, Chief, you ain't got to come up, but I'll say fire lanes, along with speeding, nobody has to come up. But the fire lanes are being abused. I don't know. I couldn't answer who's responsible for the enforcement. Because now you can just go to a grocery store and people just hang out there while somebody else runs in the store and they come out. So it's just a regular parking spot now. But I know it could impede y'all if you're needed there for emergency, some type of emergency or fire. I didn't know who enforces it, if it's our traffic division or who, which goes along with speeding, the same thing. Who is really out there enforcing these kind of situations that deal with drivers and things that drivers shouldn't do. Because I think the majority of Springfield knows we really don't enforce a lot of these kind of things. And I did want to mention to you, I did want to back up to 1705 East Carpenter where this, this many home now corporate council, you guys made me go through court to move my shed. I call them shares. The new shares, this trend is out there where, These sheds come with front porches, side porches, the windows where you can be a vendor and sell stuff out of, or you can keep it enclosed and turn it a certain way and live in it. The shed that I got removed, I got because there was no electricity. They was running an extension cord from a house printer. that was running a hose for water, but they were living on their lot. Now, they did own the lot, but they brought a little fancy shed, and if you go look at these sheds, there's so many types and shapes and styles of them. Some of them are truly so like you can live in them for homes, and it may be time for us to look at it hard. I know I've been working with Public Works. That's how I got into court to get mine removed, but... if it keeps going and it gets as popular as it tends it's going to get and then there's this official new version of what they call tiny homes out there they're all confused about it and we may have to think about some type of ordinance or regulation to regulate this stuff because I always say if they don't have a water meter and they don't have an electric meter, then it's not to be lived in, whether it's a garage, a shed, or whatever it is. But when I get into public works, they're at a loss sometimes, and we have to end up in legal and get a judge's signature before public works can remove it or clean it or do the things I want to do. So I want all of my colleagues to keep that on their mind. Because if you drive around these places that are selling them, they're getting fancier and fancier and looking like little bitty homes. So people are finding cheaper ways to live, I guess. And then my final one is my biggest one deals with our contracting. So we contract a company, Corporate Council, to cut an old railroad. It is our property now. It was the rail for years as I was a little boy growing up. Now it's just an abandoned line, but all that grassy forestry, depending on what part of town we in, because it goes all the way to Northgate, all the way from south. But I'll just say, we get them to cut it. The city contracts somebody. Well, one of my constituents, their backyard fence got damaged. And, of course, she called me and got me involved in it. Public Works' response was, well, you contact the contractor. And I needed to talk to you or us to talk about this as a group because I don't know if that's quite right either. Because first thing she said to me, she's an older woman, I don't have a lawyer, I don't do that well. And I'm like, well, yes, that's city land. Yes, we contracted them. I verified that much. But when it comes to the damages and that part of it, how is that handled? Or what is the proper guidance to give her other than to tell her, well, you got to contact the contractor who cut the grass and who did the damage.

So maybe we can talk after this. I can get her address and follow up with her. I know that. Public Works receives those comments quite a bit, and they typically do a very good job of assisting the homeowner with working with the contractor. The reason that the homeowner needs to contact the contractor is because that needs to get turned into the contractor's insurance. But we can assist with that. So if you want, I'm happy to help. If you give me that name and address, we can follow up with that individual and try to assist with that.

Yes, I can do that. So in other words, I'm hearing, so this is kind of a case by case basis. There's no general overall, like it's nothing in the language of the contracts that we contract with that addresses these type of situations.

The contractors are liable for it. Oh, that's okay. You know, not the city if they're the one, right. Because, because in our contracts, so the contractor will, will take on that liability. But there is that issue that you're bringing up here sometimes where somebody doesn't want to contact the contractor or doesn't understand that process. And I know that I've seen public works individuals assist with that process and really be kind of that liaison. So I'm happy to work with this person to kind of explain that.

Okay, I'll get you the name and address so we can. give her better guidance, let's say it like that, and understanding of why she's being told she's got to start with the contractor and not the city. Right. Okay, because she's blaming the city because, of course, she called me and said it needs to be cut. And so I called in saying, let's get it cut. So she's connected only to the city and doesn't even understand what I'm talking about when we say contractor.

Yeah, our contracts require them to be insured, and so they need to have notice so they can tell they're insured.

Thank you.

That's all I have to Alderman Han hour chair, um, on the speed on, on speeding. Um, uh, I would encourage, uh, I don't know if everybody knows about it, sort of a good kept secret, but, um, to, you can get speed studies done on and, and I've used them quite often. Um, oddly enough in neighborhoods when I've had them done, I've yet to have one in, in a neighborhood that's, what the engineers say warrant any further action. Now, what I've done anyway is, you know, we'll throw a speed detail out there just to show that we're looking, but Don't get the, this is a stealth speed study, not the signs, because I've always felt like the signs, you're either going to slow down, which takes it, or they're going to speed up to see how fast you can go, right? And so I would encourage people to do that. And then secondly, I guess it still, it does have to do with it, but e-bikes. I know they just passed something at the legislature. We've got an issue with some of these bikes, and it's not just the e-bikes. It's the motorized ones, too. They come flying down. They're on the sidewalks, which I don't know that they're supposed to be on the sidewalks or what. I know my wife almost hit somebody that was flying down the sidewalk, and it's hard to see them and that, and they come at a pretty good clip. So I don't know if there's something we have to do city-wise for that.

I can let the council know on the new e-bike regulation. I believe the threshold is operating at 28 miles an hour is when these things start to be regulated, if they're capable of that. But they still shouldn't be traveling on our sidewalks, for example. We already have items in our code to regulate that.

Right. Well, we need to start looking at that because they are starting to become a problem. So I wanted to bring that up. Finally, this is probably new business or whatever, but I want to congratulate Assistant Chief Leach. He was assistant coach on the Pleasant Plains girls' soccer team. They got second in state. We do more than just police. And his daughters were better soccer players than he was.

We still have a couple more old business. Alderman Rockford.

Yes. Director Fuchs, I'm sorry to get you up, but I had a tree over in the north end of town go down last night, part of it. We visited public works, visited this house prior, and and I don't know if it was under the, the old, uh, arborist, but, but my concern is what, what we have these trees, I'm going to call it the Boulevard between the street and the sidewalk that is city, city property. But when it comes to these trees and you know, that there are rules and stipulations, all this stuff, you know, if the tree is leaning over into my, into your yard, you're responsible. If it, if it's over here, you're, you know, they're responsible. But when it, when, when they come out, um, Can you please look into the follow-up? Because this is the second time. I got a call last night. This limb fell and crushed a couple cars. And I went by and looked at it. And I also had the zone manager go by. And they sent a couple guys over to turn this tree up. But where's our – when do we remove these trees, you know?

It depends on each individual tree, sir. And it also kind of depends on the weather and what the weather – affect the weather has had on them. Do you have the address off the top of your head?

I don't. I'll send it to you. It's on 22nd Street, I know, but I don't know the address. 2064 or something.

Let me have that, and we'll take a look at it.

I'll send it to you. I'm going to bring my phone in. I'm not bringing it in anymore.

And I believe it was trimmed sometime in the past.

Yeah, I know you've got the nature... stipulation mother nature or act of nature type stuff but but again it's when you when i question some of the you know in the past the arborists about some the the old uh uh porcupine i call them porcupine man the gumball trees you know we're not going to remove those those are that's there's nothing wrong with it well until you roll on them you know to slip and fall you know there's nothing wrong with them but Long story short, this is the second time out, you know, and my question is the follow-up. You know, do we go out and, you know, and I'm not questioning supervisors or nothing like that. I'm just saying we need to go out and follow up and make sure that we're removing the hazardous. The hazards that they're, you know, we send them out, and then we don't know. Next thing you know, I'm getting a call saying, hey, the branch fell. Well, did they come out and trim it the first time?

We'll take a look at this particular case, and then we'll review.

Yeah, and I'll send you the correct address if that's not it. I appreciate you. Thank you. Thank you, Chair.

Alderman Carlson.

Chair, I'll try to be quick. I was going to bring up our new business, but it might be old business now. You're good, Dave. I wanted to thank... Chief Beal and his commitment to speeding. I also need to acknowledge Channel 20 for one of the report last week. When Chief Beal came in last year, a year and a half ago, I said, my constituents have three concerns. It was speeding, speeding, speeding. He made the commitment to all of us. I think speeding is a problem, but as we saw last week from the report, speeding tickets have been up 60%. I know my constituents are happy. They've checked in with me. I have a long stretch of Wabash Avenue. I have a long stretch of Chatham Road south of Wabash. And on the weekends, it's like it's like a drag strip along with veterans there. And and I know a couple of months ago, the chief obviously made the commitment all this last year. But the last couple of months, it seems like he has stepped up him and his team. enforcement of speeding and i'm just glad the numbers reflect that and i know he's going to continue with that commitment so i just want to acknowledge chief bill and thank him so thank you chair no problem alderman cox okay last guy to talk about speeding i hope um

Yeah, so it's everywhere, which is interesting. It's a pandemic across the city. It sounds like every single neighborhood has this issue. Ward 1 is interesting. We have a ton of roads that don't have sidewalks, and so we have a lot of people, UIS kids, Lincoln Land kids, and then just residents out walking along the edge of West Lakeshore Drive or East Lakeshore Drive, and people go flying by, and the motorcycles might be the worst. But interestingly enough, and this is just a little story, but I've got to tell it. I got an email from a lady that lives on the lake. She said, hey, this is a problem. I went down to kind of look at the area. I see a neighbor that I know. I stopped. I get out of the car. My car's on the side of the road with the blinkers on. And we had four people in broad daylight at like 3.30 in the afternoon fly by. I had one guy throw a road Saudi at me, about a half full. It was a cheap beer, too. It wasn't even a good kind. But it was mind-blowing that people have absolutely zero respect. So I immediately spoke to my NPOs. I reached out to the traffic sergeant for that area. I know they sent people over for a while. I was told that things have gotten better. But I guess my point in this story is my NPOs have been amazing. If they don't have a task to complete, they go check out these problem areas. And I think if you communicate, and this is just friendly advice to the council, if you communicate with those folks, I think they really do try to be present at least. And then make sure your neighbors know that you're trying and And if you're out there watching on TV right now, please tell your kids to slow down, slow down yourselves, whatever, because we're lucky we don't have a lot more fatalities and what have you on the sides of the roads. So anyway, that's all I have, Chair. Thanks so much.

No problem. We're stepping into new business. Is there anybody that has new business? What else is coming in? Alderman Donilon.

Yeah. Thank you, Madam chair. I'll be quick. I do want to, I do want to share with you all a story about public works. Uh, two days ago after one of the storms, um, I was heading home for lunch and I noticed a limb in, in one of the trees and more nine. And I, uh, pulled over to, I did, I pulled over to the side of the road and, and, uh, took a picture, sent it in, uh, to the director and his team had that limb out of the street within the hour. And then I noticed that they left cones along the street where this tree's located. And I thought, that's funny. And I went over and looked later that day. And the tree was not healthy, to your point, Alderman. And they came back this morning and took it down. And then it has the X on it because they're going to come back and, I guess, grind the stump. It is a city tree. It's in the boulevard, as you described. And I just want to thank you and your team for the prompt response. It's been my experience as alderman that that's the case. They take things seriously when there's safety hazards, and we do things right. Thank you.

Thank you.

Alderwoman Conley. Thank you. So this is just new business, although slightly old. I'm going to take some of the hints from my other colleagues here. First of all, I just want to say thank you. I have my NPO. We're hosting a meet-and-greet meeting. this Friday from seven to nine at Stella Coffee, which is located at 1135 West Governor. So anyone who wants to come out and meet our Officer Corduroy, NPO for the, I think he gives a little bit of your area too, older woman, over in there, but we'll be there for two hours. Really appreciate having a full contingent of NPOs. Again, that's making a big difference for us. Also, I was not here in person last week. Anyone who's called in for these meetings knows how hard it is to say anything, um, and, and make it be functional. I w I was at a work work event, but it is now our second, second meeting in June. And I just want to say happy pride. Uh, it's a big month. Um, Alderman Gregory, I appreciate you bringing up Juneteenth and looking forward to those events. We've got a lot going on in Springfield this month and looking forward to some very fun outdoor getting together and building community and just supporting all of our neighbors. So thank you, thank you, Chair.

No problem. Madam Clerk, we are moving to speakers signed up. Okay. Rosanna Polito.

Thank you. It's no secret that our youth and teens are in crisis right now in America. We've seen teen takeovers in a lot of major cities and people upset and uneasy. Similar social media organized events have drawn large crowds in Chicago, Milwaukee, Washington, DC, some resulting in fights, vandalism, property damage, traffic disruptions, and gun violence. I was happy to read the response from a Chicago alderman because I couldn't have said it better myself. In a statement on Sunday, Chicago alderman Pat Dowell decried the violence, including young people in Chicago and calling for greater accountability from parents, businesses, and social media platforms As city leaders search for ways to curb youth violence this summer, we need to ask ourselves as the adults in the community, where are the parents? Where are the role models? Doll said, why are children out at night? Quite honestly, when they should be home and in bed, how are we failing our use youths? And I would add, where are the pastors in our community? Sheriffs and police departments across the United States are stating they will start charging the parents. Sheriffs have publicly warned that parents participating teenagers will also be held civilly and criminally liable, especially in cases involving underage drinking, weapon possession, and ignoring juvenile curfews. So again, this alderman asked, how are we failing our youth? Well, teens can't read on a grade level. The Illinois times reported December 4th, 2025 reading proficiency in Sagamon County. Uh, the district is up to 35%. That's up from 26% reading proficiency in 2024 and math proficiency, 21% up from 17% in 2024. Can that be part of the problem and what these teens are going through that they can't read? I have read about some wonderful organizations in Springfield, Illinois that are reaching teens and helping them to learn how to respect themselves and others. The elephant in the room is where is the church? This could be the church's finest hour. The church is some sort is to some people like a hospital for people who've lost their direction in life. We have all needed a hand now in that, if we're honest. Transformation in Springfield, is it possible? The best and brightest example of this is Michael Thomas. I imagine that many of you know him. He had trouble, he broke the law, drugs and alcohol. Now, through faith, he's become one of the most well-known guys around Springfield. Springfield business people seek him out for his help. His comeback story is awesome, and he's to be admired. His success is a bright, shining example of how faith in Christ can make a big difference in a person's life. So now I'm calling out to the church to get on board for such a time as this to reclaim our youth and give them hope through more hands on mentoring and skill building through the men in our churches. Yes, it's sacrificial. No one is coming to do the work for us. We are Christ's hands and feet. Teens can't think their way into right living. They must be shown. That takes real relationships. It's time for the 225 churches in Springfield to rise up and be a part of changing the life courses of those teens around us. If we're honest, we have all had a need for mentor, Mentoring and human connection. Again, I am positive this can prove to be, for churches, the finest hour. As we can be thankful, as we take a step towards and forward to this, God will be taking two steps toward our efforts. I have seen churches in this very room many times show up for rallies, for this or that. That's great. Now it's time to show up and rally for our youth in Springfield. May God, our great God, move powerfully in the lives of our Springfield youth is my prayer. Thank you.

Thank you. Sante Massey. He left. Rachel King Johnson.

Okay. Dear madam mayor and all their people. My name is Rachel King Johnson and I'm a consultant, a certified drug and alcohol counselor and a harm reductionist. And we need to have some honest conversations about racial disparities and the inequities experienced by residents on the east side of Springfield. Sonia Massey was murdered after calling for help not even two years ago by a sheriff. A black person is five times more likely to be stopped without just cause than a white person, and that's from the NAACP. And research analysis from the ACLU has shown that Illinois traffic stop data indicates that black drivers in Springfield are five times more likely to be stopped by police than white drivers. So profiling is a trend and it's unacceptable for the SPD to racially profile chase tackle and arrest an innocent 14 year old black child who was only walking home to his mother. Children are afraid of the widespread police brutality that occurs nationwide. Yet their fear or reaction to fear is unallowable. They receive messaging every day that there are problems simply for existing within their community. And this is not a singularly traumatic experience, but a collective trauma that the community continues to experience and witness the implicit biases of law enforcement have conditioned them to see young black men or young black children rather as threats rather than children simply existing within their community council. This is a concern. As so much of the budget goes to SPD without any discussion or protest, I would ask everyone here, council, those listening SPD to please attend anti-racism training and training on trauma informed care. This is not a one and done type of deal. It's re it requires lifelong learning and commitment to doing better for the good of all. And I want you to remember that racism hurts all of us. It's a public health issue. And I also wanted to take a moment to talk about syringe service programs and some concerns regarding participants of a syringe service program that have been harassed or charged when they are carrying supplies that they've received through an SSP, which is abbreviation for syringe service program, substance use disorder and drug use or public health issues, not criminal issues, and they should be treated as such. Syringe service programs exist as public health programs to reduce the spread of infectious diseases such as HIV and Hep C, prevent overdose deaths, provide education on safer use practices, connect people to treatment and recovery services, and serve as a bridge to healthcare, housing, and other supports. And while we know that harm reduction does not equate gradualism to abstinence, we know that individuals who engage in harm reduction services are five times more likely to enter treatment, according to the CDC. And we know that positive health outcomes in our community benefit all of us. At places like Intricate Minds, participants can walk in and be treated with dignity and respect. There's no prerequisites to care. And for a lot of people in our community, it's one of the first places where they have interactions in which they're treated with unconditional love, dignity, and respect. In Illinois, the Overdose Prevention and Harm Reduction Act protects participants in authorized syringe service programs from prosecution for possessing syringes other drug consumption paraphernalia obtained through the program, residual amounts of controlled substances contained in used supplies and drug adulterant testing supplies such as testing strips obtained through authorized programs. Punishing people for participating in public health programs is counterintuitive to the collective good and betterment of our community. It's ethically wrong and it violates participants rights under Illinois law. When participants hear stories about people being charged or arrested because they have supplies from a syringe service program, it creates fear. And that fear creates an additional barrier for individuals seeking supplies. Because of the fear of being stopped and caught with paraphernalia, individuals become less likely to carry sterile supplies, meaning the risk of reusing syringes and other supplies increases, so disease transmission increases. They may stop engaging with the life-saving program that they were once using before. That doesn't make our community safer. it makes it harder to achieve the outcomes that we all want for our community, which is fewer overdose deaths, less disease transmissions and citizens living safe, self-directed lives. And my call to action is for the chief of police to be aware of these ongoing issues and to continue to educate and work with his officers on what the law says so that they're aware of the protections for participants of syringe service programs. It takes all of us to solve these crises. Will you join me? Thank you.

Thank you. Robert Williams.

I don't think he's here.

Ken Pasha.

He's no longer here neither. And that's all I have.

Second. Oh, nope.

Oh.

Sorry.

James Meister.

My apologies.

I'm your bicycle expert, so after my five minutes, if you've got questions, ask. I'm back here again because of the police department. I've come here about police officers parking at Walmart, blocking sidewalks and everything else. Yesterday, I actually spoke to two officers. One officer was legitimately parked legally. When I made the comment to her, about the other officer that was not, her comment was, not my problem, got in her car and left. So I confronted the officer that was parked there. I finally got the information. I don't know if the guy was supposed to spill the beans or not, but he did. So I have been on the phone since yesterday. I've gotten finally three different phone calls back, one from the mayor's office, assistant mayor or whatever, one from the police department, assistant chief or somebody, and then one from internal affairs. Uh, mayor's office was educational and it was fine and everything else. And they're going to look into it. The police department was about the same. I really didn't get any hope from either one of them from internal affairs. All this guy wanted to do was complain that he's the only one in the office. We don't have any staff. I've got more important things to do. It's been this way for 26 years, and it's not going to change. That's internal affairs. I've only been on the job for four days. If we only have one internal affairs officer, we're failing our citizens. We need more. Apparently somebody did pay attention. Backtrack a little bit. The officer at Walmart told me he was an off-duty officer driving a city police department car, an off-duty officer wearing a Springfield Police Department uniform. I'm not for sure whether he was carrying an issued sidearm or not. But he's being paid by Walmart to utilize Springfield resources. I'm being told Walmart's not reimbursing the city of Springfield for those resources. I'm being told that we don't have enough police officers to take the calls of Walmart. That's why we're accepting the fact that we're using our resources for Walmart. Now, I was... I was contacted today before the meeting with a gentleman that's in here, and he said the chief did finally get the information, and he's putting out an email saying that off-duty officers are no longer allowed to block sidewalks and the fire lanes, and that they need to park their off-duty vehicles properly. Yay, we're getting a little closer. Well, the fire department, wherever he went, They always parked their fire trucks outside in the parking lots. They never parked in the fire lanes unless there's an emergency. And it's the same way the police department needs to be, unless it's emergency. So hopefully that's going to change. But again, using the city resources when you're off duty for a billion dollar company. Yeah, you're paying for the employee to be there for eight hours or whatever. But when the car's sitting out there on the sidewalk running, who's paying for the fuel? Who's paying for the wear and tear on that car sitting out there running? Who's liable if a person in a wheelchair walks around that police car from the city of Springfield because he's got a side job? Who's liable because he's using a city-issued firearm, if he was? I don't know if he was. But he was in a city-issued uniform. This is not acceptable to the citizens of Springfield. We need to stop this. Either Walmart pays their fair share for these guys to use our equipment, or they don't use our equipment. That's a billion-dollar company. So that's all I've got to say about that. We are getting some headway on the parking, I hope. If you've got any questions about bicycles, I'll be more than happy to answer because I've got all the answers on that one.

Thank you, Mr. James.

Ken Pasha.

You came back just in time.

The county was packed, man. They had 13 speakers. You guys are lucky. They actually got it harder than you guys did tonight. Although. So last week should have been embarrassing for everybody. I don't know about you guys, but a police chief who's got that much attitude for sitting elected officials would upset me in the least. And then for that kind of animosity for a 14 year old child. I'll be perfectly honest with you, the idea that anyone would typify that child as being worthy of tackled as he ran to his home after very clearly communicating that to the officer should probably have their mental health evaluated. That is a child. If anyone wants to tell me that that would have happened in Piper Glen, Panther Creek, Sherwood, or any of the other lovely majority white neighborhoods on the west side of town, I'd also like you to get your mental health checked, because that's BS. They would have followed that kid straight home, as directed, and talk to his parents. But since it's 25th and Eastside, everybody feels comfortable with a young criminal getting tackled to the ground in front of his neighbors, his mother, and his family members. You know where that really touched me is I was 16 when I got tackled by a police officer at school for the crime of selling marijuana. Oh, yeah, no, I was a real criminal back then. Now that the state makes billions off of it, it's okay. But it was great to beat the living life out of me in the middle of school, handcuff me, drag me back through two lunchrooms to teach me a lesson. Yeah, we got that officer suspended because even back then, people had enough sense to realize that brutalizing a teenager was pretty unacceptable. Even more so when you're filing a charge against him that you didn't notify his family about until council was happening? Is that how our police department runs? That we blindside mothers and their children when they come to council to seek defense from the police that have brutalized their children in broad daylight? Is this 1973? Do I live in Philadelphia? Are we going to start dropping bombs on the move house soon? I mean, at what point does the escalation of aggression seem untoward for most people? Because I ask you to consider any 14-year-old being treated that way as a matter of course, where our police chief fell back on definitions. Well, that's the definition of resisting arrest. He is 14. I would sincerely hope that he does not have that deep of a legal knowledge at that age. I would like that his interests concern around bikes, maybe hanging out with his friends, some video games, his homework, the impending summer. But no, he should be more familiar with what a Terry stop is. I mean, is this a joke? Because the really unfunny part was the meeting the next morning with the Purple Coalition and the ACLU that your police chief kicked our representatives out of. Told them all to leave in the middle of it. And then told the remaining member that he was, quote, set up by us attending. Look, I'm going to be blunt with you. Community stakeholders aren't just the people that pat the chief on the back or come up here and give him hugs like they're all buddies. If you don't think that we have a valid case, I don't really care. This is going to keep happening. The kind of officers that will justify brutalizing and charging a 14-year-old are going to keep doing it until the leadership has a chat with. The mayor of the city should be ashamed that your mayor would come up or that your chief would come up here with such attitude and arrogance and then treat representatives of the very community that he claims to believe in stakeholders in like that. That is not how people in charge are supposed to treat other people who care about their community. And the fact that that's justifiable or acceptable for some people because we're not nice to the police is ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. And I know you know that's not the language I want to use, but I'll never give anyone the satisfaction of writing that ban letter. But I got to tell you, I think about it sometimes. I've thought about where I'd place that profanity. And a 14-year-old being treated that way gets me as close to the line as I've ever been. That is a child. I don't care what the law says. I don't. If you don't have the decency to treat a child like a child and have an Officer Bar-Brady moment of learning, then you don't belong on the police force. If you're so pumped up from adrenaline that you think a 14-year-old is animated after being brutalized in front of his entire neighborhood, You're not in charge of the police, you're in charge of the world's largest organized gang, as I've called it before, because that's gang mentality. You do what we say because we said it, and you owe us respect. And if you don't give us respect, we'll impose that respect on you. We'll show you our authority. That is disgusting behavior from well-trained, supposedly capable adults. And if that's the kind of city police force that many of you are willing to tolerate, I sincerely hope that you guys get ready for the lawsuits. Thank you.

Thank you.

Sante Massey.

Good evening, city council members. I DIDN'T PREPARE ANYTHING TONIGHT. I JUST WANTED TO THANK EVERYONE WHO WAS ATTENTIVE TO MS. STELEVIN LAST WEEK. I WAS DRIVING HOME FROM BLOOMINGTON FROM MY JOB LAST WEEK WHEN I HEARD THAT, YOU KNOW, I LISTENED TO CITY COUNCIL MEETING AND IT REMINDED ME A LOT, SHE REMINDED ME A LOT OF MY COUSIN SONYA. And it broke my heart, and I really, really appreciate you all taking care of her after that. I had prepared something for the county board, and it wasn't, I'ma echo what I said over there, over here, and I know that you all are taking more and greater steps to do this, but 27 days from now will be the two-year anniversary of when Sonya was taken from us. And there is very little to nothing that this city and this county is doing to put her name on anything. Uh, I know that we have a bridge and I mentioned that over there and I know that we have a state law, but, um, her name is becoming a footnote in history and I, I'm preparing myself to change that. Uh, I want to make sure that I work with the city and the county on getting her name on things because it matters. It matters to the people that look like her to see her name on things. because of what she went through, because of what her family's going through, because of what her children are going through. And I, once again, I thank you.

Thank you.

Motion to adjourn.

All those in favor. All those opposed. The ayes have it.