City Council - Regular Meeting

More things for downtown. We are a Main Street accredited organization. We continue to main this accreditation. I feel it's important to bring this up and share this with you because it just goes to show that we're not making this up as we go. This is a study methodology that provides a roadmap for success. The four points of the Main Street approach are economic vitality, design, organization, and promotion. And I've listed a few of our programs under each one of those points to kind of give you a better idea of what we do and where that lies. We'll continue to maintain this accreditation to utilize both the state and nationwide strategies and best practices. Speaking of the master plan, we're heavily invested in the activation of this master plan and focusing in on identifying short-term goals. Public realm activation is where you'll find most of our efforts. I provided here a calendar to kind of give you a visualization to help show the degree to which we're working in this space. As you can see with all those dots on the days, those are days that we're out of the office and in downtown doing the work. What that equates to is roughly about 130 public activation events. That's essentially one in every three days we're out of the office in downtown doing the work. When I came aboard, I made a very public statement that communication and partnership were gonna be our foundation and our future. This is key to both combating information silos, but also a redundancy of work. We realize that there are many partner organizations that do things that many people see as similar or redundant to what we do, but we're working and communicating with these individuals and organizations. We're gonna be more effective and efficient in what gets done in downtown. This role is multifaceted. We act as a convener, an implementer, a promoter, steward, and both a problem solver. We do activate our own programs, but it's equally important to us to support other individuals and organizations to fully support our downtown. The effects of the work that we do equate to real, tangible results. We add vibrancy through events and drive-thru traffic. We create beauty and visual interest, create an inviting downtown for both our guests and residents. We provide a quality of life that attracts and retains workforce talent for all of our employers, both large and small. We bring real dollars into our local economy. We support entrepreneurs and small business, and we provide communications that informs and educates our community. listed here is just a small set of the things that we feel are impactful in our downtown. As you can see, the Old Capitol Farmers Market, a year-long program of ours, is both an economic driver, creating new businesses, bringing cottage industry to brick and mortar, but it also supports our community by providing fresh, healthy vegetables. And then we participate in the Link Match program, which adds about a little over $36,000 in benefits to our underserved communities. This is just the first of our introductory report. I realize that it's a gloss over right now. I just wanted to kind of give you an update, let you know that I do want to be here quarterly, provide more in-depth detail on what we're doing. And I'm happy to take any questions at this time.

Do any of the alders have any questions for the director? Alderwoman Conley.

Thank you. So I'm going to ask you about one of your future projects, the Chris Kindle Mart that's coming next year, right? Yes. I've been to a bunch of these across the country and other places, so I'm excited for this. It sounds like a lot of fun. Can you just kind of explain a little bit more what we have to look forward to?

Yeah, I wanted this to be more than just a retail experience during the holidays. The holiday walks are somewhat waning. Obviously retail, that landscape has shifted a lot with online purchases. We don't have as many retailers in our downtown spaces that we used to. So what I wanted to do is provide Quality wares, an engaging experience, something that happens more than just a one-off. As you go to Kris Kendall markets, they typically happen the four weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Holiday walks currently are Wednesday and Saturday. It's our intention to put on. a Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday Kris Kendall Market through that season for those four weeks.

And where will that be located?

We've looked at three locations, Union Square Park, the Old State Capitol Lawn, and also the Old State Capitol Plaza. Currently, right now, it looks like the Old State Capitol Plaza is the best space. I do appreciate all the work that Joe does over at the ALPLM. and activating Union Square Park. It seems like it's just outside of what we feel like is the heart of downtown, and it's important to us to keep people downtown, bring them downtown. I think it would be best suited on either the old State Capitol lawn or the plaza. But beyond that retail experience, we wanted to provide a food and beverage component and then utilize the inside of the Old State Capitol for an arts and culture expo to celebrate the season, to invite everyone from our community whether it's Christian-based, Jewish, faith-based, culturally-based, provide programming inside of there, also have make and take workshops for children, other activities similar to like what you found at Festival of Trees, but that it also gets the benefit of a warming space. So we have a safety component there, so if you need to get out of the cold, use the bathrooms, that space is provided as well.

are we you're anticipating we'll still have the ice skating and yeah it's my understanding uh that the ice skating rink would still be over at uh union square park sounds lovely thank you thank you mayor alderman carlson jay i don't spend as much time down as i used to but you mentioned

I was working full time at the state. We were in the office and working downtown. Is there enough signage downtown for people walking to see the various attractions? I've had people bring up to me and maybe there are some like painting aerials and things on the sidewalks or anything like that?

I think there's some creative things that we can do to better affect wayfinding and be more inviting to not only our residents but our guests. We currently have something that or a couple hundred polls downtown that have banner arms on them um we should be utilizing those way up high though obviously i'm thinking more or less so are we have plenty of street level uh signage um what we don't have is is that upper level signage those banners which give you uh direction or indication from a greater distance and an example that i've used and why this is important if you look at a billboard company if i lease that billboard at the end of the lease when that billboard comes down it doesn't stay blank the billboard company puts up their their their billboard advertising their space i think that's something that the dsi could do or in partnership with the city to provide welcoming messages to our guests especially especially on our gateways, but also help identify those key cultural sites that we have in here that aren't going to be going anywhere, ALPLM, our historic sites like Dana Thomas House, Lincoln's home. Yeah, there's plenty of opportunity there to provide more signage and wayfinding.

Have you thought about, and maybe this administrative, something on the sidewalks? I mean, I know other cities have painted stuff on the sidewalks as far as arrows or, you know, you're going the right way to Lincoln's home. I can take that, Jay. I can answer it as well.

Chief City Engineer Nate Bottom has looked into what kind of paint we could use for that, but right now we're finishing the streetscaping with the bricks to do that first because they're a tripping hazard for people, but... I was just curious.

Yeah, there's also opportunity on 7th street. It's a somewhat of a tourist corridor, but it also corresponds from the hotel to link its home, which is heavily traveled to kind of create a cultural trail there. And we're hopeful that if the Third Street Rail relocates and we get that linear park there, making that connection on Jackson Street to the Third Street Rail Park, but also to the Dana Thomas House, the mansion, and hopefully a newly developed Y Block.

Anything else, Alderman? Nope, thanks, Mary. Alderman Gregory.

Thank you. Jay, as representative of one half of downtown, We just had a big event with the big boy downtown. Yep. The record was probably thousands of people down.

About 12,000.

Did that translate to our stores? Yes.

Yeah. The farmer's market does a great job of bringing in, on average, 8,000 to 10,000 visitors. So to see that 12,000 number, we had not only the market that was affected, but also many of our businesses affected. It is, there is some difficulty in getting people to travel just outside of the farmer's market to make it into some of the other shops. That's why we allow signage like A-frame signs and stuff like that to invite people into these other spaces and further into our downtown.

I was just wondering as, you know, I see that event. you know when in my daytime job we set out some trash cans and stuff and there was probably two pieces of trash in it so it was just we were seeing you know those thousands of people not dispersed throughout throughout the town and things that sort of like with Levitt and and and all the people that come down you know I want to work with you to try to um come up with things to really encourage people to visit downtown even before and after yeah and that's one thing that that's a challenge for our downtown if you look at others

um like saint charles missouri or galena illinois uh those are on very linear paths so it's very easy for you know you stay on one street you don't turn a corner you just walk down one side and you come up the others but as you know ours is a very large downtown and it's kind of like a checkerboard with different nodes of businesses or kind of retail spread out because we have our state offices uh that kind of break up that that streetscape all right thank you

I just want to thank you for your partnership as well. We have a group of people that Jay is working with the mayor's office, group head, public works, Springfield police, uh, what's called the downtown Alliance group to make sure that that master plan comes to fruition and we're checking off pieces of that. So thank you for your partnership.

Thank you. Anything else? Thank you. Appreciate your time. Thank you.

Thank you. The next item on the agenda is docket number 2026-021 for the property located at 724 East Edwards. The petitioners are Vondra, LLC. The present zoning classification is RH3, Historic Zoning District, Section 155.272. The requested zoning relief is conditional permitted use pursuant to Section 155.273H3, Historic Zoning District, conditional permitted uses. Springfield-Sangamon County Regional Planning staff recommendation is approval of the conditional permitted use for a restaurant with the service of alcohol with the following conditions. One, any live entertainment is non-amplified and inside the proposed restaurant or on the existing front porch portico. Two, hours of operation shall not exceed the city liquor license. And three, any proposed exterior renovations in conjunction with the proposed restaurant with the service of alcohol shall undergo review by the Historic Sites Commission per code. Subject property was previously granted a conditional permitted use in zoning case number 202-041 and limited the restaurant with the service of alcohol to the existing building footprint and or to the existing porch portico. Staff finds that the petitioner's proposal to expand the service to the drive-through lane on the west side of the building and the east side of the building will not have a detrimental impact on the area and that condition is no longer recommended. The Historic Sites Commission recommendation is approval to concur with the staff recommendations with the further understanding that any permanent changes to the landscaping will need to be reviewed by the Historic Sites Commission for the H3 both regulations. The chair will now entertain a motion.

Yes, Mayor, I have a motion to approve the Historic Sites Commission recommendation. Second.

Second. I have a motion and a second to approve the Historic Sites Commission recommendation. Is there any discussion from the council?

Alderman Gregory. No, I just want to compliment the owners who are in the crowd. They have been working really, really hard to not only bring a bright new business to our community, but keep that business. We've worked together on parking issues and this issue to make their business even better. And I hope that, Jay, that we can continue to work with them on the lot that's next to them for some additional parking.

Anything else? Okay. With all that being said, voting will now be open. All those in favor of the motion will vote yes. Those opposed would vote no. And... Yes, there would be alcohol. So the motion passes with eight voting yes, none voting no. Thank you for coming tonight. That concludes the zoning portion of the meeting.

Thank you, Mr. Harris. The Chair will now recognize Deputy Treasurer Ketchum for the presentation of the financial report.

Is that working? Nope. You want to come sit over here? It might be a working mic. We'll give you a chair next to Corporation Council.

Thank you. Can you hear me now? Yes. Thank you, Mayor Busher. Treasurer's report corporate fund for the month of June, beginning balance $62,525,826. We took in total receipts of $23,960,079. We had total, we had disbursements in the month of June totaling $29,324,104, which left the corporate fund ending balance in the month of June at $57,161,801. The ending general fund balance includes $1,997,870, which is the June ending balance for ARPA money. That concludes my report.

Mayor, I make a motion to accept the Treasurer's report as submitted.

We have a motion and a second to accept the Treasurer's report. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor of the motion will say aye. Aye. Those opposed, nay. The ayes have it. Thank you, Deputy Treasurer. The chair will also recognize the OBM director for any questions on the OBM contract report. Any questions on that from the elders? Seeing none, we will move forward. The chair will entertain with the motion to dispense with the reading of the minutes of the July 7th, 2026 regular city council meeting and approve the minutes.

I move. Second.

We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor of the motion, please say aye. Aye. Those opposed, nay. The ayes have it. The chair will entertain a motion to incorporate the pre-council first reading of ordinances into the record of this council meeting. So moved. Second. And we have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor of the motion will say aye. Aye. Opposed, nay. The ayes have it. The next item on the agenda is the consent agenda. The chair will entertain a motion to incorporate the pre-council reading of the consent agenda into the record of this council meeting.

So moved, mayor. Second.

A motion and a second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor of the motion will say aye. Aye. Those opposed, nay. The ayes have it. The chair will entertain a motion to place the consent agenda on final passage. So moved.

Second.

We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Alderwoman Conley.

Thank you. If I could, clerk, just be noted as present for 2026, 319.

319.

Thank you.

Noted. Thank you very much, Alderwoman. Any other discussion? Seeing none, the voting will now be open. All those in favor of the motion will vote yes. All those opposed will vote no. And the motion passes with nine voting yes, none voting no. Agenda items 2026-294 and 2026-339 remain tabled or in committee. The next item on the agenda is 2026-333, an ordinance authorizing the execution of an agreement between the State of Illinois Department of Natural Resources and the City of Springfield for the donation of the block bound by 4th Street, Capitol Avenue, 5th Street, and Jackson Street for the Office of Public Works. The Chair will entertain a motion to place agenda item number 2026-333 on final passage. So moved. Second. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Alderman Williams.

Yes, Mayor. I would like to introduce amendment one proposed amendment one uh to this ordinance uh this is something that many in the city have been wanting to see wanting it to happen of course as you know our voice um last week how i would do it a little different and and felt like we shouldn't give the way free In doing all this and thinking about all this and what you all want, what all of mine wants, I narrowed it down to some things that I think we must guarantee. I mean, I see us up here and we really don't make sense a lot of times because we'll take a guy from a TIF, want $10,000, and ask him 100 questions for $10,000. And I'm not going to go into the value of the Y block, but I am going to remind you, it's 2.3 acres. It's a big piece of land and a big part of downtown. Its location alone is so important. I thought we should at least give what we invested into it back, but I don't know. No one's acting interested or care. My questions last week dealt with timeline. It dealt with cost to citizens. Is it going to always be free? It dealt with citizens' use, or is there going to be certain times they can't use it, or it closes? There wasn't enough information for me. I feel like the state, if they do be successful and we shall donate this, that they should not be able to change and decide, oh, no, I'm going to build a building. Or, oh, no, I'm going to do something different. So in saying all these things, I came up with an amendment that just does a couple of things. The amendments in front of you, I mean, I'll entertain any questions as It's self-evidence in what it's asking. It's dealing with the timeline. It's dealing with the purpose and who maintains it and controls it as far as cost if something should go wrong. I'm hoping that you guys approve the amendment and then this will go forward. They'll have their lot, but with some kind of guarantees, because right now there's none. I looked at the packet. It addresses the donation of the land and only. It doesn't go into all these other particulars. At times, I feel like, well, this is way too early to be donating to them. They need to be able to come back to us and tell us these things. But then I'll be accused of trying to stall it out or hold it up. So I hear the alderman clearly wanting to do this. I'm going to vote with the alderman. I've said that last week. But we need to do our due diligence to our citizens. And since he's no longer here, we're not going to ask the questions and take it on. At least get these two or three things on the record to say, you can never do this stage. You can't change the plan so drastically. It must be very similar to what he presented to us. And I think that's only fair to answer that. I think we should tie a timeline down, too. We should have some form of expectation of what we're giving up. Other than, oh, we're going to do it and then it's wrapped up and, okay, they say it's in the state budget. All these things are great. That's why I'm saying, well, let's just get the few guarantees we know we can put on it and go from there. Thank you, ma'am.

So did you make a motion for the amendment? Yes, I'm making a motion. Second. All right, so we have a motion and a second now because we were needing that.

Who's the second?

Alderman Rockford. So any discussion on the amendment from the Alders? Alderman Williams, are you just making sure you're finished? Oh, yeah. Okay.

Alderman Conley. Thank you, Mayor. As with my present vote on Ordinance 319, I'll be voting present on the amendment and then the actual ordinance because of my employment by DNR. Just to be clear on that.

Thank you. Any other discussion? Seeing none, do you want a voice vote for the amendment or do you want, I don't know.

You can do it.

You can do a hard vote on the machine. Okay. So this would be a vote on the amendment only that the alderman has proposed. If you vote yes, you're voting for the amendment. If you vote no, you're voting not for the amendment.

I'm sorry, my mouse is...

I know I'm trying to vote, but my mouse is not... Well, I'm going to do a voice vote because I think this mouse might need batteries. I'm voting no. Amendment fails, five voting no, four voting yes, one voting present.

That's correct.

I think there might be a... Thank you. All right, so that's the amendment. We'll go back to the original ordinance as proposed 2026-333. Any discussion from the Alders on the ordinance itself? Alderman Gregory?

Yes, just one point of clarification that I did check with Corporation Council. Our Black Lives Matter sign shall remain correct.

That's correct. This does not. We haven't vacated that street. Jackson Street is still remain under city jurisdiction. Thank you.

Any other discussion Alderman Gregory? No, ma'am. Okay, thank you. Any other discussion from the elders? Seeing none. Oh, sorry. Clerk Redpath says hold, please.

We've got a speaker.

Oh, okay. Go ahead. Sorry.

Michael Higgins, you wish to speak?

Michael Higgins, 1808 Dial Court. Not being in other meetings where this was discussed, why do we want to give this property up? Can anyone tell me? What's the purpose of giving this property up? If you're going to give this property away, Why don't you give it to a corporation or a company that can build something on it that would generate taxes for our tax base, which would generate revenue for the city to do projects like fix sewers, streets, and otherwise? To just give it away, get nothing in return, get it. The state owns it. No property tax is going to be paid on it. And you're going to give it away. I come from a city that had a building, a six to eight story building, one square block. And they gave that building away tax-free for 12 years. Tax-free for 12 years, they gave it away. And everyone said, oh, you can't do that.

You can't do that.

It's going to wreck the schools. It's going to do this. It's going to do that. The bottom line was, and why they gave it away, they said they weren't looking at this property or this building. They were looking at this neighborhood. And if a business moved into this building, which a tech company did, How would it affect this neighborhood? Well, it affected the neighborhood because in 12 years, the property values of the neighborhood went up to the point where it paid off the taxes they gave away. So you're giving this building away for nothing, and you're getting nothing. And that's what your downtown looks like, nothing. And that's what you're satisfied with, nothing. Columbus, Ohio, tech company moves in, gave it away with lots of tax reductions, gave it away with infrastructure reductions, gave it away with utility reductions. And they moved in. which caused another company to move in, which caused a billion-dollar company in downtown Columbus, Ohio, making downtown Columbus, Ohio, or the city of Columbus, Ohio, one of the faster-moving, growing cities in the state of Ohio, and a tech center for the state of Ohio and in the Midwest. And you're giving this away for nothing. That's what you want for your city? Nothing? I mean, if the state is worried about having a business on there or whatever that's going to block their view from the governor's mansion, well, the governor and the governor's mansion don't care about this city. Drive down Adams Boulevard and see how they've landscaped their parking lots. Make them less visible to the people driving in the neighborhood and walking in the neighborhood. They don't. And their parking lots look like shit, basically. But we're giving away this property to the state. And you get nothing. That's what you're satisfied with? Then nothing is what this city deserves. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Anyone else, clerk?

Nope.

Mayor.

Any discussion from the alders? Alderman Hanauer.

Yeah. Number one, I don't think you can build on that lot because the south end, I know there's the main sewer that goes through there. And the last administration put flood tanks underneath. You can't build on that part. Originally, in my opinion, we should have never had this. We should have never bought it back when, I guess, Mayor Houston was in. It was a bad buy. I'm going to ask for an ordinance that we can't buy property in the future without the seller doing an environmental study on them to make sure that we don't get burned on them. I can't tell you how many times up here... Since I've been up here, we've gotten burned on property because somebody sold it. We bought it. And I know there was one on Stanford, I think, that we got. And we had to put, I think, a million dollars into it or something because it had coal oil or something on it. This is the same thing. We bought it. We had to do, what, two or three environmental studies on it. It was a bad buy to begin with. I also, way back, I seemed to originally, we were wanting to put a law school on that block. I think, Chuck, I think when you were on, we were talking about that. That would have been a great place for it. But again, you can't build on that south end. You can build on the north end, but not, I think, halfway down, you're pretty well, you're done. You can't build on the west end.

You can build on the east side, the west side. You're supposed to be chiming in.

But anyway, so my point is what we're giving up is we're giving up having to, I don't know what we spend, and I meant to ask the public works what we spend a year to maintain that block, but we won't be doing that. The state will be doing that. And they've come with a plan. I have to assume that their plan is what they want to do with it. At worst, it's going to stay the situation it's in, which you can still do 11 amp and all that. But at best, they've showed us a plan, and I have to believe, and I thank the governor and Andy Menard and Senator Turner and Representative Coffey for, again, taking interest in downtown and trying to make it beautiful again. No, what we give up is we give up having to pay our staff to take care of that place. And I think that, you know, well, let's let the state have it back and let's see what they do with it. I'm kind of excited to see what they do. The prior administration had a nice plan. The only difference was we were going to have to pay for it. We were going to have to maintain it. And it was going to cost quite a bit of money, I recall. I'm for it. I'm voting for it. And again, I thank the governor and everyone involved for taking an interest. Thank you.

Thank you, Alderman. Alderman Williams?

Yeah, we already knew he was thankful to the governor. This is what they do. But I'll say this. What about the money that we've invested? We're supposed to be broke. Mayor tells me all the time, we're broke. We can't. We're broke. when we want to do something for the people, we're broke. Want to do something for one of these municipalities of the state, I'll give it to you or I'll find a way to make it happen. My thing to you, you was up here when a lot of this happened. I just think you should do your due diligence and at least make the state do the guarantees. You vote against an amendment that asks for a bare minimum and you kill it just because you can now. But I'll say We put money in that, $1.5 million to buy it. Just because you didn't think they should have done it, they did it. I don't know if he was on that council or not, because it was under Mayor Houston, but they did it. That's $1.5 million down the drain. Then they spent another $4 million building up the surrounding area and getting it together, getting it to where it is today, that city. That's city money, where it is today. Then we get a mayor who just decides, I'm giving it away, but won't explain herself, won't say why. And then I say, okay, so now we're going to give it away. Well, let's get the guarantees then. At least we're going to get it done in the right amount of time. We're going to, the citizens can always use it. And y'all still say, no, something stinks. And he's right. The downtown deserves nothing. Well, when we got a council like this that contentiously does this to our downtown, it's no excuse. We put money in it, and that's the least we should have got back. Thank you. Alderman Cox.

Thank you, Mayor. It's not the state's responsibility to pay for the mistakes of prior administrations, OK? We spent a ton of money on this place, had to invest a lot more, and never got anywhere. It's not this administration's fault. I mean, the people in the shoe. These are mistakes that were made a long time ago. This is simply cutting our losses at this point. I would think as a business owner in downtown, I would want a nice, beautiful park where people might come more than just once or twice a week for the Levitt. I know we have a few other events. We have Pride. We have a few other events down there. But it's really underutilized property. And here we have an opportunity for the state to come in, maintain it. Yeah, we have to have a little trust in them. God forbid. But we have to have a little trust that they're going to follow through. I personally don't think the governor has any intentions other than to follow through on this. I feel like the governor has done a lot downtown for improvements. Look at the state capital right now. He's putting I don't know how many millions of dollars to make it look nice again. So I have no reason to think $4 million is out of the league here. And as far as the amendment goes, we cannot continue to negotiate contracts at the SHU. These things have to be done beforehand. You may not have had the opportunity, Mr. Williams, but don't blame the rest of us, okay? I'm a yes on this, 100%. Thank you.

Thank you. Alderman Donilon?

Yeah, thank you, Mayor. And again, I think this is an excellent, wonderful project. It is going to activate that space for decades, years, generations to come. This is something that Springfield has needed for a long time. And Mayor, I think we would be remiss if we didn't point out that when you are developing a project such as this, partnerships are important. The city, yes, has invested money in that property, money that would help alleviate major infrastructure drainage issues. uh... those issues have i don't know if they've been a hundred percent mitigated but they've been uh... addressed that's a significant impact it's things people don't see it actually is underground and we're going to be able to utilize that space because of that we've torn down a building that was dilapidated and vacant actually two buildings they're gone now we've invested it's a partnership with the state i think the negotiations and the transparency including the alderman who's in the area in the meetings making it very clear to us, giving us all an opportunity to see the renderings, making those public. Those are all important steps. I'm excited about what I've seen. And quite frankly, I've had people in my ward ask me, Jim, I can't imagine why anybody would be against this. It's a win-win. It's not only a win-win for Springfield, but it's a win-win for anybody that comes and visits here. I absolutely intend on voting for it, so thank you.

Thank you.

Alderman Gregory. Yes. You know, as I've said before, you know, when I came into office, this was the first thing that I met with Senator Maynard, then now Deputy Governor, Senator Turner, Alderman Turner. And we were talking about the university presence and on and on. And we've seen plans. And, you know, last council, we dropped the ball on it to be able to do something with ourselves where we was going to pay something and get a grant. We dropped that ball. So we're at this point. And I can tell you that the people Um, who visit and visit that, you know, they never really asked me who owns it. They just want it developed. That's what they all my case about. It's about getting it developed, making it nice, getting some shade and get awful hot in the sun until the sun goes down. And so I truly want to keep that important. And. You know, I can tell you an American tell you, and those who have been in the meetings, these, some of these questions that we, that we talked about compensation, all of those things we have had those discussions. I can't. Speak on the decision that the mayor made, but we had had those discussions and I'll leave those discussions at that. But in the end, I'm going to be happy to see it developed. I have full faith in the governor and his team to develop this. It's right outside the governor's mansion, not only for himself, but as we move forward in the future with different governors. But I will say that to my older brother, I'm not mad at you for bringing your amendment. I supported it. I don't think it was a tough, tough thing at all. I don't ever have a problem with anybody bringing an amendment up front. That is our right as older people. That's our right. as all the people. So it doesn't matter if it's me doing it, it doesn't matter if it's all William, you, whatever. If y'all have an amendment on something that y'all want to bring, that is our right as all the people and so I don't ever want to get that confused. Yes, we like to talk about a lot of things behind the scenes and sometimes those things won't happen and people have the right. um to help even if you don't have it prepared to to do a floor amendment those are our rights as other people um and and that's just within our um rubber rules of order and rules and procedures so we have those rights um and and you know we just need to keep keep those those things in mind i wasn't throwing a such thank you thank you alderman uh alderman donald to your point i believe it is matching funds in my eyes the city spent 4.6 million dollars on this project

purchasing the property demolitions, and then the construction underneath the ground that you spoke of. The state is going to spend a minimum of $4 million, if not more. They're going to do the phase two mitigation of the needs that Illinois EPA will come down with. They're going to improve the block, and then they're going to take care of it. And Illinois Department of Natural Resources takes care of the governor's mansion area, and look how beautiful that looks. This is going to look just as beautiful. Sue, I agree with you. I trust the administration at the state level that they're going to do what they say. And the reason I have that trust is these conversations have been going on, as Alderman Gregory pointed out, from the very beginning since I've walked in the door as mayor. In 2024, either the Illinois Times or the SGR or both wrote an article interviewing Alderman Gregory, myself, Senator Turner about it. This isn't new. This has been going on. If anyone paid attention to that article, those articles, you would have seen it. I just want to say thank you all that are supporting it because I think it's a really important thing for downtown Springfield to have this beautiful work. Alderman Williams.

Yes. No one is saying, just don't mix it up is what I'm saying. It was a simple amendment because I can keep going on with this. So when I first asked you about this, you said it was some EPA issues. Now we're at this point is getting ready to pass. Is it still an EPA issue?

I just said they're going to have to mitigate when the Illinois EPA comes down.

Who's going to have to mitigate, us or them?

The state.

There's nothing in it that says if the state finds something, now hear me clearly, if the state finds something, it comes back to us. Because in our meeting, I thought I heard you tell me that.

There's a clause in the contract. Do you want to speak? Corporation Council wrote the contract with the Council from IDNR.

So if there's, if during the environmental review, if the state finds something that makes the project not viable, then they can rescind the agreement. They have 60 days to do that.

Thank you.

Alderman Carlson.

Yeah, I just want to add, you know, how I look at this is really the entire city downtown as a whole. I feel we have a little momentum. Obviously what we have going on at the Capitol, I think obviously in the future we're probably going to have to deal with the BOS expansion, which I support. We have the transportation center down there in the hub, and now we have this on the south end of sort of those four data points. So Feel like we got a little momentum and trying to get some bodies as best.

We can back downtown So I'm happy to be a co-sponsor Thank you any other discussion from the elders Seeing none the voting will now be open all those in favor the motion will vote yes all those opposed will vote no And all the woman you're present so the motion passes with seven voting yes one voting no and one voting present I The next item on the agenda is item number 2026-338, an ordinance approving the appointment of Robert Mueller to the Springfield Urban Forestry Commission. The chair will entertain a motion to place agenda item number 2026-338 on final passage. So moved. Second. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Seeing none. Okay. All those in favor of the motion will vote yes. All those opposed will vote no. and the motion passes with nine voting yes and none voting no. The next item on the agenda is item number 2026-342, an ordinance authorizing one-year extension of contract CS24-04-01 through June 30, 2027 with Republic Services Springfield doing business as Republic Services of Sangamon County to provide waste hauling use and single streams recycling in an amount not to exceed $300,000 for the Office of Budget Management. The chair will entertain a motion to place agenda item number 2026-342 on final passage.

So moved.

Second.

We have a motion and a second. Discussion? Alderman Gregory.

Yes, real quickly. I put this on debate just to... bring the light that we get, I know I have gotten increasingly calls as far as in these neighborhood groups on Facebook and things, and I see just so many complaints about Republic Services. Now this is for their recycling portion, so I'm totally gonna support this for sure, but when they come back with their contract, We need to have some discussion.

Alderman, I'm sorry to interrupt you. That's for the trash pickup for us, for the city, like our buildings here.

OK. Like for them to waste haul for us. Are we having any trouble with them picking up our trash? Sorry. Because I just didn't want you to. OK. Well, that's fine. And I'm going to vote for it regardless. But I know when they come back for our residence trash contract, we have to have some discussion just about the timeliness and getting those things. and really responding to their constituents.

I'm sorry, can I ask, is it about yard waste or actual garbage pick up?

What is your complaint? Garbage pick up. And I know that they came in, the management team was wonderful. They came in and addressed our concerns last time and we still get those calls. I know I do. And I just want to make sure that when they do come back, that we have some good conversation about how we can get better.

And I think that the constituents complaints, Alderman, I would probably agree with them. I think the problem is there's a person in the truck and then there's an arm instead of two humans anymore. And the arm rubbish falls out and then they drive away. So I've witnessed that in front of my own home.

Yes.

I would agree with you.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Any other discussion? Seeing none, the voting will now be open. All those in favor of the motion will vote yes. All those opposed will vote no. The motion passes with nine voting yes, none voting no. Is there any unfinished business to come before the council at this time? Seeing none, we're going to move to new business. The first thing I would like to do in new business is promote Lincoln Library. For those of you that don't know, and I can have Gwen come up to the podium if you'd like, but you can sign up at Lincoln Library online to join the Spice of the Month Club. And what they will supply you is a spice, the history of the spice, and then a recipe of how to use it. And I think it's just kind of a fun way to experience something new. And Gwen's team has done an amazing job at bringing something, an idea forward. And you can just sign up online, and then you pick up your spice at the library. So Gwen, is there anything I missed? All right. Well, I'm in the club, and there's fun things that you get to make that you would have never thought of making. So I just want to promote it. Alderwoman Conley? Can I just ask?

There's no cost for this.

No, it's a free service they offer, and I would try to pronounce the spice of the month this month that I would know I would mispronounce it. It is a, I believe it's a Korean chili. It's very cold, so.

I thought I would promote it, because I really enjoy it. I enjoy getting the recipes and trying it. I actually paid for something like that for my daughter as a Christmas gift, so that's a really great service.

Alderman Gregory, you have new business.

Yes, no, I miss Gwen. I did see the book book mobile traveling down South Grand going on the past and it looks beautiful. Somebody driving. I was really surprised to see it. I'm like, oh, that's the book mobile. It was huge. But no, no, I didn't see that going going to do his thing. So I just want to compliment you on for getting that going. I don't want to be long, but I got 2 things 2 things and they'll wrap them together. Mayor Corporation Council. We have the South town. That's South town light and I know there's some tricky things with the covenant and stuff and you figured it out and gotten to that. So I want to I want to work with the administration and yourself to really finally come to an end with that. So we can get it fixed the South town sign excuse me.

Oh, the, the, uh, which used to be a marquee. Yes. Okay. I was thinking of stoplights. Sorry. Yes.

And the reason why I'm really bringing that up now is, is because I was over there the other day and walking under it and. The bottom of it is open and we got all types of pigeons, you know, live it in there, pooping down and, and. If you ever had to clean it up for a living, you got to put on all types of gear and stuff to keep yourself from getting all types of things that birds give off. And I really think it's becoming a healthy health situation. So I really want to work with you guys so we can finally come to whether we're going to donate that to the Springfield project after we fix it, or whatever the case may be. But it does need fixed. I understand what the old covenant was before, but we just need to figure that out. finally be done with that so we can get it working and fix the nice. And my last request is also to look at the, I know we've talked about this before, but the UCP buildings, not all of the buildings, but that one, I've been getting a little pressed about it in my neighborhood association meetings. And one of those buildings may be salvageable. And the other one, of course, needs to be torn down right there by Sonia Massey Memorial Bridge. I would like to take that next step. I know it's going to take a little money to tear down the old public health building, but I am interested in finding a way to either donate that or sell it very, very cheap to individuals who have the means and capabilities to restore it. It's not that big. It's not going to be that hard to really, really restore it. And I'm sure some of our help will be needed. But those individuals are capable of doing much of the work themselves. So I do want to work with you on those two, those pieces of property before we leave. Because I'm still in a given mood. I'm still in a mood to really move things along. So thank you. I appreciate it.

I asked the budget director to write that down because the purchasing agent has done an RFP for sale for that. So I'll have her check on that and we'll follow up with you.

On the big one or on the small one?

I think all of it. I'll have her. I'll have Jim Peters, who's a purchasing agent, follow up with you. Yes, ma'am.

Thank you. Is that okay, director? Thank you.

Okay.

Alder woman purchase. Thank you.

Do we know what this week is? Anybody? What? Do we know what this week is? So the National NAACP is here in Illinois.

Yes.

They're in Chicago. Yes, they are. They're here in Illinois. So I wanted to take a moment to recognize it was awesome for me to kick that off with them. Take a moment to recognize and I'm looking at some of the events that's going on while they're here just as we celebrate like this important work of the NAACP across the country. It is also an opportunity to remember that Springfield holds a unique place in that history. And do we know why? Yes. The events of the 1908 here led to the founding of NAACP making our city an important part of our nation's civil rights I would have loved to have seen Mr. Lincoln go to Chicago like how we had him going to other places to kick off events and letting them know that Springfield has some history here. NAACP is so important for us to do that as well. So as we continue building momentum for the proposed national monument, I'm hoping that, and this was like a little note that was sent to me by people knowing that I'm an alderwoman here in Springfield, but was up there for the luncheon to kick off, that we strategically think about tourism, because we're doing a lot of other things as bringing tourism dollars here. educational and economic opportunities that come with preserving and sharing the history. Springfield has like a very powerful story and I believe we should continue working together to ensure the community recognizes it as a destination where people can learn, reflect and honor the legacy that began here. So I just wanted to take a moment and didn't know if anybody knew what this week was because it's not just about them being in Chicago but being in Illinois and this is where it started. And I think I talked about it during the budget. I talked about the dollars that could come here to Springfield if we would put in some of the same work that we do with other events that's nationally recognized here. And I just really, really hope that we take that into consideration and wanted to recognize it because I wasn't for sure if anybody else was.

Thank you. Thank you. Alderwoman Conley. Thank you, Mayor. I have just real quickly, and I'm sorry, the Director Harris has been trying to sit down, but you passed something out to all of us. Would you like to come and explain what this is? Because as you pointed out, Mayor, there are fabulous services and programs going on at the library, and I think You've brought a lot of energy and a lot of new ideas here, and so every opportunity I get, I'm going to bring you up here to talk about them.

Thank you. Thank you, Alderman Conley. So this weekend, this Saturday, we are going to have the first of a directory series. We're going to have Dr. Leon Lewis-Nickel Quartet come and give us some classical jazz for a couple of hours.

That will be inside the library?

It's going to be inside the library in the Carnegie Room. And what time is that? 5.30 to 7.

So someone can come down to the farmer's market during the day. Come back that evening. Have a nice lunch downtown. Come back that evening and have some wonderful entertainment.

Thank you. Exactly. I also want to piggyback upon Paul Roman's purchases, comment about the 1908 race riot. Lincoln Library, in partnership with a lot of entities here in Springfield, AUGUST 13TH TO THE 16TH, WE'RE GOING TO HAVE A LOT OF AMAZING EVENTS COMMEMORATING THE RACE RIDE EVENT. I JUST WANTED TO PUT THAT OUT THERE.

THANK YOU. WE'LL MAKE SURE WE SHARE THAT INFORMATION WITH THE REST OF THE PEOPLE AT LARGE, TOO, BECAUSE YOU'RE DOING REALLY GREAT WORK IN THE LIBRARY. AND I KNOW IT'S REALLY, IT'S ONE OF THE, IT'S A SOLID, HEALTHY LIBRARY. critical component of a community, and we've really seen it build up, and I'm excited to see the way you're expanding it. So thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you.

Oh, wait, before you go.

Anything, oh.

I'm sorry, Mary. I'm on your website right now. Where do I sign up for the Spice Club? I'm serious.

He's trying to sign up for the Spice Club. I'm going to let Gwen talk to Alderman Cox. Alderman Conley, am I allowed to ask how you spent your morning in your day job? Am I allowed to ask that publicly?

I'll go ahead and let you talk about what went on this week.

Okay, so Alderman Conley's day job is IDNR, and Chief Sumo has put together a Safety City USA for first and second graders. And, Chief, we have 25, 26? 34 children. I stood in the front and greeted them Monday morning and they are at the safety city camp and IDNR presented today and yesterday was citywide light and power and public works and they're going to get police fire and I'm missing anything else. big truck day on friday yeah big truck day so um it's super exciting there's kids of all ethnicities kids from all different school districts um meeting each other for the first time and hanging out and i just want to commend you chief for the safety city usa camp yeah it's great alderman gregory did you have anything else okay i just didn't want to skip you okay we'll go up to citizens who signed up in advance to speak yep ready yes dr roxanne casey

Good evening. We are better together. Of course, you all know I'm Dr. Roxanne Casey. And I'm here today again as a community member. I am a community leader, but I stand this evening as a community member. I come to say again, we are better together. I came to Springfield in August of 1995 to pursue my master's degree and was very captivated by the beauty, greenery, and positive vibe in the community, its leadership, the landlords, the church leaders. There was a level of pride and unity among the people here that I had not seen in other cities I traveled to or lived in. I recall many phone calls and visits with family and friends talking about the city of Springfield, the capital of Illinois, and the joy that filled my eyes because of the unity, safety, and community engagement. As a new Christian in the body of Christ in 1995, I saw the people gather in prayer with concerns that were answered annually There was a mere breakfast that called the community together to one accord to seek God's guidance for our city. I took great pleasure and pride in participating because of my newfound trust and faith that God would be in the midst and our prayers would be answered. The city of Springfield sought God for guidance for the leaders who sat in the seat of authority. for the well-being and safety of the residents and the protection from evil doers and evil agendas. I recall community leaders asking the residents what works in their particular neighborhood and what didn't. You can imagine the joy that many experience having a voice and seeing leadership consider their voice an idea. Were all the concerns, requests answered? Of course not. But there was a win-win for the leadership in the citizens of Springfield. I recently recalled talking with a current leader and getting an honest answer to my question about the frustration members face with leadership. The answer was very simple. Leaders stop listening to the people. The people really know what works in their neighborhood. The answer sat with me for a while. I don't know what it would take to have a win-win leadership in community members in Springfield, but I believe it starts with and ends with prayer. As a community member, I would like to see the annual mayoral prayer breakfast reinstated so we as a community can stand in unity in prayer so God can guide us in our seats of authority and as community members. Again, I would like to say again, we are better together. I firmly believe in Jeremiah 29 and 7. Praying unto God for the peace and prosperity of the city of Springfield, because if it prosper, we too will prosper. I ask this administration to reinstate the annual mayor prayer breakfast and, of course, develop a mayor community organization roundtable. to fortify our unity in Springfield.

Dr. Casey, if you want to speak to my chief of staff, Billy Fleischley, he will talk to you about scheduling. And if you want to, I'm assuming you want to help coordinate that. Am I making a big assumption? Okay. I'm sorry. And he'll work with you on that. Thank you.

James Johnson.

Let me start with saying thanks to the older men and women who stick around and listen. Then I want to start with. Mayor, I'm having a hard time understanding. Publix works. Why we cut? Them working overtime when there's still so many lamb pickup to be done in our community. I ain't been around the whole Springfield. But in the areas that I have been, there are lambs littering the street in particular neighborhoods. And we say we don't have any money. And we cut the Public Works Department. And with all the lamb pickup, it's going to kill a lot of people's lawns. But we say I don't want to stick on that. I just think them guys need, if they want overtime, they need to do overtime because we got land problems in our neighborhood. But we say we don't have any money. But you spend half a million on a police vehicle that half of us don't want. We spend a half a million on flock cameras that we really don't need. And I can't believe, and the people who spoke In the weeks past, they were correct, but nobody wants to listen to them. But I'm going to ask the question, like, did anybody do they study on these cities where flop cameras are not wanted? Do you study and see what the people are starting to do? And I can't believe that we continue to not listen to our community, but we want to improve downtown Springfield and think people are going to come back. Now let's move to the police department, and let's talk about the sergeant, because that's your police department. And so my question is, what's going to happen with that sergeant? Because even though TV20 didn't want to play her weeks and days and days and even put her picture up, a lot of the community wants to know what's going to happen with her. We don't want to be guessing. We definitely don't want to swap under the rug. And now I know the union is going to try to keep her and fight for her, but I hope the union has a good reason and a justification for keeping somebody who has a DUI. Because I know people who wanted to be police officers but couldn't because they had DUI on their record or domestic something. And so moving forward, And I also know that the police union, they fight hard for some people and don't fight for others. So I hope you and your police department do the right thing in moving forward. Because I really want to know what's going to happen. Because the police who shot a young black man, we still ain't heard nothing publicly about that. And we don't even know where this officer is. And I don't hear nobody talking about it. Ain't nobody saying anything. But we still have police officers out here, and you have sergeants in our community, in my community, because I witnessed this and I recorded it, stopping young men because they're tinted windows. And the thing is, why is sergeants with police officers in his car pulling over individuals with tinted windows? Now, I know I ain't going to get an answer from up here, but what do the aldermens need to ask and let the community know? Ask the police chief and say, hey, why are sergeants riding around with two or three officers? And in my last minute, let's talk about the fire department. So there was an accident over the weekend, and for some reason, it didn't make TV20 News. Fire truck pulled a bumper off a car. Anybody know about that? But that's strange. We don't get to hear about that. But TV 20 wants to talk about the murders down in East St. Louis. Like that's really important to us. And don't even know the real reason about it. So I'm not really happy with the media, but I'm watching your divisions, your police department and your fire department. Because if TV 20 don't want to come out and tell the truth, I will have people, I will come up here, and we will start pointing out things. And I didn't get a chance to talk about the hit and runs in our community that are not being solved. Talk to your chief about that stuff getting handled and getting taken care of.

Robert Williams. Robert Williams.

Yeah.

Hit the page up.

One of my favorite shows growing up was Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? It teaches you a lot of great stuff, right? Information, culture, things like that. It taught me to ask the big question why. Sorry, these new mics are very delicate. Tony, give me a warning on that. The one thing that I learned from asking why or where or how or when is the importance of the answer. So you have to ask yourself, where is Surat Shabandari? Does anyone know who that is? Surat Shabandari, ring a bell? It's our city planner. It was the one we hired back in December. That's right.

to move it away from you, I apologize. That's where you get into the idea, though, that that's our city planner. And I'm curious, what is her feelings about us deciding to give away large swaths of downtown in development? Isn't that what she was brought in for? I mean, if this is city planner supported, if there's a big, long goal for all of this that's actually laid out for years ahead of time, it'd be great to have her come up and defend it. I get curious if that's actually what's going on, though. Because I really doubt that a city planner, after all her years of education and even real world experience, would tell you guys that the solution is to hand away property to outside entities and leave it outside of your control entirely for the rest of your lives. Does that sound like solid planning to you guys? I mean, I don't agree with Higgins. I don't think we should give it to some big corporation and develop some magical business downtown. That's not happening. The park is a great idea. It's beautiful. I want to be clear on that. My opposition is not to that. But Roy's at least asking for due diligence. Governors change. Legislatures change their mind. Money dries up. All of you know that. You work in lobbying. You work at the state. You know that plans change. Getting guarantees and writing isn't crazy or Roy just being upset. That's where we are again. And then the Starbond idea is wild. I mean, do we slide a waffle onto this poor girl's door when we just decide to start sliding everything out of town and never let her out to talk about her city planning? Because I really doubt that she's like, we should build a third failed hotel that third time's the charm, guys. I mean, at a certain point, it just shows a clear lack of vision. The one thing that I've noted in the long time I've been attending this council is there is very few signature good ideas, big things that someone could point to and be like, that's what council did. It's somebody else's idea coming in and doing it for you. Because we don't have the money, right? How much money did we have in reserve fund when you became mayor? Wasn't it like $80-something million? Now we're rubbing nickels together and less your SPD. Is that a joke? It's been three years and we're going to burn through it by next year. Where's our revenue? Where are the ideas to create it? That park is not going to generate enough revenue to fix those problems that we face as a city in terms of filling those gaps. And feeding it to the police department isn't going to do it either. High enforcement has been shown to not improve Bad neighborhoods. In city after city, you go look at Baltimore, you can look at Detroit and others, over-policing did no one any favors except for the police department and the people that incarcerate the people they arrest and the lawyers that make money while they're doing it. We could give significantly smaller sums to community organizations and groups, and we do, but we make them walk the line. We make them jump off the plank and beg them to tell us everything except what they had for dinner last night. But when an outside state entity who has shown at times before to be mercurial in times when money does get tight, we just go right ahead, take a swath of our downtown, hopefully it works out. A leap of faith, I mean, the fact that he's not even here is disrespectful and sell me this ridiculous fantasy that we should just believe the state. When I go in private, most of you wouldn't say that to me because you don't believe it. But if it's for the people you like or something that you want, you're willing to let it go. But when a group of black people come up here and ask for $30,000, it's a two-hour hearing. That is absolutely bonkers. You should all be ashamed of yourself for how transparently messed up that is. I mean, just facts. You don't have to ask me. Go ask your constituents, because this is what I do when I go out in the streets. What do you hear?

Thank you, sir.

Michael Flowers. Michael Flowers. Robert Williams.

Hello, everybody. Sir, please don't touch the microphone.

Yeah, they're new, and we don't want to tear them up.

OK. Well, good evening. I'm here to finish the discussion I was talking about my friends on death row last time I was here. I have like four or five friends and a cousin that's on death row, and I truly believe that they are innocent. And I was just sitting on TV a week ago that

the mic can you hold for one second sir so i can see what's going on with the mic

Yeah, well, OK. And all right. Anyway, they were on death row. They was, but the president, I mean, Governor Ryan, he was the head of state's attorney at the time that implemented the death penalty. And then when he became governor, 11 people was exonerated. And he realized he made a mistake. and he terminated it, but with stipulation that the only way you get the death penalty if you have a heinous crime or a scandalous case, then it had to be done by protocol. Well, what about the guys that was on death row that you took away the death penalty, but you didn't give them counsel? That's wrong. I feel that Because of this, the United States Supreme Court, the Illinois Supreme Court, brought against them having counsel, which shouldn't be. I believe Governor Pritzker has the power to give these brothers a chance, a second chance, because right now, They just don't feel it for themselves, and it shouldn't be. And I believe it's more than just 11 people that's on Telford, that was on Telford, that's doing life. And I know for a fact that's my guy. Like I said, I know a bunch of them. This is what I'm fighting for now. And Sean, you know I go to the Capitol, right? And you seen me there. Now I'm asking you to pull your car and get me in touch with, no, no, no, you can't, you can't. I want you to hit me up with Doris Turner and your boy that you was talking to that day. And let me work my magic. You know what I'm saying? Show these people. I got cases in the Illinois Supreme Court, I mean, Seventh Circuit Court that got overturned as far as the grievance process. Used to be six months. Well, it is six months. But now you have to exhaust all the rulings, but you don't have to go about it the way they wanted you to go about it. And I did all that. I exhausted all my remedies. I laid there, waited six months, filed another grievance. They tried to say that the grievance I filed the first time was not active, but you brought it up in the second grievance. So the courts, the Seventh Circuit Appeal said, no, y'all be having that man going in circles. So they laid that rule in my favor. And this affects everybody in the Central District. See what I'm saying? And I have one of the law cases. Check out William versus Reed, William versus Kennedy, and you'll see my name is all over in that book. You know, I didn't let the time do me. I did the time. But also, you know, like I said, I'm not perfect. Ain't nobody on this earth perfect but one. That's God. And I'm asking everybody to forgive me. Give me a second chance, like y'all said. And like I asked you, ma'am, let me do my due diligence and get the information that you need with these people that's not being seen by mental health. I remember when you first, what, last year, year before last, you said, man, I don't even know what's going on. And when nobody heard from any other agency, then the next week everybody and their mother popped up. Renaissance, Mission. Mission beat people out of it. Two years ago, they got like $3 million, no $370,000. Every hand got like a million something. But where did that money go? We don't see none of it. And every time we get a place to live, they kick us out if we let somebody come stay with us. You see, we got these protocols. We got rules and regulations. We got the form. But it shouldn't be like that. If you're going to help me get a place, give me the place. Let me mess it up. Don't you give me the rules somehow. I got to go by this. I got to go by that. But y'all doing the same thing we doing. Y'all just not getting caught.

Thank you, sir. That's it, Mayor. All right. No need for exec session. Motion to adjourn.

Motion to adjourn.

Second. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Those opposed? The ayes have it. Thank you.