WEBVTT

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Good evening, Linda, or I'm sorry, Evelyn, could you please give the invocation this evening?

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Dear Heavenly Father, we bless your holy and matchless name during this city council meeting.

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Father, every part of this agenda we give to you to make known what is beneficial for the city of Freeport now and in the future.

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Let no one place anything before this council that you have not approved of for all the people of the city.

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Philippians 2, 3 says, Be free from pride-filled opinions, for they will only harm your cherished unity.

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Don't allow self-promotion to hide in your hearts but in authentic humility put others first and view others as more important than yourselves. Father, we lose wisdom and your governmental authority to every council member to hear what is needed. Let every member understand that you have the final say when we are

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when you are invited to be a part of these meetings.

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And we close the door to every negative negotiation, every negative thought.

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We ask it all in your son Jesus Christ's name.

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Amen.

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Amen.

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Thank you, Evelyn.

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I will officially call this meeting to order.

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Madam Clerk, would you please take the roll?

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Mayor Miller.

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Here.

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Alderpersons, Klemm.

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Here.

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Monroe is absent.

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Simmons.

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Here.

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Parker.

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Here.

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Stacy.

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Here.

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Shadle? Here. Sanders? Here. And Sellers? Here. And it has come to my attention that Alderman Sanders is passing his chair tonight to Alderman Stacy, so if you could please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance led by Alderman Stacy.

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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.

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Go ahead, Alderman, Stacy

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Okay, so next we have the approval for agenda, but before that happens, we want to make note of the dot

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under number eight will be moving up to number seven. Do we have a motion for approval?

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just to clarify that you're moving the dot actually up to right after number seven yes okay just to clarify do we have an approval for the agenda so moved second do we need a vote do we need a vote no all those in favor is fine all those in favor aye aye nay by the same I'm so sorry I missed the motion in the second shadow first sellers thank you

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Second. Um, okay. Approval of minutes from the Committee of the Whole meeting held on November 12th, 2024.

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So moved. Second.

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We have motion by Shado, second by Parker. All in favor?

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Aye.

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Opposed? Motion passes.

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Okay, we have two public comments. First being Joshua Atkinson. Thank you, Chair, Mayor Miller, City Council. My name is Joshua Atkinson. I just keep this brief here. I wanted to talk about item number eight, the grant money going to 1010 South Adams. I've been talking to a number of people over the past couple weeks, and it seems like that the property owners on this one,

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They own a total of eight properties in Freeport. Some are houses, some are vacant lots, but they also listed on their application that they were landlords. So then the question got raised of whether or not they were part of the landlord registry. That's been taken up a lot of conversation over the past couple weeks here, and it has been said that they are not registered. So they've had these properties, they have not registered to be landlords in town, which opens it up to owing the city's property.

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to be fine dollars if we were to be fining them. The excuse of not knowing they weren't landlords doesn't work because they listed on their application that that was their business. That's who they are. So, you know, that's just one more thing that kind of raises a red flag with this particular grant placement. Thank you. Okay. And the second one we have is Rhonda Scott. Good evening. I'd like to address the grant issue for 10-10.

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Adams as well. We have received about a half a million dollars in grants giving the city council an opportunity, a big opportunity to decide how the best use of this money could overcome the city's many challenges with blighted low-income neighborhoods. We have a problem with this one specific property because there's a question about whether this individual

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is actually low income. Now it is a requirement that community development rehab grants go to help low income, elderly, and disabled people correct unsafe and unsanitary conditions in blighted neighborhoods with their homes. But before income is even determined, there has to be a project or a purpose for those funds. So you don't just throw it out there,

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I'm not there with applications and let people apply and you don't have an intended project. The project would likely be we're going to improve the corridor on Adams Street and we're going to fix up all the houses that are a major eyesore on there so that when you're driving into Freeport you don't have the impression, gee, I wouldn't want to live here. So we need a purpose and the community development block grant has been established since 1974 to eliminate conditions of blight and correct uncertainty.

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and I'm going to be talking about the project that's been done.

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The project for these funds is determined by the Freeport Community Development, the City Council and Public Input.

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Adam Street is the current project. I mean, I don't know what you've identified as the current project, but that's what we're going for.

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And then there are the best practice guidelines put out by the HUD Grant Assistance Program so that when we get a grant, we can figure out how do you use the funds.

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They're suggesting that you prioritize the greatest needs to ensure community challenges are met

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Then you have grant oversight and transparency to prevent fraud

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Reducing administrative costs is to ensure that the money is used efficiently

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and makes the greatest improvement to benefit the low-income community

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Somehow a house in very good condition was offered an application which doesn't help the city achieve its goal

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Apparently no one took the time to identify which houses were contributing to blight

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and let the process be based on income alone which is only one step in the process and it is not the first step

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My point here is that if we are ever going to expect to make improvements in this community

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We have to prioritize the homes that actually need repairs and be transparent and submit photos to city council before asking us to approve funding. Thank you.

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Okay. Next we will have discussion regarding potential redevelopment agreement for 521 West Cottonwood Street. Presented by Joel...

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Freudenberg. Freudenberg, thank you. Hey, Joel, you mind if I just give a little introduction?

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Joel, you mind if I just give a little introduction here? Yeah, I appreciate that, Joel. The Region 1

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Planning Council works with the City of Freeport on the Northern Illinois Land Bank, and so it's been a while

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since we've done a land bank property in Freeport. It's a really exciting program, and so instead of

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coming next week with a resolution for an agreement, I really wanted to bring Joel from Region 1. He's an

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excellent partner for the city of Freeport, does a lot of good things with the city of Freeport, and the idea here is to give you an introduction to what the land bank does, how they work with the city of Freeport, and a couple of upcoming projects, so with that being said, thank you, Joel, for coming, and look forward to your presentation.

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Yeah, like Wayne said, I'm just going to kind of give you a brief update.

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For some of you, it's probably been a little while since you've heard about the Land Bank or R1,

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and so we're just going to briefly touch on who we are and what we do, and then get to what's going on with the Land Bank in Freeport currently.

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Here's the service area of R1 in the Land Bank.

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The areas in blue is the Land Bank jurisdiction, so you can see.

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here Freeport and Stevenson County are within the jurisdiction, recently added in Lake County as well.

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Kind of gives you an overview of what R1 as the Land Bank Authority does. The goal is to combat community

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deterioration by returning property to productive use and getting, you know, non-tax paying blighted

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properties back on the tax rolls. And a lot of times trying to save properties from demolition before, you know, that becomes the necessary outcome. About us specifically as the land bank, we serve just under one and a half million people. In the about five years that we've been around, we've done about 1.2 million in sales, 41 homes sold, and that generates about $150,000 in new tax revenue.

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Go through a couple of successful projects that we've had over the last few years in Velvedere and Rockford and then kind of get to what's going on here with you guys right now. This was a blighted house in Velvedere. As soon as Velvedere joined the land bank, you know, the other people had this on their list. They said, please, you know, somebody needs to do something with this house. It's such an eyesore. And so it was the first thing we acquired in Velvedere.

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Heimer, Sold it for $41,000, and a couple years later, it was completely rehabbed and sold for $174,000.

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Oh, wow. Yeah.

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This is a recent one in Rockford where, you know, right by East High School, really good neighborhood, and, you know, sometimes the owners just disappear.

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They die with no heirs. You never really know what happens, but you see those two years of delinquent taxes, and that's when you know

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I know it's time to move. And so we were able to acquire this one. You know, it was in okay condition, but only a couple of people really could see a vision for it. And so sold by the land bank for 23,000. Eventually, after being rehabbed in under a year, sold for 140,000. This is the kind of the most recent success that we had in Freeport. It's, you know, probably over three years,

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since this took place? Yes. 857 East Shawnee was sold I believe in 2021 by the land bank for $15,750 and looks like it was recently listed again for rent at $875 a month and you can see there in the pictures a little bit of the transformation that took place on the exterior and you know that's that the same shot of the stairs on the inside there below.

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and this is all achieved because we have these strong deed restrictions on these properties where you know if you're going to be the buyer of a land bank property you know that at this time it was a year we've now typically we bring that down to nine months you have nine months to get everything up to code and it should be completely inhabitable within that time or we're able to claw it back essentially so the buyers know what they're getting into and they know they have to get moving and do a good job so that brings me to

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to the buyer that has come forward for this 521 West Cottonwood property, this is the reference point that we have for him, is he purchased this one on 418 Tay Street in Rockford that, as you can see, was in very rough shape. Nobody wanted to touch this, and he saw a vision for it, and Wayne and I actually toured this yesterday?

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yesterday and this is what it looks like now this is seven months on so he's still got another two months of his deed restriction and he is just one final building inspection away from being good to go. I'm the one who put the abandonment sticker on this house you know well over a year ago I had to put it on the the boarded up window to the side because it was so overgrown in the front

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Again, you know, I'm just an admin guy. I can't see the vision for these houses. It's crazy to me to see what some of these people can do with these houses. And so that brings me to, like I said, Leo Holmes, Ivan, is the applicant for 521 West Cottonwood Street in Freeport. And so I'll kind of give you a brief overview of what the situation that we're doing here with this house is.

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is City of Freeport was initially preparing for a demolition, but Wayne and my colleague Eric kind of took a look at the house and decided, you know, I think there's something that can be saved here. We tested the market's interest in it by taking applications through our land bank sales portal that, you know, like we saw earlier, we've successfully sold 41 properties through the land bank through that sales portal over the last couple years. And one thing that we heard from the city was that

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that you really wanted a tight restriction, and that's what we already have as a default, is that nine-month deed restriction that gives you the clawback option that the land bank can come back and take that property if they're not doing it properly.

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We had an open house on 11-8, and Ivan from Leo Homes, who has done that 418 Tay Street rehab, showed up, drove all the way from Lake Zurich, and said he really wanted,

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He saw a vision for this property, wants to do it, and he submitted a bid for $8,000, and the plan is for Freeport to then quick claim this property to the land bank, and we will sell it to Ivan and Leal Homes, and then it will be the land bank's responsibility to continually follow up with them and make sure that progress is being made, and, you know, keep harping on about that nine-month deed restriction.

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We also just received a deed through a successful abandonment case to 52 North Bailey here in Freeport and Wayne and I just went through this earlier. It was the first time I had seen it. I wasn't the one who stickered this one and this is one that will, like I said, just got the deed. We'll do an inspection and see what it needs. It definitely needs a roof and so we are going to put out an RFP to see if we can get somebody to do a roof and

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use grant funds of our own to do that.

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So that's kind of an update of where we're at with specifically 521 West Cottonwood and kind of give you an overview of what the land bank does as a whole and what we're wanting to do in Freeport here.

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Yeah, any questions?

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Cecilia.

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Yes, I'm sorry, Joy.

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No, that's all right.

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I just want to say I love it.

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Thank you.

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Any other questions?

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Is there a limit on how much, how many properties you can do in an area per year? I mean, is it just finding the properties?

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It's a matter of finding the properties. Evidence needs to be two years of delinquent taxes, pretty much. There's a more complicated route involving water bills, but it's typically two years of delinquent taxes has got to be the first thing. And then it does truly have to be abandoned.

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usually if somebody comes forward and claims the property, the case pretty much dies there.

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It's when there truly are no heirs, no interest in the property.

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Autumn and Sanders.

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Also, people that are living in these types of homes, dilapidated, rundown and everything of that nature,

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are they eligible for this particular program to rehab their homes and restabilize? No, so the land bank specifically deals with abandoned? Only abandoned homes? And the purpose of that, why?

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And the purpose of that, why is that? Why abandoned homes or homes that are vacant? Why is that? That a home that a person lives in is just as shady and shoddy as an abandoned home, you know, why can't that home be eligible for rehab?

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So specifically our funding is through strong communities program and we use that, you know, we are a land bank. What we can do as a land bank is acquire vacant abandoned houses and use some of our money to rehab them and sell them again. By the state of Illinois statute that that's what a land bank can do. Okay. I'm sorry. Alderman Simmons. So how are potential buyers made aware of these properties?

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so that they can make bids. Like, how was this person from Lake Zurich made aware of this property?

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Yeah, so he was initially made aware of the property in Tay Street, either through our mailing list or, you know, through word of mouth.

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You know, I'm not sure how he found out about it initially, but, you know, he did the property on Tay Street in Rockford, met us, formed a relationship with us,

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and, you know, when he was interested in this, we all thought, you know, this seems like a good partnership, you know, we've seen him do a good job. He was really the only one that expressed a strong impact on this property, but he was made aware initially through the Tay Street property, whether that was through our mailing list or word of mouth, and then made aware of the Cottonwood one by virtue of having done the previous property in Rockford.

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on to Ms. Sellers. Yes. So there's no website or anything that? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So are they listed on a website or anything or not? Yeah. So all the sales are done online through an online sales portal. You know, sometimes we have live auctions and, you know, it updates in real time. For this one specifically, we were the goal of the West Cottonwood property specifically was to make sure we could find the right buyer.

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Price wasn't really, you know, something that we were concerned about at all. It was more about

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getting that person who we know could take this property and fix it up and get it, you know, back

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in productive use. Alderman Sellers? I mean, Sanders? Yeah, also, these fundings, the grant fundings for

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for these rehabs. Who receives those grants to disperse throughout the communities of these properties, and are they owned by the bank, or did the bank purchase these vacant properties and using grant funds to make rehabs to these properties?

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Yeah, so the land bank has strong communities funds, and then when we acquire, through abandonment process, a property, we're able to use strong communities funds at our discretion to, you know, like I said, do an RFP to put a roof on Bailey, or, you know, we had a property on Church Street in Rockford recently that had a broken window, so we replaced the window before we put it on the market.

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Yes, the director, and all the person, Sanders, thank you, and all the person, Sanders, I want to state that when a property stops paying taxes, like he has 52 North Bailey up here, they stop paying taxes, they have two years of delinquent taxes. If a property does not pay taxes for three years, then the county trustee will petition for a tax deed in the fourth year. So essentially, if a house, if we don't use a land bank, a house will go four years abandoned.

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by utilizing the land bank they'll they use their own attorneys to petition to our courts to take ownership of it before it actually even goes to a tax deed and then they like they took ownership through a court process and that's through our partnership with them as collaborative government partners they went through and paid for the funding to get ownership of this through the courts and I can't remember how many actual appearances they had but it this to this process to get 52 Bailey was timely it took quite a bit and we were

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I meet with Region 1 at least once a month, if not weekly, and we go over properties that could

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potentially be land bank properties. And going back to the, you know, with Cottonwood, that's a property

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that the city owned that had actually been abandoned for four years and that the city had purchased from

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the county trustee off of a tax deed. So in this situation, going back to Cottonwood, this is what

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what the city is saying is, you know, we have it, we can demolish it, would probably cost the city between $15,000 and $20,000, or we can, in all my meetings, I'm always going over my demolition list with the land bank, and if there's a property that they think could be salvaged, they said, hey, let's show it to some of our developers, let's have an open house, maybe we can find somebody, and that's kind of how this worked with 521 Cottonwood, and really the option is, do we move forward with,

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moving you know moving into the land bank we can potentially save it utilize their resources or do we demolish it and turn it into a vacant lot I mean it's really kind of our options with the property right and to your point Wayne a lot of times with the tax sale properties end up in this death loop of claiming sale and error and so nothing ever actually happens with them land bank through abandonment is able to kind of interrupt that process and and get the public

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the property back, whereas, you know, claiming sale and error just allows the tax buyer to continually accrue interest on it.

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Can you tell me if you have contractors that give the land bank their services for little to nothing at cost?

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Do we have contractors that give their services to the land bank?

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Yes.

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No, no, we put out RFPs or RFQs and then people apply to, you know, do work

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Like VITs?

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Yeah, they do a proposal or a quote, yeah

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And also, I just actually spoke with, because on 52 North Bailey, we were discussing there's going to be a new roof or they're looking to put a new roof on and it has to be, it's the state of Illinois

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When he's talking about strong community funds, that's Illinois Housing Development Authority, state of Illinois, anytime we're talking state of Illinois money, it has to be

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prevailing wage. No if and to. Per diem wage? Yeah, it has to be prevailing wage. So yes, you know, so

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they can't work with a contractor for, you know what I mean, they have to pay prevailing wage for

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any services. No, my point was like, let's say for the average person to put in that wood floor

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would cost $30,000. I just didn't know if you had contractors that would say

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for this type of house, we'll do it for $20.

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No, so when it comes to using the strong community's funds, like Wayne is saying, we would have to, you know, take a bid where someone was going to use prevailing wage, once somebody buys the house from us, there is still usually a lot of work to be done.

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How they get there, as long as it passes, you know, codes and inspections and stuff like that at the end, is up to them. And a lot of times, those are general contractors who are doing a lot of the work themselves.

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Okay. Yes.

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So the way they're making their money, Cecelia, is they're buying these properties cheap, and then they're investing, they're taking a risk on the property to be able to sell it for the $140,000, that's where they make their money?

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Yes, Autumn and Shado.

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Director Duckman, are you looking for a motion to get this for a vote for the council?

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I'm making the council aware that at the next council meeting, either the next one in December or January, I'm letting everyone know that there's going to be an agreement for 521 West Cottonwood so we know what this is.

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And hopefully moving forward, I can bring more agreements that are similar.

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So if I say I have an agreement for this address in the city of Freeport with the Region 1 Land Bank, you are under,

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Officer, hopefully there'll be less questions because you understand the process and I wanted you to be aware that this is coming soon.

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Very, very good. Thank you for that. Thank you.

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Alderman Sanders.

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Yeah, is this in-house? All of this restoration that's taking place? So it could be a restoration with components that are not directly in the city of Freeport?

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Sure, so this person that's interested in 521 Cottonwood is from Lake Zurich, and they're going to get a permit with the city of Freeport, and if it's their property, they can, if they're a licensed contractor with my department, then yes, there's no requirement that it says they have to hire a contractor in the city of Freeport.

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Okay. I just wanted to see if there was a level playing field here where other contractors here in the city of Freeport can have the opportunity to bid on or to sign up or apply for these types of venture programs.

00:29:55.530 --> 00:30:04.940
venture programs. I just wanted to see how we are administrating the whole thing, you know, with everyone.

00:30:05.960 --> 00:30:20.840
That's all I'm asking. Sure. No, just to be clear, we're utilizing their resources to put this back into the hands of a responsible contractor, and then there will be a proposal, a resolution to you stating what this contractor is going to do, what their deed restriction says.

00:30:20.840 --> 00:30:52.500
they'll have a timeline to fix the property and that's that's their expertise and that's what they would be doing we are giving the property to the land bank so that they can send us a proposal for you to vote on at the next meeting. Okay. Audemann Simmons. So what's what's the website and what are the requirements for one to be able to be it? Yeah, so did you say what what is the website is that was the first question it's r1planning.org

00:30:52.500 --> 00:31:19.400
So when you go to the homepage right at the top, there's a link to properties. There's no fee or anything like that to sign up. You just make an account on our website, sign up, and then you can apply. There's no sort of transaction ahead of time. It's just a cashier's check for the full amount when you close. We're not nickel and diming people in the process.

00:31:19.400 --> 00:31:23.840
And you said R1planning.org?

00:31:24.140 --> 00:31:25.840
Yeah, letter R, number one.

00:31:30.490 --> 00:31:31.570
Any other questions?

00:31:34.600 --> 00:31:35.440
Thank you.

00:31:35.660 --> 00:31:35.900
Thanks.

00:31:35.900 --> 00:31:50.440
Next, we will have a presentation regarding CDBG-HG grant by Tara Walters, Region 1 Planning Council

00:31:50.440 --> 00:31:55.420
consultant for CDBG-HR grant.

00:32:04.180 --> 00:32:05.420
My name is Tara Walters.

00:32:05.420 --> 00:32:35.420
I work for MSA Professional Services I am a community development administrator with my company and I am the current grant administrator for the City of Freeport's CDBG Housing Rehabilitation Grant. So what I'm going to do in this presentation is simply walk through the housing rehab program that's administered by DCEO which is the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity at the state level as well as some of the national objectives of what the

00:32:35.420 --> 00:33:07.050
Program is meant to do and how the state administers it. So first, this is a very overarching process of what the Housing Rehabilitation Program is and how it goes. Essentially, a city or an applicant, a unit of local government within the state of Illinois can apply. The City of Freeport's application was submitted in 2021. Once those applications are reviewed, the state awards the most competitive

00:33:07.050 --> 00:33:37.030
competitive grant applications. The city of Freeports was awarded in 2022. The city then has two years to complete the project. So the original award, this project had a sunset date or a grant sunset date of November 30th, 2024. We did apply for a six month or sorry, yes, a six month extension. So our new sunset date on these funds is May 31st of 2025. Once a grant is awarded, the city then has to

00:33:37.030 --> 00:34:06.650
to go through an environmental review process. A tier one is the first step. Within the application, the city assigned a project area. And I don't have the project area from the application pulled in this presentation, but it was the area of South Adams, South Hyde, East Center, Wyandotte, and East Pleasant, kind of that general area. They decide upon this area based on the amount of low-income persons, the amount of blight, the place in the city that is a priority.

00:34:07.030 --> 00:34:37.030
and they also once they decide on an area part of the application is going out and surveying homeowners in this area for income as well as housing needs so as part your application was scored on you know the amount of low-income persons in this area as well as the needs for housing rehabilitation the environmental review at the tier one level is completed for that entire area so at this point we're not selecting individual houses we're just kind of blanketing

00:34:37.030 --> 00:34:41.990
I'm so sorry. I talk with my hands. We're just kind of blanketing that entire project area.

00:34:42.930 --> 00:34:49.230
Once your tier one is approved by DCEO, you can then start the individual rehabilitation application. So this

00:34:49.230 --> 00:34:55.970
is when you're accepting applications from individual homeowners within that project area. Once those are

00:34:55.970 --> 00:35:02.650
scored, we then have to do the environmental review tier two level, which is for each individual house

00:35:02.650 --> 00:35:32.630
steps for the highest. And so in terms of who was kind of taking over during this process at the application level, that was the city of Freeport. You guys compiled and submitted your own application. You were awarded. Environmental Tier 1, MSA got involved because we were working with Wayne a little bit on a different CDBG grant. So we assisted with that Tier 1 environmental review. The baton was passed to R1, who helps the city with the individual home application process.

00:35:32.650 --> 00:36:04.150
process and the scoring and started the tier two. And then that was when the baton was passed back to myself and my colleagues at MSA to finish off the tier two. Once we get tier two approval from DCEO, they said everything looks good. We can then bid the project and start construction on the individual rehabilitation. So some of the program objectives. This is an excerpt from the from the 2023 CDB

00:36:04.150 --> 00:36:34.130
CDBG Guidebook from the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. CDBG funds are a federal pass-through, essentially, so they're granted by HUD, so in order for the state to administer these CDBG funds, they have to meet one of the three HUD national objectives. The three objectives are, one, benefiting low- to moderate-income persons, two, aiding in the prevention or elimination of slums and blight, or three, meeting other community development needs that pose a serious and immediate

00:36:34.150 --> 00:37:07.220
a threat to the health and welfare of the community, also known as urgent need. The CDBG housing rehabilitation program specifically, as well as their other program called public infrastructure, is falling under the benefiting low to moderate income persons. Though the housing rehabilitation does help with the prevention and elimination of blight, the state's program is meeting the HUD objective of low to moderate income persons. Some of the other excerpts from the

00:37:07.220 --> 00:37:36.960
HUD National Objectives. An LMI housing activity is carried out for the purpose of providing or improving permanent single-family owner-occupied residential structures that will be occupied by LMI households upon completion. And I'll skip down to the first bullet. For each assisted unit, the family size and income and ranges 30%, 50%, and 80%, which is, and I'll add the next slide, we'll explain what that means, the level of income compared to the state's or the area's median household income of an

00:37:36.960 --> 00:37:43.040
Occupant Household and the amount of CDBG funds spent. And then second, data on racial, ethnic, and gender

00:37:43.040 --> 00:37:48.280
characteristics of persons who are applicants for participants in or beneficiaries of the CDBG

00:37:48.280 --> 00:37:57.240
activities. And lastly, the CDBG program under the state of Illinois for a household to be eligible.

00:37:57.880 --> 00:38:04.500
This is again in the 2023 CDBG guidebook. The grantee must certified that the program recipients meet the

00:38:04.500 --> 00:38:11.060
HUD eligibility requirements, which is low to moderate income. And to do that, they must submit their IRS form 1040.

00:38:12.700 --> 00:38:19.440
And when using this IRS 1040, we determine an applicant's annual income. They must use the most current version.

00:38:19.440 --> 00:38:24.740
So anytime that we're looking at a house at the application stage, before the construction stage,

00:38:24.840 --> 00:38:30.840
we're always getting these updated forms to ensure that they are still eligible under state and federal requirements.

00:38:30.840 --> 00:39:03.310
further that was more national objectives so I'm switching over to the state program objectives this was a presentation given each year CD the DCEO has a CDBG administration workshop I've just pulled these from the presentations that said workshop so the eligibility requirements for housing rehab recipients are they must be a single family residential unit they must be owner occupied and prove that they live there and they must have homeowners insurance

00:39:03.310 --> 00:39:35.140
Secondly, the income must be verified, again, via the IRS tax form 1040, and they must be 18 or older, and this must be re-verified prior to any type of construction. DCO goes on to state that the prioritization of housing applicants must be given to very low income, elderly or handicapped households, and then 51% of the points in the entire project area

00:39:35.420 --> 00:39:53.820
must be given to these two criteria. I didn't have the income limits, but you can go to HUD. Anytime we're looking at where a person falls and whether they're low to moderate income, we go to the HUD income limits, which are updated annually, and they're updated.

00:39:53.820 --> 00:39:59.640
annually, and they're updated per county. So whenever a house is next in line, I essentially talk to the

00:39:59.640 --> 00:40:06.000
homeowner, I ask for their IRS form, I also ask for supplementary documentation such as, you know, their

00:40:06.000 --> 00:40:12.240
social security benefit, you know, statement, things like that to verify against their taxes, and make sure

00:40:12.240 --> 00:40:19.320
that their income falls below those income thresholds. The 30%, 50%, and 80% is a percentage of the median

00:40:19.320 --> 00:40:51.640
household income for the county so anything under 80 percent is considered low and then 50 percent very you know moderately low and then 30 percent is very low. Is there anything else you want to add, Wayne? No, I appreciate it. I think that there certainly may be some questions now. I know definitely appreciate you chiming in or I know Joel is also here. He did the scoring for region one. There were some particular questions I think

00:40:51.640 --> 00:41:21.540
I know Alderperson Stacy brought ahead about 1010 South Adams in their application so I think any questions you know just be available for any questions we have on the overall process I just want to say I I've worked on this grant now for the three years I've worked here and I know that the city would not have been able to get this far and offer any funds if it wasn't for your hard work if it wasn't for Joel's hard work with region one it's you know the this grant

00:41:21.540 --> 00:41:51.520
provided the city, I think it's $64,000 in, you know, consultant fees to help administer this grant with the extreme amount of documentation you have to provide. You know, I'm sitting right here on, I think I measured this to be six inches of paperwork that includes the grant application. And it's immense. And it's really a juggernaut to take on. So there's going to be questions. And I would just appreciate you staying to answer any questions with the

00:41:51.520 --> 00:42:30.490
Grant administration process. May we have the lights on? Are there any questions? Alderman Sellers. So you're saying that the 1010 South Adams did meet all the requirements to have done what they need be done? Correct. To be eligible for the grant funds if they did meet all the requirements. Okay. Thank you. Ms. Walters. Yes. Do you consider yourself a

00:42:30.490 --> 00:42:39.250
expert on this type of grant? I've gone to seven years worth of DCEO trainings. I can't say I'm always

00:42:39.250 --> 00:42:46.430
surprised. Every single year things change, but I know exactly where all of the resources are. I'm talking

00:42:46.430 --> 00:42:53.410
with the state, not the state representatives, but, you know, members of DCEO on a daily basis and ask them

00:42:53.410 --> 00:42:58.470
many, many questions anytime I'm stumped, and they always assist in every way they can.

00:42:58.470 --> 00:43:39.540
How long have you been doing this? Seven years. Seven years. Right. Alderman Parker? Certainly happy you're taking the time. You obviously know more about it than anybody in this room. So we appreciate it. Thank you very much. You've answered a lot of questions. Thank you, Alderman Parker. I have a question. Is there a rule that you have to stay in this renovated property for a certain length of time after

00:43:39.800 --> 00:44:09.780
the work is done? There is not a rule per DCO and HUD requirements. However, in order to be eligible for the project, the idea behind having homeowner insurance, if we get wind that they're going to sell, DCO recommends that you contact them to figure out a process. They do not like to see it. However, they cannot stop a homeowner.

00:44:09.800 --> 00:44:14.560
owner from selling after the grant has completely commenced.

00:44:14.560 --> 00:44:16.920
But there's no penalties.

00:44:16.920 --> 00:44:19.120
No.

00:44:19.120 --> 00:44:25.280
Can you tell me, I'm sorry, is there anyone else?

00:44:26.560 --> 00:44:34.720
Can you tell me when was the first application given and what was the cutoff date?

00:44:36.100 --> 00:44:37.780
Yeah, I'm not sure on that.

00:44:37.780 --> 00:44:53.120
So what we're talking about here is when I looked at the grant application, it's from 2021, and really what they discuss in the narrative of the grant was written by the former director here.

00:44:53.120 --> 00:45:22.960
they talk about how they originally had 68 applications and 60 of those applications were eligible so they're actually called income surveys and there's their one page document with address and they basically state their income and it talks about the income limits that Miss Walters is discussed so at that time it was 2021 in the grant application that was when those

00:45:22.960 --> 00:45:29.460
originally were submitted. Nobody here was working on that project at that time, so I'm not sure what

00:45:29.460 --> 00:45:36.320
deadline they gave, but what I do know is they state in the budget, they state in the narrative of the grant

00:45:36.320 --> 00:45:44.600
application that there were 60 people that were originally considered. And do we still have those

00:45:44.600 --> 00:45:52.940
applications? Yes, I'm looking at them right now. So it's in the text of the grant application, and it's

00:45:52.940 --> 00:46:07.340
also in the grant. I'm looking at the 60 right here that were attached. Okay. I had asked for that

00:46:07.340 --> 00:46:22.140
information and what I received was the 30 that came out I believe through tier two. Sure. So I know I talked

00:46:22.140 --> 00:46:27.600
with Attorney Zito. I know you're at his office and had an opportunity to look at these originals.

00:46:27.600 --> 00:46:49.160
So if there's a communication gap there, I could certainly have these redacted and send you the original applications. We have them in our possession. But I will also say that from the 60 applicants, and Joel's here to answer any questions, when we went through that process that we saw where they were scoring, we kept a log.

00:46:49.160 --> 00:47:18.060
So, to make sure that everyone was included and that we were transparent, I know you were provided the log that Joel did for all 60 of these people, and I talked with Joel today. Oh, did you not send her the log? An email on Friday that had the log there in a whole bunch of documentation. Of all 68? No, the application did not submit eight because it states in the narrative that those eight people did not qualify.

00:47:18.060 --> 00:47:47.800
so they originally when they state in the narrative was that there were 68 and they're only submitting 60 and they attached all 60 of them in this grant application so they state very clearly 68 surveys were done 60 were eligible and of those surveys they call them income surveys they said okay 60 people are being considered that's what they say in the grant application and then region one was retained to review those 60 applications and I and

00:47:47.800 --> 00:47:55.480
talking with them. I said, part of your service is you'll provide a detailed log so that it's

00:47:55.480 --> 00:47:59.940
transparent to know that everybody was contacted and given an opportunity to submit all required

00:47:59.940 --> 00:48:06.340
documentation. So Joel is here if there's any questions, but I spoke with Joel and he said at a

00:48:06.340 --> 00:48:12.600
minimum, he said, I think he believed people were called at least twice. Several people had additional

00:48:12.600 --> 00:48:18.200
follow-ups to the door. He said several people actually hung up on him, weren't interested, but it's

00:48:18.200 --> 00:48:26.620
all documented under the work that Region 1 did to ensure how we went from 60 people from 2021, then we

00:48:26.620 --> 00:48:31.620
went to 30 people that actually submitted all the required documentation, and then those 30 people

00:48:31.620 --> 00:48:41.160
were graded. So out of the 61, only 30 gave you everything you needed. Correct, and Joel can probably

00:48:41.160 --> 00:48:47.300
chime in if you'd like any questions on it. He did the actual, all the work with working with those 60 applicants.

00:48:47.880 --> 00:48:57.810
Do you want to step up and answer a few questions? Yeah, I'm not sure how many people are actually on the

00:48:57.810 --> 00:49:03.890
call log, but everybody that's on there that made it, you know, far enough to be requesting that

00:49:03.890 --> 00:49:11.750
additional information from, I called them all, like Wayne said, at least twice, and as he referenced,

00:49:11.750 --> 00:49:43.050
you know sometimes I was trying to explain we need you know just this one more thing or something like that and that was the end of the road for them because they it was felt to them like it was too much and you know I'd get hung up on or something like that you know. Okay so why was there a second application hand delivered to prior applicants to fill out again? That's required that's a requirement for us to move forward.

00:49:43.290 --> 00:49:45.690
We cannot move forward without that information

00:49:45.690 --> 00:49:52.090
So how do we know that all 61 that qualify

00:49:52.090 --> 00:49:57.960
that qualify even received that second application. Through our log, through our communication log,

00:49:58.200 --> 00:50:02.280
through the communication log. That's why we keep a communication log so that if somebody says,

00:50:02.280 --> 00:50:06.940
I didn't receive it, well, we called you on this date, called you on this date, sent a letter to your

00:50:06.940 --> 00:50:12.420
address. I believe we sent letters as well. So we sent you a letter on this date in our log, called you on

00:50:12.420 --> 00:50:18.000
this date, called you on this date. That's why you have a log. That's why professionals keep logs when

00:50:18.000 --> 00:50:24.980
are doing work like this. Information at your office. We, I asked for this. We talked about this and talked

00:50:24.980 --> 00:50:30.280
about this and talked about this. Right. And so at my office, we didn't have this information yet. So this

00:50:30.280 --> 00:50:39.360
past Friday, I was like, so we got a response from. But he said it's in that book that you had. We have

00:50:39.360 --> 00:50:45.900
this book here. I'm sure there, and I'm sure as I've stated before, you and I met several times. I have no

00:50:45.900 --> 00:50:54.840
problem getting you these original, from 2021, these surveys, these income surveys, we can certainly

00:50:54.840 --> 00:51:00.680
provide those to you redacted with all the information that you would need. They're pretty simple. It's just,

00:51:00.960 --> 00:51:06.980
you know, I guess the best way to look at these original 60 is it's a simple one-page document where

00:51:06.980 --> 00:51:12.580
they're told to state where their income falls between how much money they make, and then that's

00:51:12.580 --> 00:51:19.780
used in the application to move them on to the next step. So this is more of a preliminary, it's called a

00:51:19.780 --> 00:51:26.260
community development block grant income survey. So these are the 60 people that were, if this was all

00:51:26.260 --> 00:51:31.020
included in part of the original application, that moves them on to the next step, which was shown on

00:51:31.020 --> 00:51:37.880
that first slide when we go over the steps, what they have to do. But it was more than just the income

00:51:37.880 --> 00:52:05.820
survey. I don't know what you're asking for at this point. The 68 applicants. You just said they just, it was basically an income survey that they filled out. That's what I have here, yes, and I believe Tara Walters can confirm that the state of Illinois does their block grant, community development block grant as a LMI, low to moderate income. That's their factor. That's why they do these income surveys. That's how the grant's administered by the state of Illinois.

00:52:05.820 --> 00:52:12.820
So that's what the tier one application was? Just that income survey?

00:52:13.820 --> 00:52:25.840
So as part, if I may, as part of the application, the income surveys are sent out to everyone within that project area. The more income surveys that you have to submit with your application, the higher you score.

00:52:25.840 --> 00:52:34.480
So that process is essentially used to get the grant. It doesn't promise any of those people that filled out that income survey.

00:52:35.820 --> 00:52:59.180
State that we have a need in this area. It didn't ask for any income information. It asked them to self-certify on that application. Once you're awarded, you can then go back to those 60, you know, 60, 68 folks and they do another application and that's when they're submitting their income information and certifying their application and it's moving the steps forward.

00:52:59.180 --> 00:53:06.660
So what's the first application similar to the second application?

00:53:07.600 --> 00:53:09.140
I would have to pull it up.

00:53:09.420 --> 00:53:09.620
Sure.

00:53:09.720 --> 00:53:10.600
It's very similar.

00:53:10.700 --> 00:53:11.660
It's very similar.

00:53:11.920 --> 00:53:21.160
I mean, like I said, we can, I'll make copies of these and send them to Clerk Anderson and you can look at them if you'd like.

00:53:21.160 --> 00:53:35.760
The second application asks for those prioritization bullet points, disabled, age, things of that sort. So that would help R1 score each application individually versus just income.

00:53:35.760 --> 00:53:46.620
And I think what you're looking for, I mean, I would also, you know, I don't know what you're going to find in here. I mean, we can look at it again. I'm not, we're certainly willing to look at it.

00:53:46.620 --> 00:54:16.460
but this documentation here from 2021 that's what the state looked at to say okay we will give you $550,000 so they looked at these grant income surveys as part of the grant application and said okay City of Freeport you now have $550,000 but in order for you to use it you now have to follow up with these individual 60 property owners and get more detailed information so these surveys really are here

00:54:16.460 --> 00:54:46.360
for the state of Illinois to say okay we'll give you the $550,000 you've proven through these stated incomes which is what they are people saying I make x amount of dollars but then in order for them to actually be awarded the individuals to get the actual funds then they have to follow up and that's what Joel did was he contacted these 60 people and said okay now you have to show us proof of income show us your tax returns show us your pay stubs from you know

00:54:46.360 --> 00:55:17.710
your social security statements and half the people did not want to follow through with that so they so that's what we're talking about here okay director duckman I have tried for the last five weeks to see what you're telling me is right in front of you and so I would like to see him and

00:55:17.710 --> 00:55:31.710
I trust that we will be setting up a meeting, setting up a meeting so that we can go over the original 60 applications, which is what I have asked for from the beginning.

00:55:31.710 --> 00:55:40.950
Okay, we did review that a few weeks ago, so we probably just have our communication wires crossed here, but I'm going to ask the question because I don't know what this will do for you.

00:55:41.050 --> 00:55:44.870
This grant's been awarded, so it's been awarded on those already.

00:55:44.870 --> 00:56:17.060
I'm just asking the question of and I will we can go through another meeting and show it to you but I I don't know what the my question would be is what are you hoping to gain by looking at those maybe you can ask a question of MSA on what that would affect. I still don't understand how we went from 61 approved applicants to 30. There's a there's a log that the 30 all 60 people were contacted and we provided know that there's a log there's an actual

00:56:17.060 --> 00:56:47.040
every property owner says on this date I called this person and left a voicemail on this date I called the person left the voicemail sent a letter on this date knocked on their door the state he's right there if you want to tell him he's being untruthful please do so to his face he's being untruthful so please don't put those words in my mouth okay what I'm asking is I remember when a second application had to be presented and third world

00:56:47.060 --> 00:57:07.740
Ward, Alderwoman, me, Fifth Ward, Alderwoman, and some of the community people wanted to help with this, offered to help with this, and was denied the opportunity to go door to door and give them this second application that we were being told they had to fill out.

00:57:07.740 --> 00:57:11.780
And so I am in nowhere calling you a liar.

00:57:12.160 --> 00:57:23.380
I am just saying, how do we know all 61 of those applicants received this second or tier two?

00:57:24.380 --> 00:57:27.180
So do you understand what the log did, right?

00:57:27.320 --> 00:57:32.880
So we hired them to have a communication dialogue with these 60 people.

00:57:33.020 --> 00:57:34.200
You understand that part, right?

00:57:34.200 --> 00:57:42.810
Do you understand that we hired Region 1 to contact these 60 people? I know that's what you say you did.

00:57:43.730 --> 00:57:52.510
And so they were directed to log all communications with 60 applicants. So if we take him for his

00:57:52.510 --> 00:57:58.310
professional word and he documented in a log that he did this, then I'm telling you the work was done

00:57:58.310 --> 00:58:05.650
per the log. Okay, I just I want to see the log. I want to see the list of the 61. I want to I just

00:58:05.650 --> 00:58:35.150
I just want to see it, Alderman, I mean, I'm sorry, Attorney Zito. So the log was emailed to you on Friday because that's, I got it on Thursday or there because remember I was, I got the response, you and I had the phone call, I had to look at the response from the state there and I was going to send you a summary as a part of that summary that I sent you on Friday there and it included the log of the MSA log of all the times they called people. So that should be in your email.

00:58:35.150 --> 00:59:05.130
but it included the log of the 68 or the 31. Let me just state really quickly in this grant the predecessors my predecessors said they received 68 and essentially an eight of them did not qualify of the 68 that's their that's their words that's their testimony in the grant application so what they're saying is eight of they received 68 eight of them came back and they're saying they may

00:59:05.130 --> 00:59:34.690
made too much money. So they got an income survey and the person said I made $100,000. And then they said, well, that doesn't count. So they submitted 60, but they're stating they received 68. So the other eight, that's not part of the grant application. I don't have those eight. It's not part of the grant. I'm not asking for the eight. I just asked for the 60. Okay. Yeah. Director. Yeah. So just a side note, we do the CDBG grant

00:59:34.690 --> 00:59:50.010
process as well, but we do it on infrastructure, not housing. The 68 applications that were done just defined the target area of the grant. That's all that did is said we got 68 applications.

00:59:50.010 --> 00:59:54.060
is said we got 68 applications from this street to this street. Here's our target area now that where the

00:59:54.060 --> 00:59:59.700
money can be spent. That's tier one, right? So that's the Adams Corridor that was selected. That's all that

00:59:59.700 --> 01:00:07.340
did. The second tier is where you drive down into the homes to see who is truly qualified. The first

01:00:07.340 --> 01:00:13.720
survey is done on an honesty basis that you're going to tell me that this is your real income and you sign

01:00:13.720 --> 01:00:43.420
that. Sometimes when you go to the second tier, that's not the case or people didn't file correctly and they won't produce the second piece of information which automatically excludes them. So again, tier one, the first 68 applications just defined the Adams Corridor that had the need for the 550,000. That's why we were awarded for that. The second tier drives down to each individual house on who is really qualified, which if I'm hearing correctly had nothing to do with this, is our 30 people.

01:00:43.720 --> 01:01:13.700
right and so those are the final 30 that actually responded gave us if there was five pieces all five pieces that were needed to qualify that's where the basis comes in tier two so I just wanted to explain to that the 68 applications you every quarter that's picked for community development block grants has to have let's say you have a hundred houses you got to have 70 percent of them low to moderate income or it doesn't qualify the money can't be spent in that area that's where the income requirements come from

01:01:13.700 --> 01:01:39.560
If we tried to, I'm just picking an area for clarity, if we tried to move this grant out to Marvin Lane, none of those, it would never move forward because those incomes would never qualify. So if you had 100 houses, you got to have 70% of them that would qualify for this money to be able to be used anywhere in there. And then if I lived there and made too much money, then you wouldn't be able to use it at my house.

01:01:39.560 --> 01:01:40.940
I understand that.

01:01:41.420 --> 01:01:41.520
Right.

01:01:41.680 --> 01:01:53.860
So, Ms. Walters, did you go from neighborhood to neighborhood and look at all 31 of these houses, you personally?

01:01:54.180 --> 01:01:54.900
No, I did not.

01:01:55.820 --> 01:01:56.940
Who did?

01:01:58.620 --> 01:02:05.480
The original grant application was done by my predecessor, and what I was told was that they went through the neighborhoods and handed these out.

01:02:06.200 --> 01:02:07.000
That's what I was told.

01:02:07.100 --> 01:02:08.460
I don't know if that's true or not.

01:02:08.520 --> 01:02:08.960
I don't.

01:02:08.960 --> 01:02:38.880
so that's the original 2021 but I'm saying after the 30 was chosen yes who went back to those 30 houses to see which ones were in the worst shape that doesn't matter that was never considered and I can have Miss Walters explain that again do you understand that condition of house per the state of Illinois does not consider condition of house so please can we stop that misinformation does not matter to this grant.

01:02:38.960 --> 01:02:39.980
It's income.

01:02:39.980 --> 01:03:03.100
I understand that, but when you have low income, whether you have 50 points, let's talk about the point system, but then someone with 40 points get chosen to receive these funds before someone with 50 points.

01:03:03.100 --> 01:03:10.100
That would have, the point system would have prioritized income, disability, and age.

01:03:10.100 --> 01:03:35.030
I understand that. So, my question again, is why wouldn't the higher point, why would a 45 be done before 55? Or 35? Yes, Attorney Zito.

01:03:35.030 --> 01:04:05.010
I think the question I think you're talking I think what you're asking is that ultimately once we got the 30 scored and everyone had points, right, then there's still additional hoops that have to be jumped through there as far as environmentals and this and adding, you know, some submitting additional documentation there. So I think ultimately, we had enough money, roughly, let's just say that we knew that we could do about 10 houses out of the 30 that we scored that we could do about

01:04:05.010 --> 01:04:34.970
There was enough money to do about 10. Amongst those 10, each 10 still had to submit more paperwork, more verification of this or that, more hoops to jump through. Sometimes a person with a lower score submitted all their paperwork in first, so they went ahead and said, okay, well, we'll process you. Even though you had a lower point, we knew you were in the top 10, so there's money for you, but because you submitted everything, we'll go ahead and process you first, because you submitted everything before the person that might have been the number one,

01:04:34.970 --> 01:04:40.890
scoring point. Number one still going to get theirs once they submit everything because we know that we

01:04:40.890 --> 01:04:46.230
have enough money for one through 10. I think that's what you're asking about. Why did some people with

01:04:46.230 --> 01:04:54.330
lower points get their houses, their projects started first or sooner? Yes. Yes. And it's, I think that's the

01:04:54.330 --> 01:04:58.650
answer. That is the answer. That is the answer because one of the parts to this is once you move

01:04:58.650 --> 01:05:03.970
forward in this process before they can go through and approve the construction, an independent state

01:05:03.970 --> 01:05:21.430
inspector has to go through the house and determine the scope of work, which Ms. Walters is in charge of as part of her grant administration is going to these property owners and saying, okay, we need to schedule your inspection and then ultimately get your scope of work. So that's a process that also has to be done.

01:05:21.430 --> 01:05:32.190
Okay, so how would you know if someone, if you lived in the house ten years or more, you got ten points?

01:05:33.550 --> 01:05:35.810
Five years, you got five points.

01:05:36.630 --> 01:05:46.530
So let's say I've lived in my house nine years, but I want those extra five points, so I say I've been there ten years.

01:05:46.530 --> 01:05:55.670
how can you prove or how do you know? They on their application they are self-certifying that the

01:05:55.670 --> 01:06:02.870
information is true that's what we have to go off of. Now I will also state that every bit of this process

01:06:02.870 --> 01:06:08.270
and Joel's here to tell you about the grading process but we also and it's also been provided to

01:06:08.270 --> 01:06:14.690
you our state grant manager has provided answers to these questions but they're also available for you

01:06:14.690 --> 01:06:20.690
to contact. So, you know, if there's any distrust, which seems like there's quite a bit here, on how our

01:06:20.690 --> 01:06:27.350
professionals did their work, our grant manager, who I spoke with, has said everything's been above board

01:06:27.350 --> 01:06:34.350
within the process, done correctly, and our grant manager is available for you to speak to as well.

01:06:34.890 --> 01:06:42.170
But I would say that there is a timeline on these funds and would like to truly start moving forward

01:06:42.170 --> 01:06:46.810
with some more of these applications to get people the funding or else it's just going to sunset

01:06:46.810 --> 01:06:48.710
and nobody's going to get the money.

01:06:50.170 --> 01:06:51.190
Alderman Simmons.

01:06:51.990 --> 01:06:59.010
Can you, or Curt, one of you, go back a couple slides when you listed, it had three bullet points

01:06:59.010 --> 01:07:03.710
that determined the need for the grant.

01:07:04.750 --> 01:07:05.650
I don't have power.

01:07:16.740 --> 01:07:20.260
I think it was the one you just, can you go back one or forward one?

01:07:20.260 --> 01:07:29.600
No, it was one that mentioned blight, income

01:07:29.600 --> 01:07:34.060
So, yes

01:07:34.060 --> 01:07:55.660
Yeah, okay, so, the purpose of this grant, yes, moderate to low income is first, but aiding in the prevention and elimination of slums and blight, that does have something to do with conditions of homes, and if we go in a home that has no blight and put in a hot water heater

01:07:55.660 --> 01:08:03.400
or a furnace or whatever that does nothing to reduce the blithe in that neighborhood. And I think that is what

01:08:03.400 --> 01:08:09.480
all the person Stacy is getting at when she's being told the condition of the home doesn't matter. Yes,

01:08:09.500 --> 01:08:17.620
it does. That's one of the purposes of this grant. So if we go into people's houses and do inside stuff

01:08:17.620 --> 01:08:24.040
first before these houses that are contributing a great amount of blithe to Adams Corridor,

01:08:24.040 --> 01:08:30.820
that defeats the purpose. And I believe that is the point that she's trying to make when she's being told

01:08:30.820 --> 01:08:36.400
that the conditions of the house doesn't matter and please don't add misinformation. It's right there in

01:08:36.400 --> 01:08:44.680
writing. That is part of this grant. This slide is stating the three national objectives, but the

01:08:44.680 --> 01:08:51.600
Illinois, any state program must meet just one of these. And the one that's highlighted is the one

01:08:51.600 --> 01:08:57.160
that CDBG Housing Rehabilitation is meeting by the administration of the grant.

01:08:57.340 --> 01:09:06.760
So I do want to add here, too, this is national objective, and you did a really good job saying how this is what's called a pass-through.

01:09:07.280 --> 01:09:10.180
Federal government money passes through to the state.

01:09:10.740 --> 01:09:16.240
So what Ms. Walters is saying, and she can correct me if I'm wrong, this is what the federal government says.

01:09:16.240 --> 01:09:46.160
if you are going to administer this grant as a state you have to pick one you have to fall into one of these and our state says we're going to do low to moderate income persons the state of Illinois is saying that is how we are going to administer these funds so when I say it doesn't matter it's because the state says we are involved in this factor this is what the state saying this slide is federal government the state of Illinois follows under LMI low to

01:09:46.160 --> 01:09:47.880
moderate income, not these other

01:09:47.880 --> 01:09:51.280
Board of Moderate Income, not these other two, and that's what our, that's why our state says in the

01:09:51.280 --> 01:09:56.620
applications we need to verify income. We need to, that's why, and if you go to another slide that's

01:09:56.620 --> 01:10:02.260
actually state level, it's states, states, states, that here's the objectives from the Department of

01:10:02.260 --> 01:10:08.040
Commerce and Economic Opportunity who administers this grant. That's why, that's why I'm saying it

01:10:08.040 --> 01:10:14.540
doesn't matter. We need to stop this misinformation. We, our consultants are working with standards

01:10:14.540 --> 01:10:40.860
provided by the state. We're not working directly with HUD. Correct. If I may add to that, for example, if we go back a slide, the state of Iowa uses the second bullet as their national objective for one of their programs, which is treating slum and blight in the downtown. So the state gets to decide which objective they would like to base their program around, as long as it meets one of them.

01:10:40.860 --> 01:11:10.840
I have a question then. So but we as a city have that discretion as well, correct? Correct. And it would it would benefit us more so to hit two birds with that one stone where we meet low income and reduction of life versus just helping people with low income who really their home is not a life like they don't need any outside work. But that's what we're trying to do. That's our goal. I would hope that's our goal.

01:11:10.840 --> 01:11:35.140
The goal in administration of this grant is to help reduce and help that area that we just had a whole new street put in, which is an entranceway into the city and making that look better. I don't understand why that isn't the goal, just because it's not necessarily the specific requirement of the state, however it is mentioned. So it's not like we'd be doing something against what's written. So I'm confused.

01:11:35.140 --> 01:12:02.080
There's one thing I do also want to reiterate here. Any work done on these houses is an independent state inspector who determines the scope of work. So when we're talking about it should have the front look like this, it should have a new water heater, the state inspector determines that. They come in, we schedule an inspection, and the state inspector comes in, and they determine what work is done.

01:12:02.080 --> 01:12:18.320
so it's wrong to think like well I drove by and this house looks bad well a state inspector has to come in and determine it and if the state inspector does creates a scope of work if it's not done by a state inspector the work isn't approved just it isn't it won't happen.

01:12:19.060 --> 01:12:23.340
So are you saying a state inspector drove by all 31 of these homes?

01:12:23.880 --> 01:12:32.020
No that's not what I'm saying I'm saying once these homes are selected once these homes are selected the scope of work that's approved comes from a state inspector.

01:12:32.080 --> 01:13:01.840
that's what I'm saying and the state of Illinois that I've spoken with repeatedly and when we talked about the scoring with region one we had several meetings they said you have to focus on the need of the applicant and not the condition of the home that was what was stated repeatedly and I invite you to please call our grant manager from the state and they could reiterate what they told me and what they told Joel was that when we're scoring these applicants you have to focus on

01:13:01.840 --> 01:13:06.840
the applicant, not the condition of the home. So we're following the guidelines of the state.

01:13:06.840 --> 01:13:14.530
There is no other agenda than that. And if I may add, the repairs are prioritized by

01:13:14.530 --> 01:13:20.950
code violations, lead remediation, or other public health hazards within or outside the home,

01:13:21.350 --> 01:13:32.650
as well as energy efficiency and accessibility. Prioritized, not required. They can do other

01:13:32.650 --> 01:13:41.450
repairs as well. Yes. I can believe that they've all answered all of our questions,

01:13:41.450 --> 01:13:44.610
and they followed the state guidelines, not our city guidelines.

01:13:44.830 --> 01:13:47.450
So I'd like to move this on to the next item.

01:13:51.080 --> 01:13:52.600
I think Mayor Miller had her hand up.

01:13:52.760 --> 01:13:53.100
Yes.

01:13:53.580 --> 01:13:59.640
I think we need to get back to what the council's responsibilities are here.

01:14:00.100 --> 01:14:05.440
So the council is responsible to approve or not approve when something comes before you.

01:14:05.440 --> 01:14:12.740
Your responsibility is when Wayne comes to you and says, I want to apply for this CBD grant,

01:14:12.740 --> 01:14:17.100
grant. You can say no, you don't like the grant, you don't like the guidelines. That's your

01:14:17.100 --> 01:14:25.360
responsibility. Your responsibility is not in walking out every single detail of what our director does or

01:14:25.360 --> 01:14:31.260
these two that have been administering something. The day-to-day is not that responsible. If we did that

01:14:31.260 --> 01:14:36.920
on every single item that we have to approve, we'd never get anything done. You have to remember you

01:14:36.920 --> 01:14:49.920
You are the legislative body. You are not the day-to-day body. So you either trust those that are put into these professional spots or you don't. If they're not doing their job, then we should fire them. But obviously, they're doing their job.

01:14:49.920 --> 01:15:44.070
When this was brought to us, and I'm learning because it should have came with pictures and it didn't. Information has been withheld purposely. We come here and as directors, as head of the city, we trust that you're bringing us the truth, the whole truth.

01:15:44.490 --> 01:16:25.510
and nothing but the truth. And in reality, that just don't happen. So I am here on behalf of the people and I will inform my constituents in every way possible when we have been misled on something but took a vote. Yeah. You told me the other week you voted for this and I did.

01:16:25.630 --> 01:17:04.110
but not having correct information in front of me. We get what you all want us to have and that don't always totally involve the truth. So if you want to move on, thank you for your time. Thank you, Joel. If you have a business card, I would love to have one. Thank you.

01:17:04.110 --> 01:18:02.590
Thank you. Thank you very much. Moving on to number eight, Kirk, this is when I need you, CDBG, Adam Avenue Housing Rehabilitation Application Discrepancies. This presentation aims to make the public aware of the discrepancies that the city of Freeport has allowed to occur

01:18:02.590 --> 01:18:32.020
within the CDBG Adams Avenue Housing Rehabilitation Program. Such discrepancies should have disqualified the applicants, but the city has decided to provide grant funding to them anyway, $48,000.

01:18:32.020 --> 01:19:14.690
dollars. This is a total disregard for the individuals living in the affected area who really need and deserve assistance. Welcome to 1010 South Adams. This is a list of all of their property that they own. They are

01:19:14.690 --> 01:19:45.930
40s, that's their business, totaling $290,500, but they're low income. Next slide, please. This house that we're calling 1010, once upon a time was 1012, and the little house in the back of the

01:19:45.930 --> 01:20:18.340
and the little house in the back of the big house, if you would, was 1010. But now you can clearly see that the big house is no longer 1012, but it resides as 1010. Why switch the addresses if we're not doing something unfair here? Next slide, please.

01:20:18.340 --> 01:20:57.120
1010, 1010. In 1013 to 20, that address did not read 1010. It read 1012. Moving on. The incomplete application. The housing rehabilitation specific document was created by the Illinois Department of Commerce. The corresponding document, the application, has the city of Freeport seal on it.

01:20:57.340 --> 01:21:03.780
It shows that the applicant application was incomplete.

01:21:05.280 --> 01:21:09.660
Why did the city accept an incomplete application?

01:21:10.780 --> 01:21:18.640
Who authorized this uncompleted application?

01:21:20.240 --> 01:21:21.220
Next slide, please.

01:21:25.720 --> 01:21:28.840
We saw this with Ms. Walters.

01:21:29.340 --> 01:21:30.400
Next slide, please.

01:21:30.400 --> 01:22:14.530
What you see highlighted was their scoring of 1010 slash 1012 South Adams. Next slide, please. This is the application. As you can see, the application home must be paid off based on the fact that the existing debt on the property was left blank.

01:22:15.350 --> 01:22:47.520
Did anyone from the City bother to ask if there was any equity in the house that could be used for any repairs? Next slide, please. Remember that the City place, when the applicants next supply any income, they never supply any income information. The application even asks for rental income.

01:22:47.520 --> 01:23:02.620
Based on the application's 2021 tax returns, both the applicants and spouse occupants are listed as rental properties.

01:23:02.620 --> 01:23:16.940
This applicant owns six rental properties, and I am hard-pressed to believe they receive zero income for any of them.

01:23:19.120 --> 01:23:45.750
Next. This is the final page of the application. What I would like to call the applicants are to date and sign to verify that all the information provided in this application was true and complete to the best of their knowledge.

01:23:45.750 --> 01:24:21.150
as you can see the applicants who did not date nor sign this document were still approved. How? $48,000. Brand new hot water heater. Brand new furnace. Brand new central air unit.

01:24:24.040 --> 01:25:07.730
Wrapped windows and it goes on and on and on. Deck fixed. This final page, how? How do you approve? How do you say someone qualifies and approve them for $48,000 when they didn't even sign or complete the application?

01:25:07.730 --> 01:25:37.290
I rest my case. Next page, please. Citizen of Freeport, I want to provide you with information on how the Adams Street Rehabilitation Program is handled. You and I know what I presented tonight will not make a difference. The city is still going to give grant funding to this applicant. It does not matter that the

01:25:37.290 --> 01:26:07.040
application was incomplete, that critical information was withheld from it, that the applicant has a healthy real estate portfolio, or that misleading information was provided, the thing, these things may not matter to our city manager, they may not matter to our mayor,

01:26:07.040 --> 01:26:37.040
Mayor. They may not matter to our director or even some council members, but they matter to me. Citizens, please understand the significance and gravity of this situation. Those grant funds that the city has agreed to provide for the rehabilitation of this application home are still your tax

01:26:37.040 --> 01:27:23.100
that used to get these funds speak volume about the integrity of the applicants, but even louder, about the integrity of the ones who approved them. Thank you. And next we have discussion. I'm sorry, Attorney Zito.

01:27:23.100 --> 01:27:53.100
and I just want to just make a quick quick brief point here uh or comment uh here though so let me say see just so you know there and I don't know maybe if you haven't seen my email from Friday uh there there was I did as a part of that email that I sent to you that had the log in it Wayne did also was able to find a copy of the signed application so I did email that to you so that you have that that application was signed attorney Zito director Duckman I came in here November

01:27:53.100 --> 01:28:32.170
and I asked for a copy of the 68 original applicants. What I get was the 31, not the 68. I know what I asked for because I knew what I was looking for. And I get the point system. And what I was given, the application I was handed was not signed. I'm not making this up. This is what you gave me.

01:28:32.190 --> 01:28:40.690
November 26th, before I came to your office, November 27th, and I voiced my concern to you about this.

01:28:41.250 --> 01:28:56.310
Correct. It was not filled out properly, it's not even signed. Right, and so I did pose that question about the signed application to Wayne, and I believe he then reached out to Joel, and I think on Thursday, Friday morning is when we,

01:28:56.310 --> 01:29:02.110
Joe was able to go and he found through his records the signed application so that's why I provided it to you on

01:29:02.110 --> 01:29:07.770
Friday in my email. Or did we go get a signature? Oh I know we didn't get a signature because I provided him a

01:29:07.770 --> 01:29:13.410
screenshot that showed when the file was scanned and copied so I know it's not a we didn't go out and get

01:29:13.410 --> 01:29:20.370
a signature that that grant applicant signed put it put their signature to it and I also want to

01:29:20.370 --> 01:29:43.310
reiterate that assets are different than income. It's a very simple economics 101, accounting 101, and the state of Illinois requires income verification. I've asked the state of Illinois, they said, we do not consider assets. I've asked the state, they said, under no circumstances, they put in their

01:29:43.310 --> 01:29:48.020
circumstances. They put in their documentation that they require an IRS tax return. They do not require

01:29:48.020 --> 01:29:54.640
assets. So I want to be very clear that the state is not requiring us to go check everyone's bank account,

01:29:54.780 --> 01:30:00.520
real estate portfolios, 401ks, et cetera. It's not part of it. So again, that's misinformation. There is a

01:30:00.520 --> 01:30:07.740
difference between income and assets, and we were provided three years of tax returns for this

01:30:07.740 --> 01:30:20.930
applicant. If I was a landlord, I too could make my own 1040. Is there anything else? I'm moving on. Thank you.

01:30:21.330 --> 01:30:39.150
If I could, please. Yes. You can make your own 1040, but the IRS has nobody to play with. It's not. If I was a landlord and I documented on a 1040, there's a separate form for each piece of property. You have to document everything that's

01:30:39.470 --> 01:30:56.610
in your portfolio is listed as income plus and minus on a form on your 1040. So it was reported if there was any income that was part of their income, the asset of the building itself is irrelevant.

01:30:59.100 --> 01:31:07.220
Alderman, Shadle, all their properties were not even listed on their income tax.

01:31:07.220 --> 01:31:39.390
moving on to number nine discussion regarding social media policy director bridge good evening council I aim to keep this brief since 2017 the city has managed social media pages for city postings information and more a social media policy for all staff has been in place to set guidelines for personal use

01:31:39.390 --> 01:32:09.390
but has yet to set guidelines for page administrators in addition public comment on city pages has been limited since 2017. In order to improve transparency and strengthen the communication pipeline between the city and residents a revised policy has been created to aid page administrators in allowing comments and fostering a more dynamic environment for social discourse as the city's statement of purpose reads

01:32:09.390 --> 01:32:39.370
Freeport believes that the use of social media platforms can effectively broaden the reach of government communication to its constituents. The use of social media by the city is to convey or obtain information that is useful to or will further the goals of this local government. The revised policy also outlines important guidelines for page administrators to ensure discourse remains informational and appropriate. Obviously, there would be no financial reporting.

01:32:39.390 --> 01:32:53.250
and I think there are some really good repercussions to enforcing this policy, adopting it, and staff recommends that when the time comes, obviously not tonight, that we move forward with the policy.

01:32:53.250 --> 01:33:06.750
So let me introduce you to some important notes in the policy, regardless of if you have it in front of you or not. It's a pretty simple one. It has, I believe, eight headings on it, but there are about three that are actually

01:33:06.750 --> 01:33:11.270
I'll talk about three that are actually important to look at.

01:33:11.270 --> 01:33:17.470
I'll start with section three, which is titled Comment Policy.

01:33:17.470 --> 01:33:26.470
So we all know that comments can most of the time be good for public discourse,

01:33:26.470 --> 01:33:36.230
but sometimes they fall under some not so great things for a city government page to have under their posts.

01:33:36.230 --> 01:34:06.210
So they list nine things here, of which are, just to name a few, promotes discrimination. We're getting rid of those comments. Threatening any person or organization, we get rid of those comments, so on and so forth. That's just one section. I'll move on to another section, which is section five, administrator usage. I want to point out that, again, the city already has a social media policy for employees in general that applies to their personal use of social

01:34:06.210 --> 01:34:36.210
Media. However, we don't have anything yet for the page administrators, aka myself and the administrator of the police and the fire and the library. These city employees are responsible for the posting of information, commenting, and communicating with constituents and moderation of activity on all social media. Again, no one else other than the administrators, no one else is allowed to

01:34:36.210 --> 01:35:06.190
to moderate these activities. I'll move on to section six, which I believe is the last one I want to point out, but maybe one of the more important ones, and it's titled Community Messaging Guidelines. It talks about the types of community events that we're allowed to share, types of community events that we're not allowed to share. City social media sites will not share community messages that include political, public issue,

01:35:06.210 --> 01:35:42.780
or prohibited product information and there's much more but I believe that is the gist and we're here tonight obviously to discuss the issue personally from a communication standpoint. I believe it improves the transparency improves communication between city government and its constituents and I believe it's a good thing. Any questions? Thank you. So I will just end by saying this.

01:35:42.840 --> 01:36:02.500
We have discussed at the city that if there's no, how do I say this, fight against it, we will be moving it to first reading. I'll say that later. We'll be moving it to first reading. Thank you. Oh, Aaron, go ahead.

01:36:02.500 --> 01:36:47.810
Yes, Attorney Zito. I was just going to ask, Ryan, are you looking for a motion then to have this by the council, because we're at Kyle, if you want to specifically move forward for first reading? Is that what you're looking for? That would be great. So moved. Second. Take a vote. I missed the second. Shado. I did. Oh, I had it backwards, too. That's all right. It don't matter.

01:36:49.870 --> 01:36:54.660
So do we take a vote?

01:36:57.140 --> 01:36:57.540
Individually?

01:36:58.300 --> 01:36:59.420
Our voice should be fine.

01:36:59.420 --> 01:37:00.620
It shouldn't be fine.

01:37:02.440 --> 01:37:04.640
It's not first reading, it's a vote to move.

01:37:05.020 --> 01:37:11.000
Right, this is just a vote to move it forward to the next regular city council meeting for first reading, so voice vote is fine typically.

01:37:12.060 --> 01:37:19.180
All in favor of moving this to the next council meeting for first reading, say aye.

01:37:19.340 --> 01:37:19.640
Aye.

01:37:20.920 --> 01:37:21.400
Opposed?

01:37:22.300 --> 01:37:56.670
Thank you. Motion passes. Number 10. Discussion regarding revised hangar lease and hangar rental rates. Presented by City Manager Boyer. Thank you, Madam Chair. Staff has reviewed all of the hangar leases, the lease amounts, and has put forth for review the new lease format, as well as a suggestion to

01:37:56.670 --> 01:38:26.390
to make a change to ordinance 2021-05, increasing Hangar J's rent from $575 to $800. Just a few high points. The new lease agreement was put together. We've been working on this for a number of months. We've gone back and forth with Angie, the fixed base operator, and she is, we've kind of worked out some details and everything is looking really good with that, as well as she has compiled

01:38:26.390 --> 01:38:56.370
held the competitive or comparative leases at local or other airports in our region of a similar size. One of the outcomes was that we are looking pretty comparable to all of the other airports. We used Sterling, Dixon, and Rochelle as our comparisons, all of the similar size of traffic. So with that, staff would like to bring this to the next meeting, next council meeting for approval.

01:38:56.390 --> 01:39:01.510
of the ordinance change that would be, let's see here.

01:39:01.510 --> 01:39:02.790
It'd be a new ordinance actually.

01:39:02.790 --> 01:39:03.710
Oh, new, I'm sorry.

01:39:03.710 --> 01:39:04.150
We have to redo a new one.

01:39:04.150 --> 01:39:07.830
Yep, we'll bring an ordinance to the next meeting with those changes to J. Hanger.

01:39:09.190 --> 01:39:09.950
So moved.

01:39:13.820 --> 01:39:14.220
Second.

01:39:14.980 --> 01:39:15.420
Second.

01:39:16.420 --> 01:39:21.460
All in favor?

01:39:21.980 --> 01:39:22.420
Aye.

01:39:22.660 --> 01:39:22.860
Aye.

01:39:23.780 --> 01:39:24.460
Opposed?

01:39:29.340 --> 01:39:37.060
Discussion regarding ordinance authorizing Northern Illinois Gas Company, DBA, NICOR,

01:39:37.060 --> 01:39:42.000
Company to construct, operate, and maintain a gas.

01:39:42.000 --> 01:39:51.920
operate and maintain a gas disrupting system in and through the city of Freeport. Francis, agreement

01:39:51.920 --> 01:39:53.060
view LOA.

01:39:53.060 --> 01:39:56.260
I miss putting manager Boyer on there.

01:39:56.260 --> 01:39:57.260
I'm sorry.

01:39:57.260 --> 01:39:58.260
Okay.

01:39:58.260 --> 01:40:01.260
City manager Boyer.

01:40:01.260 --> 01:40:07.520
Thank you, chairperson.

01:40:07.520 --> 01:40:12.660
So each year, or I'm sorry, every 50 years, the city enters into a franchise.

01:40:12.660 --> 01:40:42.640
agreement with our utilities. Various utilities require different durations, but NICOR's case, that's our gas company, it's a 50-year agreement, so this hasn't been looked at for 50 years. In the past, the city included all as some of the requirements, the city required gas service for all city installations, which was included in the new version. However, staff pressed back on NICOR to include the library due to the fact that the library

01:40:42.640 --> 01:41:06.420
is part of the city and also is one of our largest gas users due to the HVAC system that is required to keep the air dry for preservation of the books. So city staff has finished this negotiation with Attorney Zito and we are ready to move this forward to first reading at the next council meeting.

01:41:07.020 --> 01:41:07.920
So moved.

01:41:08.060 --> 01:41:08.360
Second.

01:41:18.320 --> 01:41:20.440
We have a motion to move this forward.

01:41:21.660 --> 01:41:51.660
at the December 3rd meeting, all in favor? Aye. Excuse me? Attorney Zito? I just want to clarify the moving it forward to which council meeting? It'd be the December 16th. December 16th. I'm sorry, I just said the third month. Yeah. December 16th. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Wait. Question?

01:41:51.660 --> 01:41:52.900
No, just a comment.

01:41:53.620 --> 01:41:59.060
So, city manager is being a little, I guess, coy here.

01:41:59.240 --> 01:42:08.220
I just wanted to mention that this negotiation that he was able to strike with NICOR is a $20,000 savings to the city annually in gas for the library.

01:42:08.840 --> 01:42:09.580
All right.

01:42:09.860 --> 01:42:10.480
Thank you.

01:42:16.960 --> 01:42:17.480
Opposed?

01:42:19.920 --> 01:42:20.320
Okay.

01:42:20.320 --> 01:42:36.580
Okay. Discussion regarding investigation into the political fraudulent financial forensic audit.

01:42:36.580 --> 01:42:38.140
Potential, sweetheart.

01:42:40.140 --> 01:42:42.860
Alderman, Monroe, and Sanders.

01:42:42.860 --> 01:43:09.440
Due to the resource and the information that is not going to be presented today, Alderman Monroe and myself, we had not been able to collaborate to determine what it is the presentation will present today.

01:43:09.440 --> 01:43:33.920
and what I'd like to do is suspend this and carry it over to the next meeting and hopefully we have all of the contents of everything that we need to bring forward to the next meeting so we want to suspend that for now.

01:43:33.920 --> 01:43:44.660
discussion regarding, oh, I'm sorry, public comments.

01:43:45.400 --> 01:43:47.740
Do we have any public comments?

01:43:49.200 --> 01:43:51.540
Yes.

01:43:56.840 --> 01:44:03.840
Jodi Miller, so the IB grocery stores not coming to people?

01:44:08.780 --> 01:44:09.640
Dwayne Dickerman.

01:44:10.060 --> 01:44:10.500
Yes.

01:44:10.680 --> 01:44:12.300
IB stores not coming?

01:44:12.620 --> 01:44:12.800
No.

01:44:15.430 --> 01:44:17.090
What's Angela going to do now?

01:44:17.290 --> 01:44:18.190
Put something in there?

01:44:18.390 --> 01:44:58.540
she's going to continue to be our fearless leader. Hello. I just want to make comments about this block grant. Please your name. Oh, I'm sorry. I am Lucinda, Cindy, however you want to see me. But okay, just regarding the block grant that has been discussed the last couple of months or so. I applied for this grant. I can remember this grant probably started back in 2019.

01:44:58.560 --> 01:45:27.080
19, per se, I remember doing an inspection on my home with Ben, then with Amy Bechtel, that's no longer here, and then in probably 2021, I probably did an application again with Lorena, and so from time to time, I would ask Lorena about this, you know, the status of the block grant and all of that, so she would say, you know, the state is this and the state of that it takes long, and I understand that, but

01:45:27.080 --> 01:45:57.020
and when this grant came out I remember getting the letter so it's probably one of the first one that applied for this grant okay and so in regards to this 1010 South Adams of all of these things that they have you know agreed to putting in furnace what have you so when Ben came to my house it was things that needed to be done and it's still things that need to be done okay I've been in my home almost 17 years

01:45:57.020 --> 01:46:26.840
and, well, has been 17 years and I've worked for this city will be 24 years come February and I'm not, like Autumn and Stacy said, you're going to do what you want to do but as far as it's being just based on income, I don't think that's legit but it is what it is and so I do need a $20,000 roof on my house but the city does not pay me enough to provide.

01:46:27.020 --> 01:47:05.580
that's all I have to say. Thank you. I have to make a rebuttal about the presentation you saw tonight. Alderman Simmons, you are absolutely 100% correct. As long as we meet the state requirement, and it is a requirement, as I stated, that the applicants have to be low income, but you can add, as a community, this grant gives you the flexibility for you to set the priorities.

01:47:06.300 --> 01:47:14.400
of what the greatest community needs are and how we're going to ensure that the challenges are met.

01:47:14.780 --> 01:47:23.340
We are not going to meet challenges by going in with perfectly good homes and buying them new air conditioners, especially a landlord.

01:47:23.340 --> 01:47:30.960
This is absolutely absurd and not what the grant intended. So you were right, and this needs to be changed.

01:47:30.960 --> 01:47:59.680
We are a home rule city, I think, I don't know if we dropped that, but as long as we meet the state requirement, you as a city, you can decide that the project area will address blighted homes in that area, and you can also decide that it will be safe and unsanitary conditions, you can even decide that you do not want them to fix air conditioners.

01:47:59.680 --> 01:48:08.560
You can decide this, that this grant gives you the flexibility for communities to decide their own needs. That's all I have to say.

01:48:16.740 --> 01:48:17.300
Yes.

01:48:21.060 --> 01:48:33.940
Good evening again, Josh Atkinson. I just want to say that I think we need to step back and take a lesson from this. I honestly don't think anybody was doing anything wrong necessarily.

01:48:33.940 --> 01:49:03.900
I don't know how many mistakes may have happened, but at the end of the day, it's the council that made that mistake. We didn't set forth those parameters when it came to council however long ago, back in 2019, 2018, 2019. These conversations should have happened then. We have the opportunity to get $550,000, how do we use this to better our community? That conversation didn't happen. So the surveys went out, we got $550,000, and then

01:49:03.900 --> 01:49:33.880
Director Duckman had to figure out how to use it. And with all faith, I believe he did the right thing and tried to figure out how to use it and they put forth. Now we're seeing that, oh man, we wish we should have done this. We wish we would have done this. And we failed. We failed. You know, we need to take that lesson moving forward. There was the gentleman, Joel, presented. You know, the first thing that came, the only thing I saw about that great program, the land planning, is there was one slide

01:49:33.900 --> 01:49:40.000
that he presented that it said that it could be a rental property. You know, one was bought for $15,000.

01:49:40.000 --> 01:49:56.680
One was bought for $15,000 and turned around and it was renting out for $875. First question that comes to mind is, can we as a community, when that comes forward next week or whenever that's going to come back, can we put a stipulation in there that says, it can't be rented out, it has to be sold or lived in?

01:49:56.680 --> 01:50:02.300
You know, those are the things that we need to look at when council, when city, when city staff brings this stuff to council

01:50:02.300 --> 01:50:09.500
To look at that stuff, read the stuff, discuss it, and figure out how do we use all these tools, all this grant money that Freeport's been getting

01:50:09.500 --> 01:50:11.680
To better the whole community as a whole

01:50:11.680 --> 01:50:13.240
All right, thank you

01:50:13.240 --> 01:50:37.950
Okay, if there's nothing else, I make a, do we have a motion to adjourn?

01:50:37.950 --> 01:50:38.670
So moved

01:50:38.670 --> 01:50:39.010
Second

01:50:39.010 --> 01:50:43.660
Sellers, and all in favor?

01:50:43.900 --> 01:50:44.260
Aye

01:50:44.260 --> 01:50:44.540
Aye

01:50:44.540 --> 01:51:14.520
Thank you very much.